A2 Media TheoryPart 3

E-media & social media

(c) Jon Meier

Long Tail ModelChris Anderson

Digital media services such as Amazon, Spotify & Netflix can extend the life of a product well beyond its initial release. Often applies to niche and non-mainstream products. There is renewed interest in ‘back catalogue’ items, nostalgia, spin-offs and tie-ins (sequels & prequels).

Low volume sales over a longer period can generate more revenue than short-term high volume sales on the immediate release of a product. The long tail is a key part of e-media.

http://www.slideshare.net/emmasugarmanphotography/the-long-tail-theory-15370294

https://www.ideagrove.com/blog-1/blog/2005/10/understanding-the-long-tail-theory-of-media-fragmentation.html

Trad media: it’s all about audience figuresDigital media: it’s all about the number of interactions

Time

Memorizer: think of Fairy TALES & Hans Christian ANDERSON

(c) Jon Meier

Clay Shirkysocial media guru, NYU

Old models of producer-audience have broken down.

New audience-groupings have grown up: collaborative projects, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, publicity campaigns run by volunteers.

‘End of Audience’ Model"Every consumer is also a producer, and everyone

can talk back."

Media had been a hierarchical industry—in that one filtered first, and then published. "All of that now breaks down…......People are producing who are not employees or media professionals. So we now publish first, and then filter. ”

It’s all about connections, participatory networks

https://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history?language=en

“Media is GLOBAL, SOCIAL, UBIQUITOUS &

CHEAP”

Memorizer Shirky doesn’t shirk view of audiences transformed into sharers, commentators and producers

(c) Jon Meier

Aleks Krotoski

The web is a mirror which reflects our concerns and preoccupations.

It also influences who we are and how we behave.

She embraces e-media in a positive way but is keen to make us more aware of the power of dominant digital players such as Google & Facebook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A6Ky49573Y

Psychologist & journalist.Clear, intelligent commentator on everything concerning e-media.

The Internet is a democratic space. This cyberdemocracy is disruptive (counter-hegemonic) and pluralist. It It provides a counterbalance to traditional ‘big brother’ media conglomerates with their mechanisms of control, surveillance and censorship.

Memorizer: intelligent dALEKS

On the negative side, the web is also a space where hegemonic forces still exist alongside cyberdemocracy.

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(Sir) Tim Berners-LeeThe British inventor of HTML, the language of the internet. He envisaged the internet as a creative space which is democratic and decentralized. A supporter of internet neutrality and openness. A campaigner for digital human rights: "Threats to the Internet, such as companies or governments that interfere with or snoop on Internet traffic, compromise basic human network rights."He recognized that information is still in the hands of the few.

memorizer: Tim berners hyphen lee hypertext hyperclever hyper advocate of internet openness

Evidence to support Berners-Lee’s concerns:conglomerates such as Google (owners of You Tube), companies such as Facebook and Twitter exist due to strong ad-based commercial promotional content. State surveillance has been replaced by corporate surveillance – companies use the internet to find detailed information about consumers’ tastes and buying habits. State surveillance also exists (the ex US intelligence employee Ed Snowden has proved this]. There is lots of Internet ‘policing’ in the form of corporate regulation, control and censorship. The Internet itself has become a means to collect all sorts of information about individual users.

(c) Jon Meier

Dan Gillmor

Academic. Author of ‘We the Media’

Observer of Citizen journalism.

E- media challenges the hegemony of media oligopolies (clusters of media conglomerates) – ending the traditional ‘few to many’ transmission model.

Changes the balance of news values from a dominant hegemonic model to a more pluralist context.

Updates Chomsky’s view that traditional mass media news organisations manipulate news agendas to support corporate interests.

Examples to support Gillmor’s views (which actually came along after he wrote ‘We the Media’) would be:Real News and Vice News + the power of bloggers and vloggers such as KSI, Zoella, Russell Brand

(c) Jon Meier

David Gauntlett“Web 2.0”

The term web 2.0 was popularized by Tim O’ReillyWeb 2.0 is the user-generated, social, interactive version of the web.

