Chatroulette!: Wild West or Carousel of Progress?

Despite reports and ample evidence that Chatroulette! is full of predators and Jon Stewart's take that it's just a passing fad everyone will try once, the new media deserves one step further in consideration. What we have with Chatroulette! is simply two-way, homemade Youtubes. But it also offers windows onto the world. I can remember as a child visiting Disney's Carousel of the Progress, a ride where animatrons explain technology and the future had screens that allowed you to talk to anyone anywhere. So now we are here, in the future when we can meet anyone in the world through a screen. It's literally a global party. We are finally seeing who else is online at the same time and it is not a very pretty picture! We are finding a world full of exhibitionists, voyeurs and lonely souls seeking legitimate connections. This is not Chatroulette!, this is the internet and the world at large.

Normally behind the veil of our own individual screens, we hide out and dissappear into separate dreamworlds called websites. But if the internet is our collective conscious, this is our group therapy session. We are unveiling ourselves, seeing some of the worst first. After finally giving in to a 1 hour test session, I can say there are some clothed people on Chatroulette! I met an Oxford student who taught me about medicine and his Muslim faith and two Parisian kids on semester exchange in Madrid. Like anywhere in the real or virtual world, good and evil go down.

Chatroulette! is however a primitive form of the future. What we get now is a white screen with little boxes and a white typespace. Someday soon there will be better sound and resolution, it will be covered with ads and linked to Facebook. You will read of Chatroulette! crimes and Chatroulette! lawsuits, Chatroulette! marriages and Chatroulette! babies and probably some reality show spinoff. Then there will be less offensive forms narrowed by subcultures who only want to rotate through similar types like Blackroulette and Christiancarousel. But for now, and probably not for very long, anything goes. This is a risk but also history, a time when this type of free unmonitored media is legal and totally gratuitous. For this reason, we must ask how to use Chatroulette! proactively for good, for good socially, economically, politically, educationally, informatively, in any manner other than passive acceptance.

In the 1980's Disney's Carousel of Progress predicted a future family celebrating a birthday via screens that linked them to distant relatives. The 2010 version shows a future family celebrating Christmas in person all together but wearing masks that show them different virtual realities. And you thought Chatroulette! was socially awkward.

Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle

The Situationists, Debord far right

Guy Debord was a writer who was part of a group called the “Situationists. They advocated found and fabricated “situations,” like the order of city streets or public protests. Any environment was a situation that needed responsible reaction. In 1967, Guy Debord created a book and eventual film called The Society of the Spectacle. It is the best known Marxist critique of mass media, released shortly before the rising consciousness of May 1968.

Society of the Spectacle starts by explaining that the world is an immense accumulation of images that sell capitalism. The spectacle is the ongoing propaganda of images. There is however a totalitarian control of all media, mainly through television, and now the internet. Mass media and advertising are owned by powerful people who sell the ideology of advanced capitalism in the way that religion was sold in the past. Debord actually sees the transition from Orthodox icons to propaganda posters to capitalist media.

Debord proposed that we now relate to each other via media, getting to know each other's feelings about media instead of authentically connecting.

Excerpts:

“The spectacle is not a collection of images but a social relation mediated by images.”: The false reality of the spectacle is called “false consciousness.” Debordproposed that people now build relationships through the spectacle, meaning you may talk to someone about a movie, but never talk with them as a person.

Today’s media shows a fake reality in order to mask the capitalist degradation of human life.

The spectacle presents itself as a vast inaccessible reality that can never be questioned. Its sole message is: ‘What appears is good; what is good appears.’ The passive acceptance it demands is already effectively imposed by its monopoly of appearances, its manner of appearing without allowing any reply.

The spectacle is the ruling order’s nonstop discourse about itself, its never-ending monologue about of self-praise, its self-portrait at the stage of totalitarian domination of all aspects of life.

The alienation of the spectator, which reinforces the contemplated objects that result from his own unconscious activity works like this: The more he contemplates, the less he lives; the more he identifies with the dominant images of need, the less he understand his own life and his own desires.

The constant decline of use value that has always characterized the capitalist economy has given rise to a new form of poverty within the realm of augmented survival …

Publicité!

Les Arts Decoratifs is hosting an exhibition "La Publicité au secours des grandes causes" about French public service announcements in print and television. The campaigns cover over 30 years of history and issues from world hunger to speeding. While public advertising is normally considered straightforward and less exciting than commercial ads, the exhibition reveals the creativity among Parisian ad firms. The French government gives the best television campaign 12 free spots.

