Category: Exam Paper 2

13 Tribalism and the rise of the Prosumer

Exam Paper 2, Media Ecology

Learning Intention:  To understand how the changing media ecology has led to division, culture wars and threatens democracy

Previous Ecology Questions

  • ‘How has globalisation affected the media you consume?’ (30)
  • ‘Given the dominance of global media, there are now few opportunities for local voices to be expressed.’ How far do you agree with this statement? [30]

TRIBALISM (aka fandom)

To be part of something, to belong, to have a community is a human need that has been programmed into our basic genetics and culture.  However, with the advent of digital technology and a globalisation, has brought about a new kind of ‘tribalism’.

A sort of fandom, of ideas and influencers and identities…

Aside. Who’s upset we used a Fox News clip?

See below…you are participating.

THE CULTURE WARS

Discussion: Define, ‘The Culture Wars”

Alternative Questions…

    • What do you mean by ‘culture?’
    • Where is this ‘war’ taking place?
    • Who or what are the sides in this ‘war?’
    • What weapons do they use to attack each other?
    • What are they fighting for?
    • Is anyone in the classroom ‘not’ concerned by this?
    • Is anyone in the classroom ‘not’ participating in this?
      • Hint, yes you are!

Digital Tribes

Of course this culture war has only been made possible by technology! Always refer to Skirky. He’s a super useful theorist for:

    • Ecology
    • The Music Industry
    • Regulation
    • Even Post-Postmodernism

A Test

Read this article in 3 minutes and summarise in 3-5 bullet points.

Use the page layout / graphic design, headings and topic sentences to get the key ideas….and examples.

    1. Create human tribes – pre printing press
    2. Detribalise human groups – the printing press
    3. Retribalise humans into groups – internet

Some other case studies on tribalism…

Remember in The Social Dilemma, the poor kid getting embroiled in some, ‘extreme centre’ demonstration? Cheesy perhaps, but don’t pretend it’s not a reflection of the real world! 

When has online tribalism boiled over into ‘real’ life in the last few years….?

Some case studies…take you pick or add your own!

Note: That’s fandom (Jenkins) for you!

Class Discussion Topic

So, where does this week’s issue fall into all this:

Click Here

Listen to this podcast, from approx. 15 minutes in.

A brilliant commentary on how the toxic masculinity of Andrew Tate is represented in the media and how social media has driven engagement and how the effects theories (cultivation & two-step flow) can be applied to tribal fan groups.

David Gauntlett would describe this as an example of how identity is fluid and how an audience have constructed their identity based on a regressive representation. The fans and followers of Andrew Tate could be described as part of a collective identity, a fan group driven by participation and reposting  (Jenkins) based around Tate’s content.

The audience…fans…extremists…are encouraged to participate and use their cognitive surplus (Shirky) to rework and repost his content. An example of how technology, through its use of algorithms, promotes and drives audience engagement and how the ‘manosphere’ has become increasingly radicalised through the ‘nudge‘ effect of social media algorithms and the Cultivation Theory effect (Gerbner).

Have a listen for yourselves…

If Time…

What would Gauntlett have to say about all this? Not so cheerful now with your cute sounding, ‘Creative communities?’

Identity politics and ‘interest driven groups’ (politics) can be weaponised to create division, or is it just part of the noise?

“The media is the message.”

Wider Reading…for the interesting.

12 Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers and the Death of News

Media Ecology

Learning Intention :

To understand the ways in which technology, aka. the algorithms designed to monetise your attention, have fragmented society. 

How the role (& profitability) of the traditional news media is being further eroded by the epidemic of fake news.

Idea One:
Beware online “Filter Bubbles” Eli Pariser

Considers how our social (media) experiences have been fragmented and fractured.

We are living in an echo chamber inside a filter bubble.

Be prepared to define the following terms or explain the idea…

  • Personalised Search Results
  • Filter Bubble
  • “Informational Vegetables and Informational Dessert”
  • Broadcast vs Narrowcast
  • Algorithmic Gatekeepers
  • Why should we consume media which are challenging or uncomfortable?
  • What did they dream the internet could be?
  • What is the, ‘Web of One?’

