Individuated Media in the Informational Era

Abstract

As the Industrial Era wanes and the Informational Era dawns, a new genus of media has arisen from the unprecedented capabilities of computer-mediated technologies to provide simultaneously to massive numbers of consumers individualized selections of news stories, entertainment, and other information, according to each consumer’s own unique mix of needs, interests, tastes, and beliefs. This genus, which this paper terms Individuated Media, has reach equal or exceeding that of the Industrial Era media products and services colloquially known as Mass Media; yet can be differentiated from such traditional media because each consumer simultaneously receives a customized, even bespoke, feed of contents, unlike the uniform edition or program schedule that the consumers of a Mass Media service would all simultaneously receive. This paper considers recognizing Individuated Media as a distinctly new genus of media and begins to examine this new media’s affects upon the sustainability of traditional media theories, doctrines, practices, and business models in this century.