Networked Media Culture

How do the affordances of a networked media culture (hyperlinks multimedia sharing etc) enhance online communication?

By Nicole Frances Clark, 
University of Canberra, Australia

In modern society, online communication is user defined whereby, users of specific cultural mediums- specific to that user (Holmes, 2005) influence multifaceted pathways of communication. Such cultural mediums are fragmentations of early derived sequences of classical communication (Warschauer, 2001). In broad scale terms, the Internet, the online network database developed to connect divided pathways of media- network these divides into specific user interest (Hinton and Hjorth, 2013). Today, the Internet and users of, seek to enhance these pathways through an inexplicit design- allowing multiple individuals to perform user specific actions (Wood and Smith, 2010). With the Internet, individuals can allow complex interactions to occur through many mediums and most can access information with the use of specific tools that seek to enhance these interactions, (Warschauer, 2001). We can broadly define these tools as avenues of Networked Media Culture (Hinton and Hjorth, 2013). This paper, will discuss the use of specific tools- multimedia and hyperlinks and the roles they play configuring these avenues and how these connections seek to enhance online communication.

Hinton and Hjorth (2013), define Multimedia as being a single piece of software that handles different kinds of media. Multimedia comprises a sharing outlet for images, audio and video.  Multimedia is ingrained in every webpage accessible; its construct acts to collaborate an interface comprised of many different media components. Through multimedia, communication pathways may become more specific and more defined- likely to influence networked media. Barrett (1995), explains the connection between multimedia and social communication with the term ‘sociomedia’, suggesting that with the use of multimedia; social and educational communication is enhanced through the accessibility of free information available to users in a networked environment. The ways in which multimedia is utilised is dependent on individual user interest, where individuals form a dynamically changing network. Zhao et al (2009), highlight with multimedia in a social setting- both sharing and exchanging of data augments peer to peer file sharing. Thus, such practice would further augment online communication practice.

Hyperlinks are forms of digital text. They are references to data that a reader or user can follow (Hinton and Hjorth, 2013) and they link information sources to other information in a causal way. Hyperlinks, are the foregrounds that connect information texts to each other, the affordance of hyperlinks allow users to share and connect specific information from one location to another (Park and Thelwall, 2006). This passing of information, via the use of hyperlinks, acts to expand networked media conformance. Coopmans and Zimmerman, (2007) note, the capabilities and values that hyperlinks have in today’s culture, they assert- hyperlinks enhance social communication in both an offline and online setting, determining the ways in which online relationships influence offline relationships. Therefore, such networked relationships are likely to become enhanced. Rusher and Ackland (2009), conducted research in ‘relational hyperlink analysis’ to examine the social influences hyperlinks assert in the online sector, highlighting- individuals use hyperlinks to strengthen ‘cyberinfrastructure’. That is, they strengthen taboo social communication barriers such as ‘Refugee Rights’, in an online setting, actively demonstrating that hyperlinks play a causal role in online communication dynamics.

In contrast, it is clear that the affordances of multimedia and hyperlinks are vastly beneficial to the contextual consensus of a Networked Media Culture, where online communication flourishes under these perceived avenues of networked communication mediums. The affordances of these avenues (multimedia and hyperlinks), and the dynamic ways in which they are utilised, allow multiple communication paradigms to exist and cooperate; thus playing a fundamental role in online communication sectors- seeking to both enhance and collaborate a Networked Media Culture. 

Barrett, E. 1995, Sociomedia: Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Knowledge, 3rd edn, MIT press, Massachusetts.

Hinton,S and Hjorth,L. (2013) Understanding Social Media. Sage.

Holmes, D. 2005, Communication Theory: Media, Technology and Society, 1st edn, Sage   Publications Ltd, Thousand Oaks California.

H. Zhao, W. Lin, and K. J. R. Liu, “Behavior modeling and forensics for multimedia social networks: A case study in multimedia fingerprinting,” IEEE Signal Process. Mag., vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 118–139, Jan. 2009

Koopmans,R.,Zimmerman,A.,2005, "Visibility and Communication Networks on the Internet: The Role of Search Engines and Hyperlinks",paper prepared for the CONNEX workshop "A European Public Sphere:How much of it do we have and how much do we need?",Amsterdam.

Lusher, D. and Ackland, R. (2010). A relational hyperlink analysis of an online social movement. forthcoming in Journal of Social Structure. Accepted 13th October 2009.

Park and Thelwall, 2006   Park, H. W., M. Thelwall. 2003. Hyperlink analyses of the World Wide Web: A review. J. Comput.-Mediated Comm. 8(4)

Warschauer, M. (2001). Online communication. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages (pp. 207-212). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wood, A. & Smith, M. 2010, Online Communication: Linking Technology, Identity, & Culture, 2nd edn,
Lawerence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwash.

*Notice*, The text in this blog is the property of Nicole Clark- all work written and edited. This blog claims no credit for any images shown, all copyright belongs to the owner of the image, should the owner wish to have it removed, please contact me directly.