Shinady22's Blog

why the mobile has such a huge following

shinady22 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:34:12 +0000

From a global population of 6.6 billion people, there are 4 billion active

worldwide mobile subscribers. To me these figures indicate just how

powerful the mobile device has become. It holds the largest ever mass media

audience and this is set to grow for several reasons. The mobile phone is

portable, which means we can stay in communication almost anywhere. It’s

relatively inexpensive, especially with the variety of payment mechanisms

available today. Its immediate responsiveness gives it great value in the

world of advertising, what other marketing strategy can tell almost

automatically how effective it was? And lastly, our mobile phones are

becoming an extension of who we are. From selecting the model and colour

to personalising our settings, our phones are now indispensible accessories.

Why the mobile has such a huge following

shinady22 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:31:45 +0000

From a global population of 6.6 billion people, there are 4 billion active worldwide mobile subscribers. To me these figures indicate just how

powerful the mobile device has become. It holds the largest ever mass media audience and this is set to grow for several reasons. The mobile phone is

portable, which means we can stay in communication almost anywhere. It’s relatively inexpensive, especially with the variety of payment mechanisms

available today. Its immediate responsiveness gives it great value in the world of advertising, what other marketing strategy can tell almost

automatically how effective it was? And lastly, our mobile phones are becoming an extension of who we are. From selecting the model and colour to

personalising our settings, our phones are now indispensible accessories.

Free the spectrum review

shinady22 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:54:21 +0000

‘Free The Spectrum! Activist encounters with old and new technology,’ is built around a case study of a group of activists who have been trying to cement greater citizen access to FM radio for over a decade. They believe in the concept of media justice, where one of the fundamental flaws of our system is that oppressed groups and activists alike don’t have access to the media. Their activist cause is the democratization of communication, which they believe helps all other global causes. The article is not anti-technological advancements but does believe that new technology can be most effective when working alongside old, instead of replacing it. There is legitimacy in the argument because of the presence of the digital divide, not all people have equal access to technology, or computer skills. Web casts are not free to produce or receive, so are not equally available to all. The author includes quotes from other activist organisations, which seem to support the idea of technological determinism, in that the importance should be on the idea of community media, not the medium. This inclusion helped balance out the argument.

Digital Storytelling Lirerature

shinady22 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:47:50 +0000

Both chapter 1 from ‘Action Research and New Media’ and ‘Mediaization or Mediation? Alternative understandings of the emergent space of digital storytelling,’ look at digital storytelling as the possible new media method which can activate citizen participation and strengthen democracy in communication. The later deals with the subject on a theoretical level and questions the role of media in the transformation of society. The example given on employers checking our social networking sites for proof our character is worthy of note, as it does imply that having an online narrative presence is already expected of employees who wish to partake in traditional society. And thus be active citizens. Couldry does mention that this may also be seen as a constraint, as an objective of digital storytelling is to help one get to know themselves, so the creator should not feel like they have to censor their content. The conclusion of the article admits that although digital storytelling has the ability to make social transformation achievable because of its accessibility and relatively low production skills, it may just become a passing fad. John Lambert hopes that this will not be the case, and like the art of reading it will become a staple in our society.

Hearn agrees that the purpose of digital storytelling is a modern approach to helping people see themselves and the world around them. Her paper explores the role of action research in creative engagement through two action research projects. Diverse demographics of young people were used in all stages of the case studies, in an attempt to see how the cultural, technological, social, economic and political backgrounds of the test subjects facilitate or restrict creative engagement. The results show that all the fore mentioned topics infiltrated into the created digital stories. I believe this gives further support to the argument that there is a real need for community broadcasting, as this also deals with stories of local and personal significance. The YIRN project was based in Australia, and proved worrying because even in an economically stable country the digital divide was an issue. There is very little networking infrastructure supplied in rural Queensland schools, so only those with computers available at home can really participate fully in this new virtual culture. This may lead to an even further reaching gap in equality between demographics in the future.

Fissures in Mediascape-Clemencia Rodriguez

shinady22 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:45:12 +0000

Chapter 1, in ‘Fissures in the Mediascape’ Clemencia discusses how media can effect the way we see ourselves. Our opinions, roles and even identities can be transformed through the constant consumption of a stereotype. And all too often arrays of social groups are bundled into one heading so to fit into mainstream medias current advertising model. The chapter delves into the history of the unfair flow of communication throughout the world, and how our lack of action in the past has left the control of communication with a small number of top-down hierarchy media corporations. There is a need for change, or else minority and niche groups will continue to be ignored, and the gap between the powerful and powerless will widen. Alternative media or Citizens media is offered as a tool to further democratize communication, as the MacBride report recommended was necessary as far back as thirty years ago. The author disregards the name ‘alternative,’ as he believes it gives the impression that this medias main objective would be to be the polar opposite to mass media, and that is not his intention. His intention is to provide an equal opportunity for all to have a voice in the public sphere, which can be used to become a participating citizen. This is where the name Citizen Media is born. He notes that Citizen media is seen as decreasing, but believes that it is our perspective of what alternative/citizens media is that needs changing, before we can succeed.

Literature Review 2

shinady22 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:17:10 +0000

Throughout Creativity, Local Content and Activism, specific topics kept re-occurring during our discussions. The idea, which interests me the most, is how the role of the citizen is being re-shaped through the use of social media technoligies, and in turn how access to these technoligies is so important because it’s deciding who can take part in this new participatory culture. With this review I will attempt to link the authors opinions and arguments to those of my own.

