Clay Shirky: End of audience
Media Magazine reading
Media Magazine 55 has an overview of technology journalist Bill Thompson’s conference presentation on ‘What has the internet ever done for me?’ It’s an excellent summary of the internet’s brief history and its impact on society. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 13 to read the article ‘What has the internet ever done for me?’ Answer the following questions:1) Looking over the article as a whole, what are some of the positive developments due to the internet highlighted by Bill Thompson?
- we had access to a way to talk to hundreds of thousands of other computer users around the world.
- Doesn't care how or what data is shared means the Net is open to innovation like email, the web, Spotify or Snapchat.
2) What are the negatives or dangers linked to the development of the internet?
- Doesn't care how or what data is shared - makes it next to impossible to stop spam, abuse or the trading of images of child abuse.
- can sometimes not be aware or recognise the broader connectivity that the internet offers
3) What does ‘open technology’ 174e22#
to? Do you agree with the idea of ‘open technology’?
It could mean:
4) Bill Thompson outlines some of the challenges and questions for the future of the internet. What are they?
He is unsure of how the network can provide privacy, he is unsure how they are going to self regulate and who's rules they will follow and what could we make the internet do.
5) Where do you stand on the use and regulation of the internet? Should there be more control or more openness? Why?
Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody
Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody charts the way social media and connectivity is changing the world. Read Chapter 3 of his book, ‘Everyone is a media outlet’, and answer the following questions:
1) How does Shirky define a ‘profession’ and why does it apply to the traditional newspaper industry?
2) What is the question facing the newspaper industry now the internet has created a “new ecosystem”?
The web has created a new ecosystem
3) Why did Trent Lott’s speech in 2002 become news?
He didn't fit the standard template for news
It could mean:
- where any connected computer can exchange data with any other computer, while the network itself is unaware of the ‘meaning’ of the bits exchanged?
- computers that will run any program written for them, rather than requiring them to be vetted and approved by gateway companies?
- mean free software that can be used, changed and redistributed by anyone without payment or permission?
I think that having 'open technology' is not good because there are many risks in terms of regulation
4) Bill Thompson outlines some of the challenges and questions for the future of the internet. What are they?
He is unsure of how the network can provide privacy, he is unsure how they are going to self regulate and who's rules they will follow and what could we make the internet do.
5) Where do you stand on the use and regulation of the internet? Should there be more control or more openness? Why?
More control to help keep people safe especially vulnerable people like children, the elderly or people with mental disabilities. Maybe some more regulation when it comes to AI as well and its effect on climate change.
Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody
Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody charts the way social media and connectivity is changing the world. Read Chapter 3 of his book, ‘Everyone is a media outlet’, and answer the following questions:
1) How does Shirky define a ‘profession’ and why does it apply to the traditional newspaper industry?
A profession becomes, for its members, a way of understanding their world. Professionals see the world through a lens created by other members of their profession; for journalists, the rewards of a Pulitzer Prize are largely about recognition from other professionals.
2) What is the question facing the newspaper industry now the internet has created a “new ecosystem”?
The web has created a new ecosystem
Whathappens when there's nothing unique about publishing any more, because users can do it for themselves?
3) Why did Trent Lott’s speech in 2002 become news?
He didn't fit the standard template for news
They concluded that when a story wasn't important one day it wouldn't be the next day
There was no on camera reaction
4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?
The internet has removed traditional barriers so now anybody and non professionals can share anything blurring the lines between professionals and amateurs
5) Shirky suggests that: “The same idea, published in dozens or hundreds of places, can have an amplifying effect that outweighs the verdict from the smaller number of professional outlets.” How can this be linked to the current media landscape and particularly ‘fake news’?
Non professionals will have something to add from their own interpretations and so fake news will spread
6) What does Shirky suggest about the social effects of technological change? Does this mean we are currently in the midst of the internet “revolution” or “chaos” Shirky mentions?
Social effects leg behind technological changes so we are currently in a period of internet revolution
7) Shirky says that “anyone can be a publisher… [and] anyone can be a journalist”. What does this mean and why is it important?
It removes the original structure that only professionals could be publishers or journalists and now there is no differentiation between them and amateurs
8) What does Shirky suggest regarding the hundred years following the printing press revolution? Is there any evidence of this “intellectual and political chaos” in recent global events following the internet revolution?
This issue became more than academic with the arrest of Josh Wolf, a video blogger who refused to hand over video of a 2005 demonstration he observed in San Francisco.
Should journalists deserve the same protec tions in federal court as those afforded them in state courts?
9) Why is photography a good example of ‘mass amateurisation’?
It was a threat to professional photographers in the way that they distributed their photos
10) What do you think of Shirky’s ideas on the ‘End of audience’? Is this era of ‘mass amateurisation’ a positive thing? Or are we in a period of “intellectual and political chaos” where things are more broken than fixed?
I think that it has its negatives for example all of the fake news generated but I think overall it is positive because not everything you should see online should be curated by these professionals
A/A* extension work: Read Chapter 1 ‘It takes a village to find a phone’ and Chapter 4 ‘Publish, then filter’ to further understand Shirky’s ideas concerning the ‘End of audience’.
4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?
The internet has removed traditional barriers so now anybody and non professionals can share anything blurring the lines between professionals and amateurs
5) Shirky suggests that: “The same idea, published in dozens or hundreds of places, can have an amplifying effect that outweighs the verdict from the smaller number of professional outlets.” How can this be linked to the current media landscape and particularly ‘fake news’?
Non professionals will have something to add from their own interpretations and so fake news will spread
6) What does Shirky suggest about the social effects of technological change? Does this mean we are currently in the midst of the internet “revolution” or “chaos” Shirky mentions?
Social effects leg behind technological changes so we are currently in a period of internet revolution
7) Shirky says that “anyone can be a publisher… [and] anyone can be a journalist”. What does this mean and why is it important?
It removes the original structure that only professionals could be publishers or journalists and now there is no differentiation between them and amateurs
8) What does Shirky suggest regarding the hundred years following the printing press revolution? Is there any evidence of this “intellectual and political chaos” in recent global events following the internet revolution?
This issue became more than academic with the arrest of Josh Wolf, a video blogger who refused to hand over video of a 2005 demonstration he observed in San Francisco.
Should journalists deserve the same protec tions in federal court as those afforded them in state courts?
9) Why is photography a good example of ‘mass amateurisation’?
It was a threat to professional photographers in the way that they distributed their photos
10) What do you think of Shirky’s ideas on the ‘End of audience’? Is this era of ‘mass amateurisation’ a positive thing? Or are we in a period of “intellectual and political chaos” where things are more broken than fixed?
I think that it has its negatives for example all of the fake news generated but I think overall it is positive because not everything you should see online should be curated by these professionals
A/A* extension work: Read Chapter 1 ‘It takes a village to find a phone’ and Chapter 4 ‘Publish, then filter’ to further understand Shirky’s ideas concerning the ‘End of audience’.
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