thesis media convergence

• Corpus ID: 142563868

Understanding media convergence : the state of the field

• August E. Grant , Jeffrey S. Wilkinson
• Published 2009

37 Citations

Regulating convergence: challenges for contemporary media in indonesia, transformation of print media in the digital era: media convergence of kedaulatan rakyat, convergence and media ownership : the merits of repealing the '2 out of 3 rule' and adopting a national public interest test, television and social media convergence (convergence continum and journalistic convergence analysis at indosiar), journalistic convergence in improving content to local newspaper readers, media convergence meets deconvergence, putting the management into innovation & media management studies: a meta-analysis, changes in media policy in sub-saharan africa : the role of community media, participatory communication assessment stakeholder metro tv around convergent media, data-driven journalism media, related papers.

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Examining media convergence : does it also converge good journalism, economic synergies, and competitive advantages?

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Media Convergence, an Introduction

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• Sepideh Chakaveh 1 &
• Manfred Bogen 1  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 4552))

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Media convergence is a theory in communications where every mass medium eventually merges to the point where they become one medium due to the advent of new communication technologies. The Media Convergence research theme normally refers to entire production, distribution, and use process of future digital media services from contents production to service delivery through various channels such as mobile terminals, digital TV, or the Internet.

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The Interplay of Technology Development and Media Convergence: Examples

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Chakaveh, S., Bogen, M. (2007). Media Convergence, an Introduction. In: Jacko, J.A. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. HCI Intelligent Multimodal Interaction Environments. HCI 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4552. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73110-8_88

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Media convergence in news organisations: How digital technologies affect journalists and the management of news productions.

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Media Convergence

A revised version in: R. Towse & C. Handke (Eds.), Handbook of the Digital Creative Economy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, Forthcoming

Posted: 30 May 2013

Michael Latzer

University of Zurich – IKMZ, Media Change & Innovation Division

Date Written: April 1, 2013

Convergence is an ambiguous term used by various disciplines to describe and analyze processes of change toward uniformity or union. Its application in the communications sector, often referred to as media convergence, also encompasses valuable approaches and insights to describe, characterize and understand the digital creative economy. A certain amount of fuzziness combined with the broad, multipurpose-character of convergence leads both to a general and a wide range of very specific understandings of the convergent communications sector. This sector substantially overlaps with the digital creative economy, which is also characterized by a degree of vagueness. Common sub-sectors and subjects between communications and digital creative industries such as broadcasting, publishing, advertising, music, film and games are even growing because of convergence. Beyond that, the consequences of media convergence are also discussed for other parts of creative industries, such as museums, libraries and design in particular. New digital media technology and services are considered as central drivers of creative industries. Altogether, this makes studies of media convergence, both its approaches and results, highly relevant for the understanding of the digital creative economy.

Keywords: media convergence, media technology, media change, creative industries, digital economy, digital creative economy, communications sector, media sector, co-evolution, complexity, telecommunications, broadcasting

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Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet

• Media Convergence and Digital News Services
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Appelgren, Ester

Abstract [en].

In this thesis, media convergence strategies and added value of digital news services are investigated, focusing on the newspaper industry and it’s audience. Convergence implies that previously unalike areas come together, approaching a common goal. A subordinate concept of convergence, i.e., media convergence, is a concept that has become common when denoting a range of processes within the production of media content, its distribution and consumption.

Newspapers are one of many so-called publishing channels that provide information and entertainment. They have traditionally been printed on paper, but today’s digital technology makes it possible to provide newspapers through a number of different channels. The current strategy used by newspaper companies involves a process of convergence mainly regarding multiple publishing. A newspaper company interested in publishing content through multiple channels has to adapt its production workflow to produce content not only for the traditional printed edition, but also for the other channels. In this thesis, a generalized value chain involving four main stages illustrates the production workflow at a newspaper company in relation to the convergence processes. The four stages are creation, packaging, distribution and consumption of content.

One of the aims of this thesis is to assess how the views and strategies of newspaper companies concerning media convergence correspond with the opinions and views concerning convergence of their audience. In order to discuss this, seven types of media convergence are suggested.

Furthermore, the thesis explores how the newspaper industry is relating to the processes of convergence, using two examples: newspaper companies’ ventures into the use of moving images, and the newspaper companies’ strategies for a future epaper edition.

Among the findings of this thesis are that digital news services can add value to a newspaper company, however that the digital news services investigated, in their current form, are not sophisticated enough to give added value as perceived by the audience.

The findings of the thesis are based on studies of the newspaper industry in Sweden and reflect specific newspaper companies, their strategies, production workflow and ventures from 2002 to 2007. The methods used have mainly been case studies and surveys.

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Keywords [en], national category, identifiers, public defence, picard, robert, professor, supervisors, enlund, nils, list of papers.

A current issue in the media industry is coping with the effects of convergence. The concept ofconvergence is frequently used both in the academic field and within the media industry to denotethe ongoing restructuring of media companies as well as to describe the latest developments inmedia forms, distribution, and consumption. However, there is currently no generally accepteddefinition of the concept. Depending on the context, the meaning and connotations vary. Someresearchers suggest that convergence is a result of a change toward a more modern media societywhile others treat the concept as denoting the actual process toward a more efficient managementof the media value chain. This paper discusses various definitions of convergence, both in a historicalperspective and as it is used and understood in contemporary media and communications research,one aim being the evaluation of how the meaning of the concept has evolved during the past decade.The study is based on literature research and one conclusion is that convergence is a processdependent on current circumstances within society. The use of the concept has therefore developedfrom being mainly connected with digitalization in media technology to also include elements ofintegration, combination, competition and divergence. This paper suggests that convergence shouldbe seen as an ongoing process of media and media industry development that is dependent on and incontinuous interplay with a contrasting and complementary process, that of media divergence.

Nordqvist, S.

Can there be synergies between newspapers and digital TV? What business synergies exist and are the technical formats reliable and flexible enough for cross media publishing? At the end of the 1990's, several Swedish newspapers applied for a license to broadcast digital TV. The major trend among newspapers during this time was to develop websites as a secondary publishing channel, and many companies withdrew their applications. Today, digital TV is again raising expectations. When digital TV broadcasting technology replaces analogue broadcasting, the media landscape will change. The conversion will offer new publishing and business opportunities for newspaper companies. We have studied three Swedish newspaper companies actively working with TV production, three major Nordic television companies, and five television broadcasting operators in Sweden. The objective is to give a wider perspective on the digital TV publishing market today, focusing on technical as well as on economical aspects. In addition, we have evaluated the next steps for newspaper companies interested in establishing themselves in the digital TV medium. The study indicates that among the viable strategies for small and medium sized newspapers are entering the digital TV business through text based services and using cross promotion in order to strengthen the brand.

Möller, Kristina Sabelström

Nordqvist, stig.

This study focuses on production flow for publishing in generic digital newsprint editions, such as e-paper, PDAs or on-line editions, by analyzing and mapping existing production workflow at three Swedish newspaper publishing companies covering the most common organizational types in the newspaper publishing industry today. Most newspaper publishing companies produce a range of electronic editions, all part of the digital newsprint family. In general, there exists two types of organizational production workflows - the integrated multiple channel workflow, and the separated, where the printed and the electronic workflows are detached, sometimes in totally separate organizations. Using scenarios, the aim is to propose a model for the production workflow of the electronic paper editions in newspaper publishing. The results indicate several possibilities for automation in the workflow. Furthermore, the study points out stages as challenges in the workflow where changes have to be done in order to introduce epaper as a publishing channel for news publishing. We will as an introduction, along with the workflow scenarios in this paper, also present a brief overview of the existing techniques for displaying content on electronic paper terminals.

This paper studies adoption of interactive media news services among young people in the Nordic countries, focusing on Sweden. The paper aims to reflect the courses of events in terms of usage as the services are established on the market.

Using statistics and survey data concerning four contemporary media technology based news services selected to reflect different levels of available interactivity - on-line newspaper editions, web TV, news podcasting and news blogs - this paper analyzes some of the adoption characteristics of the services.

The new technological platforms as well as the presentation of content for the four analyzed news services can be compared to specific precursors, thus the S-curve and the five adopter categories suggested in diffusion theory can to some extent be used when forecasting the diffusion of the new services.

