Online, Social and Participatory media (OSP).
Notes from the lesson
Before studying the CSPs, we need to learn a key theorist for this topic - Clay Shirky's End of audience theories. This, along with the remarkable impact of the internet, will underpin everything we study for Teen Vogue and The Voice.
The internet: a brief history
The internet has been the most significant social, cultural and technological development of the last 30 years.
- In 1998, just 9% of UK households had internet access.
- In 2018, it had risen to 90%.
- Daily internet use in the UK has doubled since 2006.
- Smartphones are now the most popular device to access the internet. The iPhone was launched in 2007.
Source: ONS (Office for National Statistics)
The 'Information Revolution'
The 'Information Revolution'
550 years ago, the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg meant that the number of books in existence rose from a few thousand to 20 million in just 25 years. This led to the Reformation, the Renaissance and the scientific revolution in which centuries-old modes of thinking were radically questioned.
The internet has been likened to the Gutenberg revolution – which means we’re living through this ‘Information revolution’ right now:
- “The most important medium of the twentieth century” (Briggs and Burke 2005)
- “An application that will usher in The Information Age” (Castells 1996)
Clay Shirky: End of audience
Clay Shirky suggests the 20th century media model “with professional producers and amateur consumers” has been replaced by a more chaotic landscape that allows consumers to be producers and distributors.
From the rise of collaborative projects to publicity campaigns run by volunteers, he believes that “organizations now have to understand, and respect, the motivations of the billion new participants in the contemporary media ecosystem.”
Clay Shirky suggests the 20th century media model “with professional producers and amateur consumers” has been replaced by a more chaotic landscape that allows consumers to be producers and distributors.
From the rise of collaborative projects to publicity campaigns run by volunteers, he believes that “organizations now have to understand, and respect, the motivations of the billion new participants in the contemporary media ecosystem.”
One of big changes with digital platforms is that “Every consumer is also a producer, and everyone can talk back.” Yet what may be more significant is the simple math of how many people can reach each other through the connections in a network. The result is always more connections.
Shirky adds that media had been a hierarchical industry—in that one filtered first, and then published. “All of that now breaks down,” he says. “People are producing who are not employees or media professions. So we now publish first, and then filter. We find the good stuff after the fact. This is dramatically different.”
Clay Shirky: End of audience blog tasks
Media Magazine reading
Media Magazine 55:
1) Looking over the article as a whole, what are some of the positive developments due to the internet highlighted by Bill Thompson?
- A great source to find information
- Allows us to campaign and provides us with a source for political action to take place
2) What are the negatives or dangers linked to the development of the internet?
Negatives and dangers linked to the development of the internet include:
- Bullying and abuse online
- Illegal content and images (pornography and child abuse relatively easy to access)
- Platform for extremists and radicals to influence people
- Fraud, scams, ripoffs and malicious software available
- The dark web, made up of websites and online services accessed via specialised browsers and tools that make it very hard to identify who is using them; it is used to sell drugs and for other illegal activity
3) What does ‘open technology’ refer to? Do you agree with the idea of ‘open technology’?
'Open Technology' refers to technologies that are built to suit the principles of equality, social justice, and free expressions that are evident in our society.
4) Bill Thompson outlines some of the challenges and questions for the future of the internet. What are they?
"We cannot simply pull down the walls to the unimpeded flow of information and expect no consequences, so while I continue to think that the real benefits of the network will only be seen if we make it as open as possible, I know that openness carries a price. And of course, we could decide to do things differently. Over a decade ago lawyer Lawrence Lessig pointed out, in Code and other Laws of Cyberspace, that CODE IS LAW."
5) Where do you stand on the use and regulation of the internet? Should there be more control or more openness? Why?
I think that the use of regulation of the internet would help to conquer more negatives/dangers of the internet such as fraud, online abuse, illegal content etc as it would put more control and supervision on these issues, ultimately making the internet a safer platform. However, in terms of openness on the internet, I think that regulation could potentially be a restriction on people's voice and opinions. The restrictions and filters on particular websites such as twitter are effective as it blocks out offensive and extremist comments, arguably any more regulation could restrict voice and opinion.
Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody
Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody charts the way social media and connectivity is changing the world. Read Chapter 3 of his book, ‘Everyone is a media outlet’, and answer the following questions:
1) How does Shirky define a ‘profession’ and why does it apply to the traditional newspaper industry?
