Christmas NDM story 2

BBC server taken over by Russian hacker at Christmas :

. The BBC has been targeted by hackers in the past, including a cyber-attack on its Persian service.
. A Russian hacker secretly took over a computer server at the BBC before Christmas and tried to sell access to it to other hackers.
. It's unclear whether the hacker found any buyers or took any data, but being able to sell such access can be used by hackers as a bargaining chip to get control of other, more important servers.
. The attack was carried out against ftp.bbc.co.uk, a computer server that manages file uploads and downloads from the BBC.
.

Christmas NDM story 1

Facebook 'dead and buried to teens', research finds :

. Teens are being put off Facebook by friend requests from their parents. Photograph: Getty Images
. Facebook is 'dead and buried' to older teenagers
. an extensive European study has found, as the key age group moves on to Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat.
. Researching the Facebook use of 16-18 year olds in eight EU countries, the Global Social Media Impact Study found that as parents and older users are using Facebook, its younger users are shifting to alternative platforms.
. Critics have said ; "Mostly they feel embarrassed to even be associated with it. Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives."
. Researches found that ; Teens don't care that alternative services are less functional and sophisticated, and they are unconcerned about how information about them is being used commercially or as part of surveillance practice by the security services, but rather concerned about the fact that their parents are signing up to facebook.
. "It is nothing new that young people care about style and status in relation to their peers, and Facebook is simply not cool anymore."
. In part of the study's research with Italian Facebook users, 40% of users had never changed their privacy settings and 80% said they "were not concerned or did not care" if their personal data was available and accessed, either by an organisation or an individual.
.

notes on the effects of new digital media on the Arab Spring

. December 2010 - uprising first occured in Tunisia
. Arab Spring and the revolution
. Impact on new and digital media.
. Wern't guns and bombs but internet which was exposing brutality
. media activist
. South- poor - sidi bouzid
. december 2010 26 year old committed suicide
. mobile phones showed people what happened
. captured evidence
. filming from front line
. press censorship
. slim and Aziz - university educated - showed hatred of the president
. people argued that the tunisian citizens did not have a personality or view point because of Ben Ali
. tunisian bloggers had access to internet
. 'beauty of internt' there are pathways to communicate'
. posted videos on facebook to show the audience what was happening
. broadcasted on social networking sites- Al jazeera
. copy cat demonstration occured
. ' Tunis must be mobilised '
. hacked into main untion website - centre of Tunis - mohammed ali square to protest
. leading people into what street to go because there was police everywhere
. took photographs and published it
. installed software- live streaming uploaded
. took 28 days to take him down
. 90% had phones, 20 % had broadband
. 2 million facebook users
. traditionl media - failed PR campaign ( public relations )
. Internet decentralised
. protest videos went vira

Paragraph on would revolution in Tunisia happen without facebook ?

I think that the revolution in Tunisia would not occur without the help of social media especially Facebook because people published videos and information of Facebook which informed people about the corruption which was taking place in Tunisia, this helped set a revolution as people became aware of what was happening and wanted a change.

2 NDM stories

Why the Impress Project wants to talk about press regulation :

. The newspaper owners behind Ipso are ignoring the public, so we need to think about building a robust, independent regulator

. The old talk of stones and presses is dying as new technology transforms the media landscape.

. the core function of journalism remains, whether it comes in a weekly bundle or a live feed: to entertain and inform, build our communities and speak truth to power

. Since Lord Justice Leveson published his report last November, the public have echoed his call for a truly independent regulator which would deal robustly with code breaches and provide access to justice through an arbitration scheme

. This would be a huge improvement on the current situation, where only those with the deepest pockets can fight a libel or privacy action.

. An independent regulator, would prevent politicians from taking any role. It would approve the code at the heart of the complaints system. It would direct corrections, on the front page if necessary, if newspapers didn't resolve a valid complaint themselves. And it could provide cheap and efficient access to justice, not only for newspapers and their readers but also potentially for online publishers and others who are threatened with libel or privacy actions.

. Newspaper readers say a trusted complaints system can't be under the control of the government or the newspaper industry.

 

The Sun has digital subscribers and soccer, but the goal is hard to see :

. The Bun's eagerly awaited post-paywall numbers aren't quite as revelatory as Murdoch watchers were hoping

. debate about subscription paywalls around newspaper websites

. Rupert right to want Sun punters to pay for everything? Do those heretics who still believe in free have all the best arguments? Ah! here, after four months of silence, comes Mr Murdoch's beloved Bun, at last giving us some facts to confirm the boss's prejudices.

. Since August, when the wall went up, 117,000 readers have, one way or another, bought the Sun+ digital package

. 47% of them signed up on mobile, 30% of them in the precious 25-to-34 age range. So everyone – though talking long marches – professes themselves content. Maybe, at £2 a week, the Bun could be drawing in £12m to £13m extra revenue that wasn't there last "free" July.

 

Weekly 2 NDM story

How Hitler suspended the right to mail and telephone privacy

. In 1933, Hitler demanded that Germany's president, Hindenburg, sign what became known as the Reichstag fire decree

. It nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens, and it was used as the legal basis to imprison anyone considered to be opponents of the Nazis.

. It was also aimed at suppressing publications that were considered unfriendly to the Nazi cause.

BBC and Sky bosses insist female TV sports presenters are chosen on merit

. Broadcasters accused by MP of selecting 'very young, attractive' female pundits, while their male colleagues are 'mature, fat, bald'

My opinion : I believe that women are often portrayed to be identified as sex objects as the media usually use young, attractive women in the media to grab the audiences attention.

 

. insisted as they came under fire from an MP for writing off older women.

. Labour MP Jim Sheridan said at a Commons culture, media and sport committee on Tuesday that those appearing on screen were young and attractive "with one or two exceptions" – while male colleagues tended to be middle-aged, fat and bald.

 

Essay Question - the development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production.

The development of new/digital media means the audience is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the arguments for and against this view.

