A&M.Talk

New Analytical Lenses for New Media Susan C. Herring School of Library and Information Science Indiana University, Bloomington Texas A&M University, March 10, 2009

My perspective
Background in linguistics
Researching and tracking developments in computer-mediated communication (CMC) since 1990
Developing methods for Web analysis since 2002

What’s new in new media?
Media convergence
Prosumers
“ Web 2.0”
What of computer-mediated communication?

Convergent media
The integration of multiple media in a single platform or product
Old (mass, offline) media + new (interpersonal, online/mobile) media
Multiple applications in a single medium

An example of media convergence phone email web iPod text messaging camera stocks maps time weather

Prosumerism
Prosumer: a type of consumer who is involved in the design and manufacture of products
Prosumption: the creation of products and services by the same people who will ultimately use them, sometimes without the interference or assistance of companies, organizations, etc.
Examples : indy media; user-generated online content

Web 2.0
Changing trends in/new uses of/ web technology and web design
Sometimes refers to sites themselves
e.g., blogs, wikis, social network sites, media-sharing sites

O’Reilly (2005)
Web 1.0
Personal websites
Publishing
Britannica online
Content management systems
Page views
Stickiness
Directories (taxonomies)
Web 2.0
Blogging
Participation
Wikipedia
Wikis
Cost per click
Syndication
Tagging (folksonomies)

Twitter public timeline

Criticism of Web 2.0
Marketing buzzword? Meme? Revolution?
Is the Web qualitatively different in recent years?
Do the applications grouped under Web 2.0 form a coherent set?
e.g., e-Bay, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, citeUlike, dodgeball.com
Tim Berners-Lee says “no”

An alternative perspective
Prosumption (=user-generated content)
 Web 2.0
Media convergence (=social media = communication)
 Convergent media CMC (CMCMC)

Convergent Media CMC (CMCMC)
Text-based computer-mediated communication that takes place in convergent media formats in which it is typically secondary, by design, to other information or entertainment-related activities
(Herring et al., 2009; Zelenkauskaite & Herring, 2009)

Examples of Convergent Media CMC
Offline->Online Online-Online Online->Offline
And more … iTV SMS MOG chat Facebook wallposts Reader comments on online news Mobile blogging (Twitter, Dodgeball) messages Flickr/ YouTube comments Comments on wiki discussion pages

Why focus on CMCMC?
Convergent media + CMC are ubiquitous
Convergent media are the future of CMC
Yet CMCMC has been almost entirely overlooked!

Other CMCMC phenomena
Multiplayer Online Game (MOG) chat
Text messaging to interactive television (iTV SMS)

BZFlag chat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =NEuEyq_qL90&feature=related

Italian iTV SMS

SMS text: Lele, I hope you’ll feel terrible for what you’ve done to me. Inbox, send this, it is important

Web 2.0 and CMCMC Web 2.0 CMCMC e.g., social bookmarking sites e.g., MOG chat, iTV SMS Web 2.0 sites with CMCMC e.g., YouTube, wikis, eBay, SNS, Twitter

Web 2.0 and CMCMC as analytical lenses
Each brings certain phenomena into focus
Each leaves certain phenomena on the periphery or outside its range
Each has advantages and disadvantages

Web 2.0 as a lens
Focal phenomena: User-created content, user control of content; collaborative processes; folksonomies
Peripheral phenomena: Social interaction, communication
Excluded phenomena: Non-Web media; sites where only user-generated content is CMC

CMCMC as a lens
Focal phenomena: Communication, conversation, social interaction; media coactivity (multitasking)
Peripheral phenomena: Collaboration
Excluded phenomena: Non-interactive content

Web 2.0: Advantages and limitations
Advantages : Sheds light on user-generated content, triggers important debates about content ownership, quality, etc.
Limitations : Definition is vague; hard to boil down what characterizes all sites and enables predictions about others
All “new” websites with interactive features = Web 2.0?

CMCMC: Advantages and limitations
Advantages : Focuses on social chat as “content”, which tends to get left out in discussions of Web 2.0. Reveals actual user activity; sheds light on communication as a basic mechanism for collaboration. Perspective includes more than just the Web.
Limitations : Only focuses on part of what is taking place on CMCMC/Web 2.0 sites

Potential implications of CMCMC
For media coactivity and how human attention moves among media content items
For discourse processing
For sociological theories of unintended consequences and user structuration of technologies
For understanding human motivations for using new media (e.g., sociability, interaction)
For convergent media interface design

Summary
Web 2.0 is not the only way to conceptualize new online media trends
Incorporates biases; has blind spots
CMCMC is an alternative lens, not a replacement for Web 2.0
Other lenses are possible and needed!
Call for catholicism in approach

Desiderata for future research
Meaningful definitional criteria for Web 2.0 (and Web 3.0, etc.), beyond “newness”
Integrative approaches to CMCMC that take primary media content into account as well as CMC
Theorizing about concepts such as prosumption and convergence that provide explanations and generate predictions about new media that can be tested against new phenomena (cf. Henry Jenkins)

Convergence is both a top-down corporate-driven process and a bottom-up consumer-driven process. Media companies are learning how to accelerate the flow of media content across delivery channels to expand revenue opportunities, broaden markets and reinforce viewer commitments. Consumers are learning how to use these different media technologies to bring the flow of media more fully under their control and to interact with other users.
-- Henry Jenkins (2004, p. 37)
“ [D]ifferent kinds of convergences -- technological, economic, aesthetic, organic, and global – [ ] are redefining our media environment.”

Multi-lensed model Cultural aspects Social/interactional aspects Economic aspects Converged media Aesthetic/design aspects Global aspects Technical aspects Converged media

Questions? Comments?

A&M.Talk

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