A profession "exists to solve a hard problem, one that requires some sort of specialisation". The example Shirky uses is that of a race car driver requiring specialised training in order to ensure that they can drive the car safely and at speed.
2) What is the question facing the newspaper industry now the internet has created a “new ecosystem”?
Problems of production and distribution are much less serious and newspaper industry is now asking different questions regarding publishing - the media is decreasingly in the hands of professionals so there poses the question "what happens when there's nothing unique about publishing anymore, because users can do it for themselves?". Also, questions regarding publishing have changed from "why publish this?" to "why not publish this?".
3) Why did Trent Lott’s speech in 2002 become news?
In 2002 Lott's speech became news because of the controversy of his comment. He more or less pledged allegiance with Thurmond - a man known for his republican views. Therefore, when President Bush and many other politicians confronted Lott about his comments that "if the rest of the country had followed [their] lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems", he demeaned the efforts of the current president and politicians who had been working so hard over the years.
4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?
Mass amatuerisation is the growth in the amount of self-published content found on the internet. It is the idea of everyone being able to produce and publish content as well as consume it.
5) Shirky suggests that: “The same idea, published in dozens or hundreds of places, can have an amplifying effect that outweighs the verdict from the smaller number of professional outlets.” How can this be linked to the current media landscape and particularly ‘fake news’?
Shirky's suggestion particularly links to the concept of 'fake news' because it implies that if one news story is consistently repeated throughout the media then it is more likely to be believed by an audience. Frequency stands as a determinant as to whether something is believed and important. If nearly all the major newspapers report on the same story, then people will be more likely to believe them over a small group of professionals saying otherwise even if the story isn't true.4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?
Mass amatuerisation is the growth in the amount of self-published content found on the internet. It is the idea of everyone being able to produce and publish content as well as consume it.
5) Shirky suggests that: “The same idea, published in dozens or hundreds of places, can have an amplifying effect that outweighs the verdict from the smaller number of professional outlets.” How can this be linked to the current media landscape and particularly ‘fake news’?
6) What does Shirky suggest about the social effects of technological change? Does this mean we are currently in the midst of the internet “revolution” or “chaos” Shirky mentions?
Although Shirky questions whether we are in a 'revolution' or a 'chaos' due to technological change , I think that we are in the midst of an internet revolution because the internet enables us to encourage significant changes. However, this can arguably be viewed as chaos because of the changes that come about as a result of the internet not always being controlled and are not always changes that we welcome.
7) Shirky says that “anyone can be a publisher… [and] anyone can be a journalist”. What does this mean and why is it important?
Audiences are no longer just the people that consume/watch the content but they are now able to create it too. This also means that people do not need to be trained to a high standard in order to create news stories. This is important as it hints at the fact that the quality of news may decrease as a result of audiences having less professional skills/know-how when it comes to compiling news stories.
8) What does Shirky suggest regarding the hundred years following the printing press revolution? Is there any evidence of this “intellectual and political chaos” in recent global events following the internet revolution?
The changes brought about due to the Gutenberg/Printing Press Revolution created immense anxiety amongst those who prided themselves on their work/lives as scribes. A quicker, more efficient method of printing words in masses was introduced and it meant that these scribes were no longer needed. Being a scribe was a respectable job because you needed a great deal of literacy, so when the job of a scribe could be done by anyone operating the newspaper, this acted as a form of intellectual chaos. Recent examples of political chaos - people agreeing with different political parties despite not truly knowing what they mean.
9) Why is photography a good example of ‘mass amateurisation’?
Photography is a good example of mass amateurisation because photos can be taken as proof for the media and media stories. The creation of online photo hosting sites have created a threat to professional photographing.
10) What do you think of Shirky’s ideas on the ‘End of audience’? Is this era of ‘mass amateurisation’ a positive thing? Or are we in a period of “intellectual and political chaos” where things are more broken than fixed?
In my opinion this era of mass amateurisation is a positive thing to some extent as it allows everyday people to contribute their news and opinions to the media - it is arguably more reliable way to present news as it is unlikely to be fake, especially in regard to to citizen journalism. It also increases the range of opinions and perceptions shared in the media which enables the media to remain diverse rather than homogeneous. Arguably, it can be a negative thing because it means that the quality of news is decreasing due to the lack of professionalism of amateur journalists. Also, it means that those attempting to find professions in the newspaper/journalism industry have more difficulties in doing so because professionally trained journalists are no longer needed.
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