The argument about whether or not the development of new/digital media allows the audience more power in terms of consumption and production has been argued throughout the inventions of new/digital media. As the years go by the argument has become more significant to critics as new/digital media is crucial in our daily life. The depth of this argument has widened as the discussion about this argument has increased. Marxists view capitalist society as being one of class domination; the media are seen to promote hegemonic ideology. On the other hand, Pluralists would argue that they see society as a consisting of competing groups and interests. The battle between Marxists and Pluralists are effective to this argument to a great extent as they are both strong believers of their ideologies, however this does not put a boundary to our own believes. In fact both sides and my own opinion will be argued throughout this essay.

Firstly, In regards to the Utopian Vs Dystopian perspective, there has been an argument that the Utopian- Del Sola poole states that the new media will facilitate a positive media world where there is going to be a much wider range of texts produced that meets the needs and desires the audience. This is effective as it is true to an extent. An example of this would be Google or Wikipedia. Even though Wikipedia can be edited, in general it provides the audiences with information they’re searching for. This makes the audience more powerful in terms of consumption and production as Google and Wikipedia allows them to get the information they’re searching for as well as edit information on Wikipedia if they disagree on anything being said.

More than that, another example which the Pluralists would argue is the fact that people are now able to interact with each other through social networking sites. For example, Facebook and twitter – which are, at the moment the most popular sites out there. This gives the audience the feeling of power as they are once again the producers and consumers of the media. An incident which elevates this point is the Arab Spring and protests which were held in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. This is effective as the word spread around through social networking sites by people uploading videos of the government’s faults, commenting and expressing their opinions and believes, sharing daily corruptions that occur in North Africa (Libya, Egypt and Tunisia) and even creating pages. An example of these pages on Facebook are called ‘ thaleb’ which is aimed at the audiences that are pro Ghadaffi, another Facebook page which would be against Ghadaffi is ‘ almotasalakeen’ which is aimed at people against Ghadaffi and the old regime, these pages are effective as it helped spread the idea of starting a revolution which led to what these countries are going through today. The reality is that these social networking sites are an information-distribution network, not that different from the telephone or email or text messaging, except that it is real-time and massively distributed — in the sense that a message posted by a Tunisian blogger can be re-published thousands of times and transmitted halfway around the world in the blink of an eye. A theorist who backs up this point would be Katz and Blumler who has invented the ‘Uses and gratification’ theory who argue that the audience find ways of social interaction, entertainment and information where they require it. This concludes that audiences have more power by new media such as social networking sites as it allows them to make up their own decision for why they are using the networking sites and makes them apart of being the consumers as well as the producers.

 Furthermore, User-generated content, is the term used to describe any form of content such as video, blogs, discussion form posts, digital images, audio files, and other forms of media that was created by consumers or end-users of an online system or service and is publically available to others consumers and end-users. The theory ‘users generated content’ plays a major role in the view that audiences feel as if they have more power as a result in the development of technology. There has been a growth in mobile phones during the past years, which gives the audience the ability to take pictures and record. By these apps being invented, it allows the audience to feel as if they have more power than traditional media itself. It also allows the audience to attain the term ‘citizen journalists’ which means they can record major events and publish it on social networking sites. A good example would be the 2005 London Bombing, when an individual recorded what he saw had happened and published it on YouTube. This is effective as the free hand video that was published got more views than the original video published by the traditional media (News). According to my research the researches Jean Burgess and Joshua Green (2009) had researched into YouTube and found that 42% of the sample they analysed comprised of extracts from ‘traditional media’; and most of those had been uploaded by users. Therefore the clips were uploaded by fans rather than the traditional media companies them-selves. They said ‘It is likely that in the last two years this percentage will have increased, as YouTube has become a medium of ‘catch up’ distribution in the UK, for Channels 4 and 5’. This elevates the fact that YouTube even allows users to create their own channels, this is effective as it makes the audience feel as if they have power and makes them the consumers and producers of new/digital media.

Moreover, another technology which makes the audiences feel power due to new/digital media is TV and programmes such as Sky+, Sky sports etc. Sky is significant as it allows the reader to record their favourite documentary, film etc. while watching something completely different at the same time and then going back to it and can rewind or forward which gives them the ultimate power as they feel as if they have control of what they are doing to the TV. The Uses and gratification theory is argued that the audience watch for surveillance, inform or entertainment. This is an example of new/digital media and the theory backs up this point as it reflects the fact that the audience feel more power as they have the ultimate control on the reason why they are watching TV and have the control over when it is suitable for them to watch the show they might have missed.

Therefore, Web 2.0 as defined by Tim O’Reilly in 2005 is essentially a medium that allows audiences to become producers of media texts. This requires web-based software, such as blogs, which audiences can use to produce, and share, their own work. It is argued that Web 2.0, often referred to as ‘we media’, democratises the media, as anyone with a web connection can create and publish texts which is known as ‘user-generated content’; thus we no longer have to rely upon professional organisations or traditional ‘old’ media to act as the gatekeepers, for example newspapers, letter pages or radio. Today audience can easily produce texts themselves, giving them power in terms of consumption and production.

However, Marxists would argue against this statement and believe that in fact the development of new/digital media does not allow the audience more power in terms of consumption and production. A theorist that supports this argument is Carr who argued in 2011 that new/digital media has led to ‘dumbing down’ and ‘the cult of the amateur’ because anyone, regardless of who they are can create texts which doesn’t really make people special in actual fact it just shows everyone is capable of doing a certain amount of change to the new/digital media which puts a boundary to the audiences ability to change or create texts etc. Another critic who would support this view is Andrew Keen, who believes that internet is killing our culture he argues that, ‘web pages and blogs are like millions of monkeys typing nonsense’. Marxist view capitalist society as being one of class domination; which means that the media has full control over the mass and injects the audience with information that they want the audience to know, for example; the news, in some cases the news does not reveal everything but often reveal the parts that they want the audience to know and hear. Another example would be elections (anywhere around the world) when a party is determined to win the elections they do not reveal the full truth as it may change the mass’s opinion, therefore they only allow the audience to know certain information which they’re sure will benefit them. This is called the hypodermic syringe.