Commercials sell products and propaganda sells ideas. The PSA's inform and educate the general public with human rights and responsibilities. This is media acting as superego! Send your own PSA by e-card here.

Media, Economics & Advertising

by Sarah Fox

In Papathanassopoulos’ chapter on “The Funding of Television in the Age of Digitalization,” he looks at the changing sources of funding for television. These include advertising, sponsorship, barter and teleshopping, and subscriptions for pay-TV.

Advertising played a major role in the funding of television in the 1990s, but its role is becoming overshadowed by other sources. It is regulated more extensively in Europe than in other countries, and these regulations very considerably within the EU. Such regulations include the banning of consumption and promotion of alcohol (Mediterranean states are more liberal), as well as comparative advertising.

The role of sponsorship has increased in the European television market because many advertisers see it as a more effective way to capture audiences by associating their brands with popular programs. Like advertising, rules on sponsorship vary widely within the EU—many countries are placing bans on major commercial sponsors.

Barter is the exchange of programs for commercial airtime, and this gives the advertisers the opportunity to influence the program content. Game shows in Europe are known to be particularly successful at bartering. Teleshopping is another source of funding, but they can’t exceed more than eight per day and they can’t last more than three hours per day.

Pay-television is rapidly growing in popularity, and it is believed that the reasons for this growth are that consumers are willing to pay more to get more options in their viewing, as well as higher program quality and picture resolution. The different types of pay-TV include: subscription or pay-per-view, an extra monthly cost for premium channels (usually sports), near-video-on-demand (“where a film can be watched from staggered start times”), and video-on-demand (the subscriber chooses “from a menu or library of programming”) (96).

•Canal+ started in 1984, earning 1 million subscribers by 1986

•Canal Satellite started in 1996

Has supported film production, including David Lynch’s last 3 films

Began broadcasting in digital in 2005

•Has Canal+ is a brand that has also been extended to other countries and is part owned by the French network including Spain, Netherlands, Poland and others

•Carries American shows like The Daily Show and South Park

•Is owned by Vivendi, a French media conglomerate. Vivendi has had financial ups and downs but claimed earnings of $30 billion in 2008.

•Vivendi owns the American school publisher Houghton Mifflin

•Vivendi Universal is owned in majority stake by GE/NBC Universal but Vivendi owns 20% of NBC Universal

The largest pay-per-view market in Europe is the UK, followed by France, Spain and Italy. The main pay-TV network in France is Canal Plus, which is “the most successful pay-TV terrestrial channel in Europe” (97). The size of the market is important in determining the popularity or success of pay-TV in a country; larger economies benefit from spreading production costs by turning popular TV shows into videos or books. The wealth of the market is also important, as subscribers need to have a relatively high income to be able to afford pay-TV. The author concludes by stating that television will become more expensive for both viewers and operators.

Television Advertisements in Europe

In 2008 they were convinced to finally create both television and cinema spots. Over the past year the company has been promoting a global “journey” print and commercial campaign using celebrities to represent life journeys, including Gorbachev.

Print Advertisements in Europe

Importantly the general category of print ads can mean magazines, newspapers and also public space such as billboards. Some campaigns are also used on the internet. Importantly print ads provide materials for cultural semiotics and understanding the regional value systems.

What makes an advertisement seem European versus Global?

Service Plan, Germany above and Nike by DDB Paris, both 2009

Marc Hayward, "Vernacular Geopolitics and Media Economies in an Enlarged Europe," in Media in the Enlarged Europe

Berlusconi & Al Waleed

In Mark Hayward’s article on “Vernacular Geopolitics and Media Economies in an Enlarged Europe,” he looks at the media coverage on the relationship between RAI International and Al Baraka Investments. He uses this case study to discuss the importance of looking at the relationship between geography and politics in media, as well as the relationship between “cultural identity and economic activity” (129).

Al Waleed is an entrepreneur and international investor, but does not have real political power within the House of Saud or in Saudi Arabia, he has amassed a fortune through investments in real estate, the stock market and businesses. He has never held political office. He has 17 honorary degrees and is an honorary citizen of Cannes and received the president’s medal of honor from Sarkozy.

