prosumer, how the idea of prosumption has change over the years and how it is big with the new media

The idea of prosumption has been around for many years yet it is a concept that isn't widely recognised or known about. For over 200 years since the industrial revolution that has seen the world change forever the centre of the capitalist world has been the factories, the production of goods. ( Ritzer, 2010) But a dramatic change at the close of the Second World War, consumers in the US wanted goods, such as refrigerate, the consumer was slowly making its way as the main form of capitalism as factories started to decline in the US. ( Ritzer, 2010) the US is now seen as a nation of consumers but with the world becoming more globalised a single nation does not have to do both, but can rely on imports from other counties to supply the demands and yet even when we consider MacDonald as the pinnacle of physical prosumption where the consumer, must go to the counter to order, the consumer takes their own food to their table and they must clean up after themselves, this physical  prosumption is nothing compared to the online prosumption of data.

                                             Picture 

The Web 2.0 has change the face of the world with it being a user-generated, with websites such as YouTube, Facebook and twitter. ( Ritzer, 2010)  The idea behind website such as the ones just mentions is that we consume what is on our pages of people and things we like and the we produce information about what we do, how we feel and how such products have been useful such as the MacDonald Facebook page where people can see promotions not advertise on the traditional forms of media and comment on such promotions. The way I am a prosumer is generally though Facebook where I’ll make a status update or share a picture and at the same time I could be looking at someone else’s profile. Another way I am a big prosumer is on YouTube, I am yet to post videos myself but I’ll watch and comment on videos as I see fit thus giving the producer information of the quality and how they could improve the next video they make.

   

Most information gathered from Journal of Consumer Culture, Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital 'prosumer' George Ritzer and Nathan Jurgenson, 2010

Cover-up versus exposure

cover up and exposure play a major role in many industries and governments. The music industry is a prime example of cover ups and expose when it comes to peer to peer downloading. The music industry wants to cover up the idea of gaining music for free. The idea to me is one of unjust why should people who have worked hard to write original music not earn money from is rightful theirs to sell. the ability to download music for free may have expanded the amount of music available to a larger amount of people but it comes at a price, it is morally wrong to steal and yet people everyday will download music. i guess people see it as a victimless crime.

                                             picture used in the next web
now to the exposure it is the peer to peer downloading that wants the expose. peer to peer downloading has become extremely popular in the last decade with the rise of website such as pirate bay and Napster the more populate these websites become the more harmful it is to the music industries. there are way to get unlimited download of music without paying for each and every song or album for example i use an app/website of JB Hi-Fi Now, which for $10 per month or $100 per year gives me assess to unlimited download of music, it may not include every artist and album but it is a legal fair way of downloading music where the artist still get the recognition and right that that deserve. the expose that new apps and website charging like the ones I just mention allows for honest use of the new format of downloading music.

                                                 picture used in Wikimedia commons
both the music giants and the peer to peer download have both covered up certain part of their operation. the peer to peer downloading most obvious use a cover up operation when users exchange proprietary MP3s covertly to avoid prosecution. while the music giants do it by hiding thier attacks on peer to peer websites by hiring third parties to place 'seeds' that are infected.

infomation gather on http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680 

https://now.jbhifi.com.au/#/music/Home/Welcome/





  

Big Media and Fox News

Rupert Murdoch Empire is one of unbelievable big and has a sphere of influence that extends 

to around three quarters of the world. One of his most renowned companies of is Fox and the news show.  The sheer size and influence of Murdoch’s News Corp and Fox News mean that his empire is possible the biggest in history even bigger than the British Empire of the 19^th centuries. Today Murdoch owns 9 satellite TV networks, 100 cable channels, 175 newspapers, 40 books imprints, 40 TV stations and a movie studio (0:01:53) with a total audience reach of 4.7 billion people, that ¾ of the entire world population, Europe in the 19^th centuries may have claimed more territorial land but the influence of Europe would have been marginal compared to the total audience that Murdoch can influence.   The fox news is possibly one of the most bias news in the US despite the slogan ‘Fair & Balance’ and ‘We report. You decide. The no political side approach that Fox started with before Murdoch brought it change quickly three years after, when Murdoch order the news to stop in order to pay tribute to Ronal Ragan( 00:04:13)which was straight out propaganda and had nothing with the new. The abilities of empires to influence the general population has been well documented throughout histories, the British Empire for example colonizing India, not only did English people move to India, the native population was force to learn the English culture and language. The same thing is happening today with the Media Empires such as News Corps and Fox News. This ability to influence the general population is clear with memos on particular issues such as the 2004 election when ‘ Nominees who both sides admit are qualified are being held up because of their POSSible, not demonstrated, views on one issue- abortions. This should be a trademark issue for FNC (Fox News Corporation).’ This ability to influence what is seen and not seen plays a very importance part in the world of politics and the general people do not even realize it. Because of how big New Corps is it able to influence multiple nations in essence making it an equivalence of a European Union or regional governance. This fit perfectly in today’s world as globalization is seen as regionalization so areas of cooperation of government rather nation states by themselves, with many multination alliance such as NATO. (Pieterse, 2004 p10)    

 picure  by zoharma. shows how big some corperations truely are, news corp and fox in lower right side

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalization: consensus and controversies’, Globalization and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md      

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism .

Informational Flows

The flow of information has change dramatically in the last forty years from the time my parents were kids to now. When my parents were kids they did not have a phone less a mobile phone. Computers were rare and the internet was not even known about. It had for us to imaging a world now were we are not able to access information with a touch of a screen. The gathering of resource book then was much slower as a person had to go to a library and manually look though a book for the information that was required were as in today’s world such as I am doing with this blog, looking up information on an online database. The idea of the word ‘flow’ has had a dramatic influence on how we view the world now even if people do not realize it. Most people don’t pay attention to how the flow of information has changed how people view the world. For example the unrest in countries such as Egypt was affecting Egyptians communities around the world because of how quickly information can travel. The flow of information goes hand in hand with the media and globalization as the world gets smaller with the development of technologies such as the internet, and Skype allows people in the media such as reporters to communicate events in real time that happen in one area of the world can be communicated to the other side of the world instantly, whereas a few decades ago it would take much longer for news to travel. According to Thompson (Rantanen:2005, p9) the development of new media has not just established new ways of transmitting information but created new ways of communicating with each other’s. This can be seen today with Facebook, blogs and YouTube as new ways of people being able to communicate. Communication is not just one way anymore these new form of communication allow ordinary people just like me to do what I’m doing now and communicating to a much larger almost limitless audience. It is this new of communicating to the mass that has change the flow of information from just the media giants to potentially anyone.     

Rantanen, T. (2005) The Media and Golbasization, Sage, London 

Introduction, who am I

For those who don't know who i am my name is Steven Russell and I'm a student at Deakin University who is majoring in history. My interest  in history centres around the Two World Wars of the 20th century with more foucs on the first world war, otherwise known as the Great War or the war to end all wars. other than my passion for history i have other hobbies and likes. I enjoy writing short stories and enjoy good writing. Another thing i enjoy is sci-fi TV shows such as Doctor Who, Stargate and others.
This blog is about Globalisation and the media and the roles they play in shaping the world we live in and how the two are connected.