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What Does Your Data Say About You?

Data is collected every second of every day. Every action made generates a piece of data, and big data leverages the advances in computing to make sense of the information and turn it into action to better run a business or provide a better service to customers (The Economist, 2012). The Economist video (2012) expresses the view that we do not necessarily live in an age of information, but one of network intelligence. Existing digital methods include data gathering, processing, analytics and visualisation, with each technique providing evaluation in a range of industries (Woodford, 2014). 

When using social media, trends and user involvement can be measured via hashtags. One particular use is gauging engagement with television, as Woodfoord, Prowd and Bruns (in press) explored using telemetrics. Many television programs and networks will engage audiences via hashtags. ABC Family program Pretty Little Liars, as example shown below, uses hashtags relevant to the events of an episode to generate discussion and allow viewers to categorise opinions. Assessing the number, frequency and content of tweets and hashtags helps networks to understand their viewership demographic and continue creating relevant and popular content. Although much of this is location specific. Take Big Brother for example; in the US there is little correlation between viewers and tweets, whereas in the Australian version of the same program, there is a high correlation between viewer count and tweets (Woodford, 2014). As such, US models should not be applied to Australia, and instead location appropriate techniques must be applied.  

Pretty Little Liars Screenshot Image Sourced from: http://commercialbreaktv.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/pretty-little-liars-out-of-sight-out-of-mind/.

This use of data analysis demonstrates the scale of information released and the influence it can have. This has become so widespread that companies such as Nielsen SocialGuide and BlueFin Labs, have in fact been bought out by Twitter (Woodford, et al., in press). What commercial organisations must bear in mind though is the variance amongst the Twitter audience. Woodford (et al., in press) found that while the variance in ratings are mirrored in tweets and unique users, actual user variation is more extreme. Supporting Woodford (et al., in press) Harrington (2013) states that further development of analytical processes is required to understand how television is experienced by audiences in their everyday lives.

The data that organisations are collecting could alarm the people from whom they are collecting it. Coles and Woolworths both use their award programs, Fly Buys and Everyday Rewards respectively, to track the buying habits of their customers. Doing this permits them to send personalised, targeted marketing to each of their customers. The supermarket giants rely on this data so heavily that Woolworths has outlaid at least $20 million for a 50% non-controlling stake in data analytics company Quantium (Mitchell and Ramli, 2013). In turn, Quantium will be able to tap Woolworths’ de-identified customer data to improve services to a wide range of clients including eBay, Telstra, Suncorp and Qantas (Mitchell and Ramil, 2013).

Considering the large customer base of Woolworths and other large corporations, this use of data could frighten some customers. Especially when data is passed on to second party organisations. Many people do not feel comfortable with the level of knowledge organisations have on their spending habits. So while big data may be a great asset to organisations, consumers may be opposed to the analytics employed.  

Reference List

Commercial Break TV. 2013. “Pretty Little Liars: Out Of Sight Out Of Mind.” Accessed May 8, 2014. http://commercialbreaktv.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/pretty-little-liars-out-of-sight-out-of-mind/.

Harrington, Stephen. 2013. “Chapter 18: Tweeting about the Telly,” In Twitter and society, edited by Katrin Weller, 237-247. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Accessed May 8, 2014. https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206.

Mitchell, Sue and David Ramli. 2013. “Quantium leap for Woolworths.” Australian Financial Review, May 2. Accessed May 8, 2014. http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/quantium_leap_for_woolworths_GVE7EDP9KOkqhdeH5rLw3I.

The Economist. 2012. “What is big data?” YouTube video, posted June 26. Accessed May 8, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahZGEusG13A. 

Woodford, Darryl. 2014. “KCB206 Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 9 lecture notes.” Accessed May 7, 2014. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FlistContent.jsp%3Fcourse_id%3D_108110_1%26content_id%3D_5232447_1.

Woodford, Darryl, Katie Prowd and Axel Bruns. (in press). “Telemetrics: Towards Measuring Social Media Engagement with Television.” Accessed May 6, 2014. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-5234702-dt-content-rid-2118244_1/courses/KCB206_14se1/Woodford%2C%20Prowd%20and%20Bruns%20-%20Telemetrics%20Towards%20Measuring%20Social%20Media%20Engagement%20with%20Television.pdf.