 Another view that the Marxist would argue is privacy and censorship. In many countries the government controls the internet and what the audience can access, this puts a boundary on the audiences ability to access whatever they like on the internet as it means even if they find a way to do so they may get caught by the government. This elevates the fact that the audience does not have any power. A theory of this approach would be the ‘hegemonic control’ this means that the government has full control on what the audience can access. Countries that portray this is ‘Mass media are seen as a way of entertaining the workers while drip feeding them ideologies and beliefs’. This is effective as it elevates the fact that the media are seen to promote hegemonic ideology and ensure the dominance of certain classes; the ultimate control is increasingly concentrated in wealthy corporations and media conglomerates. Media conglomerates is when a media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet. This makes the audience not have power as much as they want as there is a dominant organization which controls the audience.

A final reason which Marxist believes that does not give the audience power due to new/digital media is censorship. While other may disagree and argue that in some countries censorship is decreasing, and those in control e.g. the bourgeoisie, who has the ‘hegemonic control’ no longer have absolute power how they used too. Another critic which supports this ideology would be the Pareto’s law who argues that censorship is decreasing. However Marxists would argue that in actual fact in many countries such as Libya and China the government controls the media and controls what the audience can access, post, watch and comment. This illustrates the argument that in actual fact audience have no power due to censorship around the world. Marxists argue that the Mass media is a tool, therefore the Mass media is ruled by the ruling class and they have the ultimate power to what the audiences are capable of on the internet. This links back to the theory ‘hegemonic control’, while some people would argue and say that the ‘hegemonic control’ is decreasing others would say it is increasing and this is due to the fact that now the government knows that many people use new/digital media or social networking sites which cause caous as individuals post their beliefs and opinions which could cause a revolution, therefore as more governments are aware of this, more of the ruling class will try to control their audiences use of certain websites. This shows that there is the dominant ideology which is the ruling class which causes the audience to not feel powerful.

In my opinion, I believe that there is a balanced argument for this statement. There are advantages and disadvantages for new/digital media and audiences are empowered by this and feel power to a great extent. However, even though there is still censorship around the world and hegemonic control, audiences are still allowed to share their views and interact with people around the world making them feel power to a great extent.

The Virtual Revolution notes part 2 :

-quarter of our planet is connected to the internet.
- web sets information free
- We've seen that when ordinary people fight for freedom and democracy
- web leads to openness and closeness more difficult  (Sir Tim Berners-Lee)
- anyone who wants to participate, can participate. ( Clay Shirky )
- there is a flow of winners and losers.
- only in the beginning
- quietly the web is shifting power
- its accelerating globalisation
- cross traditional boarders
- reinvented warfare
- Twitter threatens
- Twitter was developed in Fran sisco - 2006 along with Facebook called social networking new way to stay in touch with friends.
- you can send a message called tweet 140 characters and is read by anyone who follows you
- you can do this by phone and computer
- a microcosm of the world - when started seemed for Geeks or people who wanted to tweet about their life.
- people who didn't use it in the beginning people thought it was another example of 'all about me'
- then Iran June 2009 - in the aftermath of presidential elections- people went out because of anger (riot) protesters turned to twitter to tell the people what has happened.- no media was allowed to report inside country.
- In just 18 days 2 million tweets sent outside Iran
- 2000 tweets about Iran posted in an hour
- information placed in hand of people
- after a young Iranian woman got shot - twitter became even more wild
- the web is shegging up world politics because it can capture information from a crowd eye witness and transmit is globally
- unlike live TV web video prompts instant reaction around the globe
- the web is like a tool box for protests
- the geeks who run twitter is not surprised of revolution
- ' openness is a revolution itself ' - (Biz Stone)
- authority unable to get grip with the web
- the webs linked information is connected to internet
- internet origins lies in the cold war when america and Russia was squaring up under the threat of holocaust.
- 1957- American gov got shock of their life when the Russians launched the first ever space satellite.
- Americans set up 'advanced research project agency' - given huge budget to beat the reds
- It gathered scientist told them to look into the future to invent something amazing.
- developed Arpanet
- 1970's similar networks around the world
- 1974 networks can speak to each other- sparks the global internet that we know today.
- packing switching perfect tool for computers to talk to each other
- allows huge data to transmit fast
- this had dramatic consequences for gov
- internet today links a quarter of the planet
- Mountain view California- keeps the internet flowing across the world
- individual countries like Iran cant shut down internet even if they want to because it is connected
- do they have the power to regulate do they have the power to turn the internet on and off ?
- wiki - leeks allows people to anonymously blow the whistle on gov and co-operations
-  question of internet censorship is increasing - argues whether the audience can communicate freely in the future.
- Wiki- leeks has a database over 1.2 billion documents
- keeps no logs and keeps military grade inception to protect sources and other confidential information.
- Bill Gates - ' once you publish something to stop it is impossible'
- wiki-leeks under constant attack
- after wiki-leeks published allegation about attacks
- wiki-leeks site taken off line - by judges
- the new York times published their website (because people was interested)
- internet not controlled any more
- famous quote ' the net interprets as censorship as damaged ' Micth Kapor
-censorship is a blockage
- when organisation wants to block a web there is a geek who does that
- web enables individuals to go onto and interact
- Iranian gov blocked sites like twitter and Facebook
- 'paste -stack' - web secure way of Iranians to load sites that Iranian gov has blocked
- web gives citizens power to blow the whistle on wrong giving
- the web seems to take us back to before politics
- ''the web is not threatening to wipe the state'-David Runciman
- ' back in the day just voting was a way of expressing your feeling against politics' Leo Murray
- traditional politics - decreasing
- able to express your own views by logging into the internet
- web provides more than proof of protests
- nature of community has changed - before internet you have to be present, now you can decide you want to do something about climate change and log in to a climate website and you become a member of the communuity
- ' the web is a fantastic resource '  - web can throw up coalition over nothing
- the state can organise their fears and hope
- anyone can use it
- China - armsrace between citizen and the race.
- china is one party state - 60 years communist ruled with ion fist
- china has more people online than other nations - 253 million world effect on politics huge effect on state
- Chinese states plays cat and mouse with their citizens
- Hu Yong - Beijing University - 'web can be a threat'
- Ross Anderson - Cambridge University - ' uni students get information from the internet'
- the threats come from within the poeple themselves , the conversations they have
- massive earth quake 70,000 people washed away - communists buildings left
- taking videos and pictures and publishing it on twitter
- this is media generated inside the country
- got up to part 4 at 4:00 min.

