Assignment #3: The Interaction Between Digital Network Media, Publishing, & Society

By Jonathan Krywulak

 

The emergence of digital network media has transformed the 21^st century society and its relationship with publishing institutions.   The expression and perception of social identities has been shaped by new forms of technology that spans cultural spheres and geographical boundaries allowing communication from many to many.  The increased speed, convenience and interactivity of new media have blurred the distinction between consumers and producers, providing people with the ability to be in control of their own media world.


 
References:

Benkler, Y. (2006). The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and

freedom. Yale University Press.

 

Tubella, I. (2004). Television and internet in the construction of identity. The Network Society: A

Cross-Cultural Perspective. Cheltenham, UK & Northampton, MA: Edgard Elgar

Publishing Limited

 

Audio Clip #1:  Windows sounds mix by DJ Titon. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/cewQJFTolO0

Audio Clip #2:  Shirky, C. (2009) How social media can make history. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history

Audio Clip #3: Lessig, L. Crash course in the "read-write" internet. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nBL8eClYuU

Audio Clip #4: Lessig, L. Creativity.  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGWQVxrRXyU

Assignment #3: Old and New Media Power Struggle

We explore, through 2 interviews with Dr Henry Jenkins, how digital network media has shifted the power from traditional publishing institutions to society. News is no longer delivered only by newspapers. Rather, because of the internet, we are in a convergence culture where new media users participate and collaborate in creating news, or spreadable media, that moves from grass roots communication through out society.



Burnett, L. (2013, March 10). #SXLB: Henry Jenkins, Media Theorist, Author & Professor, Pt. 1: Grassroots. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from You Tube.

Dixon, A. (2012, 21). A Word From Henry Jenkins on Convergence. (Students Demonstrating Example of User Generated content) Retrieved April 3, 2014, from You Tube.

Edmonds, R.G. (2013, May 7). Newspapers: by the Numbers. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism: 

Laird, S. (2012, April 18). How Social Media Is Taking Over the News Industry [INFOGRAPHIC]. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from Mashable 

Sondeen, A.L. (2009). Building Blocks for Change Increasing Newspaper Readership in the Age of Electronic Media throu Innovations in Style and Approach. Senior Honors Theses, Easter Michigan University, DigitalCommons@EMU. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from  http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1192&context=honors

Week 13: Distributive Publishing

Welcome #NMN students to the final week of our class.

We will be having our live chat Monday night 18:15 Mountain time (31st of March). Bring your questions about Assignment 3. You will have the week to complete the assignment.

You can find the assignment in our eclass moodle and via google docs.

Week 12: Review

This term has flown by and I've watched how you've all engaged with social media. I thought a great way to give a review of our term would be to "storify" the ebbs and flows of our discussions.

Now, I pass the Storify baton to you. For this week, as a way to review what you've learnt in the term, I would like you to create your own Storify. Here are some guidelines:

1. Choose ONE theme from our course that resonates most with you (it might be #transliteracy, or #crowdsourcing or more traditional communications modes or the idea of the "book")
2. Include a pertinent headline and mini-overview (as you can see in mine). Make sure to include our #NMN hashtag. 
3. Include various modes such as images, tweets, blogs and videos. Have at least two of each. You should have at least 10 elements in your storify.
4. Feel free to add in any text elements to elucidate or add context to a video or tweet (etc) that you're including.
5. Embed your Storify in a blog post AND write 150-200 words that explain your topic and how it relates to our course.
6.  You have the week (until Sunday) to work on your Storify review. 
7. Let me know if you have any questions!

Week 10: Technobiophilia Guest Lecture from Professor Sue Thomas

Thank you so much to Professor Sue Thomas for the guest lecture this week. As usual, please respond with any comments, questions and answers to Sue's questions, in the comments' section below.

Technobiophilia: theory and practice
Dr Sue Thomas, www.suethomas.net, @suethomas
New Media Narratives 2014, University of Alberta, 10 March 2014

I’ve decided to present this material as a series of videos and weblinks along with questions for you to choose from and respond to in the comments section. It’s something of an experiment, so I hope it works! I look forward to discussing it with you online this week.

1. Watch the trailer for Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life http://vimeo.com/27874539

Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life (Trailer) from Tamarack Media on Vimeo.

Question:  Have you encountered an example of biophilic design in your own surroundings? If so, please describe it and any beneficial effect you experienced.

2. Watch this advertisement for Meetup.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhpf-CcPy-s

Question: Does the kind of life shown here resemble your own life or that of anyone you know? What are the features of this kind of life?

3. Read this discussion Does Technology destroy our relationship with Nature? http://www.ted.com/conversations/18068/does_technology_destroy_our_re.html

Question: What do you think are the most important points made in the discussion?

4.  In this article I outline my theory of technobiophilia and digital well-being. But the magazine editors gave it a title which is not what I was saying:  We surf the net, stream our films and save stuff in the cloud. Can we get all the nature we need from the digital world? http://aeon.co/magazine/nature-and-cosmos/can-we-get-all-the-nature-we-need-from-the-digital-world/  

Question:  Contrary to the article title, I don’t believe that we can get all the nature we need from the digital world. Do you? Why? Why not?

5. Watch this trailer for Flower, by ThatGameCompany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJam5Auwj1E#t=34

Question: Do you think playing games like this can provide similar feelings to being out in nature?

6. At Medium I’m creating a collection of suggestions for ways to bring nature in our digital world. https://medium.com/how-to-bring-nature-into-your-digital-world You can also find it on my blog http://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/category/how-to-bring-nature-into-your-digital-world/

Question: If you have a Medium account, feel free to write an article and submit it to the collection for consideration. Or maybe you’d just like to add a suggestion to the blog?

Other materials which may be of interest

·      Technobiophilia website including articles, videos and bibliography: http://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/technobiophilia/

·      
My blog http://suethomasnet.wordpress.com/blog/

Week 8: Remixing Story

Read more on the site here: http://www.remixmylit.com/

Week 8: Remixing Story	Required and Recommended Readings
Guest Lecture by Carolyn Guertin	n  Carolyn Guertin, “Handholding, Remixing and the Instant Replay: New Narratives I a Postnarrative World,” A Companion to Digital Literary Studies, ed. Susan Schreibman and Ray Siemens. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companionDLS/ n  Carolyn Guertin, "From Karaoke Culture to Vernacular Video," Excerpt available in our e-class Moodle.

Watch this Learning without Frontiers talk by Malcolm McLaren which Carolyn mentions in her chapter.

Take a look at this poster presentation from Carolyn which sums up her key ideas:



Digital Prohibition: Piracy and Authorship in New Media Art from Carolyn Guertin

This week, rather than having several key questions for you to mull over as you read and interact with the week's content, I would like to present one idea from Marsha Kinder:

"Narrative is a cognitive mode in all human societies that we use to contextualize experiences. Cultures are kept alive through open-ended narratives. Each remix of a narrative opens space for the unknown, filters out the unimportant and determines new priorities."

Inanimate Alice

Seeing as we're reading Inanimate Alice, I thought you'd like to know that one of the developers, Andy Campbell, is talking about the development of the work by Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph - including the long-awaited Episode 5 (YAY!!), currently in production - at the New Media Writing Prize 2013 Award Ceremony.

Read about the prize here and have a look at this year's nominated born digital works: