Welcome to the Metaverse (Virtual and Online Communities)

The Internet induced modernisation of society has fostered the establishment and highlighted the importance of virtual and online communities. These virtual communities represent the shift in media audience and user trends, exemplifying Jenkins’ theory of migratory and active new consumers. It represents the virtualisation of society, whereby people utilise technological communication methods such as email to communicate in favour of traditional methods of face-to-face interaction. In many instances virtual communication has become the primary method of interaction between people. Virtual communities are essentially characterised by Web 2.0, hereby depending upon the interactions and exchanges on of online users through software such as Flickr, MySpace, Facebook and Del.icio.us.

Virtual communities give us the opportunity to rethink theories of communication. From which many theories of reasoning for online participation have been put forward including the following:

• The opportunity to form friendships and relationships that may be perceived to be more difficult to develop in the ‘off-line’ community
• The ability to play with new personas
• The capacity to circulate new ideas amongst a group of like minded people
• The chance to find people who share the same interests, however obscure or odd they appear to others
• The search for romantic or sexual relations
• The ability for those who feel marginalised or persecuted by society to express views and disseminate opinions, in ways that are not possible by mainstream outlets.

Quite significantly and as aforementioned, virtual communities host online environments for users who find themselves ostracized from mainstream society. Online communities provide an antidote for alienation and disenfranchisement. It has been argued that similarly like society, than when the industry fails users, they turn to each other for solutions. Where in the theory of a networked world, these online communities are knowledge communities where; online communities identify, debate and provide solutions for faulty, complex or restrictive technologies.

This is interactivity can be described as interlocution and interchange, where communities present publishing platforms for alienated ethnic, socio-political and subcultural groups. Therefore it can be seen that virtual communities facilitate social interaction between users regardless of geographical constraints, and allow for the culmination of ideas and opinions of multiple communities in an online environment. Hereby altering methods of human communication and interaction through the embodiment and celebration of technology.

References:

Baym, Nancy. (2002) cited in; Flew, Terry. (2004). Virtual Cultures in Flew, Terry, New Media: an introduction, Melbourne: OUP, pp.61-82. Queensland University of Technology: Course Materials Database https://cmd.qut.edu.au./cmd/KCB295/KCB295_BK_57409.pdf (accessed April 29, 2008)

Flew, Terry. (2004). Virtual Cultures in Flew, Terry, New Media: an introduction, Melbourne: OUP, pp.61-82. Queensland University of Technology: Course Materials Database https://cmd.qut.edu.au./cmd/KCB295/KCB295_BK_57409.pdf (accessed April 29, 2008)

Jenkins, Henry. (2004). The cultural logic of media convergence International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7 (1), 33-43.

Martin, Fiona. (2006) “New Media, New Audiences”, in S. Cunningham and G. Turner (eds) The Media and Communications in Australia, Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, pp. 315-328

Mitra (2001), Gross. (2003) & Williams cited in; Martin, Fiona. (2006) “New Media, New Audiences”, in S. Cunningham and G. Turner (eds) The Media and Communications in Australia, Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, pp. 315-328

Shenton & McNeely. (1997) cited in; Flew, Terry. (2004). Virtual Cultures in Flew, Terry, New Media: an introduction, Melbourne: OUP, pp.61-82. Queensland University of Technology: Course Materials Database https://cmd.qut.edu.au./cmd/KCB295/KCB295_BK_57409.pdf (accessed April 29, 2008)

Anxiety. Anxieties.

Hello and welcome to yet another thrilling installment of my blog, todays topic (yes I am aware, that this is my third post in one day, but in the world of blogging its free game!) is music. Music, but more specifically the social software targeted at the online music listening community, such as Last.fm

For twelve months I was actively participating in last.fm by listening to music on a regular basis, adding show information, posting in shoutbox's and making friends with people with a similar taste in music to me. This was up until a few weeks ago where I finally decided to delete my account and cease scrobbling.

To accurately explain my reasons for ending my participation I shall first explain the general concept and purpose of last.fm. The program operates seemingly anonymously with your default music player (iTunes, winamp, media player etc) and keeps note of the tracks you play through a process known as 'scrobbling'.


With this, the program keeps a recorded online history of your recently listened tracks, weekly top artists, overall top artists and overall most played songs in a public profile.





From here, last.fm suggests new artists for you to listen to that have been deemed as a 'similar artist' to those you listen to most frequently. Therefore, last.fm is an excellent way to discover new music. Based upon your charts last.fm also reveal other users with similar listening patterns as you, allowing social potential with like-minded users.

However, whilst proving itself as an excellent source of new music and social networking possibilities, the website has a few downsides, which in turn drove me to leave the site. Due to the tallying nature of overall top tracks, some users view the statistics as a competition. Hereby challenging to be a particular artists 'weekly top listener' and have their profile displayed on the bands page. Users also compete against each other, claiming to be bigger fans of certain bands.

For example these are actual comments received in my shout box:

user: i betz i've listened to moar Thrice than you this week!@!@



user: 400 plays for Trophy Scars last week, not to mention the 480 for .Moneen. ^___^ You don't even come close to matching me suckaaaaa.

Are you starting to share my disdain? Users such as this also feel the need to 'cheat' or falsify their charts by leaving their music playing at all possible moments during the day to ensure a high weekly tally. Which I might point out, achieves nothing! As previously mentioned last.fm allows users to comment on artists, albums, songs and users profiles. This can be harmless discussion of a concert, new album release or lyrics to a song, but often it results in all out verbal sparring between users about how much a band suck, how bad they are live or how emo they are. Which in reality can create a pretty negative environment and isolate many users.

It was a combination of these things that led to my eventual deletion of the software from my computer. However, I may no longer use the software, but I certainly use the website as a source of artist information and to find similar artists. The site is essentially designed to best accommodate users with active profiles, but is not exclusive. Anyone can visit the website and perform a search and be provided with links to both the artist they are searching for, similar artists pages and opportunities to listen/download or purchase the music online. The website, although no longer scrobbling my data, is still a highly relevant and useful social software and networking website.

[My intentions not to leave you coming back for more
It’s a game. It’s a game. It’s fun.
See you later, adios and have fun]

Under the Weight of Their Mistakes

With every new piece of technology comes a period of time where experimentation and innovation outweigh logic and practicality. The following are examples of really bad convergence...ideas that never should have made it past the drawing board!

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!!















NB// Products may not actually exist, and may simply be photoshop creations (which is probably a very good thing). To see more please visit here.

You Can't Keep the Devil From The Media (Cultural Diversity Online)

Famously, the Australian media market is known as one of the most concentrated in the first world, in terms of ownership. The recent amendments to media and communication policy by the Australian Communications and Media Authority have allowed for traditional news to be dominated by major media conglomerates. Policy amendments such as relaxation of cross media ownership allow for media barons such as Rupert Murdoch to gain a stranglehold on the market. To give some sort of indication of the degree of concentration within news media, it should be pointed out the News Limited controls almost three quarters of Australian daily metropolitan newspapers. The following is a list of Australian papers which operate under the News Limited umbrella:

* The Australian (Nationwide)

* The Weekend Australian (Nationwide)

* The Courier-Mail (Queensland)

* The Sunday Mail (Queensland)

* The Cairns Post (Cairns, Queensland)

* The Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast, Queensland)

* Townsville Bulletin (Townsville, Queensland)

* The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales)

* The Sunday Telegraph (New South Wales)

* The Herald Sun (Victoria)

* The Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)

* The Weekly Times (Victoria)

* MX (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane CBDs)

* Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)

* The Advertiser (South Australia)

* The Sunday Mail (South Australia)

* The Sunday Times (Western Australia)

* The Mercury (Tasmania)

* The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)

* Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)

* The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory)

Therefore it can be seen that in capital cities, the majority of publications are produced by a single media conglomerate, and subjecting vast audiences to their chosen bias or political agenda. Take Brisbane for example, most typical audiences would read both or either The Courier Mail and The Sunday Mail, and both are owned and operated by News Corp. Likewise, the National hard news favourite and supposedly most objective paper, The Australian is also owned by News Corp. And this trend is present across all Australian and international traditional news media. And as previously stated has fostered a concentrated media environment with a not so hidden political agenda, where audiences are offered a fairly one sided portrayal of news and current affairs.

