TARAN MEST 3 BLOG: November 2016

Friday 18 November 2016

NDM Weekly Homework index

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 18/11/16

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/17/elon-musk-satellites-internet-spacex

Tesla is planning to put more than 4,000 satellites in orbit. This is done so that the World we live in can have internet where ever you are. There's been no date for the release of the satellite itself but it is said to be that it would orbit in a range between 714 miles and 823 miles above the Earth.

Musk said in January 2015 that the plan would cost at least $10bn.
Measuring 4m by 1.8 by 1.2m and weighing 386kg.
US government to operate a massive network of 4,425 satellites

I think that this is something that would help out everyone as people will be able to have access to internet when they need it which is useful as any information people are restricted from obtaining are able to do so because they now have access.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 18/11/16

http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/10/technology/snapchat-vending-machine/index.html

Snapchat are now selling smart glasses with a built in wireless video recorder in it. Now those glasses, called Spectacles, are finally going on sale for $129.99. They were then listed on ebay later for $950. The glasses are used like snapchat but are able to record from the glasses itself rather than using the snapchat app on their phones.

I feel like that people are letting snapchat take over their life where people feel like they need to be recording everything they see or to post on snapchat. Also, if people aren't careful it can be a problem as they might cause themselves harm by not checking where they're walking properly.

NDM: Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1) Research the Ian Tomlinson case. What would the traditional, hegemonic view of the police be in a case like this? How did new and digital media create a different story? What does the police officer's subsequent acquittal suggest about the power of new and digital media?

Ian Tomlison was walking home during the G20 protest in 2009 where one of the police officers had assumed he was apart of the protest where he was then assaulted by the police officer and later killed after being attacked. This was recorded by a man from New York who had just got himself a new video recorder and luckily managed to get this on tape for it to be published.

2) What does the author argue regarding whether hegemony is being challenged by Web 2.0?

The internet doesn't just offer one view point, it can offer many and vary from professional journalism or articles to peoples opinions or views which are not as of a high standard.

3) In your opinion, does new and digital media reinforce dominant hegemonic views or give the audience a platform to challenge them?

I believe that hegemonic views are reinforced through the ndm platform because people are reading certain articles that they find online and don't bother questioning it and when there's a dominant hegemonic view which is being reinforced people will be more inclined to believe it rather than challenge it due to a panic/awareness being created.

4) Do recent world events such as Brexit or Donald Trump's election in the US suggest dominant hegemonic ideologies are being challenged or reinforced? There are arguments for both sides here - explain your opinion and why.

Both Trump and the issue on Brexit had hegemonic ideologies reinforced because there were promises that were made which would apparently give America its independents back and also with England as well. This was done so that people would've voted for them because of the reinforced dominant hegemonic view.

Monday 14 November 2016

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 11/11/16

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/11/mark-zuckerberg-rejects-crazy-idea-facebook-influenced-us-electi/

Mark Zuckerberg is now being criticised for influencing the US election by allowing fake news stories to be published on the social media networking website. He has defended himself by saying the content was only a small amount and didn't influences peoples decisions. People have been making false stories on both sides during the election.

I think that people are more likely to go to social media for news so Facebook should have been regulated so that the correct information was given to the public especially during an event as big as this.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 11/11/16

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37836096

There is now technology which is being created to save us and keeps us safe. If there was to be an accident the device is able to contact the emergency services but also those who are on your contacts list who are the closest to you when in aid. It allows it to access the area that your'e at which also gives information to keep you safe.

I think that this is good as technology is usually what causes people to get hurt whilst crossing the roads where they either listen to music or are on their phones which causes them to pay less attention. This is a good way to keep someone safe but also if they are injured a quicker way to get help.

NDM: News Values

1) Read Media Factsheet 76: News Values and complete the following questions/tasks.

Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

2) Come up with a news story from the last 12 months for each of the categories suggested by Harriss, Leiter and Johnson:

Conflict - Syrian war
Progress - US election
Disaster - Hurricane Matthew
Consequence - Brexit
Prominence - US election
Novelty - Sam Allardyce being fired

3) It uses a British soldier getting killed which would generate an audience of those who are British as it is something that is to do with the nation and cultural. It is a more appropriate story to use as it is linked with British culture + their views and ideologies.

