新媒介和旧媒介——基于媒介史的二者关系理论化探索

Old and New Media,Theorizing Their Relationships in Media Historiography

本文分析了媒介研究中一个非常关键的议题:新媒介和旧媒介之间的关系。为了使结论有效可靠,文章回顾大量科学文献,展示了许多生动案例。通过研究,笔者发现,新旧媒介的关系大致可以划分为四个不同的阶段,某些阶段之间有时会稍有重叠。第一个阶段是新媒介模仿旧媒介,新媒介诞生之初,通常是依靠模仿旧媒介而规范自身发展。第二个阶段是新媒介发展出自身特色,成为真正意义上的新媒介。第三个阶段是新媒介发展势头超过旧媒介,引发旧媒介对新媒介的模仿和适应。最后一个阶段则是一个相对持续的阶段,介绍了新旧媒介是如何和谐共处的。总体说来,本文对于新旧媒介关系的梳理对新媒介研究、媒介发展史,甚至整个媒介研究都提供了一种新的依据。

This paper analyzes the relationship between old and new media,one of the key questions of media studies.It presents supportive examples and reviews the scientific literature in order to formulate a general theory on the topic.The relationship between old and new media is characterized by at least 4 different,and sometimes overlapping,phases.The first is called imitation because,when a new medium enters society,it often imitates the old ones.A process of specification,secondly,happens when a new medium diversifies from the old.A third phase of change realizes when a new medium seems to overcome the old one and the latter starts imitating the new one and changing its nature in order to survive.Finally,there is also a static stage named continuity:which may explain how old and new co-exists together.Taken all together,analyses on these phases may build ground for one to understand studies on new media,history of media,and its development as whole.