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Digital Life(style)

The Digital Revolution and the Future #medialit (notes)

The Past

  • Gutenberg Press: The Past
  • Medieval Helpdesk video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ 2.30 minutes)
  • Telephone /Moral panics
  • What do we define as “new” media – all media has been “new” at some point.
  • Digital is much wider than the web, but today we’re essentially talking about that (internet – the railway tracks/infrastructure; the world wide web – the content that runs at different speeds along it!)
  • Brief History of the Internet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMHY8I_kQ8 1.52)
  • Diagram of internet history timeline (see how the rate of change has accelerated, interesting categorisation; web proposed 1989/live in 1991)
  • Now – in the age of social media (the age I find exciting, having been online since 1997, and not being a tech-head programmer!)
    • We are living in an “era that marks a rupture with values based on deference to rational design, orderly markets and vertical institutions. We are embracing the exhilarating uncertainty of delightful randomness, creative destruction and horizontal networks. In a word, we are celebrating our deepest social impulses.” [Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom, px]
    • EXERCISE: Stand up if you have ever had/actively use(accounts)s
      • Facebook
      • Blog
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
      • Rather than getting over-technical, let’s use the analogy of ice-cream to think about social media…
      • Social Media in Plain English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE 3.44) [The Prosumer]

The Present

  • Overview of tools – please don’t get overwhelmed by this – [#iblc10 – build up CONFIDENCE in tools in general – as too fast changing for software deps to keep up with ALL]  what I hope that you will get from this is that there are SO MANY tools, that it’s impossible for anyone to be a social media expert (I don’t know how to use all of these – but I’ll experiment) – so you can choose the tools that are right for you…
    • Explain what each of the following are briefly:
    • Presentation Tools (Slideshare/Prezi)
    • Social Networking (so many options, Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, Orkut – recognise whole world doesn’t use the same – e.g. China QQ)
      • LinkedIn – a business connection based on ‘rational choices’ whereas other sites are maybe only linked via non-rational social desires…
      • 4 Elements of a Successful Facebook Strategy
        • [Think about Ikea’s tagging strategy, Superbadger]
  • Bookmarking (Digg/Delicious)
  • Photo-Sharing (Flickr/Tagging)
  • Video (YouTube/Vimeo/Tangle)
    • Leveraging YouTube (note: Google indexes videos, audio, etc. – and as there’s LESS video video can come higher up in the search)
    • Quick & dirty videos can get great responses… people like “the real”
    • Importance of leaving the comments section open…
  • Microblogging (Twitter/Plurk/Friendfeed more of an aggregator?)
    • A visual guide to Twitter
    • [NOW news, relationship building, sharing links, fun, e.g. #charitytuesday #followfriday]
    • Make yourself INTERESTING to readers – justify their investment of TIME and give them a reason to ‘follow’/’continue following’
      • Insights
      • Sneak Peaks/Discounts
      • Fun/Humour (balance serious/casual)
      • Support
      • What’s new?
