Clay Shirky: End of audience blog tasks

Media Magazine reading

1) Looking over the article as a whole, what are some of the positive developments due to the internet highlighted by Bill Thompson?

Allows people to exchange information and communicate with each other (email), people have the freedom of speech and to express their feeling, viewpoints and opinions to the public, and people also use it to gain information such as the news.

2) What are the negatives or dangers linked to the development of the internet?

People use the internet as an abusive platform to cyber bully people and to influence and groom youngsters to engage and be part in extremist groups.

3) What does ‘open technology’ refer to? Do you agree with the idea of ‘open technology’?

Having technologies which are more open where a diverse range of people can openly express their views based on equal opportunities, social justice and free expression.

4) Bill Thompson outlines some of the challenges and questions for the future of the internet. What are they?

That the digital media is not regulated so is having consequences and that the world is connected through the internet which many people use, which makes the internet not private as people can share this data around.

5) Where do you stand on the use and regulation of the internet? Should there be more control or more openness? Why?

I believe that controls and deterrents should be kept in place for social media as it keeps an individual grounded on what they can and can't do. The internet also provides an open space for all opinions and if these are out of control there are ways of blocking this such as the report/block buttons.

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?

Profession: something that exists to solve a hard problem - one that requires some form of specialisation.

2) What is the question facing the newspaper industry now the internet has created a “new ecosystem”?

"why publish this?" to "why not?". Now the focus is on the amount of content written rather than the quality.

3) Why did Trent Lott’s speech in 2002 become news?

Lott had pledged alliance with Thurmod, who was a republican and he lost all of his support and job due to undermining current politicians.

4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?

The concept of everyone being able to produce and publish content. 

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’?

Repeated fake news becomes normalised and repeated in the future.

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?

Could be seen as both a revolution as changes which need to be made are done, however could be viewed as chaos as it may lead to unforeseen consequences. 

7) Shirky says that “anyone can be a publisher… [and] anyone can be a journalist”. What does this mean and why is it important?

The audiences are no longer consumers but are in control as to what is produced and published as they are creating the content themselves. This is significantly important as it brings an end to regulation and opens a world of all types of content and news so could be damaging to society in the future.

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?

Due to the Guttenburg Print Revolution, scribes were no longer needed which lead to chaos as being a scribe was a respectable role. An example of the Josh Wolf case was given highlighting the lack of control of manipulation of content.

9) Why is photography a good example of ‘mass amateurisation’?

New/digital media especially devices like updated smartphones allows anyone to take a high quality photo. Also programmed such as photoshop and even apps such as Instagram allow for an individual to edit and beautify photos meaning no need for a professional camera.

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? 

In my opinion, mass amateurisation could be a positive thing as audiences are becoming media producers aswell, showing of their skills and getting their voices and opinions heard. However, this could be a negative thing too as these 'amateurs' could be selling/offering things for free such as giving free music away for example. This could mean that the media companies that actually run those industry loose out on profit. 

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’.