New Media has strengthened the public sphere by enabling people to upload and access footage, images and written accounts. This has been made easier as there is now a greater access to the internet and possession of mobile phones. These functions now strengthen the public sphere as people are now able to produce their own media quick and easy with what are seen as items which all people have in modern day society. This also promotes democracy as all people are now expected to have a say.
An example of this can be seen in the Syrian uprising as new media allowed the uprising to be viewed across the world simply by uploading footage from mobile phone devices and, in some cases, small cameras using 3G to upload. This helps to strengthen the public sphere because without new media we wouldn't have been as informed over the Syrian uprising as the Syrian government has banned journalists and also turned the internet connection in the across the majority of the country for a day. Without new media we wouldn't be informed as well as we are today and the news wouldn't be of as easy access as it is now due to citizen journalism and digital convergence in mobile phones which now have the capability to access news sites via apps on smartphones.
Another strength that we media provides to the public sphere is that is is highly accessible and cheap. With the internet and mobile phones becoming to cheap nowadays, it's making the access to new media easier for all kinds of people. This is apparent also in the Syrian uprising as the videos of protests were mainly shot on mobile phones which were then uploaded via 3G or an internet connection from a computer onto social networking sites such as facebook and twitter. This is also helped by convergent devices. All phones are now equipped with a camera and an internet connection with adequate speeds. This makes it easier for people all over to produce and upload their own footage to sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Apps are now promoting synergy as the leading app stores have come together with social networking sites to provide apps which make it easier to post status', pictures and videos, all helping us gain access to information quicker via new media. This strengthens the public sphere as we are provided with information through the ease of accessibility to new media. However, some may say that not all were informed with such knowledge as many won't have the technology to view content online due to not being able to afford an internet connection or view content from a mobile phone simply because they do not own one.
On the other hand, some may claim that there are downsides to the rise in new media. A reason for this can be the impact of anonymity. A specific example of this was when Tom Macmaster, an Edinburgh student pretended to be a young Arab lesbian blogger. This shows that anyone can create an online identity which doesn't reflect themselves. This may also be a problem if people pretend to be other people creating confusion amongst peers. This is seen as a problem as it is ethically wrong and can lead to consequences. This is evident in the Tom Macmaster case as there was an outrage from twitter and blogger uses as they didn't accept his apology for when he finally revealed his true identity. Although Tom was trying to promote a serious issue which may be seen as a good thing, many think he went about it in the wrong way. He apologised, however followers did not accept his apology.
Although there are positives and negatives of new media ranging from anonymity issues to the ease of access. The positives seem to outweigh the negative aspects as the news can now be posted by anyone making it easier and quicker for people to be informed of the latest knowledge, we now don't have to rely on the radio to have our say, we can have our say in a matter of seconds by typing in a tweet in your phone and sending it to the internet for the world to see instantly. This also promotes democracy as everyone is now expected to have a say and there is much more room for debate, online through social and new media.
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Sunday 26 February 2012
Media Questions
Long Tail Theory:
Long Tail - The Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a "normal" or Gaussian distribution. A long tail distortion will arise with the inclusion of some unusually high (or low) values which increase (decrease) the mean, skewing the distribution to the right (or left).
Anderson described the effects of the Long Tail on current and future business models beginning with a series of speeches in early 2004 and with the publication of a Wired magazine article in October 2004.
Anderson argues that products in low demand or that have a low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough. Anderson cites earlier research by Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu (Jeffrey) Hu, and Michael D. Smith, that showed that a significant portion of Amazon.com's sales come from obscure books that are not available in brick-and-mortar stores. The Long Tail is a potential market and, as the examples illustrate, the distribution and sales channel opportunities created by the Internet often enable businesses to tap that market successfully.
An Amazon employee described the Long Tail as follows: "We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday."
Anderson has explained the term as a reference to the tail of a demand curve. The term has since been rederived from an XY graph that is created when charting popularity to inventory. In the graph shown above, Amazon's book sales or Netflix's movie rentals would be represented along the vertical axis, while the book or movie ranks are along the horizontal axis. The total volume of low popularity items exceeds the volume of high popularity items.
