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Wesch's Anthropology of 'YouTube' questions

Sum up Michael Wesch's main point about the web (or Youtube in particular) in one paragraph.

Michael Wesch believes that the introduction of web 2.0 has allowed people to communicate with one another more easily through videos and in particular through YouTube. The invention of YouTube allows people to upload videos that can then be seen by anyone around the world. You can also comment and “like” these videos which shows you who is watching your video and what people think of it. On YouTube today there is over 9,000 hours which are uploaded.

Write down your understanding of the following terms used by Wesch: "networked individualism", "the invisible audience phenomenon", "context collapse", and "connection without constraint".

Networked individualism- this is the theory that, thanks to the internet we can now communicate with one another no matter how far apart someone is. An example of this is when you talk on a webcam; you can now make a community with people who you don’t know.

The invisible audience phenomenon- this is when a person doesn’t know who is watching their video online and when they are watching it.

Context collapse- this is when you don’t know whether you are being filmed. Due to the improvement of technological convergence most people now have a mobile phone that has a camera and can record.

Connection without constraint- 

On the whole, do you agree with Wesch's ideas? Why?

I totally agree with Weschs idea as now most people rely on the internet as it allows people to communicate with one another in a quicker and easier way. It is also free as people can talk abroad using Skype. This creates greater democracy as it brings people together creating a community. It is easier for people to publish media on the internet on sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Having a interest in music I can now stream music on the internet for free and can also tweet music so people can see what I’m listening to.

How might Wesch's ideas be applied to the music industry (at at least, the production of music)?

The creation of YouTube as allowed people to make videos which can then be uploaded. People all over the world can access this video for free enabling them to view the video and write their own comments on whether they thought it was good or bad. This allows new artist to publics and advertise their music for free. As knew artist may not be able to afford recording studios, YouTube has been a key site to find knew singers.  

How might the influence of new media be said to strengthen or weaken the public sphere

To understand the role of the media in society it is useful to use the concept of the public sphere as an ideal serving as a model or guide for what the media could potentially be. The public sphere is a concept said by Habermas which he says is a realm within social life in which public opinion can be formed and which is accessible to all. In this exploration we need to examine the following: what purpose does the public sphere serve? What is need for its success and what critiques are held about this concept. Habermas says that the public sphere had weakened the twenty first century. However the role of new media in the Syrian uprising shows that this idea can be refuted.

One way in which the new media has strengthened the public sphere is the introduction to web 2.0 and convergent devices. Web 2.0 has allowed easier access to the internet from any source of device. Mobile phones now have features where you can record in HD and this can be uploaded to the internet within seconds. Syrians have shown the world what is going on, through a mixture of eye witness accounts and amateur footage of protests and their violent aftermath. Photos were taken whilst the protest was happening and uploaded using 3G internet. This allowed a much quicker upload and allowed the rest of the world to see. Cameras were also smuggled into the country. Pictures and videos being uploaded to social networking sites allowed people to promote more democracy. One person said “I went over as I thought someone was injured, but it was a man with a computer using 3G to upload videos”. This shows how technological convergence made the protest even bigger and known worldwide.  

Furthermore by the government banning some news stories, this allowed the public sphere to bypass censorship. Hebermas believes that the mass media and globalisation has reduced the effectiveness of the public sphere. The mass media has resulted in a reduction of plurality. With the new technology Syria riots were taken to a whole new level. Twitter and Facebook were the main sources of where others received information. It is highly accessible as now, most people have internet access and a twitter or Facebook account so they can easily inform everyone about the riots.  Consumers can now comment on videos and pictures uploaded, which allowed greater debate over the riots. Videos were taken of the army abusing dead bodies which was also realised on the internet. This could be debated worldwide and allowed the public to open up and comment. This strengthened the public sphere as more people where involved on the internet. Pictures and videos uploaded attracted people to from debates and share opinions which also increased democracy

However new media can also be said to weaken the public sphere as misinformation can take place where people are biased and also anomimity as some people can pretend to be someone there not.  False information may lead to other things arising such as conflicts on the internet or to the news.  An example of this is the man that was associated to be a lesbian blogger but actually he lived in Edinburgh and was married. When the blog was first released there were many followers and people commenting on it. On the blog there was a post by Amina’s cousin talking about how she was taken by armed men on a Damascus street. The news sparked internet campaigns to realise her, until activists in Syria and beyond began voicing doubts. This has weakened the public sphere as anomimity can occur within new media and therefore encouraging people to write unrelated comments.

Moreover, some information within the new media may not be entirely valid, not all the information seen on the public sphere can be reliable. This can be evidential as the case of the Syrian lesbian blogger who was actually a 40 year old man. This shows how easy it is to create a false identity on the internet and that not all information on the internet is valid. The evidence that he was a 40 year old man was gathered on social networking sites such as Twitter and Blogger.1,000 emails where exchanged to Amina by a French Canadian women who believed herself to be in a romantic relationship. This weakened the public sphere as there was less democracy within the media. As people know are aware that most information on the internet is not valid, they hold back to comment and share their opinions.

 
In conclusion you can clearly see that the positives outweigh the negatives of the public sphere. Information can now be posted by anyone all over the world in a quick and easy way. The development of technological convergence has allowed people to comment on videos and pictures on social networking sites. Everyone’s opinion is read on the internet now, which creates more discussion and debate thus increasing democracy.

Are the media becoming more democratic?

