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?

A positive development due to the internet is the quick communication; as mentioned in the article, when the internet was first discovered, students discovered they were able to send emails and and exchange files with other people in their university and other universities. Cory Doctorow, author of some great books including Little Brother and Homeland, says of the internet: "The internet is only that wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press in a single connection. It’s only vital to the livelihood, social lives, health, civic engagement, education and leisure of hundreds of millions of people (and growing every day)." Another positive that the article mentions is that the internet allows us to connect to other people, it is a great source of information, can be used for campaigns and advertising, education and many other things that are beneficial to people. 

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

Although there are many positives to internet usage, there are also negatives that come with it. For example, there are abusive, pornographic images of adults and children, and radicals and extremist use the internet to influence other people to join their cause. There are also things such as fraud, scams, hacks and malicious software which is another negative of the internet. 

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

Open technology means that everyones opinions are able to be seen on the internet which may spark debates, arguments or even controversy.

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

• Does open technology mean that free software can be used, changed and redistributed without payment or permission?
• Does this mean that the internet allows computers to exchange data, even though the network doesn't actually understand the meaning of what is being exchanged?

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

I feel as if there isn't any good regulation on the internet due to the amount of violence, hate and bullying caused online. People are able to express their opinions too freely on the internet and i feel as if it should be more regulated as some comments may be seen a hateful to certain religions etc. The internet is too open and I feel as if there should be more control and regulation to reduce all of these aspects.

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?

Shirky defines a profession as something that solvers a problem and requires specialisation

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

how will people get their news in the future?

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

This speech became news because there was a lot of controversy that sparked around his speech.

4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?

mass amateurisation is the capabilities that new forms of media have given to non-professionals and the ways in which those non-professionals have applied those capabilities to solve problems 

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’?

This can be linked to the idea of fake news as once fake news gets spread around, more and more news outlets publish the same story meaning that a large percentage of the population believe that what is being said is true and it can affect both the newspaper outlets and the audience.

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” Shirk mentions?

Shirky suggests that we are in a state of chaos and he also suggests that the internet encourages changes.

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

This means that with an idea and opinion, anyone is able to voice these as it can be freely posted to the internet either on social media such as twitter or below news articles. This is important as it could affect the jobs of many journalists and publishers.

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?

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

this is because photography has now become a mainstream thing as it can be accessed on your phones and tablets meaning that anyone is able to take a photo and post it on social media without having any expertise.

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? 

I think that the idea of mass amateurisation is a good thing as it means that people are more able to do things that they may not have been able to do for example voice their opinion etc. Furthermore the internet allows people to do as they wish more freely.