Website analysis: NME.COM

a)HOW IS YOUR CHOSEN SITE STRUCTURED?
The website (which also comes in a USA-version which uses the same layout) uses a horizontal row of hyperlinks to the different sections of the website, some of these sections feature a 2nd row of hyperlinks underneath this navigation-bar that link to even more specific sub-sections.
Just above the main navigation bar we find the date, a link to the US-version of the website and a search field that allows users to search either the website or the web in general. The Op left is reserved for the (recognised) NME logo (Top-left is the first thing you see, after all) and the top right is filled by an ad-banner. The navigation bar helps users find what they want from the website fairly quickly, after all the whole point of hypertext is that it's selective, non-linear and enabling users to just go for the part that serve their needs without having to work their way though stuff they're not interested in.

The font page of NME.com features the latest updates from each section of the website, so the latest added news stories, the latest photos and videos added, the latest features, reviews, concerts announcements, blog-entries, etc. The front page also enables the user to log in (or sign up to) a SNS-type service called MyNME.

The bottom of the page features another navigation area, repeating the links in the top bar but also links to other websites run by the same publisher and to NME’s profiles on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter & Youtube.

These top and bottom navigation areas are the same on practically all pages of the website due to the use of a web-template. NME is a dynamic website as opposed to a static one as the website’s content is constantly updated.

b) WHAT IS IT ABOUT ON A CULTURAL LEVEL
The NME website clearly relies on the reputation, public image and heritage of the NME magazine. However, the website doesn't simply present itself as the web-presence of the magazine, but as the online home of NME as an institution in general. The publisher seems to be eager to expand the NME brand's values and reputation to mediums other than the magazine itself seeing as in recent years they have also launched an NME radio station and NME Television channel (both featured on the website with NME Radio being available online aswel). I would argue that this way they want to make the NME synonym with the type of music (alternative/indie) and associated culture it deals with. Obviously, the readers of the magazine and those familiar with the brand and familiar with the music and culture associated with it would be interested in the website and they appear to be the website's target audience. Young, somewhat well-educated, predominantly male. It uses the norms of the indie-culture and adresses the user appropiately, using somewhat specialist terms where required and expecting the user to know what they mean, thus expecting the users to have some basic knowledge about the subject. (Could be seen as a mild example of boundary maintenance? The process of keeping “those who don't belong in this group” out by using specialist terms they will not get. What do people think?)

Despite presenting itself as a somewhat “alternative” platform, the increase in interest from the general public in the indie genre means that it is now quite a lucrative business. And despite this “facade” it doesn't manage to hide the fact that it is in fact a commercial website. Not only NME's co-operation with other brands such as Shockwaves (for the awards) and quite often co-operating with music retailer HMV make this clear but the website also features quite a large amount of advertisments, some slightly more covert than others. For example, the 'store'-link in the top navigation bar appears to take the user to a sub-section of the nme.com but is actually hyperlink directly to a completely different website, an online shop. Also, an important feature of the website is the online concert-ticket store, which is featured not only in the “gigs & tickets” section of the navigation bar but is even featured on the front page. The “check availability” links in their own turn then take you directly to another website that sells concert tickets online, no doubt paying a commission to NME's publishers IPC Media. It is a clever way of making use of the way the NME brand has become associated with the musical genre itself. You can easily imagine somebody typing NME into google to find out where to get concert tickets to see their favourite band.

c)WHAT IS THE APPEAL FOR ITS USERS?
Obviously, because the website's brand and its particular subject seem so very much associated with each other it is an obvious starting point for those who are interested in the music and culture it deals with, but also for those who wish to find out more about it. The news stories on the website, which is solely related to indie music and associated popular culture and written by members of a dedication website-team, can be commented on by users, but no stories can be submitted so the website isn't an 'open' news source. A traditional news source instead then, which seems to be in line with the way IPC/NME aspire to display NME as the country's main media institution when it comes to indie/alternative popular culture. This will probably make the user, who is familiar with NME's reputation, think of the website as a reliable news source about the subject that can be trusted. But surely IPC/NME's commercial means must influence the site's news values and the way it applies gate-keeping when selecting which stories are covered (and how).