Media content used to be produced by corporate elites and handed down from on high.This evolved into a shared, convergent culture. Web 2.0 is interactive. It favours UGC (user-generated content) and UCC (user-controlled content). New media is Postmodern in nature – simulated, unoriginal, imitative, hybrid and self-referencing.

Gauntlett is also a strong advocate of the multiple and fluid identities model promoted by e-media. Read the conclusion to his book on theory.orghttp://www.theoryhead.com/gender/extract.htm

Buzzwords:Web 2.0Making & Connectingweb 2.0 is PARTICIPATORY

(c) Jon Meier

Alvin TofflerFuturologist (1970s & 80s!)

Author of ‘Future Shock’ and ‘The Third Wave’Possibly more influential than Marshall McLuhanCoined the term ‘Prosumer’ (Producer Consumer) in ‘The Third Wave’Foresaw the impact of technological change and the digital revolution

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ”

Explanation of the ‘Third Wave’ (each wave pushes the earlier one aside): First wave: the agrarian revolution (end of the hunter-gatherer era)Second wave: the industrial revolutionThird wave: the electronic (post-industrial) revolution

We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots — religion, nation, community, family, or profession — are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust

(c) Jon Meier

Harry JenkinsConvergence Culture

Convergence culture, participatory quality of new media‘Few to many’ vs ‘many to many’ model.Jenkins is known for his work on the participatory nature of new media; the primacy of the prosumer (a term first used by futurologist Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave, 1980) and the convergent nature of media content (the growth of multimedia ‘transmedia’, interactive content). Keen advocate of transmedia storytelling.

memorizer: Harryjenkins -convergence & transmedia

His view is that there is a more balanced relationship between audience and producer. This has led to synergies & corporate convergence in areas such as ownership, production and distribution [Netflix producing and distributing their own productions. House of Cards, Orange is the New Black. This is called vertical integration: every stage of the production process is owned by the same company. Examples: Disney-Marvel merger; Google-Youtube, Amazon + Kindle etc]

Has also written extensively on comic books, superheroes, fandom & video games.Downplays the role of media violence.

Fans were the first audiences to show the collective participatory nature of social networks. The first digital communities tended to grow up around sci-fi texts such as Star Wars and Star Trek.‘50 Shades of Grey’ was originally developed from a Twilight Fanfiction site

(c) Jon Meier

JAKOB NIELSENLean back (passive) vs lean forward (active) technologies.

Nielsen has done a lot of research into reading styles in traditional print vs web-based texts. Not surprisingly, he found that people read differently on the web. Less sustained concentration, more scanning etc.

He also noted the rise of ‘second screen’ engagement – e.g. watching one screen e.g. TV or main PC whilst using another device (phone or tablet).

Arguably, new media has come full circle towards a new lean back model – Netflix, binge-watching etc. We are returning to a lean-back model of media consumption.This could be a reaction to active media engagement, marking the return of the couch potato?

Memorizer: neeeelson leeeeean back

It could be argued that this trend for 2nd screening and liveblogging, (using social media to comment on traditional live media) has been exploited by producers to create texts such as Gogglebox.

Don’t be afraid to add your own comments. This shows critical autonomy and media knowledge.

(c) Jon Meier

Tim O’Reilly

• popularized the term web 2.0. Emphasises the importance of:• Social aspects, participatory & collective nature of digital media • UGC (user generated content) • audiences’ migratory behaviours • the power of collective intelligence – [leads to mechanisms such

as crowdsourcing & crowdfunding]

memorizer: wee (media) web 2.O ’Reilly

Academic, Business Guru & Internet Analyst

(c) Jon Meier

Andy WarholNot a media theorist but, of course, a talented and innovative artist.Any good media student is also a keen follower of the visual arts.

Much of his work perfectly illustrates some key media ideas. It often comments ironically on the duplication, mass production and commercialisation of art.His work also highlights the shallowness and commercial exploitation of fame.

