Changing relationships between the producer and the audience

The question below was posed to me in another subject KCB301 and I believe it directly links to discussion within our subject so I decided to share my analysis with you.

How has the relationship between media producers and audiences changed in recent years? Do these shifts provide audiences with more social and cultural power over the media they consume?

The development of terms such as ‘viewsers’, ‘prosumers’, ‘produsers’ and the concept of DIY Culture has stimulated arguments surrounding ownership and power in terms of changing audiences and new media technologies. This analysis will seek to make sense of the change in relationship between media producers and audiences by using examples from the online gaming industry and multi-platform media events with an extended view into the online ‘World of Warcraft’ gaming community. These examples will be further used to illustrate the concept of the empowered user. The major question here is whether or not these changing audiences are provided with more social and cultural power over the media they consume.

Some researchers argue that new media technologies are associated with the transformation of audiences. However it is not just about the emergence of new media but the convergence between traditional and new forms. David (2004, p.92) “Considering new media production then, therefore, requires us to hold together the old and the new; to recognize the presence of the new in the old; the consequences of the old for the new; and the mixing of the old and new.” Examples of this concept can be seen in today’s reality television trend.

Shows such as Australian Idol, Dancing with the Stars and Big Brother are multiplatform and cross-media events that use forms of old media (e.g. Television) and introduce interactivity through the use of mobile phone voting, websites and forums. This type of collaborative media encourages audience participation and in some ways gives the audience an element of control or sense of ownership. For instance in the case of Big Brother, the content is reliant upon the viewer through voting for favourite housemates and suggesting daily tasks via the internet. If a viewer suggests a daily task for the show and it is used than who owns the idea and should the producers take credit for the success or failure of this segment of the show?

Over the years through various developments in technology the relationship between the producers of content and the audience has changed. It is increasingly evident that audiences or the consumers of media are becoming the creative producers of media content and therefore blur the boundaries between the producer and the consumer. As Henry Jenkins (2002, p.1) states, traditional audience research refuses to see media consumers as autonomous and that in the present audiences are viewed as gaining greater power and autonomy as they enter into the new knowledge culture.

In order to thoroughly address whether the relationship between the producer and audience has provided audiences with more social and cultural power over the media they consume discussion should be drawn to an industry with extensive examples. Online gaming has become the most rapidly expanding new media technology and is consider ahead of other technologies in terms of audience interactivity. It is stated by David (2004) that new media expands the capacity and possibilities for viewers/audiences/users to actively engage in production activities and practices. Tristan Pope and his use of the online game ‘World of Warcraft’ is the perfect industry example to illustrate the change in relationship between the producer and the audience. This example will be used alongside Jenkins (2002) three trends to illustrate the new participatory culture:

THREE TRENDS:
1.) New tools and technologies enable consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content:

Tristan an individual who spent hours upon hours playing the online game and interacting within the virtual community decided to utilise the tools available within the means of the game and produce his own content. He used another program called Machinima to produce a film incorporating the characters from the ‘World of Warcraft’ game and used other members from the virtual community to assist with the production of new material which he circulated amongst the virtual community. (Convergence of media forms to create a new product)

2.) A range of subcultures promote Do-It-Yourself (DIY) media production, a discourse that shapes how consumers have deployed those technologies:

The producers of ‘World of Warcraft’ provided tools in which players can interact and design their own worlds and characters and customise the games interface. However, Blizzard the producers or creators of the online game were unhappy about the content produced in this film as it contained extreme sexual references and therefore did not align with their codes of conduct. (Banks, J. 2006) Blizzard removed the film from the online community and disabled some of the tools Tristan used to create his film. This in a sense displays that the audience still has a limited amount of control over their media consumption as the producer is still considered the owner in terms of intellectual property laws.

3.) Economic trends favouring the horizontally integrated media conglomerates encourage the flow of images, ideas and narratives across media channels and demand more active modes of spectatorship:

On the other hand when looking at the aftermath of this dispute Tristan was informed that he was not excluded from the community but needed to alter his behaviour and abide by the code of conduct. His work was also acknowledged as the producers were amused with the creative way he had used their content in such a clever way. The producers of Blizzard were in a way forced into this decision as Tristan was seen as a leader within the community and could be seen to have the potential to ruin the game or direct users to another online realm as having a big profile in these communities is an important role. This is an example of an active user having cultural and social power within their media usage.

So from the use of examples such as Big Brother and the ‘World of Warcraft’ it can be seen that the relationship between the producer and the audience has significantly changed and that in some cases this change benefits the consumer by giving them an element of power. The Internet is an open-ended media and therefore there are many issues associated with control and Intellectual property. Content can be recombined, cut and the re-edited which creates a problem for producers of content. There is a blurred distinction between who owns what and there may always be cultural struggles and conflict over terms and conditions of access to and the use of media content.