The Internet and the NEWS Cyberculture and cybercommunities Sumei Wang Sep 26 2012

About readings and assignments All reading materials will be scanned and uploaded to both the OIC website and the BOX (Account name: Cyberculture Cybercommunities. I will invite you as collaborators ) Please upload your research diaries to the BOX by 13th Nov.

Teams and themes There shall be six teams and each is responsible for one theme presentation I need the list of your members’ names, emails, and the leader’s phone number. Please rank 3 of your favourite themes

How to do presentations? A brief summary of the assigned readings – it is inspiring or disappointing, because … Cases (personal experience, interesting phenomena, etc.) that are relevant to the subject Implications for the cases mentioned Further discussions in class Cooperation and participation (you will be evaluated by peers)

The Internet

A brief history of the Net 1969—The Advanced Research Projects Agency , within the U.S. Department of Defense funded the prototype of the Internet ‘ARPANET’ It was during the period of the Cold War and the goal of ARPANET was a major military need – packet switching secured secret communication. 我的網路使用史：1993高中升大學暑假，去交大資科營，用DEBASE，網路連線TALK只限同電腦教室的人。1993-1994大一，同學漸漸在講TALK與BBS，開始去計中體驗。大二搬到法學院，網路很慢、常常斷線，學長去光華商場打工，幫我組裝了第一台電腦，用的是windows3.0。宿網同學利用網路芳鄰開放資料夾，慢慢有了WWW，那是大三升大四的新鮮話題。 台灣學術網路係由教育部及幾個主要國立大學於民國79年7月（1990）起所共同建立的一個全國性教學研究網路

In the early stage of the Internet, it was in text-based interfaces only. 1989—the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) was developed. Multi-media format could be fitted into web pages and we started to have the WWW（World Wide Web）

The Internet as New Media Newhagen and Rafaeli（1996）:Why do communication scholars study the Internet? R suggested：multimedia, hyperlink, packet switching, immediacy, interactivity, anonymity, disembodiment, etc. 多媒體：整合各種媒介的媒介平台。 超連結：非線性的閱讀方式，改變了傳統線性的閱讀方式，漸漸形成去中心化的溝通方式。 封包：網路傳輸使用封包(packet)作為訊息傳遞的基本單位，數據化的傳輸方式，無法攔截實際的資訊。

Technological Determinism Early studies tended to focused on the technological features of the NET They emphasized the effects or impacts of the Net on users, organizations and societies. They believed that technologies have an overwhelming and inevitable power to drive social change. 人類社會並不一定是一直往前進步的，例如：貧富差距的問題，可能現在比以前更加嚴重。 技術帶給人們「衝擊」(Impact)：命題假設科技的力量強於一切，給予社會衝擊。這樣的說法過於武斷，忽略其他影響社會變遷的因素。

Problems with TD An assumption of linear progression of human societies – farming and fishing  industrial  post-industrial The development of technologies leads the progress of societies Technology is always good and advanced Q: Are ‘modern’ society always BETTER than ‘pre-modern’ society?

Think Twice People have always loved pictures, audios and videos, in addition to texts. Human societies have been looking for faster communication tools for centuries – before the Net, we have had horses, railway, telegraph, telephone and more Maybe social change is driven by our needs and desires

The Social Shaping of Technology Technologies are influenced by existing technological context Technologies are continuously remade by the things users do with them and therefore may have unintended consequences Technologies are not determined by an independent or evolutionary process unique to technology itself 這個觀點認為並不是科技領導社會，而是社會形塑了科技，科技與人也不斷互動，所以人在使用科技時，也不斷改變科技，持續演變出新的特色。 舉例：youtube的形成的過程－一開始只是設計給朋友間的錄影帶分享程式，但經過使用後，已經演變成世界性的平台。

The New News?

Online News Public Journalism The Internet as a new public sphere – news that everyone can edit. The Roles of bloggers– A blogger who is a doctor Or a medical journalist

Web2.0 We the Media Some technics mentioned in We the Media Mailing lists and forums Weblogs WIKI SMS – short message service Internet broadcasting RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) Indexing service for blogs

Now we get Social media, e.g. Facebook, Twitter Apps

New Journalism? Amateur journalism– visionary, impartiality, and not work for material rewards. possible tense relations between bloggers and the mainstream media (MM) Criticism of MM: commercial media always favor the rich and the powerful sides Are news blogs capable of replacing MM?

In the news room Division of labour The gatekeeper– filtering the information so that the audience can get correct and important coverages Journalists’ professionalism– personal and organisational networks, professional judgment and writing skills. The power of agenda setting

How do you trust them? News from The mainstream news media Well-known bloggers Articles shared by your friends on Facebook

‘Blogging is not journalism.’ ‘Any information posted in a blog will have to be properly verified elsewhere – often the much maligned mainstream media.’ Bill Thompson, cited in Allan, S. (2006) Allan, S. (2006). Online news: journalism and the Internet: Open Univ Pr.

It’s not about replacement ‘We can’t replace the big media, but we can light fires and keep them going. That matters.’ Andrew Sullivan, The New York Times, 12 December 2002, cited in Allan, S. (2006). Online news: journalism and the Internet: Open Univ Pr.

Cases in TW A Taiwanese nurse submitted her article and photo to CNN iReport. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-776292 People Post http://www.peopo.org/ In Taiwan: e.g. the investigative film about bird flu in Taiwan by 李惠仁 (Kevin H.J. Lee )

Social Media and News Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube has became the source of personalized news. Social networks transform how people get the news

Canadian Media Research More than 2/3 of Canadians who use social networking sites value them as a way of keeping up with the news. More than ½ of Canadians on social networks say they get a broader range of news and information from them than if they just relied on traditional media.

1/3 Canadians overall value social networks as a source for news, with the figure rising to one in two for young adults. But only one in four consider information from social networks as reliable. Canadians on social media are twice as likely to get their news from friends and family on social networks such as Facebook than from news organizations or journalists they follow.

Faster Than Traditional Media Norway attacks – Coordinated, and came to the rescue by Twitter. Whitney Houston died – The news appeared on Twitter in the first place.

Personal Mass Media Stars announce their relationship on Facebook, Twitter, micro-blogs. Facebook: Wall, news feed, timeline. Social media becomes personal broadcast platform. YouTube: Broadcast yourself

Mixing up Mass media vs. Mass self-communication Public vs. Personal Communication (with or without a particular target.) Communication target and form become blurred.

Summaries The Internet has changed the way news produced and consumed. user experience and generated content become the mainstream. A new era for communication?