Web 2.0 Articles...

In the Age of Media Six Questions about Media and Participation

David Buckingham, Professor of Media and Communications at Loughborough University, claim that society and Web has changed through the years, as new technological and equipment has changed the way people think now days. Professor Buckingham claim that before in the past there was just one person or a specific people that just controlled the social media people saw in the past, as that they only had the right to say and do what they felt like, so people didn’t really have a chose on the media in society back then, he also says that the ads we watch has brought a bigger and broader media revolution, as a result that everyone has power and controller in the media in society now.  He says that blogs and forums give people the opportunities to give their own views and opinion in the media. That now day people do need to be a critic, that ordinary people can say what they like in society, which has effect the media a lot, as people can accuses and write their options and views anytime and anywhere in the world and that everyone has the freedom to say what they feel like it.  As Facebook and Google are the richest online businesses.   

Key information:

• Much more generated content on the internet
• Everything has changed because of the new technology
• Ordinary people are in control of the internet
• There are no more editors or gatekeepers in control
• People get to say their view on internet to millions on people
• Google and Facebook are the most money making corporation online
• People make their own videos which could be accessed everywhere around the world

Web 2.0 – Participation or Hegemony

Nick Lacey explored the issues that has the Web 2.0 been democratised our access to the media now a days, and has it switched the power from produce to the audience. Lacey says that web 2.0 allow the audience to become produces of the media and their texts, as they can write their opinion and view on YouTube channel and videos (UGC), people can now write their views on blogs and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. People don’t need –people can say or write things in the media now days, as they don’t need a gate keeper. They would be happier to write their opinion and view on the internet as it has such a mass audience online, as they don’t need to pay for certain things in the media, they can just write it and say it. 
Key information:

• No more gatekeepers
• Audiences have become producers
•  Individuals relying on individuals

Participation debates

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/mmagpast/MM39_Participation_democracy.html 

• One could argue that social networking has opened up opportunities for democracy. Eg The XFactor 2010 series , 15,488,019 million votes were cast by viewers to decided the outcome of the programme. Even though the winners are unlikely to change the world it is an example of media democracy at work. 
• Digital revolution and Web 2.0 have given users the opportunity to communicate ideas globally through the use of social networking
• Political level, Egypt and Libya couldn't have happened without the use of Twitter and Facebook with young people using social networking sites.
• Internet had empowered its users by giving them unparalleled instant and unmediated access to unfolding news stories from a variety of sources. E.g MJ death reports first appeared on Twitter and Facebook.
• Not seen a true democracy in 'Arab Spring' countries.
• Blogging is another way that the media are becoming democratic.

Weekly NDM story

'Miley Cyrus dethrones PewDiePie as world's most popular YouTube channel!'

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/11/miley-cyrus-pewdiepie-youtube-videos






Summery of the Story: Miley Cyrus Twerking, hammer- licking has made her a controversial figure in recent months and have been hugely successful on YouTube. Also, they have compared her to one of the most visited channel of YouTube 'PewDiePie' they state that this ' retains a more loyal audience on Google's video service, with nearly 14.3m subscribers compared to her 2.9m.' Here is just a statistic to show how much the guardians are making a big deal of the fact that Miley is getting all this views on YouTube and ranting whether she's news worthy.

Key statistic or information:

• Miley was the most-watched YouTube channel in the world in September with 270.1m views according to industry site Tubefilter's monthly Top 100 chart
• her monthly view-count leaping 222% compared to August.
• Nearly 14.3m subscribers compared to her 2.9m. 
• Her channel overtook YouTube biggest star in previous months  
• In the US, which claims that 50% of adult American internet users watch music videos online, but that this rises to 81% for 18-29 year-olds.

My view on the story:

Although i haven’t heard anything about PewDiePie channel, but I think it's really interesting to see the size of audience he’s managed to pick up. But the fact that one monster video sent Miley's channel above him also seemed interesting, plus the wider context about music videos' continued importance to YouTube.

In my opinion, the only reason the Guardian can be squirting out a Miley article every hour is that the Miley articles are getting the most clicks. More clicks mean more money for advertising. its Miley Cyrus is now relevant worth a mention the Guardian?

