Digital ethnography

Michael Wesch

Ethnography

• Is literally the study of people and cultures.

• Digital ethnography is the study of cultures and people in the new digital age.

• Theorist Michael Wesch explores this idea and used Youtube as a case study.

The machine is us/ing us

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&spfreload=10

Benefits of new media

• Digital text is flexible, moveable and can link (hypertext)

• Early websites were written in HTML and the producer of the text needed to know complex coding.

• It was very rigid/static.

• A blog is born every half second.

• Millions of people broadcast themselves and even have their own ‘channel’.

• Websites can mash data together making them more user friendly, intuitive, responsive and accessible.

However…

• We are having to organise all of this data.

• We are teaching the machine each time that we link text and ideas.

• We are sharing our data, our images, our likes, our dislikes. These can all be accessed through the web. It can be used against us. (Through marketing)

• Web 2.0 is linking people- which is good…

• But comes with a price…

Wesch says…

• “The computer is us/ing us”

• We need to rethink;

• Privacy

• Governance

• Identity

• Copyright

• Authorship

• Ethics

• Privacy

How many examples can you think of where New Digital Media has been responsible for breaching these ‘rights’?

A few examples…

• Edward Snowden- Whistleblower- US spying on people though webcams and Internet.

• Julien Assange- Wikileaks

• Facebook breaching privacy rights of users. Following their ‘Likes’

• Piratebay- torrents- websites

• Instagram selling your photos!

• Sony Hacking scandal- The interview and North Korea..

Democracy, freedom of speech

and ideology

Democracy

• When we think about democracy, we think about freedom of speech, individual liberty and expression.

• But how far does new digital media provide opportunities for democratic space and equality? Are we free to participate equally or are dominant ideologies continually forced upon us?

Benefits…

• New media technologies facilitate small-scale media productions.

• This provides for alternative views that challenge dominant ideologies/values of society.

• Key word: Egalitarian (equalism) Each person has equal rights, values, worth. Reiforces democratic perspectives.

The Royal Commission on the Press (1977) defined alternative media as:

• Dealing with the opinion of small minorities

• Expressing attitudes hostile to widely held beliefs

• Espousing views or dealing with subjects not given regular coverage by publications generally available at newsagents.

Challenging dominant ideologies

• Answer:

• Look through the websites below.

• How has New Media allowed for opportunities to challenge dominant ideology?

• ADBUSTERS

• Liveleak

• The TREWS

• McSpotlight

• Can you find any other media websites that challenge dominant ideology?

What benefits are there to democratic space and NDM?

• Some critical perspectives suggest that alternative media are run in a more egalitarian & democratic way.

• They reduce the cost of media production.

• New media texts can challenge the consumerist norms of a capitalist society.

• They may create ideological disruption & disturbance in relation to values and ideas about areas such as gender/sexuality, religion etc.

• Alternative websites provide ‘citizen journalism’ – allowing ordinary people to give their own alternative versions of dominant news stories.

• In doing so, they politicise the repression of events & information produced in mainstream news, drawing attention to its selectivity.

• However, ‘citizen journalists’ are not necessarily restrained by professional or institutional codes of conduct.

Look at the following websites

• http://www.38degrees.org.uk/

• https://www.change.org/

• In what ways are they supporting democratic free speech?

• In what ways are they challenging dominant political ideology?

• What issues/ negative impacts might we consider from these websites? Include theory and terminology where possible.

• Are there any websites that might have an adverse affect on society due to its opposing ideologies?

Murdoch VS the BBC

• Rupert Murdoch and BSkyB • “BSkyB is too powerful and threatens to "dwarf" the BBC and its

competitors.”

• “News Corp, in effect controlled by the Murdoch family, now enjoys unprecedented industry power in the UK. News Corp owns 39% of Sky and is in the process of buying the part of the broadcaster it does not already own.”

• "a concentration of cross-media ownership that would not be allowed

in the United States or Australia". • Murdoch sees the iPad as a potential lifesaver in terms of

its reach among the young and its ability to attract subscriptions.

• http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/aug/27/bbc-mark-thompson-murdoch-mactaggart

Who retains control and power?

Further Research • So far we have looked at;

• The changing role of the BBC

• Michale Wesch- the machine is us/ing us (Digital ethnography)

• Globalisation and new media

• Non-mainstream media (including sites that ‘challenge’ dominant ideology and promote democratic values of free speech.

• Media theory and terminology sheets

Read the following article and answer the questions

• http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2015/feb/20/will-cash-strapped-newspapers-be-tempted-to-get-cosier-with-advertisers

• New digital media has impacted news in many ways. Fundamentally, it has impacted on the sales of traditional print newspapers as well as the readership figures.

According to the article…

• What corrupt practices have print newspapers had to do to ensure they do not experience financial difficulties?

• Why do you think the financial impact on the Sun newspaper has been less significant than others? (Consider ownership and how it has used NDM)

• Are there any media terms, theories or similar issues that we could relate to this article?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-cookies

• What are cookies? How do they affect audiences?

• What are the benefits and disadvantages?

• Why do you think the BBC defends the use of cookies? How could Althusser’s theory be used to challenge the BBC’s defence of cookies?

Homework Question

• New and digital media offer a wide range of competing ideas and opinions from experts and journalists to bloggers and social networkers, making it harder for audiences to know who to trust.

• In such an environment, how does the audience know who to trust?

• 48 marks