Why New New Media?

I posted some notes from our New New Media textbook on our class wiki about what new new media actually is. In case someone decides to vandalize my page and delete all the notes or you just don't want to go to the site to figure out what I'm talking about with new new media, here is a quick overview:

Old Media, New Media, and New New Media

Old Media

• Controlled by a gatekeepers (editors/producers)
• Audiences can receive and consume information, but not publish it
• Examples:
• Printing press
• Radio
• Television

New Media

• Still works with publishers rather than consumers
• Easier for users to publish information than old media
• Examples:
• New York Times online
• Amazon
• Twitter

New New Media

• Producer and consumer can be the same person
• Anyone can create
• Examples
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Google +
• Wikipedia
• Blogs

New Media v Social Media

• Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, ect. are frequently termed "social media"
• There are also social aspects of new media, and even old media
• A consumer acting as a producer does not necessarily need to be social
• New New Media is not distinguished by the social component

Guiding Principals of New New Media

• Every consumer is a producer
• Author has powers of a traditional publisher
• You get what you don't pay for
• Always free to to the consumer and sometimes the producer
• This is why Amazon and iTunes are not new new media
• Competitive and mutually catalytic
• Sites compete with another but also work to benefit each other
• Many links between sites
• More than search engines and email
• Email, search engines, and PayPal help support new new media but are not new new media
• Cannot be fundamentally created or tailored by users
• New new media ultimately beyond the user's control
• New new media requires platforms that are beyond user/consumer control
• We notices this when the medium interface changes without our control
• New new media sites can disappear overnight

YouTube

The first time I was exposed to YouTube, I was in middle school, and I hated it! When I was with my friends, we spent way too many hours watching stupid, (supposedly) funny YouTube videos that I just wasn't a fan of. It has only been in the last year that I have started using YouTube for entertainment. I follow two channels, and those are about all I watch on the site. The first one I started following is Jenna Marbles, and just recently I started following Crash Course. Jenna Marbles in an internet vloger who posts funny videos every Wednesday. It's not very intelligent entertainment, but I feel like she just gets what it is to be a college girl haha. All of my girlfriends watch her, and we often quote her videos to each other. Crash Course is a channel produced by John Green, one of my favorite authors. He is very active in social media, especially Twitter and YouTube, and after gaining huge popularity through a weekly YouTube vlog with his brother, they decided to start the channel Crash Course. The videos are just short lessons on different academic topics (World History, Chemistry, US Literature). I've only been watching the literature ones, but they are nice refreshers on some of my favorite books. Other than those two channels, that's it for me. I don't waste too much of my time on YouTube.

#twitter

Twitter and I just had our one year anniversary, so I guess now is a good time to step back and evaluate our relationship. In the last year, I've posted or retweeted 257 tweets, so that averages out to less than one tweet a day. I go through phases where I use it more, but I also often forget to tweet for a week or so. Even when I don't tweet, I usually check twitter every day on my phone or while I'm sitting in class. I follow 99 people right now and have 67 followers. Most of the people that I follow are people I know. I'm not very interested in following celebrities, but there are maybe two or three on my following list. I'm mostly just interested in what my friends are doing, and if more of my close friends were on Twitter, I think I would use it more. If you aren't on Twitter, here is what my page looks like.

My following page. I think everyone in this screenshot is a classmate for ENM . Welcome to Twitter guys :) 

My followers. I'm particularly honored that my little brother thought I was worth following again. 

Shout Outs

After taking some time to browse through the blogs of my classmates, I feel the need to step it up on this blog to be in the game. There are some really neat things going on with these blogs. Check out the links on the right to see for yourself. There are some posts that we all have in common - assignments given out for class. Those can be interesting to compare our different uses of new new media, but the ones that interest me the most are the extra posts that people are putting up. Bry posted a Youtube book trailer for Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children which I thought was a great link between old media and new new media (for those of us who still love paper books). Check out her post here. Another post I enjoyed reading was Chelsea's superbowl coverage. She talked about new new media, but she also talked about her superbowl experience and shared a funny picture. Here is a link to her post. I'm taking notes about what makes their blogs more interesting than mine, and my conclusion in that I need to be looking for and posting more cool new new media related information about things I am interested in or things I do. I guess I better get working on that now.

Looking at Local Blogs

This blog probably won't reach an audience far beyond this class because the posts on it aren't really relevant beyond our class discussions, so what kinds of blogs become popular, particularly in areas like Madison? As a class, we have been looking at several blogs from the community and how they attract their audience. Each of these blogs has different types of posts to suit their different purposes. The Madville Times blog is the type of blog that comes to mind when I think about traditional blogging. The blog covers current events with a clear bias and opinion and encourages comment discussion. A blog like that is different from a blog like Cassie Edward's personal blog where she promotes her artwork. While the first functions as medium for a writer to earn money from advertisements and get his opinion out there, this second blog is a way for an artist to promote a career in art while using the blog simply as a tool. The blog is a great way to show ones art because it allows for both large pictures and text in a way that is not crammed. The Madison Art's Council also has a blog, but rather than posting information or opinions about art and artists, the blog mostly exists to inform community members about events that they sponsor. Again, the blog format works well because it is an attractive way to display pictures and text and to reach anyone who might be interested. There is no right way to use a blog, and many individuals, businesses or organizations can use blogging as a promotional tool.

English for New Media Video

For class I was assigned to create a short video displaying the text "English for New Media" that would convey what that area of study is. I don't have a lot of video making skills, but I wanted to show how English for New Media is used around the internet. I chose to focus on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts and illustrate how one video post (the text English for New Media) can be shared from site to site.

To see it in better quality, view it on YouTube. 

The background music is from the song "BomBom (feat. The Teaching)" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

On the Runway Link

I didn't realize that the New York Times hosts a wide variety of blogs on their website. I skipped through all the important topics (polotics, business, technology, ect.) and went straight to the culture, style, and leisure blogs. I particularly enjoyed a blog called On The Runway and their article recapping the red carpet from last weekend's SAG Awards. Check it out if you're into that kind of thing.

NY TImes On The Runway covers the SAG Awards

Blog Analysis

Here's a look at how I've been using my blog so far:

• Number of posts: 5
• Topics:
• Welcome post
• New new media
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogs
• Pinterest
• Goodreads
• Hardware
• Links: 
• Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads
• Other classmates' blogs
• Template changes: 0
• Widgets: 
• Blog Archive
• Blog List
• About Me
• Classmates links
• Comments: No comments yet, but I have set it to allow anybody to comment without moderation. I have not commented on any blogs.

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