Tuesday 19 November 2013

Globalisation and Global Fashion Media - sink or swim?




Consistent with other examples of globalisation, the 21st century has seen fashion media transform under the pressures of economic and digital trends. Flew defines globalisation as the erasing of geographical boundaries, allowing human relationships, culture, business, politics, economics, trade and military activity to transcend national and regional borders (Flew, 2013.)  In a new media sense, time-space compression, facilitated by the Internet and globalization as a bi-product allows instantaneous access to communication networks, the interconnectedness of our global community and the sensation of our world becoming a smaller place.

Particularly in fashion media, globalisation is hastening the emergence of sub-cultures and need for reader-specific content, irrespective of geographic relationship. “Blue jeans, T-shirts, athletic shoes and base ball caps adorn bodies everywhere from Manhattan to villages in Africa,” (Kaiser, 1999). When loyal creative media subscribers have worldwide access to the Internet, they no longer rely on their fashion bibles to dictate trends. Instead, they look to street style bloggers and fashion forward content generators particularly those outside their national sphere. Perhaps its culture curiosity, or perhaps it’s the insatiable thirst for to-the-minute trends, but with their fashion said to be ahead 2 seasons of ours, Australian media has lost 60% of its readership to European publications (ACP, 2012).

As a feature of our globalising society, readers don’t care about region specific content anymore. Fashion homogeneity has created space for the international creative media market, whose production no longer requires local teams – one international issue covers all bases. Prolific blogger Tiany Kiriloff of Belmondo comments that even Condé Nast’s flagship French Vogue has lost its je ne sais quoi through a integration of domestic and local markets, intensification of competition, a high degree of imitation, and a focus on international e-commerce.

However, it is also noted that exposure to international trends has increased the prevalence of global fashion sub-cultures like Harajuku (Smiers, 2003). “This tendency toward both increased variety within geographic locations and a homogenizing effect across locations represents a global paradox,” making it increasingly difficult to create reader-specific content (San Cartier).

To add salt to these wounds, principle photographer Scott Schuman said the speed of publication is the key downfall in print media.  In the fickle fashion world, global competition relies on to-the-minute news. It’s a prime commodity – one that magazines and even e-Zines struggle to compete for (The Satorialist’s guide to Fashion Journalism, 2009). 

Even designers understand this; the live stream of Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer2010 collection gained a YouTube audience of over 1.5 million viewers, opening the doors of exclusive events to regular women similar to Rebecca Minkoff’s SS 2014, which was also Live Streamed.



Womens’ link to fashion - the media – have subsequently lost its monopolistic hold on current trends. Readers were sharing their personal trend reports, essentially stealing their content before fashion editors had a chance to sit down and write it.

This shift to cross-platform distribution facilitates a new journalistic experience, yet with this comes new challenges from each step in the chain of production. Amy Creasey, a client activation advisor says that for luxury brand advertisers, digital media is an easier way to reach target fashion communities. Expensive 2-page glossy spreads reach a limited audience, and can be substituted by sending prolific bloggers a satisfying incentive – whether it be free products or VIP entitlements. The free publicity proves to be more effective for international e-commerce markets (Uche. 2007.). However, this shift is fatal for fashion media’s prime revenue source – advertising.

Publications, however, are fighting with ferocity to stay relevant. The American Journalism Review sees “magazines’ current passion for blogging as fueling a vigorous, industry-wide debate about everything from staffing to sourcing, from standards to liability” (Nash, 2007). They have begun to leverage their brand by iconising the faces behind the content (for example, Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington) as an attempt to connect. In terms of advertising, luxury brands can now incorporate the positives of blog advertising to change the way they do business with magazines (Hull, 2011) . Women across the globe recognise style icons such as Lucky Editor-in-Chief, Eva Chen. With more than 93 thousand Instagram followers, Chen reaches more worldwide readers daily than the magazine does in its monthly press - without its readership barriers (namely non-US readers). 


She tags labels she wears, providing free publicity with a reputable and iconic face for real-time advertising and as a way to stay engaged with their readers and advertisers.

EiC of Vogue and Fashion icon Anna Wintour recognizes that “fashion media has to reflect what’s happening in the world,” and as a multi-billion dollar industry, their embrace of interactive, multiplatform and globalised expression is a worthwhile move. The discursive break from the reign of “glossies” are a hard pill to swallow, but if creative media industries can embrace a globalised fashion world, there is a much greater chance that their survival can also be guaranteed.