Weekly DM story number 2 -

Instead of buying your child a boring old iPad for Christmas, get them a stick : 

. Wild Network is urging parents to encourage children to play with nature and the outdoors rather than technology

. With sales of tablets, smartphones and gadgets predicted to soar this Christmas, many British households will soon be temples to the latest technology.

. But parents are now being asked to consider a low-tech alternative – to root around in the back garden and give their children a stick or a stone instead, in place of the latest smartphone, and to swap "screen time" for "wild time".

. "easy to pick up, perform a thousand different uses and can be thrown away as easily as you found it. Great for helping with imaginary games, playing Pooh sticks, building things."

My opinion : Although technology can be harmful for kids, picking up sticks and throwing them around can be harmful too. 

NDM weekly story-

BBC to air controversial Panorama investigation into Comic Relief : 

. Director general and head of news intervened over report on charities' investment policies, which was postponed in October

. A controversial BBC Panorama investigation into charities including Comic Relief is set to be broadcast in early December following interventions by the corporation's director general and director of news.

. The programme, which was at the centre of a row that drew in BBC director general Tony Hall in October after it was postponed, is expected to air on Tuesday 10 December.

. The Panorama charities documentary could have caused embarrassment for the BBC if it had aired in the run-up to Children in Need, which took place this year on 15 November, and had a negative impact on its fundraising activities.

. The documentary reportedly examines how Comic Relief allegedly invested £150m of funds it had raised for up to eight years, before passing the money on to other causes. 

. me of the money is alleged to have been invested in tobacco firms and an arms company.

. The BBC broadcasts Day and  the Red NoseSport Relief telethons. Danny Cohen, the BBC director of TV, and Tim Davie, the chief executive of commercial arm BBC Worldwide, are Comic Relief trustees and have had to recuse themselves from any senior management discussions about the Panorama documentary.

MY OPINION : 

. This is a great opportunity for BBC to become more popular.  

NDM story 2

Scottish independence: BBC would be replaced by new broadcaster :

. BBC shows such as Reporting Scotland would be replaced by a newTa Scottish Broadcasting Service, said the SNP white paper. 

. A new Scottish Broadcasting Service funded by the Scottish share of BBC licence fee income will be established if the nation votes for independence in next year's referendum.

. The Scottish National party said it would establish the SBS as a joint venture with the BBC, replacing BBC Scotland as the nation's licence fee funded public service broadcaster on TV, radio and online from the start of 2017.

. BBC shows such as EastEnders, Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing would still be available in Scotland via the SBS/BBC joint venture, the SNP is proposing.

.

NDM story-

BBC signs open data agreement

. Corporation signals its willingness to collaborate with the Open Data Institute and three other non-profit bodies.

. The BBC has signed an agreement marking its intention to use open data standards where possible and declaring its support for free and open internet technologies.

.  according to the BBC, will allow for closer collaborations between the broadcaster and each of the four organisations on a variety of mutual interests such as the release of structured open data and the use of open standards in web development. 

. "Since its formation just over a year ago the Open Data Institute has galvanised the debate around the economic and cultural value of open data, with the BBC taking an active role in the conversation and attending the recent ODI summit," said James Purnell, the BBC director, strategy and digital. "This MoU will give a shape to our discussions and help identify areas where we can work together to benefit the public, and I look forward to seeing the results."

. The BBC states that one of the aims of the agreement is to provide clear technical standards and models to other organisations wishing to work with it and to impart a deeper understanding of the technologies involved to those using the internet.

.
 

How much are you hatred by the daily mail ?

- I am hated by the Daily Mail.

I think this website is a good idea for the newspapers in the digital age because this article/quizz focuses on how the company the daily mail has published a buzzfeed style called UsVsTh3m which allows the audience to interact and find out how much they are hated by the daily mail. Also the quizz helps the audience get an insight of what the daily mail hates.

My three ideas for the Us VS Th3m feature are :

. to include more games where people can interact more,
. make the quizzes a little more interesting
. make a comment box for the audiences to share their opinions.

weekly dm story 2

Conservative party deletes archive of speeches from internet

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/13/conservative-party-archive-speeches-internet



. A speech in which David Cameron said the internet would help people hold politicians to account was among those deleted.
. The Conservatives have removed a decade of speeches from their website and from the main internet library – including one in which David Cameron claimed that being able to search the web would democratise politics by making "more information available to more people".
. The party has removed the archive from its public website, erasing records of speeches and press releases from 2000 until May 2010.
. The effect will be to remove any speeches and articles during the Tories' modernisation period, including its commitment to spend the same as a Labour government.
. The Labour MP Sheila Gilmore accused the party of a cynical stunt, adding: "It will take more than David Cameron pressing delete to make people forget about his broken promises and failure to stand up for anyone beyond a privileged few."

MY OPINION :

the government has the power to delete and add anything they like/dislike on the web.

weekly dm story

Oppose Cispa if you value any privacy in our digital world -

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/cispa-2013-house-vote-internet-privacy



. The US Congress is set to vote again on the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).
. Worthy ideas in the abstract, but horrible in the details: cyber-security is a genuine concern
. Companies have new rights to monitor user actions and share data – including potentially sensitive user data – with the government without a warrant.
. Cispa overrides existing privacy law, and grants broad immunities to participating companies
. Information provided to the federal government under Cispa would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other state laws that could otherwise require disclosure (unless some law other than Cispa already requires its provision to the government).

MY OPINION :
. I think what the US government is wrong, clearly because people go onto the internet for different and more fundamental reasons than to talk about the government, therefore, the fact that the government has the right to look at what people are doing can be seen as offensive as many people have private things which they do not want anyone to know not even the government as it is privacy.

ndm summary

13/9/13  sexy selfies may upset parents, but they're part of growing up today.

              .  Tony about death threats spark federal investigations 
         
13/10.2013 - Google takes down more than eight 'pirtate' links every second -

13/10/13 - Are you an internet addict ?

