OSP: Clay Shirky - End of audience

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

 It says that it has allowed people to form their own opinions and to exchange information and to communicate with eachother.

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

 The platform has been used and is being used as a form of cyberbullying to bully people and also to influence young people to form extremist ideas.

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

It refers to technology which is more oppen to people of all ethnic backgrounds, it also means more equality and opportunities.

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

 Some of the challenges include the fact that digital media is not regulated therefore the content that is circulated can be seen by anyone and if the content is negative then it will still be allowed for all to see.

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

I believe that it should be up to the parents of younger children to restrict their usage however the internet is an extremely wide place of information and to enact rules would disrupt its balance therefore it should be up to the users themselves to moderate what content they produce.

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?

It is something that exists in order to solve a problem.

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

The questions changed from "Why should we publish this" to "Why not".

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

 He supported/pledged alliance with Thurmod who was a republican and this caused a huge outlash.

4) What is ‘mass amateurisation’?

The idea that everyone should be able to produce and publish content.

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 can be linked to the current media landscape as most news now is all repeated and this has become normalised.

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 suggests that it is in the middle as there is both a form of revolution as people want changes to happen but also chaos due to the unregulated content which is being produced.

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

This means that everybody now has the ability to produce content as they please and this is important because the focus on control is no longer present as producers(audiences) now have control too.

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?

He suggests that due to the Guttenburg print revolution scribes were no longer leaded and this lead to chaos and outlash because a scribe was a respectable role. This can be seen through the Josh Wolf case where the lack of control of content is exposed.


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

It allows anyone to become a photographer as they can quickly produce high quality photos.

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 think that his idea about end of audience is his strongest idea as it is the most relatable to social media and the internet and can be see in effect all over the world and it highlights the fact that media conglomerates have had to completely switch ideas on how to target audiences as they no longer have control over them.