Class Discussion Topic

So what?

Idea two
How Fake News Grows in a Post-Fact World – Ali Velshi

Explains how we have ended up in a post-fact world

A mainstream media journalist making a case for the mainstream traditional journalist.

Some ideas to discuss, some terms to define.
  • Reliable sources
  • Do you agree with his definition, ‘Fake news…sows confusion that obscures basic facts, thereby impeding necessary debate?’
  • Sponsored Content
  • Delegitimise journalism
  • Holding power to account
  • Alternative facts
  • ‘Fake news’ is crowding out ‘real news’ – very postmodern.
  • Algorithms decide on the news you see based on where you are online.
  • Clickbait, cookies and…algorithms.
  • You are more likely to repost salacious, sensational or negative news.

Class Discussion Topic

What does living in a post-fact world mean for democracy?

11 – The Social Dilemma

Exam Paper 2, Media Ecology

Learning intention: To understand the implications of social media on the audience, society and the media ecology.

Possible questions for Ecology:

What have been the most significant changes to media ecology since the invention of the internet?

And you could easily say that the internet and in particular, social media has spawned the most radical changes in audience and industry behaviour.

Discussion

  • How has the commercialisation of data happened and should you be worried?
  • ‘The media control how we understand and connect with the world.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement?
  • Social media has blurred the boundaries between private and public personae. 

Has the monetisation of our attention has led to manipulation of what we consume, as well as our identities, which are more fluid and negotiated and collective than ever before?

 

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

We will be spending two lessons watching The Social Dilemma – a Netflix documentary all about the addictiveness and power of social media and the impact it is having and will have on future generations.

Task 1:  See the questions in classroom and make every effort to write some bullet point answers in relation to the ideas raised in the documentary.

Alternative / Optional Task

If you have already watched it and can understand the answers to these questions…more or less to the satisfaction of your teacher.

Then work in the ref on a short presentation, whilst the rest of the class watch The Social Dilemma.

‘5 things you have found interesting or significant about the media ecology.’

You should work in groups of five. Each of you must explain, in one sentence, the thing that has struck you as interesting / important so far. Each of you must choose a different idea from the others in your group and you submit…as a group.

Please clarify your ideas first to each other and then individually write your different idea.

Help each other.

You should take a copy and populate this slideshow.

Additional Materials (and links to other subjects)

Smart phone addiction and Dopamine.

33 Problems with Social Media an Infographic

Look at this infographic with 33 elements of social media that you may or may not be familiar with – most of the impacts and effects are  very negative. Can you think of some positive ones?

Interesting for the impact on our personal psychology.

“Social Media is colonising your mind” Bo Burnham

Click to hear Bo Burnham describe how social media is colonising our minds

10 – The Data or Surveillance Economy

Exam Paper 2, Media Ecology

Learning Intention: To explore what is meant by ‘The Data or Surveillance Economy.’

This was one of the questions from JUNE 2021

‛The media control how we understand and connect with the world.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement? [30]

We need to investigate and research the following areas so that if a similar question came up – we would be ready to answer it.

So we need to consider the following areas:

  • the relationships between software, hardware and audiences 
  • convergence of personal communication technology and mass communication technology.
  • the changing nature of media ownership and distribution models including net neutrality 
  • impact on society of technological change including the collection and sharing of information and data protection 

Task 1 – Google Bingo

How many ways do you think Google could track your browsing and what kind of information might they be gathering from us. With a partner, list as many as you can and then share them with the class.

Apparently, Google along can harvest 52000 bits of info about us from using Google search and Google apps.  That is phenomenal. ….can we do something about this?

But could we actually be complicit in our acceptance of tracking, data surveillance? Is it just something we have come to accept and not challenge?

Is anyone prepared to share their browsing history with the class?  No, probably not. Even your teacher would not want to divulge that.  But we seem happy to be tracked by complete strangers in far off countries. Moreover, we give these people (& their algorithms) permission to analyse that data in order to learn our preferences and triggers in order to shape our media consumption.

