The guide lists text, images, audio, animations, video and web pages. Sorting them by what each asks of the audience explains far more than the list does.
The forms sorted by how much attention each one demands — and where synthetic media cuts across them all.
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| Form | Costs the maker | Costs the audience |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Little — anyone can type | Little — you can skim it |
| Images | Some | Almost nothing — understood instantly |
| Audio | Some | Time, but you can do something else |
| Video | A great deal | Full attention, at the maker's pace |
| Interactive | Most of all | Attention plus effort |
The pattern: The form that demands the most attention is the form that holds it longest. Once bandwidth became cheap, systems that measure attention started preferring video — which is a consequence of the ranking, not of the medium.
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Synthetic media is content generated rather than recorded. It cuts across every form: synthetic text, synthetic voice, synthetic images, synthetic video. That is why it is hard to regulate — it is a new origin for every existing type.
Real-world examples you can name
The Zelensky surrender deepfake — March 2022
A synthetic video showing Ukraine's president telling troops to lay down their arms circulated on social media and briefly on a hacked news website. It was crude enough to be debunked within hours, but it is the standard example of synthetic media used in wartime.
Who it affected: Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, and anyone judging what video evidence is worth.
#BookTok and algorithmic taste — from 2020
A community of readers posting short book videos whose recommendations, amplified by TikTok's ranking, put backlist titles onto bestseller lists years after publication and changed how publishers market fiction.
Who it affected: Readers, authors and booksellers — an industry reshaped by a recommender.
How this is tested — you have to name types of media accurately, including the synthetic kinds. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part a: identify types of digital media in a scenario
- Part b: explain why a described organization chose a form
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q1: read what media a source uses
- Q2: explain how a source presents its message
The trap: naming platforms instead of forms: “Social media” is not a type of digital media. Text, image, audio, video and interactive are.
Identify two types of synthetic digital media.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Explain one reason why an advertiser might use synthetic video rather than filming.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.