Proposal BNNFinal Assignment

Trends and Strategies in the Creative Industry

Marjolijne Storm279269

(CC3201)M. Leendertse

Index

Page

Management Summary 3

Research Question 3

Literature Review 4

Proposal for Empirical Research 7

Financial Proposal 8

Bibliography 9

Critical Reflection 10

2

Management SummaryThis management summary gives a short overview of the proposal for BNN. BNN

wants to make their television programs more interactive in the future. The question

is how? This proposal gives background information about television, Internet and

interactivity and comes up with an option for empirical research. This empirical

research should give BNN the opportunity to find out how their target group likes to

be interactive and how they think about changing the television format.

Internet is already interactive, and BNN wants our television to be interactive as well.

We have to provide our old media with the same standards as our interactive new

media. This is something that BNN also wants, integrate old en new media. The

television stands in the center and much free time is spend on television. Lets

combine the television and the Internet and give the Internet a center place as well.

On the other hand the Internet becomes more and more interactive, this is something

we want for television as well. I would like to advise BNN to make a short

questionnaire and present this to their target group. They can use television and

Internet to post commercials to get attention for this research. The research focuses

on a part of the target group and on the question how and if these people like the

ideas of BNN to make this television broadcaster more interactive. When BNN makes

adjustments in their television broadcasting, the ratings are there to tell if it was a

successful change or not.

Research QuestionBNN is a Dutch broadcast organization, started in 1998, that makes radio and

television programs and websites. The focus group at BNN are young people from 15

– 35 years old. The values of BNN are surprising, tough, humor and BNN wants to be

different. BNN wants to use social media to make their television programs more

interactive in the future. So the central research question in this proposal is how

social media can avail BNN by making their current television programs more

interactive. How can they use social media to enrich their television programs?

3

BNN already has their own page on Hyves and there are different Hyves for different

BNN television programs. BNN also uses Twitter and sends about five to six

messages a day to their followers. But how can they use social media like Hyves and

Twitter to make their television programs more interactive? This proposal for

research is to provide BNN with information on which they can find ways to answer

this questions.

Literature ReviewThis literature review is to provide the research question with a clear theoretical

frame, to formulate an answer to the research question. Different subjects like

television, television as a social place, internet, internet changing our social life,

internet making us stupid and social networks are discussed in this literature review.

Television functions as a social context, providing sensory communion and social

congregation; it also functions as a center of meaning, helping a society define ‘us’

and ‘them’, conferring value on persons and objects, and supporting hegemonic

social control. The expression ‘television as a place’ can convey both the vernacular

meaning of television as escape and the academic media-theory idea of television as

environment (Adams, 1992: 117). Adams has elaborated on the idea that television is

a social context and a center of meaning. He says that the prominence of television

in social life influences the social processes and the use of places. Statistics on time

suggest a great role for watching television in the free time, for example an average

person in the U.S. spends 40 percent of his/her free time on watching television. This

appeal of the medium television transcends all national borders. In general when

people are able to afford a television set, their time watching and use of free time is

the same all over the world. But there are differences in viewing attitudes and time

use between men en women and between different cultures. Adams focuses on

television and social space. Television uses written and spoken words, abstract units,

this depends on visual and nonverbal sounds. In this regard television surpasses

other media. Although television can be thought of as many private objects, each

within the private space of a home, it can also be thought of as a single ‘monolithic’

4

object which people view from their various perspectives (Adams, 1992: 125).

Television does something that other products of modern culture are increasingly

unable to do: it stands at the center. Television expresses some of the same human

motivations that led to the building of monumental forms, but in a modern world

where all that is solid melts into air (Adams, 1992: 131).

Where television was a big technology of the twentieth century, Internet is the

defining technology of the emerging twenty-first century. By internet we refer to the

electronic network of networks that links people and information through computers

and other digital devises allowing person-to-person communication and information

retrieval (DiMaggio et al., 2001: 307). Internet clearly qualifies as a key technology,

characterized by the potential for pervasive use in a wide range of sectors and by its

technological dynamism, and as an enabling technology, opening up new

opportunities rather than final solutions (Malecki, 2002: 399). As a phenomenon of

the 1990s, then, the Internet as a topic of research has attracted the attention of

economic geographers and other social scientists. A large cluster of research on the

