What has the internet ever done for me?

Notes

Internet began on January 1st 1983 - a number of separate computer networks were
linked together into a single global system an interconnected network.
Today, the network is becoming invisible, as connectivity becomes seamless, pervasive
and fast enough to just work most of the time.
We stop seeing it we only see the connectivity.
We also lose sight of the way the internet supports broader connectivity.
11% of Indonesians who said they used Facebook also said they did not use the
internet.
9% of Facebook users said they do not use the internet
Cory Doctorow (Author)
The internet is only that wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of assembly,
and freedom of the press in a single connection. Its only vital to the livelihood, social
lives, health, civic engagement, education and leisure of hundreds of millions of people
(and growing every day).
Positives:
o The network connects us to other people
o It provides a great source of information
o It can be used for campaigning and political action
o Used to draw attention to abuses and fight for human rights
o Its a great place for gaming and education
o A place where you can meet your friends.
Negatives:
o A lot of bullying and abuse takes place there
o Theres pornography that you dont want to see
o Illegal images of child abuse that you might come across
o Extremists and radicals can use the network to try to influence people to join
their cause
o Fraud
o Scams
o Rip-offs
o Malicious software
o The dark web
Digital information is very hard to control in an open world, because it arrives in a form
that allows it to be manipulated by its recipient.
Todays internet is a vast, unregulated, worldwide experiment in openness.

Links with:

Tim OReillys big 6 ideas of Web 2.0 (Openness)

Tapscott & Williams Wikinomics (Openness and Globalisation)

'For what its worth: The BBC past, present and future' Notes

From the start its core values and mission statement was: to inform, educate and
entertain
The BBC has sought to implement that vision ever since, remaining in-depth enough to
inform, academic enough to educate, and entertaining enough to reach out to mass
audiences.
These audiences have remained essential to the BBCs existence, since from its
inception it has been uniquely funded by a licence fee.
The idea was that the BBC should remain free of advertising or subscription funding, to
allow it to make and distribute programming that would inform and educate, free of the
commercial pressures that could otherwise cause it to fixate on providing populist
entertainment to capture the mass audiences demanded by advertisers.
The licence fee was also intended to ensure that the BBC remained free of government
interference.
It allowed the BBC the financial freedom to fulfil its remit, whilst remaining ideologically
free from both governmental and commercial pressure. Licence fee funding would be
collected directly by the BBC itself, enabling the organisation to fulfil its mission.
The BBC was, and still is, valued and trusted for the quality, objectivity and honesty of
its coverage.
It has been accused of excluding, intentionally or otherwise, those without elite
educations, women, and other minorities at all levels.
Every Director General (DG) has, after all, been a white, middle class, middle-aged
man.
Acknowledging this, Greg Dyke, DG in the early 2000s, described his own organisation
as hideously white.
Other sections of the media have accused the BBC of parroting the ideological line of
the current government, and losing the independence the licence fee was intended to
guarantee
Even though governments do not collect the licence fee, they do control the level a
flaw which provides the opportunity to financially influence the BBC after all.
Perhaps the most damaging claims appeared in competing media, arguing that
ignorance and incompetence had led the BBC to nurture the celebrity of serial abusers
such as Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall.
The BBC was attacked for its long-term failure to identify and remove these men, and to
confront its own failings.
James Murdoch - The Ambitions of the BBC are Chilling
Many areas of British media see the BBC as an unfair, anti-competitive institution
Newspapers - physical sales are declining, little success in attempting to charge for
web content due to the success of BBC News Online (free)
International TV production companies face increased competition
Subscription platforms loathe the publicly funded competition
There is a similar belief that the BBC as it is now is unsustainable due to the TV licence
fee.
The TV licence fee was set up to cover all the BBCs services (TV and radio) but in the
online age, increasing numbers of people access their content via smart phones and
tablets.
The BBC iPlayer gives the audience access to BBC TV, radio and online content on
demand without needing to pay for a TV licence
Sir Huw Wheldon - the BBC made the good popular and the popular good
It is inevitable that the BBCs services will have to be encrypted and put behind a paywall, directly available only to licence fee payers/subscribers due to the increased
online access to its materials.

