Holiday Time

Thanks to all the students of MEDS 2007 for all your hard work.





See you in the

Week 8: Coursework Time

This week you've been given the chance for some extra time to put towards writing your coursework.

Remember, essays should have a clear beginning in which you note your thesis statement and how you're going to back it up. Then you have the body of the essay proving your points. Remember to back up what you claim with quotations or examples. Then you'll end your essay with a conclusion that sums up your argument.

Some good sources on essay-writing:

Essay Builder

How to Write an Essay

Ten Tips on Essay Writing

How to Evaluate what you find online from the Voice of the Shuttle.

Good luck!

Lecture 7: New Media Art and Stories

In the lecture we talked about new ways of creating art in a digital environment. For the seminar we're going to explore an example of a new media fiction called Inanimate Alice. We're most interested to find out how the medium (the internet with its possiblity for sound, image, video, text and interaction) affects the story of Alice in episode 1: China. This is a short episode (about 5-10 minutes) so you'll have plenty of time to read it a few times and answer the questions.



Before reading Inanimate Alice you might like to review these helpful resources:
Subject = Digital Literacy: “Literature in a Hypermedia Mode: An interview with Marjorie Luesebrink” by Thomas Swiss and “Electronic Literacies” by Caitlin Fisher

Subject = Modes: “Examining a Picture” by Dr. Martha Driver, “On Gold and Silver Ages and the Elements of Hypertext” by Jennifer Ley (see page 2) and “Hypertext and the Art of Memory” by Janine Wong and Peter Storkerson

Student Objectives:

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify and become familiar with multiple modes of representation.
• Critique the effects of various modes on the narrative.
• Give examples of explicit calls for participatory reading in Inanimate Alice.

Students should refer to accompanying handouts for further explanation and questions.

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Student Handout: Reading Inanimate Alice, Episode 1 - Student Reading Reflection

NOTE: Students should answer at least ONE of these questions as a comment to this post.

Now you have finished reading “Episode 1: China,” Inanimate Alice. Write a short blog (or journal) entry to think about your reading experience. Be sure to answer the following:

What I did (Explain how you read the story – did your eyes scan each screen from left to right? How did you feel about the sound, images, and words that would appear all at the same time on certain screens?)




What I enjoyed (Write about what you liked most about Episode 1)



What I found difficult (Write about the most difficult part of reading Episode 1)



What really worked (What was the best bit about the story and why)




Next time (What will you do when it comes to reading Episode 2? How will you prepare? What tips might you share with other readers for their first digital story reading experience?)

Thanks to all the students of MEDS 2007 for participating!!!

Seminar 6: Focus on Coursework

Choose ONE of the following questions:

1) ‘The supposedly distinct characteristics of new media: digital convergence; many-to-many communication; interactivity; globalisation; virtuality are arguably, with the possible exception of the specifically technical, not new at all’ (Silverstone, 1999: 11). Critically examine the problems in defining “new media”.

2) ‘ . . . The personal and social consequences of any medium- that is, of any extension of ourselves- results from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.’ (McLuhan, 1964: 7). Using examples of “new” and “old” media, elucidate and analyse the theory of media technology known as technological determinism.

3) ‘Any particular technology is then as it were a by-product of a social process that is otherwise determined. It only acquires effective status when it is used for purposes which are already contained in this known social process’ (Williams, 1974: 6). Using examples of “new” and “old” media elucidate and analyse the theory of media technology that focuses on the social shaping of technology.

4) Kranzberg’s first law of technology states that “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.” Discuss this law in relation to any of the theories you have looked at in this module.

5) With the advent of digital technology ‘Sound becomes a series of partial objects for engineering, rather than an object of admiration for heavenly metaphorics.’ (Mackay in Ansell, 1997: 253). Critically examine how digital technology has changed the relationship of producers and consumers to media content.

6) Critically examine Manovich’s view that interactivity as a unique aspect of new media is a “myth” (2001: 55).

7) Examine the validity of Gordon Graham’s statement that an online or virtual community ‘is a second-rate form of community’ (1999: 145).

8) ‘It is not just that the tools and issues brought to the fore by internet art are current, and therefore relevant to how we live now. Internet art is part of a continuum within art history that includes strategies such as instructions, appropriation, dematerialisation, networks and information.’ (Greene, Rachel, Internet Art, 2004) Does New Media offer artists anything new?

The DEADLINE for Assignment One will be at the end of Week 8, on Friday 23 November at 12pm. Essays should be handed it to the Student Advice Centre.