4) The process of filtering information prior to dissemination. This process is usually done via the editor, but the gatekeeping process could be seen to be more than simply an editor choosing one story over another, it could also refer to how journalist select certain
lines of questioning, or use some words over others to describe people and event.

5)

Bias through selection and omission
Bias through placement
Bias by headline
Bias by photos, captions, and camera angles
Bias through use of names and titles
Bias by choice of words

6) News is now published without being regulated or in order of importance. Stories can now be published at any time online whenever they're released on social media websites which can be done through citizen journalism or other sources. It makes it easier to access the stories before they're out on traditional media sources.

7) Black people in America who are getting killed by the police and the people who are there during the incident are recording it and posting it on social media.

8) Complete the task on the last page of the Factsheet regarding Sky News and Twitter:

What does this reveal about how Sky views Twitter as a news source?

More people are likely to post something on their social media device to share it which can target a wider audience rather than giving in to Sky to publish.

What does it say about how news is being produced?

There is less professional news stories by journalists being published and people are more likely to go online to get their news stories from online sources where citizen journalism has been used to get the story. Even now on traditional sources such as the news on TV, citizen journalism is used to present stories.

What role does the audience have in this process?

The audience now has more free will and can decide how they want to interact with the web and in this being the case they can now post up whatever they want which causes there to be a decline in professional journalism.

Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

The quality of news will decrease and won't look as professional but there will also be a certain level of truth and accuracy that citizen journalism may not be able to capture as a result of person recording going to find out both sides of the story.

Final tasks

9) I think that the news values are as important when it comes to new and digital media but have changed in order to support the way news is delivered online compared to it being delivered through a news bulletin on the BBC News.

10) Immediacy - There is now more urgency in getting news from online sources as there is no need to go through a long process in order to present the news.

Familiarity - If something was to happen in another country to someone who's British the story is now more likely to travel faster but not just target a British audience: also, those who are in other countries.

Elite nations and people - News can cover well known people well and this will also mean the news will travel faster online such as the US election and the incidents that have occurred during that.

Amplitude - Larger events can now been seen online whilst streaming or even people using Snapchat to show what is going on and therefore posted online.

Frequency - Stories to do with black lives and black people in America is now more frequent due to people posting more videos to do with this story which increases the frequency of this topic online.

Predictability - There will never be any strict time for certain news stories to be published online and any type of stories which changes the predictability of what is going to be shown online.

Monday 7 November 2016

Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance

1) Create a new blogpost called 'Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance' and make notes from the article under the following headings:

examples

Snapchat

Twitter

Instagram

theories

Hall - dominant reading

Blumer and Katz- Uses and gratifications, personal identity

positive aspects of new technology (or 'digital renaissance')

More coverage

More efficient

Communicate with more people and efficently

negative aspects of new technology on audiences and society

Complete opposite of reality

People communicate less with the outside world
Start to think this 'fantasy' world is real

wider issues and debates

Cyber-bullying can take place as a result of this

Hard to regulate what everyone does so there could be more crimes taken place

2) The article was written in 2009. Offer three examples of more recent social networking sites or uses of technology that support the idea of a 'digital renaissance'.

We now have Instagram which is a way for people to communicate with each other by leaving comments and people are now able to post pictures of themselves online. Snapchat allows people to talk with each other by sending short pictures or videos of each other or whatever they're doing. They can send this to their friends or post it on their stories for everyone to view. There are also ways to get news and information now with the new features that are included. Twitter also communicates news and people can now interact and they can also see what their favourite celebrities are saying who may change or shape the peoples ideologies because they're opinion leaders.

3) How do live streaming services such as Periscope or Facebook Live fit into the idea of a 'digital renaissance'? Are these a force for good or simply a further blurring of reality?

I think that this is a good way to see what is happening in real life and is more close to reality and we can see what people are doing and what's going on in the rest of the world. This is less likely to be staged as we can see what is going on for ourselves.

4) How can we link the 'digital renaissance' to our case study on news? Is citizen journalism a further example of hyper-reality or is it actually making news more accurate and closer to real life?

Citizen journalism is a way for the audience to see what is happening and is closer to reality whereas the news is recorded to show a specific point of view and might not be able to get access to certain areas which citizen journalism helps with. However, people who are recording will only show what they see which can also be bias and might give us misleading information. It will attract a wider audience and will travel a lot faster as well. There have also been times when citizen journalism has been used on the news such as BBC for certain news stories throughout the years so it can be a useful and reliable source at times.

