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As we come to the final blog, Darryl covered the topic of New Media, Big Data and Telemetrics. Honestly, I had no idea what this topic was about or how it would relate to us. However, from Darryl’s lecture and the weekly readings, along with this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzxmjbL-i4Y, I now understand ‘big data’ and how the data allows opportunities for a better business/company.

Every day, people are constantly clicking, searching and switching on and off that are continually being collected, which forms into what we call ‘data.’ As Siegel mentions data is a ‘priceless collection of experience from which to learn.’ (Siegel, 2013) The data collected is also consistently growing and expanding to an estimate of 2.5 quintillion bytes per day. (Siegel, 2013) Initially, the data collected of what has been clicked or switched can eventually be used to predict people and the trends, as Siegel states ‘with the new knowledge gained, prediction is possible.’ (Siegel, 2013) While, prediction comes from the data it allows businesses to utilize the data in an effective manner. Additionally, I found it interesting how Don Tapscott in the ‘What is big data?’ video addressed the idea of how data allows the ability for ‘businesses to push information to the customers more effectively.’ (Economist, 2012) The data that are used to predict and outline trends, primarily allows businesses to boost sales from the data received as they anticipate and adapt to shift customers desires and to reach customers with targeted advertising.

An example where big data is used effectively to enhance businesses is a Hong Kong watch company, O.D.M Design and Marketing. They noticed that their sales data from the Tmall.com store, one of China’s top online shopping websites, was revealing an interesting trend. (Lee, 2014) A particular bright silicone-strapped watch had rapidly become popular with young people in china. The sales data allowed them to quickly launch marketing campaigns that targeted these Chinese students. Businesses will therefore be capable to capture a better understanding of which product is in trend and who the product is more appealed to from the data.  Alternatively, data is also effectively used for television. According to an article I was reading, Time Warner Cable uses big data tools to navigate the changing media landscape. (Big Data Startup, n.d.)The data information they receive allows them to alter their infrastructure that suits the needs of their customers. Audience metrics provided from the data, provides the capability of knowing what their customers are looking for. Eventually, this could lead to a new revenue streams for Time Warner Cable, which will fulfil the customers’ needs. ‘Big data’ can ultimately ‘shape the fortunes of companies capable of examining, interpreting and acting upon the messages that mountains of information have to tell.’ (Lee, 2014)

I believe that the use of data with predictions and trends, will in fact improve businesses. ‘Data’ will improve businesses and fulfil customers as businesses will be able to analyse information and adjust to reflect the customers’ information and initially what you have previously clicked on. However, with data expanding every day this may mean collected prediction and trend information isn’t completely accurate. So, do you think businesses are improving from the data information provided?

REFERENCE

Big Data Startup. N.d. “Time Warner Cable.” Accessed May 10, 2014. http://www.bigdata-startups.com/BigData-startup/time-warner-cable-big-data-optimize-viewers-experience/

Economist. 2012. “What is Big Data?” Youtube video, posted June 26. Accessed May 7, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahZGEusG13A

    Funk-e Studios. 2013. “What is Big Data and How Does it Work?” YouTube video, posted November 12. Accessed May 9, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzxmjbL-i4Y

Lee, Melanie. 2014. “Tmall.com’s Big Data Push Reaps Rewards for Virtual Stores.” Yahoo, March 11. Accessed May 9, 2014. https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/tmall-com-39-big-data-push-reaps-rewards-063722381.html

Siegel, Eric.  2013.  “Introduction – The Prediction Effect.”  In Predictive Analysis, 1 – 16.  Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 

Personally, I’m not interested in politics. However, in week 8 Theresa discussed the different aspects and perspectives of new media politic and engagement. Theresa explains that activism and mobilisation are tools for the people where social movements are facilitated by new media and networked through communication structures. New media can be used as a ‘second social step’ to freely voice their political opinions and views, which allows them to privately and publicly articulate and debate on conflicting views and the ability to undertake collective action. (Shirky, 2011) I believe that online activism can in some ways benefit citizens as new media are used to help coordinate movements and allow a quicker and rapid response from the people and for them to voice their opinions.