‘in the future, everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame’.

(c) Jon Meier

Denis McQuail

How relevant are Mass Communication theories today? Can we still talk about Mass Communication in a digital age?

Has carried out extensive research on mass media and communication. Summarizes and draws together work of many other theorists. Explores the impact of e-media.

(c) Jon Meier

A reminder about some older ‘classic’ theoretical perspectives:Hegemony, neo-Marxism & the Frankfurt school (1)

The Frankfurt School (Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer) focussed on the ‘culture industries’ rather than media alone but the same principles apply to traditional mass media . Their neo-Marxist ideas led to theories about the subtle persuasion of passive audiences and the Hypodermic Needle Model. The main implications of their ideas are:• The entertainment, media and culture industries help to promote capitalist values. • Corporate nature of the culture industries.• Growing industrialisation of the entertainment industries.• Pressure to grow a conformist consumer culture for the sake of profit.• Stifling of individuality in favour of a more profitable mass consumerism.• Cultivation of false hopes and needs through the growth of advertising.• Glorification of materialism, consumerism and capitalist values.

The Frankfurt school sociologists perhaps saw similarities with centralized state-controlled Nazi propaganda which they had escaped from.

The key e-media question is: do digital media

undermine the hegemonic influence of

traditional media?

(c) Jon Meier

A reminder about some older ‘classic’ theoretical perspectives:Hegemony, neo-Marxism & the Frankfurt school (2)

Adorno and Horkheimer used the Hollywood film studio ‘machine’ and popular music as a starting point for their views on corporate power. Leads to a uniform culture and a passive complicity with hegemonic structures.

Marx called this blind consent of the masses to their own position of subordination ‘false consciousness’

The ideas of the Frankfurt School are linked to Gramsci’s views on Cultural Hegemony: manipulation of masses by attaining their consent (soft manipulation, leading to acceptance of the status quo and unequal power structures)

The Hypodermic Needle and Passive Audience Models link to George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory and Mean World Syndrome

This, in turn, links to Stanley Cohen’s ideas on Moral Panics: the promotion of fear based on a populist media agenda of highlighting society’s moral decline and then scapegoating minority groups. The resulting paranoia tends to promote measures which favour the status quo and protect the interests of elites.

(c) Jon Meier

Flow-Theory & e-media

Opinion leaders are now no longer necessarily members of social, corporate elites. They might nowadays be showbiz, music or sports celebrities. Audiences are exposed to many diverse and conflicting ideas through social media, peers, family etc. The old model is no longer valid where there was a 2 way interaction between audiences and elites (including media editors/proprietors).

Sometimes called Two-Step Flow. The traditional view, advocated by researchers such as Lagersfeld and Katz, is that ideas flow from media to opinion leaders and then to audiences.So, in the past, the interests, ideologies and messages of those in power were often shared by influential media institutions. These shared values meant a protection of privilege.

(c) Jon Meier

Gatekeeping & e-mediaGatekeeping is the idea that traditional media are governed by powerful decision-makers who decide what content to audiences can and cannot see.

There is a decline of traditional gate-keeping in a pluralist, fragmented media landscape.

This is also comparable to the breakdown of Hall’s 3 readings model as dominant hegemonic readings become more fluid and disrupted.

(c) Jon Meier

This ties in with x’s view that …This confirms x’s comments about ...This reflects/illustrates/ supports x’s opinions...This can be seen to connect with x’s view that...We can see a connection here with x’s model ....At this point, it is worth considering x’s theory that ...X outlined the theory that ......

**********This contradicts x’s model...This appears to refute/contradict x’s argument that ... Although x’s believes that ... , I would argue that ...Although x’s views may be partially relevant/applicable here, I tend to believe that ......Despite x’s view that ..., I believe.....

USING THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN YOUR ESSAYSSOME UNMISSABLE SIGNPOST PHRASES TO USE