Video Blogs Going Mobile (Section B - Issue 11)

The advent of broadband technologies has allowed people all over the globe easier access to the Internet and its contents. John Naughton (2006) opined that broadband access has led to the rapid growth of streaming audio and video materials across the Internet. Webcams became very popular then as people could record themselves and instantly post it on the Internet for public viewing. This became a form of blogging for them or later known as video blogging.

Video blogging has made it possible for normal people to become celebrities on the Internet. Some examples include:

Ryan Higa (nigahiga on YouTube)

(Image source: Screenshot of nigahiga YouTube channel.)

Christine Gambito (HappySlip on YouTube)

(Image source: Screenshot of HappySlip YouTube channel.)

And the controversial Lonelygirl15

(Image source: Screenshot of lonelygirl15 YouTube channel.)

However, according to this article in BBC Click,video blogging can now be done on mobile phones. Now most mobile phones come equipped with a digital camera ready for video-shooting and some even with the added bonus of on-board video editing softwares. The LG Viewty, Nokia N95 and Motorola Z10 are some of the phones that provide such customisation tools.

The article suggests that video blogging doesn't have to only be about personal entries or fun topics, it could also be used for recording news stories and scenes. This is also known as citizen journalism where ordinary people can also be providers of news.

But one of the pitfalls of this new technology, according to the article, is that some mobile operators only allow users to upload their video contents to certain websites. Web 2.0 consultant Kathy Johnson said that this is not how the Internet is supposed to work. She added on that people would prefer to have their content uploaded to whichever place they want it to be.

Conversely, I beg to differ. I do agree that being able to record and upload videos on the same mobile device is an added advantage especially for bloggers. However, I do not agree with the prospect that mobile operators should allow its users to upload their video content to whichever location that they desire. The reason for this is that it will encourage a lot of inappropriate and unmoderated content to circulate on the Internet.

One such example would be underage pornography. Almost every teenager now has a mobile phone, even pre-teens have them. Reasons for these are to keep in contact with friends and family. However, there are a handful who used it for other purposes - sending out nude pictures and videos of themselves and recently, a newer case where a 15-year-old girl was caught using the iPhone Beautymeter application to upload nude pictures of herself.

All this goes to reinforce my opinion why I believe that mobile phone operators should not allow its users to upload their video content to whichever site they want to as this may encourage underage pornography.

References:

Naughton, J 2006, Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem, viewed 18 November 2009, <http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf>

New Media Publishing Tools

Communication and media is an ever-changing environment. According to John Naughton (2006), the digital convergence, personal computing and global networking have increased the pace of development and has set off radical changes in the environment.

The advent of new forms of media on the Internet has not only changed the conventions of communication but has also revolutionized the concept of Web 2.0. The term Web 2.0 describes a concept where users and readers are also able to publish materials unlike traditional times when only professional media houses are entitled to publish information.

Some examples of new media would be:

(Image source: http://www.tcd.ie/disability/projects/DS3/images/facebook.jpg)

(Image source: http://www.christmastree.org/youtube.jpg)

(Image source: http://i.bnet.com/blogs/twitter-logo.jpg)

These new media platforms are not only embraced by the general public but also media organisations and even politicians.

There are many alternative online newspapers that have sprung up due to the dissatisfaction with the mainstream news providers. Their formation is aided by the availability of new publishing mediums on the Internet such as blogs, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.

One such example would be the non-mainstream news provider Malaysiakini.com. It started off as a blog where readers could access to it if they were looking for news written in a different perspective. Readers could also participate by commenting and providing opinions. As Malaysiakini.com began building a good rapport with its readers, its owners began branching out to other forms of new media publishing such as by establishing a Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube channel and even a mobile edition.

Malaysiakini.com's expansion to other forms of new media received good response from its readers because its owners took into consideration the habits, expectations and context of use of its readers (Penman, 1998) when designing and publishing their materials.

References:

Naughton, J 2006, Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem, viewed 15 November 2009, <http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf>

Penman, R 1998, 'Document structures and readers' habits', Communication news, vol. 11,

no. 2, pp.10-11.