OSP Clay Shirky: End of audience blog tasks

 Media Magazine reading

Media Magazine 55 has an overview of technology journalist Bill Thompson’s conference presentation on ‘What has the internet ever done for me?’ It’s an excellent summary of the internet’s brief history and its impact on society. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 13 to read the article ‘What has the internet ever done for me?’ Answer the following questions:

1) Looking over the article as a whole, what are some of the positive developments due to the internet highlighted by Bill Thompson?

It's an amazing space for creative thinking and expression and you're able to connect with people all over the world.

2) What are the negatives or dangers linked to the development of the internet?

Illegal activity, child abuse or the trading of it, the dark web, fraud, malicious software, scams and rip offs. 

3) What does ‘open technology’ refer to? Do you agree with the idea of ‘open technology’?

It refers to unrestricted access to technology or what you can do with technology without checks and balances, basically a free for all with little to no regulation. I do not agree with this notion as there are people in this world with malicious intent that may not use these freedoms in the right ways.  

4) Bill Thompson outlines some of the challenges and questions for the future of the internet. What are they?

How can the internet deliver privacy?

What can you make the internet do?

How can the internet help to make a fairer and more just world?

5) Where do you stand on the use and regulation of the internet? Should there be more control or more openness? Why?

The internet should definitely be regulated but I think that's something as a society we need to take initiative with. We need to allow ourselves to be regulated for the greater good of the world, the same way apps try and regulate what children's accounts see, I think we should be able to use that same method with the entire network. 

Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody

Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody charts the way social media and connectivity is changing the world. Read Chapter 3 of his book, ‘Everyone is a media outlet’, and answer the following questions:

1) How does Shirky define a ‘profession’ and why does it apply to the traditional newspaper industry?

He defines a profession to exist to solve a hard problem, one that requires some sort of specialisation. Professionals are gatekeepers, simultaneously providing and controlling access to information, entertainment, communication or other  ephemeral goods. In the case of newspapers professional behaviour is giuded by both the commercial imperative and by the additional set of norms about what newspapers are, how they should be staffed and run, what constitutes good journalism and so forth. These norms are enforced by other professionals in the same business not by costumers   

2) What is the question facing the newspaper industry now the internet has created a “new ecosystem”?

"The web didn't introduce a new competitor into the old ecosystem ... the web created a new ecosystem.  

"What happens when there's nothing unique about publishing any-more, becasue users can do it for themselves?"

3) Why did Trent Lott’s speech in 2002 become news?

The senior senator from Mississippi and then majority party leader after giving a speech at Strom Thurmond's hundredth birthday party. He praised Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign of fifty years earlier during a time of segregation saying he was "proud of i. And if the rest of the country had followed [their] lead, we wouldn't have all these problems over all these years."

4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?

It is the replacement of industry professionals with the masses amateurising things, for example art, that was previously reserved for industry professionals 

5) Shirky suggests that: “The same idea, published in dozens or hundreds of places, can have an amplifying effect that outweighs the verdict from the smaller number of professional outlets.” How can this be linked to the current media landscape and particularly ‘fake news’?

If the majority of people believe one thing off the internet then that belief becomes truth, it doesn't matter what the "professionals" say. An example of this is with people believing and spreading fake news, because the "professional" opinion doesn't matter. 

6) What does Shirky suggest about the social effects of technological change? Does this mean we are currently in the midst of the internet “revolution” or “chaos” Shirky mentions?

He suggests that these new producers/past consumers can change society if applied to civic endeavours, this does mean that we are in the midst of an internet revolution 

7) Shirky says that “anyone can be a publisher… [and] anyone can be a journalist”. What does this mean and why is it important?

It means that with the internet and it's tools at our fingertips anyone can become anything. This is important as it shows that the previous consumers are now becoming the publishers which may lead to the breakdown of industries.

 
8) What does Shirky suggest regarding the hundred years following the printing press revolution? Is there any evidence of this “intellectual and political chaos” in recent global events following the internet revolution?

publishing used to require a printing press, and as a result publishing something was limited to a minority group bit now with the internet publishing has become easier, more accessible and overall able to reach a wider audience. Example - In 2005 a French bus company sued several french cleaning women who had previously used TSE for transport to their jobs, their crime? Carpooling. 

9) Why is photography a good example of ‘mass amateurisation’?

With the rise of technology we are all able to become a photographer with the use of our own everyday cameras, we can becomethe new "professionals". 

10) What do you think of Shirky’s ideas on the ‘End of audience’? Is this era of ‘mass amateurisation’ a positive thing? Or are we in a period of “intellectual and political chaos” where things are more broken than fixed? 

The idea of "mass amateurisation" can be a good and bad thing - it could open the door for the less privileged to have an opportunity to be apart of a once elitist profession. However it could also allow those who have no business or knowledge commenting on certain things, ie. the less educated commenting on things only people with specified degrees should weigh in on. I believe we are in a period of "intellectual and political chaos", the uneducated have too much access to speak on what should only be a topic of conversation for the educated. There are too many people speaking about things on the internet that should only be said inside your own home - freedom of speech has gone too far. There are some things that should be kept to yourself. 

A/A* extension work: Read Chapter 1 ‘It takes a village to find a phone’ and Chapter 4 ‘Publish, then filter’ to further understand Shirky’s ideas concerning the ‘End of audience’.