Some of the most successful Internet businesses have used the Long Tail as part of their business strategy. Examples include eBay (auctions), Yahoo! and Google (web search),Amazon (retail), and iTunes Store (music and podcasts), amongst the major companies, along with smaller Internet companies like Audible (audio books) and Netflix (video rental).
In 2008, a sales analysis of an unnamed UK digital music service by economist Will Page and high-tech entrepreneur Andrew Bud found that sales exhibited a log-normal distribution rather than a power law; they reported that 80% of the music tracks available sold no copies at all over a one-year period. Anderson responded by stating that the study's findings are difficult to assess without access to its data.
Wikinomics:
Wikinomics - How mass collaboration changes everything
According to Tapscott, Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. The use of mass collaboration in a business environment, in recent history, can be seen as an extension of the trend in business to outsource: externalize formerly internal business functions to other business entities. The difference however is that instead of an organized business body brought into being specifically for a unique function, mass collaboration relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve a given operation or solve a problem. This kind of outsourcing is also referred to as crowdsourcing, to reflect this difference. This can be incentivized by a reward system, though it is not required.
Long Tail - The Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a "normal" or Gaussian distribution. A long tail distortion will arise with the inclusion of some unusually high (or low) values which increase (decrease) the mean, skewing the distribution to the right (or left).
Anderson described the effects of the Long Tail on current and future business models beginning with a series of speeches in early 2004 and with the publication of a Wired magazine article in October 2004.
Anderson argues that products in low demand or that have a low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough. Anderson cites earlier research by Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu (Jeffrey) Hu, and Michael D. Smith, that showed that a significant portion of Amazon.com's sales come from obscure books that are not available in brick-and-mortar stores. The Long Tail is a potential market and, as the examples illustrate, the distribution and sales channel opportunities created by the Internet often enable businesses to tap that market successfully.
An Amazon employee described the Long Tail as follows: "We sold more books today that didn't sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday."
Anderson has explained the term as a reference to the tail of a demand curve. The term has since been rederived from an XY graph that is created when charting popularity to inventory. In the graph shown above, Amazon's book sales or Netflix's movie rentals would be represented along the vertical axis, while the book or movie ranks are along the horizontal axis. The total volume of low popularity items exceeds the volume of high popularity items.
Some of the most successful Internet businesses have used the Long Tail as part of their business strategy. Examples include eBay (auctions), Yahoo! and Google (web search),Amazon (retail), and iTunes Store (music and podcasts), amongst the major companies, along with smaller Internet companies like Audible (audio books) and Netflix (video rental).
In 2008, a sales analysis of an unnamed UK digital music service by economist Will Page and high-tech entrepreneur Andrew Bud found that sales exhibited a log-normal distribution rather than a power law; they reported that 80% of the music tracks available sold no copies at all over a one-year period. Anderson responded by stating that the study's findings are difficult to assess without access to its data.
Wikinomics:
Wikinomics - How mass collaboration changes everything
According to Tapscott, Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. The use of mass collaboration in a business environment, in recent history, can be seen as an extension of the trend in business to outsource: externalize formerly internal business functions to other business entities. The difference however is that instead of an organized business body brought into being specifically for a unique function, mass collaboration relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve a given operation or solve a problem. This kind of outsourcing is also referred to as crowdsourcing, to reflect this difference. This can be incentivized by a reward system, though it is not required.
Monday 6 February 2012
David Gauntlett - Task One
1. According to Gauntlett, what was "the media" like in the past and what changes have now occurred?
People sitting around a radio set reading the Radio times wondering what's going to be on and when or people queuing for a movie showing. People relied on time heavily where the media was usually scheduled by the Media Institutions. These days we ourselves produce the media ourselves using small and cheap devices like laptops and mobiles where we share it via YouTube where the work of many thousand directors is seen by huge amounts of people. Before the 'Media Gods' who were the newspapers and record companies handed down from on high to us 'the little people'. Now websites like YouTube, Wikipedia and Myspace where the information is provided by us and is then distributed by us to the rest of the world. This is helped by Web 2.0 where people share things via social media.
