Working with digital media

As opposed to analog data, digital data is in many cases easier to manipulate, and the end result can be reproduced indefinitely without any loss of quality. Mathematical operations can be applied to arbitrary digital information regardless of its interpretation (you can add "2" to the data "65" and interpret the result either as the hexadecimal number "43" or the letter "C"). Thus, it is possible to use e.g. the same compression operation onto a text file or an image file or a sound file. The foundations of operation on digital information are described in digital signal processing.

Unconsciously, you do work in digital media these days. In the near future, your careers will depend upon your ability to use digital media to you advantage. It's not just the creative department or media; it will drive how every person in the company creates and operates, from human resources to accounting. Today, digital is not a department-it's a competitive advantage. In order for you to navigate this transition easier, here are some guides. First, you have to stop resisting it. It's happening. Or should I say, it happened. No longer is digital a "department" within an agency-it's an essential competitive advantage for everyone in the company. It is time to get on with it. Second, you might want to create a “first.” It was easier to discover new lands back in the days when guys like Christopher Columbus could accidentally bump into continents. Today, countless uncharted digital territories still await. Now is your chance to conquer one. Third, you should get outside your comfort zone. The best way to get smart about the digital space is to constantly expand into new forms of media by actually working with them. Take on assignments outside your area of expertise. Become a generalist in thinking, with specialist application as needed. Fourth, you might want to embrace technology in your personal life. You shouldn't spend life tethered to a BlackBerry, but you also don't want to become known as the slowpoke that can't access e-mail out of the office. Don't allow personal resistance to technology to become a pain in the ass for the people you work with. In this case, it's not OK for the cobbler's child to go barefoot.