Radio Televisione Italiana (originally Radio Audizioni Italiane / RAI)

•Founded in 1945

•State owned like the BBC, and dominates the market like the BBC against Berlusconi’s Mediaset and Sky Italia

•Funded by a TV license fee similar to the BBC

•Diversified like the BBC to include radio, terrestrial, digital, theme channels and reaching near by countries

•Averages 3 billion annually in revenue

The author gives many instances in which the media highlights certain scandals dealing with RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster, and Dalla Al Baraka Investment Bank. Saudi Prince Al Waleed (who owned 30% of Dalla Al Baraka) was under investigation for his involvement in helping to finance the Al Qaeda attacks on 9/11. Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi was known to have a relationship with Al Waleed, as well as Ben Ammar, with whom the media became quickly intrigued. Hayward continues by looking at the ways in which various broadcasters developed their international services. An example is the Saudi-based company Arab Media Corporation that is the main distributor of Italian media content internationally. The media coverage of these relationships and events were framed by “the cultural and political contexts that emerged in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center” (128).

The author defines “enlarged Europe” as not just including the geographical expansion of Europe, but the ways in which it operates globally, it’s global “footprint.” He says, “It is part of the legacy of colonialism, imperialism, and globalization to posit that Europe more than many other places on the planet has always been enlarged” (130).

About the author: Mark Hayward is an Assistant Professor of Global Communications at the American University of Paris. His research focuses on three areas: Cultural Policy and Transnational Governance, Economic Discourse in Popular Culture/Economics of Popular Culture, and Technology and Medium Theory.

Media, Misinformation & Scandal

Misinformation & scandal are connected in that partial truth often leads to later disclosure of information which erupts as scandal. Often, privacy must be compromised to get at the truth of a scandal, which boosts ratings. During a scandal, misinformation can become the focus of media, continually updating the latest truth.

Silvio Berlusconi, continually negotiating misinformation and scandal

Misinformation

In Strategy of Deception, Paul Virilio writes that it is not media but political figures that are the creators of limited and/or misinformation. "We can see then that the current legal caviling is merely a smokescreen – disinformation on an industrial scale." Virilio continues that it is already difficult to distinguish true from false online and also still a lawless place where criminals can invade power systems. Virilio also discusses the role of information jamming, the practice of blocking communication through destruction of satellites or website interference. It is different from hacking into systems and information warfare which is strategically placed media.

Information Rights: Italian Wiretapping Scandal

Wiretapping is a direct invasion of privacy and is often associated with both scandal and misinformation. During 2006, Italy reached a tipping point of wiretap reports. There were wiretaps being reported from business CEO’s to World Cup referees. It was discovered that the commercial provider Telecom Italia was actually to blame and was the first ever major corporate wiretapping of civilian cell phones. Both Vodafone and Ericson confirmed their phones had been used. The result was a law preventing wiretapped conversation in court.Two chiefs of security for Telecom Italia then died within 6 month period. Investigations into the alleged suicides of both Adamo Bove in Italy and Costas Tsalikidis in Greece raise questions about more than the suspicious circumstances of their deaths but no journalist took on an investigation for the public. Italian independent media released the statement that “As more troubling revelations come out of Europe, it may become more difficult to ignore how easily spying programs can be hijacked for illegitimate purposes. The brave soul who pursues this line of inquiry, however, should fear for his or her life.”

http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.18/italy

Most US wire tapping is done by the government on mobile phones. The DCS 3000 is a wiretapping technology used by the FBI.

A British company suggests assuming that all calls are being heard and gives some tips.

Promotion of Accurate Information

One way to respond to misinformation is through media campaigns that address scandals and promote accurate information. There was negative media coverage of the death of the Sudanese refugeeAamir Ageeb on board Lufthansa flight LH558 from Frankfurt to Cairo. The 30-year-old was so mishandled by three officials of the federal border patrol that he suffocated; the border guard forced him to wear a motorcycle helmet, tied his hands and feet, and, at take off, violently pushed his head down to his knees with all his strength. Lufstansa changed its policy in 2000 to be more accommodating and launched a media campaign but they were continually accused of having a “Deportation Class.”

Public service media are needed to help build trust in media accuracy . Below is an example that clarifies misinformation about the laws about the counterfeit trade.

Finally, every individual can help promote accurate information through the internet. See SOS Georgia: "We built this web site to be a clearinghouse for information about Georgia during the war and now the occupation…Here at SOS Georgia we are striving to present the true facts about what is really going on, stories from Refuges and people on the scene, contact information for source for Journalists and a way for supporters of Georgians around the world to connect with one another, exchange ideas and make plans for protest and rallies. Most of all we are trying out best to keep Georgia free from Russian occupation as an independent country with strong ties to the west."