January assessment: Learner response

1) Grade  - C
Marks - 27

WWW - This is a reasonable extensive response that mainly stays focused on the question and offers a range of examples and debates.

EBI - Need more theories and examples for the higher levels: Marxism, Pluralism, Hegemony etc. You could have offered a lot more on Trump, You didn't mention Brexit etc. 

2) Read through the mark scheme (go to the last two pages of the document - Section B New/digital media). Of the six different statements for each level (e.g. A sophisticated and comprehensive essay, showing very good critical autonomy.) write which level you think YOU are currently working at for each one. Explain WHY and, for any that are not Level 4, what you are going to do to improve in that area. 

I think my work is at a level 3 as the structure of the essay and wording was of a decent standard. In order for it to get to a level 4 it would need to be more sophisticated and the spelling and use of sentences should be at a higher level.

3) Look at the Examiners' Report for this particular paper. Read page 10 - Section B New/digital media. How many of the good points or higher level answer examples did you include in your essay? What were they? What could you have added to improve your mark?

Used the nmds stories which were given and other examples in the news which came up but didn't include statistics and the main news stories such as Brexit. Also, could've used more theories and theorists which would've helped get a better mark.

4) Add key theories and stories 
Written English to be improved
Add another layer of depth when analysing  

5) Write ONE new paragraph for your January assessment essay. Ideally, this should be a section you did not cover in your original essay. This paragraph needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme.

Pluralists suggest there is no dominant ruling-class but numerous competing groups with different interests. The owners do not directly control the content of the media, but rather what appears in the media is driven by the wishes of consumers. This would mean that the audience would find it harder to find news which is legit and which isn't misinformed the audience. With the increase in people using social media Institutions are losing control and more people online are starting to start spreading news and information. Galting and Ruge showed that two key sets of factors involved in determining journalist news values are bureaucratic and cultural. Due to this when people hear something they believe it because it's online and when it comes out in traditional platforms such as newspapers the news is old and people don't want to read it but because it's not regulated online it's not always true so people are misinformed making it harder to know who is telling the truth.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 27/01/17

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/26/sixteenth-time-lucky-facebook-goes-after-snapchat-again

Facebook are now competing with snapchat to try and eliminate them from future completion. Facebook are now starting to use the story feature that snapchat has which people can post up to 10 seconds per snap.

• “We’re hoping to bring Stories ... to the rest of the world in the coming months”

I think that the competition that media Institutions have are competitive and that innovation is the key to success which is why snapchat, Facebook and Instagram are so successful. This is why it's so hard to eliminate what people use because all 3 have different functions and their own purpose.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 27/01/17

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38756577

Sky have decided to go and expand their audience by allow people to access sky online in 2018.

• Would help it reach a further six million customers across Europe.
• There are about two million households in the UK
• The pay-TV giant reported a 9% fall in operating profits after paying more for broadcast rights to Premier League football matches.

I think that this a good things as sky are now able to expand their audience to people who don't already receive it and can get it online without having to pay for a subscription.

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots

How did the language and selection of images in the coverage create a particular representation of young people? 

The image is stereotypical of someone who is seen to be a member of the youth in society and who is looting during the riots. The language used is done specifically to make young people the victim and the police who are the hero's and called it a riot rather than a protest to show there's no control in the situation. The representation is a negative one that the reason for all of the rioting is because of the working class people who are unemployed or on benefits are trying to gain materialistic things through looting.

Why does David Buckingham mention Owen Jones and his work Chavs: the demonisation of the working class?

Working class people have negative coverage in the news and as a result are reported badly because of it.

What is the typical representation of young people – and teenage boys in particular? What did the 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey find?

Young teenage boys were represented the worst in the media because of the stereotypes of being aggressive so 40% of magazines had a member of the youth as the front cover.

How can Stanley Cohen’s work on Moral Panic be linked to the coverage of the riots?

It can be linked to the moral panic as it was said that the youth were out of control which people started to fear as a result which created a panic.

What elements of the media and popular culture were blamed for the riots?

Some of the things that were the main accusations for the riots were rap music, video games and television.
How was social media blamed for the riots? What was interesting about the discussion of social media when compared to the Arab Spring in 2011?

