Guiding Document: Difference between revisions

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(New page: Media Re:public Deliverables I Overview paper The networked media environment in the U.S. and other highly developed countries is still very young and there are still many unanswered que...)
 
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Media Re:public Deliverables
ToDo
 
I Overview paper
 
The networked media environment in the U.S. and other highly developed countries is still very young and there are still many unanswered questions about how it functions now and what that implies for the future. Media Re:public research suggests there are nonetheless, significant, observable changes in the overall news and information environment driven by the emergence of new media that point to real challenges to the role of media in supporting a democractic society and suggest a range of possible interventions. We propose that goals can be developed based on defining desirable functions and qualities of a media environment that serves democracy, rather than preserving or re-creating the technical or  editorial system of any specific time or place. The methods for attaining these goals should be based on realistic possibilities for viability but not limited to existing business models.
 
The project considers the whole of the news and information environment, including new and traditional forms of news media as well as temporary or partial spaces where current events and social issues are reported or discussed within social or entertainment-focused media (e.g., bridge collapse photos on FaceBook and Flickr, political discussions on American Idol forums, etc.). In examining media forms, a functional typology is proposed to distinguish different structures that may apply to traditional or new media. On top of this framework, the implications of the motivations and size of different media entities are also considered. The U.S. media system will be examined in light of the medium systems in other markets around the world with the aim of highlighting opportunities for creative solutions.
 
A huge amount of attention and many interesting experiments both within and without the professional news media focus on the changing ways audiences receive, perceive and “consume” both editorial and advertising content. The need to “update” content for the web has become an imperative for publishers and broadcasters alike. Many dozens if not hundreds of sites offer advice to and critiques of the traditional media in their pursuit of “webbiness.” Many other sites large and small are developing technological and human systems to aggregate, organize, identify, rank and deliver content of all kinds, both professionally created and audience-generated.
 
Meanwhile, dramatically less attention is devoted to new forms of content creation, especially content creation that uses the possibilities of the network. The term “crowdsource” has been used in media circles for some time, but the practice is still underused and barely developed. Non-entertainment content that is truly multi-media or interactive, whether professional or amateur, is surprisingly rare. The groups actively working on modernizing reporting and storytelling techniques are few and far between, and their work doesn’t attract the kind of energy that more strictly technological projects do.  The paper will examine hypotheses for why this is so,  highlight some of the most promising work being done and put forward suggestions for encouraging innovation.
 
Finally, there is increasing evidence that developments in both traditional and new media are pushing both in the direction of ignoring some topics and some publics. The financial pressures on traditional media discourage expensive investigative reporting, international coverage and the like, while the dominance among digital media authors of the politically active, the technically savvy and the well-off means that the low-cost potential of new media is less available to a number of marginalized populations.  There is still much research to be done to document these tendencies and explore potential remedies.
 
In looking at the current and looming structural changes in individual media entities, the interplay among various types of media and the impact of these on the information environment, Media Re:public will identify critical junctures where the current trajectory of efforts by both commercial investment money and philanthropy are not meeting the needs for information or are missing opportunities to greatly enrich the environment.
Thematic Papers
 
Complementing the overview, a series of thematic papers will examine key themes in more detail:
 
In the age of digital media, the sad place of international news in the U.S. media diet is a demand problem: the world is talking and we are holding our hands over our ears
Ethan Zuckerman
 
The credential horse has left the barn forever: why news literacy is the only way to ensure credibility in the news
Dan Gillmor
 
Are American public media institutions addressing the digital challenge in ways that truly benefit the public? If not, what can we do about it?
Sondra Russell, CPB
 
Gatekeepers, curators, curmudgeons – why the good old-fashioned editor remains critical
Tom Stites, CPI
 
Mass media and the blogosphere – together 4ever?
John Kelly, Morningside Analytics
 
Case Studies
 
Audience-generated content model
 
The Forum
local, volunteer authors, nonprofit
 
Backfence (not in business)
local, volunteer authors, commercial
 
:Vocalo
Public radio experiment, grant-supported, local, not focused on news
 
Author-centric model
 
Baristanet
hyperlocal, hobbyist business model
 
one more Author-centric to come
 
 
Publisher model
Ohmynews
International, pro-am, unique and possibly non transferable business model
 
Global Voices
Publisher (with elements of agency and audience-generated), nonprofit, successful in everything but commercial revenue and mass media reach on non-crisis stories)
Lokman Tsui, Annenberg East, to write
 
Aggregator model
 
TBD
 
Agency model
 
TBD
 
Outliers
STEP - (non-media nonprofit using online video for activism)
Not a traditional case study, nor part of typology, but an example of non-media NGO. We have a 9-minute video produced by KSG class and a paper. Needs filling out, clean-up and tie into whatever our conclusion is about non-profits and new media.

Revision as of 16:11, 5 June 2008

ToDo

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