The website also offers a social networking type area where users can set up their own profiles, private message and discuss related subjects in the discussion forums provided, all this does seem to produce a type of online indie-community where the users can discuss aspects of it that may be too niche or specialist to be discussed on other more general music websites, even if the website is ultimately run by IPC Media/NME for commercial purposes. So I would imagine it could be assumed that the online community doesn't provide complete openness and freedom to the user.

Sadly Sadly SADLY, due to a fault in the website's system, I could not finish the registration-process in order to check out this interactive part of the website myself. I have been trying for several weeks now and even e-mailed the web team about it but it still doesn't seem to be working. Surely they must notice at some point that they don't have any new users registering to their website? Hmm.

Week 4 | Topic 1: Lister

What do you think of the notion that online community can be empowering/disempowering?

I think you could argue in favour of both of these standpoints really. Yes, it does enable people with a specific interest, or specific lifestyle for that matter, with a community where they can freely express themselves, something they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Empowering. However, on the other hand I would argue that at the same time it takes away the need for them to learn how to fit these ideologies and interests into society in general and could even affect their sense of what is and what isn't socially acceptable in general everyday life. Disempowering.

So basically it enables them to not always have to conform to "the norm" while at the same time it might cause them to lose touch of what this norm actually is.



Does the Net provide a ‘public sphere’ where citizens can engage with each other? If so, how, and are there any limitations?

Urm, yes. Everything that occurs and then gets discussed enters "the public sphere" I would think. Specific topics in specific online communities, unless it's things that affect almost every one of us which then end up being discussed everywhere, BUT from the community's own perspective. (E.G. Music forum PopJsutice's users are discussing the demise of physical music stores and if the credit crunch is affecting how likely they are to download illegally while on TVforum the effects of the credit crunch on the budgets of original television programming is discussed.)

Yes, it is still a very closed network of communities, but then again, the original concept of the "public sphere" took place in elitist "coffee houses". So yes, it is still a closed group discussing matters in the publ;ic sphere, but at least now it's all of us who have access to our own "public spheres" of our choice.

To what extent are ‘dangerous materials’ prominent on the Internet (or ‘junk and jerks’ as Kollock put it)? What do their existence mean in terms of the ‘freedoms’ the Net allows? Is freedom always positive?

Well, the question whether or not freedom is always positive may be a bit much to just ask onhere, but I guess it CAN be said that the negative aspects of freedom (the junks and jerks) are an unevitible side-effect of total freedom in any context. Yes, the internet allows freedom of speach more than any other place but thse niche points that re made on the net may indeed well be hateful, racist or frowned upon for any iother reason. The Junks and Jerks that like to "set the cat amongst the pigeons" by making exptreme statements in other, normally peaceful, communities is something that doesn't just happen online, but the internet and the way you can adapt your own cutom-made identity do make it much easier.


To what extent can ‘ordinary’ Net users become producers of culture, rather than people who ‘respond’ to culture supplied for them?

I think we all knows the stories about bands being pciked up by record labels after A&R bigwigs heard their music on Myspace. And yes, Myspace Music is a good example of a website where the suers become the producers of culture. The same goes for Youtube, where lots of people upload their own short films and other artistic projects.



It has now reached the point where internet services are even completely undermining the role of the big record and film publishing companies:

In early 2006 large online music-download retailer 7digital launched something called "indiestore". this service allowed independent and unsigned artists to upload and sell their music though both the seperate indiestore.com site aswel as the main 7digital store for free (and receiving a commission for every track sold). (Normally only record companies can provide online music download stores with copies of music, so, actually getting your song ON iTunes isn't quite as simple as many unsigned artists would've hoped!) As 7digital/indiestore report their sales to chart compiling orginisations in several countries (about 20 I think) this once even led to a single from an un-signed artist appearing in the official UK singles charts. So, maybe it's not just the music retailers (Zavvi, anyone?) but one day even the record labels themselves who may have to compete with internet-based services and companies.