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At work in the age of media convergence: changing paradigms of journalism in China

• Department of Communication Studies

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis

This thesis focuses on the impact of media convergence on the Chinese newspaper organization in the global text of advanced technology, through a rare ethnographic case study of a Chinese Communist Party media organization. Based on online and offline data obtained through seven months' ethnographic research carried out in 2016 at Party newspaper organization PaperX, including a special focus on the newspaper's police beat, it seeks to understand how the impact of media convergence is manifested in news routines and to discuss the implications of the impact on Chinese journalists. The research was designed during a time of change in China's media environment. On August 18, 2014, the country's leader, President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, gave a speech highlighting the "Directives on Boosting Integrated Development of Traditional and New Media" , a new set of guidelines to assist traditional media in handling the economic downturn that started to affect the Chinese newspaper industry from 2012 as the penetration of digital technologies deepened. In a similar way to Western media, Chinese newsrooms have needed to adapt to Internet structures in news production. Unlike Western media, Chinese newsroom development is subject to strong political guidance. Media convergence in China thus represents a culturally specific phenomenon within the global landscape of newspaper industry digitalization. The sociology of newsroom studies and the labor lens are the two main research approaches adopted to address the purposes of this thesis. The thesis uses newsroom studies to examine the impact of media convergence as a logic institutionalized into the newsroom structure, journalists' routines and practices, and the identity construction of journalists. Through the labor lens approach, the research explores individual journalists' praxis in the changing media environment in China and the constant shift between alienation, de-alienation and enlightened alienation. Two tensions continuously emerge throughout the research: old versus new values and practices; and individual versus structural needs of the profession. Findings indicates that media convergence logic has had multiple impacts reaching to the core of journalistic practice at PaperX. At the structural level, the re-centralization of media control closed down local support for PaperX, particularly the limited latitude previously granted to the newspaper by local government departments to "supervise" (serve as a watchdog), while financial support from the government (both local and central levels) saw the newspaper adopt an administratization of advertising operational strategy focused on soliciting and making government information service reports and announcements. Such structural changes appeared to have a paradoxical effect on journalists' perceptions of their job, with staffers being both insecure and apathetic about their current work and proud to be connected to government sources. The principles directing the organization and journalists in their routines and practices changed to become "official" oriented. Yet, journalists were found to project informal and invisible practices to reconcile their paradoxical feelings about their work. Meanwhile, at the identity level, journalists actively reconstructed their professional identity on social media to showcase the products of their work to government officials and managers on the WeChat Moments social media platform, and to display their close connections with the police, using these contacts as resources to boost the social authority derived from their identity. Overall, this study's contribution lies in its insights into Chinese newsroom production in the global context of advanced technology, in its deployment of ethnographic data gathering, and the use of the labor lens perspective to analyze journalists' relationship with their organization and media institutions. The documenting of PaperX's experiences in adapting to the new era of newsgathering in China could also shed significant light on the future development of Chinese Communist Party newspapers at the local level.

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Convergence and divergence in media: different perspectives

A current issue in the media industry is coping with the effects of convergence. The concept of convergence is frequently used both in the academic field and within the media industry to denote the ongoing restructuring of media companies as well as to describe the latest developments in media forms, distribution, and consumption. However, there is currently no generally accepted definition of the concept. Depending on the context, the meaning and connotations vary. Some researchers suggest that convergence is a result of a change toward a more modern media society while others treat the concept as denoting the actual process toward a more efficient management of the media value chain. This paper discusses various definitions of convergence, both in a historical perspective and as it is used and understood in contemporary media and communications research, one aim being the evaluation of how the meaning of the concept has evolved during the past decade. The study is based on literat...

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Dealing with the on-going structural changes in the media landscape is one of the most urgent challenges in today's society, both for people working in the media industry and for consumers trying t ...

Jurnal ASPIKOM

Putut Widjanarko

Media convergence, the dominant perspective to understanding the recent intertwining development of media and digital technologies, has been criticized for not reflecting the phenomenon of the current media landscape. The convergence-deconvergence-coexistence triad is proposed as the better framework to understand such phenomenon. Therefore, this article implements this triadic interaction to analyze the evolution of Liputan6.com, one of the most prominent online news media in Indonesia. This study employs in-depth interviews, observation, and document/archive analysis. This study identifies three periods of development of Liputan6.com since its establishment in 2000, and each period has different relation dynamics of the three aspects within the triad framework. By applying the convergence-deconvergence-coexistence triadic perspective, this article offers a multifaceted and multilayer analysis of the evolution of online news media such as Liputan6.com.

Fernández Sanz, Juan José; Rubio Moraga, Angel L.; Sanz Estables, Carlos; (eds.). Prensa y periodismo especializado V. 1 ed. Madrid: Departamento de Historia de la Comunicación Social (UCM)/Asociación de la Prensa de Guadalajara; 2012. p. 431-474.

Javier Díaz Noci

SHUAIB MOHAMED HANEEF

The field of journalism has always been inflected by technological disruptions that take place continually. Disruption ushered in by the digitalisation and convergence of media has changed the ways journalists perform their routine journalistic tasks. Non-human actants like mobile phones, smart phones, messaging apps, and social media among others have influenced journalistic practices in the realm of converged media. This research paper attempts to explore how smart phones, social media and other convergent media and related practices alter or translate the journalistic network of news production. To understand the phenomena, the researchers conducted in-depth interview with twelve journalists from the Hindustan Times and Hindustan Dainik, Lucknow and Dainik Jagran, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. The audio recordings of interviews were transcribed and coded as per the three stages of thematic analysis using qualitative data analysis software NVivo. Emerging literature on convergence jou...

Jose Alberto García Avilés , Andy Kaltenbrunner , Klaus Meier

Newsrooms are in a makeover process, reflecting the complex changes taking place in the market,along with a shift towards the digital domain within the media value creation chains. Our comparative study monitors convergence and integration processes in newsrooms in Spain (El Mundo), Germany (Die Welt) and Austria (Der Standard). Five years ago, we established threetypical newsroom models and a convergence matrix for analysis and comparison: Full Integration,Cross-Media and Coordination of Isolated Platforms. The models and matrix have now beenconfirmed and enriched with new details and descriptors regarding newsroom organization, workflows and change management. At the same time, audience participation is becoming a key strategic question in all newsroom models, whereas the traditional logic and rhythms of daily newspaper production are losing ground.

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 17512786 2014 885678

Andy Kaltenbrunner

Nathan O Emmanuel, Ph.D

Internet has reinvented and redefined society; it has introduced a new culture, refurbished and reshaped the existing ones. This study is an assessment of new trends and practices in Nigerian media environment. Conducted within the context of mediamorphosis theory, the research used qualitative tools such as semi-structured interviews, direct-observation, while some secondary data from different sources were triangulated with the primary data in order to enhance the richness and trustworthiness of the findings. In terms of sampling, multiple-staged sampling method was adopted and this resulted in the selection of 15 media practitioners which were drawn from different media genres. The findings show that digital delivery of media contents has occupied superlative position in modern journalism practice in Nigeria and this has given birth to " non-media " social media influencers, such as celebrities, corporate organisations, who promote their brands through their various social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs, among others. Findings also reveal that there is a yawning gap between journalism practice and journalism education in Nigeria, as the newsroom is believed to be ahead of classroom. The study therefore recommends that if the ship of the fourth estate of the realm must not sink, the future journalism education must also involve professionals in the industry in teaching of journalism in journalism and mass communication institutions. This is because the potency of the next generation of journalism education can be measured by its ability to maximise opportunities and minimise the challenges associated with digital technologies.

Media Studies . 2011, Vol. 46 Issue 3, Special section p1-19. 19p.

Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech

Media researchers have been interested in the problem of media convergence since the 1980s. But the huge wave of publications, conferences and discussions about media convergence began just after the publication of Henry Jenkins’ book Convergence Culture. Where old and new media collide. It brought questions about the realm of the concept, typologies and previous research. The aim of this text is to answer the questions: What is media convergence and what types of convergence could we specify in media studies? Before the presentation of the various contexts and dimensions of media convergence, some sources and the history of the concept will be presented as well as outcomes of recent media convergence research.

