Media Ecology - New Media Case Studies

Media Ecology is the study of media environments, the idea that technology and techniques, modes of information and codes of communication play a leading role in human affairs.

New Media vs Traditional Media Case Studies

New Media -  any media—from newspaper articles and blogs to music and podcasts—that are delivered digitally.

Traditional Media -  all media that existed before the internet, such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and billboards

Technological Convergence - the process where technology and media integrates to deliver multiple media outputs that can be used to reach audiences.

How the media controls we connect with the world - Case Studies

1. Prosumerism - Produce 48

- aired in 2018 produced by Mnet, Subsidary company of CJ ENM.

- Mnet utilize technological convergence to promote to global audience

- online broadcast through live streaming platform ,Tving (also CJ ENM subsidary company) (available in many countries) 

- offers VOD service (allows audience, screenshot and share it to social media)

- Creates prosumerism (online votings allows contestant to be involved in the process of creating the group by choosing their favorite contestant)

- Prosumerism helps gain loyal fans

- Henry Jenkins's Fandom Theory -> fans are devoted followers of media texts who actively engage with the products to construct their own meanings and interpretations beyond the original message.

 Fans enjoy media texts so much that they create content based upon the text and form communities around it, which has been made even more possible due to the internet (media convergence)

  Audiences encourages other audiences to help vote on their favorite members by posting photos and clips from the show on their social media. They unconsciously promote the show to new audiences.

2. The shut down of Disney Channel

- The Walt Disney Company decided to shut down Disney Channel in Southeast Asia to focus on their online streaming service, Disney+ (2021) (due to a decrease in viewership ratings).

- VOD services allows audiences to watch contents on their own time.

- Less TV and cinema viewers

- Disney+ provides contents form Disney Channel, National Geographics & Marvel (The Walt Disney Company subsidary)

- exclusively on Disney+: She-Hulk (2022), Moon Knight(2022)

- audiences to produce and distribute their own media content

- Turning Red (2022), a Disney+ movie, has gathered more viewers though prosumerism.

- Their fans are actively making TikTok videos of them lipsyncing with an audio from the movie which indirectly also promotes the movie. 

- Due to the inclusions of left wing issues in the movies, fans has opened discussion regarding it in social medias like Twitter and Instagram. (satisfy one of the base needs from Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory, social relationship. We are able to build social relationships by discussing the media with other people through social media.)

- Allows piracy, screen recording

3. Teen Vogue

- Traditional magazines evolved into new media

- Teen Vogues stopped printing in 2017 to focus on their online zine (due to decline in consumers)

- Cheaper and practical

- People stopped going to the library or bookstore and instead they consume magazines online.

5. Pikmin Bloom (2021)

- Developer: Niantic

- Augmented Reality mobile game, location based game

- Encourages players to spend their time outside 

- Players can take pictures with their Pikmin characters. They integrate the AR character filter with the real life image from the user's camera. (encourages the player to make and caption photos for daily calendar entries)

- Uses location feature to track user's location and integrates it to the virtual map in the game.

- Connects with Apple Health and Google Fit to track user's health conditions.

5. Beyond Live (2020)

- Established by SM Entertainment in partnership with Naver.

- Allows artists to hold performances virtually

- Chosen fans are given a chance to interact real time with the performer via video call

- Due to technology we connect and interact with each other through video calls

- Instead of going to offline concerts many people prefer to attend online concerts since they don't need to travel and spend much money to enjoy the performances.

- Beyond live also provides VOD

- However, there are many cases of illegal online concert streamings. Many users are online streaming the concert live using the screen sharing features to make money. Some also screen recorded the concert and sell the file.

Section B - Media Ecology

 How has new media changed the form and style of traditional media? [30]

The advancement of technology has influenced the style and form of traditional media. New media has changed the way media organizations distribute media and the way audiences consume media. Traditional media, such as TV, radio and magazine has merged with technology to create new media, offering audiences a more portable and accessible way to consume media and allowing more ways for mass media distribution.