Internet has sprung from those who have been concerned with social phenomena

and for whom cyberspace represents a separate space in which people live and

operate (Malecki, 2002: 401). The Internet has become a growing market for

consumers and business. Internet has become a popular venue for conducting

business transactions. Anyone with an Internet connection can become a merchant,

and self-regulating trust mechanisms like buyer and seller rating systems allow

transactions between geographical separated strangers. Business-to-consumer

auctions rapidly develop new sales channels via the internet and extend the reach of

the firm to previously inaccessible markets. Business-to-business market places

show the changes to both business processes and industry organization that a

disruptive technology like the Internet brings. These new marketplaces create

opportunities for firms to reinvent core procurement processes and by reducing

transaction and search costs. (Pinker et al., 2003: 1457) Pinker also describes the

impact on our actions thanks to Internet, in an economic perspective. This has to do

with expanded capabilities, reduced transaction costs, accessibility, managing

complexity, information cathering and time element. Our online activity has increased

and still is. The commerce has integrated with the Internet and so are we.

5

The Internet becomes more and more interactive. There is a certain activity required

to visit the Internet. The user can search and choose his own information. At the

ideological level, interactivity gad been one of the key value added characteristics of

new media. Where old media offered passive consumption new media offer

interactivity. Generally, the terms stands for a more powerful sense of user

engagement with media texts, a more independent relation to sources of knowledge,

individualized media use, and greater user choice. (Lister et al., 2009:21) This brings

the user to a extensive choice of different networks.

But what kind effect has Internet on people? Is Google making us stupid? In this

article Carr explains the effects of the Internet. He describes his lack of

concentration, when he is, for example reading more than two pages. His

concentration starts to drift. The deep reading that used to come naturally has

become a struggle. Carr concludes his article by saying that when we come to rely

on computers to meditate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence

that flattens into artificial intelligence (Carr, 2008). This is about the same that

McLuhan says in ‘The Medium is the Message’. In a culture like ours it is sometimes

a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is

the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any

medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is

introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.

(McLuhan, 1994) But the use of the Internet has certain effects. DiMaggio explains in

his article that Internet users have higher levels of generalized trust and larger social

networks than nonusers. Internet use serves to complement rather than substitute for

print media and offline socialization. Research also found internet users to be no less

active media users or offline socializers than nonusers, though they do less

housework, devote less time to family care and sleep less (DiMaggio et al., 2001:

316). The world of television is still developing as we can see on TED. Zennström

explains at TED what vision he has on the world of television. He wants to combine

the best things about television with the social power of the internet. This project

should give viewers, advertisers and content owners more choice, control and

creativity. Zennström wants to make the television complete by adding everything we

miss from our Internet, tagging, recommendations, choice and so on. This is one way

to make television more interactive. We have seen that the Internet is already

6

interactive, and we want our television to be interactive as well. We want our old

media with the same standards as our interactive new media. This is something that

BNN also wants, integrate old en new media. The television stands in the center and

much free time is spend on television. Lets combine the television and the Internet

and give the Internet a center place as well. On the other hand the Internet becomes

more and more interactive, this is something we want for television as well.

Proposal for Empirical ResearchIn recent years, the increasing number of users of computer and Internet technology

has greatly expanded the potential of computer- and Internet-based therapy

programs. A number of studies have demonstrated that computers can provide

information effectively and economically. Traditionally paper-based self-report

instruments are easily adapted to the computer format and offer a number of

advantages that ensuring data completeness and standardization. Research has

found that computer-administered assessments instruments work as well as other

self-report instruments. Clients may feel less embarrassed about reporting sensitive

or potentially stigmatizing information during a computer-assisted assessment

(Taylor et al., 2003: 18). As we have seen in the article by DiMaggio, Internet users

have bigger networks. So a survey at Internet users is a logical choice, because this

is a way for BNN to reach more people. The Internet users are also BNN’s target

group because this group knows how the Internet works and are already interactive,

so they are able to form a valuable opinion. Another reason to use the Internet for

this research is the fact that people may feel less embarrassed during a computer-

assisted assessment. BNN has to watch out that the questionnaire is not too long,

because as we have seen earlier, some Internet users cannot concentrate

themselves for more than two pages of text. BNN has to pay attention to their target

group, this is a group of young people from 15 – 35 years old. A long questionnaire is

not going to help BNN any further, because these people have more ‘important’

things to do, then fill in a form. This is way I think BNN should reward the people that

fill in the questionnaire, for example by giving every fiftieth person a gift. BNN has its

own group of members and a group of followers on Hyves and Twitter. I think it’s a