Lecture 5: Exploring Cybercultural Characteristics through Film

"The most extreme danger is that man, insofar as he produces himself, no longer feels any other necessities than the demands of his self-productions...What is uncanny, however, is not so much that everything will be extinguished, but instead that this [extinctin of language and tradition] does not actually come to light. The surge of information veils the disappearance of what has been, and prospective planning is just another name for the obstruction of the future"

~Heidegger

Utopia: A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.

Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

Technoscience designates the social and technological context of science. The notion indicates a common recognition that scientific knowledge is not only socially coded and historically situated but sustained and made durable by material (non-human) networks.

"Types of Dystopian Controls

Most dystopian works present a world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through one or more of the following types of controls:
• Corporate control: One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media. Examples include Minority Report and Running Man.
• Bureaucratic control: Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials. Examples in film include Brazil.
• Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means. Examples include The Matrix, The Terminator, and I, Robot.
• Philosophical/religious control: Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government.

The Dystopian Protagonist
• often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.
• questions the existing social and political systems.
• believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives.
• helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or her perspective.

Source: ReadWriteThink.

Seminar Task

Create a table with three columns. One column titled "Film," the next column as "Dystopian Characteristic," and the third column "Explanation of the Characteristic." Fill in the chart as we watch examples from films such as The Matrix, I Robot, and Battlestar Gallactica.

Lecture 4: Virtual Communities

"It's far too early to tell what the tools of social psychology and sociology will help us make of the raw material of group interaction that proliferates in cyberspace. This is an area where adroit use of the Net by scholars could have a profound effect on the nature of the Net. One of the great problems with the atmosphere of free expression now tolerated on the Net is the fragility of communities and their susceptibility to disruption. The only alternative to imposing potentially dangerous restrictions on freedom of expression is to develop norms, folklore, ways of acceptable behavior that are widely modeled, taught, and valued, that can give the citizens of cyberspace clear ideas of what they can and cannot do with the medium, how they can gain leverage, and where they must beware of pitfalls inherent in the medium, if we intend to use it for community-building. But all arguments about virtual community values take place in the absence of any base of even roughly quantified systematic observation.

Right now, all we have on the Net is folklore, like the Netiquette that old-timers try to teach the flood of new arrivals, and debates about freedom of expression versus nurturance of community. About two dozen social scientists, working for several years, might produce conclusions that would help inform these debates and furnish a basis of validated observation for all the theories flying around. A science of Net behavior is not going to reshape the way people behave online, but knowledge of the dynamics of how people do behave is an important social feedback loop to install if the Net is to be self-governing at any scale."

~The Virtual Community, Howard Rheingold

In this seminar following the lecture on virtual communities we'd like you to consider some questions.

Some things you might want to keep in mind when thinking about these questions are how they relate to things such as globalisation, subjective and objective interests, authority, the public sphere (Habermas), social capital, “real life”.

You also might want to think about the different types of virtual community that might be constituted using different media forms (e.g. mobile phones, MUDs, Second Life, Web forums, social network sites, newspapers).

Questions

1. Is what happens in virtual worlds important? Perhaps keeping in mind the examples from the lecture of A Rape in Cyberspace and the protest against Le Pen in Second Life can you think of any reasons why we should or shouldn’t take virtual worlds seriously?


2. What is the difference between a social network and a virtual community? What are the differences between different social networking sites (E.g. Facebook, Myspace, asmallworld)?


3. Is there increased diversity in virtual communities (as compared to your experience of real life communities)?


4. Do you think virtual communities enhance democracy?


5. Do you think the notion of a virtual community is a useful one?

Seminar 3: Pros and Cons of Citizen Media

In today's lecture we learned about Andrew Keen's idea of the internet and the role amateurs play. We also were directed to read the excellent exchange between Keen and Emily Bell of The Guardian.

In the seminars we debated the pros and cons of the plethora of information available online. We wondered who it benefits and what (new) role the audience and producers might have to play.










All seminar groups were asked to submit some notes they made while discussing the merits of both Keen and Bell's arguments which appear below.

In Jess's seminar the current attempt of RadioHead to change their business model was raised as an example of a benefit of freely available content. However, it was noted that RadioHead could *afford* to try out this experiment as they already have a plethora of loyal fans. Students agreed that newer bands/musicians probably would not be able to use this method as an entry point into the market. Some interesting comments on this experiment:

"Radiohead's music model is noble, but will it spread?" Larry Magid
"Radiohead online release on track" CBC
"Radiohead Online Album Crushing Success" Richard Menta
"Radiohead Offers up New Album as Pay-What-You-Can to Fans" Ezra Winton
"STOP! Music IS the new economy" Gmuva.

