Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
An Exploration of Citizen Journalism
In their article entitled "Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism," Bruns & Highfield define the term 'citizen journalism' as "an assemblage of broadly journalistic activities which are characterized by specific practical and distributed network of self-selected participants rather than on the paid work of a core team of professional staff, and they utilize Internet technologies to coordinate the process and share its results."
Citizen journalism is important for several reasons, including the immediacy of information and the switch from media concentration to a more democratic distribution of news. Most importantly, citizen journalism allows for an increase in media watchdogs, as news is being viewed, edited, and redistributed by millions of people at any given moment.
With the increase in smart phone technology and social media, individuals have the ability to capture news stories as they happen, and distribute them almost instantly on a number of different platforms even before many news stations. One of the most recent examples is that of the Boston Marathon bombing, where video footage of the event was filmed and uploaded by citizens before any news station could even reach the scene of the attack.
Citizen journalism also allows for a larger variety of sources when distributing news stories. Alfred Hermida describes the way that social media questions the "individualistic, top-down ideology of traditional journalism, subverting journalism's claim to a monopoly on the provision of everyday public knowledge."
Rather than have a handful of media outlets select and distribute news stories, we now have hundreds of thousands of individuals capturing and uploading a variety of news content from all over the world.
Social media also ensures that "no one voice can speak with unquestioned authority." (Jenkins & Thorburn.) As information is distributed through sources that are viewed by millions of people, facts are constantly being checked for validity. Thus, any false information that is distributed is often questioned by citizens.
Sources:
Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.
Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668.
Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn. Introduction: The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy. in Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn eds. (2003). Democracy and New Media. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p1-17. NOTE: this link takes you to the entire book (online). You only need to read the introduction.
Citizen journalism is important for several reasons, including the immediacy of information and the switch from media concentration to a more democratic distribution of news. Most importantly, citizen journalism allows for an increase in media watchdogs, as news is being viewed, edited, and redistributed by millions of people at any given moment.
With the increase in smart phone technology and social media, individuals have the ability to capture news stories as they happen, and distribute them almost instantly on a number of different platforms even before many news stations. One of the most recent examples is that of the Boston Marathon bombing, where video footage of the event was filmed and uploaded by citizens before any news station could even reach the scene of the attack.
Citizen journalism also allows for a larger variety of sources when distributing news stories. Alfred Hermida describes the way that social media questions the "individualistic, top-down ideology of traditional journalism, subverting journalism's claim to a monopoly on the provision of everyday public knowledge."
Rather than have a handful of media outlets select and distribute news stories, we now have hundreds of thousands of individuals capturing and uploading a variety of news content from all over the world.
Social media also ensures that "no one voice can speak with unquestioned authority." (Jenkins & Thorburn.) As information is distributed through sources that are viewed by millions of people, facts are constantly being checked for validity. Thus, any false information that is distributed is often questioned by citizens.
Sources:
Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.
Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668.
Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn. Introduction: The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy. in Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn eds. (2003). Democracy and New Media. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p1-17. NOTE: this link takes you to the entire book (online). You only need to read the introduction.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Competition & Commercial Media Bias
Today I am going to be podcasting my comments on a quick excerpt from an article I found on advertising bias in the news. The article is entitled "Competition and Commercial Media Bias" and was written by Andrea Blasco and Francesco Sobbrio.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Revisiting 'Examining the subculture behind piracy: Sharing is Caring'
Piracy is a very difficult term to define. In "Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A story of Online Pirates," Tunnel and Steinmetz give us the visualization of the term "pirate" used to describe a bunch of one-eyed swashbucklers, attacking ships and stealing gold.
As stated in your comments, the reasons for downloading content illegally because it is comfortable and convenient. Not only is the content inexpensive (and often free), but we are able to retrieve said content at fast rates without having to leave the comfort of our homes.While a majority of us do recognize online-piracy to be an illegal act, many of us simply do not care. We are apathetic to the fact that piracy is a crime, and that we are stealing from artists who typically make millions of dollars regardless of how much their content gets stolen.
While there are ways to counter-act piracy, through ways such as "inexpensive" downloads by Apple, or having artists promote digital downloads and exclusive content with the purchase of an album, the rate that pirated content is distributed will continue to grow. As we live in the information society, one that is based on the sharing of knowledge and information, we will continue to fight for our right for free access to information and content.
As the government continues to shut down downloading sites and increase copyright infringement laws, the only way to truly stop piracy would be to shut down the Internet -an impossibility in today's society.
As stated in your comments, the reasons for downloading content illegally because it is comfortable and convenient. Not only is the content inexpensive (and often free), but we are able to retrieve said content at fast rates without having to leave the comfort of our homes.While a majority of us do recognize online-piracy to be an illegal act, many of us simply do not care. We are apathetic to the fact that piracy is a crime, and that we are stealing from artists who typically make millions of dollars regardless of how much their content gets stolen.
