Hulu and the Participatory Individual

Margot Hardenbergh (The Death of Television, pg.173)

Interactive websites such as Hulu.com allow users to manipulate their viewing experience.  Here were can adjust the volume, adjust the video quality, and use the playback controls.  The time line below the video allows the viewer to transcend the temporal restrictions that normal television imposes.  Although internet sites such as Hulu fragment the traditional notions of family structure, they do encourage user interaction.  Here we see buttons to share videos via Twitter and Facebook and also start discussion posts about the content.

Daniel Chamberlain (Television Interfaces, pg.85)

This is the homepage of Hulu.com. Here you can find a vast amount of content ranging from clips to full movies.  Hulu is powered by advertisers who place their short ads before and during streaming videos.

The invention of the computer and the internet were very significant advancements for the television industry.  This created both a challenge and a beneficial opportunity.  Figuring out how to stream videos without losing profits was the challenge.  The benefit was the allure of viewers being able to interact with the media more and gain access to a huge variety of content.  Now, the internet can even be hooked up to your television set to stream videos straight to your television.

New media such as the internet and more specifically, Hulu.com, promises audiences democracy.  Websites such as Hulu are allow users to take back some control over the content they watch and how they view it.  Media users can manipulate their viewing experience with new technological innovations.  Passive viewers are now able to become active users.

Catherine Burwell (Rewriting the Script, pg. 382)