      • Most efficiently used when a clear human voice behind it (e.g. respond every day 10-11), and think carefully about the TONE that you use for this, keep it light-hearted, unless dealing with a serious complaint (and try to avoid shutting down comments/complaints or the conversation will go on without you – e.g. Dell/Amazon/Habitat, etc.)
        • Put someone who cares & sees the value in it behind it – it’s a GENUINE medium, and any falseness will soon become clear. Respond quickly (if only responds 9-5, think about putting in bio!)
        • Need to engage in regular monitor & reciprocation. 1 person, 1 connection, 1 conversation at a time – charities in particular should treat every tweeter as though they were a major donor!
        • I’m a historian by trade – for many years the voices of the elite were heard, and then in the 1960s we had the growth of ‘history from below’, of ‘the people’ – that’s what we can see & hear through social media today… allow your workers or your beneficiaries to speak (RT them)
  • Blogging (Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress)
    • More in depth material, personal reflections, etc.
    • Syzygy – site set up in 3 hours, now maintained by Tim
    • Central source into which all your other social media feed – so why second session focuses on blogging..
    • Pre-existing materials to start from:
      • Print materials (my first website essentially translated my undergrad diss to web)
      • Video/Photo/Audio
      • Staff enthusiasm?
      • Easily accessible vox pops, etc.
  • Audio (Audacity, Audioboo, Podcast) [On the spot reactions]
  • Geolocation (Foursquare, Gowalla)
  • Augmented Reality (QR codes, voucher cloud, facial recognition)
    • Minority Report (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBaiKsYUdvg  30 seconds)
    • Howard Stark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_u34kV9go0  2 minutes)
  • Tools
    • Justgiving
    • Google Analytics
    • Campaign Monitor
    • Get Satisfaction (crowd-source support)
      • Cloud Computing Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dGb-MMeQ50 2 mins)
      • Talk of “the wisdom of the clouds” – need to also recognise can be “the ignorance of the crowds” – we may want to challenge others – and become the THOUGHT LEADERS…
  • Building a Digital Strategy (need an overview)
    • How the digital environment is important to those who use it (stats)
    • Peer-to-Peer use is becoming more common (examples)
      • Socks for Happy People (social enterprise)
      • Pixel Project (activist campaign)
  • Advice
    • Be consistent
    • Be authentic & genuine (let the human voice speak through)
    • Etc…
    • Back to ‘accommodation theory’ – speak to YOUR audience (are you speaking to Christians or non-Christians?!)
  • Tagging (Folksonomy)
  • Twitter (what can you do with it)
    • [add some more practical advice/slides]
  • Smartphones (HTC, Android, iPhone)
    • Importance of the apps
  • What is the web capable of? ENGAGE
  • What can be measured? (ROI)
  • So, if it’s so great, why are there so many fears about it?
    • Media Quote (Observer) [Like MoI in WW2, press anti-anything that threatens it, in that case the MoI]
    • EXERCISE: Large sheet of paper/banqueting roll, 15-20 mins to scribble down fears & possibilities. Half room on each (rather than both trying to deal with both!)
      • What are the FEARS about social media?
      • What are the POSSIBILITIES of social media?
      • [Think what other areas of life we tend to get over-protective in, and are we doing similar here. What about educating people to trust their own judgements/critique things?]