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The Politics Of New Media

The media can be an influential tool in the political sphere. As McNair (2011) identifies, it can inform and educate citizens, provide a platform for competing viewpoints, give publicity, and serve as a channel for advocacy.  Of course, we must bear in mind the political agendas of the media corporations whom often use their power to portray politics in a light that aligns with their corporate alliances. That said, the power of the people has grown to allow for greater transparency and activism in the political world.

Online activism has enhanced the freedom of speech in many countries. No longer are citizens passive consumers of political information, we have the ability to be an active player – monitoring our governments, demanding a seat at the table, sharing self-generated news, and participating in problem solving (Sifry, 2011). Julian Assange is the greatest modern day example of this. The Australian journalist founded WikiLeaks – an international, online, non-profit organisation which publishes secret information, news leaks and classified media from anonymous sources (Sauter, 2014). When footage was uploaded to WikiLeaks showing US soldiers shooting dead 18 Iraqi civilians, Assange and the site made worldwide headlines (BBC, 2012). Since then, WikiLeaks has continued to post damming information from the governments of some of the largest and most powerful countries in the world. To his supporters, Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth; to his critics, he is a publicity seeker who has endangered lives (BBC, 2012). Yet he still demonstrates the use of political activism in an online world, an idea that Assange strongly supports. In his TED talk below, his passion and advocacy for transparency in the political world is evident. The information his site releases may not have achieved the same international scale and viral reach had it occurred 30 years earlier. The Internet has provided a platform for individuals to not just share news, but create it themselves.

When it comes to the politicians themselves, the Internet provides a campaigning tool which, when used correctly, can be quite successful. New media provides new ways for politicians to organise campaigns, attack opponents, gather support, push policies, create a personable image, connect with voters directly while surveying citizens and oppositional forces (Sauter, 2014). It also helps political parties avoid the private alliances that are present within large news corporations. It can, however have a negative effect on political powers. Take former Philippine President Joseph Estrada for example. During his 2001 impeachment trial, loyalists in the Philippine Congress voted to set aside key evidence against him, outraging thousands of Filipinos so much that a protest was arranged via text messages (Shirky, 2011). This led to over a million people protesting in downtown Manila, which alarmed the country’s legislator’s to the point of reversing the course and allowing the evidence to be presented (Shirky, 2011). This ensured the President’s ejection just three days after the trial occurred. This event is the first example of the force and influence social media can have in politics. While in recent years social media has grown and evolved from text messages, the power of online and mobile communication that the Philippine citizens demonstrated could just as easily be recreated today via Facebook.

The online world of political activism and campaigning must be aware of the scrutiny and accountability that comes with it. In both examples discussed there are positive and negative aspects with involving a population in political activities, whether deliberate or forced. What is unquestioned though, is the great influence and authority that an individual can generate when operating in the online political sphere.

Reference List

BBC. 2012. “Profile: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.” Accessed April 28, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-11047811.

McNair, Brian. 2011. An Introduction to Political Communication, 5th ed. London, UK: Routledge. 

Sauter, Theresa. 2014. “KCB206 Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 8 lecture notes.” Accessed April 28, 2014. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FlistContent.jsp%3Fcourse_id%3D_108110_1%26content_id%3D_5232447_1.

Shirky, Clay. 2011. “The Political Power of Social Media.” Foreign Affairs 90:1. Accessed April 28, 2014. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67038/clay-shirky/the-political-power-of-social-media.

Sifry, Micah. 2011. “Wikileaks, Assange, and Why There’s No Turning Back (Exclusive Excerpt).” The Huffington Post, November 2. Accessed April 28, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/micah-sifry/wikileaks-assange-micah-sifry_b_820671.html. 

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#MediatedCommunication

Mediated communication is the use of technologies to communicate and record information across time and space (Sauter, 2014). Often contrasted with face-to-face communication, it has sparked a debate of whether it improves or diminishes the practices of communication, language and relations. Some examples include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. Baym (2010) believes the impoverishment of sites like these come from shallow, untrustworthy, and inadequate interactions, identities, and relationships; the apparent abandonment of etiquette leads to meanness and aggression, which in turn brings out trolling, spamming, and flaming. Conversely, the enhancement brings about connection and intimacy across time and space (Valentine, 2006). It can reveal engagement with writing, self-reflection, and creativity, abandoning stereotypes and prejudices (Sauter, 2014). Though the issue it not black and white, and many factors must be considered including the familiarity with technology, the type, strength, and offline existence of a relationship, the expectations and motivations for interacting, the context and user agency (Baym, 2010).