Because Miley Cyrus (with her no-doubt substantial support team) is giving so much attention to being newsworthy in ways which are more intelligent than they may superficially appear.

Weekly NDM story

Is it ever OK to photograph strangers on a train?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/04/photograph-strangers-train-tumblr

Summary of the story:
This guy, Boris Johnson is willingly photographed on the tube. He says that '  You do not, legally, have to get permission from those you photograph in the street, on the train or sitting on a bus'. This article argues whether its legal to take pictures of strangers on public transport and on streets and upload them up on social networking sites without their promotions.  In addition, according to Boris British law on photographing people in public places is still quite malleable. This means that its okayy for people to take a photo of you without your promotion and they wont be breaking any law. However, on the other hand he also says that these people are doing absolutely nothing wrong, yet their images and faces are still being posted up on the internet and they are being judged by thousands of strangers, all without their knowledge.

Key statistic or information:

• None

My view on the story:
In my opinion, i think that its unacceptable for any individual to take a shot of someone without their promotion and upload them on social networking sites such as Tumblr , Twitter and on blogs and invite comments from other users as this is going against human right and privacy but obvious exceptions aside, photographing those who have committed a criminal act for example, these Tumblrs are often just a cover for collective bullying. However, you cannot expect the same degree of privacy in a public space that you have in the home. To conclude, i don't think its not such a big deal and what kind of world would we live in if everyone adopted your attitude? There is a solution which is adopted by millions of woman worldwide which is to wear the full face covering hijab. And as far as I know, there is no law in the UK that prevents sensitive men from wearing a similar covering.

Weekly NDM story

Twitter files for Thanksgiving IPO

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/30/twitter-files-for-thanksgiving-ipo

Summary of the story:

Twitter is thought to be planning to reveal the details of its initial public offering this week, after it filed the necessary documents confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 12 September. The act was designed to make it quicker and easier for companies to go public, removing obstacles such as as the requirement to submit a public prospectus months before shares actually go on sale.
key facts and information: 

• The company was able to file its draft S-1 form in secret since it has revenue of under $1bn.
• The company filed its draft prospectus in public over three months before it eventually hit the markets in May 2012,
• Its value drop dramatically from $45 per share on the first day of trading

My view on the story: In my opinion, I think this shows people how fast New and digital media is actually controlling the internet. The fact that they are concerned about Facebook and its value tops everything up. The statistic ' Summer shift to mobile saw its value drop dramatically from $45 per share on the first day of trading' adding to this, it also took until august 2013 for its value to return to that.

Example Of Citizen Journalism

7/7 Bombing


 In central London on Thursday 7 July, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.

This footage was caught by CCTV of the 7/7 bombing which focuses the attackers actions as they enter the underground station. The attack took place in Aldgate station at approximately 8:51am; however, 15 seconds later a third bomb occurred in a Tube tunnel near Russel Square. Notably, on 7th July 2005 the four main terrorists; Germaine, Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain killed themselves and 52 others in this horrific terrorist assault on London. Moreover, this gave citizens journalists the opportunity to influence the mainstream news which highlights the concept of user-generate content as they are producing the information. Furthermore, some of the footage which people have filmed on their phones was first hand view which makes it raw, hard hitting and emotive. This is significant in relation to citizen journalism as those individuals was able to post it publicly on social networking sites such as Facebook or Youtube which then resulted to a moral panic. This highlights the concept of user generate content people around the world began to connect with one another or watching all of the live footage's. 

The Rise And Rise of UGC

What is meant by the term ' Citizen Journalist' ?

The term ' Citizen journalist' refers to the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news by the public, by means of cell phones, digital cameras, blogs, et c. Also, a Citizen Journalist a private individuals do essentially what professional reporters do - report information. That information can take many forms, from a pod cast editorial to a report about a city council meeting on a blog. It can include text, pictures, audio and video. But it's basically all about communicating information of some kind. The other main feature of citizen journalism is that it's usually found on-line  Adding to that, the emergence of the Internet - with blogs, pod casts  streaming video and other Web-related innovations - is what has made citizen journalism possible.

 

What was one of the first example of news being generated by ordinary people?

