week 6 Website anlysis part 1

http://www.mtv.co.uk/ is a site that features a range of varied media formats on the homepage, there is a combination of text, videos forums, games as well as pictures which allow the visitors to the site to engage with the content in various ways as well as have options of what they wish to access. With hyperlinks which lead to other pages within the site the user has less of a chance of getting lost as compared as if the links were to external links. The site is owned by VIACOM one of the major entertainment companies in the world, the issue of bias can come into play because the reader is limited to the content within the site’s ideology and discourse. The issue of a bias in new medias culture is a prominent one, however what most key authors in this field neglect to recognize is that, although he site might be biased with certain ideologies the reader of the text is not passive. Most of the time user of the internet are often quite active and are discriminating regarding which content they access.

week 6 Website analysis part 2

Everyone is free to use the general features on the site but users are required to create an account with the site to use the interactive features such as playing games or writing on the forum http://www.mtv.co.uk/comment/edit/ . The interactive features of the site enable the user to participate in forums about programs featured on the MTV channels as well as the site with other users, and depending on the show in discussion the stars of that show such as “ The City” also interact with their fans. http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtvuk/message_boards/the_forum
This interactivity can be classed as ‘social media’ “Social media describes the online technologies and products that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other” (Wikipedia:2007) Online forums/message boards allows the user to connect with others without being limited by geographical location or time, the messages do not need to be instant nor do people need to be gathered in the same physical location.

Week 6 Website Analysis part 3

Consumers control the online environment so brands need to think about facilitating ‘user-created actions’, not jus ‘user generated content’. “Unlike newspapers and T.V. where the advertisers are speaking at the customers, the internet allows for a back and forth interaction http://chinaseekinggalpha.com/article/30979
What I particularly like about http://www.mtv.co.uk/ is that to a certain extent the user has many roles such as being the customer in purchasing the products available such as music albums, the consumer in taking in the news material available, the audience by watching the videos featured on the site, the participant in the forum or message boards as well as the producer such as seen in video blogs. It think that all these feature make communication amongst different people in society, the main advantage that there is no right way to use it because it is non-linear because of the aid of hyperlinks. The site also has different levels of engagement and this is broken into three parts according to http://www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au/engagement/engagement-in-qld/engage-levels/engage-levels.html
Identification- the user identifies with the content on the site as entertainment as well as other users who like the program
Belonging- having a sense of shared values and common practice
Commitment- people who are passionate enough to devote a lot of time and/ or money on the site (I don’t quite agree with this last point though :))

week 5 Origins of Blogging

“A Web browser access to various meeting document information, such as minutes, tabled documents, reports and document indexes. Applications are being developed to take standard electronic meeting log files, postprocess them in a variety of ways, and generate a series of indexes and summary files. These files are formatted in HTML and exploit hyperlinks to the full in order to relate the different types of information.” (Raikundalia, G. & Rees, M.: 1995)
Used this description to explain what blogging was, it is thought that blogs started of with having web pages that had links to other external sites as well as comments on material featured on other pages other than that the reader was reading. One of the first noted blogs was that of Justin Hall in 1994 which contained links to other sites as well as daily entries from his online journal and all of the entries were linked through an index page, as observed with most websites these days.The word weblog came into popular use in December 1997 and later became shorten to blog by Peter Merholz in 1999 and from that point onwards that is when blogging really took off. Pyra Labs which was bought by Google launched blogspot which is a free blogging space for basically anyone which something to say

week 5 Burns part 2

I don’t think that commercialization on the site will cause people to leave the site however, I myself being an account holder the commercials get a bit annoying but other than that the promoted videos sometimes contain really good stuff.

Produsage however can cause conflicts in communities using YouTube as an example again the beheading of Saddam Hussein was recorded on a mobile phone camera and it was posted on the YouTube site. To some people this is viewed as entertainment to some it is highly disrespectful regardless of what atrocities that he committed. In the future I think that tighter regulations will have to be put in place because this type of produserism could spiral out of control and cause more damage than good to society.

week 5 Burns part 1

produsage will last because more games like the Sims are being developed like the new Nintendo games such as animal crossing in which the users create their own pets and can also interact with other users with their own environment. Programs such as YouTube also encourage produsage the process still continues to expand from just being text based to audio visual material. The only concern with using YouTube as a produsage site is that recently it was purchased by Google which is a big cooperation which revolves around advertizing and commercialization and the evidence of this is being seen on the YouTube sit with promoted videos as well as pop ups at the side of the screen. So a free space that was available for people to use is now being taken up by a majority of commercial material.