A key feature of one of these mediated communication sites, is the hashtag. Twitter, where its use originated, define it as a tool to mark keywords or topics in a ‘tweet’ in order to categorise messages (Twitter, 2014). Since its introduction on the information network site, it has leaked to Facebook, Instagram, and even face-to-face communication. While Fallon’s video below (2014) joked about the use of hashtags in real life, in some cases, the sketch is not far from real life. Most recently, it is used for non-topical, emotive markers. Hashtags like #throwbackthursday are accompanied by childhood photos on Instagram, #family, #friends, #party are used just to describe what’s shown in the photo, and #followme merely urges other users to follow the user. Given the widespread and popular use of these social media sites, the hashtag has ingrained itself into everyday language and use. This is why Fallon’s video (2014), while humorous due to the extreme use of the hashtags, is not a far cry from the realities for some.

Contrasting this, the hashtag can be topical, contributing to the discussion of an issue or event and allowing other users to view and share information. This is demonstrated on the ABC program, Q and A, which often live updates its Twitter account during the show to alert viewers to trending hashtags on screen and online, where they can share their opinions. Trending hashtags have been used to share information on major news stories and events, such as the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the Boston Bombings. It allows users to collate information in a simplified way, and encourage the education of the extensive database of users.

These two aspects of the hashtag expose both the volatile and intimate use of mediated communication. Where topical hashtags can be educational, they still bring out the trolls and abuse, just as the non-topical, casual hashtags do the same. Online abuse does not always seem to emerge from the topics discussed, but the person themselves. Despite abuse and any impoverishment within new media, the enrichment it provides is something previously unexperienced within the media industry.

Reference List

Baym, Nancy. 2010. “Chapter 3: Communication in Digital Spaces.” In Personal Connection in the Digital Age, 50-70. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press. Accessed April 8, 2014. https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206.

Fallon, Jimmy. 2014. “#Hashtag2 with Jimmy Fallon & Jonah Hill.” YouTube video, posted February 14. Accessed April 9, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwq_GraOC9E.

Sauter, Theresa. 2014. “KCB206 Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 6 lecture notes.” Accessed April 8, 2014. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FlistContent.jsp%3Fcourse_id%3D_108110_1%26content_id%3D_5232447_1.

Twitter. 2014. “Using hashtags on Twitter.” Accessed April 9, 2014. https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-using-hashtags-on-twitter.

Valentine, Gill. 2006. “Globalising Intimacy: The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Maintaining and Creating Relationships.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, 34(1/2): 365-394. 

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The Online Replacement

Thanks to recent technological advances there has been a paradigm shift in new media entertainment. Traditional forms of media are being replaced by their online counterparts, with other technologies allowing for entirely new modes of entertainment. Physical CD’s are being substituted for online streaming applications like Spotify, news is constantly updated online much faster than print news, books can be downloaded onto your phone or tablet, and movie rentals are becoming obsolete thanks to the wide range of options available for download. These new modes of transmission are online, mobile, personalised, and on demand – catering to the individual needs of the modern citizen. They have also been argued to have both positive and negative outcomes. The positives can encourage interaction, co-production, participation, democratisation and convergence; where the negative aspects can lead to exploitation, commodification, access restrictions and the reinforcement of hierarchies (Sauter, 2014). As Shefrin (2004, 277) states, “the Internet is a venue that epitomizes the political struggle between utopian visions of participatory democracy and prevailing hierarches if economic power.”

One example of the convergence culture in the entertainment industry is the use of transmedia. Companies will transcend traditional advertising such and billboards, television and cinema advertisements, and celebrity appearances. They will combine these tools with online marketing, to access a wider range of audiences and engage consumers on a deeper level. One example is the marketing and advertising tools used by US deodorant company Old Spice. Employing former NFL football player and actor Isaiah Mustafah, Old Spice released entertaining, tongue in cheek videos via YouTube playing into the stereotypical fantasies women have of men. The series of ads enabled people to laugh at themselves and their fantasies (O’Dowd, 2011) and became viral on a level the company could not predict. The creative agency behind the campaign leveraged the power of social networks, asking Old Spice followers via Twitter, Facebook and Reddit to submit questions for the Old Spice Man (O’Dowd, 2011). The participatory aspect of transmedia came into play when celebrities who were also engaging with the campaign, created videos in response to the Old Spice man asking him to pledge money to certain charities (O’Dowd, 2011). The Old Spice strategy was a great example of the participation that is present in transmedia, using the technologies that new media provides us.

