Media Theory Lesson 5 You are now completely familiar with Gauntlett and his work, and a bit about Tim O’Reilly (Web 2.0). Sadly we can’t spend as much time on all the other theorists and their interesting ideas… Today we are going to do a mini-study of 4 theorists and their key ideas. Homework warning: you will be studying more detail on 2 of today’s theorist.

Media Theory Lesson 5 Divide your page into 4 sections, ready to make notes on the ideas of these 4 theorists… Anderson Leadbetter Plunkett Robertson

Media Theory Lesson Chris Anderson’s ‘Long-Tail Phenomenon’: The implications of broadband, and the potential that the internet has for selling loads of goods, means that people will buy ‘less of more’, instead looking to increasingly niche products and media online. Really specific media products can be marketed almost as easily as mainstream texts, and the consumer has come to expect massive availability. The massive difference that broadband has played cannot be over-stated here.

Media Theory Lesson The new generation of UK media power players are ditching the traditional gatekeepers and going straight to their audience via the web. (John Plunkett, 2008) Jot down this important quotation, and answer these questions: 1.Who were the ‘traditional gatekeepers’? 2.Think of an example of an institution targeting their audience directly via the web…

Media Theory Lesson Charles Leadbetter’s ‘We Think’ theory Leadbetter believes that open-access communities on the web allow ideas to be tested and shared much more quickly, meaning we are becoming a more creative society. He uses the example of ‘World of Warcraft’, an important online game we will return to later: A computer game with a million players needs only 1% of them to create content for the others, and then the game has an unpaid development team of 10,000. (Leadbetter, 2006) How has this concept changed the way traditional media institutions behave? How has it affected their businesses?

Media Theory Lesson Globalisation has led to a compression of the world. (Roland Robertson, 1999) Jot down this important quotation, and answer these questions: 1.What do you think Robertson means by ‘compression’? 2.Think of an example where the globalisation of the media has led to a ‘compression’ effect.

Media Theory Lesson - Task Take the theories discussed today (Anderson, Plunkett, Leadbetter and Robertson) and demonstrate them, including a comparison with Gauntlett, through 1 of the following methods: A diagram A storyboard An interpretive dance A poem A children’s book Be prepared to feed them back to the class in 15 minutes time!

Media Theory Lesson 5 Remember your… Homework: Research Anderson’s theory and Leadbetter’s theory in more detail. Online Books in our school library Videos online Come prepared to share what you know for this lesson next week.