It was the reason that the riots were so well planned and people had a bigger impact. People wouldve only started rioting in Tottenham but other places used it as a reason to start rioting in their areas and this spread through social media.

The riots generated a huge amount of comment and opinion - both in mainstream and social media. How can the two-step flow theory be linked to the coverage of the riots? 

People who opinion leaders will share their view on what's going on with the riots through social media. This would impact the ideology that people share as they're more likely to go and look up to their role model.

Alternatively, how might media scholars like Henry Jenkins view the 'tsunami' of blogs, forums and social media comments? Do you agree that this shows the democratisation of the media?

The media are no longer in control of what is being spread and it is now those who are using the social media websites who control what is being spread and what they're talking about.

What were the right-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

The view was that the right-wing ideology is that it was the youth as a generation who have no respect for their adults.

What were the left-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

Left-wing responses would have said that the cause was a lack of welfare state and money being put into things for younger people to do which is why they found the riots as a thing to just take part in.
What are your OWN views on the main causes of the riots?

I think that the riots started because people felt that the government wasn't giving the community what they felt like they needed and deserved in order to survive so this was a way to take back what was theres.
How can capitalism be blamed for the riots? What media theory (from our new/digital media unit) can this be linked to?

The stereotypes that the youth receive are now being internalised and because of this they're not making the stereotypes something that is actually done by the youth.
Were people involved in the riots given a voice in the media to explain their participation?In the Guardian website's investigation into the causes of the riots, they did interview rioters themselves. Read this Guardian article from their Reading the Riots academic research project - what causes are outlined by those involved in the disturbances?

The rioters weren't given a chance to talk about their reason it was outlining what the police did during the situation and how they handled it and became the hero's of the country.
What is your own opinion on the riots? Do you have sympathy with those involved or do you believe strong prison sentences are the right approach to prevent such events happening in future?

I believe that it was something that shouldn't have escalated the way it did but the people who were only robbing for the sake of it should have a prision sentence because they destroyed people's businesses who had no involvement with any of the reasons for the riots starting.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 20/01/17

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/18/gchq-targets-teenage-girls-to-find-cyber-spies-of-the-future

Girls from the age 13-15 are being recruited to go online and stop crimes from happening. They have been assembled to stop cyber bullying which is a major problem in today's society.

• Only 10% of the global cyber workforce are female, the intelligence agency said.
• Girls aged 13 to 15 can enter the CyberFirst Girls Competition in teams of four. 

I think that this is a good idea as cyber bullying has always been around and needs to be tackled with people who are monitoring because people aren't always ready to speak out and say they're being bullied. This is a negative thing we have to face with the internet.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 20/01/17

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38686787

Uber is an app which allows people to get a ride and are having to pay out 20million to the drivers.

• UberX can make in a year is more than $90,000 in New York and more than $74,000 in San Francisco

• for drivers working a 40 hour week - was significantly less ($29,000 and $21,000 less, respectively)

• fewer than 20% of drivers earned $16 an hour. Chicago - fewer than 20% earned $21. Minneapolis - 10%, $18. And so on.

• On Thursday, Uber agreed to pay $20m to those drivers in order to settle the claim. 

• The regulator said drivers were paying an average of $200 per week - higher than first advertised.

I think that Uber is a good app and has developed well with new technology which is why it is so successful and for uber to succeed they need to allow themselves to pay their workers correctly.

Weekly New/Digital Media Homework 13/01/17

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/12/selfie-drone-company-shut-down-despite-34m-pre-orders

The Lilly camera is a drone which is meant to follow the owner and take videos and pictures of them. The owners wear a tracking device so that the device can follow them around. It has a 20 minutre battery life. 

• Buyers could pay $499 to pre-order the drone
• 1080p video camera and a 12 megapixel still camera 
• Launched in 2015, Zano was a British “nano drone” that raised £2.3m on Kickstarter
•  600 of the 15,000 that were pre-sold
• The drone secured at least $34m of pre-orders

I think that this is a useful device for people who are going to record and take different types of shots but at the same time it isn't useful as people using it could potentially injure themselves which would defeat the purpose of the product.