Media Studies 2.0: July 2007

Thursday, 12 July 2007

July 1st-11th

Television:
DG Mark Thompson defends the BBC’s role in a digital age (11th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2123377,00.html

Internet:
On the development of ‘Webcoms’, the internet’s first ever daily comedy show (10th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2122493,00.html

Security:
How CCTV cameras helped catch the failed UK 21/7 bombers (10th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2122634,00.html

Future Technology:
Sci-Fi author Charles Cross on a future recording of all human experience (10th July): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6287126.stm

Internet:
Myspace passes 10m UK users (10th July): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6288120.stm

Internet:
Google buys email security firm (9th July): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6285180.stm see also (10th July): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2122478,00.html

Television:
An article on how Setanta, the Irish Pay-TV group, is planning to rival Sky sports in its football coverage on digital TV (9th July): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2121668,00.html

Internet:
How Youtube and the internet have become ‘the key electoral battleground’ for the US 2008 election (8th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2121188,00.html

Television:
Record fine announced for the company behind the Channel 4 phone-in quiz scandal (7th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2120865,00.html see also the £50 000 fine for the BBC after the Blue Peter phone-in competition (10th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2122732,00.html

Music:
An article on the closure of Fopp’s and its implications for the music industry and music retailing, plus a discussion of the decision by Prince to give his new CD away free in a newspaper (6th July): http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2119120,00.html

Memory:
On a National Archives/Microsoft project to prevent a ‘digital dark age’ by ensuring files remain readable (4th July): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2117706,00.html

Television:
On the ongoing battle between BSkyB and Virgin for the UK digital TV market (4th July): http://business.guardian.co.uk/privateequity/story/0,,2117879,00.html

Cinema:
On independent film-makers bypassing cinemas and releasing their films on the internet (3rd July): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2116969,00.html

Music:
Russian music site Allofmp3.com closes down, but an identical site opens up and member’s log-in details still work on it (3rd July): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6264266.stm

Mobile Phones:
An article on the US launch of the iPhone (3rd July): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6260618.stm and an early review of it (7th July): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6276522.stm

Music:
Downloads fail to stem fall in global music sales. ‘Its latest annual overview of the industry showed total sales were $19.6bn (£9.73bn) in trade value, down 5% from $20.7bn in 2005. That marked the seventh straight year of decline and was the sharpest fall since 2003…Sales of downloads via computers and mobile phones were up 85% to $2.1bn in 2006. They accounted for 11% of global sales - up from only 2% in 2004. Within that, mobile sales grew faster than online and ringtones accounted for the largest proportion of digital sales in 2006. Mr Kennedy predicted that digital sales could grow by a further 50% this year to reach more than $3bn. Despite the boost from digital, and surveys showing that music's popularity is at an all-time high in many countries, overall sales disappointed. Physical sales were down 11% to $17.5bn in 2006’ (3rd July): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2116980,00.html

Music:
Downloads fail to stem Britains’ love of CDs (3rd July): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2116980,00.html

Internet:
On the success of Facebook and possible legal issues surrounding the site (2nd July): http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2116014,00.html

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I began this blog as a means to collect digital media stories for myself and my students and as a space to reflect upon media studies in a digital era. So far I've mainly used it as a link archive but I've decided to change that to turn it into more of a blog and emphasise my reflections on the discipline. I'm continuing to follow every major digital media story, all of which will be tagged on Del.ici.us under the name Willmerr: clicking on this link should take you there: http://del.icio.us/Willmerr

I invented the term 'Media Studies 2.0' in order to suggest that the discipline needs upgrading for a digital era. Media studies was a product of and reflection of the broadcast era, historically focusing upon a limited range of forms (print, cinema, radio, television), studied using a limited range of theories and methods, employing categories reflecting broadcast era patterns of production and consumption. I argued that this media studies needs to be upgraded for a post-broadcast era. An entire revision of the field - its organisation, key topics, theoretical sources, understanding of history and technology and relationship to other fields - is now required. As discussion of digital media has filtered into all other disciplines and as many of the key contemporary texts are being produced outside our discipline with little or no reference to it, this revision is essential if media studies is to remain relevant. It may already be too late: many of our students are outstripping their lecturers in their knowledge and navigation of the digital ecology and the discipline itself hasn't even noticed how much is happening, devoting itself to endless semiotic analyses of the latest film or fashionable TV series and giving questionnaires out to 'audiences', unaware that the 'audience' is already a category of the past... Time to change the discipline. Time to catch up with the present.