While there are ways to counter-act piracy, through ways such as "inexpensive" downloads by Apple, or having artists promote digital downloads and exclusive content with the purchase of an album, the rate that pirated content is distributed will continue to grow. As we live in the information society, one that is based on the sharing of knowledge and information, we will continue to fight for our right for free access to information and content.
As the government continues to shut down downloading sites and increase copyright infringement laws, the only way to truly stop piracy would be to shut down the Internet -an impossibility in today's society.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Examining the subculture behind Piracy: Sharing is Caring
Since the dawn of the peer-to-peer file sharing program Napster, the sharing of media (and in particular, music) has become a huge concern for the creators and distributors of this content.
Steinmetz and Tunnel completed research on such a phenomenon, and discovered that there were four main motivations for participating in the downloading and sharing of music files, also known as "piracy". These four motivations include the sharing of content as a cultural form, the sampling of data, the inability to afford content, and in order to undermine current copyright regimes. (Steinmetz & Tunnel)
In my personal experience, I find these four motivations to be similar to what I use as rationalization for piracy. I prefer to download media content not only because it is cost effective, but also for the way that it undermines the copyright regimes which are enforced by government and backed by the recording industry.
Music downloading is not just an individual "hobby," however the act of file sharing involves a large community of people who are able to transfer media as well as communicate with one another during the process. Dale Bradley sees this peer-to-peer file sharing as a "transmission of cultural codes, values, and practices between a hacking subculture built around online communication".
While piracy is an illegal act that loses the recording and film industries millions of dollars every year, it seems nearly impossible to prevent this sub-culture from dying out.
There are many steps that recording industries have taken in order to stop piracy, including the push to increase copyright laws, fining those who download illegally, and getting peer-to-peer sites such as LimeWire shut down.
However, the subculture of file-sharers and pirates is so large, that there will always be new file sharing site when old ones get shut down. While individuals may get fined for this illegal activity, it will be impossible to find and charge every person that commits piracy. If copyright laws are enforced, these "hackers" will find ways to undermine them.
Thus, recording industries need to find ways to work with these Pirates. First, using promotional tools such as "free digital downloads" such as unreleased songs, album art, or bonus content concurrent with the purchase of a record or CD encourage the purchasing of tangible items. As well, the use of applications such as iTunes promote and encourage legal downloading at low expenses.
Bradley, D. (2006) Scenes of Transmission: Youth Culture, MP3 File Sharing, and Transferable Strategies of Cultural Practice. M/C Journal. 9(1).
Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013). Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates. Deviant Behavior. 34 (1), pg. 53-67
Monday, June 10, 2013
Revisiting Creative Consumer Culture: Youtube & New Media Forms
In my original post, "Creative Consumer Culture: Youtube & New Media Forms" I had expressed my thoughts on the way that new media forms such as YouTube will continue to allow individual expression and creation of content through all sorts of digital communication modes.
Since there are so many channels which allow for high levels of distribution of this media content, there is a greater variety in the content that is online. Individuals are able to pick and choose the content that they want to watch, and that content may not necessarily be produced by corporate means, or with capital revenue in mind -thus contributing to a more democratic cultural mosaic.
That being said however, there will still always be a hierarchy of content that creates a gap between the content creators based on things like the amount of likes or views something might have. Returning to the example of Youtube, a video of a pre-established music artist will have more views than one by a music artist who isn't pre established. These videos that have higher views will gain even further attention via the websites home page which displays the "popular" videos. Sites such as Youtube may even support paid-promotional videos. Thus, promotion and distribution of media content comes down to capital, creating the gap between content creators who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing, and those that do not have the financial means to follow suit.
However, there are plenty of examples of Youtube videos that have been created by average citizens, which gain high popularity among the masses. Such examples include Rebecca Black's "Friday" or even the Brock Harlem Shake video (Now with over half a million views!). Thus these sites can still provide a space for the creation and recreation of content in order to contribute to a more democratic cultural commons.
Since there are so many channels which allow for high levels of distribution of this media content, there is a greater variety in the content that is online. Individuals are able to pick and choose the content that they want to watch, and that content may not necessarily be produced by corporate means, or with capital revenue in mind -thus contributing to a more democratic cultural mosaic.
That being said however, there will still always be a hierarchy of content that creates a gap between the content creators based on things like the amount of likes or views something might have. Returning to the example of Youtube, a video of a pre-established music artist will have more views than one by a music artist who isn't pre established. These videos that have higher views will gain even further attention via the websites home page which displays the "popular" videos. Sites such as Youtube may even support paid-promotional videos. Thus, promotion and distribution of media content comes down to capital, creating the gap between content creators who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing, and those that do not have the financial means to follow suit.
