Website Analysis For Week 6

For my website analysis i have chosen to look at http://www.youtube.co.uk/ .

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To analyse this website i will look at the areas; Community, Produsage and Interactivity, Openess, Trust and Technology in Society.

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When you come onto the home page of youtube there is in fact a community tab at the top of the page along with the main tabs for the website. And once clicked on there is a list of why it is a good idea to become part of this online community and one of the reasons is, " This is the place where YouTube Guides can announce new YouTube features, important community concerns and reminders and other information." http://www.youtube.com/community . A website firstly designed for viewing and producing videos has become an online community, that between the dates of October '05 and August '06, had 23.7 million users in the U.S alone! (http://blog.compete.com/2006/10/05/youtube-googlevideo-site-lonelygirl15-traffic-growth-2006/). These users/produsers can communicate to each other by commenting on videos, maybe inviting a response from other youtubians.

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The website obviously has the word 'you' in it, which promotes that the user has to become a produser, a certain responsibility, so that the website can sustain itself. When looking at the area of produsage, it was clear that there is a real sense of interactivity that the produser has with the website. They can create profiles and sign upto the website, i have a youtube account but have not posted any videos, so I am a lurker of youtube culture! But where i fall short others will pick up the slack, showing that youtube has strength within its community.

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Their is a realm of trust surrounding youtube. With the creators trusting their produsers to upload material that is not to offensive, however there are some rude things on the site! This trust has created a structure of heirarchy, with the administrators controlling the produsers and the content that they upload, and the produsers creating or posting the material that is for the lurkers (like me). And this circle of trust has created an open community. However, how can you trust the people that you meet online? they could of lied to you about their identity, in the form of the videos they upload. When face-to-face and not screen-to-screen you can confirm someones identity and can do such things as read their body language when they are in front o you which helps you determine the trust you have for this person! (Week 6 Lecture).

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Youtube has become apart of the overwhelming technology that is in our society. People that are armed with camera phones, digital cameras and handy cams etc. can upload material onto youtube. Up and coming musicians can post videos, or if you think it will be watched or of interest to people. For example, the most viewed video on youtube is "The Evolution of dance" which has had 114, 815, 836! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&feature=PlayList&p=C9257EC78BA69D64&index=0 . Another example of produsage, i have discovered the video and have produced it for you to use. All working towards the technology that is in our society.

Task 1 Week 5

d) Para 18 Is open news quality news?
e) Para 19 Can open news ever be completely open? Do people take different (possibly unequal) roles in collaboration?
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I have put these two questions together because i feel that the following paragraph answers both!
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After reading paragraph 18, it is possible to see that open news, where anyone can post, is not always good or quality news. This is due to the fact, pointed out in para 18, that the posts on open news websites may not be researched correctly and therefore the 'online journalist' is giving the reader an incorrect opinion on the news. As stated in para 18 the open news websites have become more mediated. But I think that if it becomes more mediated then it is not open news. It is becoming more like the corporate news structures such as the BBC.

Task 1 Week 5

c) Paras 14-15 Are those who want to make DIY news online, best thought of as part of an alternative culture (that also exists offline) or is it more diverse than that? Think of examples beyond Indymedia
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When reading this I was struck by the quote, "I belong to the blank generation". I take this as Meikle takes it. I feel that the "blank generation" is ever expanding due to the internet and the different forms of new media. The blank generation means that you can create your own self and your own culture/sub-culture. So this is an alternative culture, of open minded thinkers, creating and accepting different types of opinion. But as i said in the previous blog it is opinions building opinions. Stated earlier the "blank generation" is expanding, but expanding into what? It has the possibilty, because of new media, to expand not to another generation but to a level where a 'blank' world is created.

Task 1 Week 5

b) Para 9 Are there ‘new kinds of journalist’ online? If so, how so?
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I feel that there are new kinds of journalists online, in the sense that, it is the journalists from the well known papers such as the independent, the guardian and the times. These, more trusted, journalists have had to change the way they construct their news because it will not only be on the material of paper but also on the world wide web. This new media effect has changed the journalists themselves. I also believe that someone cannot be a journalist without a qualification, such as a degree. Because with an educated view on current events it is possible to see past the obvious (sometimes mirage) and into the real. It is all well and good for people to be expressing news online but, because they do not have to stick to the restraints of an editor or controller, they are giving a more opinionated view on the news they are discussing. I am doing it now on this very blog, giving my own opinion on another person opinion (that is not news).

Task 1 Week 5

a) para. 7-9 What do you think constitutes ‘news’ on the Web?
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Looking at these two paragraphs, it is possible to see that Meikle is talking about the evolution of news, as an internet based medium. This evolution is taking place because of the relationship between the users and creators of the news. The users would look to the more mainstream discourses of the BBC, Channel Four and Sky news. These news creators only distribute the storys that they feel will shock the user or fit in with their stations personal discourse, in other words their style of news telling can be very mediated. Whereas, on the internet their is an abundance of sources for news, giving the user a wider range of discourses, to find these different sources the users must become reserchers, "audience members are transformed into reserachers."(paragraph 8). The evolution of the user, in becoming researchers. Also the user can create their own news/discourses, through the internet. They can do this by setting up websites or even a blogg such as this, becoming produsers. So the news has become a wider medium due to the internet, with more opnions on current events, does this mean that the news has become a well rounded medium? and has more opportunity for the producer to offer more to the user.

Taks 3 Week 4

a) How do filesharing, online downloading and the ‘networking’ of new material change the way music is consumed?
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The ability to consume music through the internet changes the way we consume this medium. It changes the social interaction that music can create, for example, when going to a record store there is the interaction with the sales assistant who may have an opinion on the music that you are buying, this interaction, whether good or bad, can give you an idea of the sub-culture that you are in. But when file sharing it is possible to chat to the person sharing the file so there is still that sense of communication through music.