Words: 785

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Tuesday 5 November 2013

How are journalists responding to threats of security, privacy and freedom in digital media?


Digitalisation gives rise to both benefits and limitations for journalists and their media conglomerates, and as such there are 2 dominant responses. On the one hand, journalists work on a grassroots level amongst one another to prevent and protect their digital information, particularly while on location. Hacking and spyware is a serious risk to the individual security and privacy of reporters working on the ground. On the other hand, dramatic reductions in sales and the pending risk of industry death have forced journalists to exploit security and privacy breaches and operate in a way that are, at times, borderline unethical (Horsely, CFOM. 2013). It gives rise to vicious professional conflict – to resuscitate individual livelihood, sales and the industry or uphold ethical and professional responsibilities?

Security

Due to ever-increasing sophistication in spyware, most reporters whose information security is under threat are rarely aware this is the case. In our knowledge economy, research notes, contact details, travel itinerary and audiovisual files are key commodities for journalists, and laptops and smartphones are almost always a primary target (McGonagle, 2013). Varying degrees of awareness makes it almost impossible to offer complete protection for journalists and their digital information, but veteran journalists have established networks such as the Journalist Security Guide that provide troubleshooting resources and preventative steps for journalists in risky locations (WeFightCensorship). Using pre-paid mobile phones, restricting network connections and keeping a USB full of critical content allow remote access to digital information without connecting to media outlets (Smyth, 2012). Norton-Taylor says there is “a general sense of responsibility for one another,” with hundreds of blogs and guides dedicated to protecting journalists in precarious situations such as the Global Journalist Security, which provides online training programs (2013).

Privacy 



Over the past 10 years, media users are becoming increasingly aware of the true state of their private information online. Despite temptations to exploit privacy holes, initiatives such as Hacks/Hackers allow the journalists (“hacks”) to connect with worldwide chapters of technologists (“hackers”) who rethink the future of news and information (Hicks, 2013). The two schools of knowledge converge, providing journalists with live scraped data. “Hackers, like journalists, believe strongly in freedom of information, embodied in the open nature of the Internet,” says Herman (2010).


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Digital media, particularly email and telecommunication networks, are being accessed by media giants’ IT team via spyware and surveillance technology. As a highly competitive industry, print media relies on this restricted content for their best “scoop,” despite being highly unethical (Horsely, 2013). In Australia alone, we have 4 media “watchdog” organizations that take complaints against journalist conduct breaches, yet most readers and complainants are not aware of their existence. Media giants rely on this ignorance and intimidation to avoid facing disciplinary action for their unethical behavior (MEAA, 2005).

Take the case study from the News of the World trial, for instance. The ongoing investigation began in 2006, when evidence arose that journalists were intercepting voice mails of Prince Harry, producing a string of exclusive reports (Austin, 2013). Then Editor-in-chief Paul Goodman described this source of information as “a goldmine” because it was “safe, productive and cost-effective.” Since then, reporter Andy Coulson was sentenced to six months imprisonment and stringent litigation is now in place, but their behavior continues outside formal mediums and into crowdsourced content (Casciani, 2013).

Freedom

In early 2012, Reporters Without Borders published its annual press freedom index. Australia was ranked 26, behind Sweden and Canada, whose democratic index is considerably lower.

Public Prosecutor Keir Starmer uses the phone hacking scandal as an “example of journalists who, on the face of it, may have broken the criminal law but have obviously pursued a greater good in doing so,” explaining this deviation from ethical and professional codes as a breakaway tactic (Hume, 2013). However, unconventional responses to tightening media regulation stand alone on a global scale. More productive alliances such as IFJ Asia-Pacific runs international campaigns on journalists’ safety, press freedom and editorial independence operate solely to combat censorship in developed societies.

Digital media gives journalists the opportunity to redefine a “professional” standard, particularly a degree or employment contract is no longer a requirement (Hume). Essentially, the Internet provides a platform for anyone to post anything, anywhere, and it is considered “journalism,” yet no need to adhere to particular standards of conduct or regulation. Journalists then crowdsource and upload UGC, decentralizing content control and stringent professional regulations. Instead, journalists and content creators side step law and censorship, particularly by leveraging social media and comment threats, which encourage readers to engage but are mostly passed off by watchdogs as “harmless” (Keane, 2013).

