Transcript Week 9 lecture

Vehicle Strand
‘New Media’ in a ‘New World’
New Media, New World
 B&S: history of ‘new’ media; McLuhan;
Williams; users, prosumers and UCG; the
‘long tail’; digital copies and information
enclosure; technology and the
environment.
 today = media study; generative values;
Direct-to-Fan marketing.
 Key terms: socialisation,
communication, copyright;
commoditisation; crowd funding.
New Media, New Theory?
 McLuhan: Global Village and digital
natives; technological determinism;
extensions and environments; Discarnate
Man .
 Raymond Williams: media re-mediation;
media as rooted in and part of social
practices and processes.
New Media, New Theory?
 Clay Shirky: social networking as the
fourth great advance in communication.
Sherry Turkle: “always on always you”
technology threatens to undermine basic
human activity needed to survive.
 Kevin Kelly: analogue reproductions vs.
digital copies; generative values.
Society, communication and
technology
♦When technology is taken for granted
society starts to use it innovatively
♦How it is used – not what it is
♦Innovation can happen anywhere
♦Society can challenge dominant
ideology
Internet – a revolutionary expression of
social capability.
Society, communication and
technology
Four phases of communication:
Print
Telegraph; telephone
Recorded and broadcast media
Internet
All forms of media migrate to the internet
when it becomes digital
Society, communication and
technology
Clay Shirky, TED talks June 2009
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_tw
itter_facebook_can_make_history.html
Society, communication and
technology
Media for groups
Media for individual conversations
Media for both?
Social media as ancient forms of
communication
Society, communication and
technology
Media for education
E.g. TED talks, massive open online
courses (moocs).
Web 2.0 thinkers
Free and open access to information
and education
Are there any issues with open access
of information/data?
Society, communication and
technology
Sherry Turkle (2014):
“We are still in romance with these
technologies…We are like young lovers
who are afraid that talking about it will
spoil it.”
Society, communication and
technology
Sherry Turkle (2012) Alone together…
 People find it harder to be alone
 Boredom, anxiety and loneliness
Technology is used to fill a void
Society, communication and
technology
Three gratifying fantasies:
 We can put our attention wherever we
want it to be.
 We will always be heard.
 We will never have to be alone.
Society, communication and
technology
Issues of human development:
Solitude enables a dialogue with the
self
Cultivation of an autonomous self
Ability to negotiate complexities of real
life relationships
Lack of empathy
Society, communication and
technology
“We’re lonely but we’re afraid of
intimacy”
http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_a
lone_together#t-807113
The internet is a copy machine
Analogue:
 Reproduction
An inferior likeness of an original
Expensive
Digital:
Identical copies or duplication
 Infinite number of copies
 Free or cheap
Peer to peer (P2P) file sharing e.g.
Napster, Gnutella, BitTorrent
The internet is a copy machine
Issues:
 Privacy
Copyright
Value of product - profit
Economy, wealth production and power
Kelly’s (2008) eight generative values:
Eight generative values:
Immediacy
 Personalisation
 Interpretation
 Authenticity
 Accessibility
 Embodiment
 Patronage
Findability
For example…
Marillion:
Barely a week passes by without a
musician making the headlines on the
back of a crowdfunding success or
failure. But before the internet was an
ever-present in most of our lives, one
band managed to see where it was all
going...
Jack Preston (2014)
http://www.virgin.com/music/how-marillion-pioneeredcrowdfunding-in-music
Marillion:
1997: Fan-funded tour
2001: Anoraknophobia
2004: Marbles
Crowdfunding
The practice of funding a project or
venture by raising many small amounts
of money from a large number of people,
typically via the Internet:
Musicians, filmmakers, artists, charities
etc.
Source: Oxford Dictionary
Direct to fan marketing:
Immediacy: pre-release products
 Personalisation: inclusion of fans in
product creation
 Authenticity: signed products
 Patronage: fan affiliation and
appreciation
Findability: access to unreleased
material
Amanda Palmer: The art of
asking
Kickstarter campaign:
raised $1.2 million
24,883 backers
funding period: April 30 2012 – May 31
2012
Ted Talks, February 2013
http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_
art_of_asking.html
Amanda Palmer: The art of asking
since i'm now without a giant label to front the
gazillions of dollars that it always takes to
manufacture and promote a record this big, i'm
coming to you to gather funds so that i have the
capital to put it out with a huge fucking bang. i
think kickstarter and other crowdfunding
platforms like this are the BEST way to put out
music right now - no label, no rules, no fuss, no
muss. just us, the music, and the art. i'm also
making sure EVERY PRODUCT sold through
this kickstarter is unique to this campaign, to
reward all of you who KNEW ME WHEN and
were willing to support me from Day One.
New Media, representation and
genre
 Gender representation and technology;
e.g. the tech geek; Stuff magazine;
Gamergate.
 Representation of society e.g.
marginalised groups; individual
evaluations; charities; arts organisations;
protest groups.
 Re-classification of media texts; e.g.
Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest.
New Media, audiences, ideology
and power
 Audiences: interactivity e.g. networking,
user-generated content, prosumer and
pro-user.