20/10/13 - top web firms

20/10/13- bbc worldwide to take on netflix

31/10/13 - the media must stop obsessing over the dutches body

10/11/13 - teenagers say bye to facebook

10/11/13 - do you know where your children go online?

11/11/13 - daily mail quiz

11/11/13 -

14/11/13 - privacy in our digital world

14/11/13 - concervative party deletes speeches



WWW : I frequently post the new and digital media, often post two but in some cases I have only posted one, these new and digital media stories are beneficial as I can use them for revision preparing me for my exam !

EBI : I need to selevt a variety of articles and not stick to the same 'genre' each week, I also need to write more about my opinion towards the article and need to start highlighting the key information to make it easier for me to revise with.

The guardian - Buzzfeed

BuzzFeed president: 'We feel strongly that traditional media have given up on young people'

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/09/buzzfeed-facebook-al-jazeera-social-news

. BuzzFeed now has 85m monthly visitors, and says they're seeking hard news as well as memes

. News site Buzzfeed attracted 85m unique visitors in August.

. BuzzFeed's president and chief operating officer Jon Steinberg claimed the site is an increasingly important source of hard news for young people

. "We feel strongly that traditional media have given up on young people, and have not made a commitment to tell stories that are interesting for people under 40 or 50 years old," said Steinberg.

. BuzzFeed now has more than 100 full-time writers, with a growing proportion focusing on news and politics. Steinberg said that around 40% of the site's traffic comes from links shared on Facebook, and 70% from social sources in general.

. Steinberg encouraged news organisations to think about social sharing throughout their production processes, rather than as an afterthought.

. Steinberg was backed up in his claim that traditional news broadcasters aren't serving the YouTube generation by fellow panelist Moeed Ahmad, new media department manager at Al Jazeera Media Network.

.Al Jazeera is launching a new online news channel for this audience called AJ+

. Ahmad stressed that AJ+ will not be trying to break news, but will rather seek to add "clarity through context" to news that is breaking on social networks.

. "Our aim with that is not to replace breaking news services, that you're going to get on Facebook and Twitter. What we're going to do is add the context," said Ahmad.

. 

Daily mail quiz powers USvsTh3m towards 3m users :

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/30/daily-mail-quiz-usvsth3m-users-mirror-buzzfeed

This website will succeed in the digital age because many people use the internet and are online most of the time meaning they will visit pages that they see/recommended by. They will also play the quiz as an experiment on how it works and what sort of questions you will get asked, in order for them to see what the quiz point of view is. It is expected to reach 3 million unique users in October, It is said that users are encouraged to share their sources on USvsTh3m games and qizzes via social media, helping to get more audiences.  "Sharing stuff socially says something about you," said Trinity Mirror product director Malcolm Coles. "People want to identify with something that reflects their personality and says something about themselves. People were pleased that the Daily Mail hated them." this elevates the fact that it is likely for the quiz will pass the 3 million monthly unique user mark, due to social networking sites and people sharing their results. 

Weekly DM story number 2

Do you know where your children go online?



http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/09/children-online-sexting-bullying-security-settings

. Cal Davies, 16: 'Most of my friends who have had ask.fm have received a question saying, "Why are you so ugly?" or, "When are you going to kill yourself?"' Photograph: Laura Pannack for the Guardian
.  staying safe online, doesn't seem to be getting through.
.  the online world is full of potential hazards to young people Sexting, bullying and sexual approaches from strangers are online dangers modern teenagers routinely face. And adults' knowledge of what young people are doing online is often vague and complacent.
. Nearly half of British children now have online access in their bedrooms, while a quarter of 12- to 15-year-olds owns a tablet of their own. The number of this age group using smartphones to send, receive and post photos online has risen significantly in the past year, and Ofcom points out that children's online safety skills have failed to rise at the same rate, with particular risks coming from the lack of privacy on social networking sites. Most parents of five- to 15-year-olds believe they know enough about the internet to keep their children safe, but, according to research by internet security system McAfee in 2012, four-fifths of teenagers say they know how to hide their online behaviour from parents.
. Quib.ly, says: "A big reason that children don't tell parents about abuse is that the default reaction of parents is to take the internet away from them."

Weekly DM story

Teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps :

 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/teenagers-messenger-apps-facebook-exodus

 

. Facebook is seeing a decrease in daily users - especially teenagers. Photograph: Image Source/Corbis.

. Facebook made a startling admission in its earnings announcement this month: it was seeing a "decrease in daily users, specifically among teens".

. teenagers are still on Facebook; they're just not using it as much as they did. It was a landmark statement, since teens are the demographic who often point the rest of us towards the next big thing.

. All the fun stuff is happening elsewhere. On their mobiles.

. When mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp first emerged in 2009

. Mobile operators are estimated to have lost $23bn in SMS revenue in 2012 due to messaging apps, which host free instant messages through a phone's data connection, which these days is often unlimited.

. Now these apps are becoming a threat to established social networks too.

. according to Mobile Marketing Magazine, whatsapp has more than 350 million monthly active users globally.

. That makes it the biggest messaging app in the world

. with even more active users than social media Twitter, which counts 218 million. About 90% of the population of Brazil uses messaging apps, three-quarters of Russians, and half of Britons, according to mobile consultancy Tyntec. WhatsApp alone is on more than 95% of all smartphones in Spain.

 

MY OPINION :

 

In my opinion I think Facebook has started to die out and will continue to lose their users as there are many new operators being launched on a daily basis, a popular one is whatsapp which is free of charge, and works better than facebook as it is fast and many people have started to use it to send pictures to one another. There is also text messaging but you have to pay to send pictures which some peope refuse to do, hence the reason why whatsapp is becoming more and more popular.

The Great Levelling ?

The Great Levelling

. The web is remaking the world
. virtual reveolution ( broadcast on BB)
. Africa - small town Ghana - 'connecting humanity'
. sir tim berners lee - invented the world wide web
. 'digital divide' - difference between Africa and UK , digital haves and digital have nots
. 'connecting humanity'
. 2 billion people online
. bill gates - ' the internet now is how mankind communicates'
. 'empowering tool' ( Al Gore)
. Binary opposition - helps us challenge authority , government uses it for spying.
. web allows anyone to publish anything
. quater of planet uses web
. 35 million log on or more
. web is where 1 users a week
. newyork - second place in the world that mostly uses the web
. 5 million use dating web
. surveys say that up to 40% of british watch porn
. 18 million read blogs ( west london)
. challenges business models
. more than 65 million use wiki each month
. 14 million articles - annonimous writers
. enables ordinary people to shape thoughts together,
. 1985 'the well' without it facebook etc might not exist
. 'exciting revolutionary' ( all gore)
. 35 million use internet everyday.

