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Big Brother & Big Data!

Like most of the young tech savvy media and communications students at my university, I am an avid user of social media platforms. Communicating to friends, family and the people I follow with a naïve disregard for the digital profile I am creating with every click. Data is possibly one the most valuable resources in the digital world. Harvested by your every web interaction and analysed by commercial giants in order to deliver commercial content with precision. Welcome to the world of big data, where big brother knows you better than your own mother!

(How big data is changing the world - Online news corporation)

The concept behind collecting data is simple; create a sociological profile from an individual’s online behavior in order to predict that individual’s future behavior. Eric Siegel the author of predictive analysis: the power to predict who will click, buy, lie and die explains that the value is not in the data alone, it is in ‘machined learning,’ computer generated statistical inference that enables accurate predictions to be made from data collected (Siegel, 2013). Therefore personal data is harvested, computer analysed and profiled in a way so that, consumer behavior, democratic behavior and personal behavior can be predicted through our online habits.

  As an advertising and media and communication student this kind of information is vital for the future of advertising. Expensive and ineffective models of marketing such as ‘pay and spray’ will become extinct and interactive ‘push and pull’ models will become more prevalent due to the accuracy firms will have with large databases.

  At the moment I currently work for a marketing software company that uses survey technology in order to harvest consumer databases for other businesses. It works by distributing surveys through social media platforms and eDM’s with an incentive attached to entice respondents and increase viral sharing. Once a consumer completes the survey and enters the competition, the response and the contact particulars of the respondent are collected and profiled, allowing the business to complete an individualistic and precise re-marketing campaign. The company I work for did not exist when I started my degree and the future of database profiling is sure to become more dynamic over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raJOkguPrH4

(The Dark Side Of Big Data - The Economist)

However with a bright future for advertising and marketing companies, data collection paints a bleak picture for digital privacy. The Economist posted a video titled The darkside of big data, which states that “the average privacy policy takes ten minutes to read” and “that 72% of privacy policies allow access to third parties to track internet activity” (Economist, 20120.  Therefore the next time you accept a privacy policy or terms and conditions it might be wise to find out what your are really agreeing too, otherwise you may become the next predictable marketing target.

    References:

  Siegel, Eric.  2013.  “Introduction – The Prediction Effect.”  In Predictive Analysis, 1 – 16.  Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons Inc.

  The Economist, 2012. The dark side of big data. Accessed on May 11, 2014 via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raJOkguPrH4

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From The Home Screen To The Big Screen!

New media has finally given a Gilmour of hope to the members of the audience who enjoy reading the book before watching the movie. Time after time, we see film adaptations of best sellers leading to heartache and criticism from loyal book fans around the globe.  However, the entertainment industry are learning from their mistakes and producers such Peter Jackson are using the power of new media to find out what the audience really wants to see. Henry Jenkins refers to this concept of the audience contributing towards production as ‘participatory fandom’ (Sauter, 2014).

  Prior to filming the adaptation of Lord Of The Rings Jackson used film critics Harry Knowles website cool-news.com to ask the fans how they would like the book to be portrayed in his films (Shefrin, 2004). The franchise was hugely successful and Jackson quickly won over of Lord Of The Rings fans by allowing them to at least raise their concerns regarding the films. While Jackson was not using the audience to create content, the fans opinions and offerings certainly influenced its creation.

  “Cultural producers harness these forces by forming alliances with members of different social classes, or target audiences, in order to maximize their symbolic and economic profits” (Shefrin, 2004).

  Once again the use of the audience is left under scrutiny and the question that arises is when does participation transform into exploitation? For Lord Of The Rings fans their compensation was movie that they loved that was true to the book, for Jackson however it was one of the top grossing franchises of all time.

  The future of the traditional media hierarchy may in turn be in question with the rise in audience-producer created content. With the audience being so active in the creation of cultural content a transition has occurred where producers do not solely hold the power and in some instances the audience are the sole producer. Youtube is a prime example of where users or producers have established an online plethora of amateur and semi professional content. ABC 2 utilized this power shift with a new television show that is created by the viewer for the viewer. #7dayslater was a six episode series that aired in 2013, the viewer used social media to give the show a theme and then an episode aired on television seven days later.  The show was a cast mixed with professional actors and Youtube stars creating a perfect blend of amateur and professional production.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi1RIVhHWpE

Will our home screens create the future on the big screen? The answer is more than likely to be yes, however production will continue to be created by professional but we may just see more “created by you for you” content being produced.

  References

Shefrin, Elana. 2004. “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.

  Sauter, Theresa. (2014). “KCB206 Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 5 lecture notes.” Accessed April 4, 2014.

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New Media & Convergence (week 3)

As you wait in the cue, sit on the bus or have a moment to yourself, your mind begins to wander and that dependence for fresh knowledge of your digital neighborhood gets the better of you. Instantaneously your smart phone screen lights up and you drift into the world of new media.

Over the past decade our media consumption and production patterns have changed significantly, the uprising of new media technologies have altered our social, cultural and professional interactions (Flew 2014a).  Social culture is evolving with the prevalence of social networking applications being engrained into our everyday lives and our technological devices being converged into small, personal media networks.  

According to Nancy Baym, to fully understand new media, “we need to consider both the technological features of a medium” as well as, “the personal, cultural and historical presumptions and values they evoke” (Baym 2010a).  Often when new technologies are created, they are dissected and evaluated on how beneficial they will be to society. Academics such as Carr and Cockroft make claims that websites such as Google and Twitter are shortening our attention spans, which in turn is diminishing our intelligence (Baym 201b).  People are now lacking the ability to retain substantial amounts of information due to the high volumes of content they’re receiving. However on the other side, there is always the vision that new technology will be able to take us to the next level of cultural interaction, breaking down geographical and socio-economic barriers, to create a truly connected society.

Regardless of whether new media has detrimental affects on society, its prevalence will continue to rise due to the constant evolution of media convergence.  Media convergence is simply defined by Tim Dwyer as ‘the process whereby new technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures’ (Flew 2014b).  This is affluent through our every measure of technology usage, whether we are streaming video content through personal devices, skyping colleagues in the workplace, or using our smartphones to order coffee. Our digital lives are so heavily linked to our personal lives that it would seem almost impossible to function without new media technologies. The more one uses the technology, the larger their online profile becomes. A private space or a personal thought has now become public satire and the line that once defined media user and producer has been blurred.

It is this notion of convergence, the era of user-generated content that creates concern for the future of professional communication. Andrew keen believes that “mass participation through social media was undermining truth and threatening the future of cultural institutions” (Flew 2014c). The power that new media technologies can embrace is phenomenal and if used for evil can be devastating.  However this shift toward harnessing new media in our social, professional and cultural surroundings is far from over and with the aid of media convergence it is likely to be further embedded into our cultural constructs.

References:

Flew, Terry. 2014a.”Chapter 1: introduction to ne media.” In New Media,

Terry Flew, 1-17. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

Flew, Terry. 2014b.”Chapter 1: introduction to ne media.” In New Media, Terry

            Flew, 1-17. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

Flew, Terry. 2014c.”Chapter 1: introduction to ne media.” In New Media, Terry

            Flew, 1-17. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

Baym, Nancy K. 2010a. “Chaoter 2 : Making new media sense.” In Personal

connections in the digital age, Nancy K Baym, 22-45. Cambridge: Polity Press

Baym, Nancy K. 2010b. “Chaoter 2 : Making new media sense.” In Personal

connections in the digital age, Nancy K Baym, 22-45. Cambridge: Polity Press