unit 3 exam - Vj : May 2015

Tuesday 12 May 2015

New Index

41) Freedom campaigners warn against EU ministers pushing for 2-speed internet - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story.html

42) A digital public space is Britain’s missing national institution - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_6.html

43) Lesbian app Dattch re-brands as HER after raising $1 million - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_19.html

44) Twitter puts trillions of tweets up for sale to data miners - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_20.html

45) Twitter 'could be vital tool in general election' - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_53.html

46) Cash Transfer For Facebook Messenger - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_41.html

47) Apple iTunes And App Stores In Global Crash - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_7.html

48) Microsoft To Ditch Internet Explorer Brand - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ndm-story_32.html

49) Tinder hits back at research claiming 42% of its users have partners - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ndm-story.html

50) Google admits mistakes with news outlets as it announces new partnership - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/google-admits-mistakes-with-news.html

51) Verizon to buy AOL in $4.4bn deal - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ndm-story_12.html

52) Google shuts off Map Maker after urinating robot ruins it for everybody - http://v-sahota.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ndm-story_86.html

NDM Story

Google shuts off Map Maker after urinating robot ruins it for everybody
Company announces prank has forced it to ‘take a pause’ as it makes changes to how it approves edits made by users

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/12/google-shuts-off-map-maker-urinating-robot-

Google has shut down its Map Maker service after a series of embarrassing oversights allowed vandalism – the most notorious example being an image of a Google Android robot urinating on the Apple logo.

The company said it had been moderating all user-generated edits to try to prevent such pranks, but found it impossible to keep up.

Visitors to the Google site were directed on Monday to a forum post that explained the site would be unavailable for editing until a solution could be found.

NDM Story

Verizon to buy AOL in $4.4bn deal
All-cash deal will give Verizon access to Huffington Post and MovieFone
AOL chief executive: ‘AOL is back … Let’s mobilize’

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/12/verizon-to-buy-aol-44bn-deal

US telecoms giant Verizon announced on Tuesday it is buying AOL in a deal that will see one of the world’s biggest mobile players takeover the one-time king of the internet for $4.4bn.

Verizon, the US’s largest mobile player, said it was making the move to strengthen its position in mobile video and advertising. The all-cash offer will give Verizon access to AOL’s advertising technology and content businesses such as Huffington Post, MovieFone and TechCrunch.

When completed the acquisition will end AOL’s independence six years after the company was split off from media conglomerate Time Warner. The company has long been seen as a takeover target and had previously been rumoured to be in merger talks with Yahoo.

Friday 8 May 2015

NDM story

Google admits mistakes with news outlets as it announces new partnershipThe Digital News Initiative is likely to be seen as an attempt for Google to improve its image after recently being accused of anti-competitive behaviour

Google is to admit to making mistakes in working with news organisations as it announces a new digital partnership with eight European publishers.

The Digital News Initiative is likely to be seen as an attempt by the company to improve its image after being accused of distorting internet search results and acting anti-competitively by European regulators two weeks ago.

The European Union is investigating whether Google has abused its 90% market share in search to illegally promote its other products and services. News is not directly affected by this investigation. However, publishers have complained for years about the impact of Google’s use of their content.

NDM Story

Tinder hits back at research claiming 42% of its users have partnersDating app says it’s not rife with married flirters: ‘simple logic should reveal that it’s essentially impossible for any of these claims to be accurate’

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/08/tinder-hits-back-research-users-partners-married

Dating app Tinder has rejected research that estimated that 42% of its users are either married or in a relationship.

A spokesman told the Guardian that the figures by GlobalWebIndex strongly contradicted its own internal numbers, and criticised the methodology of the survey.

“The results of this tiny, 681 person study in the UK is a totally inaccurate depiction of Tinder’s user base – this firm is making guesses without having any access to real data on our millions of users worldwide,” said the spokesperson.

Section B - Exam practice

The world first heard about the death of Michael Jackson from the online gossip website TMZ.

How has new and digital media change the ways in which information reaches audiences and what are the implications? (48 marks)

In this essay I will be looking at how new and digital media has changed the ways in which audiences receive their news and the effects that the both the audiences and institutions have faced.