This means that the BBC will soon be creating a funding model closer to that of Virgin
and Sky where subscribers would buy elements of the BBC they want access to whilst
not buying the parts they dont need
The challenge for the BBC, as a key provider and ambassador for British culture, is to
maintain its unique strengths, whilst evolving to meet the irresistible technological and
financial challenges of the future.

Links with:

Clay Shirky - Newspapers, Paywalls and Core Users

'Evolving technologies: Changes in audience consumption' Notes

Television was a method of creating a form of collective identity for the viewers as the
storylines of programmes highlighted family values, friendships and respect for elders
Due to technological and media development this began to change. Not only did the
number of channels increase, offering chances for repeat scheduling, but the number of
televisions in the home also increased.
Family members could now watch soaps at different times and in different rooms; the
audience had become fragmented. Entertainment no longer brought the family
together.
Consumption was steadily changing, and this was spurred on by further technological
developments such as online media
The internet offered a new platform for television to reach its audience; with the launch
of media services such as the BBC iPlayer in 2007
By 2009, the iPlayer had become extremely successful with over 5 million unique
streams per week. 86% of these stream requests came from desktop users.
New technologies have increased audience choice and enabled the channels to reach
wider audiences
The audience has become more diverse and no longer satisfied with what was once a
novelty
Media development has been rapid and convergence has become the centre of modern
life. With products such as the iPhone offering multiple devices in one, the audience has
come to expect ease and accessibility.
Modern audiences are used to having all their desired technology at their fingertips in
one product, and this has greatly affected audience consumption.
The audience now not only choose when but also where they consume media as
consumers can have a phone, camera, television, and internet connection all in their
pocket.
Television companies have recognised this essential development, and have adapted
to this change in consumption.
Eric Huggers, the Director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC - viewing
patterns change depending on the time and location of the audience
Other channels have also followed the trend of audience-led scheduling; there is now
an online service for all of the terrestrial channels and several of the Sky channels.
Although these are not yet as successful as the iPlayer they recognise the importance
of meeting audience demand.
January 2010 there were 120 million unique streams (BBC iPlayer)
These changes in online media technology have successfully met the demands of
audience consumption
Over-accessibility may change why the audience chooses to consume in the first place;
where once there was a desire to see something that was a novelty and share it with

friends and family members, the audience now constantly demands something new,
and often watches it in isolation
It may also be that the audience no longer seek out programmes as entertainment, but
simply as time-passing activities.
The internet has enabled audiences to become involved in media production, with
websites allowing them not only to leave feedback and suggestions, but in some cases
actually create the content
Looking at current consumer trends it appears that the internet is at the forefront and
the television may become outdated.

Links with:

Dan Gillmor We Media

Tapscott & Williams Wikinomics

A Taste of the BBC Notes

Over 50% of TV watched by those under 30 is viewed on other devices

According to Will Saunders, on average a YouTube user takes just six seconds to decide
whether to stay with the video they are watching or move on; he argues that we are all
fighting for the currency of attention.
Its hard to compete when production and distribution costs are shrinking for prosumers
Comedy and drama work well in video on demand space, which is why Netflix is
successfully developing these for its subscription service.
Originally working on the BBC Comedy site and the launch of the BBC YouTube channel,
Saunders saw the internet as a playground for new ideas and a way to nurture new
talent.
Brett Domino - In just nine days more videos are uploaded digitally to YouTube than the
BBCs entire TV history. Six billion hours of video are watched every month on YouTube.
BBC Taster launched on 26th January 2015 and in its first 72 hours it had over million
page views, and gained over 5,000 followers on Twitter in its first week.
The BBCs home of new ideas, a mixture of new technology, new formats and also new
talent, it offers the audience the chance to trial and review new BBC content.
Not of all of the content on Taster will be developed further, but Saunders believes that
it allows failure at a low price point - the projects on Taster can cost between 2040,000 in comparison to the 200,000 it costs per episode of a television comedy.
The interactive features keep the audience watching for longer than 6 seconds, and the
element of choice means they can click to something new within the same content if
they get bored.
Audiences have responded positively to the interactive features of Taster and the
freedom it offers as a user
For a public service broadcaster, known for its quality TV drama, the move to shortform
video seems a radical idea; but it reflects recognition that the audience is changing and
that traditional TV formats will not necessarily attract the audience of the future.

