online news and social media
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lecture, com300TRANSCRIPT
New Media Technologies: Social Media and News
COM 300
Kathy E. Gill11 February 2008
Agenda
More On Open Source Online News, Blogs, Podcasts Discussion Leaders & Small
Group Discussion
EC: GNU Project (1/3)
Start of open source philosophy (1985) “The word `free’ in `free software’
pertains to freedom, not price” … think free speech, not free beer!
Four principles … Freedom to: Use the program as you wish Adapt the program Distribute copies to help your neighbor Improve the program and share it with the
public to benefit the entire community
EC: GNU Project (2/3)
Technologists used their social networks to develop new software … by using communication (technology) networks
Subsequently … Linux, Apache, TCP/IP, SMTP … Important: this internet
infrastructure was not mandated by a “government”
EC: GNU Project (3/3)
Arguably provided foundational philosophy of the web (and TBL actively arguing against a patent for HTML)
Mid 90s battle between open & proprietary software; Microsoft won the battle but lost the war
Online News : Overview
Repurposing electrons from print to new media is a business decision
Fewer papers have adopted blogs than RSS Social system disconnect? Not enough time? Syndication is an integral part of
social system
What Is RSS? Rich Site Summary, Really Simple
Syndication, RDF Site Summary XML (10 years old yesterday!)
document that facilitates content syndication This “feed” contains structured data Transformed to information by RSS
reader Ease of syndication, low cost
RSS Development Timeline
March 1999 Netscape RSS 0.90
July 1999 Netscape RSS 0.91
June 2000 Userland RSS 0.91
Late 2002 RSS-Dev Working Group
RSS 1.0
January 2003
Userland RSS 2.0.1
Online News RSS Adoption
Apr 2002 New York Times (limited to Userland)
RSS 0.91
Oct 2002 Christian Science Monitor
25, RSS 1.0
Mar 2004 Washington Post 125, RSS 2.0
Apr 2006 Washington Post 150, RSS 2.0Seattle Times 47, RSS 2.0
Apr 2007 Seattle Times 54, RSS 2.0
New York Times 101, RSS 2.0
Editorial Decision 2005 research: not a
technological decision -> in 3 of 15 markets, papers are co-managed, yet RSS feeds differed Philadelphia Inquirer (16); Daily
News (2) Detroit News (35); Free Press (1) Seattle Times (45); P-I (27)
Why Rapid Adoption? Syndication in line with culture Business model is evolving
How to reverse loss in readers? How to generate online revenue? Lots of RSS Sub Options (WaPo)
Recognition of growth of blogosphere, driving readers “Pay to read” barriers (WSJ v CSM v
NYT)
Other Techniques …
… to reverse loss of eyeballs “Digg This” (Michelle Malkin) “Newsvine” link (SeaTimes) “Facebook” link (NYT) Most emailed/read (BBC)
How to bypass log in requirements BugMeNot Search GoogleNews
What is Journalism?
Journalism is “our day book, our collective diary, which records our common life. That which goes unrecorded goes unpreserved … The creation and preservation of collective memory…” is the practice of journalism.
- James W. Carey, Columbia University
What Is Citizen Journalism?
Why not just call journalism “journalism” — a word the citizens, amateurs, networks, distributors and professionals can understand? Journalism can be “practiced” in all sorts of ways, and by virtually anyone. You don’t even have to be a citizen or a professional; you could be a foreigner, or even an alien from outer space…journalism is not some exclusive club; it’s something that takes many forms… - Max Kalehoff, Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Participatory Journalism
Characterized by expanded two-way communication between media and readers.
With blogging, reader becomes author and author (journalist) becomes reader, ending the one-to-many model of communication.
Shaping the News Hole Trent Lott story (2002)
Covered by only one reporter following event Kept alive by bloggers - liberal and
conservative LA Times (2004)
Supreme Justices Scalia v Ginsburg Dan Rather (2004) Colbert’s monologue Press Club Dinner
(2006) Josh Marshall – AttorneyGate (2007)
Other Examples
Microsoft “switch” campaign (2002)
LonelyGirl15 actress outed through collaborative action (2006)
VT Shooting (2007) Obama 1984 Ad (2007)
Podcasts
Audio file + RSS = Podcast Not just iPod, it’s just that iPod
created a broad audience Incredibly fast adoption
Entered Oxford English Dictionary in 2005 Started in 2004 by Adam Curry (see
Wikipedia on trademark challenge)
Videocasts & YouTube
Robert Murdoch buys MySpace Music distribution
Google buys YouTube Army launched YouTube Channel,
“cracks down on” soldier blogs (E&P, 2 May 2007)
Two BIG Points Bottom Line Impact - Classifieds
Craigs List eBay
Bottom Line Impact - TV Ads Hence the commercial before
watching a TV clip on line Hence the angst over YouTube (et
al) Copyright
The ease of the remix
Summary Blogging (and social networks)
technology is having a profound impact on Web content and established media business models
Neither news nor politics will be the same
Next week: spotlight on politics
Resources Gill, KE (2004). How can we measure
the influence of the blogosphere. WWW2004, New York, NY USA. http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf
Gill, KE (2005). Blogging, RSS and the information landscape, a look at online news. WWW2006, Chiba Japan. http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/gill_www2005_rss.pdf