Why is that I wonder?

Task 2 – your teacher will read this short article to you

To track or not to track – that is the question!

With a partner – sum up what it is saying about our lives living in the shadow of continual data surveillance on our CT.

Task 3 – The Facebook data debacle and Twitter too!

A couple of years ago there was a story (a really important case study)  that for the first time really exposed just how devious and manipulative social media data is monetised and used to shape our actions.

An Essential Case Study

Watch this video about Cambridge Analytica.

Click to see BBC report

Discussion

What do you think about our time and attention being monetised?

How do you feel about Facebook monetising that data, by selling your attention to advertisers and political groups?

Task 4 – The Right to be Forgotten

That’s why we have data protection and a right to be forgotten.

Even though we are not part of the EU, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) still applies.

Find one example:

 

Mediated Masculinity – A Case Study

Media Ecology

Listen to this podcast from approx. 15 minutes in.

A brilliant commentary on how the toxic masculinity of Andrew Tate is represented in the media and how social media has driven engagement.

David Gauntlett would describe this as an example of how identity is fluid and how an audience have constructed their identity based on a regressive representation. The fans and followers of Andrew Tate could be described as part of a collective identity, based around his content. They are encouraged to participate and use their cognitive surplus (Shirky) to rework and repost Tate’s content. A darkly crilliant example of how technology, through its use of algorithms, promotes and drive audience engagement and how the ‘manosphere’ has become increasingly radicalised.

09 Media Effect Theories (The Active Audience)

Media Ecology

Learning Intention:

  1. Identify the basic theories of media effects.
  2. Explain the uses of various media effects theories.

Initial Discussion:

  • What are the core assumptions of the ‘passive audience’ effects theories?
  • Are these fundamentally assumptions essentially patronising?

An alternative set of assumptions is that the audience are more cognizant and discerning. Furthermore, we need to consider a whole range of factors working on the individual which might shape their response to media texts.

The active vs passive audience

“An active audience engages, interprets and responds to a media text in different ways and is capable of challenging the ideas encoded in it. A passive audience is more likely to accept the messages encoded in a media text without challenge and are therefore more likely to be directly affected by the messages.” BBC Bitesize

Theories of The Active Audience

Uses and Gratification

Blumler and Katz, suggest that audiences are more active in seeking out function and pleasure from media texts and that we should think about what they are seeking from any given text and how they use the media in other aspects of their lives:

  • Social Relationships
  • Personal Identity
  • Entertainment
  • Information

Reception Theory

Stuart Hall, says, the relationship between the messages and connotation of a text and ideology of the audience are essential in understanding the ways in which an audience might respond to a text. He suggests that this can be described as:

  • A preferred reading
  • A negotiated reading
  • An oppositional reading

Identity Theory

David Gauntlett argued our heavy exposure to the media could, “hardly fail to affect our own way of conducting ourselves and our expectations of other people’s behaviour.”

So, in many ways Gauntlett is suggesting that the effect of Media is even more profound than changing our behaviour or attitudes. That the media in many ways has a huge impact on our out sense of who we are and how we operate in the world (our identity).

He, like Jenkins, suggests that audiences now have the digital tools to, ‘express and connect and create in ways we didn’t have before and which can help people shape creative identities.’ Moreover, that, ‘social media is part of conversation which can help us, ‘think about ourselves and how we are in the world…that’s what identity is‘

“… identity is this thing you construct for yourself but at the same time there’s all of these ‘representations’ [sic] coming at you. There’s all the stuff that you can create and make and share as well. So identity has opportunities to be very creative and connecting.”

08 Media Effect Theories (The Passive Audience)

Media Ecology, Media Regulation

Learning Intention:

  1. Identify the basic theories of media effects.
  2. Explain the uses of various media effects theories.

Initial Discussion:

“Advertising exists to create desire.”

So, does advertising work on you or are you too savvy and immune to its influence?

Propaganda and persuasion

Propaganda & Persuasion
An attempt to persuade American women to join the WW2 effort.