Links with:

Charles Leadbeater We Think

Tapscott & Williams Wikinomics

Media Platforms: The impact of technology Notes

As technologies change, they offer different ways for audiences to access texts; and so
institutions change the way they make and promote their products.
At one point, the only way to see a film was to go to the cinema. Films were released
and shown in cinemas until the audience numbers declined. As television became a
more widespread technology, deals were made whereby films could be shown on TV.
In the 1980s two technologies changed audiences' ability to access films:
o Video
Video allowed audiences to rent feature films to watch whenever was
convenient and VCRs provided an opportunity to tape and keep films
shown on TV.
At first film companies were concerned video would have a negative
impact on their business, reducing cinema attendance; so initially only old,
low budget or minority interest films were released on this format.
As the technology became more widespread Hollywood realised its
financial potential. Blockbuster films were made available to rent and,
later, to buy - often with additional footage such as a 'making of'
documentary to encourage people to purchase the film rather than wait
and tape it from the TV.
Video made television fiction marketable.
From the mid-90s, some TV companies realised that cult had an audience
that would be prepared to pay to own their favourite series and video box
sets were introduced.
o Satellite (and later, cable) television
Satellite television charged viewers a fee and thus could negotiate deals
with film companies which allowed them to show feature films sooner than
on terrestrial TV and so films moved from cinema to TV more quickly.
As there is more 'space' on non-terrestrial television, so more channels
could be made available - some of which are dedicated solely to
broadcasting films.
There have been more recent developments:
o DVD

DVD technology again broadened the market for home purchases. Again,
in order to compete with video, DVDs offered a host of 'extras' all
attempting to make audiences see the cost of the product as worthwhile.
TV companies too saw the potential in DVD and more mainstream
television products were made available for rental or purchase rather than
just cult programming.
Films can make more money on DVD release than in cinemas; the format
is quickly becoming very important.
TV programmes released on DVD make vast profits for TV companies, so
much so that the format is now seen to influence the type of programmes
made and the way they are made.
DVD allows audiences to watch several episodes of a show at once and
view a whole series relatively quickly.
The rise in mainstream access to the internet and changes in e-technology is
dramatically altering the media landscape.
One of the first films to use internet technology to promote itself before its cinema
release was The Blair Witch Project (1999). As an independent production, Blair Witch
had a very limited promotions budget and using the internet kept costs down. This
culminated in the film being one of the most profitable films in film history - it cost only
$60,000 to make but made $30m in its opening weekend in the States alone.
Viral marketing is now a crucial aspect of film and television marketing and adds new
dimensions to audience activity and behaviour.
Cult TV programmes had early web presences which was often generated by fans and
these sites allowed a communication medium between the audience and producers
that had not been available before.
Producers could gauge audience reception of plot/character developments immediately
and often use this information in further production developments.
There are more ways that the internet has impacted the film/TV industry:
o Provides a longer shelf life for a media text as it can be available to audiences
before and after the broadcast or cinema release dates.
o Provides additional narrative information, wider audience pleasures, reach a
broader audience base and be a platform for marketing other related products.
o Television broadcasters allow programmes to be watched on demand online
giving wider access to programmes and freeing the audience from the
broadcasting schedules.
o Film producers release a range of trailers on the web from initial teaser trailers
(often released whilst the film is still in production) to full cinematic trailers which
were previously only available in cinemas.
o Secondary texts are created to provide a broader fictional universe, each of
which contains background and/or additional information to that found in the
media product.
o Often promotes interactive audience activities such as games, competitions and
forums creating a more active rather than passive audience.
o Offer rewards and create elite groups who have access to more information and
are part of a community.
It has also impacted other areas of media:
o Advertising now uses a range of platforms to reach its audience(s) - conventional
advertising is becoming less effective whereas the use of internet and mobile
phone technology makes it easier to reach specific target audiences.
o Newspapers and magazines offer online content which provides different
gratifications to the audience.

Music websites are as important to artists and record companies as radio play
and MTV. The ability to download music has changed the way music is marketed
and accessed by the audience.
Reality TV relies on newspaper and magazine coverage as well as its broadcast
programmes to generate audience interest. Websites offer further audience
engagement with the text.

Links with:

Tapscott and Williams Wikinomics

Charles Leadbeater We Think
Chris Anderson Long Tail Theory