Industrial media bites the hand that distributes it on ABC's Media Watch.

Worse still, such new competitors with the products of the journalism industry frequently take professional journalists themselves to task where their standards have appeared to have slipped, and are beginning to match the news industry’s incumbents in terms of insight and informational value...

- Axel Bruns, News Blogs and Citizen Journalism: New Directions for e-Journalism, 2009.

There has been a lot of talk this week of journalism "in crisis" due to the over-saturation of citizen journalism on the internet (Bruns 2009). Now, while Bruns' article doesn't continue to be as alarmist (compared to other sources I've found.) as the above quote suggests, industrial media and it's journalists do not seem to like being called out on their short-comings. So what happens when industrial media embraces citizen journalism and turns on its own kind? Well then, you get the glory that is ABC's Media Watch. 

 Presented by that dashing 'silver fox' Jonathon Holmes.

With a tag line like "everyone loves it until they're on it", you know it's going to make waves. This program is an example of industrial journalism embracing a citizen journalism attitude and calling out the press on its faults (Bruns 2009). If you go to their website they have a 'confidential tip offs' section where anyone can submit an issue they think needs to be addressed or an example of bad journalism (mostly the ridiculous excuse for journalism that is A Current Affair and Today Tonight). They also have a section called 'The Dog House', a collection of the 'best/worst/funniest' content submitted by users. 

 It makes me feel like a spy just looking at it.

They further the embrace a 'participatory culture' by providing audiences with a message board/forum platform on which to discuss issues relevant to the program (Mitew, 2011).  By providing this platform, what was already an open discussion becomes an inception-like network of opinion and criticism, allowing audiences to criticise not just Media Watch but other 'produsers' content (Mitew, 2011). As discussed in both the lecture and Steven Johnson's article How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live, Twitter's 'hashtags' allows the many voices of us as nodes to intertwine into a coherent narrative (Mitew, 2011). Media Watch both allows and encourages this through its Twitter account.You can also continue the discussion and post you're own links by joining their Facebook page. Now you'd be forgiven for thinking that a show of this nature wouldn't bite that hand that feeds it but Media Watch, for the sake of journalist integrity, shames everyone, including the ABC and even the program itself. They also provide a link on their website to a list of corrections for mistakes made on their program. Don't believe me? Here's a recent tweet from their Twitter page:

ABCMediaWatch ABC Media Watch

We loved Media Watch, until we were on it abc.net.au/mediawatch/tra… #mediawatch

22 Aug

Media Watch airs on the ABC, Monday nights at 9:20pm. Will you be watching tonight?

Further Reading:

Available online (ebook) through the UOW database: 

Public Journalism 2.0 : The Promise and Reality of a Citizen Engaged Press by Rosenberry, Jack; John, Burton St.

PDF file:

Open Society Foundations: Mapping Digital Media: Citizen Journalism and the Internet by Nadine Jurrat

Blog Post Sources:

Bruns, A, 2009, 'News Blogs and Citizen Journalism: New Directions for e-Journalism', http://produsage.org/files/News%20Blogs%20and%20Citizen%20Journalism.pdf

Mitew, T, 2011, Citizen Journalism and New Media Audiences, DIGC202 Global Networks, University of Wollongong, delivered 12th September.

Generatives and Literature: I still buy books but I've given up on bookstores.

In Dr Teodor Mitew's lecture Into the Cloud: the Long Tail and the Attention Economy discussed the attention economy; the 'Longtail' effect, 'self referential' online store's like Amazon, their recommendations and its effect consumer purchases (2011).

An example of the 'Longtail' effect in publishing. Click here for more.

Now, I'm no Amazon user but sites like Bookdepository.com, have changed the way I buy books. I no longer buy from bookstores and here's why. The site has a 'wishlist' tool which allows you to save a list of books you'd like to purchase at a later date. It allows customers to write a review of the book and underneath each entry it has the oh-so-helpful "other people who viewed this bought" list. It also has editor's picks and recommendations, making my purchasing choices a lot easier. 

Which brings me to the "Longtail" phenomenon mentioned in Dr Teodor Mitew's lecture (2011). Bookstores have lost me, I held in there a little while for the sake of nostalgia and immediacy but the online bookstores won out. 'Real' Bookstores are expensive and their immediacy does not make up for their lack of niche stock. Online stores however, have tapped into the tail-end of the Longtail effect and therefore stock the obscure literary theory textbook that I need at a lower price than any bookstore and with free shipping (2011).

But in the age of e-readers and free downloadable content, why do I still buy books even if I can get them cheaper online? In the words of Kevin Kelly, it comes down to a matter of 'generatives' (2008). Sure I could download a book in PDF format, but I buy books for their embodiment value (yes, even the textbooks). I buy them for their aesthetics. They function as entertainment and decor, I love the look of a shelf full of books. I've bought multiple copies of Sylvia Plath's Ariel. I could have just downloaded it but I buy the copies for their collect-ability, I want the hardback as well as the paperback version, and I want all the different of cover art.

Plus if I buy a hard-copy textbook there is always a chance I can get back some of the money I've spent by selling it second-hand.