Week 5 Meikle part A

The web has an array of writers and commentators alike so there is a much wider range of writers and who they write to. News on the web ranges form local to international news as well as family news. On some websites the seriousness of newspapers is taken away, what is also classed as news also varies it could be anything with the majority of websites not having editors it is up to the author to decide what is newsworthy as well as the audience to be discriminating as what they class as news.

Week 5 Meikle part B

The internet has created a new avenue for qualified, unqualified as well as those without the right credentials to be employed in Fleet Street. Almost anyone with access to a pc and internet can post things online, most news channels are now urging ordinary people to submit their pictures and stories if they happen to be at a significant event and in this they become journalists in their own right.

Week 5 Meikle part C

I don’t think that DIY newsmakers should be classed as alternative culture in a sense they are the same as everyday journalists except for the fact that they publish most of their material online, the benefit of this is that their material can be updated and changed completely without the need to reprint the newspaper in a sense this makes them alternative but in my opinion it is that they have access to a medium whereby change is very easy to do.

Week 5 Meikle part D

I think that the audience has to be discriminating as to what websites they visit to read the news, the information quality level is highly depended on what materials the journalist is open to as well as their experience in news gathering and reporting. One cannot just base their opinion on previous stereotypes

Week 5 Meikle part E

News can never be completely open, it is virtually impossible to cover a story from all sides in a just manner. Bias and emotion can get in the way of open news reporting. This problem is not just noticed with different international news broadcasting cooperation’s it can also be seen nationally for instance with CNN and Fox News Network with both covering stories quite differently.

Week 5 Meikle part F

I think that the net can form a new media institution because it is a place where everybody is equal, one is not limited by the contacts he/she has or qualifications it is an open space ready to be filled with opinions.

Lister et al pg 174

It depends on what the online community subject is, if it is a site whereby health problems can be discussed with other people who have suffered form the same illness or by medical professions belonging to such a group can be seen as empowering however suicidal communities are also online and what has be said about these?
However relying on online advice is not always effective false advice might be given and which out proper consultation by a medical professional can cause certain implications. The other thing is that it limits people’s everyday skills with the crutch of the online community this can stop people making ‘real friends’ and instead might find themselves surrounded by virtual ones.

Lister et al pg 177

The internet definitely provides a ‘public sphere’ for people to interact without the limitations of geographical location, it offers people a wider range of others to talk and interact with. However there are some limitations with this, the technology is needed first before this type of communication can take place a pc for starters and internet connection. In the Western parts of the world this is easily attainable as compared to less developed parts of the world, so it is not something that everybody has access to.

Lister et al pg 181

In a statistic recently discovered by a lecturer who will remain unnamed J they said that 80% of the content on the internet is pornography to some this can me seen as a positive thing but to the majority of the population this is seen as a risk especially for young children. The internet regarded as an information highway and everyone has a right to post whatever they like within the restrictions of the laws that govern the country they come form, however this freedom is not always positive it can lead to such materials such as the beheading of Saddam Hussein to be posted on the internet. This type of material is highly immoral and could have harmful effects on vulnerable people.

lister et al pg 184-5

With social networking sites such as facebook and MySpace content made by everyday people can be posted online and viewed by many people. This is becoming a lucrative business an example of this is the couple who danced to Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s song Baby Got Back and their first dance at their wedding http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqiw-Kqtlr0
One can definitely see a raise of people producing their own material it will take a while to overturn the material provided by big co operations into a majority of individual based material provided by the everyday people for the everyday person.

Blanchard reading

Some community analysts might argue that calling any online group a virtual community represents yet another example of the overuse of the term “community” to the point that concept has lost any real meaning (Harris, 1999).
There seems to be a continual dispute as to what is considered to be a community, is community only associated with face to face interaction? But doesn’t the word ‘virtual’ community clearly state that this type of community is virtual it really doesn’t exist outside cyberspace unless the members choose to expand it in that respect. Sometimes geographical limitations can be said to prevent that sense of community and that virtual communities have helped combat this problem
they would help replace the relationships lost as people became more isolated from their neighbors (Rheingold, 1993; Schuler, 1996

A question that is raised in the reading is that what makes a virtual community? Because not all virtual groups are virtual communities. Certain features distinguish the two.
Jones argues that we can understand virtual communities by understanding the artifacts of its virtual settlement: its postings, structure and content.