In 2009 Twitter was notably used to coordinate a protest that was taken place after the Iran presidential election. Ahmadinejad was reselected as the president where protesters demanded the removal of his position. (CNN, 2009) Gladwell states, “With Facebook and Twitter and the like, the traditional relationship between political authority and popular will has been upended, making it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns.” Twitter at the time was an important communication tool in Iran where it was used by an antigovernment activist with the account, ‘DDOSIran’ to collaborate and to call upon supporters to participate in an online attack to crash the government websites.  (Cohen, 2009)  This reflects on how social media like Twitter are used as a communication tool, allowing activist to coordinate and collaborate for a social movement. Many sites including Twitter were later blocked, causing users to evade government snooping programming by using their web browsers to contact a proxy. (Cohen, 2009) Heap, IT consultant advertising private proxies on Twitter to help Iranians say, “I think that cyber activism can be a way to empower people living under less than democratic governments around the world.” (Cohen, 2009) I agree upon this statement as online activism enables the ability for a more civil society as citizens come together to voice their opinion and to gather together by their action.

Moving sightly away from the political side of activism, the next example is based on MKR how social media was used to coordinate an issue. The Facebook page, boycott MKR page articulated opinions of how the show was rigged and how Chloe and Kelly are bullies. The Facebook page states, “By liking this page we are showing channel 7 we aren’t watching your rigged MKR grand final and season 2015! WE WON’T STAND FOR BULLYING!” (Killalea and Vickery, 2014) This brought upon others who shared the same view of the show and tried to undertake collective action by encouraging those who agreed on the outcome to not watch the grand final. Even though, this may not have fully worked Facebook was still used as a tool to coordinate the issue.

Although, online activism may not always be effective it is still believed to be useful in terms of using social media as a tool to collaborate and coordinate social movements. Social media are communication tool that has allowed greater access to voice opinions and to coordinate for real-world action.

  REFERENCE

Cohen, Noam. 2009. “Social Networks Spread Defiance Online.” Accessed April 27, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/world/middleeast/16media.html?_r=0

CNN. 2009. “Timeline: 2009 Iran Presidental Ellections.” Accessed April 21, 2014. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/16/iran.elections.timeline/

Gladwell, Malcom. 2010. “Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted.” The New Yorker, October 4. Available at:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all

Killalea, Debra and Vickery, Colin. 2014. “Angry MY Kitchen Rules fans threaten grand final boycott over accusations of rigging and bulling.” Accessed April 29, 2014. http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/television/angry-my-kitchen-rules-fans-threaten-grand-final-boycott-over-accusations-of-rigging-and-bullying/story-fnihmx90-1226899217936

Communication technologies have become increasingly domesticated and as a result new form of communication has been born. (Baron, 2008) While, debates have been discussed about whether the new media communication enhances or impoverishes the practices of communication, language and relations. I believe there can be both positive and negative aspects towards the idea of new media communication. New media communication via IM, text messages, email, Facebook post and Instagram can create ways for people to connect with each other, whilst it can also cause a reduce of social cues. However, as people begin to incorporate abbreviations and emoticons into their messages are they impoverishing themselves as their spoken and written language may be eroding?

Upon the question, I believe new media communication can cause our language of speaking and writing to erode, especially when abbreviations are incorporated in our daily communication via IM and text messages. Those who use abbreviations and informal styles in their daily communication can ultimately adapt and create a habit out of this. Statistic shows that ‘50% of teens say they sometimes use informal writing styles instead of proper capitalization and punctuation in their school assignments.’ (Brown, 2009) Whilst, these concerns are heard in every nation that uses these media as discussed, ‘Teachers in Finland, where text messages are full of non-standard Finnish, worry about negative consequences for student writing.’ (Kasesniemi & Rautiainen, 2002) Furthermore, Baym states that the deletions of words ‘may be partially driven by the formal limitations of message space and time constraints...’ (Baym, 2010) Unfortunately, I can reflect upon these points as I sometimes incorporate some form of abbreviation when communicating on new media. Occasionally, I would type abbreviations in my text messages especially when I’m in a rush as I believe it’ll be quicker to say ‘ttyl’ instead of typing ‘talk to you later.’ As a result, I’ve created a habit out of this and have previously come across seeing abbreviations appear as I check my assessment.

