The last decade a number of digital mediums such as computers, internet, digital cameras and mobile phones have entered people’s lives. How have these mediums changed the way we communicate and consume media? This work examines two ongoing trends in this new digital media landscape. The first trend is about how newspapers have reshaped in the digital media landscape. The second trend is about personal publishing in general and blogging in particular. The questions asked are: How have the new mediums changed the way we communicate, create and consume media? And how are pictures used and what role do they play? It is important to ask these questions now when we are in the midst of a changing media landscape.
A qualitative research approach with in-depth interviews, document analysis and a literature study has been performed. The thesis describes how people’s means for communication have changed through history. From the oral culture, the writing culture, the printing culture until the first media age and today’s new media age. It concludes that the new media age is different compared to the previous ages. Today’s communication and media flow is to a higher degree multi-directional compared to the previous ages. People have the means to respond and interact with traditional media such as newspapers. The interaction with the readers has become an important part of the publishing process. Personal publishing and blogging is blossoming and today there are numerous tools available for personal publishing of content at internet. The creation of digital content images and text has become easier and faster. The new digital technologies have eliminated the time and space boarders. Millions of mobile phones with inbuilt cameras results in that we witness pictures of situations we never had pictures of before. These pictures can easily be published for a large audience instantly regardless time and space. The new media age is about personalization and individualization of content creation, content publishing and content consumption. Interactivity is important and the main driver is communication between people.