The first example was in the 1991 where video cameras got more common and more people can afford them. An African- American, who was the victim, called Rodney king after a high speed chase, four officers surrounded him, tasered him then beat him with a clubs. This was cough by a ordinary people, and this home footage was the prime-time news. This shows how technology had a great impact on news in society today.

List of the format for participation that are now offered by news organisation?

• Message boards
• Chat rooms 
• Q&A
• polls
• Having your say
• blogs with comments enabled 
• Social media: YouTube and Facebook, Google and twitter 
• UGC- To access news, also seen in the four biggest social networking sites.

What is one of the main differences between professionally shoot footage and that taken to first- hand (UGC) ?

The difference between professional shot footage and UGC footage is that the User Generated Content is hard-hitting and emotive. Therefore news is now considered to be old fashioned if it lacks the low quality grainy style of footage that is proved by citizen journalists.
 

What is a gatekeeper?
The organisation which decides the types of text that is/is not news and whether it will broadcast the content provided by the Citizen journalists is called a gatekeeper as they in other words filter the content for publication.

How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
A gatekeepers job role has changed as it’s has become more important because before it had very little access to self-representation before such as youth groups, low income groups, and various minority groups may but now it has gained its own voice through the use of citizen journalism.

What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
The main concern held by journalists over the rise of UGC is that they are no longer needed in event as ‘ordinary people’ have become their own journalists and product better content. Therefore journalists fear that they will no longer have jobs in the future and leaving large organisation out of jobs as smaller core staff will manage and process UGC from citizen journalists, this is called ‘crowd sourcing.’

Three new sources ( Within the three plaforms )

E-media: YouTube

The SourceFed is broadcasted on YouTube and the setting for the source feed is different to other news providers such as channel 4 and BBC. Sourcefed is also news website as well as a YouTube channel created by Philip DeFranco.  SourceFed's  is usually 20 Minutes or Less; a news show which presents five news related videos daily from Monday to Thursday. The SourceFed team consists of hosts, editors, bloggers, and one producer. The hosts are YouTube bloggers who are used like reporters, but only exclusive on the Internet and not on television or on radio. The target audience are between 15 to 25 as the show informs the audience about the top news around however creates humour and allows the audience to stay amused with the creative images and gestures used by the hosts as it creates interest and wanting the audience want to watch more as normal news is boring for a younger audience.

Broadcast: BBC NEWS

The BBC is a non commercial channel and is setup by the Act of Parliament and therefore it is publicly owned and does not have shareholders. BBC role is to entertain, educate and entertain the audience. BBC news also broadcast on TV, Radio and on their website. They show two different type of news at a certain time for the viewers, the first one is at 6pm a this is the time everyone is coming home work and watching the latest heading in the world and the other one is at 10pm, as people are ready to go to bed and check the latest news, both of them are national news and start after when they finish local news comes up. BBC has such a niche audience, as only some people watch it every day not compared to their completion like channel four and sky news. Moreover, the news reporter have to be dressed and speak formally to represent them as being sophisticated and educated but also to make the company look good as well. Another convention is that they are usually sitting down and speaking directly into the camera. The impact news and digital media has on this is that audience can now watch the news online rather than TV which highlights that e-media is now popular. Lastly, The target audience for the BBC is adults age 25-45 as they are more likely to keep up to date with temporary issues compared to the younger generation

 

Print: THE SUN

The Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper which is published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The News Group Newspaper division of the New UK publishes it; the founder of the sun newspaper business is Rupert Murdoch. The Newspaper's online offering was the third most widely read in the world as of June 2012. The sun  Newspaper's main focus is about the world and politics thus attracting a more intellectual target audience (A/B class) who would be more interested in the text than the images. The impact of new/digital media on this newspaper is the fact that nobody actually reads the newspapers anymore, it's a slower way for news to travel, as mentioned above the Guardian online is more popular.

The Sun has the ninth-largest circulation of any newspaper in the world and the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. It had an average daily circulation of 2,409,811 copies in January 2013. Between January and June 2012 the paper had an average daily readership of approximately 7.3 million, with approximately 34% of those falling into the demographic and 64% in the demographic. The average age of a Sun reader is 45 and approximately 45% of readers are women.