The People

  • So WHO is using social media  – what do they want, or is a better question, what do they need, but don’t even know that they need? What is the situation that we are dealing with NOT what would we like it to be (although that could be a valid question, once you understand how things already are!)
    • Henry Ford: “Faster Horses”
    • UK: 76% penetration
    • Morgan Stanley: Mobile use is the largest growing field (students, around 50% have them)
    • Technology Stewards (is that what you’ll become for your church?) finding the right tool for the job.
    • Prensky (Digital natives, etc. now digital residents/visitors – less age specific)
    • Virtual Revolution Clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkxdn7LsQH0) 1 minute
      • Internet savvy
      • Attached to their mobile phone
      • Used to ‘free’/viral/interactive
      • Resents ‘marketing’
      • Jenkins, 2008, p16: “Media convergence impacts the way we consume media. A teenager… may juggle 4 or 5 windows, scan the web, listen to and download MP3 files, chat with friends, word-process a paper, and respond to email, shifting rapidly among tasks.”
  • Childwise Report
    • 1.8 hours per day on the internet
    • The split (boys/girls – more social?)
    • 2.8 hours per day on TV
    • Large percentage watching that on the internet
    • 75% of them still read books for pleasure.
    • Summary of data – number on mobile phones..
  • What makes generation unique (funnily enough, Google search – 2/3 top entries were about understanding your audience in order to evangelise!) – can’t remember where it’s from right now…
  • Recent surveys – Twitter (for conf paper last week)
    • Students – prefer Facebook or think it’s vacuous
    • Staff – not much different
    • So what does that say about the digital native debate?
    • Can see a real concern here that students are doing more surface learning, they’re going to Wikipedia first – and whatever they’re doing, do we think everyone else is doing too?
  • I love Twitter… started really using it January 2009 (like Facebook, I’d set up an account then sat & wondered what I was supposed to do with it.. the only thing that works is experimentation, and listening to those who have already done it – one of the difficulties, but also the joys – no strict rules for social media, although there is CROWD etiquette!)
    • Set up account @drbexl – was quite careful about what I put on it at first, now don’t think about it so much, quite often use it as a notebook for me.
      • Klout Score: ‘socialiser’ (what works)
      • Klout Score: ‘activist’ (for digitalfprint)
      • Twitter really works with THIRD PARTY apps (e.g. smartphones, can use on the move, Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Tweetphoto, etc)
      • Find Twitter a great outlet for the fact that have always described self as ‘too honest’… difficult to be much else, but that doesn’t mean “TMI”.
      • Difficult for those who are used to institutional values – where things are constructed, formal, vertical, hierarchic, static & rigid = whereas the SOCIAL emphasises – spontaneous. Informal, horizontal, heterarchic, dynamic & shifting.  (Throwing Sheep, p2).
      • Overheard: Theological questions about identity – pseudonyms – something uniquely Christian  – about one ID (embodiment) – Same person in every context (don’t do/say things online that couldn’t otherwise… is a common perception – but EASY to see that can’t be seen as the same elsewhere… ) allows me to be HONEST! “Become safe by being known not by being unknown.”
  • See example from my Church –obviously some enthusiasm from someone, last message is April 2009 (better not to have one) – not really been promoted/integrated, etc. Obviously not ONE person in charge of it – so no one looks after it? Social media doesn’t just happen, it may be “free” but a time investment is required..
  • 20s/30s group however, has been created by those in the group & is very active!
    • As a big church – is possible that people are in many other groups, but would be good to cross-link…
  • So what can we do that is different?
    • Classic example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHASQg8fR0s (4 mins, or can go from 2 mins in) – conviction as to what was the right thing to do, despite disapproval from those who wanted to do it “the way we’ve always done it”.
    • Aung Sang Suu Kyi (http://www.64forsuu.org/, 64forsuu)
    • What PURPOSE do you want to achieve with social media?
      • What relationships do you want to build?
      • What actions do you want people to take?
      • What buzz do you want to create around your product?
      • Do you want to humanise your company/charity?
      • Bring your brand up to date?
      • Do you want to LISTEN to what people want?
      • Do you want to raise awareness?
      • Do you want client leads/create sales?
      • Do you want to provide thought leadership?
      • EXERCISE: Spend 5 minutes thinking what you could do differently –  I think this is a conversation we could continue over the break, so just first ideas… may be a bit overwhelming, but please just keep digesting – one tool at a time!

The Future

  • To look at the future, let’s go back to 2006 – when Time magazine described the web as “a revolution”… (we can debate that term, was it a true revolution, or are we doing many of the things we were already doing, but differently, faster, on a wider scale, more transient/more permanent?)  – another one to chew on (and feel free to comment on my blog!)
  • So, what do we predict for the future – already seen geolocation and augmented reality are coming, but we didn’t see [these] coming, so how can we predict what is next.
    • Marcus’s book on digital literacy, available in PDF form
    • NOTE: Last year we all thought Google Wave was the next big thing/big wet flannel that was!!
      • http://joindiaspora.com/ (received lots of funding, although is little more than ideas – all the fuss re: privacy – will own own data)
  • Some idea also of what is en route
  • Douglas Adams: The best way to predict the future is to be part of it.
    • And I would say – play, play, play… (see @johnsw book)

By Digital Fingerprint

Digiexplorer (not guru), Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing @ Manchester Metropolitan University. Interested in digital literacy and digital culture  in the third sector (especially faith). Author of 'Raising Children in a Digital Age', regularly checks hashtag #DigitalParenting.

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