Clay Shirky: End of audience blog tasks

Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 13 to read the article ‘What has the internet ever done for me?’ Answer the following questions:

1) Looking over the article as a whole, what are some of the positive developments due to the internet highlighted by Bill Thompson?

He discovered he could email and exchange files with people at other universities when completing his masters degree - further discovering he could message anyone around the world with the use of the internet.

2) What are the negatives or dangers linked to the development of the internet?

Child abuse , fraud , scams and stalking.

3) What does ‘open technology’ refer to? Do you agree with the idea of ‘open technology’?

In order to achieve an open society based around principles of equality of opportunity, social justice and free expression, it will have to be built on technologies which are themselves ‘open’.

4) Bill Thompson outlines some of the challenges and questions for the future of the internet. What are they?

That the outcome is far from determined and our access may become limited.

5) Where do you stand on the use and regulation of the internet? Should there be more control or more openness? Why?

I believe the internet should be more regulated to prevent certain audiences such as younger and immature from having access to content that they shouldn't be able to see.

Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody

Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody charts the way social media and connectivity is changing the world. Read Chapter 3 of his book, ‘Everyone is a media outlet’, and answer the following questions:

1) How does Shirky define a ‘profession’ and why does it apply to the traditional newspaper industry?

A profession exists to solve a hard problem, one that re-quires some sort of specialisation. Driving a race car requires special training-race car drivers are professionals. Driving an ordinary car, though, doesn't require the driver to belong to a particular profession, because it's easy enough that most adults can do it with a modicum of training.

2) What is the question facing the newspaper industry now the internet has created a “new ecosystem”?

 "What happens when the costs of reproduction and distribution go away? What happens when there's nothing unique about publishing any-more, because users can do it for themselves?"

3) Why did Trent Lott’s speech in 2002 become news?

Several reporters from national news media heard Lott speak, but his remark simply didn't fit the standard template of news.

4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?

Mass amateurisation refers to the capabilities that new forms of media have given to non-professionals and the ways in which those non-professionals have applied those capabilities to solve problems that compete with the solutions offered by larger, professional institutions.

5) Shirky suggests that: “The same idea, published in dozens or hundreds of places, can have an amplifying effect that outweighs the verdict from the smaller number of professional outlets.” How can this be linked to the current media landscape and particularly ‘fake news’?

This may opposed due to the current media landscape as there is an increase in new sources because technology allows for anyone to produce and provide news.

6) What does Shirky suggest about the social effects of technological change? Does this mean we are currently in the midst of the internet “revolution” or “chaos” Shirky mentions?

He claims that there will be major effects socially which may be relevant today because of the social impact the internet and technology has in society.

7) Shirky says that “anyone can be a publisher… [and] anyone can be a journalist”. What does this mean and why is it important?

He is referring to the change in media, and how publishing is easier now then it ever was before which is important as journalism can't always be trusted as it is made by all types of people.

8) What does Shirky suggest regarding the hundred years following the printing press revolution? Is there any evidence of this “intellectual and political chaos” in recent global events following the internet revolution?

That print is no longer valued and needed as it is being replaced due to technological advances.

9) Why is photography a good example of ‘mass amateurisation’?

As time went on cameras became a household product that people of all classes had access to which opposes it's origin of being a rare and expensive product that was typically meant for the upper classes.

10) What do you think of Shirky’s ideas on the ‘End of audience’? Is this era of ‘mass amateurisation’ a positive thing? Or are we in a period of “intellectual and political chaos” where things are more broken than fixed? 

I believe this era is negative towards the more regulated media producers but is good for audiences as they are now given voices and opportunities to speak out against the masses.