1. Why is consumerism a concept central to this unit?
Consumerism is central because New Media Technologies can't survive without selling, the consumer is the most important thing to media institutions. Most New Media Technologies expire within 18 months according to the article, this shows the high demand for the technology. The issue of consumerism is interesting to examine because it raises discussion about whether it is a good or a bad thing.
2. How do we often "unwittingly give up our privacy"?
Everything that we look at on the internet is recorded and everything we search for tells somebody else a little more about us. It is easy to give up our privacy because of websites like myspace and facebook which allow people to tell other people all about themselves but they are also telling the computer. After it's posted anyone can access the infomation.
3. How have NMT's criminalised audiences?
NMT's can criminalise people through the use of the internet where anything can be done, on the internet people are given the ability to download anything they can find which is illegal but people still do it because it's so easy and impossible to get caught. The audience for this media is big, which means that it is almost impossible to track down criminals and even if you do catch them you can't get rid of them for good.
4. What health and enviromental issues do NMT's pose?
There have been a number of health concerns metioned by the public, the most common is the rumor that mobile phone masts can cause deaths in birds and that they can make people very sick if they are in close contact to them. The hazards of NMT's are gennerally thought to be acceptable but as the demand for NMT's grows so does the risk of health issues. We still do not know the long term effects of NMT's.
Monday, 28 April 2008
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
New Media Technology-The Facts
For the full infomation on the Wii i will gather facts from Wikipedia and anywhere else i find such as the Wii website.
Outline: The Wii menu is a 3x4 grid that contains all the channels included with the console as well as slots for future channels to be added to. The first channel is the basic game channel which plays the game inserted in to the console (these can be Wii or the older Gamecube games as the Wii is backwards compatible). The second channel is the Mii channel which allows people to create avatars of themselves or other people providing a greater level of personalisation, the Miis created in this channel are used in some games like Wii sports or the more recent Wii Fit. The third channel is a photo channel which allows people to alter there photos by inserting an SD card in to the Wii. The forth channel is the Wii shoping channel which accesses the Wii network and allows you to download games from older Nintendo consoles using Wii points, the game downloaded will take up a Wii channel slot on the main menu. The fifth and sixth channels provide worldwide coverege of the news and weather. As well as these basic channels there are also channels that can be downloaded from the Wii shopping channel such as the internet channel. Some games also come with channel attachments like Wii Fit.
Reviews: The Wii reciecved the most favroable reviews of any of the next generation consoles when previewed. Currently the Wii has one seven awards for it's system but most of these awards are for it's hardware like the Wii channels. The creator of The Sims Will Write said that "The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic." The Wii has also been criticised for a lack of third party support, Free Radical Design stated that the Wii hardware lacks the power necessary to run the software they have scheduled for release on other seventh generation consoles.
Pros and Cons: To break down the Wii in to an easy to understand console i will lst the pros and cons that people have commented on.
Pros-The Wii is the most inuative next generation console due to it's motion controls, the worldwide success of Wii has shown game developers that it is not enough to release the same game with slightly better graphics every few years, the Wii is more physically demanding than other consoles and it appeals to a completely different demographic of people opening up the games market.
Cons-There is a lack of third party support for games with high quality graphics, the sound system used in the controllers is weaker than it should be, online connectivity is unintuitive so far and some developers failed to take the Wii seriously upon it's release producing some low quality release games.
Statistics: It is clear from the sales statistics that the problems of the Wii critics are not strongly supported by the consumers. The Wii now dominates the UK games market having 41.6% of console sales, in europe it has sold around 3 million console by the end of last year. In England the Wii was under shiped when it first arrived as it sold out in it's first day leading to high internet prices because there was still huge demand for the console. The Wii has currently sold over 20.13 million sales worldwide as of the end of december last year. As of september last year the Wii became the most popular of all next generation consoles according to the Financial Times.