This new era of digitalization and media offers a wealth of knowledge and new opportunities for journalists, but forces stemming from the digital revolution are transforming the media industry. With many jobs lost, journalists on dire straits are deviating from their one core function. However, despite a breakdown of quality journalism and the effects of convergence, there is still a community culture within the industry that work with one another to productively combat industry threats.

Words: 837

Sources




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Tuesday 22 October 2013

Collective Intelligence in Journalism: ahead of the game




As the backbone of a "dying art," journalists are harnessing the potential of collective intelligence to keep one step ahead of their readers, which is crucial for their existence. Jay Rosen describes journalists as being a "heightened case of an informed citizen" (Wilson, 2008). This view underpins the importance of collective intelligence in research, consolidating news and keeping journalists more informed than their audience, maintaining relevance, creative angles and the newsworthiness of their stories (Wilson, 2008). In our digital age where the readers expect to participate, this is a real challenge.

Flew defines collective intelligence as the “capacity of networks to enhance social knowledge by expanding the extent of human interactions (2008).” Whether journalists use Wikipedia, Google, social networks or blogs, they are using the intellectual potential of a large group of individuals to make better, more informed choices and sharing what they know to investigate the story to more depth.

Journalists face a difficult conflict when relying on collective intelligence for primary research. Wikipedia, for example, as a collective intelligence forum cannot be cited as a credible source. It is generally unacceptable to do so, despite 50 of the top 100 American publications regularly doing so (Yoskowitz, 2010). Anyone can contribute, but this is both a benefit and a limitation: once online the material becomes free content and can be used, edited, copied or redistributed. The primary criticism, with Wikipedia and blogs alike, is the content is not always reliable due to bias or factual errors, but it guides journalists to issues that exist within their story before the investigative stage (Yoskowitz, 2010). It is also an indication of  audience’s existing knowledge. Mansell mirrors the view of Agence France-Presse, suggesting these collective intelligence networks “give you the questions you should ask, not the answers (Mansell, 2007).” 

While collective intelligence networks such as Twitter are supplementing some traditional research, it is not replacing the roles of editors in their fact checking (Bunz, 2010). Actually, it is making the process more efficient and open to a wider range of sources rather than only interviewing eyewitnesses. Here, Paul Lewis explains the importance of the shift from a monologic to dialogic media in uncovering the more truthful story about the murder of a man in London. 
 


The original publication portrayed a different scenario, yet after a social media uprising, Lewis was able to piece together the real series of events. It is these stories that put journalists ahead of the audience, which is a point of difference against alternative media. Journalism is not just social commentary, but an exposé and a watchdog for authoritarian misbehavior (Jones, 2012). No longer must they crumble under pressures of mild censorship but can more readily uphold their professional responsibility - reporting the real truth.

As an example of collective intelligence in reporting, Indymedia (Independent Media Centres) is “a collective of independent media organizations and journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage.” It is an important network for collective intelligence as it provides a contact base for those interested in collaboration with informed, passionate journalists, resulting in higher quality pieces (Mansell, 2007). Instead of editors assigning their writers stories they know little about, Indymedia increases productivity and efficiency because the journalists are already well informed and can explore the topic in-depth (Independent Media Centre Australia, 2006). This provides a unique perspective on the issue rather than emulating a basic understanding of background on the headline. Simply put, this makes for better reporting.

Even with the allegation that IMCs are heavily subjective, they are still a useful resource for journalists for gaining perspective and opinion, enabling them to gather information and a clearer picture (Independent Media Centre Australia, 2006).

Similarly, crowd sourcing is important in our participatory culture; this user-led content creation creates a network of collective intelligence. Databases such as Assignment Zero implement a model of social conscience on local and state matters, which is particularly important as these local publications undergo budget cuts and deliver less content. Essentially, it solves “journalistic oversight, coupled with the ethics of journalism” (“Assignment Zero,” 2013). Pro-am journalism and crowd sourcing is particularly useful in instances where journalists can’t be amongst the action. For example, when CBS correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted on location in 2011, CBS leveraged collective intelligence networks like Twitter and Assignment Zero, enabled by the Internet, to report on the events in Egypt from afar (Colvin, 2011). It is this style of journalism that ensures readers get the most up to date, accurate information – a title that broadcast and print journalists are always in pursuit of (TheDigitalMedia, 2011).