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Archived Theses and Dissertations

Media convergence and virtual communities: current and future implications for civic inclusion.

Lamees Magedy El Baghdady

This thesis has a multi disciplinary approach. It integrates the study of virtual communities and media convergence research with a broader social milieu that is represented in two levels of research the micro level and the macro one. Among the significances of this thesis, is that it is considered to be the first academic investigation in the Arab World that tackles this theme of research.

Furthermore, the researcher triangulates both a quantitative and qualitative methods as the methodological framework for the thesis. The main research sample consists of 500 Egyptian youth, who are members of virtual communities.

Besides, while the knowledge gap is major theoretical framework for the thesis as it tackles a fresh perspective which is the perceived relevance of technologies as a resource for civic life, the researcher considers the Social Shaping Technology perspective (SST) as the invisible perspective behind this research.

The researcher introduces a unique angle of research in relation to virtual communities investigation as she tackles participants' experience with their virtual socialization process. She argues that 'the usage' of computer and the converged media tools along with Internet technologies have shaped their essence, helped in opening new frontiers, and evoked a blend of new forms of social ties.

In other words, computers have been shaped to become social tools; and Internet virtuality has become a valuable social space for a significant segment for the Egyptian community. The researcher has further argued that virtual communities have played a role in expanding the Egyptian public sphere, and acted as a catalyst for participant's civic inclusion. Thus, it can be perceived as another form of Egyptian social capital.

Journalism & Mass Communication Department

Degree Name

MA in Journalism & Mass Communication

Date of Award

Online submission date, first advisor.

Hussein Amin

Committee Member 1

Hassan Ragab

Committee Member 2

Ibrahim Saleh

Document Type

171 leaves :

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Virtual reality.

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Convergence (Telecommunication)

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

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Recommended Citation

Apa citation.

El Baghdady, L. (2006). Media convergence and virtual communities: Current and Future Implications for Civic Inclusion [Thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/retro_etds/1881

MLA Citation

El Baghdady, Lamees Magedy. Media convergence and virtual communities: Current and Future Implications for Civic Inclusion . 2006. American University in Cairo, Thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain . https://fount.aucegypt.edu/retro_etds/1881

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Thesis 2005/108

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Media Studies Theses and Dissertations

This collection contains theses and dissertations from the Department of Media Studies, collected from the Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Theses/Dissertations from 2024 2024

Networks of Resistance: A Regional Analysis of Extractive Conflicts in Central America , Giada Ferrucci

Arts-Informed Storytelling: How Arts-Informed Research was Used with Six Indigenous Peoples in London, Ont. , Percy Sherwood

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Witnessing Conspiracy Theories: Developing an Intersectional Approach to Conspiracy Theory Research , David Guignion

Canadians Redefining R&B: The Online Marketing of Drake, Justin Bieber, and Jessie Reyez , Amara Pope Ms.

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Instagram Influencers and their Youngest Female Followers , Amanda Jenkins

A descriptive analysis of sport nationalism, digital media, and fandom to launch the Canadian Premier League , Farzan Mirzazadeh

Influencer Engagement Pods and the Struggle Over Measure in Instagram Platform Labour , Victoria J. O'Meara

Radiant Dreams and Nuclear Nightmares: Japanese Resistance Narratives and American Intervention in Postwar Speculative Popular Culture , Aidan J. Warlow

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

More barriers than solutions: Women’s experiences of support with online abuse , Chandell E. Gosse

Heavy Metal Fundraisers: Entrepreneurial Recording Artists in Platform Capitalism , Jason Netherton

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Resistant Vulnerability in The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Captain America , Kristen Allison

Unwrapping the Toronto Christmas Market: An Examination of Tradition and Nostalgia in a Socially Constructed Space , Lydia J. Gibson

Trauma, Creativity, And Bearing Witness Through Art: Marian Kołodziej's Labyrinth , Alyssa Logie

Appropriating Play: Examining Twitch.tv as a Commercial Platform , Charlotte Panneton

Dead Men Walking: An Analysis of Working-Class Masculinity in Post-2008 Hollywood Film , Ryan Schroeder

Glocalization in China: An Analysis of Coca-Cola’s Brand Co-Creation Process with Consumers in China , Yinuo Shi

Critiquing the New Autonomy of Immaterial Labour: An Analysis of Work in the Artificial Intelligence Industry , James Steinhoff

Watching and Working Through: Navigating Non-being in Television Storytelling , Tiara Lalita Sukhan

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Hone the Means of Production: Craft Antagonism and Domination in the Journalistic Labour Process of Freelance Writers , Robert Bertuzzi

Invisible Labour: Support-Service Workers in India’s Information Technology Industry , Indranil Chakraborty

Exhibiting Human Rights: Making the Means of Dignity Visible , Amy J. Freier

Industrial Stagecraft: Tooling and Cultural Production , Jennifer A. Hambleton

Cultural Hybridity in the Contemporary Korean Popular Culture through the Practice of Genre Transformation , Kyunghee Kim

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Regarding Aid: The photographic situation of humanitarianism , Sonya de Laat

The Representation of the Canadian Government’s Warrantless Domestic Collection of Metadata in the Canadian Print News Media , Alan Del Pino

(Not) One of the Boys: A Case Study of Female Detectives on HBO , Darcy Griffin

Pitching the Feminist Voice: A Critique of Contemporary Consumer Feminism , Kate Hoad-Reddick

Local-Global Tensions: Professional Experience, Role Perceptions and Image Production of Afghan Photojournalists Working for a Global Audience , Saumava Mitra

A place for locative media: A theoretical framework for assessing locative media use in urban environments , Darryl A. Pieber

Mapping the Arab Diaspora: Examining Placelessness and Memory in Arab Art , Shahad Rashid

Settler Colonial Ways of Seeing: Documentary Governance of Indigenous Life in Canada and its Disruption , Danielle Taschereau Mamers

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Finding Your Way: Navigating Online News and Opinions , Charlotte Britten

Law and Abuse: Representations of Intimate Partner Homicide in Law Procedural Dramas , Jaime A. Campbell

Creative Management: Disciplining the Neoliberal Worker , Trent Cruz

No hay Sólo un Idioma, No hay Sólo una Voz: A Revisionist History of Chicana/os and Latina/os in Punk , Richard C. Davila

Shifting Temporalities: The Construction of Flexible Subjectivities through Part-time Retail Workers’ Use of Smartphone Technology , Jessica Fanning

Becoming Sonic: Ambient Poetics and the Ecology of Listening in Four Militant Sound Investigations , David C. Jackson

Capital's Media: The Physical Conditions of Circulation , Atle Mikkola Kjøsen

On the Internet by Means of Popular Music: The Cases of Grimes and Childish Gambino , Kristopher R. K. Ohlendorf

Believing the News: Exploring How Young Canadians Make Decisions About Their News Consumption , Jessica Thom

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Narrative Epic and New Media: The Totalizing Spaces of Postmodernity in The Wire, Batman, and The Legend of Zelda , Luke Arnott

Canada: Multiculturalism, Religion, and Accommodation , Brittainy R. Bonnis

Navigating the Social Landscape: An Exploration of Social Networking Site Usage among Emerging Adults , Kristen Colbeck

Impassioned Objects And Seething Absences: The Olympics In Canada, National Identity and Consumer Culture , Estee Fresco

Satirical News and Political Subversiveness: A Critical Approach to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report , Roberto Leclerc

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Limitation to Innovation in the North American Console Video Game Industry 2001-2013: A Critical Analysis , Michael Schmalz

Happiest People Alive: An Analysis of Class and Gender in the Trinidad Carnival , Asha L. St. Bernard

Human-Machinic Assemblages: Technologies, Bodies, and the Recuperation of Social Reproduction in the Crisis Era , Elise D. Thorburn

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Face Value: Beyond the Surface of Brand Philanthropy and the Cultural Production of the M.A.C AIDS Fund , Andrea Benoit

Cultivating Better Brains: Transhumanism and its Critics on the Ethics of Enhancement Via Brain-computer Interfacing , Matthew Devlin

Man Versus Food: An Analysis of 'Dude Food' Television and Public Health , Amy R. Eisner-Levine

Media Literacy and the English as a Second Language Curriculum: A Curricular Critique and Dreams for the Future , Clara R. Madrenas