Outline: The Wii menu is a 3x4 grid that contains all the channels included with the console as well as slots for future channels to be added to. The first channel is the basic game channel which plays the game inserted in to the console (these can be Wii or the older Gamecube games as the Wii is backwards compatible). The second channel is the Mii channel which allows people to create avatars of themselves or other people providing a greater level of personalisation, the Miis created in this channel are used in some games like Wii sports or the more recent Wii Fit. The third channel is a photo channel which allows people to alter there photos by inserting an SD card in to the Wii. The forth channel is the Wii shoping channel which accesses the Wii network and allows you to download games from older Nintendo consoles using Wii points, the game downloaded will take up a Wii channel slot on the main menu. The fifth and sixth channels provide worldwide coverege of the news and weather. As well as these basic channels there are also channels that can be downloaded from the Wii shopping channel such as the internet channel. Some games also come with channel attachments like Wii Fit.
Reviews: The Wii reciecved the most favroable reviews of any of the next generation consoles when previewed. Currently the Wii has one seven awards for it's system but most of these awards are for it's hardware like the Wii channels. The creator of The Sims Will Write said that "The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic." The Wii has also been criticised for a lack of third party support, Free Radical Design stated that the Wii hardware lacks the power necessary to run the software they have scheduled for release on other seventh generation consoles.
Pros and Cons: To break down the Wii in to an easy to understand console i will lst the pros and cons that people have commented on.
Pros-The Wii is the most inuative next generation console due to it's motion controls, the worldwide success of Wii has shown game developers that it is not enough to release the same game with slightly better graphics every few years, the Wii is more physically demanding than other consoles and it appeals to a completely different demographic of people opening up the games market.
Cons-There is a lack of third party support for games with high quality graphics, the sound system used in the controllers is weaker than it should be, online connectivity is unintuitive so far and some developers failed to take the Wii seriously upon it's release producing some low quality release games.
Statistics: It is clear from the sales statistics that the problems of the Wii critics are not strongly supported by the consumers. The Wii now dominates the UK games market having 41.6% of console sales, in europe it has sold around 3 million console by the end of last year. In England the Wii was under shiped when it first arrived as it sold out in it's first day leading to high internet prices because there was still huge demand for the console. The Wii has currently sold over 20.13 million sales worldwide as of the end of december last year. As of september last year the Wii became the most popular of all next generation consoles according to the Financial Times.
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Case study feedback #2
Jamie - you have made a solid start (I read draft on Nintendo) however you need much more research than this for the deadline tomorrow.
Make sure you are checking BBC / The Guardian websites for related articles, stats and reflecting back to your case study.
cf
Make sure you are checking BBC / The Guardian websites for related articles, stats and reflecting back to your case study.
cf
New Media Technologies-Product Website
Nintendo has created a website to inform it's audience about it's new console and the technology it is compatible with. I will examine this website to see what it offers it's audience, i will evaluate the site on it's convergence, personalisation and interactivity.
1. Convergence-The site uses many different forms of media including television, radio and print. The site uses all these forms of media to educate people about there software, they use television because they post all the wii console adverts on the site so that the audience can see what there buying. They also have in depth analysis of there new games using podcasts or radio, this allows the consumer to absorb all the infomation before deciding whether they want to buy the product. Print is used to analyse the products on offer which helps people if they can't access the podcasts or adverts for some reason. I believe that the convergence of all these technologies has worked very well and the site is very useful because of this.
2. Personalisation-This is important because it is what ensures the audience who are looking for the product will continue to visit the site. They visit because the site gives them a feeling of control over what they look at, for instance the site provides links to all the popular games main site. The site gives the audience the choice of language which gives the audience the impresion that the site has been created to please everyone. The viewer has the choice of whether they want to read a breif outline of a game or if they want to read about it in depth. The podcasts on the site can make the audience feel like they are really involved in the game making procedure as they contain interviews and discussions between the game creaters.
