We media refers to using technology to reach an audience without traditional media industry support. It includes blogs, forums, mailing lists, and social media which allow individuals to produce and distribute content. The internet has upended traditional media business models and created a more democratic media environment where consumers can also be producers. While traditional media is still influential, platforms like Facebook show how individual users can now generate widely shared content that was once the domain of major media institutions.

1. ‘We the Media’
OCR A2 Media Studies
Critical Perspectives

2. We Media
 When you use technology to reach an audience without
the support of industry
 WhatTechnology do you use to produce we media?

3. We,The Media by Dan Gillmor
“The Internet is overturning so many of the things
we’ve assumed about media and business
models that we can scarcely keep up with the
changes; it’s difficult to maintain per- spective
amid the shift from a top-down hierarchy to
something vastly more democratic and, yes,
messy.”

4. We Media Full Circle
Mass Media
Institution ‘Columbia’
Produces Film
‘The Social Network’
You the
consumer
and
Producer
Facebook

6. Newscorp
 What does Rupert Murdoch Own?
http://ketupa.net/murdoch1.htm

7. Who Regulates the Media?
 Traditional broadcasters are regulated by groups such as
OFCOM
 But Who regulatesWe Media and other Online Media?

8. We,The Media by Dan Gillmor
Freely available to reference online:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/index.csp
VisitThis site and reflect on some of the key
points.

9. We,The Media
 “The Internet is becoming the environment in which the new
tools function, an ecosystem that is gaining strength from
diversity.
 Let’s look inside that toolkit…

10. Mail lists and Forums
Special usage of e-mail that allows
for widespread distribution of information
to many internet users.
It is similar to a traditional mailing list (a list of names and
addresses) as might be kept by an organization for sending
publications to its members or customers

11. Mail Lists
Different to Blogs and Websites because:
 They serve a specific community
 They tend to be narrowly targeted
 They are “pushed” to sub- scribers’ email inboxes. Some
are moderated; most are not.
“They tend to be populated by a combination of experts in a
given field or topic, and by avidly interested lay people.This
can be a potent combination.”

12. On-line Forums
Different to Mail Lists because they are:
 Open to anyone
 Hosted by companies, user groups, activists, amongst many
other interest groups
 Gives access to many topics, debates and answers to very
specific questions
“Mail lists and forums can amplify the news.They can be an early
warning.
They can simply be excellent background data. But their value
should never be underestimated.”

13. Blogs
“Many to many, few to few.The blog is the medium
of both, and all.”
 Make it easy to publish on the world wide web
“an online journal comprised of links and postings in reverse
chronological order, meaning the most recent posting
appears at the top of the page”

14. Blogs
“Many to many, few to few.The blog is the medium
of both, and all.”
 Make it easy to publish on the world wide web
“Blogs run the gamut of topics and styles. One blog may be a
running commentary on current events in a specific arena.
Another may be a series of personal musings, or political
reporting and commentary,”

15. Blogs
“Many to many, few to few.The blog is the medium
of both, and all.”
 Make it easy to publish on the world wide web
“an online journal comprised of links and postings in reverse
chronological order, meaning the most recent posting
appears at the top of the page”