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b) How and why could any band ‘make it’ through social networking/content sharing sites?
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A band or musician can 'make it' through social networking sites because of the user interaction with the band, if the band make their music accessible to the masses, on websites such myspace music, then it is possible for them to be discovered. If their music is on the internet then its is accessible for the whole world (or anyone with an internet connection) to hear them, compared to a band that hands out demos in their home town. It is also possible to tell their fans when their gigs are so that people from anywhere can go and see them.
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c) Has/will this change popular music?
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There will always be more popular musicians/bands than others, so in this sense popular music wont change, but the way the music is distributed will change there will indefinitely a move to mp3's being the main form that music is listened to, just as the cd took over form the vinyl, this is what the mp3 will do to the cd. so this means that anyone wanting to distribute music can do this through the internet.

Taks 1 Week 4

b) p. 177 Does the Net provide a ‘public sphere’ where citizens can engage with each other? If so, how, and are there any limitations?
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Yes the Net does provide a 'public sphere' where citizens can engage with each other. Lister et al. show how the news/press has created a public sphere for people to discuss. For example, "Newsgroups, bulletin boards and email groups all have the facilitation of group communications" Lister et al. There used to be limitations within public sphere communications as Lister et al, discuss the work of Shultz, and how there are limitations within this sphere of the public. The limitation comes in the form of the reader (of the newspaper) and the journalist, and how the journalist had little communication in the forums with the reader. This lack of communication left the reader feeling, "no more represented than in pre-online publication." This leads to limitations with the reader feeling disconnected from the journalist.

Taks 1 Week 4

a) p. 174 What do you think of the notion that online community can be empowering/disempowering?
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I feel that it can be both, because of the different risks and rewards available to the user. It can be empowering in the sense that people that may struggle to communicate with people in a real social situation can become a completely different person (gender, sex, race). This notion of being able to create another 'self' is very empowering! This different self or selves is then free to join online communities that fit that certain self, and there is the possibility of acceptance, which this person may not have in the 'real' world. However, this could back fire and this person could become even more alienated from both 'real' and 'virtual' communities which would be dis empowering. This therefore raises the question, Is virtual belonging good enough? Again this question poses a dilemma, because theorists can say that virtual belonging is only text based ideologies, in other words not real, but these perceptions could be different to the real social effects that these online communities can have for the user. For example, "At the level of emotional affect, there are material consequences for online communication" (Lister et al.). If the user has an emotional connection with the online community then does this not make it real? Therefore empowering.

Reading For Week 3

Identity:
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Taking from the reading it is possible to see that identity in the realm of new media is constantly changing, this is due to the advancements in technology, for example, MUD's, Chat rooms, Virtual worlds (Lamdamoo). These facilitate the user with the tools to create new personalities that sometimes would not be allowed or frowned upon in 'normal social reality'. This cyber-world of never-ending possibility is amazing but can create 'real' social problems eg 'Julie Graham'. So this raises the question, does the internet need more control? if so who by? as it is seen in the case of Lamdamoo, they had to create their own rules and regulations due to a certain incident. So in sense they had become a self-governing body of cyber-identities.

Task 1 Week 3

d) p. 168 Do cyber-identities constitute an alternative to ‘normal social reality’?
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They can constitute an alternative to a normal social reality by offering the user tools of experimentation. Having a cyber-identity also allows the user to reconstruct their identity, for example, the case study of the online cross dresser, Sanford Lewin, who was male therapist in 'normal social reality' and he created a cyber-identity pretending to be a female therapist called Julie graham he did this for two years. However, after reading on, it shows how the cyber-identity is still not completely seperate for the 'real' world because the female patients he treated were affected emotionally in normal social reality by the cyber-identity of Sanford Lewin.

Task 1 Week 3

b) p. 166 Do you think that assuming an online persona (via screen name/handle/avatar etc) encourages people to play with the identity they present online and take risks in the ways they express themselves?
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Yes i think people do take risks in the way they express themselves whilst on the net, for example, Lister et al state, "We can experiment with other parts of ourselves, take risks or express aspects of self that we find impossible to live out in our day-to-day 'meatspace'." It is the ability of not being witnessed face to face expressing your views that makes the user more inclined to be more radical with their views.
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c) p. 167 What do you think of postmodern views which stress the fluidity of online selves and their apparent disembodied status, which has been argued frees people from being represented through signs of their race, gender, class etc?
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This apparent disembodied status whilst being on the net offers the user a whole world of opportunity, of self discovery. In my opinion this is a good thing, for example, it could allow someone to express a different gender/sexuality, as an example, through an avatar. It allows, persona play and experimentation. Lister te al, state, "interaction with no physical codes to locate gender, race or class is the basis for arguing that the internet facilitates the development of different experiences of identity and different experiences of group belonging." So here shows one way the inernet allows change, it is because you have no physical interaction with someone so they will never know the other selfs of your identity whilst displaying one self on the net.

Task 1 Week 3

a) p. 164 In what ways can the Net be thought of as an ‘open architecture?’
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The net can be seen as an open architecture because it allows the users to network on an unprecidented scale, with millions of computers connected to one another sharing and accessing information almost instantly. One way it can be seen as an open architecture is how it is different to other forms of media, for example, tv, film, newspapers, which all three are closed forms of mass media which have a place of creation (e.g studios, warehouses) and a place on consumption (newpaper stand, the home or cinema) there is no communication with the producer outside of these areas, whereas on the net it is possible to contact the producer through products of the net, such as, e-mail, forums and bloggs.