Awareness of Converging Digital Technology in the Creative Media Sector

1. Understand the use of digital technology within the Creative Media sector

1.1 Describe the uses of digital technology within the Creative Media sector and the

relationships this has created between industries in the sector

Mobile phones are used to listen to music via apps such as Spotify, Tunein radio, BBC iPlayer as well as accessing Youtube via app technology and uploading our own photos and videos to social network sites likes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. We also have the opportunity to read news, surf the web and purchase media content with mobile technology.

Smart TVs and gaming consoles such as Xbox 360 and PS3 can interact with online technologies from social media networks to media apps like Netflix, 4 On Demand, Zune and LastFM.

Convergence has allowed advertising agencies, for example, to work closely with social networking platforms and make campaigns "viral" through the use of Facebook, Youtube and more. GPS has also given advertisers the opportunity to accurately obtain details about consumer trends and demographics. Another example of emerging relationships is Channel 4 screening pilot episodes on Youtube to gauge audience reaction before commissioning a full series. Netflix and Lovefilm are also good examples of digital technologies converging and making content available at the click of a button from a home console.

1.2 Describe key Intellectual Property and copyright issues,related to digital technology and content creation

Intellectual Property Rights:
Intellectual property generally refers to things created via the mind, this can cover a wide variety of art forms and creations like music, novels, inventions and architecture. Intellectual property is divided into two forms, copyright which refers to artistic and literary works and industrial property which includes inventions, patents and trademarks.
The intellectual property is held by the person created it, the copyrights can be sold onto other people while still retaining the intellectual property or they can both be sold on but the person that created it will loose all rights to anything associated with the creation.

Confidentiality:
Confidentiality on the internet is about keeping information of users private and keep any of their details safe and protected at all times.

Representation:
The content of created media should not be used to discriminate against people based on things like gender, race, religion or sexuality.

Decency:
Quality of the content on the internet is important, the internet is a haven for free speech but this freedom can still be corrupted and used for perverse means either socially or morally.

Libel:
Libel is the term used to describe false statements which would be harmful to a persons reputation in written form.

Copyright Infringement 
Copyright infringement occurs when a song, film or text is being used without the permission of the copyright holder. This is quite often seen in music where someone has taken a sample of a song and to use in their own and not gotten the rights to use the music. This was the copyright issue between Vanilla Ice with “Ice Ice Baby” and “Under Pressure” by David Bowie and Queen.

Plagiarism 
Plagiarism is quite similar to copyright infringement but it isn’t protected by law, it is using someone else’s ideas or work and presenting them as their own.

Piracy 
Piracy has become particularly widespread throughout the film, music and game sectors with people pirating potentially millions of £/$ worth of content from these industries. In these sectors by most it is considered a major problem and a massive hole in potential revenue. A lot of effort is expended to try and protect their material but is usually quickly overcome buy the pirates and can at times become more obtrusive to the paying customers and the people pirating the content.
Some companies have gone against the usual effort to stop pirating and used pirating sites to effectively give themselves free advertising but it also has shown how much pirating has effected the industry.

Sharing 
Sharing is perhaps not considered as bad as piracy but is very similar, it is seen most commonly in the music sector someone buys an album and then shares it with their friends simple enough with current technology but that is an album that the other person isn’t buying.

2. Understand the implications of converging technology on the workforce in a particular Creative Media industry

2.1 Explain what is meant by‘converging technology’

Converging Technology is an umbrella term to describe how traditional media organisations, such as broadcasters, publishers, music industry and film companies are using emerging online and mobile technologies as a cross platform to deliver media content. It also refers to the digitalisation of traditional media artefacts, such as news print, photography and film.

As technology is being developed it is constantly being designed for products to make life easier, adapting the technology to be used on more devices has been happening for a long time the calculator on PC is an example of this.
The PC is currently one of the most advanced in this regard as it acts as a music player film/video player, even communicating with people through phones with Skype and there are many other possibilities for it.
Gaming consoles can now not only play games but also they play movies and connect to the internet.
Mobile phones and Tablets have converged with the functionings of the computer.

