OSP: Clay Shirky - End of audience blog tasks

OSP: Clay Shirky - End of audience blog tasks

Clay Shirky: End of audience blog tasks

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 could email and exchange files with people at other universities

- We had access to a way to talk to hundreds of thousands of other computer users around the world.

- 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?

It makes it next to impossible to stop spam, abuse or the trading of images of child abuse. In some countries such as Indonesia and Nigeria some people using Facebook weren't even aware of the fact that they were using the internet which could potentially also show how using social media has become such a normal thing now and so many people have started using it without even knowing what they're actually using. 

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

The openness shows how the media gives people a voice to talk about different subjects openly and giving them a chance to raise awareness of certain things and forming a community with other minorities just like them e.g. the LGBTQ+ community. 

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

The fact that we currently have a mostly open network is no reason to believe that there is a pre-ordained path towards constant improvement as we deploy advanced digital technologies throughout the world.

How can the network delivery you with the privacy you'd like?

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

There should be a balance of both as openness is important for people to be able to express how they feel or their passion about something which then helps them find supporters and even if not gives them a platform to express their differences. However, there should also be some control over the media as people deserve privacy and it should be up to them how many people whatever they put on social media reaches out to as not everything that is put online should be available to everyone and this idea of it being 'out of your hands' as soon as you put it online should disappear because it's there choice what they want to share and if they do not want to share it anymore it should be incompletely wiped off, other media platforms shouldn't have the right over it and they also shouldn't misuse peoples information. 

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?

To label something a profession means to define the ways in which it is more than just a job. In the case of newspapers, professional behaviour is guided both by the commercial imperative.

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

'How society will be informed of the news of the day.'

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

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

This then received criticism from politicians and the president and the press for his comment.

4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?

Refers to the capabilities that new forms of media have given to non-professionals and the ways in which those non-professionals have applied those capabilities to solve problems.

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’?

This can be applied to today's media landscape as soon as one big thing happens all media platforms and companies start talking about it and giving their opinion and some even end up being biased. This also then triggers fake news to spread and media platforms sometimes putting 2 and 2 together to make their headlines sound attractive to customers and potentially spread fake news. 

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?

Shirky suggests that we are perhaps in a state of chaos as revolutions involve going from point A to point B, with a state of chaos on the way.

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

This defines the idea of 'end of audience' as today's media and especially social media gives everyone a platform and the chance to become an influencer, publisher, journalist or practically whatever they want to become as they have a platform for it and can talk about whatever they want as they'd always be someone to watch or listen on social media.

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?

The world is in a period of 'intellectual and political chaos' as social media is filled with more fake news and it is beginning to dominate the media which is misleading consumers and spreading rumours and false information around the whole world as whatever's on the media can be accessed by pretty much anyone with internet access. 

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

Because on social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Fcaebook and so on, people are able to create an image for themselves and this is mainly done through positing images whether it's of them or what they're passionate about; especially Snapchat and Instagram revolve around people taking and uploading images. 

An individual with a camera or a keyboard is now a non-profit of one, and self-publishing is now the normal case.

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 believe we're in a period of mass amateurisation because people are finally being given a platform and a chance to express themselves on social media and they have a chance to post whatever they want, whenever they want at no cost and don't need to stand in front of a large audience to try and get their point or message through anymore. End of audience means anyone can post the news or whatever it is they choose to post and we don't need to wait to here things from large media associations anymore or only read or listen to whatever they choose to tell us meaning we now know less biased information as well now.