Further Reading:

Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog: A Book Publisher's Future Visions of Print, Online, Video and All Media Formats Not Yet Invented. Bookstores Vs Online: Part three of a multi-part series on how bookstores can compete against online stores.

Chris Anderson's Blog on the Wired Network: The Longtail.

Esp check out the FAQ section (you'll recognize him from his article in Wired 12.10 that was part of the reading). He discusses the Longtail effect not just in terms of online sales but also travel and other areas of interest.

If you're after a peer-reviewed article and more of an intense read (and I do mean intense):

Harvard assistant professor Anita Elber's paper on the longtail effect. It uses data gleaned from American online music store Rhapsody and Australia's answer to Netflix, the aptly named Quickflix.

I didn't get all the way through this one (31 pages long, 44 if you count references etc.) but  if you're up for the task I recommend skipping the dense discussion and equations and going straight to the 'Data' and 'Findings' sections or even just reading the conclusion. This article isn't for the faint hearted. 

Sources:

Kelly, K 2008, 'Better than Free', http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/kelly08/kelly08_index.html

Mitew, T, 2011, Into the Cloud: The Longtail and the Attention Economy, DIGC202 Global Networks, University of Wollongong, delivered 5 September. 

First Posted: Sept 11th, 2nd edit 12th Sept.

Convergence of Digital and Cutting Edge Technology and Traditional Household Appliances

Old media are not being displaced. Rather, their functions and status are shifted by the introduction of new technologies (Jenkins 2006).

If we expand Jenkins' idea of media to go beyond the platforms that facilitate cultural interactions, if we go beyond that to any traditional object or appliance that allows a cultural function and think about the way these objects are being integrated with new technologies, we arrive at the subject for my next post. The convergence of cutting edge technologies and traditional home appliances.  

Convergence alters the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres, and audiences (Jenkins 2006).

It's not hard to apply the idea of convergence, in the purest meaning of the word, to everyday appliances that are evolving to do more than their original function. But applying the idea of convergence in a media sense, moving away from simply entertainment and news is a little harder. Or I thought so until I discovered objects like this:

The iBasket.

The iBasket is a conceptual appliance that functions as a laundry basket, washing machine and dryer all in one. How does that relate to convergence culture apart from the obvious? Glad you asked. Once the iBasket has finished it's cycle it informs you via email or text message to your smart phone. It also has WiFi capability, so you can monitor it's progress from your computer. 

These added capabilities change our relationship to this appliance and forge a new relationship between 'old' technologies (laundry basket/washing machine) and 'new' technology (smart phones/internet/laptop). Dr Teodor Mitew talked of old technologies dying or 'mutating' in a lecture (Transglobal Entertainment and Media Convergence) given at the University of Wollongong. While he was referring largely to sound content, the same can be said about this appliance (2011). Just as Vinyl mutated to stay current in the era of the CD, so to do other objects. The iBasket is a convergence of three appliances, however it was not conceptualized to keep current with any of the three. This appliance was conceptualized to replace them and with the added draw card of being compatible with the most widely used digital technologies, this 'mutation' of traditional objects alters it's relationship with it's audience and ensures it's advantage over it's lesser digitally capable competition.

That's not to say that everyone will want one. In the words of Jenkins himself: "I didn’t want the electronic equivalent of a Swiss army knife... I just wanted a phone (2006)." Just because objects have the ability to converge and create new consumer-product relationships, doesn't mean those relationships are always welcomed.

Further Readings concerning media convergence specifically: 

National Film and Sound Archive: Professor Trevor Barr talks Telstra, Internet and TV Convergence.

Nice and quick at just over 3min, in this video Trevor Barr (Professor of Media and Communications at Swinburne University of Technology) discusses media convergence in an Australian context, telstra, Telecom and TV channels online.

Media Convergence Matters: Media Convergence blog discussing Journalism, Social Networks and the Internet. A handy source.

For an Australian context and a more no-nonsense read there is always:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)'s speech by Graeme Samuel (Chairman) for the Henry Mayer Lecture. Entitled Media Convergence and the Changing Face of Media Regulation it deals with just that, media regulation in Australia. ADSL, Free-to-air TV channels and 3G mobile networks are all discussed.

In short, is the technology making many of our existing concerns about media regulation irrelevant? ...As I've made clear today, it is not the job of the ACCC to decide whether it is better for people to access their news and entertainment through the TV, or ADSL2+ or fibre or wireless or even through the mobile phone. But it is our job to ensure that existing players not be allowed to use their market power to close down new forms of competition, and that, as far as possible, it be left to consumers to decide what form this revolution takes and

what services and content they wish to access.

- Graeme Samuel, Media Convergence and the Changing Face of Media Regulation, 2005.   

Blog Sources:

Jenkins, H 2006,  'Introduction: Worship at the Altar of Convergence' in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, New York, pp 1- 24

Mitew, T, 2011, Transglobal Entertainment and Media Convergence, Lecture, DIGC202 Global Networks, University of Wollongong, delivered 29 August.