There is a widely held assumption that the media and advertising in particular (including propaganda) has an influence on the audience, so much so that they act based on an advertising. Whether that is to buy a particular brand or radically change their behaviour, in the propaganda examples above, join the army and fight in the trenches during World War 1 or contribute the the war effort at home.

Media Studies & Audience Effects

Media Studies asks this simple question. which has proven remarkably hard to answer conclusively:

To what degree can we say that media has an influence on the audience’s behaviours, attitudes and beliefs about the world?

If it does effect behaviours and ideologies, how?

There are two broad schools of thought when thinking about media effects on audience.

Passive audience and active audience.

1 Passive Audience

The Hypodermic Syringe Model & Copy Cat Behaviour

Suggests that the audience are couch potatoes simply absorbing messages told to them by the media and absorb ideologies and behaviours which they see.
Bandura, The Bobo Doll Experiment and Copycat Behaviours

Essentially this study suggests that…monkey see, monkey do…

This idea is reinforced regularly, ironically by the media, who suggests that violent and anti social behaviour is copied by a thoughtless, easily manipulated audience.

Conclusion…

What the audience sees in the media they simply copy in terms of their behaviour and ideologies. A famous experiment by Bandura called the Bobo Doll experiment suggested that children will copy the behaviour of adults they watch playing a toy doll roughly and aggressively. Bandura suggested that this copy cat behaviour can be applied to audiences consuming the media just as easily.

A Counter argument…

‘Ok,’ you may say. I’ve seen hundred if not thousands of acts of violence in the media and I’ve never done anything violent. In fact society is in many ways less violent than it has ever been.

An extension of the hypodermic syringe model is

The Two Step Flow Model

An adaptation of the hypodermic syringe model, which suggest that, ‘…most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media.’ Wikipedia

These opinion leaders might be…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lizzo (@lizzobeeating)

Journalists, pundits, influencers, sports stars, music stars, film stars, shock jocks…

This is Alex Jones an American shock jock…

…who has a large, loyal and varied following around the world.

Although, an American judge recently, “ordered right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages over the lies he told about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.” Oliver Darcy and Sonia Moghe, CNN

A lot of people look up to this man and consider him to be a victim of a deep state conspiracy who are out to suppress the truth about the corruption at the heart of the establishment.

That’s the two step flow model right there!

Cultivation Theory

Gerbner would suggest that our perceptions of what the world is like have been distorted by what we constantly see in the media over time.

The media influence on Bert

Consider the following hypothetical example:

07 Jenkins and Fandom

Media Ecology

Learning Intention: Understand the nature of Fandom as a phenomena in the Media Ecology and the ways in which audiences have been empowered by media convergence and democratisation.

Questions:

  1. What is the sociological function of myth?
    • Myths = stories that societies hold dear because they say something important about the way society and individuals should behave.
  2. Who ‘owns’ the myths in modern Western societies? Here is a clue as to what Henry Jenkins thinks…
A modern myth?

Debate: Do we think it is right for multinational media conglomerates to own the copyright to important myths that, “Give clear structure to the community by reinforcing moral order and validating the community’s standards as true and correct?” Joseph Campbell.

Henry Jenkins thinks not! He suggests that fans groups are an important balance to institutional ownership and commodification of culturally important stories.

He says that fan fiction is an attempt to redress the balance and bring the ownership of myths back to the people and society at large. Furthermore, through technological convergence and democratisation fans have been given the tools to produce and distribute their versions of these myths. He says…:

“Fanfiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by folk.”
― Henry Jenkins

Henry Jenkins on the History and Impact of Fandom

Two Case Studies:

Case Study 1 & Textual Poaching

This is how Henry Jenkins describes how fans borrow features of their beloved media texts and repurpose them to fulfil their own needs. Here is an example of wholesale textual poaching from fans who want to insert themselves into modern day myths, such as The Avengers. They also mock the narrative quite a bit, a critque?

Official Avengers (2012) trailer:

The Fan Version of the Trailer:

Case Study 2: The Harry Potter Alliance.

A group of fans bought together by their mutual love of The Harry Potter books to make real change in the real world.

