Have a watch of this short clip and write some notes to add to the modern day context of how something like social media has completely changed society
Here's the 2 articles we are going to look at in class. I want you to make some notes on media ecology, mainly how society is interacting with media through technology advancements and what issues may arise from this in the future.
Today your task is to create Canva infographics with key theories, ready to print for exam notes.
Include some graphics, key quotes, CORRECT explanation of the theory (word for word, so you can study with this) and key examples for each one, from Case Study information you have so far.
This should include all theories we have done this week, relating to Media Ecology.
Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.
Amateur content made this way has different values to professional media producers, in that it promotes a connection between other amateur producers – they both deeply care about the products they make and can help them work together.
When they work together in this way, audiences can make more content than producers – Wikipedia is a good example of this.
What is the advanced version?
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example, Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
Fans enjoy media texts so much that they create content based upon the text and form communities around it, which has been made even more possible due to the internet.
This is like the ‘prosumer’ term – a producer and consumer of content. It also links to media convergence – a coming together of lots of different media elements which can make a new product.
What is the advanced version?
Fans act as ‘textual poachers’ – taking elements from media texts to create their own culture. The development of the ‘new’ media has accelerated ‘participatory culture’, in which audiences are active and creative participants rather than passive consumers.
They create online communities, produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems, and shape the flow of media. This generates ‘collective intelligence’.
From this perspective, convergence is a cultural process rather than a technological one.
Jenkins prefers the term ‘spreadable media’ to terms such as ‘viral’, as the former emphasises the active, participatory element of the ‘new’ media.
Task
- Read the link below and include some points on fans of Stranger things in your essay
Think about this in relation to attention spans. Research how short form content (UGC content) has impacted attention spans and how that audience behaviour has impacted what sort of content is being created to cater to this. What sort of media is becoming popular? ( think about short form content, 2 screens trend - people watching films with phones - read article below around 2 screen trend and it's impact on media / audience trends
"Digital technology has hugely impacted society, in relation to the media area you have studied."
Include Stefana Broadbent's theory as well as the idea of 'the medium is the message'. I also want you to include 'Where are the audiences' research to back up your points.