SOC (Sense of Community) as consisting of the following four characteristics:
Feelings of membership: Feelings of belonging to, and identifying with, the community;
This sense of membership can be felt but hose using blogs, on one hand one can feel this sense of membership without joining the blog but being a lurker, by adding a blog to ones favourites one can always check if there are any new discussions and just enjoy the reading aspect of the community. In real life not all people interact in a community or share their thoughts or feelings but still feel as though they still have membership within the group, should they be regarded as not being part of the community?
Feelings of influence: Feelings of having influence on, and being influenced by, the community;
Not all influence is good especially online, as previously discussed in my blog last week there as been a raise of pro-anorexia websites which influence people to live unhealthily, if a member belongs to that community and identifies with it doesn’t mean that the same outcomes as the Julie/Julia Project will follow. The next two characteristics can also be applied to this justification.
Integration and fulfillment of needs: Feelings of being supported by others in the community while also supporting them; and
Shared emotional connection: Feelings of relationships, shared history, and a “spirit” of community.


The issue of lurkers seem to be a key argument with the majority of people using blogs being lurkers
Nonetheless, lurkers may comprise the vast majority of participants of a virtual community (Blanchard & Markus, 2003)
Could it be said that lurker also make up part of the community? Or are thety still regarded as outcasts? Despite their vast numbers? Who gets to decide as to who will be frowned upon? Certainly people have personal opinion as to weather they choose to par-take in the discussions or not. Surely the internet was created for people to have access to whatever they chose to read or view. If certain groups do not wish for their material to be read surely passwords and subscriptions can be put into place to prevent the dangerous lurkers.
In the case study the blog used had hundreds of hits everyday but this doesn’t make it a community, a community has to have a minimal number of participants and in the case study conducted most people identified that they did not feel as though they were part of a community but rather visitors to the blog, some even identified the point that I made earlier that not all people in society communicate in real communities why should this change online?
it lacked a large enough group of people who considered it a virtual community. Without a critical mass of engaged, connected, and attached participants, its survival depended primarily on the blog author alone. Clearly, there must be a large enough subset of the members who have a strong enough sense of community for a virtual group to cross over to a virtual community.

Music sharing online

a) The way music is consumed has changed drastically form the past music is now on demand, before the internet boom people used to wait months to have access to a new album from a group. Fans can now listen to music form their favourite artist (Illegally of course)before the album even comes out, with so many loop holes on the internet music has never been easier to access and it is no longer regarded as a seriopus activity rather more passive because there is just so much material.

b)Which sites like MySpace new artists can upload their music and since it is on the internet virtually anyone can access it. With big bands also using the MySpace facilities they also have recommendations of bands that they like and this can influence their fans to listen to the new and up coming musicians

c) I think I has definitely changed pop music because there is so much material to listen to, with the rise of music sharing websites album sells have fallen because of people downloading them online legally but mostly illegally and the effects of this can seen with the closure of zavvi and some planned closures of HMV stores because of the decline in product sells

d) Media companies are becoming increasingly unneeded in society and they are catching on to this and are bidding to buy sites like MySpace which enable people to make and upload their own music. In this we see that the capitalist gain of the big cooperation’s is still being met.

lister et al pg 166

Assuming an online persona gives people more confidence to engage in things that previously might have not engaged in. online personas do not have to present the real self instead one can be whoever they want and express whatever they wish to a wider audience. This anonymity gives people a bigger boost of confidence, online personas can also be great when dealing with embarrassing illnesses, a multitude of help forums have appeared in the internet recently which enables people to seek help without the embarrassment of doing it face to face.

lister et al pg 167

Postmodern views which stress the fluidity of online selves is very true race or class are not required online one can express them but the majority of people chose not to. I think online personas create an online world whereby the physical and material have no effect on online relationships everyone is equal, it is more of a utopian world.

lister et al pg 168

cyber identities constitute an alternative to ‘normal social reality’ but to a certain extent, yes people can gather in a forum group and be called a community but they are not really together each person is individually sat at their work station and the most effective form of communication according to Socrates in Walter Ong’s book Orality is the spoken word because memory can store this for longer than written word. Some of the identities that people adopt online can be in the forms of animals or fictional creatures and live in fictional worlds whereby language is not expressed in letters or symbols but rather by code.

online discussions

Considering that the site that we were supposed to review did not seem to want to work , I decided to base my research on a documentary posted on YouTube:
a) The responses were varied in response to the documentary which was based on the political injustices happening in Zimbabwe, most of the reviewers understood that the atrocities that were being committed by the current president were wrong and the government was responsible for these but then some mislead people believed that it was the eradication of colonial rule that caused this and that ‘Africans’ were not capable of ruling a continent, in response to this were was a lot of swearing and heated arguments.
b) Screen names can say a lot about what the people are like, my screen name is smileysunnyrue which I think represents me hahaha
c) I don’t believe some of the discussions that happen online would take place in real life because of the controversy it would cause, using an alias people can speak about things that are considered inappropriate in society.