The Harry Potter Alliance

Who describe themselves as: “An innovative cultural campaign that mobilized the huge Harry Potter fan-base to fight for justice, human rights, and democracy in our world, just like Harry did in his world.”

“In the books, Harry starts a student activist group called Dumbledore’s Army that wakes the media and government to Voldemort’s return. I wanted to create a Dumbledore’s Army in our own world that could wake our media and governments to stop global warming and end genocide in Darfur.” See full article here.

Research Task

Find some more examples of fan groups who are poaching from existing texts and have a real impact in the real world. See the blog page on Jenkins for some ideas.

Alternatively, think of some crowd funded / sourced campaigns which are driven by their sense of injustice in the world to create content and share their ideas with the rest of the world…think…

Jenkins would suggest that’s this is an example of a participatory audience of fans, using their cognitive surplus and converged technology, to challenge the dominant hegemonic ideology!

06 Media Disruptors and their influence – case studies – Tik Tok and Spotify

Audience & Institutions, Exam Paper 1, Exam Paper 2, Media Ecology

LEARNING INTENTION:  To research and understand how two global giants have disrupted the media landscape and impacted on audiences worldwide.

Following on from our introduction to Media Conglomerates yesterday, let’s now look at some case studies to get some specific facts, stats and ideas about how we could use them to answer the following questions:

  • ‘HOW HAS GLOBALISASTION AFFECTED THE MEDIA YOU CONSUME?’  
  • ‘WHY IS SO MUCH OF THE MEDIA OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY FEWER AND FEWER BIG COMPANIES?’

Using the template in classroom, begin to layout some ideas, bullet points related to the two media giants of Tik Tok and Spotify.

You will need to read the articles that are linked in the sheet and use them to evidence the various assessment criteria. Remember to add in relevant theories and terms that you could use in conjunction if you were to be writing an answer to the above two questions.

 

 

 

05 Media Ownership & Conglomerates

Exam Paper 2, Media Ecology, Media Regulation

Learning Intention:

To understand the structure and implications of global media conglomerates.

What is a conglomerate?

“…a company that owns several smaller businesses whose products or services are usually very different.”

What is a monopoly?

“…the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.”…

Class Discussion:

Why might media monopolies be considered, ‘a bad thing’ for audiences and society?

Example Argument / Counter Argument for conglomerates… kind of like an essay plan.

Q: Is it better to have a plurality of media companies or are we content with the hegemony of the conglomerates?

The argument goes:

  1. Don’t conglomerates already make good quality and varied media that we all enjoy and readily consume 24/7?
  2. Don’t audiences have too much choice already?
  3. Why should anyone complain about conglomerates?
  4. Market forces dictate production.

Media theory time… Curran and Seaton…

… who argue that the opposite is true. (in summary)

  1. Whilst we have the illusion of choice and variety, media conglomerates actually narrow choice and variety
  2. The conglomerates are motivated by profit.
  3. They invest in brands and franchises, and produce what is most  ‘marketable’ and ‘popular.’
  4. Therefore anything novel, untested, risqué, niche, local… gets side-lined in favour purely commercial concerns (profit).

Some Case Studies

Who are the big six media conglomerates?

Click to see details of three media conglomerates
Click to see details of the other three media conglomerates

The Music Industry

Remember the Big Three record labels, who owns them?

The details are complex, but again, the big three are owned by much larger diversified conglomerates including.

Aside: So, only one of the Big Three record labels is actually owned by one of the Big Six. It’s a tangled & complicated web of ownership, which is discussed well in the video below.

Task 1

Watch this – it’s important (although in an American context) for both ecology and regulation.

Also here is an essay plan for this media ecology question. You must listen to the video and answer the questions and then hand it in to classroom by the allotted submission date.

Why is Media Ownership Important?

The Answers…

Glossary:

*anti-trust – a legal mechanism for breaking up a monopoly into several separate smaller companies.

**net-neutrality –  the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites.

The video also talks about the FCC, an American body responsible for regulating distribution, media and tech firms. Our equivalent is OFCOM (see regulation unit).

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