In Jess's seminar session some photos were taken with the agreement of all students (if you've had a change of heart e-mail me - jlaccetti AT dmu DOT ac DOT uk - and I will take the photos down).

Lecture 3: The Cult of the Amateur vs Citizen Media

Following on from last week's lecture on Web 2.0, we're going to explore the pros and cons of the web as platform. With easy-to-use CMS (content management systems) so that blogging, vlogging, etc... are not the sole reserve of *techies* comes the possibility for anyone to say anything. (Sure this might be true with other media but perhaps to a lesser degree).

Andrew Keen's diatribe invoked some concern from a lot of people:

" The people have finally spoken. The media has become their message and the people are self-broadcasting this message of emancipation on their 70 million blogs, their hundreds of millions of YouTube videos, their MySpace pages and their Wikipedia entries.

Yes, the people have finally spoken. And spoken. And spoken.

Now they won't shut up. The problem is that YOU! have forgotten how to listen, how to read, how to watch. Thus, the meteoric rise of Web 2.0's free citizen media is mirrored by the equally steep decline in paid mainstream media and the mass redundancies amongst journalists, editors, recording engineers, cameramen and talent agents. Newspapers and the music business are in structural crisis, Hollywood and the publishing business aren't far behind. We've lost truth and interest in the objectivity of mainstream media because of our self-infatuation with the subjectivity of our own messages. It's what, in "Cult of the Amateur," I call digital narcissism. A flattened media is a personalized, chaotic media without that the essential epistemological anchor of truth. The impartiality of the authoritative, accountable expert is replaced by murkiness of the anonymous amateur. When everyone claims to be an author, there can be no art, no reliable information, no audience."

Someone who disagrees with Keen's sweeping statements is David Weinberger who aptly responds:

"But your dichotomy is false. The Web isn't Cinderella facing Gregor "The Cockroach" Samsa in a deathmatch. Despite Time -- which, as a pillar of the mainstream press is of course free of the hyperbole so common on the Web -- the Web isn't even You. It's us. And that is the problem.

Your wildly unflattering picture of life on the Web could also be painted of life before the Web. People chatter endlessly. They believe the most appalling things. They express prejudices that would peel the paint off a park bench. They waste their time watching endless hours of TV, wear jerseys as if they were members of the local sports team, are fooled by politicians who don't even lie convincingly, can't find Mexico on a map, and don't believe humans once ran with the dinosaurs. So, Andrew, you join a long list of those who predict the decline of civilization and pin the blame on the latest popular medium, except this time it's not comic books, TV, or shock jock radio. It's the Web.

[...]

Amateurs aren't driving out the pros, Andrew. The old media are available on line. If some falter, other credentialed experts will emerge. But the criteria governing our choice of whom to listen to are expanding from "Those are the only channels I get" and "I read it in a book" to "I've heard this person respond intelligently when challenged," "People I respect recommend her," and even "A mob finds this person amusing." This is the new media literary, suited to the new abundance."

Andrew Keen on a web2.0 platform, YouTube, presenting (to Google employees) ideas from his book The Cult of the Amateur (what he calls "a subversion of a subversion.")



Have a read of the excellent "Internet Smackdown: The Amateur vs The Professional" by Tony Long in Wired.

Check out these principles of citizen media. How do you think these principles improve the kind of information we might receive?

Video on Citizen Media:

Lecture 2: Web 2.0

What Is Web 2.0:
Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software
by Tim O'Reilly
09/30/2005

The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the fall of 2001 marked a turning point for the web. Many people concluded that the web was overhyped, when in fact bubbles and consequent shakeouts appear to be a common feature of all technological revolutions. Shakeouts typically mark the point at which an ascendant technology is ready to take its place at center stage. The pretenders are given the bum's rush, the real success stories show their strength, and there begins to be an understanding of what separates one from the other.

The concept of "Web 2.0" began with a conference brainstorming session between O'Reilly and MediaLive International. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O'Reilly VP, noted that far from having "crashed", the web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sites popping up with surprising regularity. What's more, the companies that had survived the collapse seemed to have some things in common. Could it be that the dot-com collapse marked some kind of turning point for the web, such that a call to action such as "Web 2.0" might make sense? We agreed that it did, and so the Web 2.0 Conference was born.

