Citizen Journalism

PRESSthink -
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2008/07/14/a_most_useful_d.html

A useful blog created by Jay Rosen that examines journalism and the need to prevent the absorbtion of the press into the mass media. Rosen suggests that "the press has become the ghost in the democracy machine" and lobbys against the commercialisation of journalism.

I have found his views on citizen journalism particularly interesting. Rosen defines this conecpt as "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform many others of a newsworthy event, that’s citizen journalism.”

Did You Know 4.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

Excellent YouTube clip on the topic of convergence, the explosion of online media and Web 2.0 technologies. Produced to promote the third annual Media Convergence Forum in New York later this month.

Deuze and Media Theory

Deuzeblog - http://deuze.blogspot.com/

Mark Deuze is an academic at Indiana University with key interests in journalism and new media, specifically the cultural and technical convergence of media culture and the creative industries.

His blog is well worth reading and I am finding his paper regarding convergence culture in the creative industries very useful for my major essay.

Digital Journalism

Following on from week nine's reading, here is a link to another article of interest by Christopher Harper - Doing it all - covers the topic of digital journalism and the resources, or lack thereof, that media companies devote to online versions of their newspapers.
http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=398

Machinima

Found an interesting interview with some of the technical crew from South Park regarding a machinima inspired episode invloving the MMOG World of Warcraft.

"Make Love, Not Warcraft" - http://www.machinima.com/article/view&id=459

Engaging Media - Week Nine

Reading for this week...

Journalism in a Digital Age - Christopher Harper

The media plays a specific role in ‘agenda setting’ in so far as having the power to “emphasize specific events, ideas and social values”. The media also deliberately “frames” the news so as to be interpreted in specific ways by the public.

Harper does not see the internet / www as having the same power to “set the agenda” largely because the audience is too small and the broadcasters that own the websites are still setting the agenda.

Online journalism is altering the traditional role of the journalist. Firstly by placing far more power in the hands of the reader and secondly through allowing the journalist access to a wide variety of new technology to tell their story e.g. audio and video.

Online journalism audience is increasing but is still quite small compared to other forms of news media. There is a trend for users to use the web for quick snippets of news and headline stories.

Clear division in internet usage based on age - older users more interested in following the news, particularly on a daily basis.

According to Michael Kolowich (http://www.newsedge.com/), people are turning to online services for several key reasons:
1. News consumers want filtering
2. The ability to search for news is important
3. Browsing
4. Communing

Journalists divided into three groups:
1. Benevolent revolutionaries - enthusiastic about new technologies
2. Nervous traditionalists - the opposite of the above
3. Serene separatists - do not fear new technology as they do not see it having a great impact upon their profession

As classified advertising becomes increasingly online-based as opposed to print-based, some traditional printed newspapers will likely go out of business. This revenue is crucial for a newspaper’s survival.

Related Links...

Murdoch to charge for online news - http://www.theage.com.au/technology/biz-tech/not-happy-rupert-readers-say-they-wont-pay-for-online-news-20090807-eco0.html

Fairfax losses and plans to form consortium to charge for online news - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,25975971-643,00.html

Some advice to Fairfax from Crikey - http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/08/24/crikey-says-70/

Engaging Media - Week Eight

Reading for this week...



Playing on the digital commons: collectivities, capital and contestation in video game culture - Sarah Colman and Nick Dyer-Witheford

Examines the concept of a media commons and how that operates against a global backdrop of information capitalism.

Commons - “resources that all in a specified community may use, but none can own”. Contrasts directly with a commodity and has no profit agenda.

Commons concept is popular with those that buck against the trend of capitalism and corporate globalisation and has grown alongside the growth of new media.

Anti-piracy laws are breeding new resistance from those who resent the financial cost and cost to system performance that anti-copying technology brings.

Element of “unavoidable co-existence” between game pirates and the game industry.

Modding - generating new forms of game production and expanding current games, builds on the concept of hacking and “digital tinkering”. Gained popularity in the 1990s. Excellent example is the adaptation of Half- Life to create Counter-Strike. Mods are circulated free of charge and are welcome to some extent by the game industry as they generate publicity.

Machinima - adapting games to create movies, a concept that is developing rapidly as computer hardware and software becomes increasingly sophisticated.

Both modding and machinima “represent a return of the digital ‘DIY’ practices at the root of game culture” and serve to re-purpose games for collective use.

MMOGS - Massively-Multiplayer Online Games. Follow on from MUDS (Multi-User Domains) and essentially create a synthetic game world in which thousands can interact. MMOGS represent a shift from commons to commodity and usually entail both initial outlay and ongoing expense for the player e.g. World of Warcraft nets its developer Blizzard $1.5 billion annually. MMOGS have their own behaviour patterns and social rules and largely fail or succeed based on the vibrancy of the player community. Players may not own them, but the direction of MMOGS is very much determined by the consumer.

MMOGS have led to practice of virtual trading, in which useful objects within the game are traded in real life for actual currency. “Virtual trading shows how paradoxically intertwined commons and commodities have become”.

We live in an era of multi-dimensional media in which the roles of creator and consumer are blurred. This is apparent in the world of digital game play, where the defining feature is interactivity and the consumer very much shapes the game and determines its success.