In ‘Oppositional New Media, Ownership and Access,’ chapter 18 discusses the changing media environment and popular viewpoints which surround it. The decentralized infrastructure of the Internet leads us to the conclusion that it is democratic, but there is still inequality within the structure. Many are still faced with access issues, copyright disputes are rampant, and there is an increasing fear that we are loosing our privacy. Lievrouw falls into the trap of placing oppositional new media in direct opposition to mainstream media, which Clemencia wrote against, as it confuses the themes behind their similar cause. They are not automatically oppositional or constructive.

‘Free The Spectrum! Activist encounters with old and new technology,’ is built around a case study of a group of activists who have been trying to cement greater citizen access to FM radio for over a decade. They believe in the concept of media justice, where one of the fundamental flaws of our system is that oppressed groups and activists alike don’t have access to the media. The article is not anti-technological advancements but does believe that new technology can be most effective when working alongside old, instead of replacing it. There is legitimacy in the argument because of the presence of the digital divide. Web casts are not free to produce or receive, so are not equally available to all. The author includes quotes from other activist organisations, which seem to support the idea of technological determinism, in that the importance should be on the idea of community media, not the medium. This inclusion helped balance out the argument.

the macbride report

shinady22 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:03:38 +0000

The inequalities within the global power of the communications industry are not a new problem. In the 1970’s UNESCO commissioned a publication by the International Commission, headed by Sean MacBride, on the study of communication problems. The papers aim was to analyse communication problems in modern societies, with particular attention to mass media and news, in response to the emergence of new technologies. The finished report, suggested that mass media was providing unequal access to information, because of the monopolisation of the market from a small number of countries and companies. MacBride recommended that communication, as a whole be democratized, and national media being strengthened in individual countries. The strengthening of national media in certain countries proved to be a mistake, with some governments taking advantage of the situation, and producing propaganda instead of equal access to information. However the recommendation to democratize information in an effort to put all nationalities and citizens on an equal playing field is still agreed with today. Twenty-five years on at the WSIS conferences, findings on current communication challenges were the same as MacBride. Does this suggest that we haven’t learnt anything from the findings in ‘Many Voice One World’? Society continued to allow this unequal power sharing of the media, which is ironic as we the taxpayer own the infrastructure, which these media moguls get fatter from. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it. Now is the time to create the process from which all our voices can be heard.

a possible future for public access tv

shinady22 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:31:43 +0000

A major factor of the dot COM crash of the nineties was the emergence of access to such a vast amount of information, with no sorting mechanism. Then the search engine was born and everything changed! Search has become one of the most important advancements in technology that we have, as what use is the internet if we have no way of filtering and categorizing the information it gives us. Google, Yahoo and other major search engines have succeeded in growing this industry into a profitable business model, so perhaps other declining industries should attempt it. Public access television, for example appears to be loosing popularity with its already minority audience. Denver Open Media is attempting to counter attack this problem by re-modeling themselves on web 2.0 companies, who run with smaller staffs, who instead of dictating content to the their audience, act as facilitators for participatory prosumers. Like the search engine, a rating and categorizing system could be used to find the most compelling content from any community television broadcasting station in the world. Just like the Technorati newspaper/blog project, an online public access rating program could use its viewers to sift through an impossible amount of footage, and find the extraordinary community programs, which are produced. For this plan to work, public access/community TV stations will have to have to all have digital content, have creative commons laws in place, be web accessible, have a uniform rating and categorization system in place, and provide training and access to equipment which will hopefully help in closing the digital divide. Perhaps then, everyone can have an equal voice.

creative commons intervention

shinady22 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:50:10 +0000

Traditionally media, like most industries in our consumer driven society has been focused on making a profit. Despite many attempts at business models for the Internet, it is still largely unprofitable and will possibly be held responsible for the death of the communications industry, as we know it. This is not necessarily a negative change though as we are entering a stage of participatory communication, were mass contribution is the focus. Society has gotten used to an abundance of information and this has affected our view of how we share this information. For many, making money is no longer the point; it’s about just making something. I subscribe to the belief that we should create a world we are proud of and this includes our virtual world. This would be easier to achieve if we could learn and build off each other’s ideas without the fear of breaking copyright laws. Creative Commons is a positive step forward in expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.Creative Commons licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive so that others can further create. Perhaps we have to alter our view of what the communication industry is now in order to find a career within it.

Prosumer

shinady22 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:40:30 +0000

Media is now part of our everyday lives more than ever before. However this doesn’t translate into public interest of journalist’s articles, or profit for advertisers. Traditionally these two media tycoons have functioned by telling the public what they need to know, but advancements in technology and an ever-growing distrust from the consumer towards the media industry has caused a change. The audience is no longer silent or invisible and cannot only choose what they want to hear about; they can easily become a participant journalist. This also applies to advertising, were we have entered an era of ‘producer/consumer interaction’. The gaming industry seems to have been actively welcoming this change over the last decade, whereas print and television have up until recently ignored the need to work more with their audience on a collaborative level. This raises the question, will traditional media platforms survive? I don’t think so, if they continue to refuse to dramatically re-structure when it’s obvious that the consumer is no longer content to sit on the sidelines and be spoon fed according to their agenda. The time of peer to peer learning has re-surfaced into popular culture again, but with the role of the prosumer established, where does that leave the producer?