Fantasizing Disability: Representation of loss and limitation in Popular Television and Film , Jeffrey M. Preston

(Un)Covering Suicide: The Changing Ethical Norms in Canadian Journalism , Gemma Richardson

Labours Of Love: Affect, Fan Labour, And The Monetization Of Fandom , Jennifer Spence

'What's in a List?' Cultural Techniques, Logistics, Poeisis , Liam Cole Young

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Anonymous: Polemics and Non-identity , Samuel Chiang

Manufacturing Legitimacy: A Critical Theory of Election News Coverage , Gabriel N. Elias

The Academic Grind: A Critique of Creative and Collaborative Discourses Between Digital Games Industries and Post-Secondary Education in Canada , Owen R. Livermore

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Promotional Ubiquitous Musics: New Identities and Emerging Markets in the Digitalizing Music Industry , Leslie Meier

Money, Morals, and Human Rights: Commercial Influences in the Marketing, Branding, and Fundraising of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch , Danielle Morgan

If I Had a Hammer: An Archeology of Tactical Media From the Hootenanny to the People's Microphone , Henry Adam Svec

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Watching High School: Representing Disempowerment on Teen Drama Television , Sarah M. Baxter

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Watching the games: Critical media literacy and students’ abilities to identify and critique the politics of sports , Raúl J. Feliciano Ortiz

The Invisible Genocide: An Analysis of ABC, CBS, and NBC Television News Coverage of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. , Daniel C. Harvey

It's Complicated: Romantic Breakups and Their Aftermath on Facebook , Veronika A. Lukacs

Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses: The Practices, Meanings, and Consequences of Consumption in Second Life , Jennifer M. Martin

The (m)Health Connection: An Examination of the Promise of Mobile Phones for HIV/AIDS Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa , Trisha M. Phippard

Born Again Hard : Transgender Subjectivity in Paul Chadwick's Concrete , Justin Raymond

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Media Convergence: Advantages and Disadvantages

Info: 3736 words (15 pages) Introduction Published: 8th Sep 2021

Reference this

Tagged: Media

Introduction

The electronic highway of information that is girdling the world has brought an end to the Gutenberg era. Transition from a “stones throw away” world to a “click away” world has changed the way we live, interact, socialize and work. It has also changed the way we perceive culture, people, processes, objects i.e. life in short. The high speed network fabric has rendered geographical boundaries irrelevant.

A few years back it may have sounded like an idea by Slartibartfast from the legendary planet of Margarathea (from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) but with the advent of technological platforms this ain’t a far-fetched idea any longer but is the reality of the present times.

It all began with the technological outburst which led to the availability of various platforms that helped to efficiently maximize the transfer of information. The degree of separation between the company and the consumer has reduced considerably.

Branding Redefined

Branding is no longer the privilege of the larger conglomerates or the big pockets. With the advent of technology and the significant reduction in the costs associated with branding, smaller companies that are taking branding seriously have cropped up like mushrooms. The competition is much tougher and there is this race of owning properties both online and real to cut out the competition. In the context of sports we can take the example of the Indian Premier League (IPL) the largest sport event in India this year. So there would be sponsors for IPL who would demand exclusivity. This is applicable across industry sectors- say a sponsor of something like MTV Roadies who would end up owning the content rights of the show- just to kick competition out of the advertising sphere for the show.

The questions that loom large are “Has the traditional media died?” or “Has it just reduced to a mere supporting media?” or “Have the rules of the game changed?” or “Is it a new game altogether?”

Brand experience is both emotional and functional. It is not only a promise that a company makes, or an assurance to the quality of the product as mentioned by Aaker(1991) but it also has a psychological role to play. They make you feel good about yourself or are an expression of yourself. They also fulfil social needs like a sense of affiliation or belongingness to a community or a group of people who think alike.

The very fact that names like Arsenal, Manchester United of the English Premier League (EPL) are household names in a country like India where nothing but Cricket sell’s, shows the growth of sports branding. This phenomenon has been more evident in the recent past all because of the media convergence (Kerr,2008). There are fan communities where people can discuss their teams, interact with people with similar sentiments, vent their anger when a player does not perform and share their grief when their team loses. The arrival of sport channels has provided a medium to the broadcasters to telecast all kinds of sports and not just cricket. There is as much of motor sports, basketball, tennis and football as there is cricket.

The question that pops up next is, what is the brand? Is it the player, the club or is it Football the game itself? If yes, how has a little white ball and a green field inspired the most successful brand principles that has led to true brand management?

The concept of a sport being a brand may sound a little ridiculous at first, but the figures don’t lie. A Brand Finance survey conducted in 2005 revealed that Manchester United had a brand value of £197m, Liverpool a value of 156m, Chelsea £137m and Arsenal a brand value of £115mn.

Indian Premier League (IPL) – The Sport Renaissance in India

India has two primary religions – Bollywood and Cricket. The only differentiating factor that sets sports entertainment apart from the rest is the passion that it commands and the real time execution. The cricket economy world over is 1bn USD to which India contributes to more than 60%. This includes revenues from ticket sales, sponsorship, endorsements and broadcasting rights.

In 2008 the remote wars in the households in India had struck a truce as all the members in the family were glued onto one thing -the IPL for their own different reasons. Be it the glamour, be it the sport, be it the uniqueness of the concept or be it the hype around the event, IPL redefined entertainment. The General Entertainment Channels (GECs) observed a huge dip in the Television Rating Points. Nothing had grabbed the attention of the masses & the classes at such a scale ever before.

Next year IPL struck again-grander and better. The GECs delayed the launch of new shows as they were sure they had nothing that could compete against the IPL. Such is the potential for the Sport Industry in India.

The IPL ’09 had rung the death knell of the whole arena of player management in India as small size sponsors signed the best of the players in the Indian team for a year at dead cheap prices. This fiasco happened due to the deals that the IPL Franchise had with these sponsors and the players were bound by it. This was the reason why we saw Master Blaster Sachin, Zaheer and Harbhajan promoting Luminous Invertors and Sehwaag advertising for Jetkings an equipment hardware manufacturer. Is it truly about club over country?

The club format brought to the public light through the IPL has shattered the myth that sports in India is about national identity and patriotism? In the auction the highest bid jersey was not that of Tendulkar or Ganguly, it was Khan’s 11.

It has given rise to a lot of questions – What is it that makes a person support the Mumbai Indians or the Kolkatta Knight Riders? Is it Sachin, Sehwag, Shilpa or Shahrukh? Is it the success of the team or the strategy that they employ when at the field? The other areas of concern would be has this concept of IPL revolutionized the way sport is consumed in India? Will the spectators be interested in an IPL match over India vs Pakistan Test Match?

The Moment of Truth in the IPL that made it’s success eminent was the fact that the crowd actually cheered when Sachin was bowled by Bret Lee. This is an indicator of the fact that sports in India is in the throes of evolution. People are open to accepting it as an entertainment option than a patriotic struggle. Literature Review

What is Media Convergence?

• Britannica Encyclopaedia say’s, “Media Convergence is a phenomenon that involves the interlocking of computing and information technology companies, telecommunication networks and content providers from the various media platforms like magazines, newspapers, radio, television, films and the likes. It also says that Media Convergence is the confluence of the 3 C’s – Communication, Content and Computing”.
• According to Henry Jenkins who is a highly respected media analyst and one of the foremost leading experts on the convergence culture paradigm, as well as, the DeFlorz Professor of Humanities and the Founder and Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT states that, “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences is what constitutes media convergence”. It is not just the confluence of the traditional and the new digital media but it is also about the unpredictable ways of interaction and association of the consumers and producers of media. It is not solely technological but there is a huge gamut of socio- cultural paradigm shifts that have changed the way the consumer evaluates a product, makes his decision and his social interactions to seek information. It also includes the experience that the producer of the media makes the consumer go through (Viau, 2001).

The world is witnessing the new forms of media in which they have a larger control over the types of feeds they receive, the ease with which they can interact with not just the media but with the media provider as well. This has brought a whole new dimension of competition to the traditional media platforms. This has also led to a lack of dependence of the consumers on any particular media which in turn translates to lesser loyalty.