3. Interactivity-The site is very interactive because it provides videos which show the different pieces of technology for the wii and how to use them. The site has a very simplistic design which makes it easy to find what your looking for. There are options at the bottom of the page that allow the viewer to contact Nintendo if they have any problems, there is also an option that allows the viewer to sign up to a weekly newsletter from Nintendo that will keep them up to date so that they don't have to keep visiting the website. Overall the site is very interactive but the website will allows be a pull media which will make it hard for the website to gather a new audience which means that Nintendo still need different forms of advertising.
1. Convergence-The site uses many different forms of media including television, radio and print. The site uses all these forms of media to educate people about there software, they use television because they post all the wii console adverts on the site so that the audience can see what there buying. They also have in depth analysis of there new games using podcasts or radio, this allows the consumer to absorb all the infomation before deciding whether they want to buy the product. Print is used to analyse the products on offer which helps people if they can't access the podcasts or adverts for some reason. I believe that the convergence of all these technologies has worked very well and the site is very useful because of this.
2. Personalisation-This is important because it is what ensures the audience who are looking for the product will continue to visit the site. They visit because the site gives them a feeling of control over what they look at, for instance the site provides links to all the popular games main site. The site gives the audience the choice of language which gives the audience the impresion that the site has been created to please everyone. The viewer has the choice of whether they want to read a breif outline of a game or if they want to read about it in depth. The podcasts on the site can make the audience feel like they are really involved in the game making procedure as they contain interviews and discussions between the game creaters.
3. Interactivity-The site is very interactive because it provides videos which show the different pieces of technology for the wii and how to use them. The site has a very simplistic design which makes it easy to find what your looking for. There are options at the bottom of the page that allow the viewer to contact Nintendo if they have any problems, there is also an option that allows the viewer to sign up to a weekly newsletter from Nintendo that will keep them up to date so that they don't have to keep visiting the website. Overall the site is very interactive but the website will allows be a pull media which will make it hard for the website to gather a new audience which means that Nintendo still need different forms of advertising.
New Media Technologies-Hypothesis
For my case study i have decided to investigate the introduction of the channel system for the wii. The channel system forms the core of the wii consoles menu and the pupose of it is to allow consumers greater interactivity with games and other forms of technology on offer such as the internet. I have decided to examine the effect that the channel system has had on the sales of the console and to see whether this system is leading towards a greater level of interactivity with the consumer. In order to investigate these points i will gather research from articles, reviews, product websites and statistics.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Digital Democracy
1. Citizen journalism is when any ordinary citizen plays a part in gathering and analysing news. There have been citizen journalists for years because the idea to investigate what we are being told by the media has always been an issue. In the past people could only contribute to the news by writing small articles for newspapers or posting a letter to them, but with the rise of the internet and blogs the news process has become more personalised.
2. In her article Emily Bell talks about how everybody plays a role in the media and how the media has changed recently, for example the internet becoming an effective news communication system. The article examines the effects that new technologies have had on people as well as our society as a whole. Overall the article examines weather news is just for journalists anymore.
3. The googlezon video raises crucial issues about what will happen in the future if our obsesion with the internet continues. Among the issues the video raises there is the idea that the internet will become very competitive over customers and competition would increase leading to some sites being forced of the internet. One of the more frightning ideas presented was that the internet would soon know more about us than anybody else because it can see what you look at, this means that people would just become targets for advertisments. If people keep giving away personal information to the internet then it will gain the power to run our lives.
2. In her article Emily Bell talks about how everybody plays a role in the media and how the media has changed recently, for example the internet becoming an effective news communication system. The article examines the effects that new technologies have had on people as well as our society as a whole. Overall the article examines weather news is just for journalists anymore.
3. The googlezon video raises crucial issues about what will happen in the future if our obsesion with the internet continues. Among the issues the video raises there is the idea that the internet will become very competitive over customers and competition would increase leading to some sites being forced of the internet. One of the more frightning ideas presented was that the internet would soon know more about us than anybody else because it can see what you look at, this means that people would just become targets for advertisments. If people keep giving away personal information to the internet then it will gain the power to run our lives.
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