 Ideology and power e.g. commercial
structures that attempt to shape audience
power for profit, not shared public interest.
Case study?
Environment Strand
Light-through/Light-on
Light-through/Light-on
The “mosaic procedure, which I try to
follow throughout, waits for light through
the situation…It does not primarily try to
play light on the situation.”
McLuhan (1960, p.11)
How is light transmitted?
Light-on
“Most scholars use their knowledge as a
flashlight – not to illuminate the world but
to shine back into their own bedazzled
eyes.”
McLuhan (1977)
Projection of light onto the world e.g. a
torch or light from a light bulb
For example...
Cinema
 A series of images played in quick
succession e.g. kinetoscopes
 Projection of light onto a screen
So, it operates via light in transit.
Cinema
 Complete audience experience
 Audience distanced from the screen
 No possibility of changing the film
activity – the illusion of motion
 Passive engagement
Hot media
Light-through
“Illuminations project themselves at
the viewer”
Carpenter & McLuhan (1960 p. x)
Light falling through media
 e.g. a window to illuminate a room
e.g. the light bulb itself, as light
shines through the glass
Television
“As with TV, the viewer is the screen.
He is bombarded with light impulses…
The TV image is visually low data. The
TV image is not a still shot. It is not a
photo in any sense, but a ceaselessly
forming contour of things limned by the
scanning finger. The resulting plastic
contour appears by light through, not
light on…”
McLuhan (1964, pp.272-3)
Television
 Light is projected from the TV screen
onto the viewer
 The viewer becomes the movie
screen
 Light in transit
 An electronic transmission in the
present and of the present
Television
 The viewer is actively involved
 The viewer responds to what is being
transmitted live/to actual events
 An interactive, engaging, demanding
experience
Cool Media
Computer screen
 With internet connection the user
connects to word processing, audio and
visual selectors
 “Portal to a virtual infinity”,
Levinson (1999, p. 102)
Computer screen
 The window analogy.
 Light flows to us through multiple
hypertexts.
Users reach into the computer and
beyond virtual worlds.
The future?
Case Study
Using the handout consider the
following:
Read through your chosen case study
Using the handout identify key
strategies
Use the assessment criteria to help you
Case Study
Effect strategies?
The theory or probe
The medium or artefact
How one is applied to the other
Interesting issues or points?
Case Study
Individual identify:
Your topic – theory/probe and artefact
 What is your starting point?
Title or question?
Key strategies or pointers you want to
incorporate in your writing.
How can the forum feedback help?
 Any issues or queries you need to
address?
Case Study guidelines
Module handbook (on Moodle):
 Section 8.3: Description
 Section 8.4: Assessment criteria
Submission deadline: Monday 8th
December, 1pm (week 12)
Paper submission via a post-box
(outside the refectory, Harcourt Hill
Campus)
Electronic submission via Turnitin
(Understanding Media Moodle site)
Case Study guidelines
Proportion: 50% of overall grade
 Length: 1500 words
Cover page information (see Section
8.3) -module name/number; student
name/number; essay title; word count.
Assessment Sheet: Case Study
Grade
Research
Writing
Research
Understanding
Understanding
Application
Application
(70-100%)
 Evidence of at least 5
texts read
 Excellent clarity of expression
 Excellent structure
 Consistently accurate grammar, spelling and
punctuation
 Consistently accurate referencing using the Harvard
System
(60-69%)
 Evidence of at least 4
texts read
 Thoughts and ideas very clearly expressed
 Very good knowledge
 Very good structure
and understanding of
 Essentially accurate grammar, spelling and punctuation theories and ideas
 Essentially accurate referencing using the Harvard
System
(50-59%)
 Evidence of at least 3
texts read
 Thoughts and ideas mostly clearly expressed
 Good structure
 Some grammar, spelling and punctuation errors
 Some referencing errors using the Harvard System
 Good knowledge and
 Good application of theory or probe to
understanding of theories
chosen artefact or medium
and ideas
40-49%)
 Evidence of at least 2
texts read
 Meaning apparent but not always explicit
 Fair structure
 Several grammar, spelling and punctuation errors
 Several referencing errors using the Harvard System
 Fair knowledge and
 Appropriate application of theory or
understanding of theories
probe to chosen artefact or medium
and ideas
Fail, resit (30-39%)
 No evidence of
independent research
 Meaning is often unclear
 Poor knowledge and
 Poor application of theory or probe to
 Poor structure
understanding of theories
chosen artefact or medium
 Extensive grammar, spelling and punctuation errors
and ideas
 Extensive referencing errors and/or Harvard System not
used
Fail, no resit (0-29%)  No evidence of
independent research
 Meaning is largely unclear
 Very poor structure
 Consistently poor grammar, spelling and punctuation
 Consistent referencing errors and/or Harvard System
not used
 Excellent knowledge and  Original application of theory or probe to
understanding of theories
chosen artefact or medium
and ideas
 Very poor knowledge
and understanding of
theories and ideas
 Very good application of theory or probe
to chosen artefact or medium
 Very poor application of theory or probe
to chosen artefact or medium
Next week’s reading
 Branston and Stafford: Ch. 12 News
and its futures