In the year and a half since, the term "Web 2.0" has clearly taken hold, with more than 9.5 million citations in Google. But there's still a huge amount of disagreement about just what Web 2.0 means, with some people decrying it as a meaningless marketing buzzword, and others accepting it as the new conventional wisdom.

This article is an attempt to clarify just what we mean by Web 2.0.

In our initial brainstorming, we formulated our sense of Web 2.0 by example:

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation --> search engine optimization
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management systems --> wikis
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication

The list went on and on. But what was it that made us identify one application or approach as "Web 1.0" and another as "Web 2.0"? (The question is particularly urgent because the Web 2.0 meme has become so widespread that companies are now pasting it on as a marketing buzzword, with no real understanding of just what it means. The question is particularly difficult because many of those buzzword-addicted startups are definitely not Web 2.0, while some of the applications we identified as Web 2.0, like Napster and BitTorrent, are not even properly web applications!) We began trying to tease out the principles that are demonstrated in one way or another by the success stories of web 1.0 and by the most interesting of the new applications.


This image is from the O'Reilly article and it "shows a "meme map" of Web 2.0 that was developed at a brainstorming session during FOO Camp, a conference at O'Reilly Media. It's very much a work in progress, but shows the many ideas that radiate out from the Web 2.0 core."



Read the rest of the article here.

~~~
In the seminar we'll be looking at web 2.0 properties such as tagging (folksonomy) and personalisation.

Lecture 1: What’s New About New Media?

• What are the new consequences for human beings?
• Is innovation both a technological and social process?
• Do new media create new meanings? Do they enable or disable social change?

Roger Silverstone, New Media & Society Vol 1 (1)

With every change in the way we communicate in our culture there is a struggle over meaning, significance, knowledge and power. Old rules and orders cannot be applied perfectly under the new regime of communication and thus formations of power are under threat from these new forms of expression. The premise is not exactly a technological determinist argument; that is, it is not saying that technology determines culture. New forms of communications are only partially determined by their technology and are shaped from social and cultural conditions, and from the various manners in which cultural expression and intentions are conveyed.

P. David Marshall, New Media Cultures

Lev Manovich - 5 Principles of New Media

1. Numerical representation
2. Modularity
3. Automation
4. Variability
5. Transcoding

New Media Networks are typically:
• Decentralised
• Less Hierarchical

This makes them
• Difficult for Regulating and Managing Content
• Difficult for Regulating and Managing Access
• Physically Robust
• Example: the Internet

~~~~
For the Seminar:

In the lecture today we looked at some of the suggested attributes of new media, both cultural and technological, that have been proposed in an attempt to define it.

Nate Harrison’s piece, “Can I have an Amen” tells the story of how a six-second drum loop became the foundation for a whole musical sub-genre.

While listening to the piece make a note of how the attributes outlined in the lecture apply to the case of the “amen break.”

Welcome to MEDS 2007: New Media

Overview
Part A of this module offers an introduction to theoretical issues in new media, particularly sociological questions surrounding the meaning and social impact of new media. Students will study new media within the context of social and critical theory, gaining an awareness of the relationship of new digital media to the older forms of media.

Purpose and Goals
Students in this course will develop critical analytical skills while becoming familiar with a variety of "traditional" and digital media; learn and then apply media/cultural studies theories and concepts ; write concise descriptive and analytical reviews; present their work to a group; and engage in academic conversations both online (by way of blog comments) and in seminars.

Class format
The class will meet once a week for a one-hour lecture. Students are also required to attend one seminar per week. Students are expected to attend only the seminar that is indicated on their timetable.

Expectations
Lecture, seminar, and online participation in MEDS 2007 are essential. Students are expected to attend all lectures and seminars except for medical or other exceptional reasons (evidence may be required). Assigned readings or projects are expected to be read or completed before each lecture or seminar. Students are also expected to visit any online resources associated with the lectures (indicated either here or by the course or seminar leaders). Students are strongly encouraged to add their comments to this module blog.

Course materials
BAYER, GROPIUS & GROPIUS H, W & I, Bauhaus 1919-1928, Secker & Warburg, 1975.
FLEW, T, New Media: an Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2003.
LISTER, M ET AL, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, 2003.
MOHOLY-NAGY L, Vision in Motion, Paul Theobald, 1947.
VANDOME, NICK, Dreamweaver MX in Easy Steps, Computer Step, 2002.

In addition to these texts, writings from media theorists, artists, scientists and researchers from diverse fields will be made available either in lectures or seminars as handouts or as links from this site.