Citizen journalism and UGC (user-generated content)

1) examples: Rodney King, 1991
Asian Tsunami, 2004
Mumbai bombings, 2008

theory (audience reception etc.)

Hypodermic needle
UGC
Opinion leaders

benefits to institutions:

Share news quicker to audience
Target a wider audience

benefits to audience:

News is quicker to receive
Share news with each other quicker
Allows them to interact

wider issues and debates

News isn't being regulated
Journalists are losing jobs
Less people buying the newspaper
Professional journalism/information is decreasing

2) Citizen journalism is when members of the public record things that they see with the use of technology such as phones and then upload it onto the internet.

3) The first example of this was in 1991 where Rodney King was beaten up by the police. Someone had bought a video camera and was testing it out where he saw Rodney King get beaten up and recorded it. Later he went and gave the video to be published in the newspapers.

4) Some of the formats that are there to offer are chat-rooms, message boards, q and a and comments for articles.

5) Professionally shot footage is more likely to be shown on TV as it is shot by a team working together to get the news story whereas first hand footage is shot by someone using their phone for example and the footage isn't as clear and can be shaky at times. It is usually on social media websites and sometimes on YouTube channels such as Vice.

6) A gatekeeper is someone who regulates content and makes it appropriate for the audience to see.

7) The role of gatekeepers has changed as the news is now being published online people are exposed to a lot more and there is no one regulation what is being showed to the public. There are some gatekeepers on the internet and on social media websites but not enough to remove all content published which is changing the role that they have.

8) There will be a loss of jobs and that there will be small staff which are monitoring the citizen journalism as the news that is received is free, there will be no need to pay anyone to go out and get the news let alone going out to record it and then take time to regulate it then publish it as citizen journalism and the internet makes it easier for the news to get published.

9) I think that the news that is being delivered isn't having that professionalism to it and the stories can be misleading or have information which isn't correct because no one is regulating what people are posting online. With this being the case journalists will be losing out on jobs because the institutions don't have paywalls and news is now being provided for free because it is a public good which no one wants to pay for. This will cause a decrease in the lack of professional journalism being delivered to the audience and i feel that this is likely to cause a decrease in the quality of information being delivered to the audience.

Friday 4 November 2016

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 28/10/16

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1627732/facebook-boss-mark-zuckerberg-speaks-out-over-fears-killer-robots-will-wipe-out-humanity/

Zuckerberg believes that the advances in technology will cause us to to die due to AI being made. He believes that they'll be too hard to defeat and as a result it will cause us to be wiped out.

I think that AI is a good thing but could potentially backfire as long as the right precautions are taken then the results of AI being created and wiping us out would be unlikely.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 28/10/16

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/14/spotify-uk-revenues-surge-to-almost-190m-as-mobile-subscriptions-take-off

Spotify is now the leading app in terms of getting music and listening to it. this has been done with a 44% surge in subscriptions. There's an online and offline version of Spotify, the offline one being the premium one which costs £9.99 and the online one which is free and had adverts throughout.

I think that this has revolutionary as we don't need to carry cds or Walkmans with us anymore to listen to music we have everything now on one device which makes it compact and quick to use.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 04/11/16

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/11/03/netflix-may-finally-let-you-watch-shows-offline/

Netflix may now be offering their services offline so people are now able to download the films and watch them whilst they're out. This feature is aimed for those who are in developing countries for the time being. in 2014 it was said to never going to happen so the likelihood of it happening is still slim but a possibility now although it doesn't target all Netflix users from around the world.

I think that this is a good idea as it'll attract more people to buying Netflix however with the new Sky box including Netflix the usefulness of this feature is pointless, people might as well go and watch TV and when they're out they might be less inclined to watch anything or be on their phones.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 04/11/16

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/02/facebook-privacy-data-admiral

This article is about Facebook not wanting to protect us to a certain extent so that they can learn about us and what we do whilst we're online. This is done through the use of cookies that are left which Facebook can see and then they design out Internet experience for us specifically.

I think that to some extent having the Internet search results or advertisements designed specifically for you is a good thing because it makes it easier for the person using the Internet. However, our privacy is also important and without us giving consent it is not moral to do and shouldn't be done.