Nowadays, emoticons have become quite popular whether it’s expressing a feeling, simply for fun or even being used to create sentences.  Fahlman’s innovation of emoticons is often used as emotional information can be difficult to illustrate without the use of facial expression and vocal intonation. (Baym, 2010) Additionally, technologies propose certain new ways of communicating as emoticons are incorporated into many different technologies. Iphone have adapted emoticons and has integrated another similar form of emoticons, emojis, which is not only used for expressing feelings but teenagers are now producing new and creative ways to communicate as words are replaced with emoji to create sentences.  (Moss, 2013)

Although, it can be a creative approach of communicating I believe these inputs also erodes the language of writing, especially for those who often communicate with emoticons/emoji. Even though it does impoverish the practice of language in some ways it also causes conflict between the sender and receiver as the content may not always be understood or is simply misunderstood.

Though, I guess it depends on how we interact with others on new media. Once emoticons and abbreviations are incorporated into the sentence of the conversation we are taken to the idea that the language of speaking and writing is being erode. To finish off, I’d like to share this hilarious video with you!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5HCkQXS-AQ LOL!!!!!!!!!

  Baron, Naomi, (2008). Chapter 1 : Email to Your Brain : Language in an Online and Mobile World. In Baron, Naomi, Always on : language in an online and mobile world, (pp.3 - 10). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Baym, Nancy K, (2010). Chapter 3 : Communication in Digital Spaces. In Baym, Nancy K, Personal connections in the digital age, (pp.50 - 71). Cambridge: Polity Press.

Becker, Alan. 2009. “Instant Messaging in Real Life.” Youtube video, posted December 14. Accessed 12, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5HCkQXS-AQ

Brown, Malcolm. 2009. “The NetGens 2.0: Clouds on the Horizon” Accessed April 13, 2014. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/netgens-20-clouds-horizon

Moss, Caroline. 2013. “People Don’t Use Worlds Any More: A teenager Tells Us How to Use Emojis Properly” Accessed April 13, 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-teens-use-emojis-to-talk-2013-10

Moss, Caroline. 2013. “People Don’t Use Worlds Any More: A teenager Tells Us How to Use Emojis Properly.” Image. Accessed April 13, 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-teens-use-emojis-to-talk-2013-10

This week I’ll be focusing more on YouTube as a mainstream media, which can also be seen as a platform for rising stars. YouTube is defined as a ‘site of wacky, weird and wonderful user-generated content.’ (Burgess and Green, 2009)

In the chapter of ‘Meaning of Amateur Video’ from Burgess and Green reading, the readings mention how amateur videos of raw talent are being combined with the digital distribution that can convert directly to legitimate success and media fame. (Burgess and Green, 2009) While, it has also been said that new media technologies and platforms are becoming more accessible, this can eventually open up possibilities for those with commercialization amateur content. Additionally, in some cases the producers of the content can become celebrities. (Burgess and Green, 2009) Upon these statements, an example I’d like to draw upon is from my week 4 blog where I briefly mentioned Justin Bieber. http://kcb206group7.tumblr.com/post/80452821690/week-4-new-media-content-going-viral-and Justin Bieber is a perfect example of this whole idea of YouTube amateur video, which ultimately converted him to become a legit celebrity as a teenage artist. Bieber first started on YouTube where he received million of views from his home videos content that lead him to become well-known and eventually having an industry artist supporting him, Usher. (Bright, 2011)

On the other hand, Theresa mentioned in the lecture the new media entertainment’s 10 propositions. Burgess and Greens states one of the proposition, ‘vernacular creativity, the creation and sharing of videos functions culturally as a means of social networking as opposed to as a made of cultural ‘production’.’ (Burgess and Green, 2009) From the past, I’ve watched many different vloggers on Youtube including, The Kandu Family, meejmu and Jenna Marbles. Jenna Marbles has received over 13 million subscribers.  She’s also ranked no.12 on the YouTube stats of the most subscribers. (VidStatsX, 2014) Marbles vlogs on absolutely random topics that is somehow relatable to everyone. An example is, ‘How to trick people into thinking you’re good looking,’ which received a viewing total of over 56 million views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpwAtnywTk Even though Marble hasn’t become a legit celebrity like Justin Bieber she is still regarded as a rising star by the number of views she receives from each of her videos.

Burgess and Green also states, ‘Amateurs are represented as individualistic, self expressive producers who are mainly interested in ‘broadcasting themselves’.’ (Burgess and Green, 2009) Stating this, many other vloggers like Jenna Marbles who often posts content on YouTube could be understood that their motivation behind these user-created contents is actually a form of self promotion.

