Live-streaming mobile video: Production as civic engagement

Live-streamingmobile videoPRODUCTION AS CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

“Outlawsexchangeshots withthe police and die”Curitiba, Brazil << Example of a “civic” video by a journalist following the Brazilian police >>

WHAT: Content analysis of 1,000 videos on Qik.com + qualitative interviews with regular producers of civic contentWHEN: Study was conducted October 2009-March 2010WHY: Little data existed about what was being produced in this new medium; mobile video is slated to account for60% of mobile data traffic by 2015 (CISCO)

What types of videos areactually being broadcast online through mobile phones? How can we identify demographic trends in general production?How much content in this new medium has civic value, and what factors encourage producers to capture and live-stream this type of footage? Can we form an understanding about the profile of civic producersand the contexts in which they produce media? Key questions

Qik’s interface at time of study

<< Value tags I assigned to relevant videos on Qik, and their popularity by size >>

Value tagsfor mobile videoswith civic value

Civic producers<< Seven people from three countries, all English speakers; semi-structuredinterviews conducted via email & Skype; assessed their motivations for usingmobile video, production practises, contexts and patterns of use, issues andchallenges; tried to identify trends and implications >>

11%<< percentage of videoswith civic value, accordingto my parameters >>

11% << percentage of videos with civic value, according to my parameters >><< Primarily male producers(71% men & 9% women for allvideos; 74% men & 7% womenfor civic videos >>

11% << percentage of videos with civic value, according to my parameters >> << Average length of videos:<< Primarily male producers 00:02:13 for personal/other videos;(71% men & 9% women for all 00:07:23 for civic videos. Implication:videos; 74% men & 7% women producers ﬁlm longer when consciouslyfor civic videos >> reporting or educating audiences >>

Public vs. Private

<< does not talk or << speaks to others << faces camera << only providesaddress camera >> but not the camera >> as visible MC >> voiceover >>

Insights from producer interviews

<< MOTIVATIONS FOR USE:Liveness/immediacy of streaming;accessibility (phone always in pocket)real or imagined audience of known and unknown viewers;potential to “accidentally educate” viewers about civic topics;the honest “rawness/realness” streaming video affords >> << PRODUCTION TRENDS: Repeatedly produce civic videos to a public audience even when hits were low; no noticeable trends for premeditated vs. spontaneous broadcasting; almost all producers intended to educate or inform their audience; several went back to edit or delete videos, once posted; most cross-distributed videos across their social networks online >>

<< MOTIVATIONS FOR USE:Liveness/immediacy of streaming;accessibility (phone always in pocket)real or imagined audience of known and unknown viewers;potential to “accidentally educate” viewers about civic topics;the honest “rawness/realness” streaming video affords >> “One of the things I thought was kind of cool – if I can get people to even go to the Qik site – is, here I did something with some people that consider themselves pretty much activists on certain issues at the community college, and then I’m doing something else with the Green Party, and then I’m doing something else with another group. And by sending them to Qik, they can see all the different things that I’m doing. So it’s sort of an opportunity to cross-pollinate my different activism.” - Sanda << PRODUCTION TRENDS: Repeatedly produce civic videos to a public audience even when hits were low; no noticeable trends for premeditated vs. spontaneous broadcasting; almost all producers intended to educate or inform their audience; several went back to edit or delete videos, once posted; most cross-distributed videos across their social networks online >>

<< MOTIVATIONS FOR USE:Liveness/immediacy of streaming;accessibility (phone always in pocket)real or imagined audience of known and unknown viewers;potential to “accidentally educate” viewers about civic topics;the honest “rawness/realness” streaming video affords >> “I do not have a specific audience in mind....I try to reach out to as broad an audience as possible. So that with my blog, for example, where I cross-post various things, I write about politics, I write about technology, I write about my family, I write about just about anything I can think of, partly to bridge different communities – to get people who think about one thing to try to think about something else. This afternoon, I did a little bit of live streaming of the snowstorm. So people will come in and look at my videos because they’re interested in looking at the snowstorm, and hopefully then they’ll look over and look at the Board of Education meeting, or look at a speech that a candidate recently gave.” - Aldon << PRODUCTION TRENDS: Repeatedly produce civic videos to a public audience even when hits were low; no noticeable trends for premeditated vs. spontaneous broadcasting; almost all producers intended to educate or inform their audience; several went back to edit or delete videos, once posted; most cross-distributed videos across their social networks online >>

<< MOTIVATIONS FOR USE:Liveness/immediacy of streaming;accessibility (phone always in pocket)real or imagined audience of known and unknown viewers;potential to “accidentally educate” viewers about civic topics;the honest “rawness/realness” streaming video affords >> “Using my own life and community is a way of being very real. When you have very formal journalistic type content its very different feel then when you see REAL people and informal type settings. Part of having things this way for me is so that people see that we are all on the same level and not better or different in essence.” - Gurumustuk << PRODUCTION TRENDS: Repeatedly produce civic videos to a public audience even when hits were low; no noticeable trends for premeditated vs. spontaneous broadcasting; almost all producers intended to educate or inform their audience; several went back to edit or delete videos, once posted; most cross-distributed videos across their social networks online >>

Implications

ImplicationsDESIGNprotection of privacy for vulnerable video subjects during live streaming is still anissue; designing applications that encourage production in public spaces mightsupport the frequent, spontaneous broadcasting patterns of civic producers;distribution should not be limited to closed social networks or “friends” only; offermeans for collaborative production, editing and organizing features.

Implications

ImplicationsFUTURE RESEARCHviewer reception & live interaction; actual impact of civic videos; demographics:age-specific research, economic status, country- and context-specific use; whereare the women? further studies on use of mobile video within interest-basedcommunities.

Implications

Audubon DoughertyComparative Media Studies @ MITamd4.netaudubon@alum.mit.edu

http://tapioca.tv	144
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http://flavors.me	28
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Live-streaming mobile video: Production as civic engagement

by Audubon McKeown D. on Sep 05, 2011

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Live-streaming mobile video: Production as civic engagement — Presentation Transcript