Over the years there has been a major change in how media is consumed and distributed.  There have been many new types of media such as social and digital media. These new types of media have changed the way in which we consume media. Some say this is the reason for media becoming more democratic. The introduction of web 2.0 has made it easier for people to consume media, people can now upload videos and see videos for free and also having the choice to comment freely.

One way in which the media can be argued to have become more democratic is through the use of social media to organise and enable political protest. A recent example of this is the “Arab Spring” unrest across the Middle East in early 2011. In Syria for example, news of an individual protest in a small town was quickly carried via Facebook across the country, resulting in lots of copy cat protests, riots and eventually leading to a downfall. In the past, any such individual protests would have been prevented from appearing on Syrian state television, and therefore prevented from spreading. However, the rise for social networking meant that democratic forces such as the access to information and freedom of speech were given a place where they could flourish.

Furthermore another reason that media can be seen as more democratic is the rise in new technology. In the past technology wasn’t very good, in order to record something was very expensive as you needed equipment which was very expensive. This could only be bought by large institutions. However nowadays we have access to mobile phones and laptop. They contain features such as cameras and are able to record. This allows people to upload videos straight from their phones in a much easier and quicker way. Internet has also allowed the uploading process to be quicker. 3G internet allowed you to upload videos in minutes, before it would take much longer.

David Gauntlett says that in the past media was not democratic as they had power over censorship which enabled them to decide and pick what media they would show to the public. Newspaper and broadcasters are now known as the media gods as they now have power of the public. However now media is becoming more democratic because of web 2.0, before web 1.0 was introduced, and this was where only certain people could create media. The finding of web 2.0 such as Youtube, Twitter, and Blogger allows uploading videos in an easier way. However only 8% uploaded videos to YouTube. Citizen journalism can now be produced by web 2.0. Information can now be seen worldwide within seconds.  This was evidential in the Syrian protest. People recorded the protest on their mobile phones and then were uploaded to twitter for everyone to see. This shows that media is becoming more democratic as it is just as easy for people to share information compared to institutions.

However citizens can easily make up a story and upload to the internet, so it isn’t very reliable. Media such as YouTube has created a public sphere which allows people to comment on videos freely stating their own opinion and an also lead to debates. Clay Shirky says that social networking sites such as twitter and Facebook has created a platform to share information easily. An example of this is the Syrian protest where pictures were uploaded on twitter to show what was going on.

Evgeny Morozov says that the internet allows the government to track people on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. In the Syrian riots the government found out about what was being imploded to the internet and therefore cut the internet for a day.

Overall media is becoming more democratic as we now have greater choice. We can now upload videos and photos quickly which can be seen by most people.

Long Tail Theory

1. What is Chris Anderson’s theory of ‘the long tail’?
The long tail is a description of the way that the internet has transformed economics,commerce and consumption.  our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.

3. What is Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ theory of Wikinomics?

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything is a book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams, first published in December 2006. It explores how some companies in the early 21st century have used mass collaboration (also called peer production) and open-source technology, such as wikis, to be successful.According to Tapscott, Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally.
1. Free Creativity (Openness and Sharing) - Making what you like and then broadcasting your creation globally with other users, e.g. YouTube
2. Peering - the free sharing of material on the internet
3. Acting Globally - Web 2.0 makes thinking globally inevitable, the internet makes communication of ideas simple.

Wikinomics is now making things more simple with more choice for example "iTunes" there is no factory with man-made product, it's all in the form of downloads. This is cutting out mass productions and distributions, making is easier for both the company and customer.

4. What are the five big ideas of Wikinomics and how might these ideas be applied to the music industry?

peering- the free sharingof material on the internet its good news for businesses when it cutts distribution cost to almost zero, but bad for those who wat to protect their creative materials protected  

David Gauntlett's ideas

According to Gauntlett, what was "the media" like in the past and what changes have now occurred?

In the past, media was very hard to consume as people weren’t given a choice to when they could consume it. These decisions where made by the media institutions not individuals. You can see that the media has a dominant role as people weren’t given a choice to how they consume media. Also in the past you needed big recording devices which were very expensive, and also you needed a big broadcasting company in order to distribute the media. This was very hard for people as they didn’t have sufficient amount of money in order to fund expensive equipment.

David gauntlet refers this as “The Media Gods” who distribute their media to “The little people”. However nowadays we can distribute media in a cheaper and easier way using things like laptops and mobile phones and uploading this to free websites such as YouTube where everyone can see. Here people upload videos about their life or whatever they want and everyone all over the world can access it. Media can now spread worldwide in a matter of seconds. YouTube, twitter and Wikipedia are new sources of information. Before the broadcaster would send out its messages however, now it’s different users.


2. How far do you agree with Gauntlett?
I agree with gauntlets ideas of new media as now people are not restricted in what type of media they can consume. People are freer to how they distribute and consume media. Websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are big sources of media, where people can view and upload videos. This has created big competition of new media and traditional media. This all allows media to become more democratic.


3. How might Gauntlett's ideas be applied to the music industry?
In the past where Gauntlett came up with the idea of Web 1.0 where people created their own work, the music industry realised music through big record labels as this is the only way it could have been heard by the public. These record labels would then distribute the music through their media source. However with the development of web 2.0 more people are able to upload their videos in a much easier and quicker way. Sites such as YouTube allowed people to upload videos within minutes thus allowing the public all over the world to view it. These artists can then be discovered by record companies more easily.

Music industry in the online age.

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