Read this article by Roy Greenslade about online news.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/mar/25/paywalls-new-york-times
Friday, 15 July 2011
theories and theorists- Part 1
People often ask how much theory is expected in the exam; do students need to quote theories and the names of critics/theorists? The answer is yes, you are expected to know some RELEVANT theory and to be able to apply it to examples, particularly to access the higher marks. You are also expected to be able to accurately cite the names of critics/researchers and theorists and to set out their position- but you certainly don't have to agree with them! In fact, there are more marks for people who can argue effectively with someone else's ideas.
So whose work is it useful to know about?
David Gauntlett
http://www.theory.org.uk/david/
So whose work is it useful to know about?
David Gauntlett
http://www.theory.org.uk/david/
Media Studies 2.0
In 2007, Gauntlett published online the article Media Studies 2.0, arguing that we need to recognise the changing media landscape in which the categories of 'audiences' and 'producers' blur together. He argues that there is a shift from a 'sit-back-and-be-told culture' to a 'making-and-doing culture'. His video is essential viewing!
Henry Jenkins
Jenkins has written about fan cultures for many years and the ways in which fans ‘re-write’ media texts for their own purposes. In his recent book ‘Convergence culture’ he looks at how the convergence of different media forms should be understood less in terms of technology and more in terms of what people are doing with them.
![[convergence.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizeXwGm1F-i4GQZsb2zrkvx202XifqQUj4tRFlih1gtbkNjBqNdl359V8CW88E_ZBBICQ1fs8aeAELF6GjtTi6HxYGPyVIj-uzXZhPYjJOhWU9RGAxZO9h2m2EHU9yVE72VpX_yVR93BE/s200/convergence.jpg)
In 2007, Gauntlett published online the article Media Studies 2.0, arguing that we need to recognise the changing media landscape in which the categories of 'audiences' and 'producers' blur together. He argues that there is a shift from a 'sit-back-and-be-told culture' to a 'making-and-doing culture'. His video is essential viewing!
Henry Jenkins
Jenkins has written about fan cultures for many years and the ways in which fans ‘re-write’ media texts for their own purposes. In his recent book ‘Convergence culture’ he looks at how the convergence of different media forms should be understood less in terms of technology and more in terms of what people are doing with them.
Michael Wesch
http://mediatedcultures.net/about.htm
Wesch is assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Wesch is interested in ‘digital ethnography’, where he studies the effect of new media on human interaction. He created a short video, "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us." and put it on youtube in early 2007. His later videos, made collaboratively with his students are all really interesting reflections on how people use the web.
http://mediatedcultures.net/about.htm
Wesch is assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Wesch is interested in ‘digital ethnography’, where he studies the effect of new media on human interaction. He created a short video, "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us." and put it on youtube in early 2007. His later videos, made collaboratively with his students are all really interesting reflections on how people use the web.
Chris Anderson
Anderson came up with the concept of ‘The Long Tail’ an idea about retailing, describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities – usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities. Amazon.com is a good example.
“The distribution and inventory costs of businesses successfully applying this strategy allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The total sales of this large number of "non-hit items" is called the Long Tail” (Wikipedia).
This concept might also be seen to apply in social networks (e.g., crowdsourcing, peer-to-peer), and viral marketing . Overall, it is dependent on the online age and could not have easily existed in earlier society.
“The distribution and inventory costs of businesses successfully applying this strategy allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The total sales of this large number of "non-hit items" is called the Long Tail” (Wikipedia).
This concept might also be seen to apply in social networks (e.g., crowdsourcing, peer-to-peer), and viral marketing . Overall, it is dependent on the online age and could not have easily existed in earlier society.
Don Tapscott
Don's influential books 'Wikinomics' and 'Grown up digital' look at how the business model of the web and the generation that has grown up with the web are changing the economy.
Don's influential books 'Wikinomics' and 'Grown up digital' look at how the business model of the web and the generation that has grown up with the web are changing the economy.
Martin Barker
Any study of Media regulation or fans ought to take account of the work of Martin Barker, currently at Aberystwyth University. He has written and researched extensively on comics, films and their audiences, as well as moral panics about the media, such as the Video nasties 'scare' of the mid 1980s and the Childs play 3 panic of the mid 1990s.
Any study of Media regulation or fans ought to take account of the work of Martin Barker, currently at Aberystwyth University. He has written and researched extensively on comics, films and their audiences, as well as moral panics about the media, such as the Video nasties 'scare' of the mid 1980s and the Childs play 3 panic of the mid 1990s.