 
IS THE INTERNET GOING TO BE A GREAT LEVELLER, DOES THE INTERNET GIVE POWER TO PEOPLE ?

. she compared internet revolution with industrial revolution
. people have equal access and an equal voice
. is wikipedia acuurate ? many people edit the page, its free.
. ' Steven Fried ' perfect acceptable information' ordinary people sharing kowledge
. 1960's individuals having freedom - libertarialism
. web and internet are not the same
. web = ink webpages , anyone can access anything
. internet = routes of 1960's american military hooked together wth telephone system
. deep underground development of the web
. 1954 12 european countries collaborated
. 1980 ' information management' a proposal his ideas, became world wide
. 1991 first website went online
. 'hypertexts' way of linking documents
. HTML link to other webmail networks
. no government to regulate - ultimate levelling
. web was set on coalition course - social order and hierachy
. kenya - good example that the internet can be used for social good
. ushahidi - means witness , people posting up abuses so gov was forced to protect people, this goes to show that the internet is important
. 'paradigm' , shift on a par with the printing press - revolutionary change
. birth of internet - first emerge 1960 - US military
. unique address for document -url universal language of internet
. internet resists authority- no hierachy - cant control 'open source' meaning anyone can access for free ( eg fire fox)
. 1975 radio, vietnam war just finished - bill gates arrived in mexico to work for company 30 years ago rocket enthistiasts
. altar
. basic programme- bill gates
. 1995 internet explorer set out competition
. microsoft more than 90% of market - monopoly
. master shortie publish videos on youtube
. corportae ideology - control and monterise internet
. on other hand internet is about collaborating
. napster
. more than a billion hits per day ( youtube)

Weekly DM story -

The media must stop obsessing about the Duchess of Cambridge's body -



. A Daily Star story about the ghost of Princess Diana criticising Kate Middleton's body is only the most surreal of a deluge of offensive articles following the birth of Prince George.

. It's affecting young girls self- esteem

. the media obsession with the duchess's every bodily inch reinforces the principle that girls should be seen and not heard. Compound that with the contradictory message that she is simultaneously perfectly, joyously slender and selfishly, irresponsibly underweight and we're also broadcasting to our girls, loud and clear, the message of mandatory female insecurity.

. young teenagers are being influenced by this. a 15 year old girl said; "I'm 15, and feel like girls my age are under a lot of pressure that boys are not under. I know I am smart, I know I am kind and funny, and I know that everybody around me keeps telling me that I can be whatever I want to be. I know all this but I just don't feel that way. I always feel like if I don't look a certain way, if boys don't think I'm 'sexy' or 'hot' then I've failed and it doesn't even matter if I am a doctor or writer, I'll still feel like nothing. I feel like successful women are only considered a success if they are successful AND hot, and I worry constantly that I won't be. What if my boobs don't grow, what if I don't have the perfect body, what if my hips don't widen and give me a little waist, if none of that happens I feel like whats [sic] the point of doing anything because I'll just be the "fat, ugly girl" regardless of whether I do become a doctor or not … I know the girls on Page 3 are probably starving themselves. I know the girls in adverts are airbrushed. I know beauty is on the inside. But I still feel as if I'm not good enough."

MY OPINION :

These girls are absorbing every message the media sends them, Its impact on them is very real and it is influencing girls into looking a certain way to become the 'successful woman'. I think this is a negative influence as it may lead to many problems, example, anorexia.

Weekly DM story -

BBC Worldwide to take on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu with new strategy -

Commercial arm to fold plans for global iPlayer into BBC.com, roll out digital store and boost programming spend by £30m.



. The global iPlayer app will be folded into a revamped BBC.com, which will include a new long-form video player.

. David said  : "It is purely a branding question: if you want content you go to BBC.com," he said. "It has been too fragmented and [globally] it is a ferocious market dominated by US and Asian players – like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon – and we have to have scale and a real competitive edge."

.

Weekly DM story -

Top web firms urge more transparency over UK requests for user data -

 . Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and Twitter argue transparency will encourage debate over surveillance powers



Britain needs to have a full public debate about the scale of internet surveillance to give confidence that state powers are not being abused, the world's five biggest internet companies have told MPs.

Internet Surveillance : computer and network survillance is the monitoring of computer activity, of data stored on a hard drive or being transferred over computer networks such as the internet. The monitoring is often done surreptitiously and may be done by or at the behest of governments, by corporations, criminal organizations, or individuals. It may or may not be legal and may or may not require authorization from a court or other independent agency.

. In a joint memo, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and Twitter have called for the UK government to allow greater transparency about requests for them to hand over data on their users.

. They also disclose that the US National Security Agency has been collecting data directly from the servers of some internet companies, including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, although the firms deny this is done with their knowledge.

.  MP'S say - ' We recommend that requests for user data made by the UK government are made as transparent as possible," they say. "Each of our companies already publishes a transparency report and, as public concern grows around the world about the scale of digital surveillance, we believe that greater transparency is important in encouraging a full public debate and maintaining confidence that powers are not being abused."

. Their comments echo calls for more transparency about state data requests in the US, where there has been a storm of political debate about the revelations and a series of follow-up investigations that have forced the Obama administration to consider reforms. Internet companies have been engaged in that US debate.

Summarising Articles

In the age of media six questions about media and participation -

. the advent of online social media is often referred to as ' web 2.0'
. media owned by and controlled by large commercial corportations - is no more.
. Therefore blogs and online forums provide opportunities for ordinary people to have their say
. speak back to those in power; wikis enable us to collaborate and share knowledge in ways that challenge elites and experts.
. on social networking sites, we can represent ourselves and connect with other people in new ways
.  YouTube allow people to distribute their own media content to global audiences
.  All these services appear to be free and open
.  these things are leading in turn to fundamental shifts in the operations of ‘old’ media like television, newspapers and even books: there is much talk of ‘user-generated content’, ‘citizen journalism’ and the empowerment of consumers.

