The catch word for the digital world of new media is convergence. Convergence is the coming together of everything digital.

Definition

Any digital media can be transmitted by any suitable digital medium, such as a wifi broadband connection or mobile phone, so that all communications, text, audio, graphics, video, and broadcasting can be accessed instantly.

The iPhone, Blackberry or computer becomes a two-way communications module with access...

The following A Level boards: AQA, OCR, and WJEC require students to demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of media institutions. The key requirement across the syllabuses is to understand the relationship between Institutions and their media products.

Students should have knowledge and understanding of these six topics:

1. OWNERSHIP Ways in which ownership of a media institution can affect or influence the content and distribution...

What is it?

The concept is one which has become increasingly useful in the analysis and understanding of contemporary media culture but unfortunately is not a simple one to define.

It is at once a sociological condition which it is argued that the western world has moved in to over the last 30 years or so, a way of working (i.e. we can talk of a pomo film/book/work of art, etc.) and a set of philosophical ideas about the nature of reality; and...

Associated Resources

Have a look at the following resources on MediaEdu:

Web Design Tutorials

The Internet and World Wide Web

Studying The Internet

Deconstructing Web Pages

History of the Internet 1 | The Computer

The history of the internet is not a straight-forward narrative since it was not invented by one person or any group of people. The internet emerged out of the combination of three distinct inventions: computers, networks and...

In this section we will look at some of the ways the internet can be studied. The first part looks at some of the impacts the internet has had on society, the second part examines some of the metaphors that have been used to make sense of what the internet is, and the third part looks at three ways in which the internet may be analysed through institutions, audiences and textual analysis.

Associated Resources

Have a look at the following...

Associated Resources

Have a look at the following resources on MediaEdu:

Web Design Tutorials

Studying The Internet

History of The Internet

A History of Online Social Networking

Deconstructing Web Pages

Definition

The above picture may look like an exploding galaxy or a human cell magnified many thousands of times but it is actually a map of the internet. The internet (short for interconnected network) can be...

What is News?

News is an integral part of daily life. We use news to frame our daily events. A plane crashes at Heathrow, in a remarkably short space of time everyone knows about it. We might wake up to it in the morning on the radio or TV. We may go to sleep with it, and we may hear it during the day, or see a live TV screen with rolling news. We may read a newspaper. At its heart, news is about people doing things. People’s activity is...

The idea of YouTube is a successful and iconic one – commercially and culturally ranking with ‘Zuckerberg’s’ Facebook, Google, Wikipedia and the loaf of bread as a pre requisite for modern living (as far as the target audience are concerned). If you are not 12-17 as the dominant viewing age group are (but very much not the exclusive age group) or indeed wheat intolerant then maybe these bastions of culture and modern society are not...

MEST3 Critical Perspectives

MEST4 Research and Production

2012 Section B Topics: Representation and New Digital Media (3 Media Platforms) - 30 Week Scheme of Work

Overview

• AQA A Level Media Studies Overview

Scheme

• 2012 AQA A2 Media Studies SOW.doc

Concepts

• Analysing Text, Stimulus Material - Audiences
• Regulation and Censorship
• Critical Investigation - Viral Marketing
• Skills Development - Planning and Production
• Representation of Masculinity...[ read full article ] »
  

G324 Advanced Portfolio in Media

G325 Critical Perspectives in Media

Critical Perspectives = Contemporary Media Regulation ~ Media and Collective Identity (30 Week Scheme of Work)

Overview

• OCR A Level Media Studies Overview

Scheme

• OCR A2 Media Studies SOW 2012-2014.doc

Concepts

• Regulation within the Media Industry
• Researching Film Magazines and Film Posters
• Skills Development - Planning and Production
• Evaluating and Linking Coursework to...

