Wednesday 27 March 2013

Learning Response

WWW: Good analysis of theory and some effective use of seminology
LR: Rewrite p2 with examples. Develop intro and gatekeeping and misinformation points. Include case study material more (e.g Arab Spring).

Intro: 
New and digital media have had a major impact over the audience of the 21st century. We are now digitally surrounded causing traditional media going into decline. It can be argued that audiences are negatively and positively adapting to the change of new and digital media.

P2: 
In modern societies, audiences can now 'create' their own news with the help of new and digital media. User generated content (UGC) gives audiences the power to create news. Recently, audiences are now consumers and now are becoming citizen journalists which means that if they find out something interesting they can either upload it to YouTube or tweet. An example of this, "My Tram Experience", where a woman was being racist on a tram, a citizen recorded it, uploaded it to YouTube and it eventually ended up on the news and the woman was arrested. Citizen journalism helps ordinary people broadcast a story, instead of relying on traditional news. Also, the change of the news allowsn pluralism and empowerment, as it gives young people, working class (etc) an opportunity to voice their opinion. People are no longer 'passive' receivers, they are turning to 'blogosphere' in order to be heard. 

There are fewer gatekeepers because audiences no longer need someone to publish it for them, people can now publish information on their own accord. 




Tuesday 19 February 2013

#12

Consider theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new/ digital media in your case study.  E.g. Representation of certain groups as a result of changes, Marxism & Hegemony, Liberal Pluralism, colonialism, audience theories etc.

The institutions are owned by the ruling class (e.g Mark Zuckerberg) and these institutions are used to indoctrinate the masses into believing capitalism is good.

Gramsci was a Italian Marxist and disagreed with the Marxist view that the ruling class maintained their status and power. So he came up with a concept called Hegemony. This was to describe how the ruling class dominate other classes by manipulating the culture of society in order to present their view as being 'common sense' or 'just the way things are'

#11

 Are there any cross-cultural factors and /or effects of globalisation involved in the impact of new technology on your case study?  E.g. the internet has been said to be ‘globalising culture’ through its promotion of the English language.

Globalisation is where regional economies, societies, and cultures are being integrated through a network of communication, transportation, and trade. Facebook has become the main networks for social media, not only for advertising and social advantages, but also for global news. The earthquake in Virginia in August of 2011 is an excellent example. Almost the second after it was over, Facebook exploded about it; within the hour everyone in the northeastern United States knew about it; within two hours the whole United States knew; and within four hours, the whole world knew about it. All of this was because of Facebook, the new front-runner in social media and globalisation.

This is why advertisers use sites like  Facebook to get a range of different audiences to buy whatever they are advertising. Twitter is also an effective way to advertise and promote businesses, depending on your followers. Celebrities use this especially to promote their new music videos and so on.

#10

What issues may there be regarding media effects and /or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?

Media regulation is the control or guidance of mass media by governments and other bodies.

Media effects: affect how their audiences think and behave.

The issues due to the change of new and digital media can be that audiences may not feel safe on social media sites because they cannot freely express their opinions. For example, in Greenford High School, students have been in trouble for posting their opinions on Twitter/ Facebook and this is an issue because why should you get into trouble for saying something harmless on a SOCIAL MEDIA SITE (links with censorship). Isn't that what social media is all about? So the issues with regulation might be a problem with audiences as they can't say what they really feel without getting into trouble. However, this could affect how audiences behave and think (media effects) as they are in fear of getting punished. 

With Media regulation, the audience may respond negatively because they go on social media for escapism and to be controlled on the internet and to be controlled in reality will create frustration. 



#9

Consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions involved in your case study (media production).


Since social media has become overwhelmingly popular, the effects have been that users have been significantly dependent on internet from doing online shopping to listening to music online also. So the effects in the future could be that everything will be virtual and the traditional way of doing something will be somewhat non-existent. But with social media, for example Facebook, users will be using this more often to communicate with others instead of calling and nowadays people are able to video call others via Facebook/Skype so different ways of communicating are also available. With social networks like Twitter, news will easily be accessible because people will be talking about it.






Friday 15 February 2013

#8

What are the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption?  E.g. moral panics etc?



Social media was the main factor of the UK riots in August 2011, as people used it to organise meet-ups and locations to riot next. Twitter and BBM was the main the social networks used because it was the fastest way to spread meet-ups and so on. The social implication of this was that it created moral panics because audience was being told that BBM and Twitter was the prime networks creating the chaos and how the police was trying to shut it down but they couldn't hack into BBM especially.