One problem that both the large institutions and audiences face is pay walls. Institutions such as the ‘Times’ and ‘The Sun’, are two large news institutions that have pay walls, both institutions have faced problems and have had success. As news institutions have put up pay walls, the number of customers that they had has fallen, as now audiences can access news from other sources, for example other news institutions or social media websites e.g. Twitter. Audiences are now using social media sites such as Twitter as a shorthand to accessing news, Twitter allows the audience to gain all the news they need in one place, and has also allowed large institutions such as 'The Guardian' to post stories. The fact that there are official news institutions posting stories on Twitter validates the stories.

The fact that news can be accessed through so many different platforms and how audiences can almost get news instantly, has changed how we as an audience value news, there is an immediacy for news, audiences want there news to be fast, therefore being able to get news on social media has fulfilled this need. in addition due to the development in new and digital media, audiences can gain access to news faster than they would have done, this is because they can access news on line, this can be done from anywhere as long as the audience have a internet connection. This means that audiences have more and faster access to news, whereas before they would have had to wait for news on TV or read a news paper. This also means that the news may be delayed as the news wouldn't be immediate, unless it was a breaking story, furthermore the news institutions would have focused their news on specific elements e.g. the local area. However now we can get news from all over the world in one place.

There is also a higher percentage of audience members that can provide us with news, e.g. through user generated content. Audiences now have the power to capture video footage of anything that happens and are able to upload it on to the internet, where it then goes viral and audiences get the news they want. This has caused issues for news institution, as the audiences are providing one another with news, which means that the audience receive the news before news institutions are able to show it. This can mean that news institution look for alternative views on stories so that they have something to publish.

The new and digital development has had a huge effect on a range of different aspects, for example feminist. Feminist never had a lot of power before the 21 st century, it was hard for them to open up and share their problems. However forth wave of feminist has allowed them more freedom and has allowed feminist to share problems that they have had and it has created a change. For example the 'Everyday sexism' campaign is an on line page where men and women can share any problems that they have faced due to sexism. This has allowed men and women to stand up and talk about issues that they have. However there are also other negative issues that come along with this, for example as anyone is able to post comments on the page, a lot of anti feminist share rude comments, which can cause the people with problems to become scared and not talk about their problems again. There are also a range of threats that are posted against feminist, which can cause them to become afraid.

The fact that audiences have more power has also changed the way in which they receive and interpret news. Gerbner suggested that messages don't just flow through the audience, and that there is actually another step where audiences can process news and discuss their ideas. This has been put into effect as audience now are questioning news and its values, as they now have the power to question the news and what is being shown through posting comments on line and on social media sites. For example, there is a story that has been published on The Guardian, of the interview between Russel Brand and Ed Miliband. On The Guardian website there are over 1445 comments made by the audience. This shows that audiences are in fact processing the news they gain.

The change in new and digital media has also allowed the audience to gain more power over elite groups e.g. the police. A prime example of this was with the Lee Rigby case, Lee Rigby was passing by when a police officer pushed him to the ground, which then later caused his death. The whole incident was caught on camera by a pedestrian, which was then put up on You Tube, the video later went viral. Due to the video the police officer was sacked from his job, whereas if there was no video evidence then no action would've been taken as they are part of the elite groups. However due to the development in new and digital media the audience/society have more power.

The Marxist view on this would be that the audience still rely on large institutions to get their news and validate what they see, which means that they will always be in power and that they will always be the elite. However the pluralist view would be that the audience have power through the internet as we have more freedom as we can now comment on issues or debates that we do or do not agree on and we can openly say our opinions, which we couldn't do before the developments in new and digital media. Furthermore the news institutions provide the audience with news that we want, which is why the audience stay interested in the news.

Overall I believe that has allowed audiences to get news faster and more conveniently, as they can access it through their smartphones, tablets, and other devices connected to the internet. This allowed audiences to gain more access to news and also have more freedom. Furthermore it has given audiences power to some extent as they have more access to news, and they are able to post comments on issues and debates that they may not agree with, however the internet will always be dominated by the bourgeoisie as they are the elite, and they own the large institutions that are used by the audience.