Past exam questions and advice from an examiner
“The impact of the internet on the media is revolutionary”. Discuss.
“For media audiences, the internet has changed everything.” Discuss
“The impact of the internet on the media is exaggerated”. Discuss.
Discuss the extent to which the distribution and consumption of media have been transformed by the internet
Explain the extent to which online media exist alongside older methods of distribution in 2010.
Evaluate the opportunities and the threats offered to media producers by the internet.
Questions tend to focus on what difference the internet has made ('revolutionary', 'changed everything', 'exaggerated', 'transformed''opportunities and threats') but also looking at audiences and producers. So long as you read the question carefully to see which angle it is looking for, you shouldn't have a problem. However, this focus on 'difference' does mean you have to be thinking about what the media was like pre-internet.
If we look at the bullet points in the Specification, which defines what should be studied, we should be able to see what kinds of question can come up:
• How have online media developed? (change from the past)
• What has been the impact of the internet on media production? (does it allow more people to produce their own media? what effect has it had on mainstream media?)
• How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past? (audiences and the difference the internet has made)
• To what extent has convergence transformed the media? (technology's impact- mobile devices, tv online, etc)
the kinds of thing you could talk about would include:
music downloading and distribution,
the film industry and the internet,
online television,
online gaming and virtual worlds,
online news provision,
various forms of online media production by the public or a range of other online / social media forms.
It is pretty open in terms of what you might have studied, so I would expect answers to draw upon very different case study material.
This part of the exam asks you to do three more specific things, whatever topic you answer on:
1. You MUST refer to at least TWO different media
2. You MUST refer to past, present and future (with the emphasis on the present- contemporary examples from the past five years)
3. refer to critical/theoretical positions
So for 1. Different types of media online count, so the fact that you are talking about say, music downloading and people making youtube videos would tick the boxes for two media, even though they are both online.
For 2. the main thing is to ensure you have a majority of material from the past five years. I'd urge you to make it even more recent than that- say the time you have been doing the course, as the web changes so fast. Talking about the future for this topic is easy- you can speculate about how your chosen examples might develop in the future- what next after facebook? what can you see happening with mobile media? how will traditional media cope with further spread of fast wireless connections?
For 3. you need some critics/writers who have developed ideas about online media. I'll be recommending some below.
“For media audiences, the internet has changed everything.” Discuss
“The impact of the internet on the media is exaggerated”. Discuss.
Discuss the extent to which the distribution and consumption of media have been transformed by the internet
Explain the extent to which online media exist alongside older methods of distribution in 2010.
Evaluate the opportunities and the threats offered to media producers by the internet.
Questions tend to focus on what difference the internet has made ('revolutionary', 'changed everything', 'exaggerated', 'transformed''opportunities and threats') but also looking at audiences and producers. So long as you read the question carefully to see which angle it is looking for, you shouldn't have a problem. However, this focus on 'difference' does mean you have to be thinking about what the media was like pre-internet.
If we look at the bullet points in the Specification, which defines what should be studied, we should be able to see what kinds of question can come up:
• How have online media developed? (change from the past)
• What has been the impact of the internet on media production? (does it allow more people to produce their own media? what effect has it had on mainstream media?)
• How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past? (audiences and the difference the internet has made)
• To what extent has convergence transformed the media? (technology's impact- mobile devices, tv online, etc)
the kinds of thing you could talk about would include:
music downloading and distribution,
the film industry and the internet,
online television,
online gaming and virtual worlds,
online news provision,
various forms of online media production by the public or a range of other online / social media forms.
It is pretty open in terms of what you might have studied, so I would expect answers to draw upon very different case study material.
This part of the exam asks you to do three more specific things, whatever topic you answer on:
1. You MUST refer to at least TWO different media
2. You MUST refer to past, present and future (with the emphasis on the present- contemporary examples from the past five years)
3. refer to critical/theoretical positions
So for 1. Different types of media online count, so the fact that you are talking about say, music downloading and people making youtube videos would tick the boxes for two media, even though they are both online.
For 2. the main thing is to ensure you have a majority of material from the past five years. I'd urge you to make it even more recent than that- say the time you have been doing the course, as the web changes so fast. Talking about the future for this topic is easy- you can speculate about how your chosen examples might develop in the future- what next after facebook? what can you see happening with mobile media? how will traditional media cope with further spread of fast wireless connections?
For 3. you need some critics/writers who have developed ideas about online media. I'll be recommending some below.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Online Age Glossary
G325 Section B Glossary (Online Age and We Media)
Blog
From ‘web log’, meaning a website updated regularly and chronologically by the author giving their views and opinions. Blogs have now become an important part of online journalism, The Huffington Post blog sold in early 2011 for $315 million.