However, there are plenty of examples of Youtube videos that have been created by average citizens, which gain high popularity among the masses. Such examples include Rebecca Black's "Friday" or even the Brock Harlem Shake video (Now with over half a million views!). Thus these sites can still provide a space for the creation and recreation of content in order to contribute to a more democratic cultural commons.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Creative Consumer Culture: Youtube & New Media Forms
Creative Consumer Culture
In the digital age, the consumption of culture has transitioned from a one-way flow of communication, to a vast and intricate web of creation of content between producers and consumers. We have moved passed the idea of the passive and mindless entity, and onto something bigger. With Social Media, consumption has become highly interactive. Not only are we consuming the content that is being created, but we are re-creating, appropriating, and inventing our own cultural content.
Jenkins states that there is an "alarming concentration of the ownership of mainstream commercial media, with a small handful of multinational media conglomerates dominating all sectors of the entertainment industry." (Jenkins, H.) This is problematic, as concentrated ownership works to homogenize our culture, taking away from individualism and creativity.
YouTube & Cultural Production
Lucas Hilderbrand describes Youtube as "revolutionary" for it's increased access to content over restricted access laws (Hilderbrand, L.). In relation to the topic I have been exploring over the course of this semester, I wanted to provide an example on News and the way in which YouTube can act as a weapon against the concentration of culture. This video displays a parody of CBC news and the issues regarding Canadians, as depicted by a group of people in Barbados. This video is a great example of how anyone is able to produce their own content and distribute it via YouTube, regardless of factors such as geographical location or finances. Video can be found here
.
This example of how popular culture is appropriated shows the way in which people are "fighting for the right to participate more fully in their culture, to control the flow of media in their lives and to talk back to mass market content." (Jenkins, H.)
Youtube & Copyright Laws
As new media, Youtube accelerates the relationship between producer-consumers, as millions of video content is constantly being produced by all sorts of people all over the world. However, if we examine the type of content that is being produced, much of it is content that has already been created. Again, if we return to the example of the CBC news parody, it is taking content that has already been created and redistributing it in a new form. The video is taking familiar symbols such as the CBC News acronym, and re-appropriating them.
Parodies, remixes, and recreations of original cultural products are all highly popular on Youtube. While copy right laws have increasingly become more and more severe, it is interesting to see that this content is circulated among the masses, regardless of copyright infringement. Thus, new media such as Youtube work to promote a "cultural commons" one that is freely accessible by the public.
My prediction is that with forms of new media, our culture will not only continue to become more and more diverse as individuals are able to produce their own content, but we will continue to fight for control over free access to cultural markets even in the face of increasingly powerful copyright laws.
Hilderbrand, L. (2007). Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge. Film Quarterly. Vol 61, No. 1, 48-57.
Jenkins, H. (2004) The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies. March 2004, 7: 33-43
In the digital age, the consumption of culture has transitioned from a one-way flow of communication, to a vast and intricate web of creation of content between producers and consumers. We have moved passed the idea of the passive and mindless entity, and onto something bigger. With Social Media, consumption has become highly interactive. Not only are we consuming the content that is being created, but we are re-creating, appropriating, and inventing our own cultural content.
Jenkins states that there is an "alarming concentration of the ownership of mainstream commercial media, with a small handful of multinational media conglomerates dominating all sectors of the entertainment industry." (Jenkins, H.) This is problematic, as concentrated ownership works to homogenize our culture, taking away from individualism and creativity.
YouTube & Cultural Production
Lucas Hilderbrand describes Youtube as "revolutionary" for it's increased access to content over restricted access laws (Hilderbrand, L.). In relation to the topic I have been exploring over the course of this semester, I wanted to provide an example on News and the way in which YouTube can act as a weapon against the concentration of culture. This video displays a parody of CBC news and the issues regarding Canadians, as depicted by a group of people in Barbados. This video is a great example of how anyone is able to produce their own content and distribute it via YouTube, regardless of factors such as geographical location or finances. Video can be found here
.
This example of how popular culture is appropriated shows the way in which people are "fighting for the right to participate more fully in their culture, to control the flow of media in their lives and to talk back to mass market content." (Jenkins, H.)
Youtube & Copyright Laws
As new media, Youtube accelerates the relationship between producer-consumers, as millions of video content is constantly being produced by all sorts of people all over the world. However, if we examine the type of content that is being produced, much of it is content that has already been created. Again, if we return to the example of the CBC news parody, it is taking content that has already been created and redistributing it in a new form. The video is taking familiar symbols such as the CBC News acronym, and re-appropriating them.
Parodies, remixes, and recreations of original cultural products are all highly popular on Youtube. While copy right laws have increasingly become more and more severe, it is interesting to see that this content is circulated among the masses, regardless of copyright infringement. Thus, new media such as Youtube work to promote a "cultural commons" one that is freely accessible by the public.
My prediction is that with forms of new media, our culture will not only continue to become more and more diverse as individuals are able to produce their own content, but we will continue to fight for control over free access to cultural markets even in the face of increasingly powerful copyright laws.
Hilderbrand, L. (2007). Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge. Film Quarterly. Vol 61, No. 1, 48-57.
Jenkins, H. (2004) The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies. March 2004, 7: 33-43
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