(Old Spice, 2010).

Burgess (2009) identifies that YouTube is a site of vernacular creativity, a player in the top-down creation view, and the opposing bottom-up perspective. It is not just another media company; it is a platform for user-created content (Burgess, 2009). Regarding the entertainment industry as a whole, new media has shown to alter the consumption and production when creating content. It allows fans to interact with their chosen entertainment mediums in an unprecedented way, leading to an eagerness to increase participation. While some mediums could not successfully replace or phase out traditional forms of media, it can work in and with new media.

Reference List

Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green. 2009. “Chapter Two: YouTube and the Mainstream Media.” In Youtube: digital media and society series, edited by Jean Burgess, Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins, 15-37. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.  Accessed April 1, 2014. https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206.

O’Dowd, Sally. 2011. “Old Spice, The Dark Knight and Other Transmedia Pioneers.” Social Media Week, August 3. Accessed April 2, 2014. http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2011/08/old-spice-the-dark-knight-and-other-transmedia-pioneers/#.U3iSHV66wk8.

Old Spice. 2010. "Old Spice The Man Your Man Could Smell Like."YouTube Video, posted February 4. Accessed April 1, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE.

Sauter, Theresa. 2014. “KCB206 Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 5 lecture notes.” Accessed April 1, 2014. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FlistContent.jsp%3Fcourse_id%3D_108110_1%26content_id%3D_5232447_1.

Sherfin, Elana. 2007. “Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and participatory fandom: mapping new congruencies between the internet and media entertainment culture.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21(3): 261-281. Accessed April 1, 2014. https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206.

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The Empowerment of Media 'Audiences'

Media audiences today are not like they used to be. Traditionally, media producers could release their intended message, and audiences readily and wholly accepted what they were told. In today’s society, the audience is not even considered the audience anymore. As Rosen (2006) identified, “the people formerly known as the audience are simply the public made realer, less fictional, more able, less predictable.” We appropriate and interpret media based on our experiences, understanding, backgrounds, and context. Ultimately, we have the power to create new meanings.

  As such, this newfound authority empowers the public to create online communities with diverse opinions and two-way communication. As new media and our relationship with it evolves, so do our economies. Where commercial economies build value with money; and sharing economies build value, ignoring money; a new hybrid economy has emerged, dominating the architecture for online commerce (Lessig, 2010). This new economy can be either a commercial entity that aims to leverage value from a sharing economy; or a sharing economy that builds a commercial entity to better support its sharing aims (Lessig, 2010). Lessig (2010) describes hybrids as a model for getting others to innovate in ways that benefit the company. But in a way, it exploits the willingness of others to contribute something for free and making profit. However, as it does rely on the willingness of contributors, the community loyalty must be maintained.

There are two types of hybrids identified by Lessig (2010). Community spaces, which contain people interacting for sharing-economy reasons; the terms in which they communicate are commerce free, though the motivations may tie to commerce (Lessig, 2010). Contrastingly, there are collaboration spaces, where users believe they are there to build something together; the community is visible. It’s the focus of the work (Lessig, 2010). Take Reddit for example, the self-proclaimed front page of the Internet. The social news site has an open source community, allowing users to upload content that other users can vote and comment on. It is an instigator of bottom up information sharing, with a majority of the site harbouring user-created content. Often, news websites will even use content from Reddit to create news stories. While Reddit exists as a free-to-use forum, it has recently implemented paid services in order to make a profit. It has become a sharing community that has built a commercial entity to better support its sharing aims. By allowing users to pay money for access to a wider range of services, creating its own buy and sell subreddit, and introducing paid advertisements, Reddit is becoming more and more reliant on its’ users contributions in order to become profitable.

