Convergence Culture and Creative Engagement

According to Jenkins, convergence culture is where the old and new media intersect so that users have an access to multiple media forms in one place. This way, the question of who is the producer of the content is getting ambiguous because the media user's desires interact with the media owner's capabilities. I think the biggest conclusion of the convergence culture is that it clearly shows us how big the media have a part in our lives. Through each kind of convergence (economic, technological, cultural etc.), we get to interact with the media almost all the time.

Creative engagement refers to the idea that media users have new ways to interact with this convergent culture. Jenkins talks about "spoiler" forums to explain how viewers of TV shows interact with this specific medium in other media forms. Another example can be role playing games which help viewers interact with the movies like Harry Potter outside of the movie theaters. So, creative engagement is a way of having new uses of convergent culture.

Long Tail and Consumer Behavior

1) Long tail theory refers to the idea that a variety of less common products could be sold more than the most common product in the same category. This is of course only possible through the use of the Internet since people didn't have a way to reach alternative products before the Internet.

The best example of long tail theory applied to my life is online book shopping. Personally, I don't really like to read popular books in Turkey. Online book stores provide a huge variety of books and the ease of finding them with one click. Instead of going to the book store, and judging the books according to if they are best sellers, I can read comments made by the ones who have already read the book. That's why the chance that I could be disappointed by my shopping is lower. In this way, I have created my own taste - which puts me in a niche-, so instead of simply clicking on best sellers, I search for more specific categories which creates the long tail.

Compared to best sellers, the online book store I usually shop has millions of niche products. So, when the demand is divided into many small parts, it leads that the demand for the best seller books could actually be lower than the total number of buyers of niche products. This is such a good opportunity for alternative styles to reach readers and for people to have an easy access to different kind of products.

2) I would generally describe myself as a surfer because I like shopping online more than actually going to stores, so I don't always have a purpose to look at things on web. Sometimes I just look at online shopping websites for fun and if I like something, I think about buying it. However, when it comes to traveling, I'm definitely a bargainer. I don't purchase or book anything without comparing the prices with other websites. Lastly, for some of my specific hobbies, I shop like sportsters. For example, I like using analog cameras, and there is only one website  - Lomography- where I always buy my films no matter what the prices are in other online stores.

Meerkat

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3002619/Live-stream-LIFE-using-Meerkat-App-turns-phone-mobile-webcam-broadcasting-footage-Twitter-followers.html

Meerkat is a new application that allows users to create their own live-stream video channel. Since it is connected with Twitter, users can already have dedicated followers. The important thing about Meerkat is that followers should watch video streams live. Once you watch the video there is no rerun. So 'the missing out something' factor keeps people following the user constantly.

The reason why I chose this article is that, it talks about many sides of the app. For example, there could be a license issue since there is no limit about what to record if people have this application on their phone. There could also be inappropriate video streaming which might cause privacy problems. On the other hand, the article says that those who can't afford cable TV can follow many events through this app. It also contributes to the concept of user generated content by allowing non-professionals to record events and share with the world like journalists.

With the development of technology, new media is getting more and more complicated since the limit between what to do and not to do has been becoming unclear. People take control over everything, but not everyone is exactly aware to what extent they can create their own content. Meerkat could be a big step to Internet communication world without TV. So, it could change our habits of watching events drastically.

Information and Networks

Among the three network laws, the one that makes the most sense to me is Sarnoff's Law. Although it is a very simplified explanation for understanding of the network value, I assume that it can be applied to complex situations as well. Sarnoff's Law might seem outdated since it was used to observe the value of broadcast network like TV and radio. It claims that the value of a network will increase linearly with the proportion of users. To give an example, if the value of a broadcast network with 1 user is 10 USD, the broadcast network with 10 users will worth 100 USD. I think that, the value of Facebook or Twitter could be seen in the same way. Of course, they are not broadcast networks where the communication occurs between one and many, but still we could observe the value of these social networks in terms of the amount of users they have. The simplification of this law could help build the media plans easily even for today, because broadcasting network hasn't completely replaced yet. 

However, when we look at the other two laws -Reed's and Metcalfe- it is obvious that they provide more complicated perspectives to the calculation of network value. Since these two laws can be applied to digital networks, they might seem more useful than Sarnoff's Law. Despite that, there are some basic flaws we can find in these laws. Reed's Law suggests that every new user doubles the value of the network. If we think how many people today use digital networks, after some point, Reed's Law gives us incredible numbers which is impossible to be accurate. If it was correct, most of the networks would be incalculably rich after getting a few more users. Considering Metcalfe, if the network value truly increased by n2  , it would be extremely profitable when the two companies merge. Then, there wouldn't be any small network which isn't true in today's world.

I don't think that in five years, the way people get their information would considerably change. Technological devices will probably have more interesting qualities, but still we will use the same networks maybe with different methods. Even now, many people talk to their phones when they want to search something, rather than typing. I don't think that traditional ways would disappear completely since there are still many people rejecting to use smart phones or reading news online. Thus, our methods of using the same ways of getting informations might change with the development of the technology, but on the surface, we would still be using the same networks.

Why We Blog?

The article analyzes the motivations behind blogging. Since the question they are trying to answer is not specific, they didn't limit the study sample in one gender or a small age range. According to the article, there are 5 major motivations for blogging: to archive one's life, presenting opinions through making comments, to demonstrate emotions, to communicate ideas by putting them into words and to keep the community forums going. 

The first case in the first category is quite interesting. Don says blogging is “logging your being”. As he takes over his wife's blog and documents her process in her illness, the only way he could communicate and share something was blogging. Arthur, a professor, thinks that blogging is a better alternative of communication than e-mail since it is easier to just put something on the blog and make it public. He also draws attention to an important point: when people get an e-mail, they feel forced to read it, but when it comes to blogging, people are free to read whatever they like. 

The second motivation is mostly about presenting people's point of view. Sometimes people are afraid of expressing their opinions because others might ignore them. However, blogging enable people to comment on things they are interested in more freely. 

Third motivation is about giving voice to emotions. Sometimes it is hard to express feelings and to find someone who is willing to listen. Blogging helps people realize their problems and talk about it, so it is a place for relieving. 

Fourth motivation, I think, is the most important reason for blogging. It is basically about practicing writing to think more deeply about the issues and ideas. It helps bloggers becoming more professional at expressing their opinions. 

The last one is about creating a space for a specific community to share opinions with one another. It could be for academic purposes, for a specific interest – like poetry bloggers- and so on. 

Personally, I follow many blogs focusing on specific interests and I really enjoy it. Rather than reading movie reviews in forums, for example, I follow some bloggers whose ideas are interesting to me. For me, the authenticity of blogs helps to feel having a personal conversation with someone, so this keeps me interested in reading them.