Reading week 4 | Visionary communities

CHAPTER 3.6: Visionary communities
On page 173 the book discusses the summary of (somewheat pro-technologic) claims from Jones (1994:26) that computer mediated communications will:

1. Create opportunities for education and learning.
Well yeah, I can see what point is being made here and yes, even though this book was written WAY before technology of this kind made it to the classroom Jones was right in suggesting that CMC was a good platform to use for educational purposes. It has become one of the main forms of communication in higher education, for example, on our course e-mail has become the main way to contact lecturers outside of lectures and seminars. Or, a more intense example: this very unit which is, bar the weekly lecture, completely internet-based.

2. Create new opportunities for participatory democracy.
It seems that democracy, and voting particularly, is still a bit of a non-mover. Several countries are doing tests with online-voting (I once participated in a test-session like that in the NL myself, gotta love dual citizenship!) but hasn't become the norm anywhere as yet. However, the internet IS a popular platform for campaigning and expressing political views and agenda's. Including those that not normally would have been published in any other type of media due to the small scale or individualist character of them.

3. Establish countercultures on an unprecedented scale.
Yes, it does, but, like I mentioned before, it enables these different counter-cultural norms of behaviour within a specific, smaller online community. A sub-culture is still a sub-culture, even online, the main difference is is that CMC makes subculture a lot more accesible for those interested.

4. Ensnarl already difficult legal matters concerning privacy, copyright and ethics.
I Jones by this means what I think he means then yes, people are more like to entangle themselves in these matters. And indeed, not exactly making them any easier, but at least people get actively involved with these matters rather than just following the norm entirely.

5. Restructure man/machine interaction.
Well, I suppose. We have become more dependent of machines, that's one thing that's for sure, seeing as we rely on it to communicate to others. But still, it's the other produser that's interacting with us though these technologies. It's not the actual machine, so... Not really.

Week 3 | Topic 2 | Question A

Is withholding one’s identity ethically wrong?

I think this depends entirely on the website or other internet-service used. A really basic example can be given by comparing the two most popular social networking websites. Rivals they may be, but the social discourse and expectations of how people represent themselves is totally different. Facebook on the one hand expects users to use their real name, upload ONLY pictures of themselves, and communicate with people in their actual lives/environment, for example by using networks based on employers or educational institution which you can only join if you can proof that you are part of this "group". So Facebook is more a tool to contact people you actually know rather than a place to meet people. Myspace, on the other hand, is more about customising a page very much and creating an online persona that is perhaps only remotely related to you real-life identity. Myspace actually is more about meeting people based on similar interests like music and things like that. For example, my own Myspace page only passingly mentions that my name is Frank (http://www.myspace.com/fbcnl)

Not normally a problem at all, users of the respective websites know what to expect from other users onthere, but it WOULD be (ethically?) wrong to use Facebook like Myspace and think of a vaux identity onthere as people will expect you to be yourself.

More examples would be Role Playing Games and chatboxes. Role playing games (MUD's, MOO's, World of Warcraft and so on) are all about constructing a custom-made identity, and other users knwo this. In chatboxes (still depending on the theme though, but i'm generalising here to make my point) people may expect you to be yourself and if they are, it could be considered wrong if you pretend to be somebody you're not. Especially if you are doing this in order to gain people's trust/information or God knows what else.

Week 2: Topic 2 | Blogs

NAVIGATION | Navigation around the blogs is quite easy, especially since I already had experience with Blogger in particular. It easy to keep track of new posts on blogs of your peers, making it easy to respond to each other's posts. Also, the actual posting-part of the website works very intuitive and is easy to use.

EXPRESSION | Well, originally the essence of blogging is publishing your thoughts and musings to the world, and it is noticeable how blogger is clearly designed to make it as easy as possible but at the same time enables more advanced functions like HTML-support and custom layouts for those "in the know".
In this case it works very well as it enables us to put our different findings in different posts and make it easy for people to find similar posts by using tags.

INTERACTION | It's nice to have an on-the-spot comment-option here on blogger enabling people to comment immediately after reading the post without having to go elsewhere. Hopefully over the next few weeks the blogs will become a places of in-depth discussion and fiery debates! It's a nice thing to be able to read back what people are on about, something you can't do in a real-life discussion without having to ask and halting the process of the conversation when doing so.

TIME | The same goes here as what I said about this this specifgic topic about the forums, really. It is nice to do the work at a time when you are at your best, whether it's at 10 AM or 10 PM, the site works the same and people can respond to your posts anytime after you've posted them!

