This quote from Manovich’s 4th principle, variability, “A new media object is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions.” (p. 36) stood out to me as it shows the stark difference between traditional and new media. Traditional media is something static that can’t be changed once printed like books or newspapers whereas, new media like websites can be modified whenever based on user interactions. 

An example of variability can be seen in social media platforms that tailor what posts you see based on the content you’ve previously interacted with, customizing your algorithm daily and affecting the way we consume and interact with information. It is also important to point out how variability depends on the media objects within the database, if the media object is hard to scale, not loading quickly, updated, etc. will all affect its usability. While with traditional media like newspapers what you see is what you get, and there are rarely errors/issues in how the information or media is portrayed to you. All these elements that make new media interactive and personalized can also affect user experience negatively.