In Media Conference 28th September- 02nd October 2009
Lecture: The Future of media Studies (Media Studies 2.0)
After the Powphiri and lunch we have our first keynote speaker: Ben Goldsmith. Ben is a senior researcher and Lecturer at AFTRS (AUS). He has also authored or co-authored four books, including ‘The Film Studio’.
Today Ben’s emphasis is on the future of Media Studies. In particular considering Media Studies 2.0. In the classroom now there is a shift from ‘sit back and be told’ to a ‘making and doing culture’. Because of the internet we are now seeing user generated media and so people and then in turn students are learning to be more critical. Many Media professionals/film makers are using this new participatory culture to make films and media products. One e.g. could be ‘Snakes on a Plane’. As well as series with Baz Luhrman, entitled ‘set to Screen’ in which viewers could participate in the production of ‘Australia’.
Twitter – the power of Twitter is phenomenal with celebrities now even hiring people to tweet for them. Corporations also use Twitter.
A lot of the lecture was mostly relevant to the future of Media Studies and how the internet is changing this already evolving subject.
Workshop: Media Ethics with Colin Peacock from Media Watch
This was an interesting workshop based around case studies.
The main media principles are:
• Don’t plagiarise
• Don’t put people in harms way
• Don’t exploit people, especially vulnerable people.
• Don’t deceive people or audiences knowingly – for e.g. when a journalist says “they will not comment” or “they will not appear on TV” can have negative implications, can make them appear ‘guilty’.
There are various regulatory bodies including the BSA and Press council. It is interesting to hear how many staff there is at these organisations. For instance at the BSA there are only 4 staff who make the decisions about the various complaints they receive. The press council have 11 staff.
The BSA have 11 standards
Grounds for a Formal Complaint (from www.bsa.govt.nz)
Formal complaints allege that the broadcaster has failed in its responsibility to maintain one or more of the broadcasting standards set out in Standards 1 to 11 below.
Standard 1: Good Taste and Decency
Standard 2: Law and Order
Standard 3: Privacy
Standard 4: Controversial Issues – Viewpoints
Standard 5: Accuracy
Standard 6: Fairness
Standard 7: Discrimination and Denigration
Standard 8: Responsible Programming
Standard 9: Children’s Interests
Standard 10: Violence
Standard 11: Liquor
The below link should take you directly to You Tube where you can watch extracts from the South Park episode entitled: ‘Bloody Mary’. When this episode was aired, all but 1 of the standards (standard 11) was sited in the various complaints to the BSA.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bloody+mary+south+park&search_type=&aq=f.com
Lecture: Measuring Audiences with Stuart Jamieson from Nielson
Technology drives change. Technology has become more affordable, there is more choice. We now see this “anytime, anywhere” consumption due to new technology and in particular the internet.
1 in 4 households in NZ now have wireless
65% of homes now have broadband.
The speed of internet in NZ is still very slow compared to other countries.
We have a lot more choice in the way we choose to consume media. Mobility has become a popular choice with people preferring laptops and wireless so they can move around from room to room, we are now multi-taskers.
With all these changes TVNZ do not have a long term plan. They are not just thinking about TV but now about their content on mobile phones and the internet. TVNZ do not know how they will make money in the future. Like the music industry, a lot of money is spent on producing content, only then to see it provided free in the internet. The music industry is in disarray and the TV and movie industry does not want to go the same way.
CGM: we now have this Consumer generated media. With You Tube being the main facilitator of this.
Companies are increasingly tapping into this. For e.g. Yellow.com, now trying to top the popularity of the tree house ads needing a new idea, so left it with the public to come up with one and so now we are watching one man’s mission to create a yellow ‘tasting’ chocolate.
Tivo will change the way we watch TV. In US Tivo has internet capabilities also. However NZ Tivo will not have this, but the TV’s we buy will generally have internet capabilities.
Recession: the recession has meant that Sky has had an exceptionally good year, with more people opting for Sky and Sky box office.
There is now a lot of pressure on print media, with the internet being the first place a lot of people go to hear news. When Michael Jackson died Google went offline, as it automatically thought it was being high jacked. Google shuts down when the same word/phrase is entered so many times.
Magazine buying has really suffered due to the recession. People are not buying them as much.
Radio: Radio is having the toughest time. NZ has more radio stations per capita then anywhere else in the world. There are 56 commercial radio stations in Auckland, but we only have 2 radio owners.
How do we measure Audiences?
TV – through a meter panel. However this does not measure enjoyment/level of interest. 500 households nationwide have a panel.
Magazines and Newspapers – Through looking at readership and face to face surveys. This involves speaking to 12,000 people aged 10plus. They are shown a mast head of the magazine and asked questions about it.
Top 10 Magazines for 2008
Copies sold
NZ Woman’s Weekly 863,000
Woman’s Day 805,000
TV Guide 726,000
Australian Woman’s Weekly 632,000
NZ Herald – NZ’s Best selling newspaper 590,000
NZ House and Garden 573,000
NZ Hunting and Fishing
(lowest amount of sales for a NZ magazine) 380,000
Radio – through a diary survey. This is for 7 days.
Internet – through site census, panel and ISP logs
Top Commercial Websites
Average Daily numbers:
Trade Me 515,522
Yahoo Xtra 358,000
Activities on internet in last 4 weeks:
Social networking sites 33.4%
(including: Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, and Myspace)
YouTube 28.6%
Read a Blog 16.8%
Upload ciontent to the web 14.7%
Workshop: Video Gaming
This workshop discussed the possibility of using video games as texts which can be analysed in Media studies. Also discussed were all the technical advancements. Some popular activities now include:
Modding: Lot’s of games now have this built in to the game. This is where you take an existing game play and modify it
Mission maker is software made by an educational company, which can be used to produce your own game.
Machinima: This is when people capture video game footage and then add their own dialogue etc. One e.g. may be when a music video is produced using elements from a video game.
Workshop: Digital TV in NZ with Eric Kearley
In UK more money is spent on online advertising then on TV advertising. This is a big milestone and the first big market where this has happened.
Online advertising has gone up 15-20% in NZ. Prime time advertising is still very valuable.
Eric stated that nobody in TV can have a real long term plan, due to the internet.
Eric set up TV 6 and 7. These channels are funded by the government and are intended to give NZ’s certain content, to make TVNZ a multi-channel company, which will diversify its revenue.
TV 6 reaches a million in a month
TV 7 around ½ a million a month.
These channels also commission their own content. This gives niche audiences what they want.
By the end of the year all TV’s will have internet capabilities. This is a massive development. The final conversion between TV’s and laptops
Eric sees 2 major changes happening in NZ: firstly faster internet speeds and secondly better memory or storage capabilities in the home. Eric believes there will be more change in the next 3 yrs then there has been in the last 10!
There was a great deal covered in this conference it was well worth the visit. This really is only a succinct version of my notes.
Chrissy