2. How far do you agree with Gauntlett?
I agree with David Gauntlett to an extent as he claims that the media is now provided by everyone, not only the 'Media Gods' through the internet. This is evident as we have sites such as YouTube and Twitter that allow us to produce information and footage through devices such as mobile phones and laptops and upload it to the internet for the benefit of other people.
3. How might Gauntlett's ideas be applied to the music industry?
David Gauntlett's ideas may be applied to the music industry by saying that any one can now distribute their music as we now provide the media. It is now easier for upcoming artists to now produce and promote music from the comfort of their own room. Nowadays, it is much easier to film and record music than before. Artists only need an adequate camera with a microphone and an internet connection. These artists can upload their music through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Although this may not be the widespread promotion that an artist would need to go big, this is still an example of us providing the information to the 'Media Gods'. Some artists may get lucky and get their song or music to go viral which could attract major record labels. However, it can be argued that even with such little equipment, it may not be enough to promote or produce music to wider scales. Some small artists may not have a clear microphone or camera which wouldn't attract viewers/listeners, while artists with state of the art equipment with eye catching editing may attract more fans.
People sitting around a radio set reading the Radio times wondering what's going to be on and when or people queuing for a movie showing. People relied on time heavily where the media was usually scheduled by the Media Institutions. These days we ourselves produce the media ourselves using small and cheap devices like laptops and mobiles where we share it via YouTube where the work of many thousand directors is seen by huge amounts of people. Before the 'Media Gods' who were the newspapers and record companies handed down from on high to us 'the little people'. Now websites like YouTube, Wikipedia and Myspace where the information is provided by us and is then distributed by us to the rest of the world. This is helped by Web 2.0 where people share things via social media.
2. How far do you agree with Gauntlett?
I agree with David Gauntlett to an extent as he claims that the media is now provided by everyone, not only the 'Media Gods' through the internet. This is evident as we have sites such as YouTube and Twitter that allow us to produce information and footage through devices such as mobile phones and laptops and upload it to the internet for the benefit of other people.
3. How might Gauntlett's ideas be applied to the music industry?
David Gauntlett's ideas may be applied to the music industry by saying that any one can now distribute their music as we now provide the media. It is now easier for upcoming artists to now produce and promote music from the comfort of their own room. Nowadays, it is much easier to film and record music than before. Artists only need an adequate camera with a microphone and an internet connection. These artists can upload their music through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Although this may not be the widespread promotion that an artist would need to go big, this is still an example of us providing the information to the 'Media Gods'. Some artists may get lucky and get their song or music to go viral which could attract major record labels. However, it can be argued that even with such little equipment, it may not be enough to promote or produce music to wider scales. Some small artists may not have a clear microphone or camera which wouldn't attract viewers/listeners, while artists with state of the art equipment with eye catching editing may attract more fans.
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Media Lens Website Article
In what way do you think some of these examples of the use of We Media are democratic?
The internet and the blogosphere give great opportunity in the development of progressive journalism ideals in both the UK and globally. Stuart Allan praises the bloggers and the "extraordinary contribution made by ordinary citizens offering their first hand reports, digital photographs, camcorder video footage, mobile telephone snapshots or audio clips". The internet and blogosphere only become interesting when they serve to challenge the mainstream as crucial elements in progressive social and political movements.
This shows that We Media is democratic because we decide what goes up on the internet from first hand reports such as mobile phone footage and images etc. and that the internet becomes interesting when we as an active audience decide to post things which will interest the other internet users in their community, causing it to spread and therefore making it democratic.
The internet and the blogosphere give great opportunity in the development of progressive journalism ideals in both the UK and globally. Stuart Allan praises the bloggers and the "extraordinary contribution made by ordinary citizens offering their first hand reports, digital photographs, camcorder video footage, mobile telephone snapshots or audio clips". The internet and blogosphere only become interesting when they serve to challenge the mainstream as crucial elements in progressive social and political movements.
This shows that We Media is democratic because we decide what goes up on the internet from first hand reports such as mobile phone footage and images etc. and that the internet becomes interesting when we as an active audience decide to post things which will interest the other internet users in their community, causing it to spread and therefore making it democratic.
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