This is why citizen journalism is so important! It mimics the American constitutional ideal of freedom of speech. Gatekeepers are eliminated, and the prestige and aristocracy of the fourth estate is ignored and non-professionals are given the platform to present their story. Of course, this form of news and current affairs is far from objective, and without the watchful eye of the editor...anything can be published, and credibility and accuracy can be compromised. However, citizen journalism presents an opportunity for minorities who are typically ignored or misrepresented by traditional news media to have a voice.

One of the best examples of this is the youth demographic. A sizable moral panic has emerged surrounding the supposed belief that the youth simply don't engage with news media anymore. Youth audiences (typically those aged between 12 and 28) are chronically misrepresented and isolated by traditional news media, and it is for this reason that they find citizen journalism to be a more attractive alternative. The news media has always marginalized and excluded youth audiences. Young people are often portrayed as somehow essentially different as and often as mysterious freaks on nature. This ‘new generarationalism' not only blames youth for creating their own problems, but also for contributing to a culture where young people are increasingly feared and marginalised. And as a result, youth audiences have taken to citizen journalism through access to online platforms such as YouTube and blogging sites such as this one. Citizen journalism is more appealing to this demographic because as aforementioned, it differs greatly from traditional gate kept media in the sense that anyone can have an opinion without being a journalist. There is also a lot of freedom in regards to the medium you use and what you can say. There is editor scrutinizing your words or political persuasion you have to adhere to. Possibly the largest advantage is that the citizen journalism is being produced by young adults for young adults. Therefore providing engaging and relevant content which appeals to the demographic far more than traditional sources of news.

Citizen journalism represents a very important part of media consumption and production. For one it highlights the transition into a generation of online produsers, hereby illustrating the altered position of the consumer, highlighting their new found participatory and nomadic cultural identity. Also citizen journalism minimises the effects of media concentration, and allows the general population to make up their own mind and believe what they want to believe. It teaches audiences to question and evaluate what they read, and not take everything at face value, hereby fostering the democratization of news and current affairs.

References:

Harrington, S. 2007. “The Kids Just Don’t Read Newspapers No More Pt. 1”

7. [Lecture: KCB102]

Mindich, D. 2005 . How Tuned Out Are They? In Tuned out: why Americans under 40 don't follow the News, ed. D. Mindich. 18-33. NY: Oxford.

Saunders, B. 2007. “The Kids Just Don’t Read Newspapers No More Pt 2: Blogging, citizen journalism and web 2.0” 9. [Lecture: KCB102]

Hey Kid. I'm A Computer. Stop All The Downloading!

Welcome to my blog, and a showcase of my involvement in convergence culture!

Being a member of 'Generation C', and being the reclusive bedroom-bound teenager that I am, I have a strong personal affiliation with Internet usage and to an extent content production. I have a stronger social presence online than in real life. For a large part, the majority of my communication is virtual and done through social networking sites such as MySpace and over MSN. I am one of the first to condemn the existence of Facebook, as I am yet to discover its appeal. I use online forums such as www.noisetheory.org to keep abreast of the goings on within my particular circle of friends. However, I prefer to remain a hidden user, more typically known as a lurker, which is of course the worst of the worst when it comes to online communities. But for the time being, I'm quite comfortable with it.

I view consumer driven content as the future of the Media and Communication industries. I believe that the innovation and individualism facilitated by the produsage represents a breath of fresh air for what has traditionally been concentrated producer driven media content. I feel that the shift to a bottom up consumer driven environment has allowed for the regeneration of the industry and presented countless new and exciting prospects for the future. I also believe that the increase in produsage has created a more balanced and true reflection of the attitudes and opinions of society. Of course media barons such as Rupert Murdoch still exist, and have considerable media ownership and financial power, especially under the recent changes to Media and Communication policy by the ACMA. But the open and seemingly uncensored nature on the online community has allowed for people to gain an objective view on news and currents affairs through citizen journalism. Of course, almost all information is subjective, but now audiences have such a variety of information they are able to assess the information for themselves and decide what they want to believe.

As a second year Media and Communication student I have a strong interest in convergence culture, produsers and the usage and ideals of media audiences. For this reason, this blog will most likely present subject matter relating to these principles in accordance with the unit content of KCB201. And it is here that I will strive to provide a blog with more substance and purpose than what is typically found in the livejournal of a socially challenged teenager.