ethnography of the new 19.1.2005
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TRANSCRIPT
Ethnography of the New
19.1.2005
Goetz Bachmann
Goldsmiths College, Centre for Cultural Studies
Content
1. The Broadband Project
2. Ethnography and the New
3. Researching the New
4. Some Results
1. The broadband project
Basics of the project
Topic: Non-linear media in a cross-platform environment
Technologies: IPTV and 2nd generation broadband
Approach: Produce a pilot. Research production and usage.
Coalition: Video Networks (HomeChoice), Hildebrand, Archangel and Goldsmiths
Started 8/03. Will last till 1/05
HomeChoice: Technology
ADSL-based TV -> full and immediate backchannel
Server-based -> one to one network
Simple set-top boxes -> TV and VoD is streamed, not downloaded
Connections of 4-6 MB/s –> TV-quality
Own Exchanges -> limited availability
HomeChoice: Current offer
On the computer:
Broadband internet with up to 2MB/s (guaranteed)
On the TV-set:
Digital TV-channels, VoD (e.g. Hollywood and film archive) and some TV/VoD hybrids
User research
“Laboratory” of everyday life
One year, 21 households, 68 members
All: IPTV, 1 MB internet
Some: Selected other technologies (e.g. 3G mobiles)
Ethnographic, wide mix of methods
Extensive and intensive phases
Interconnected household
Production
Producing and broadcasting of a cross-platform interactive object
Archangel: Concept, filming, editing
Hildebrand: Brand, design and website
Video Networks: Coding, EPG and broadcast
Goldsmiths: Research, consult and project management
Production: Goldsmiths role
GS provides data on users (consult), based on user research
GS researches interaction in the project network, gives feedback on this (consult) and researches reactions
to feedback
GS researches the reception, gives feedback on this to the producers (consult) and researches their
reactions
Project management
2. Ethnography and the New
What is Ethnography?
Meet people
Observe and participate and experience and ask (and reflect)
Understand
What is Media Ethnography?
‘Proper ethnography’
Accumulated ethnographic miniatures
Virtual ethnography
Why is the new a problem in ethnography?
Most ethnographies are about everyday life -> the field/object must have existed for some time
The classical ethnographic holism tended to stabilize (this is nowadays much less so)
Ethnographies of practice tell stories in the aftermath -> danger of over-theorizing practice
Why is the new a problem in media ethnography?
Ethnographies contextualize -> they produce an inherently conservative attitude?
Most media ethnographies are about audience/users
Ethnographies that research media products by researching the producers are often about the
conditions that constrain the product
The new and the future
New phenomena
The emergence of new structures (a future that is ‘present in the present’)
The actual virtual
The ongoing process of change
The indeterminate becoming of the present
3. Researching the new
Research right form the start
A topic close to the “cutting edge”
An (auto-)ethnography of how the cutting edge is constructed
Research production/R&D and usage
Ethnography on forming the coalition (project networks with a history)
“Real participation” in the production
Share a responsibility for the product
Participate in the virtual of the creative process
Use hindsight to identify decisive moments of the process and alternative routes
Compare this with how the situation looked at the time (the virtual of the creative process)
“Experimental” elements in the audience ethnography
A before-after scenario via new products/technologies (one year)
Stimulate change in everyday practices: stimulate realistic dreaming, nurture
innovative ideas
Concentrate on innovative practices
Spread innovative practices
4. Some results
The product: Iwant2 be comedy
A Reality TV show, seven episodes over 7 weeks
Competing sketch comics (beginners, 2x2 candidates) are being mentored
Interactive? Voting for topics and candidates, order tickets on IPTV and online
Multi-path? Full versions of interviews, sketches etc.
Cross-platform? A website, a live-audience
The engineering of enthusiasm
Formation of a project network: Hype
Interaction in the project-network: (Shared?) visions
The production of the material: producing the Reality of Reality TV
Inscribed enthusiasm in the digital object: Cross-platform users
Audience and broadcaster feedback: Denied and reconstructed enthusiasm
On-demand Media-time
Self-scheduled media rituals
Co-viewing: Less but more intense?
The series: Condensed but more intense?
International times: From tuning into the national audience to tuning into the New.
Aliveness instead of Liveness?
Temporal instead of synchronized communities?
Practical experiences and ideas
Do’s and Don’t’s for the EPG in a multipath formats on IPTV
“Live” production for IPTV and cross-platform
Cooperation in the production of cross-platform content for IPTV: From clearly defined roles to overlapping
roles
Possibilities of closed and open multi-path narratives
Possibilities for VoD/TV hybrids (like non-linear channels)
The new and the future
New phenomena
The emergence of new structures (a future that is ‘present in the present’)
The actual virtual
The ongoing process of change
The indeterminate becoming of the present