Benefits of Media Convergence:

• The content creators can use the platform to generate customized content that is targeted at a specific group.
• This has also brought about a change in the dynamics of economy as distribution and cost structure is not the same in traditional media.
• It has brought about a sense of Post Modernism to the field of media consumption where the consumer is not an audience but is also a co creator.
• This has also brought about a change in the experience that a person goes through by consuming media. It has transcended the limitations of the traditional media.

Negatives of Media Convergence:

• This has brought in a certain amount of unpredictability in the responses that a media would receive. With the audience being exposed to a plethora of media platforms it gets tough to understand what has had what kind of effect on the consumer.
• Media Convergence has brought about a shift in the control that the content creator had over it’s property. With the advent of blogs, mobiles and emails the consumers are exposed to large amount of unbranded content. This has led to an increase in the competition for consumer’s time and attention that the content creators face.

Is Sport an Industry?

Does industry necessarily comprise of a product or service? NO! It could be an offering that is neither of the two but is consumed by the people. Entertainment is an industry and so is religion. Thus Sport is an industry too which comprises of selling sports or selling through sports. Be it the events, leagues and the tickets to view these or the marketing of products through sports- which would include merchandize, licensing and sponsorship (Mason, 1999).

The figure below represents a model of the Sport Industry

Parallels can be drawn between Sports and a Consumer Product. Below is a representation of the value chain of the sports industry.

Sport as a product can be consumed in different ways- playing, watching, reading or being entertained by it. The level of involvement of the consumers -fans in the sports jargon, differs for each of the way.

“Football is a million dollar industry. The sport has a long heritage in UK and has the most prestigious premiership in the world and has attracted players from all four corners of the globe. Most importantly, football inspires passion and the ‘big four’, Chelsea Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool FC, are among the most valuable brands in the country”, says Ruth Mortimer- a sports marketing blog owner.

What is a Sports Brand?

What constitutes a sports brand is questionable. It depends on what the product is? Is the league a product or is it the clubs in the league that constitute the product (Goldman, 1989; Grauer, 1983; 1989; Gray, 1987)? It is argued that the league can be taken as a cartel of these entities i.e. the clubs. This would determine the marketing strategies for the league and the clubs. But whatever the case be both are brands in themselves.

If football is the category EPL can be taken as the Umbrella Brand and the clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and the likes would constitute the sub brands. Even the players would be brands in their own respect. If Beckham is the brand then it is dedicated, suave and down to earth (Milligan, 2004). Manchester United stands for excitement and great entertainment all so because right from Cantona to Giggs to Rooney and Ronaldo, the club has stalwarts who are both excellent at the game and are trend setters in their own way. Hence there is a clearly identifiable brand proposition (Baeur et al, 2005).

How are sport brands different from the product brands?

NBA Franchise was the first to realize the potential of brand building and what organized marketing can do to fuel revenue generation. Andy Mulligan(2009), says, “ Brands are often, somewhat lazily by some people, equated with pure commercialism and worse still with a kind of ‘fluffy’ marketing that is about ‘spin’ and not substance.” He is of the view that though Sport is a huge industry, managing teams is not in the least similar to managing a business. The very premise that a business is a tradable property sets it apart. A team is a repository of emotional associations that fans world over share and build. Hence sports team is not a business but it could definitely be a brand as it’s an identity and a promise that the consumer’s believe in and an experience that they live.

The association of a spectator with a specific club is enhanced by the collaborative play of “local, national or emotional identifications” (Whannel, 1992, p. 199) or by the un-certainty of the outcome of the game (Clapson, 1992).The degree of association of the club and the spectator is so high that he develops a strong sense of affiliation with the club. He feels proud and celebrates the victories and is all gloomy over the losses. This phenomenon has been termed as Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRG) (Cialdini et al., 1976).

Media and Sports

The globalization, the opening up of trade barriers, this era of media convergence, the popularity of the internet, and the ever increasing number of netizens has revolutionized the sports industry. The advancements in communication technology provide omniscient access to all kinds of leagues that a team plays in. This coupled with the 24X7 dedicated sport channels has opened up a whole new arena of entertainment.

Today the English Premier League and Formula 1 are as popular in the Asia Pacific as they are in Europe. Earlier people used to watch just the league finals but now they have the option to follow their favourite teams irrespective of their geographic location and time. The qualifiers for the Champions League or the NASCAR have a sizeable number of viewers as does the grand finale.

• When Real Madrid signed the superstar David Beckham, the live telecast of the ceremony attracted more than 2 million eyeballs (Hatfield, 2003).
• Games of Houston Rockets had a viewership of over 30 million Chinese viewers who tuned in just to watch Yao Ming- their fellow citizen battle the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) finest (Larmer, 2005).
• Manchester United has a huge fan base of close to 24 million in China alone which is more than the number of viewers in Britain. More than half a billion people tune in to watch the weekly games world over. (Datson, 2004).

The popularity that these sports command has attracted the attention of sponsors and advertisers. The teams themselves have realized the large potential that the world of marketing has in store. They have capitalized on this opportunity and the audience sentiment by branding themselves. They have a prominent presence across the various levels, be it Below the Line or Above the Line. We have Team Anthems, Jerseys, Videos, Events, Parties, Posters - ALL OF IT!

• Manchester United’s branded licensed jerseys sell more in the USA as compared to all the other Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs combined. The number of hardcore fans has been approximated to a good 4 million in North America alone.
• Japanese tour groups spent US$500 million on just the tickets and souvenirs from the New York Yankees’. All so to watch Hideki Matsui the outfielder from Japan. This was more than five times what the presence of Ichiro Suzuki in Seattle Mariners generated (Whiting, 2003).
• Internet statistics tell the same story. There are more ‘satellite fans’ to the NBA. 40% of visitors to the website log on from outside the States and a humongous 20% of the licensed merchandise is sold overseas (Eisenberg et al., 2003).

Global Sports Industry & Recession

When the whole world is in the throes of recession, sports is one industry sector that has not been as badly affected as the others and was quick enough to bounce back within a year. Loss of sponsorship, events being cancelled, biggies withdrawing from the arena; these are some of the development the sports industry has witnessed in the recent past. On one hand we have been witnessing things like

• Honda, Kawasaki and Subaru withdrawn from motorsport
• Manchester United lose £56 million AIG shirt sponsorship
• US National Football League indicates it will cut workforce by 10%
• Tiger Woods loses five year $8 million endorsement contract with Buick
• Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games takes out additional $800 million loan to cover financial shortfall
• 2009 Indian Masters golf tournament cancelled
• Arena Football League in US cancelled for the season

On the other hand the world witnessed the largest ever viewership and increasing advertising spend

• TV viewership increased to 1 million (97.4m to 98.4m); advertising investment up $20 million (from $186 million to $206 million) at the Super bowl 2009

Manchester City sold for £200million+ in summer 2008

• Premier League signs new live TV rights deal for £1.78 billion, surpassing previous deal
• Badminton England signs record-breaking sponsorship deal with Yonex
• Manchester United and City will both sign lucrative, record-breaking shirt sponsorship deals if the rumors are to be believed

Sports Scenario in India

The Sports arena in India has been dominated by cricket for quite some time now. But with the converging media and the Westernization sports like soccer, basketball, motor racing have observed an increasing fan base.

A look at the Audience and Viewership data from TAM is enough to prove this point. Cricket is followed by soccer, tennis and wrestling. The reason for the monopoly of cricket is simple.

Cricket is the only sport where India has made a mark in the International arena and which still holds hope for Indians to win over others. This has provided it the status of religion in India.

The other popular sports would include Soccer, Tennis and Motor Sports as revealed by a TAM report. This marks the herald of a whole new era of sports entertainment and marketing. Below is an overview of the size of the sports industry in India

IPL- The Story so Far

India has two religions Bollywood and Cricket and the whole country was awestruck when the two joined hands. IPL is all about glamour, excitement and passion.

It works on a franchise model where each of team is owned by an industrialist, a celebrity or is a joint venture. There was an auction to own the clubs and then there was an auction to make the team and select the players. This was the golden time for the Cricket Board in India as it made a lot of profits. Franchise rights were tendered with a reserve price of USD 50mn for 10 yrs. The owners get a percentage of the revenue that the team earns and has other streams like merchandising to mint money from too.

