Week 2: Networks
Text: Lister, M, Dovey, J, Giddings, S, Grant, I & Kelly, K 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, 2nd, Routledge, Abingdon, UK.
Welcome back to my blog, where I’ve been told to post weekly insights and understanding of course material whilst reflecting on how networked media presents itself in my everyday life. As far as I can tell, people of around my age have been born into a shifting and dynamic era. One where we remember dial up internet and shouting at our parents to get off the phone, but one where we are also called upon by employers to have an in-depth understanding of the inner workings of technology.
As I understand this week’s reading, Web 2.0 was formed between the pressure for communication and commercialisation which Web 1.0 couldn’t deliver. Web 2.0, which we use now, is a more user friendly version of the web, a version for those people who weren’t physicists in Switzerland trying to share documents on what Sir Tim Berners-Lee created. Web 2.0 is a space where regular people could jump online and experiment with SNS (social networking sites).
Incidentally, the World Wide Web turned 30 on the 13th of March and at the time of its inception and shortly after Steven Jones made predictions that the internet would:
- Create more opportunities for learning
- A platform for participatory democracy
- A place for countercultures to be created and grow like never before
But he also forecast that with Web 2.0 would raise questions around privacy, copyright and ethics, a situation that the we are only just starting to freak out about.
Meanwhile, David Gauntlett was also wondering what might come out of this burgeoning, seemingly endless space that we call Web 2.0. Gauntlett’s main observations were around how it will change self-expression, the obvious issue around anonymity (or benefit depending on whose perspective), and how Web would affect big business through heightened transparency and commercial viability.
But now, on the world wide web’s 30th birthday we have got answers to most of these questions; technologically mediated self expression has exploded in hundreds of directions through the co-creativity, participation and the production and publication of user generated content which feeds into ideologies, fandoms and hobbies creating millions of subcultures. Anonymity is still a serious concern, with users wanting personal privacy but business transparency and wanting to monitor the dark web.
Web 2.0 is now more commercially viable, with businesses able to increase engagement through SNS, bloggers and influencers who can track user engagement and alter their strategy accordingly.
Once upon a time information came from a central point, in general this was from newspaper publishers, and this information was disseminated outwards to society. But now the internet has an ‘open architecture’ which facilitates the circulation of information in every direction, so there is no powerplay between producers and consumers. Now user generated content is at the forefront of our Web 2.0, it is participatory and provided a space for ‘New Media’ (Henry Jenkins, 2006) to evolve. ‘New Media’ allows ‘consumers and producers to archive, annotate and appropriate and recirculate media content’(Lister, 2002 p. 222). But these days we are able to look at data and create SEO friendly content and increase engagement with high quality leads.
So in 30 short years, we’ve gone from nothing to something, and in the last 20 we’ve gone from dial up internet to search engine optimisation to target content to consumers. Who knows what’s next.
Here’s an interesting extra article about the web’s 30th birthday.