New Media Technologies: Social Media and News COM 300 Kathy E. Gill 11 February 2008

Agenda More On Open Source Online News, Blogs, Podcasts Discussion Leaders & Small Group Discussion

EC: GNU Project (1/3) Start of open source philosophy (1985) “The word `free’ in `free software’ pertains to freedom, not price” … think free speech, not free beer! Four principles … Freedom to: Use the program as you wish Adapt the program Distribute copies to help your neighbor Improve the program and share it with the public to benefit the entire community

EC: GNU Project (2/3) Technologists used their social networks to develop new software … by using communication (technology) networks Subsequently … Linux, Apache, TCP/IP, SMTP … Important: this internet infrastructure was not mandated by a “government”

EC: GNU Project (3/3) Arguably provided foundational philosophy of the web (and TBL actively arguing against a patent for HTML) Mid 90s battle between open & proprietary software; Microsoft won the battle but lost the war

Online News : Overview Repurposing electrons from print to new media is a business decision Fewer papers have adopted blogs than RSS Social system disconnect? Not enough time? Syndication is an integral part of social system

What Is RSS? Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication, RDF Site Summary XML (10 years old yesterday!) document that facilitates content syndication This “feed” contains structured data Transformed to information by RSS reader Ease of syndication, low cost

RSS Development Timeline March 1999 Netscape RSS 0.90 July 1999 RSS 0.91 June 2000 Userland Late 2002 RSS-Dev Working Group RSS 1.0 January 2003 RSS 2.0.1

Online News RSS Adoption Apr 2002 New York Times (limited to Userland) RSS 0.91 Oct 2002 Christian Science Monitor 25, RSS 1.0 Mar 2004 Washington Post 125, RSS 2.0 Apr 2006 150, RSS 2.0 Seattle Times 47, RSS 2.0 Apr 2007 54, RSS 2.0 New York Times 101, RSS 2.0

Editorial Decision 2005 research: not a technological decision -> in 3 of 15 markets, papers are co-managed, yet RSS feeds differed Philadelphia Inquirer (16); Daily News (2) Detroit News (35); Free Press (1) Seattle Times (45); P-I (27)

Why Rapid Adoption? Syndication in line with culture Business model is evolving How to reverse loss in readers? How to generate online revenue? Lots of RSS Sub Options (WaPo) Recognition of growth of blogosphere, driving readers “Pay to read” barriers (WSJ v CSM v NYT)

Other Techniques … … to reverse loss of eyeballs “Digg This” (Michelle Malkin) “Newsvine” link (SeaTimes) “Facebook” link (NYT) Most emailed/read (BBC) How to bypass log in requirements BugMeNot Search GoogleNews

What is Journalism? Journalism is “our day book, our collective diary, which records our common life. That which goes unrecorded goes unpreserved … The creation and preservation of collective memory…” is the practice of journalism. - James W. Carey, Columbia University In practice this has been mediated by editors … and has functioned in a one-to-many communication model for centuries.

What Is Citizen Journalism? Why not just call journalism “journalism” — a word the citizens, amateurs, networks, distributors and professionals can understand? Journalism can be “practiced” in all sorts of ways, and by virtually anyone. You don’t even have to be a citizen or a professional; you could be a foreigner, or even an alien from outer space…journalism is not some exclusive club; it’s something that takes many forms… - Max Kalehoff, Nielsen BuzzMetrics

Participatory Journalism Characterized by expanded two-way communication between media and readers. With blogging, reader becomes author and author (journalist) becomes reader, ending the one-to-many model of communication. Talk radio was the first modern medium to move towards interactive or participatory journalism.

Shaping the News Hole Trent Lott story (2002) LA Times (2004) Covered by only one reporter following event Kept alive by bloggers - liberal and conservative LA Times (2004) Supreme Justices Scalia v Ginsburg Dan Rather (2004) Colbert’s monologue Press Club Dinner (2006) Josh Marshall – AttorneyGate (2007) Trent Lott -- see Harvard - JFK School of Government Case Study Slashdot reader spotted Getty Images photo on ad for XP on MSFT site - AP reporter followed up, got the scoop. MSFT abandoned the proposed campaign. Patterico, anonymous blogger critiques the LA Times. Scalia - front page about conflict of interest a la Cheney. Patterico -> Ginsburg/NOW. LA Times printed Page One story. Dan Gillmore, Ch 6

Other Examples Microsoft “switch” campaign (2002) LonelyGirl15 actress outed through collaborative action (2006) VT Shooting (2007) Obama 1984 Ad (2007)

Podcasts Audio file + RSS = Podcast Not just iPod, it’s just that iPod created a broad audience Incredibly fast adoption Entered Oxford English Dictionary in 2005 Started in 2004 by Adam Curry (see Wikipedia on trademark challenge)

Videocasts & YouTube Robert Murdoch buys MySpace Google buys YouTube Music distribution Google buys YouTube Army launched YouTube Channel, “cracks down on” soldier blogs (E&P, 2 May 2007)

Two BIG Points Bottom Line Impact - Classifieds Craigs List eBay Bottom Line Impact - TV Ads Hence the commercial before watching a TV clip on line Hence the angst over YouTube (et al) Copyright The ease of the remix

Summary Blogging (and social networks) technology is having a profound impact on Web content and established media business models Neither news nor politics will be the same Next week: spotlight on politics

Resources Gill, KE (2004). How can we measure the influence of the blogosphere. WWW2004, New York, NY USA. http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf Gill, KE (2005). Blogging, RSS and the information landscape, a look at online news. WWW2006, Chiba Japan. http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/gill_www2005_rss.pdf