The primary difference between the IPL and the English Premier League was the fact that in IPL there was a cap on the amount of money that could be spent in building a team. Unlike EPL where the teams that are backed by the deeper pockets manage to buy the best of the players and end up winning the tournaments and the others are a t a competitive disadvantage.

Apart from this sponsorship on Television and the ground constitutes a huge chunk of the revenues that the board and the team earn. The IPL website had 50mn page views in the first week and had received 530,000 column cm of stuff written about it in the newspapers in the Season 1.

The opening match in Delhi had a Television Rating Point(TRP) of 7.19 which was the highest for any event in India ever. It had a TRP of 6.7 amongst women which is a considerable number considering the fact that Indian women are generally not much into watching sports.

Thus we see that it ain’t just a mere entertainment option but is an industry in itself.

The Need Gap

The clubs are no longer just teams whose players lend it its brand value. There is a huge industry of sports merchandize, events and the likes that thrives on this – it’s a culture in itself. Keeping this in mind I plan to study formats like the EPL and NBA which are brands in themselves and arrive at the factors that lead to the success of such brands.

India as a nation provides huge potential to market these brands. It is not just the passion for the sport or the sentiment of belongingness to a particular nation that commands loyalty. There are several other factors that have converted sports clubs or teams into one of the most valued brands world over. Therefore there is a knowledge gap that exists. It is to study what these factors are and what are the things that affect these factors?

Parallels can be drawn between the sports industry in India and in nations abroad which in turn would help marketing sports, teams and clubs as brands in a nation like India- which is a burgeoning economy and holds great prospects for such brands.

Research Objectives

• To understand how sports branding has grown as an industry in the West, taking EPL, NBA, Formula 1 as a case study.
• To understand the consumer perception of sports as a brand in India by conducting a research amongst the audiences
• To understand how media convergence has led to the popularity and the cult like fan following of Western sports in India
• To analyze the Indian sports industry and devise a marketing strategy for building a sports brand in the Indian context

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The best video essays of 2023

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Share All sharing options for: The best video essays of 2023

Looking at the year’s notable video essays, many grapple with issues at the heart of contemporary media itself. There are dissections of video-playing tools, exposés of how corporations restrict access, contrasts between tropes and reality, and thorough investigations of trends in plagiarism and/or fabrication. As the essay landscape refines, it seems to peer inward as much as out.

On the making of this list: I’ve been trying to stay up to date on video essays for a while, and have been contributing to lists and/or voting in polls about the best videos made each year since 2018. Over this time, doing these kinds of roundups has gotten exponentially more difficult. As YouTube has grown to become a mega-business hosting powerful creators (part of the general trend of social media video sites becoming the new primary forum for cultural influence), I’ve seen essayists I once thought of as niche accrue follower counts in the millions. It’s been surreal. For this year’s list, I tried to shake things up by keeping the essayists who have appeared in previous editions to a minimum, along with the usual considerations about incorporating a diversity of creator backgrounds and video style. Once again, the videos are presented simply in order of publishing date.

[Also, I’m going to preface this with a mega mea culpa: It was absolute malpractice of me to not include Platformer Toolkit by Game Maker’s Toolkit in the best video essays of 2022 list . I don’t have a good excuse, either; I just straight up missed the essay at the time it came out, and then overlooked it during my catch-up phase at the end of the year. But an essay about game design that instructs you on its ideas by letting you actively engage with them through interactivity feels like a breakthrough in the form.]

Practices of Viewing by Johannes Binotto

Johannes Binotto is a Swiss researcher and lecturer who has been adding to his “Practices of Viewing” series for several years now, and every installment preceding 2023’s videos, “Ending” and “Description,” is well worth checking out. With each essay, Binotto examines a specific element of the media viewing interface, and how they affect an audience’s engagement with it. Some subjects, like fast-forwarding, pausing, or muting, may seem like obvious touchstones, while others, like sleep, are more out-there approaches to the conversation.

A History of the World According to Getty Images by Richard Misek

This technically debuted last year, making the rounds at film festivals, but it was made available online this past spring, so I’m including it here. A History of the World According to Getty Images is a great example of a work embedding its own ethos into its construction. Misek, another academic, is scrutinizing how for-profit companies (specifically Getty Images) mediate information that’s supposed to be available for all. In practice, a great deal of visual material that’s technically in the public domain can only be accessed in decent quality by paying an archive like Getty. Misek circumvents this by paying the fee to use select footage in this essay and then making this essay itself available for anyone to cite and clip from, putting that footage out into the world for real.

The Faces of Black Conservatism by F.D Signifier

I feel that video essays that consist mainly of the creator talking directly into a camera stretch the definition of the term – to me, the best cinematic and argumentative potential of the form lies in the power of editing. F.D Signifier’s contrast between fictional depictions of Black conservatives and the reality of how they appear across media exemplifies is what sets him apart in this genre: not just the depth of his thought (though it is considerable), but also the playful ways in which he presents the objects of his discussion. The running gag here in which he films himself holding hairstyling tools over the heads of various people on his screen had me laughing harder with each appearance.

Games That Don’t Fake the Space by Jacob Geller/Why We Can’t Stop Mapping Elden Ring by Ren or Raven

I don’t actually think this is the best essay Jacob Geller released this year (that would be either “Games that Aren’t Games” or “How Can We Bear to Throw Anything Away?” ), but it pairs so incredibly well with Renata Price’s essay (an impressive video debut building on her experience as a games critic) that it felt more appropriate to present them as a double feature. Both videos are sharp examinations of the ways that video games conjure physical space. Geller illuminates the shortcuts and tricks games often employ through examples of ones that, as the title suggests, don’t use such devices, while Price analyzes the impulses beneath what one could call the “cartographic instinct” in open-world games.

Why Do Brands Keep Doing These Crazy Influencer Trips?? by Mina Le

It’s been encouraging in recent years to see Le grow more confident in her mixing of media in her videos on fashion and film/television. You might remember the controversy around Shein granting influencers a limited hangout in a clothing factory this past summer. Le contextualizes this story by delving into the wider, supremely odd world of sponsored tours. If you watch this on your phone, the transitions between Le speaking to the camera and the clips of TikToks and other videos and photos flow together in a manner not unlike how one would scroll a social media feed, creating queasy resonance between message and medium.

Feeling Cynical About Barbie by Broey Deschanel / The Plastic Feminism of Barbie by Verilybitchie

I present these two videos not as a contrarian attack on Barbie (a film I enjoyed), but to highlight the important role of considered critical voices that dissent against prevailing opinions. Both Maia Wyman and Verity Ritchie unpack the issues with a heavily corporate product attempting to capitalize on feminist sentiment. Ritchie emphasizes the history of Barbie the brand and how the movie fits into it, while Wyman reads more into the specifics of the film’s plot. Together these videos do a good job of elaborating on legendary critic Amy Taubin’s Barbie reaction : “It’s about a fucking doll !’”

TikTok Gave Me Autism: The Politics of Self Diagnosis by Alexander Avila

There’s a lot of social media discourse over who can and can’t — and should or shouldn’t — claim the label of “autistic.” As someone who’s struggled with both the logistics and appropriateness of sussing out whether I’m on the spectrum, this video hit me hard. There are parts that feel like they veer so far into philosophical query that they threaten to obfuscate rather than elucidate the subject, but the essay as a whole is undeniably compelling. Avila’s own confessed stake in the question of self-diagnosis is itself affecting. This is the most searingly personal video on this list, uniting self-inquiry with rigorous research.

Chaste/Unchaste by Maryam Tafakory

This years shortest entry is a deceptively simple interrogation of the concept of “chastity” as defined by Iranian censorship standards. Takafory is a veteran of the academic essay scene, and I’m delighted by the opportunity to present her work to a wider audience. The video’s text is minimal, and its visuals are simply a montage of clips from Iranian films, but the implicit question of propriety grips the viewer with each cut.

Journey to Epcot Center: A Symphonic History by Defunctland

This is the most boundary-pushing essay on this year’s list. Completely lacking commentary, it instead emphasizes visuals and reenactment in telling the story of how Disney’s Epcot park went from concept to realization over the decades. Kevin Perjurer also provides a detailed set of notes that are meant to be read along with watching the video, further demanding one’s full attention. This is a direct acknowledgement of how we use the internet, the windowed experience of browsing and watching videos. I don’t think everything works; many of the reenactments, while impressively professional, feel somewhat redundant. But I’d prefer a creator take big swings that result in a few flaws rather than play it safe, and I hope both Perjurer and others continue in such an experimental vein.