AUTHORITY AND IDENTITY | THe person who's blog it is is sort-of in charge I think. But more like a discussion leader, if anything. He/She brings up the points of discussion and the conversations go from there. For the rest of it I think the same sense of equality is on the blogs as there is on the forums.

SPEECH & WRITING | The same applies as to the blogs, I feel. The mode of address is quite informal as there is no requirement to use formal "essay style" writing. It is merely a platform to raise topics and share your findings with others. It is even possible to just say that you really don't get or really don;t agree with something that's written or taught on the course.

Week 2: Topic 2 | Forums

NAVIGATION | The navigation around these specific forums is rather basic, but in this instance that's fine as they have a very specific and sober purpose. Some other web forums have more advanced navigation options but these often also feature posts containing images and other types of multi media. But the basic navigation and the sober appearance of the forum fits the to-the-point purpose of the forum and doesn't allow people to be distracted by things that simply do not matter.

EXPRESSION | Of course posting on a forum is different from just saying things in a group meeting or actual seminar. For one thing user's would've thought more about HOW they are going to make their point before they start typing away. I don't think the views expressed themselves are very different though. Also it allows people to have a good hard think about what is being said and come back later to respond. Something you can't to in real-life as, well, you would've left by then.

INTERACTION | It is sometimes hard to get how people MEAN what they say. Are they being sarcastic or do they ACTUALLY agree? On many online communication platforms they have emoticons (smileys) to help get your point across, but out forum doesn't. This doesn't always make it easy to understand how to interpret what is being said sometimes.

TIME | One of the great advantages of using a forum ios that they are available all the time, you can whack a question onthere as soon as it arrises and you can respond to it whenever you've thought of an answer. It's also handy as some people are morning people while other, like myself, are definitely NOT and function better at night.

AUTHORITY AND IDENTITY | Every one is equal on the forums, there is no way somebody can shout over you as all opinions get the same space and the same amount of attention. Talkative people and those who are less confident to speak in "public" are both able to express their opinions like equals.

SPEECH & WRITING | The tone of the forum is quite informal, so the way we all interact onthere is not too different from how we address each other on a day to day basis.

Week 2: Topic 1

1> Upgrade culture
The "money making" part of the whole software-upgrading thing, I would think, is quite often an important factor in a company's decision to release a new version of their succesful packages. After all, by the time everybody's got the previous version of the software no more money can be made from sales unless a new product or a new version of a product is launched.
However, I wouldn't say it's the only reason for these constant updates. Technological developments within the computer industry follow eachother up very very rapidly indeed and consumers DO want to make use of these new technologies. After all, what's the point of these technological advantages if there is no software available enabling people to make use of them. This basic concept of new version being released has, to many consumers, been considered a "given", even so much that people now even upgrade their hradware because their old PC/PDA/netbook/whatever couldn't cope with the latest version of the machine's operating system. This could well be because companies put a lot of effort into promoting the new software as a revolutionary new step. But really, how exciting amnd different can the new Windows or Office be? Still the whole upgrade-concept can't JUST be blamed on commerce I think, even freeware like Firefox, which is free to download, gets updated regularly to sufficiently please the consumers' needs.

2> The 'Newness' of new media
The term 'New Media' is ofcourse a bit vague as any form of media would be "new" by the time it was/is introduced. But I guess we'll just have to think of the term 'New Media' as one of those terms that are just called that, even if it technically might not be entirely sound.
I guess the statement that "nothing has changed" isn't entirely true. I would agree that some concepts from older media forms can be found in new media forms but what I feel make new media different are the way they allow instant feedback, quicker selection of what you want to access and, what basically includes the other two points, it's great emphasis on interactivity. Also New Media forms can be yupdated all the time. A newspaper's released once a day, buy it at night and it'll be the same as in the morning, whatever else has happened that day. (Remember when the papers were still baning on about the 2012 olympics while earlier that day the same city was the target of terrorist bombings? Ouch, bit of a painful example that was, but I guess it helps me make my point.).

