NDM News: Hyper-reality and the digital renaissance

Examples

• Television and cinema 
• The internet 
• Social networking and social media 
• Skype, FaceTime other video based chat services 

Theory (audience reception etc.)

Voyeurism? Instant content, live streaming

Benefits to institutions

• Very useful to institutions as young people are more likely to use these services 
• They can easily target this demographic a lot quicker than before 
• Will help them to understand the future generation's wants and needs and shape their services for long term future investments 

Benefits to audience

• Content is so much quicker and people hardly have to wait 
• Increased interconnected amongst society 
• Greater access to knowledge and cultural sharing, breaking down of cultural barriers and ignorance 

Wider issues and debates

• Privacy, government control through the use of laws and acts 
• Hackers of cloud based services 
• How much mediation is enough or too much? 
• Monetisation of live content 
• Censorship, live content of battlezones, too brutal or is society desensitised? Is it crucial to society seeing this hyper reality? 

SHEP

• Social - Users are a lot more interconnected and much more likely to come together for shared interests and demands 
• Historical - Rapid expansion of media faster than any other platform in history. Makes new historical firsts 
• Economical - Ways for institutions to use it to their advantage and monetise in some way, could be a negative I personally believe 
• Political - Political aspects of elections are a lot more widely accessible but also negative as politicians see this as a way to pander to the young voters by using said apps, e.g. Hilary Clinton 

The article was written in 2009. Offer three examples of more recent social networking sites or uses of technology that support the idea of a 'digital renaissance'.

• Twitter - Allowing the user base of celebrities direct contact, also the sharing of popular news stories and articles 
• Instagram - Photo based application that promotes brands and celebrities through the use of sponsors 
• Snapchat - Photo based application used widely amongst young people that has revolutionised the way news and content is consumed. Return of vertical video, 10 second for the lack of teenage attention span 

How do live streaming services such as Periscope or Facebook Live fit into the idea of a 'digital renaissance'? Are these a force for good or simply a further blurring of reality?
Periscope and Facebook Live are applications that have revolutionised the digital media in such a way that the demand for content to be consumed has increased a lot more. Users no longer want to have to wait for their content hence the increase use and demand for live streaming services. I believe these can be forces for good as it could increase the amount of people that are coming together for shared interest but it could also mean bad news for television or other broadcast services.

How can we link the 'digital renaissance' to our case study on news? Is citizen journalism a further example of hyper-reality or is it actually making news more accurate and closer to real life?

I believe we can link the digital renaissance to our case study on news as it is something that is heavily influenced on the advancement of technology which directly has an impact on digital media as well as traditional news platforms. The increase in citizen journalism through the use of social media is something that breaks down the aspect of news and information being mediated and allows audiences to experience stories at a more of an emotional and personal perspective as an audience rather than from the perspective of an institution who might have other hidden agendas in the form of dominant or preferred ideologies and readings.