Digital media

If a modern-day Rip Van Winkle were to emerge after a slumber of twenty-years, he would surely find much to be surprised by: trainloads of commuters with faces glued to devices with screens, or people walking down the street having earnest conversations with is-it-themselves-or-is-it-imaginary-people? The vocabulary wouldn’t be any more familiar: smartphones, swiping, selfies, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, VoIP, text messages, hashtags, tweets, cyberbullying, binge-watching, podcasts, webinars, and on and on.

Keeping the DDC current with respect to digital media isn’t made any easier by the number of contexts in which the topic is treated, including the following:

• 004.69 Specific kinds of computer communications
• 006.75 [Special computer methods] Specific types of multimedia systems
• 011.39 [General bibliographies and catalogs of] Electronic resources
• 025.344 [Cataloging, classification, indexing of] Electronic resources
• 070.5797 Electronic publications (Digital publications)
• 302.231 [Social interaction / Communication] Digital media
• 371.33 Teaching aids, equipment, materials
• 374.26 [Adult education] Use of mass media and computers
• 384.3 Computer communication
• 384.5 Wireless communication
• 621.382 Communications engineering
• 659.144 Advertising in digital media

Recent updates to the DDC with respect to digital media have focused on the development under 302.231 Digital media, the number for interdisciplinary works on digital media. One change was to expand for several types of digital media that had already been recognized in the 004–006 development: 302.2311 Electronic mail, 302.2312 Discussion groups, 302.2314 Blogs, and 302.2315 Wikis; a further expansion was made at 302.23445 Radiotelephony. A related change was to add other digital media topics to notes in existing classes. For example, podcasts, webcasts, and streaming media were all added to the class-here note at 302.234 Motion pictures, radio, television. A final change was to relocate digital versions of traditional media out of 302.231 to the numbers for the traditional media; for example, digital print media such as online newspapers or periodicals would now be classed in 302.232 Print media and its subdivisions rather than in 302.231 Digital media.

Developments in the various other contexts mentioned above have been examined and tweaked to make them consistent with the other changes mentioned. Consistency, however, does not necessarily mean sameness. For example, if there is insufficient literary warrant for an expansion in a particular context, a topic may be handled by being added in an including note to an existing class in an appropriate hierarchy. For instance, while expansions for wikis have been introduced at 006.753 and 302.2315, wikis has been added as a standing room topic in an including note at the newly expanded 384.38 Computer communications in multimedia systems.

Consistency is also provided through number building. An add instruction at 371.334 Computer science makes the development there parallel the development under 004–006. In similar fashion the development under 374.26 Use of mass media and computers has been made to parallel the development under 371.333–371.337, which incorporates the development under 371.334.

Internet telephony is both computer communications and telephone communications. Over recent years Internet telephony had been provided for with computer communications in some contexts (e.g., computer science), with telephone communications in other contexts (e.g., communications, engineering). Internet telephony will now be treated consistently under computer communications and has accordingly been relocated from 384.6 Communications / Telephony to 384.33 Communications / Computer communication / Activities and services and from 621.385 Telephony to 621.382 Communications engineering.

We illustrate some of these changes with works whose publication and classification predate the changes outlined above. For each such work, we give the Dewey number where it was appropriately classed before the changes, as well as the appropriate number after the changes.

Work	DDC number before changes	DDC number after changes
The complete guide to wikis: how to set up, use, and benefit from wikis for teachers, business professionals, families, and friends	006.75	006.753
Start your own blogging business	070.57973	070.579734
Podcasting: eine Revolution?	302.231	302.234
Adult learning in the digital age: perspectives on online technologies and outcomes	374.26	374.264
Delivering voice over IP networks	621.385	621.382