WHATS NEW ?

.'Web 2.0 ' was an attempt to re-brand the internet business after the bursting of the so-called ‘dot.com bubble’
. Tim Berners-Lee, widely identified as the inventor of the World Wide Web,
. In terms of media theory, there’s a danger of a kind of technological determinism here – the idea that technology will bring about revolutionary social change
. technology is  created in response to wider social, economic and cultural developments
.
WHAT ARE THEY DOING ?

. There’s a big difference between posting an occasional comment on an online forum or a social networking profile, and filming, editing and posting a video
. although in surveys all these things tend to be seen as evidence of high levels of participation. In fact, only a very small proportion of users are generating original content: most are simply ‘consuming’ it as they always have done.
. Our research on amateur video-making found that it continues to be dominated by home movies of family life, children’s birthday parties or holidays on the beach
. therefore, can play a very important role in terms of memory and family relationships
.
WHO'S MAKING MONEY -

- ' Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media élite… now it’s the people who are taking control' . - Here’s one celebratory view of the democratic possibilities of Media 2.0:
. this is from a 2006 interview with the notorious media magnate Rupert Murdoch
. The two richest and most profitable global media corporations are now Google and Facebook.
. YouTube (now owned by Google) took five years from its launch before it finally came into profit
. Many well-known services – not least Twitter and Facebook – have struggled to find ways of ‘monetising’ what they do.
. such as Murdoch’s own MySpace, have undergone a rapid rise and fall
. detailed information about our preferences and buying habits is being gathered, often without us knowing it (by means of ‘cookies’ that are planted on the hard drive of our computers). This information is used to ensure that advertising and marketing are targeted only at those people who are most likely to be interested in it; and through a practice known as ‘data mining’, the data can be aggregated and then sold on to other companies.

WHO'S DOING THE WORK ?

. Much of this marketing is itself ‘user-generated’ and ‘interactive’
. Other companies (such as the mobile phone provider Orange) have picked up on the idea of ‘user-generated content’ by running competitions for consumers to create videos to promote their products
. media critic Soren Peterson has called ‘loser-generated content’
. A great deal of unpaid labour goes into the production of blogs
. In the case of social networking, participants often spend enormous amounts of time working on their profiles and building networks which they are unable to take with them if they want to migrate to another site
. Some argue that fan websites are about consumers taking back control of the media, making their own meanings from existing media texts, and leading towards a more democratic media environment.
. There have been some instances where copyright owners – like J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers, who own the Harry Potter franchise – have taken legal action against fans who have used and reworked their materials in making fan fiction, video mashups, and so on.
. Yet one could argue that, in the end, these fans are just promoting the brand – they may be using Harry Potter to express their own ideas, but they are doing so in a way that contributes to the success and the continuing profitability of the big companies. They may be active participants, but they are also the ultimate consumers.

WILL MEDIA 2.0 SAVE DEMOCRACY ?

. digital media are not likely to result in a society of creative media producers
. Just like ‘old’ media, these new media are driven by commercial imperatives – and that means that some people are bound to benefit from these developments much more than others.
.

PARTICIPATION DEBATES - THE MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY -

It’s one of the biggest media debates around at the moment: has Web 2.0 and the explosion in social networking really opened up new opportunities for democracy? Morag Davis offers a beginners' guide to some of the ideas you may need to grapple with.

. Democracy. It’s a word we’ve heard a lot of during the last year or so – the General Election was an exercise in it; many citizens of Arab states such as Syria and LIBYA have been demanding it; and as a Media Studies student you will have heard your teacher use it.

WHAT IS DEMOCRACY -

.  democracy is a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in decision-making.
.  It is the system of government used in most countries in the world except one-party states such as China; dictatorships such as (until recently) Libya; and non-symbolic monarchies such as Saudi Arabia.
. apply this idea of ‘one person one vote’ to the modern media landscape
. The X Factor as an example: in the 2010 series, 15,488,019 million votes were cast by viewers to decide the  of the programme.
. there were very few ways in which audiences could make their voices heard. Want to complain about a TV programme? Send a letter to Points of View and it might be read out on air. Want to comment on local politics? Phone your local radio station and hope you are given a few seconds of airtime.
. Back to Mr. Cowell: his dream of democratising the world with bland light entertainment received a crushing blow when, in Series Six, winner Joe McElderry was held off the crucial Christmas No.1 spot in the British charts by what The Sun called a ‘wacky Facebook campaign’ by ‘foul-mouthed rockers’ Rage Against The Machine.
. some commentators have claimed that the uprisings in Egypt and Libya couldn’t have happened without the use of Twitter and Facebook, with young people using social media to bypass the old regimes and organise demonstrations.
. the internet has empowered its users by giving them unparalleled instant and almost unmediated access.
. Blogging is another way that the media are becoming more democratic.
. your blog has (in theory, at least) as much access to global audiences as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
.

PARTICIPATION OR HEGEMONY ?

Nick Lacey explores whether Web 2.0 has really democratised our access to the media, and switched the power from producers to audiences, or whether it has simply become absorbed into the values of ‘old media’.

. Web 2.0, often referred to as ‘we media’
. democratises the media, as anyone with a web connection can create and publish texts (‘user-generated content)
. we no longer have to rely upon professional organisations (or traditional ‘old’ media) to act as the gatekeepers.
. Some observers believe this has led to ‘dumbing down’ and ‘the cult of the amateur’
. could it be argued that ‘we media’ merely offers the idea that audiences can have their say, while, in practice, the ways in which user-generated content is expressed and understood is barely different from traditional media?