Plagiarism and You(Tube) by Hbomberguy

Harry Brewis is popular enough that he doesn’t need any boost, but even in the very brief period since this video’s release as of the time of writing, Plagiarism and You(Tube) has made seismic impact on the YouTuber scene . Does it need to be almost four hours long? Maybe not. Yet the sheer volume of evidence it pulls together to support various accusations of plagiarism does seem vital. The main focus of the piece, James Somerton, went into lockdown over the fairly comprehensive evidence presented against him (and has since attempted to apologize ). I’m seeing conversations flourish around the endemic problem of plagiarism on the internet and what is to be done about it, and a surge of creators recognizing and calling out others who have taken their work without credit. There’s a deeper issue at play here, which is that the growth of YouTube entertainment has come with a truly daunting mountain of crap content that nonetheless attracts views (and thus dollars).

On the subject of low quality standards on YouTube, beyond plagiarism, Todd in the Shadows’ recent exhaustive effort to fact-check various false claims Somerton has made in his work is a useful supplement to this video.

Polygon’s Best of the Year 2023

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• The 5 best concert movies of 2023
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A generative AI reset: Rewiring to turn potential into value in 2024

It’s time for a generative AI (gen AI) reset. The initial enthusiasm and flurry of activity in 2023 is giving way to second thoughts and recalibrations as companies realize that capturing gen AI’s enormous potential value is harder than expected .

With 2024 shaping up to be the year for gen AI to prove its value, companies should keep in mind the hard lessons learned with digital and AI transformations: competitive advantage comes from building organizational and technological capabilities to broadly innovate, deploy, and improve solutions at scale—in effect, rewiring the business  for distributed digital and AI innovation.

About QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey

QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Companies looking to score early wins with gen AI should move quickly. But those hoping that gen AI offers a shortcut past the tough—and necessary—organizational surgery are likely to meet with disappointing results. Launching pilots is (relatively) easy; getting pilots to scale and create meaningful value is hard because they require a broad set of changes to the way work actually gets done.

Let’s briefly look at what this has meant for one Pacific region telecommunications company. The company hired a chief data and AI officer with a mandate to “enable the organization to create value with data and AI.” The chief data and AI officer worked with the business to develop the strategic vision and implement the road map for the use cases. After a scan of domains (that is, customer journeys or functions) and use case opportunities across the enterprise, leadership prioritized the home-servicing/maintenance domain to pilot and then scale as part of a larger sequencing of initiatives. They targeted, in particular, the development of a gen AI tool to help dispatchers and service operators better predict the types of calls and parts needed when servicing homes.

Leadership put in place cross-functional product teams with shared objectives and incentives to build the gen AI tool. As part of an effort to upskill the entire enterprise to better work with data and gen AI tools, they also set up a data and AI academy, which the dispatchers and service operators enrolled in as part of their training. To provide the technology and data underpinnings for gen AI, the chief data and AI officer also selected a large language model (LLM) and cloud provider that could meet the needs of the domain as well as serve other parts of the enterprise. The chief data and AI officer also oversaw the implementation of a data architecture so that the clean and reliable data (including service histories and inventory databases) needed to build the gen AI tool could be delivered quickly and responsibly.

Creating value beyond the hype

Let’s deliver on the promise of technology from strategy to scale.

Our book Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI (Wiley, June 2023) provides a detailed manual on the six capabilities needed to deliver the kind of broad change that harnesses digital and AI technology. In this article, we will explore how to extend each of those capabilities to implement a successful gen AI program at scale. While recognizing that these are still early days and that there is much more to learn, our experience has shown that breaking open the gen AI opportunity requires companies to rewire how they work in the following ways.

Figure out where gen AI copilots can give you a real competitive advantage

The broad excitement around gen AI and its relative ease of use has led to a burst of experimentation across organizations. Most of these initiatives, however, won’t generate a competitive advantage. One bank, for example, bought tens of thousands of GitHub Copilot licenses, but since it didn’t have a clear sense of how to work with the technology, progress was slow. Another unfocused effort we often see is when companies move to incorporate gen AI into their customer service capabilities. Customer service is a commodity capability, not part of the core business, for most companies. While gen AI might help with productivity in such cases, it won’t create a competitive advantage.

To create competitive advantage, companies should first understand the difference between being a “taker” (a user of available tools, often via APIs and subscription services), a “shaper” (an integrator of available models with proprietary data), and a “maker” (a builder of LLMs). For now, the maker approach is too expensive for most companies, so the sweet spot for businesses is implementing a taker model for productivity improvements while building shaper applications for competitive advantage.

Much of gen AI’s near-term value is closely tied to its ability to help people do their current jobs better. In this way, gen AI tools act as copilots that work side by side with an employee, creating an initial block of code that a developer can adapt, for example, or drafting a requisition order for a new part that a maintenance worker in the field can review and submit (see sidebar “Copilot examples across three generative AI archetypes”). This means companies should be focusing on where copilot technology can have the biggest impact on their priority programs.

Copilot examples across three generative AI archetypes

• “Taker” copilots help real estate customers sift through property options and find the most promising one, write code for a developer, and summarize investor transcripts.
• “Shaper” copilots provide recommendations to sales reps for upselling customers by connecting generative AI tools to customer relationship management systems, financial systems, and customer behavior histories; create virtual assistants to personalize treatments for patients; and recommend solutions for maintenance workers based on historical data.
• “Maker” copilots are foundation models that lab scientists at pharmaceutical companies can use to find and test new and better drugs more quickly.

Some industrial companies, for example, have identified maintenance as a critical domain for their business. Reviewing maintenance reports and spending time with workers on the front lines can help determine where a gen AI copilot could make a big difference, such as in identifying issues with equipment failures quickly and early on. A gen AI copilot can also help identify root causes of truck breakdowns and recommend resolutions much more quickly than usual, as well as act as an ongoing source for best practices or standard operating procedures.

The challenge with copilots is figuring out how to generate revenue from increased productivity. In the case of customer service centers, for example, companies can stop recruiting new agents and use attrition to potentially achieve real financial gains. Defining the plans for how to generate revenue from the increased productivity up front, therefore, is crucial to capturing the value.

McKinsey Live Event: Unlocking the full value of gen AI

Join our colleagues Jessica Lamb and Gayatri Shenai on April 8, as they discuss how companies can navigate the ever-changing world of gen AI.

Upskill the talent you have but be clear about the gen-AI-specific skills you need

By now, most companies have a decent understanding of the technical gen AI skills they need, such as model fine-tuning, vector database administration, prompt engineering, and context engineering. In many cases, these are skills that you can train your existing workforce to develop. Those with existing AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities have a strong head start. Data engineers, for example, can learn multimodal processing and vector database management, MLOps (ML operations) engineers can extend their skills to LLMOps (LLM operations), and data scientists can develop prompt engineering, bias detection, and fine-tuning skills.

A sample of new generative AI skills needed

The following are examples of new skills needed for the successful deployment of generative AI tools:

• data scientist:
• prompt engineering
• in-context learning
• bias detection
• pattern identification
• reinforcement learning from human feedback
• hyperparameter/large language model fine-tuning; transfer learning
• data engineer:
• data wrangling and data warehousing
• data pipeline construction
• multimodal processing
• vector database management

The learning process can take two to three months to get to a decent level of competence because of the complexities in learning what various LLMs can and can’t do and how best to use them. The coders need to gain experience building software, testing, and validating answers, for example. It took one financial-services company three months to train its best data scientists to a high level of competence. While courses and documentation are available—many LLM providers have boot camps for developers—we have found that the most effective way to build capabilities at scale is through apprenticeship, training people to then train others, and building communities of practitioners. Rotating experts through teams to train others, scheduling regular sessions for people to share learnings, and hosting biweekly documentation review sessions are practices that have proven successful in building communities of practitioners (see sidebar “A sample of new generative AI skills needed”).