Associated Resources

MEST2 Coursework Overview 2011-12.ppt

All teacher-assessed marks to be returned to AQA by 10 January 2012 or 15 May 2012

Link: AQA MEST2 Briefs

Brief Two | Regional Newspapers

A regional newspaper is about to run a month long campaign promoting local sports. The newspaper has an online presence and is keen to use its website as a focus for information, as well as featuring a range of sports related features in its print...

Institutional Factors

• Campaign sequenced by DLKW (Delaney, Lund, Knox and Warren). Full Service
• Vauxhall Opel - re-brand the Corsa from one of function and cheapness only to Style, Form, Fun and Vibrancy – “Put the fun back into Driving” (imperative command)
• Adverts combined product image and product demonstration format
• Adverts have international/global appeal
• USP – Cmon’s puppets (live in Barcelona)
• Extensive Viral Marketing
• Cross...

Explore the impact of Digital Technologies on Advertising

Key Teaching Areas

• The impact on Production (identify new digital forms of advertising and the effect on traditional media forms)
• Advertising and Media Convergence
• Narrative vs. Interactive Narrative (new technology)
• Changes to Target Audiences e.g. the Internet and Narrowcasting
• New forms of Distribution
• Case Study e.g. ad2-one – the relationship between text, industry and audience

Rupert Murdoch is probably the most remarkable media executive the world has even seen. He built his empire from his father’s newspapers in Australia to being one of the biggest in the world. His foresight, and strength of character, has led to revolutions in the production of newspapers, in Britain, and an immensely successful satellite television network. He did this through being a risk-taking entrepreneur who ruthlessly pursued his own...

When presented with the failings of their initial investigation the two top policemen in the Met didn’t resign immediately. However, it then came to light that an ex-NOTW deputy editor, Neil Wallis, had been hired by the police force as a PR-adviser whilst it was investigating the phone hacking. This embarrassing revelation (though they denied that Wallis had had anything to do with the investigation) led to their resignations.

Andy Hayman...

After the revelations that Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked in 2002, it became public knowledge that phone hacking, at NOTW, had been going on for many years before 2006, when its royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and the private detective he’d used, Glenn Mulcaire, were arrested and sent to jail for hacking phones belonging to the royal family. Andy Coulson, the editor, had resigned in 2007, though he said that he was unaware of the...

Definition: Media Plurality

In a democracy it is important that people have access to a range of viewpoints in order to make informed decisions. This range (plurality) is a number of media organisations supplying news from different perspectives (see The Guardian’s editorial on the danger to media plurality if News Corporation had been able to own BSkyB outright:...

Definition: Convergence

Where a device can be used to access a variety of media texts. Because new media technologies (a phrase that is becoming old fashioned) are all digitally based, the medium of a text is irrelevant so, for example, an iPad can show films and television programmes; allow you to read books, magazines and newspapers; listen to podcasts and music and so on. Old media technologies would have required a film projector and a...

Fox News was launched in 1996 and is now the most-watched cable news channel in America eclipsing CNN, which pioneered the 24-hour rolling news format. In Britain broadcasters have to present the news in an unbiased fashion. In effect, this means anchors read the news in a more-or-less neutral fashion and contentious stories are presented as having at least two points of view. In America there is no such requirement.

Fox uses a different...

As a free market capitalist, Rupert Murdoch often eulogises the way competition between companies stimulates innovation and profitability (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PybFaMCn2qM). In 1989 he gave the keynote MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, where he argued for ‘freedom and choice, rather than regulation and scarcity’ (quoted in Keane 1991: 53). He insisted:

that market competition is the key...

The link between politicians and Murdoch was emphasised in 1995 when the new leader of the Labour Party, Tony Blair, flew to Australia to address executives of News Corporation. By the General Election, two years later, the Murdoch newspapers had switched their support from the Conservatives to Labour. However, it’s quite possible that the newspapers would have supported Labour without Blair courting them, as it was highly likely that Labour...

As noted above, the Press has an important function, as the fourth estate, in holding politicians, in particular, to account. Businesses, too, can find their conduct investigated, such as the famous Sunday Times investigation, in the 1970s, into Thalidomide, a tranquilliser drug that was found to cause birth defects. However, not all investigative journalism is in the public interest.