id and relationships online

Using facebook as a basis of this research task and my personal experience with the website. Usually when people ask me to add them but don’t have a profile picture or any friends in common with me I am a bit reluctant because it could be anyone, a nice person, psycho or a forgotten friend but with online stalking on the rise one always has to take precautions of people without a valid id.
I personally not use my full name on other sites but I do on facebook because I have a private profile and not anyone can access my information so I do have some reassurance that random people cannot just get assess to my whole life story. Forms allow people with like minds to get together to express their thoughts on certain subjects but can free expression really be observed within such groups very few people will question the main ideas that expressed within the group, the majority of the group will follow the general group consensus. So intend of personal identity being expressed it’s more of a group ideology that will be shown thus causing the loss of identity.
Sites on the internet such as pro-anorexia ones have started taking a hold on society whereby negative views are expressed as positive ones and mislead young and vulnerable people.

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 33

Facilities such as YouTube have enabled a wider range of people to broadcast their material on the web, opinions on things that happen in everyday life such as the US presidential election a lot of people broadcast their support and thoughts on particular candidates, upcoming musicians also find facilities such as MySpace to be good launching pads for their material, big cooperations are also using these formats which were previously just for the common person to increase the distribution of their material. With the introduction of sites such as MySpace and YouTube a range of material that would not have previously published such as attacks on the Bush administration and racist material can be found on them, so however they allow people to broadcast their opinions on certain issues some issues in society that would not be tolerated can be accessed, the affect on society has to be considered.

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 27

Non linear reading and writing captures the experience of the web because one does not need to read an article in its entirety or in a chronological order, surfing is very common, the reader of a text can skip from one topic to another and comment as they please. This enables the reader to read a range of material from a range of sources with great ease compared to going to the library and searching for different texts

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 17

Digitality makes is easier to produce work and edit it without the need to start all over again. When typing, ideas can be expressed in a non-chronological order unlike what writing whereby everything has to be in order, computers also have facilities such as the backspace button which will erase mistakes and spell checkers so the risk of making errors is minimized whereas in hand-written work there are ways of erasing mistakes made but the evidence of a mistake made will still be present

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 12

There isn’t a clean break between analogue and digital media, as previously discussed in the lecture last new digital media uses the old media as a framework to build upon new technologies so in this we always see commonalities in both for example with skype it still uses the basic telephone dialling system that we are accustomed to however the benefit is that it is a free service which is quicker and cheaper to use than a telephone system. I believe that in order for a particular type of technology to work it has to use certain aspects that are familiar to the target market otherwise completely new concepts might not be received as well as those that bear a resemblance to what we are pre-dispositioned to

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 11

new media can be held accountable of pushing the ideology of progress, with the introduction of the internet the possibilities of what one can do at the touch of the a button are endless spheres of social activities have expanded with the introduction of virtual communities, and online forums boundaries that previously restricted people such as physical, geographical or financial difficulties has been eradicated. New media also seems to push the ideology of bettering yourself with the use of new facilities available online such as upgrading ones current system, pre-ordering a better version before it even comes out, which shows that the technological device that one has at the current moment can always be replaced by something better and newer thus it always pushes that ideology of progress

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 3+

In order for any product to work there has to be an existing market for the product to be sold in, some pessimists might regard this as a capitalistic ideology that society is has been conditioned to believe, but the key argument that they fail to note is that society is a discriminating this is a key point that I have observed in most academic research the theorists seem to think that society is passive and will just wallow in everything that they are presented with. If we consider life without the technologies that we are accustomed to we would still live in a primitive society and is that what the analysts see as a non capitalistic society? if there hadn’t been developments of computer programs and other such technologies would we be able to achieve some of the things that we can such as running worldwide businesses from the comfort of one’s home, granted none of the basics of technology have changed but they have been used as a framework to build upon new ideas and concepts to enable us to live in a technologically advanced society.

Lister:New Media and New Technologies Pg 2

The upgrade culture can be considered by some as a way technology is developing in society and how ne facilities are constantly being incorporated into our everyday life. One can see that form the technology offered on programs such as windows 95 and compared to windows vista there has been some considerable change regarding what the packages offered the user. However if one takes a second look its if not really new media that has replaced the previous one instead it is more a development on the existing package, by tweaking and adjusting a few aspects of the program it can be repackaged and sold to consumers as a new product, which is generally regarded as consumerism, to the profit of big businesses.