The very early differentiation of analog and digital media came up with the development of the first computers and cybernetic approaches in the 1940s and since then became a major question in media theory. Especially with the invention of CDs in 1982 the difference between the digital and analog sound medium (vinyl records vs. CDs), practically displayed the divergence of the back then old and the new media and their featured characteristics. The question was not only if the medium carried digital or analog information, but also how the information was recorded (again either digital or analog) were indicators for the quality of the medium. In the specific example CDs have been said to have a more cold, but brilliant sound, while vinyl records purvey a much warmer and thus charming sound.
However, the core difference between analog and digital media seems to be determined via their representational qualities. While the (new) digital media are based on a binary system (0 & 1 = yes & no) leaving no space for coincidence or mistakes, analog media and their representation of information are perceivd as rather blurred, distorted and loss-making, hence the variety of their physical entities.
Furthermore one can sum it up that physical analog media are real things carrying information, while the digital counterpart acts in a hyper-real, virtual space, trying to simulate reality.
Another differentiation of various types of media after Heinz Pürer, extended by Marcus Burkhart also seems important for a contemprary view and disctinction of analog and digital media:
a) Primary Media
Media of human elementary contact, i.e. language, mimic, gestures used by humans to communicate directly.
b) Secondary Media
A part of the interacting parties uses technical tools to communicate. These tools can be smokesigns, but also newspapers, books and posters.
c) Tertiary Media
Both of the communicating parties use technical tools to send and receive information, e.g. telecommunication, TV, radio or computer.
d) Quarternary Media
Besides telecommunicative tools, both, sender and receiver need to have an internet connection. Unlike „classic“ media, there is no clear sender and receiver, communication happens interactive.
Keeping this differentiations in mind, new and interactive media are using electronic devices which don’t simply carry digital information virtually between human senders and receivers. The medium itself can be receiving and storing information and likewise not only forward this information but also artificially generate own contents based on the information supplied.
On the other side, analog media is defined by physical entities, that carry information. This kind of media has to be actively filled with information by the sender and actively received by the sender, using (various) human senses.
Analog vs. digital
With an extraordinary expansion of digital media within the last decade(s) analog media has often been said to lose it’s relevance and for some parts will be completely replaced by digital media.
While obviously new digital alternatives like online newspapers or music streaming services are conquering with „traditional“ media like printed news or vinyl records, analog media are defending their position and for some parts taking back lost shares of the market. Not only sales of vinyl records have been rising in the last decade, but also analog board games, real notebooks and printed books are getting more and more popular (again).
Even in the offices of new technological enterprises like Google, Facebook, or Adobe the value of analog design processes, like sketching and scribbling with pen and paper is highly appreaciated. Digital creators are aware that at some stages of the creative process analog approaches are way more effective to generate usable output then immediately starting to design on screen.
Besides that, the digital world needs the real world to represent it’s ideas and information. As Michael Meyer stated in 2013, the digital world is full of (analog) analogies. Just like the desktop of your computer is designed like your real desktop, featuring directories to store files and a trashcan to put in things you don’t use no more.
Sources
Analog/Digital – Opposition oder Kontinuum?, Jens Schröter, Alexander Böhnke (Hrsg.), 2004
Die Rache Des Analogen, David Sax, 2016
https://medienkindergarten.wien/medienpaedagogik/infothek/der-medienbegriff/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grmZmibek70