Under Murdoch’s influence the tabloid press had...

It is a measure of Murdoch’s foresight that he had purchased a satellite television station in 1983. This enabled his company to beat the British Satellite Broadcasting, a consortium consisting of established British media companies (Granada Television, Pearson, Virgin and Anglia Television) in launching the first non-terrestrial station in Britain. Murdoch has always enjoyed taking on the Establishment, whose vested interests always opposed...

London’s Fleet Street has long been synonymous with the national press because many newspapers were based in its locality. In 1986 Murdoch moved the printing of his newspapers, virtually overnight, from the centre of London to Wapping, in the East End. In doing so he circumvented the power of the print unions who had resisted technological change:

It is rare in history to be able to identify the precise date of a turning point. In the case...

Definition: Synergy

The concept that businesses in a corporation can be integrated in such a way that they are more than the sum of their parts; this can be achieved through exploiting properties in different media and cross-promotion. For example, Viacom’s popular Rugrats (1991-2004) cartoon ran on its Nickleodeon television channel and its Paramount Pictures produced the film versions (1998, 2000 and 2003), which could be advertised on its...

In a democracy it is recognised that those who represent the people must be held to account. The 18th century Parliamentarian, Edmund Burke, called newspapers the ‘Fourth Estate’ (after the Courts, Religion and Parliament) and they had a crucial role in ensuring that those in power didn’t abuse it. It is also recognised that the owners of news media may also gain too much influence so:

American and European policymakers and legislators...

Rupert Murdoch, who owned newspapers in Australia, took control of NOTW in 1969 after a battle with Robert Maxwell, who was also trying to buy the newspaper. William Shawcross, in his biography of Murdoch, summarised the conclusion of the deal:

It was a bruising battle in which almost everyone had lost something… Only Murdoch had won – he now had a beachhead in one of the most important publishing centres of the world. For him it was a...

The Rise (and Fall?) of Rupert Murdoch

‘I’ve been telling students for the past 20 years that concentration of ownership in the media is a bad thing, but then who gives any credibility to a Mickey Mouse subject like media studies?’ Patrick Russell (letter to The Guardian, 20 July 2011)

You may have seen on the news, in July 2011, a wizened 80-year old being attacked with a paper plate full of shaving foam at a Parliamentary hearing; if...

The Rise (and Fall?) of Rupert Murdoch

‘I’ve been telling students for the past 20 years that concentration of ownership in the media is a bad thing, but then who gives any credibility to a Mickey Mouse subject like media studies?’ Patrick Russell (letter to The Guardian, 20 July 2011)

1. Introduction

2. Murdoch Enters the British Newspaper Market

3. Murdoch Buys Times Newspapers: The Failure of Regulation?

4. Murdoch Goes to...

Vertical Integration

Commercial institutions try to combat the power of the BBC by becoming larger and creating vertical integration. This is where an institution has shares or owns each part of the production and distribution process. For example: Warner Bros Entertainment calls itself a fully integrated broad based entertainment company which owns film studios and the means to distribute the films as well as some of the cinemas in which they...

AS Case Study Example

Film / broadcast fiction over three platforms, moving image, print and emedia

• Students will do significantly better if they use their own, rather than teacher-taught material.

• A case study is not just one product. The case study is an investigation of the area you have chosen to study (sport / music / lifestyle) and will include a wide range of products from the three platforms, moving image, print and emedia.

• Questions...

The term ‘EXCHANGE’ in the spec has worried students and teachers. Here is some help.

The spec says:

‘The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange’

The word exchange was used in the January exam 2011.

Here are some views on what it means from people who know on the OCR forum.

Brief Definition

Exchange:

The way in which texts are not only consumed by media...

Find out more about the grid-based approach to design by clicking on the link below:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/04/14/designing-with-grid-based-approach/

Shared with MediaEdu by Elayne Senn.