So, has YouTube become a platform of mainstream media entertainment with rising stars? In my opinion, I believe YouTube has become a platform with opportunities for creator/producers to become stars. Especially when sharing of videos have become more accessible through different platforms that lead to an accessible network with a wider audience (viewers) to view the amateur contents. Nevertheless, those who have harnessed the idea of how new media technologies and the new media entertainment have changed and improved, ultimately allows the creator/producers to expose their user-created content in an easier mode that allows them the opportunity for future success.

REFERENCE

Bright, Spencer. 2011. “How Usher Gave the World Bieber Fever.” Accessed 22/03/14 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1355782/How-Usher-gave-world-Bieber-Fever.html

Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green. 2009. “You Tube and the Mainstream Media.” In YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture edited by Jean Burgess, Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins, 15-37. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press 

Sauter, Theresa. 2014. “New Media: The Entertainment Industry. Week 5 Lecture”. PowerPoint Presentation. Accessed April 1, 2014.

Last week we started looking at New Media Enterprises and the whole idea about crowdsourcing. Theresa explained that crowdsourcing was ‘Harnessing collective resources (knowledge, money, creativity) to solve problems and/or produce things,’ which focuses on social, participatory and collaborative approaches. (Sauter, 2014)

Is crowdsourcing an exploitation or an empowerment?  It depends, I believe crowdfunding as a media enterprise can be an empowerment. Crowdfunding is where many individuals invest small amounts of money to raise capital for a venture or cause. (Sauter, 2014) Coming from a Film and TV degree, I’ve noticed many amateur filmmakers’ have begun using crowdfunding sites. Crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo, Kickstarter and Pozible, allows all types of projects to be posted along with the production pitch.

So, is social media crowdsourcing like Howe states, “a manifestation of a larger trend towards greater democratization of commerce,” due to the crowdfunding for non-profit organization? (Howe quoted in Fuchs, 2014)

Media crowdfunding is a cheap and easy way to enable a wider group of audience to pledge and donate/invest on projects. Zittrain’s states, “building an environment that cultivates humanity,” which I believe crowdfunding cultivates humanity as it allows the opportunity for audience’s to have a say in the projects they are interested in. (Zittrain, 2009) Ultimately, these sites allows the public audience to state which type of production they want to see and invest in, instead of companies only funding projects that they believe will become successful.

While, the Veronica Mars was discussed by Georgia in her 5-minute review, I was previously aware of the crowdfunding they started with Kickstarter. As a fan from previous episodes of the series I was amazed how the producer took it to the new level and used media crowdfunding to achieve their goal and was able to fundraise enough money without the support of Warner’s Brothers. This has been a great example where the public have a say to whether they wanted the project to be produced.

Although, some of the exploitation is like Pozible’s project competitions and Kickstart’s ‘All or nothing funding works.’ One of the current Pozible competitions is ‘The Happy Project,’ which they find and fund an idea that brings happiness to others, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ckcWxVT4qc.  Even though there’s a winner prize in this case the $12,000, most of the effort and work time that others have put in for this competition and not being chosen would have made them felt exploited.  Whilst, Kickstarter’s ‘All or nothing funding works,’ which must reach its goal before time runs out otherwise no money will change hands. Therefore, the exploitation from Kickstart crowdfunding projects and others is that if the creators don’t make enough funds it’s possible that the project won’t be continued, whilst putting so much effort and time in it to begin with.  This eventually exploits those who invested in a project because the project hasn’t or couldn’t be developed due to not reaching the fund amount.

So, is crowdfunding an exploitation or empowerment? Is crowdfunding a manifestation of a larger trend towards greater democratization of commerce? Or has crowdfunding transformed customers/donators into investors through innovative service platforms? Also, check out this animated crowdsourcing video as it’s discusses what crowdsourcing is and the different types: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-38uPkyH9vI

REFFERNECE

Fuchs, Christian. 2014. “The Power and Political Economy of Social Media.” InSocial Media: An Introduction, 97 – 125. London: Sage Publications

Sauter, Theresa. 2014. “New Media Enterprises”. KCB206 New Media: Internet, Self and Beyond. (Lecture Week 4).