Collective intelligence is used by journalists at every stage of their professional capacity, and underpins the industry’s existence in the current digital age. It comes about as a by-product of our ever-increasing interconnectedness, namely through the Internet, linking networks of contributors in our participatory culture. What distinguishes journalists, however, is their ability to harness collective intelligence to report a story first, to take an alternative angle and to remain impartial yet informative to create a more accurate reflection of society as a whole.

WORDS: 790 - 850 incl. in text references.

Sources


Aitamurto, Tanja. (2012). The Power of ‘Open’: Collective Intelligence, crowdsourcing and Co-creation. CDDRL Seminar, presented 2012, 18 October, Stanford University.

Assignment Zero. Wikipedia. Retrieved 22 October 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_Zero

Bunz, M. (2010, 16 February) Most Journalists use social media such as Twitter and Facebook as a source. The Guardian Online. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media/pda/2010/feb/15/journalists-social-music-twitter-facebook


Colvin, M (2011). Mob beat journalist Lara Logan with flagpoles and fists. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/mob-beat-journalist-lara-logan-with-flagpoles-and-fists/story-e6frg6so-1226009065311

TheDigitalMedia. (2011). Retrieved 21 October 2013 from http://theadigitalmedia.wordpress.com/

Haynes, A. (2007, 7 September) Open-Source Journalism: It’s a lot tougher than you think. Wired Magazine. Retrieved  22 October 2013 from http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2007/07/view_from_crowds

Independent Media Centre Australia. (2006). Retrieved 22 October 2013 from http://www.indymedia.org.au/

Jones, J & Salter, L. (2012). Digital Journalism. SAGE Publications Ltd. City Road, London.

OreillyMedia. (2012, April 19). Crowdsourced news and professional journalists: pulling together.  [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKJ9KKgn44E

Mitew, Dr. T. (2013, 8 April) BCM112 – From citizen journalism to collective intelligence. [Online presentation]. Retrieved 21 October 2013 from http://prezi.com/l9gtmawrq2ia/bcm112-from-citizen-journalism-to-collective-intelligence/

Messina, M. (2013, 18 January). Roots of crowdsourcing – notes on Collective Intelligence and Crowd wisdom. Retrieved 21 October, 2013 from http://michaelmessina.net/2013/01/18/roots-of-crowdsourcing-notes-on-collective-intelligence-crowd-wisdom/

Mansell, Prof. R. (2007). Crowdsourced News: The collective intelligence of amateurs and the evolution of journalism. MEDIA@LSE. Retrieved 21 October 2013 from http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/

Wilson, K. (2008). In Your Facebook. American Journalism Review, 30(1), 12-13.

Yoskowitz, A. (2010, 15 February). Most journalists use Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, blogs as sources. News by AfterDawn. Retrieved 21 October 2013 from http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/02/15/most_journalists_use_wikipedia_twitter_facebook_blogs_as_sources

Independent Media Centre Australia. (2006). Retrieved 22 October 2013 from http://www.indymedia.org.au/
 


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Tuesday 15 October 2013

Open season: the new media power shift and what it means for journalists




In what ways do professionals in your field use the growth of UGC and/or transmedia story-telling?

Journalism has always been a method of communication from society to speak to itself; informing, educating or entertaining. This paper will discuss how journalists use the new media power shift to better engage with their audience, abandoning the traditional one-way communication flow to incorporate user-generated content and transmedia. Instead of only absorbing content, the transition to new mediums allows readers to interact with content in a meaningful way. Interacting with their opinions is crucial, and publications have recognised a need to nurture these to maintain their existing audience, as well as attracting new ones.




For the purpose of this paper, user-generated content can be used to describe any form of content such as video, discussion form posts, images, audio, and other forms of media that users in an online network create. Flew (2008) expands on this, seeing UGC as “blurring the lines between producers and consumers... to be a medium for everyone’s voice.” Below, the diagram explains the flow of communication between the media and the public.












This definition is synonymous with such theory as pro-am journalism, whereby professionals collaborate with amateur writers. This idea of crowdsourcing allows the target demographic to guide professionals in what they find relevant, achieving its original aim: to connect society with itself.




Transmedia storytelling is the spread of information across various mediums, each platform using their core features to share another piece of the puzzle. To use this tool consciously, Moloney explains (2012) “editors must consider what media are available to them and how the individual strengths of those media can be used to the story’s advantage. By distributing them across varying channels we can target the audience with issues that really matter to them.”




