Oteng Foster, who works for Newmont Mining at Akyem, Ghana, captures field footage that will be used for a variety of information purposes.

When one conjures the many communication tools today at their disposal, it is not a far leap to imagine what new media is, how it works, and its path of distribution. This is especially so when considering the many new kinds of media players commonly available, from touch screen iPhones to e-readers bringing up-to-date news from all parts of the world, to miniature MP4 players featuring wide screen high definition platforms.

New media then, represents the way an individual designs and constructs the information they wish to send to others whether the audience be intimate or vast. Here are two examples of new media products we have developed, some for training purposes, others for branding purposes.

Understanding malaria

Interactive graphics

Regardless of how challenging or unusual any new media presentation is, the overall quality of the work being shown has to be high. People will forgive certain errors in speech, writing, music, photography, or any other media, but not shoddy or ill-conceived work. Nobody has the time to waste.

Radio Newmont Ghana host, Kwame Poku Gyan

These programs were produced for Newmont Mining in Ghana and were run on the company’s website:

http://newmontghana.com/media_preview/radio_newmont_ghana.html

This is a good way to deliver meaningful and timely information quickly — either via website or blog — while keeping production expenses low.

This methodology also has great promise for the many new mobile devices like smart phones, Kindles, etc. Drawbacks: if you want to spice up your production with visuals and the like, costs usually increase and the number of receiving devices that can play your work shrink.