Click on the link below to view the ads.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=147518

Source: Advertising Age: The Ad Age Viral Video Chart

Introduction

The need to target a ‘specific audience’ is a key issue for the ‘magazine industry’. Magazines are heavily ‘subsidized by advertising’ and the key to attracting a sustainable ‘portfolio of advertisers’ is the creation of a product that is desirable to their ‘target market’.

As a consequence, within the magazine industry as a whole, there are many magazines aimed at similar audiences because that ‘demographic...[ read full article ] »

All A Level boards: AQA, OCR, and WJEC require students to demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of media institutions. The key requirement is to understand the relationship between Institutions and their media products.

Students should have knowledge and understanding of these six topics:

• AUDIENCES The significance of media ownership to the way audiences receive texts.
• TECHNOLOGY The importance of new technologies on media...

Question

“Digital media have, in many ways, changed how we consume media products”.

  Who do you think benefits the most – audiences or producers?

Benefits for Audiences

With ‘convergence culture’ audiences benefit because:

• They have a wealth of information available at all times via broadband, wi-fi and multi platform mobile devices such as the iPone and Blackberry.
• Availability of interactive features - Social Networking Sites...

Click on the link below to download a revision guide you can print out.

Postmodern_Media.pdf

Click on the link to join us and start networking - it’s free. :)

In theory, the proliferation of web 2.0 user- generated content and the appropriation of creative technologies by media audiences challenges the role of the media professional. In a very real sense it would seem that YouTube, Blogs and Myspace etc, not to mention the affordability of digital editing software and other home studio facilities, embody the collapse of the distinction between the real and the...

Discuss the issues raised by an institution’s need to target specific audiences within a media industry that you have studied.

Introduction

The need to target a ‘specific audience’ is a key issue for the ‘magazine industry’. Magazines are heavily ‘subsidized by advertising’ and the key to attracting a sustainable ‘portfolio of advertisers’ is the creation of a product that is desirable to their ‘target market’.

As a...

These quizzes are best viewed in Firefox.

Firefox is an excellent alternative to Internet Explorer which is available free for both PCs and Macs.

A2 Media Audience New Technologies.ppt

Case Study: Cadburys Adopts Viral Marketing Scheme

In this article I will look at the messages and values encoded in Cadbury’s recent venture in to viral marketing.  I will consider the ways in which campaigns such as Gorilla (2007), Airport (2008) and Eyebrows (2009) subvert the traditional conventions of advertising to engage and sustain the interest of the viewer with fresh take on the Cadbury’s brand identity. This will take the form...

Have a look at the following resources on MediaEdu:

Sue Crawte’s Web Design Tutorials

Rod Munday’s ‘The Internet and World Wide Web’

‘Studying The Internet’ and

‘History of The Internet’.

In Term 1 of Year 9, we introduce the students to Modern Technology. The students are required to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by planning, designing and advertising/marketing a new product: new tv series; video game; phone.

We are currently developing this unit. When complete, it will be included here.

During Year 9 students are expected to move from Media as production to Media as analysis, interpretation and evaluation....

Futurelab.org.uk Excellent site focusing on the innovative use of technology in education.

Mediasnackers.com Interesting site - worth a browse.

MIT Communications Forum

NML Project

The New Media Literacies project (NML), funded by the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation, is developing a theoretical framework and hands-on curriculum for K-12 students that integrates new media tools into broader educational, expressive and cultural...

In this section we will look at the brief history of online social networking in the form of brief biographies of the most popular sites.

1995 Classmates.com

The site that has the distinction of being first social network site is generally regarded as Classmates.com created in 1995. This was an American precursor to the UK’s Friends Reunited site (1999). The site was a way for ex-students of American schools or colleges to contact their...

We still get most of our news from the...

Click on the link below to view the ads.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=147518

Source: Advertising Age: The Ad Age Viral Video Chart

Click on the link to join us and start networking - it’s free. :)