Technological determinism has a tangible presence in journalism as an industry; in order to survive, publishers must connect through a primary channel, perhaps their publication or website, but also through supplementary channels such as a Smartphone application and Twitter presence. It is this kind of grassroots communication that offers an “immersive experience, extending curiosity and engaging readers with the headlines,” as Afordproductions (2013) said.







As a case study, Condé Nast’s spin-off magazine Miss Vogue is a vanguard of this theory. The first print edition was launched on September 2, behind the launch of the magazine’s app a week before. In “Miss Vogue steps out in print and app” (2013) Editor Alice Cavanagh says they “designed the Miss Vogue Australia experience of print, App, digital and social media touch points to work together as a multiplatform experience.” The clip below gives a preview of the Miss Vogue Britain's iPad concept design, which is a model for the Australian experience .












Miss Vogue is also pioneering the convergence of social media, photography and text content. Its editors, staff and feature models engage with readers on Instagram to reveal visual snippets of the most anticipated features. Apart from being an effective advertising tool, connecting via this media channel before the magazines launch allows editorial staff to gauge readership interest before its release.




Today’s knowledge economy and creative industries actually force the journalism industry to subscribe to society’s current interests. Grabowicz (2013) explains that the public can bypass mainstream media by producing content and communicating directly with others in their own network. If the media chooses not to be party to this dialogue, their role in society is redundant. A 2008 Bivings Group survey suggests that UGC accounted for 58% of photos, 18% of videos and 15% of articles in the world’s top 100 newspaper websites. No longer is UGC a hobby component, but now an economic component of the industry that resonates better with the target audience. Gillmor (2010) suggests the inclusion of UGC promotes a multi-directional flow of news and information, reigniting journalism as a communicative device rather than a bystander to technoculture.




As another example, pro-am journalism, also called citizen journalism, creates a collective intelligence network whereby readers collaborate to get the quality of professional journalism with on-point reader relevance. Databases such as spot.us provide pro-am support to journalists and newsrooms by offering stories on important and perhaps overlooked topics. By producing stories that engage their audience, publications increase their readership and therefore their revenue, which supports a move towards creative industry. This kind of open source movement democratises innovation, moving with society and its transition into a knowledge economy.




What does this all mean for journalism? In order to survive and thrive as a profession, journalists need to move with the ebb and flow of the digital society. In a network governed by participatory culture, it is the consumers’ involvement that drives success – UGC and transmedia engages audiences by giving their role value in the creative process. The fundamental purposes of journalism still apply. The shift is about optimizing our communication methodology so that we inform, educate and entertain to the best of our ability.




Words: 769




Sources
Jackson, S. (2013, August 12) App and print a happy mix for Miss Vogue. The Australian. Retrieved October 15, 2013 from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/app-and-print-a-happy-mix-for-miss-vogue/story-e6frg996-1226695174568#sthash.f02pLWxu.dpuf
Miss Vogue steps out in print and app. (2013, August 12). Publishers Australia. Retrieved October 15, 2013 from http://bond.libguides.com/apa-referencing/newspaper-articles
Flew, T. (2008). An introduction to new media. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
Afordproductions. (2013, September 18). Research Journal : Transmedia Journalism [Video file]. Retrieved October 15, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4dMP5RgGJo
Moloney, K. T. (2013, June) Transmedia Journalism as a Post-Digital Narrative. Paper presented at the Fifteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association. Toronto, Canada. Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/atlas/research/technicalreports.html#
Moloney, K. T. (2013) Porting transmedia storytelling to Journalism. (Master’s thesis). University of Colorado, Boulder.
Artieri, G.B. (2012, November) Productive publics and transmedia participation. Journal of Audience and Reception Studies. University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy.
Wardle, C. & Williams, A. (2010) Beyond user-generated content: a production study examining the ways in which UGB is used at the BBC. Retrieved from: http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/32/5/78
Gillmor, D. (2009, 4 October). ‘The new rules of news.’ The Guardian AU. Retrieved October 15, 2013 from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/oct/02/dan-gillmor-22-rules-news
de la Peña, N., Weil, P., et al. (2010). Immersive Journalism: Immersive Virtual Reality for the First-Person Experience of News. Presence,19(4), 291-301. Retrieved October 15, 2013 from: http://www.immersivejournalism.com/?attachment_id=226
Grabowicz, P. (2013, 13 October). Transition to digital journalism. KDMC Berkley. Retrieved October 14, 2013 from http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/digital-transform/user-generated-content/
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