Clay Shirky - AQA A Level Media

• No longer no such thing as a passive audience, audiences are now more active who interact with the media
• Technology has changed our expectations


  Web 2.0
• Believes that audiences like to speak back
• The internet has allowed people to form large, decentralised groups
• The blurring of lines between traditional passive consumption and active audience consumption is still in motion
• In 2020, there are many ways in which you can participate with something (i.e share your opinion on social media)
• The relationship between media products and individual audience members has been totally transformed by online media and digital technology
• Web 2.0


  The second generation of the internet where sites prioritise active users who generate content rather than those who simply consume content
• Media Plurality


  The diversity of voice and opinions made available through the media
• 'We the media': 'The idea that grassroots journalism has altered the way we consume media'
• 'Talking back'


  • If audiences post positive responses to a particular film, more people are likely to seek the film out
  • Social media sites like twitter and Instagram allow for the amplification of both praise and criticism of a text
• 'Mass Amateurisation'


  • We are now living in an age in which traditional consumers are producing their own media
  • Shirky has explained this phenomenon as being a result of shifting attitudes from 'why publish this?' to 'why not publish this?'
  • There are no longer strict structures in place which determine what media products are suitable for public consumption
• Disadvantage of 'Mass Amateurisation'


  Makes the media landscape more saturated
• Advantage of 'Mass Amateurisation'

  Allows creatives from outside the mainstream to have their work seen and recognised on a wider scale, And also gives audiences more choice
• What are consumers now doing alongside the consumption of media?

  Producing their own media