The political: Ian Tomlinson -

.One of the best examples of the ‘political’ impact of amateur video posted on the web was the death of Ian Tomlinson, who died after being hit by a policeman during the 2009 G20 summit protests in London.
. Police said that described attempts by police medics and an ambulance crew to save his life after he collapsed – efforts they said were marred by protesters throwing missiles as first aid was administered.
Lewis 2009
. However, a New York lawyer sent a video he’d made of the incident to The Guardian. This showed that the police version of events was not true.
. Although the newspaper is an example of traditional media, the fact that it could put the user-generated video on its website makes it new media
. It remains to be seen whether Tomlinson’s family will get the justice they deserve. However it’s virtually certain that in the old, pre-internet days they would have had no chance.
. Morozov details how countries like China and Iran have successfully controlled the general population’s access to the internet.
. it has also been argued that social networking sites have facilitated the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings (the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and other Arab countries) as they enabled protestors to bypass the centralised state media

The political: Ian Tomlinson -

.

Second Weekly Dm Story

Second weekly Dm Story -

Are you an internet addict ?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/quiz/2013/oct/07/are-you-an-internet-addict-quiz

bullet points of key data :

. the average british web user apparently spends one in every 12 waking minutes online.

There is also a quiz to help you calculate whether you are an internet addict or not.

My opinion : I believe that as the years go on many more people will start using the internet and as the younger generation is growing more and more people will be using the internet, also as electronic devices are expanding and developing it will cause an increase in the addiction to internet.




My results according to the addiction quiz -

Your results: Congratulations, you use the internet far too much! On the plus side, this means that your smartphone is probably caked in so much grime, bacteria and fecal matter that your immune system is borderline invincible. But this is all at the expense of personal connection. Your life will be just as good if you don’t keep on top of all those Miley Cyrus twerking gifs. Go outside. Pitch a tent. I mean, obviously do this somewhere where there’s 4G coverage because you’re going to need to watch a tent-pitching tutorial on YouTube. Baby steps.

Weekly DM story-

Google takes down more than eight 'pirtate' links every second -

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/07/google-pirate-links-digital-revenue-copyright-holders

Story : Google took down a record-breaking 5.3 million allegedly links from its search engine in the last week of September, equivalent to just under nine links every second, the data below shows the fact that there has been an increase in number of takedowns of copyright websites. According to statistics it is claimed that Between July and October 2012 copyright holders sent Google about 1.8m link takedown notices a week, increasing to 2.8m a week in November 2012 and 3.8m in mid-December 2012.In February 2013, takedown notices hit 3.8m a week, increasing to 4.47m at the end of March, and finally peaking in the final week of September hitting 5.3m spanning 37,413 domains from 5,407 copyright owners, which marked a 4008% increase over the first notice listings by Google in July 2011.

My View : I believe that this situation will increase over the years forcing people to go out and buy DVD'S or sign up with sky in order to watch their films,documentaries etc. This means that we will start using more traditional media and we will start spending more money on buying the products than using it for free online.

Essay feedback :

WWW : Good general argument 

              Well structured 

              Some reference to institutions. 

EBI :      Give specific examples/details (especially about institutions) Avoid repetition. 

              Revise from powerpoint - key theories/quotes. 

The rise and the rise of UGC

What is meant by the term 'citizen journalist' ?
both who make the news and what makes the news.
news being generated by 'ordinary people'.

What was one of the first examples of news being generated by 'ordinary people' ? 
The film of the beating of Rodney King , An African American. 

List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisation : 
Most news organisations include formats for participation : messages abroad, chat rooms, Q&A, polls, have your says, and blogs with comments enabled, social media sites are also built around UGC, wikipedia news, google news, and Youtube. 

What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first hand (UGC) ?
First hand view, rather than professionally shot footage from behind the police lines, is often more hard-hitting and emotive.

What is a gate keeper ? 
people who decide what is and what isn't news.

How has the role of a gate-keeper changed? 
groups who had little access to self-representations, such as youth groups, low income groups, and various minority groups may through citizen journalism, begin to find that they too have a voice.

What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC ? 
There are now fewer and fewer permanent trained staff at news organisations, leaving a smaller core staff who will manage and process UGC from citizen journalists, sometimes known as ‘crowd sourcing.’ Some believe that the mediators and moderators might eventually disappear too, leaving a world where the media is, finally, unmediated. This does raise concerns however. Without moderation sites could be overrun by bigots or fools, by those who shout loudest, and those who have little else to do but make posts The risk of being dominated by defamatory or racist or other hate-fuelled content raises questions about unmoderated
content: ‘free speech’ is great as long as you agree with what everybody is saying!

weekly NDM story

1- sexy selfies may upset parents, but they're part of growing up today. 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/11/sexy-selfies-upset-parents-texan-mother



This article is written by Kimberly Hall and published on her blog. It is mostly aimed at girls as she starts off by saying "Dear Girls", she also goes on to say that if boys see an undressed photo of a female then he would start to think of her as a sex object and is only good for sexual needs. 

She also states that "I'd be lying if I told you, as the mother of four growing-up daughters, that there haven't been moments that have stopped me in my tracks where my girls and their selfies are concerned. But what I try to remember is this: adolescence is all about shocking the adults around them. And adolescence is a lot about sex, too; one of the ways that sexual attraction is played out these days is on the internet. Teenagers of both sexes have always experimented with their sex appeal, and one of the big differences between our day and theirs is that this experimentation has other outlets in 2013. I'm not saying it's good, and I'm not saying it's bad – what I am saying is that it's something we did too when we were young, just in a different way." which in other words she is trying to say that sexual pictures of females are a part of growing up and even if we disagree with the way they behave we have to put up with it as its a part of growing up and showing the world how much they have grown up to be. 

Tony about death threats spark federal investigations - 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/12/tony-abbott-death-threat-facebook



This article is about federal detectives are assessing serious threats against senior australian politicians after a webpage advocated the assassination of Tony Abbott. 

Facebook page 'Tony Abbot should be assassinated' taken down and threat being investigated by detectives.

Rupert Murdoch's second grilling by parliamentary committee postponed - 



plans to bring Rupert Murdoch before the culture, media and sport committee for a second grilling about the activities of his British newspaper empire have been shelved after the attorney general of his own lawyers intervened. 

from reading the article we know that Rupert told the parliamentary committee that that his lawyers advised him not to submit himself for questioning until all the criminal trials relating to the news of the world and the sun are over. 

Media talk podcast : BBC bias and payoffs row

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