7

good idea to try to find out what these people think, before focusing on the whole

target group. I would like to advise BNN to get attention for their research by

commercials on television and on the Internet, just like BNN did when recruiting

members. These commercials should also be posted on Hyves, given that BNN is

already active there. The research focuses on a part of the target group and on the

question how and if these people like the ideas of BNN to make this television

broadcaster more interactive. When BNN makes adjustments in their television

broadcasting, the ratings are there to tell if it was a successful change or not.

Johnson’s research about digitizing consumers, could also help BNN. The reality is

that people with vision and belief makes innovations happen. If we believe that

consumer research is useful, and that changes will lead to improvement in the

production and dissemination of knowledge, then these are worthwhile activities.

They depend, however, on us make them happen (Johnson, 2001: 335).

Financial ProposalTo develop, take, round off and complete a survey explained above we probably

need two years. The preparatory work takes about six months, the survey itself a

year and we need another six months for data processing and the final report. We

will at the end of the two years provide BNN with recommendations how to make

their television broadcasting more interactive conform their own target group. The

survey itself and the data processing is done by my junior en medior researcher, this

will be a full-time job. They have to deliberate their work to me and I will come back to

BNN every month for a short review about the recent developments, this is a part-

time job. I will mainly concentrate on the preparatory work and the final report, this is

a full-time job. I included a financial proposal for the whole job, taking 2 years, per

researcher.

Researcher Time needed € per month € total

Junior 15 months 2.200 33.000

Medior 15 months 2.550 38.250

Senior 18 months 3.500 63.000

8

€143.250

Bibliography Adams, P.C. 1992. Television as Gathering Place. Annals of the Association

of American Geographers. Vol. 82, No. 1, 117-135. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on

behalf of the Association of American Geographers.

Carr, N. 2008. What the Internet is doing to our brains. Is Google Making Us

Stupid? Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google (11-01-2010).

DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W.R. & Robinson, J.P. 2001. Social

Implications of the Internet. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27, 307-336.

Annual Reviews.

Johnson, E.J. 2001. Digitizing Consumer Research. The Journal of Consumer

Research. Vol. 28, No. 2, 331-336. The University of Chicago Press.

Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I. & Kelly, K. 2009. New Media. A

Critical Introduction, Second Edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Malecki, E.J. 2002. The Economic Geography of the Internet’s Infrastructure.

Economic Geography. Vol. 78, No. 4, 399-424. Clark University.

McLuhan, M. 1994. Understanding Media. Cambridge: The MIT press.

Pinker, E.J., Seidmann, A. & Vakrat, Y. 2003. Managing Online Auctions:

Current Business and Research Issues. Management Science. Vol. 49, No.

11. Informs.

Taylor, C.B. & Luce, K.H. 2003. Computer- and Internet-Based Psychotherapy

Interventions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 12, No. 1, 18-

22. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Association for Psychological Science.

TED, Zenström,N. 2006. The Venice Project: 507 channels and somethin’ on.

http://blog.ted.com/2006/10/the_venice_proj.php (11-01-2010).

Salary indicator, http://www.de-salarisindicatie.nl (11-01-2010)

Picture first page, http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/rtls-verlinde-takes-legal-

action-against-bnn (11-01-2010)

9

Critical ReflectionI have had some difficulties finding good examples for empirical research that I could

use for this proposal for BNN. I found a research based on computer and internet

psychotherapy interventions from which I could use some examples and general

information. For the financial proposal I searched the internet for job advertisements

with an indication of salary. I am not involved with searching for a decent job yet, so it

was nice to find out what different types of researches should earn. I assume that a

research like I proposed should take two years, because it takes a lot of time to make

the commercials, the questionnaire and processing the data.

I think I gave a clear and general theoretical framework, by using articles with

different subjects. I tried to make structure in the way the theoretical framework is

build, from television to internet, to interactive, to the effects and to conclude with a

first answer. It was difficult to choose which information I should use, because there

was so much of it and the result should be coherent, but I think I did a good job by

staying within the maximum of ten pages, thanks to the clear contents provided at the

assignment.

10