vehicle strand ‘new media’ in a ‘new world’. new media, new world b&s: history of...
TRANSCRIPT
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:
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_twitter_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_alone_together#t-807113
The internet is a copy machine
Analogue: Reproduction An inferior likeness of an originalExpensive
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: PrivacyCopyrightValue 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-pioneered-crowdfunding-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.
Research Understanding 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
Excellent knowledge and understanding of theories and ideas
Original application of theory or probe to chosen artefact or medium
(60-69%) Evidence of at least 4 texts read
Thoughts and ideas very clearly expressed Very good structure Essentially accurate grammar, spelling and punctuation Essentially accurate referencing using the Harvard
System
Very good knowledge and understanding of theories and ideas
Very good application of theory or probe to chosen artefact or medium
(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 understanding of theories and ideas
Good application of theory or probe to chosen artefact or medium
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 understanding of theories and ideas
Appropriate application of theory or probe to chosen artefact or medium
Fail, resit (30-39%) No evidence of independent research
Meaning is often unclear Poor structure Extensive grammar, spelling and punctuation errors Extensive referencing errors and/or Harvard System
not used
Poor knowledge and understanding of theories and ideas
Poor application of theory or probe to chosen artefact or medium
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
Very poor knowledge and understanding of theories and ideas
Very poor application of theory or probe to chosen artefact or medium
Grade Research Writing Understanding Application
Assessment Sheet: Case Study
Next week’s reading
Branston and Stafford: Ch. 12 News and its futures