From ‘web log’, meaning a website updated regularly and chronologically by the author giving their views and opinions. Blogs have now become an important part of online journalism, The Huffington Post blog sold in early 2011 for $315 million.
Casual Gaming
This refers to games played online without a console, either on a PC or phone. Casual gamers do not fit the normal stereotype of gamers, most are female. Despite the name casual games can involve lots of financial and time commitment, Farmville for example.
Citizen Journalism
When members of the public engage in journalism. Examples include providing pictures or film of events to news organisations or reporting events in blogs. A key part of democratic media.
When members of the public engage in journalism. Examples include providing pictures or film of events to news organisations or reporting events in blogs. A key part of democratic media.
The Cloud
Cloud storage allows users to store data on a company’s servers rather than their own hardrives. This has now evolved into a service where games can be played from the Cloud (Onlive or Steam) or music can be stored and played from the Cloud (Amazon Music, Google Music or iCloud).
Convergence
Devices are no longer used for just one thing, new media technologies are not limited by how they can be consumed or distributed. Convergence means PCs now play music, iPods can play games and phones are internet devices. Sometimes institutions plan convergence (the iPhone) but sometimes it’s the consumers who start it, Nook readers used as tablets for example.
Democratic media
The media used to be controlled by large institutions that had the money and power to print, publish and broadcast. Home computing and cheap media production means that anyone can be a journalist, film maker or broadcaster, making the media democratic. Blogs, video services, easy app development and podcasts make it easy to produce user generated content.
Long tail
Chris Anderson defined the Long Tail as an economic state where products have a longer sales pattern when they don’t rely on shop storage because they’re either downloadable (iTunes for example) or they’re sold online (Amazon). An Amazon employee described the Long Tail as “We sold more books today that didn’t sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday.” The long tail is important for niche items. Anita Elberse criticised the Long Tail by claiming that it’s still mainstream and mass market products that dominate internet sales.
Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is the principle requiring Internet providers to act as common carriers and not discriminate among content or users — for example, by providing degraded service to rich-media sites, by throttling file-sharing services, by penalizing customers who watch or download a lot of videos or by blocking Internet applications and content from competitors
Peer to peer
A system where content is shared between users across a network. Peer to peer can be used for illegal downloads with a central hub like the Pirate Bay linking users to other users’ content.
Social Marketing
Marketing and advertising that reaches potential consumers via social networking website, such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. They appear at the edges of users’ profiles and can be targeted based on keywords in their profiles to match their stated interests or recent activities.
Marketing and advertising that reaches potential consumers via social networking website, such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. They appear at the edges of users’ profiles and can be targeted based on keywords in their profiles to match their stated interests or recent activities.
Streaming
Delivery and distribution of media content over an internet connection direct to your device without being saved. Youtube and Spotify are both streaming services. Onlive is an example of a streaming games service.
Synergy
Synergy is the working together of two different institutions, often relying on each other’s expertise and reputation. Synergy has been around for a long time now but in the online age it’s evolved into something more pervasive; Vevo on Youtube, Facebook and Spotify are to work together in Europe and Fifa 12 will feature more affiliates than ever before (Real Madrid and Everton used the trailer to launch their 11/12 season kits).
Top down/bottom up news
Top down news focuses on news that focuses on groups in power; governments and business for example. Twitter and blogs now allow news to be ‘bottom up’. The revolution in Syria is a good example; traditional media has been gagged there so news focuses on individuals because it’s being reported by them.
Trending
Happens when a topic is widely discussed on microblogs like Twitter. Trending allows a subject to become big news without pushing from an established news agency. Think about Ryan Giggs, the traditional media couldn’t discuss him but it was trended on Twitter.
Viral marketing
A marketing strategy that encourages the audience to pass on the marketing material themselves. Examples include short films and clips sent by email.
A marketing strategy that encourages the audience to pass on the marketing material themselves. Examples include short films and clips sent by email.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web development and web design that facilitates interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. It is understood to be a democratic forum, a flat arena in which all users may contribute and speak.
Required Reading LIst
Year 13 Media in an Online Age - Required Reading List
The Long Tail Theory - Chris Anderson
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (ISBN 1591841380)[1] is a book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, first published in December 2006
Henry Jenkins – Participatory culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_culture http://www.henryjenkins.org/
Chris Anderson – Long Tail theory http://www.longtail.com/about.html
Tapscott and Williams – Wikinomics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikinomics
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