2.2 Explain the impact of converging technology on the workforce within a specific Creative Media industry

People in creative media industries are taking advantage of converging technology to produce better products and getting more viewers. Many people in the creative media sector are developing websites for PC and adapting them to perform usefully for the smaller screens of mobile phones and tablets as many people are preferring to use them instead of a PC to browse the internet. This requires the developers to make new designs to the site and adapt their skills to be able to take advantage of the mobile platforms.

 Taking the music industry as an example, converging technologies have empowered "bedroom producers" and "cottage industries" by giving them a worldwide platform to debut their personal work and content. For example Soundcloud enables global collaborations on music projects without moving from the computer.

On the negative side, music industries have lost millions of pounds through illegal downloads and sharing of MP3s. Most notably, the Napster trial raised issues around file sharing and copyright in the late 90's.

To overcome the issues of copyright and filesharing for media organisations, many subscription / pay-per-view services were introduced, such as Virgin Media, Sky, Netflix, Love Film and Spotify, which allows users access to a range of content for a monthly / annual fee, which ultimately ensures the originator of the content receives payment.

3 Know how converging technology has been exploited to reach new audiences and generate revenue

3.1 Describe the changing expectations of audiences and consumers within a chosen

Creative Media industry

Due to the readiness availability of technologies such as smart phones, tablets and laptops, audiences now expect to access media content 24 hours a day via these mediums and be able to purchase digital content from a device via access to the internet.

Media is expected to be accessible to all whether it be Photographs, movies and music with the introduction of the internet and wifi.

Wifi now accessible in coffee shops, supermarkets, train stations, Schools, Colleges, Universities and Airports.

3.2 Describe examples of how ideas for multi-platform content have been used to reach new audiences and generate revenue.

People use many different ways to view content on the internet, different browsers don’t all have the same functionality so to keep the sites as clean and usable as possible they may need slight variations. The same with problems are experienced with tablets and mobiles. Making sure that the content being created is compatible with as many different sources of viewing it will make sure that you get a large audience.

Gmail and Google+ are examples of how advertisers can create viral campaigns using multi-platform technologies. By making it appear that their services belong to an "exclusive club" (in particular Gmail was originally introduced as an invite-only service) meant that consumers felt part of a new and emerging trend, and now Gmail is the 3rd largest email client on the web.

3.3 Describe examples of commissioning processes and funding opportunities in relation to converging technology

The BBC for example use independent new media suppliers for new tendering opportunities, enabling them to pitch unsolicited proposals, meeting suppliers through various online mediums to make the commissioning process straightforward.
One of the guidelines for new material by the BBC is to make sure that the ideas aren't already in use on other websites.

Funding opportunities for converging technologies and media content are self-funded, via grants, donations or loans and through public funded agencies such as the arts council.

Adapting websites to run on mobile and tablets can take a fair amount of time as even though the content remains more or less the same the design needs to be completely redesigned but keeping a similar style and needs to be useable and understandable to the audience.

4 Be able to plan a research exercise to test an idea for exploiting converging technology

4.1 Explain opportunities for exploiting converging technology

One of the easiest for me to plan and exploit converging technology is with google analytics. It has been designed to be easily implemented onto a site and will allow for a lot of information gathering from people that are viewing the site which you can then use to determine how well the site is doing.

Analytics can get information like what browser is being used the screen size, if it is a mobile device, the approximate location it is being accessed from and many other useful bits of information.

Due to consumers now relying on smart phones and using apps more and more for accessing consumer-led sites, the best opportunities for exploiting converging technologies appear to be in-app ads. By using geographical locations to highly target consumers, advertisers are able to recover data pertaining to consumer led trends.

4.2 Research and plan a test for an identified opportunity

A good way to research converging technology would be to set up a web page or blog that logs how each user came to access the site. For example I have a google blog and when I log in I can see how many people have viewed it, what the most popular page is, where in the world it has been viewed from, the search engine used to find it and the device it has been viewed from.

https://www.blogger.com/home

4.3 Carry out planned test and evaluate and present the findings

Looking at the results it seems that converging technology is used as people have accessed the blog from a range of different browsers and operating systems but may be from the same devices, for example people have accessed the blog via windows but used different search engines also people have used the same search engine but from a different device.