Lev Manovich argues for the definition of new media by outlining the technologies that came before digitalization. The key movements of old media were the printing press revolution 1400’s, the photography revolution 1900’s, and calculator/digital computers in the 1930’s. These movements led to studies of how “mass media” and “data processing” were considered to be intertwined due to their impacts on culture. The intersection of “mass media” and “data processing” is further outlined in the principles of new media.
The concept of what is “old media” in the eyes of the author is compelling to dissect the different forms of technology and the significance of its culture. Mass media had a larger effect on its culture compared to old media. This is seen in the twenty-first century with movies that are digitized and streamed directly from a data center instead of having physical access. However, depending on cultural ideas of that time, physical media is not affected by society’s issues. For example, the digital movie Hidden Figures had a scene of a white man smashing the bathroom sign in solidarity with the black woman who had to go through the rain every day to use her race-designated bathroom. Due to modern political views, this scene was removed from the digital movie, thus taking away the character’s expression of the historical segregation challenges faced during that time.