3> Progress
I would say that yes, it is. The number of services available on any of the new media platforms increases all the time and even old media forms have made their way onto new platforms. Like E-books and television on your mobile.
It has increased but also changed the commercial world significantly. Just think about how big a business Amazon has become completely based on an online service and how both legal and illegal downloading have spawned platforms like iTunes while conventional record stores like HMV and especially Zavvi are struggling to make sales.
Politically it has made it very easy for parties to get their message across to many people as they can elaborate on their agenda's a lot more online than they can in, say a flyer or political party broadcast on television.
And, let's face, it's probably only a matter of time until we can vote online. Maybe then people can actually be bothered to vote then as it's much less of an effort.

4> Analogue & Digital media, the differences
The break is there, but not THAT clear cut. Yes, digital ENABLES things like instant-delivery and interactivity, but doesn't always do so. Digital television does enable for interactive features (PRESS THE RED BUTTON NOW!!!!! NOT IN A MINUTE!! NOW!!!) but the actual broadcast itself is still a one-way communication, so, improved picture and sound aside... it's not really that different a broadcast. the same goes for DAB Digital radio broadcasting, there is more choice, the sound is better, but it's still just radio. I'm not even quite sure wether or not DAB can even be classified as New Media or not. Is a DVD digital? It's full of one's and zero's and the first D stand for Digital but it's still a physical thing that really doesn't do that much different from an old VHS tape, it just plays things. The pretty menu's aren't THAT much of a breakthough, really.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that digital and analogue do not necessarily represent new and old media repectivly. CD's are digital, but were available WAY before there was such a thing called "New Media". All we can safely say is that there IS old media out there that is digital, but NO new media that is analogue, simply because new media is based on digital technology.
A lot of new media are inspired on old media forms in form though, we still start an e-mail the way we used to start a letteror memo and some websites do look a lot like magazines or newspapers.

5> Digitally and code
The end result of the whole procedure might not be so different, after all, an essay is an essay. But the whole process of getting there would be very very very different, there would be even more planning and more drafts until there's a final piece of work that is completely error free and that you are completely satisfied with. A time consuming process it might be but it WOULD call for more and better planning of what you want to say simply because you can't just bang something in later. And there is no way of doing it at the last minute as sometimes happens nowadays. It'd take longer, but it would be a good way to force students to get their act together.

6> Immersive interactivity
I suppose Lunenfield's concept applies to things like MOO's and MUD's, but even more to online games like World of Warcraft, or any other type of realistic online activity or agem that allows you to adapt a different persona in order to "immerse" into a differtent virtual/imaginary world through new media technology.

7> Non-linear
I think I can see what he means there. Whereas traditional media, like books for example, need to build up a story or article and slowly engage and capture the reader in order to keep his/her attention, a non-linear text doesn't need to do that. The web is a GREAT example of this, if you lose interest in something you just click on something else, and that way you are enabled to look for EXACTLY what you want to find out/know. Reading the web is very very selective and therefore pages tend to go for the bare essence of the message.

8> New voices
This enables texts to be REALLY REALLY specific as the web is big enough for everything. A text doesn't need to address a big audience in order to be out there (as it doesnt need to be printed and thus there aren't commercial reasons for wanting a big audience) and can there fore have an audience as specific, or niche, as they want to. And because anyone can publich on the web, and anyone can find this stuff, views and opinions that were normally not mainstream enough to make it to conventional media forms can be expressed, as alternative, controversial or unusual as they might be. These can be political, but also be just about a very specific sub culture. About anything, really.

9> Ideal interactivity
Oooh, ideal is a bit of a dangerous concept I suppose. Especially as it's down to people's personal tastes, but still. Even things like Facebook and Myspace that allow people to interact in a wide range of different ways: messages, private messages, games, pictures, video, instant messages, chat... there is still a third party involved. Facebook has grown into a big corporation and Myspace is owned by Murdoch's News Corporation. I guess a bit of censorship isn't too bad though, as some stuff out there is just unsuitable or distasteful, but then again, isn't that what freedom of speach, and freedom within interactivity is all about? But on the other hand its bigger platforms like Myspace that gives people the attributes to communicate in such a broad fashion, but then isntantly comes with a set of ideals and ideas of what is appropiate. So, bit of a dillema there.

