Media Deserts

Making visible the invisible in the hypertextual spaceSocial Media Conference, Howard University, October 1, 2015Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Associate Dean for InnovationScripps College of Communication, Ohio Universityferrierm@ohio.edu; @mediaghosts

The View from Here

And Here

Associate Dean for Innovation | Associate Professor , JournalismScripps College of Communication, Ohio University, OH; ferrierm@ohio.edu; Twitter: @mediaghosts Vice President, Journalism That MattersFounder, Create or Die Startup GatheringsFounder, TrollBusters | @yoursosteamMother of Google Maps

EducatorEntrepreneurMentorScholarNew Media Innovator

Dr. Michelle Ferrier

My World View

Innovation ActivitiesWhat was it?BBS/Fax on Demand (Intrapreneur)Early technology adoption with membersNEAOnline (Intrapreneur)Developed first web presence for National Education Association on AOLSimSchool (Intrapreneur)Development of school system simulation at NEAEducation Insider (Entrepreneur)Magazine startup for parents of school-aged childrenEHCWired.com (Intrapreneur)First independent online college news site; first online course at the college (2002).Media Power Lunch (Entrepreneur)Short, online learning for beginning journalists (MediaBistro predecessor)Highlands Family (Entrepreneur)Hyperlocal, hybrid online/print news for families in AppalachiaCopyWash.com (Entrepreneur)Online copy editing servicesDigital Identity/Reputation Management (Entrepreneur)Patent pending technology on managing identity from one platformMyTopiaCafe.com (Intrapreneur)Online community for newspaper nonsubscribersLocallyGrownNews.com (Entrepreneur)Hyperlocal online news franchiseMedia Deserts Project (Researcher)Uses GIS technologies to make visible the media ecosystem.TrollBusters Natural Language Processing and Positive Messaging System

My Research Agenda1. Digital Story Quilt: Creating identity and community online using quilters tactics.2. Media Deserts Project: Way of "seeing" that provides high-level view of the ecosystem.3. Media Entrepreneurship: Creating pathways to innovation inside and outside the classroom. 4. Digital Identity and Reputation Management: TrollBusters and addressing cyberharassment.Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University, @mediaghosts

Digital Quilt: Defining QuestionHow can you make visible the knowledge and stories of a community?

The Digital Story QuiltAlan Kay, an interface designer, poses the question: What kind of thinker would you become if you grew up with an active simulator connected, not just to one point of view, but to all the points of view of the ages represented so that they could be dynamically tried out and compared?Alan Kay,User Interface: A Personal View, The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, 1990.

7Im starting my presentation with a question, because this question is the research question that guided me through the development of an intervention. This intervention is targeted at history. Media organizations take the first cut at history; authorities in history texts take the last. In between are the lost stories, the voices of ordinary folks, that get lost in translation. This intervention The Digital Story Quilt honors the mindset and tactics of the quilter for creating voice.

Practice: The Quilters Space

Reflexive, poetic, interpretive practiceKind of rootednessQuilts communicate in an intimate fashion across generationsOffers tactics for agency

Practice: The Quilters SpaceThrough quilt text(iles), women used their constraints to create a way of knowing that expanded their domestic rhetoric into a public realm.Contrary to patriarchal rhetorical styles, this femmage or female collage uses fragments to work in a conductive fashion a hyperrhetorical movement.

The Digital Story Quilt

Users then search the interface using a variety of search tools. They create a visual quilt top that may be manipulated or read to reveal the multiple dimensions of each patch.

Tactics for Digital AdvocacyFragmentation: Tearing apart that which is seemingly whole into pieces to create place of liminality (in between).Condensation: Reduction of ideas to icons or symbolic narratives; at level of family unit.Juxtaposition: Destabilizing, relational nature of narratives, images display complexities.Improvisation: Kairos; the right suggestion at the right time; yielding to the creative process.Endurance: Persistence over time.

Postfeminist Research, Hypertext TheoryParticipatory Action: Everyone can speak for themselves and constitute their own subject position.Dismantling Genres: Shift distinctions between received categories so they may be questioned and redefined.Communal Authorship: Politics of hypertext that is polyvocal that overturns dominant mythology of solitary author.Recombinant Materials: Creative appropriation of symbology of a culture.

Diane Greco, Hypertext with Consequences: Recovering a Politics of Hypertext, ACM, 1996.

13Now there are four key qualities of a participatory hypertext environment.

Digital Quilt: Defining QuestionHow can you make visible the knowledge and stories of a community?

Media Deserts: Defining QuestionHow have communities been affected by the changing media ecosystem?

Media Deserts ProjectDr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University, @mediaghostsUsing GIS tools, we map media deserts -- places where fresh news and information is lacking.Modeled after the USDA Food Access Locator Map

What is a Media Desert?Working DefinitionA media desert is a geographic area that is lacking fresh news and information.This condition may be as a result of a lack of content, access, language barriers and other issues.Framework of AnalysisI use Lawrence Lessigs concept of communications architecture:CODE: Language, spoken or written or computer languagesCONTENT: News, information, imagesCONDUIT: Newspapers, radio, mobile.Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Elon University, @mediaghosts

Newspaper Layoffs and BuyoutsYear2007200820092010Layoffs and Buyouts2,256+ (partial data)15,992+14,783+2,828+Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University, @mediaghosts

120+ newspapers

More than 120 newspapers have ceased operation in the United States since 2008.

Findlay in Hancock County, OhioState Maps: Ohio

Findlay in Hancock County.

The Media Deserts ProjectAwarenessActionAudit of Community Information SourcesVisualization of Current Information SourcesContent Analysis of Existing SourcesAssessing Community Characteristics for Sustainable Media Enterprises

Community Engagement through Focused GatheringsEngaging Key Stakeholders in Developing Sustainable Media EnterprisesDeveloping Face-to-Face and Virtual Public Spaces for Engagement/Community Conversations

Under Threat International News Safety Institute, 2015

Under Threat International News Safety Institute, 2015

Online Harassment: 40% and growingWomen publishers experience cyberbullying on their sites.

General news sites have struggled with moderating online commenting.

Women Live Online and Thats Where They Find Us

Women Journalists Are Targeted Online

Our Solution

What We OfferS.O.S. Team: Countering cyberattacks in real-time with online community support and positive messaging.

RAID: Finding and outing trolls online and tracking where they operate using network analysis technologies and natural language processing.

SUPPORT: Providing technical, legal services and psychological services; resources for publishers under denial of service attacks.

RAID: Community Clustering

Using a proprietary technology for network analysis developed by Ohio University students, we find and aggregate communities of trolls and identify who else is a subject of attack.C.A.T.S.: Clustering Analysis and Targeting System, Ohio University

Our Goal: Fighting Hate with