TV shows have become more interactive with the help of technological convergence. Produce 48 was the third season of the South Korean survival show Produce 101, aired in 2018 produced by Mnet, a subsidiary company of a major entertainment company, CJ ENM. Mnet utilize technological convergence to promote the series to a global audience. Aside from airing it on TV through the Mnet channel, CJ ENM broadcasted the show live through their streaming platform, TVing which is available in many countries, After the life show is done they offer VOD services which allow viewers to rewatch the show in their own time. This way people can watch the broadcast with their mobile phone anywhere and anytime they want. Produce 48 created prosumers by involving their audiences in the process of choosing the winners. They opened weekly online votings to let viewers choose their favorite contestant. As Produce 48 aims to produce a 12 member K-Pop girl group, the concept of prosumerism helps them to gain loyal fans even before debut. Before the era of new media, these kinds of survival shows would just be broadcasted once or twice in a specific airing time on TV. The voting system would just be available locally through SMS votings.

As technology advances, consumers are moving from traditional media towards new media. Due to the decrease of viewership ratings, in 2021, The Walt Disney Company decided to shut down Disney Channel in Southeast Asia to focus on their online streaming service, Disney+. Disney+ offers a video-on-demand service allowing audiences to watch shows even after it’s airing on the TV or cinema. Other than that, there are series that are exclusively only on Disney+, such as She-Hulk (2022) and Moon Knight (2022) driving audiences to subscribe to their service. Disney+ provides more variety of contents than Disney Channel as it includes films from their subsidiary companies, National Geographic and Marvel which was acquired on 2009.Streaming platforms like Disney+ are preferred by audiences as it’s cheaper and more convenient for the audience. They also come with features such as subtitles or dubbing which allow audiences to consume films in various languages. Technological convergence also has allowed audiences to produce and distribute their own media content. An example is, Turning Red (2022), a Disney+ movie, has gathered more viewers though prosumerism. Their fans are actively making TikTok videos of them lipsyncing with an audio from the movie which indirectly also promotes the movie. Due to the inclusions of left wing issues in the movies, fans has opened discussion regarding it in social medias like Twitter and Instagram. It helps us satisfy one of the base needs from Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory, social relationship. We are able to build social relationships by discussing the media with other people through social media.

Technology has a huge impact on the magazine industry. Magazine is considered as traditional media, however, now many of them has evolved into a new media. In 2017, Teen Vogue announced that they’re stopping the printing of their physical magazine due to the decline of consumers, However, they’re still making magazines and publishing them through their website. Online magazines are preferred by many audiences especially the younger ones like Teen Vogue’s target market, because they’re accessible by everyone and cheaper or even free of cost.

Technology has expand the ways to produce media. Back then, media producers rely on physical props and set design to create the visual they want. However, new media enable the use of CGI and VFX. In November 2020, SM entertainment debuted a KPop girl group with metaverse concept, Aespa. Aespa ains to normalize metaverse concepts with their songs and videos. They’re consisted of 4 human members and 4 AI avatars. They use CGI and AI to feature their AI avatars in their performance stages and and music videos. They utilize augmented reality to make their products more interactive for the audiences. With their app, SMTOWN AR they allow fans to enter the Aespa’s virtual world in the metaverse called, KWANGYA with augmented reality which integrates real life and digital media. However this has created many drawbacks for the audiences as it may cause eye problems and make them delusional. SM entertainment promotes Aespa by creating digital contents of the members and uploading in on streaming platforms like YouTube rather than promoting them through TV.

       Score and Feedbacks: 5-6-6-5-6 = 28/30 (93%)

        - Excellent answer

        - In your paragraph about Vogue, talk more about how the STYLE of the online edition is different               (shorter articles, more pictures, interactivity etc)

        - Make sure you keep referring back to the question

Analyse the significance of the convergence of the smartphone with mass communication technology.