Lessig (2010) asserts that communities get built explicitly and upfront. You create value by giving people what they want; their value comes from giving members of the community what they want in a way that also gives the community something it needs (Lessig, 2010). Ultimately, it empowers audience to create whichever kind of community they want. Reddit thrives on its content being created, shared, and spread by its users. Yet it also relies on commercial features to maintain its community. This hybrid economy recognises a wider range of wants, and urges its contributors, now recognised as an authority in content creation, to continue to engage in the community for its commercial success.

  Reference List

Isaacson, Betsey. 2013. "19 Weird Subreddits That Have No Reason To Exist (But We Love Anyway)." The Huffington Post, March 12. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/12/weird-subreddits_n_2812780.html#slide=2179122

Lessig, Lawrence. 2008. “Hybrid Economies.” In Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy, 177-224. New York: Penguin. Accessed March 18, 2014. https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206.

Rosen, Jay. 2006. “The People Formerly Known as the Audience.” Press Think: Ghost of Democracy in the Media Machine, June 27. Accessed March 18, 2014. http://archive.pressthink.org/2006/06/27/ppl_frmr.html.  

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The Power Of Social Media

The influence, power, and scope of social networking has increased dramatically in recent years, including the level of personal and professional detail provided on our various online profiles. Facebook in particular allows us to tell others where we went to school, where we work, our marital status, who our relatives are, our birthday, and even our phone number. The social networking giant even urges us to list our favourite books, movies, athletes, and hobbies. And while this information can be selectively shown, it still exists in the online universe. Personal details listed on Facebook, combined with our online resumes on LinkedIn, our location and photos on Instagram, and every other aspect of our life published on the internet, will inevitably remain online permanently. As Enriquez (2013) pointed out, the kind of coverage that previously applied to celebrities or politicians is now applied to every day people; and our online ‘tattoo’ is just as permanent as the real thing. 

Baym (2010) found that in order to fully understand new media, the personal, cultural, and historical values must be considered in addition to the technological aspects. In fact, it is the technology itself which can evoke and shape these principles. Identity, as a constantly changing and adaptive notion, is becoming more and more reliant and influenced by new media. These social networking sites enable us to create an online persona and identity, and allow it to be easily and quickly viewed by others. While your definition of self has always been shaped by personal experiences, relationships, technologies, various contexts, and the role you play in others’ lives; the effect of new media and has grown to become far more influential than it was previously. As Dueze (2010) identified, we are now all metaphorically living inside our very own Truman Show - a world characterised by the ubiquitous media that everyone is so deeply immersed in. This increasing invisibility and pervasiveness of media can be exemplified by the disappearance from consciousness when used intensely (Dueze, 2010). Many don’t think twice about providing a range of personal details online, and just as many do not consider any future ramifications it may have on their personal and professional lives. In fact, this blurring of public and private life has become easier and even accidental for some. 

The extension of our personal lives onto an online platform can be problematic. Many people are turning away from Facebook in particular, due to their dubious privacy settings. Facebook constantly collates their users data for their own commercial gain. Advertisements on the site are targeted based on the information we provide. But to Facebook, our online profile goes beyond what we choose to impart. Every click, message and electronic trail is mined for profit (The Observer, 2013). The implication of this tracking is that privacy is a transactional good - something you own and that can be traded (Naughton quoted in The Observer, 2013). As technology evolves, the scope and level of this kind of data collection has the potential to affect online users far worse than what is experienced today. Those who engage in social media must strive to keep details of their personal and professional lives private, and seriously consider the motives behind social networking sites if they want to avoid the expansion and accessibility of their online ‘tattoo’.

Facebook Privacy Daniel Zeevi Image sourced from: http://dashburst.com/how-to-control-facebook-privacy/

Reference List

Baym, Nancy. 2010. “Chapter 2: Making New Media Make Sense.” In Personal connections in the digital age, 22-45. Cambridge: Polity Press. Accessed March 3, 2014. https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206

Deuze, Mark. 2011. “Media life.” Media, Culture & Society, 33 (1): 137-148. Accessed March 10, 2014. doi: 10.1177/0163443710386518.

Enriquez, Juan. 2013. “Your online life, permanent as a tattoo.” TED video, filmed February 2013. Accessed March 10, 2014.  http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_how_to_think_about_digital_tattoos.

The Observer. 2013. “You think Facebook is free? Well it’ll only cost you your private life.” The Guardian, December 29. Accessed March 10, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/observer-editorial-digital-privacy