Task for week 1: E-mail (characteristics and use)

E-mail, short for electroic mail, is a service that allows you to you send messages as well as other digital files (so called 'attachments') to other e-mail adresses. Messages are sent to a specific e-mail adress, or group of adresses (possibly on a adress-list), through the internet after which they are accepted and stored by the receiving server. The person, whose e-mail address was used to send the message to, can log intop the server and read/download, reply or forward the text message and/or the attached files.

E-mail messages, are almost instant, depending on its file size, and this is what makes them a very popular form of communication, not only for personal purposes, but also between staff of companies and other institutions. They are fast, private (as the receiver needs to log in to be able to read them), and fairly reliable.

However, servers can crash, mail-account can reach their maximum data-quota or, even worse, email providers can discontinue their services altogether.

I personally use e-mail all the time, as many people I would think, to stay in touch with relatives and friends or to send enquire companies about their services and stuff like that. E-mailing a company is always a bit less intimidating than actualyl calling them, however, an E-mail can easily be ignored which emans you end up having to call them.

Nowadays, I don't tend to use e-mail as much as I used to for informal messages to friends with the arrival and increasing popularity of social networking websites such as Myspace and Facebook.

Online lecture Word-file - Part 1: Digital vs. Analogue (The science bit)

http://mchome.lincoln.ac.uk/newmediacultures/WEEK%201%20online%20lecture.doc

This article/lecture's first main argument seems to function mainly as an introduction to the concept of "new media" and points out that in this unit "new media" basically refers to "digital media".

Digital, as opposed to analogue means that actual "stuff" is being translated to code. DIGITal is called that because it's made out of DIGITS. Whereas analgue data actually gets physically stored, be it by picture (on an old fashioned film roll) or ridges (on a gramaphone record.)

Digital is a much smaller/streamlined/FASTER and much more precise way of saving and sending files and data. The data is translated into a code made out of 1's and 0's and transferred to the other end where it gets translated back into actual stuff. Of course there can be glitches where the code doesn't arrive 100% correctly which can then lead into a file having a little mistake in it which can cause it to not work at all.

Most of all digital enables to send much more data in less space, if that makes sense at all.

For example: Analogue telly where the airwaves send the actual pictures can only broadcast 5 channels (and in some areas only 4) where as the digital freeview terrestial technology enables 30-ish channels to be sent through the airwaves because they are turned into code first. But in order to receive them you need equipment that can translate the code back into the actual channels. In this case the infamous freeview box we all love so much. But because the broadcast has been turned into a code first and the whole code is translated back to visual/sound the data arrives much clearer which is why digital usually has a sharper picture than analogue. However, sometimes some part of the code can't get picked up properly by the aerial which then causes little parts of missing data which results in those little squary bits on the screen we see sometimes or the picture freezing for a moment. Luckily the box arrives data all the time so the error usually doesn't last very long whereas an error in the sending of one particular file could result in the whole thing not working.

Because things like the internet and mobile communications require a lot of data to be sent continuesly, there is no way things like the internet (esp. broadband!) could've worked if it was based on analogue technology. So yeah, it pretty much can be said that we owe a lot to digital technology and that the arrival of digital technology has changed our daily lives a lot, considering how many things we use every day (mobile/tv/internet, or even mobile TV though the internet!!) wouldn't have existed otherwise!

More to come soon! Esp. more things of how it affects us and stuff.

Lecture 20/01/2009

Today's lecture, which for our particular group happened to be after our first tutorial-thingy, was a basic introduction for this unit.

We need to keep up with out blogs on a week-by-week basis as they really will be assessed per week. In our blog entries we are required to address the findings of our research and our own opinions of it. Then fellow group members can respond to it, hopefully turning the whole thing into a bit of the discussion about the whole thing. After 10 weeks we'll drop this method in favour of an essay.

We were told that even the whole title of the unit "new media" is one that can be questioned as every form is media can be regarded "new" when they were first introduced.

We also got told some stuff about "netiquette" (how you're supposed to behave in our online communications) and the meaning of the term "RINCY" (Read it, no comments yet.)

Also, we were asked to post blog entires about this weeks reading/lecture as found on MC home.