The convergence between smartphone and mass communication technology has affected the way we consume media. With the help of technological convergence, audiences are able to access movies, tv shows and prints from anywhere and anytime with the internet.

As technology advances, the media industry is moving from traditional media towards new media that we can access through our smartphone. Nowadays it’s common for media companies to distribute their films through online streaming platforms. Due to the decrease of viewership ratings, in 2021, The Walt Disney Company decided to shut down Disney Channel in Southeast Asia to focus on their online streaming service, Disney+. Disney+ allows their subscribers to watch any shows through their smartphones anytime without limitations. Disney+ has allowed Disney to provide a wider variety of content as it includes shows from their subsidiary companies, National Geographic and Marvel which was acquired in 2009. It also allowed Marvel Studios to produce niche films such as She-Hulk (2022) and Moon Knight (2022) for the Marvel Comics fandom that are exclusively only available on Disney+. Contents on Disney+ are easily accessible by audiences as it can be accessed through smartphones and it’s also relatively cheap when compared to movie tickets or blu ray discs. The use of smartphones can help us satisfy one of the base needs from Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory, social relationship. We are able to build social relationships by discussing the media with other people through social media discussions or online communities.

With the help of smartphones, TV shows are able to reach a wider audience and allow prosumerism. Boys Planet is a South Korean survival TV show aired in 2023, produced by Mnet, a subsidiary of a major entertainment company, CJ ENM. Mnet utilizes technological convergence to promote the series to a global audience. Aside from airing it through the local Mnet channel, CJ ENM worked together with streaming platforms such as VIKI and VIU to broadcast the show internationally which lets fans to watch the show through their smartphones. The mobile app of the streaming platforms also provides international viewers with subtitles or dubbing in various languages. Boys Planet created prosumers by involving their audience in the process of choosing the winners. They opened weekly online votings that can be accessed through mobile phones to let viewers choose their favorite contestants. According to Henry Jenkins’s Fandom Theory, fans enjoy media texts so much that they create contents based upon the text and form communities around it, which has been made even more possible with the help of smartphones. The Boys Planet fandom actively participates in the promotion of the show by posting screenshots or clips from the show on social media to attract other fans. Their fans act as textual poachers that can offer new interpretations of the show by creating their own media such as fanfictions of the contestants and fanmade music videos. Smart phones also contain cameras and editing software, so the prosumers can upload using their phones only. 

In this digital age less people are willing to buy physical prints of magazines since it’s more practical for them to search for information through smartphones. Magazines which are considered traditional media have evolved into new media. In 2017, Teen Vogue announced that they’re stopping the printing of their physical magazine due to the decline of consumers, However, they’re still making magazines and publishing them through their website. Online magazines are preferred by many audiences, especially the younger ones like Teen Vogue’s target market, because they’re accessible through their smartphones. The style and form of online magazines have been made to suit smartphones. The layout has been altered to fit the smartphone aspect ratio. The magazine also includes shorter articles, more pictures. Smartphones also allowed online zines to be more interactive by adding videos or clickable texts and links.

Thanks to the advancement of smartphones we are able to digitalized events that are usually conducted offline. In early 2020, when the pandemic started people were unable to watch their favourite artists in concerts or festivals. This led to the invention of online concerts. Beyond Live is one of the first online live concert streaming services established in early 2020 by SM Entertainment in partnership with Naver. The platform allows artists to hold a live performance virtually that can be watched through smartphones. Other than that, chosen fans are given a chance to interact real time with the performer via video calls. Not long after its establishment, a Kpop group formed by SM Entertainment, SuperM, held their first online concert. They garnered hundreds of thousand ticket buyers, proving their massive success. Unlike offline concerts, Beyond Live provides their customers with VOD, allowing them to rewatch the show anytime they want. Although traditional concerts are allowed these days, many Korean artists chose to do concerts through Beyond Live because of its practicality and the amount of profit it gave them because according to Hesmondhalgh’s cultural industries theory, media companies need to minimize risk and maximize profit to be successful.