It’s important to bear in mind that successful gen AI skills are about more than coding proficiency. Our experience in developing our own gen AI platform, Lilli , showed us that the best gen AI technical talent has design skills to uncover where to focus solutions, contextual understanding to ensure the most relevant and high-quality answers are generated, collaboration skills to work well with knowledge experts (to test and validate answers and develop an appropriate curation approach), strong forensic skills to figure out causes of breakdowns (is the issue the data, the interpretation of the user’s intent, the quality of metadata on embeddings, or something else?), and anticipation skills to conceive of and plan for possible outcomes and to put the right kind of tracking into their code. A pure coder who doesn’t intrinsically have these skills may not be as useful a team member.

While current upskilling is largely based on a “learn on the job” approach, we see a rapid market emerging for people who have learned these skills over the past year. That skill growth is moving quickly. GitHub reported that developers were working on gen AI projects “in big numbers,” and that 65,000 public gen AI projects were created on its platform in 2023—a jump of almost 250 percent over the previous year. If your company is just starting its gen AI journey, you could consider hiring two or three senior engineers who have built a gen AI shaper product for their companies. This could greatly accelerate your efforts.

Form a centralized team to establish standards that enable responsible scaling

To ensure that all parts of the business can scale gen AI capabilities, centralizing competencies is a natural first move. The critical focus for this central team will be to develop and put in place protocols and standards to support scale, ensuring that teams can access models while also minimizing risk and containing costs. The team’s work could include, for example, procuring models and prescribing ways to access them, developing standards for data readiness, setting up approved prompt libraries, and allocating resources.

While developing Lilli, our team had its mind on scale when it created an open plug-in architecture and setting standards for how APIs should function and be built.  They developed standardized tooling and infrastructure where teams could securely experiment and access a GPT LLM , a gateway with preapproved APIs that teams could access, and a self-serve developer portal. Our goal is that this approach, over time, can help shift “Lilli as a product” (that a handful of teams use to build specific solutions) to “Lilli as a platform” (that teams across the enterprise can access to build other products).

For teams developing gen AI solutions, squad composition will be similar to AI teams but with data engineers and data scientists with gen AI experience and more contributors from risk management, compliance, and legal functions. The general idea of staffing squads with resources that are federated from the different expertise areas will not change, but the skill composition of a gen-AI-intensive squad will.

Set up the technology architecture to scale

Building a gen AI model is often relatively straightforward, but making it fully operational at scale is a different matter entirely. We’ve seen engineers build a basic chatbot in a week, but releasing a stable, accurate, and compliant version that scales can take four months. That’s why, our experience shows, the actual model costs may be less than 10 to 15 percent of the total costs of the solution.

Building for scale doesn’t mean building a new technology architecture. But it does mean focusing on a few core decisions that simplify and speed up processes without breaking the bank. Three such decisions stand out:

• Focus on reusing your technology. Reusing code can increase the development speed of gen AI use cases by 30 to 50 percent. One good approach is simply creating a source for approved tools, code, and components. A financial-services company, for example, created a library of production-grade tools, which had been approved by both the security and legal teams, and made them available in a library for teams to use. More important is taking the time to identify and build those capabilities that are common across the most priority use cases. The same financial-services company, for example, identified three components that could be reused for more than 100 identified use cases. By building those first, they were able to generate a significant portion of the code base for all the identified use cases—essentially giving every application a big head start.
• Focus the architecture on enabling efficient connections between gen AI models and internal systems. For gen AI models to work effectively in the shaper archetype, they need access to a business’s data and applications. Advances in integration and orchestration frameworks have significantly reduced the effort required to make those connections. But laying out what those integrations are and how to enable them is critical to ensure these models work efficiently and to avoid the complexity that creates technical debt  (the “tax” a company pays in terms of time and resources needed to redress existing technology issues). Chief information officers and chief technology officers can define reference architectures and integration standards for their organizations. Key elements should include a model hub, which contains trained and approved models that can be provisioned on demand; standard APIs that act as bridges connecting gen AI models to applications or data; and context management and caching, which speed up processing by providing models with relevant information from enterprise data sources.
• Build up your testing and quality assurance capabilities. Our own experience building Lilli taught us to prioritize testing over development. Our team invested in not only developing testing protocols for each stage of development but also aligning the entire team so that, for example, it was clear who specifically needed to sign off on each stage of the process. This slowed down initial development but sped up the overall delivery pace and quality by cutting back on errors and the time needed to fix mistakes.

Ensure data quality and focus on unstructured data to fuel your models

The ability of a business to generate and scale value from gen AI models will depend on how well it takes advantage of its own data. As with technology, targeted upgrades to existing data architecture  are needed to maximize the future strategic benefits of gen AI:

• Be targeted in ramping up your data quality and data augmentation efforts. While data quality has always been an important issue, the scale and scope of data that gen AI models can use—especially unstructured data—has made this issue much more consequential. For this reason, it’s critical to get the data foundations right, from clarifying decision rights to defining clear data processes to establishing taxonomies so models can access the data they need. The companies that do this well tie their data quality and augmentation efforts to the specific AI/gen AI application and use case—you don’t need this data foundation to extend to every corner of the enterprise. This could mean, for example, developing a new data repository for all equipment specifications and reported issues to better support maintenance copilot applications.
• Understand what value is locked into your unstructured data. Most organizations have traditionally focused their data efforts on structured data (values that can be organized in tables, such as prices and features). But the real value from LLMs comes from their ability to work with unstructured data (for example, PowerPoint slides, videos, and text). Companies can map out which unstructured data sources are most valuable and establish metadata tagging standards so models can process the data and teams can find what they need (tagging is particularly important to help companies remove data from models as well, if necessary). Be creative in thinking about data opportunities. Some companies, for example, are interviewing senior employees as they retire and feeding that captured institutional knowledge into an LLM to help improve their copilot performance.
• Optimize to lower costs at scale. There is often as much as a tenfold difference between what companies pay for data and what they could be paying if they optimized their data infrastructure and underlying costs. This issue often stems from companies scaling their proofs of concept without optimizing their data approach. Two costs generally stand out. One is storage costs arising from companies uploading terabytes of data into the cloud and wanting that data available 24/7. In practice, companies rarely need more than 10 percent of their data to have that level of availability, and accessing the rest over a 24- or 48-hour period is a much cheaper option. The other costs relate to computation with models that require on-call access to thousands of processors to run. This is especially the case when companies are building their own models (the maker archetype) but also when they are using pretrained models and running them with their own data and use cases (the shaper archetype). Companies could take a close look at how they can optimize computation costs on cloud platforms—for instance, putting some models in a queue to run when processors aren’t being used (such as when Americans go to bed and consumption of computing services like Netflix decreases) is a much cheaper option.

Build trust and reusability to drive adoption and scale

Because many people have concerns about gen AI, the bar on explaining how these tools work is much higher than for most solutions. People who use the tools want to know how they work, not just what they do. So it’s important to invest extra time and money to build trust by ensuring model accuracy and making it easy to check answers.

One insurance company, for example, created a gen AI tool to help manage claims. As part of the tool, it listed all the guardrails that had been put in place, and for each answer provided a link to the sentence or page of the relevant policy documents. The company also used an LLM to generate many variations of the same question to ensure answer consistency. These steps, among others, were critical to helping end users build trust in the tool.

Part of the training for maintenance teams using a gen AI tool should be to help them understand the limitations of models and how best to get the right answers. That includes teaching workers strategies to get to the best answer as fast as possible by starting with broad questions then narrowing them down. This provides the model with more context, and it also helps remove any bias of the people who might think they know the answer already. Having model interfaces that look and feel the same as existing tools also helps users feel less pressured to learn something new each time a new application is introduced.

Getting to scale means that businesses will need to stop building one-off solutions that are hard to use for other similar use cases. One global energy and materials company, for example, has established ease of reuse as a key requirement for all gen AI models, and has found in early iterations that 50 to 60 percent of its components can be reused. This means setting standards for developing gen AI assets (for example, prompts and context) that can be easily reused for other cases.

While many of the risk issues relating to gen AI are evolutions of discussions that were already brewing—for instance, data privacy, security, bias risk, job displacement, and intellectual property protection—gen AI has greatly expanded that risk landscape. Just 21 percent of companies reporting AI adoption say they have established policies governing employees’ use of gen AI technologies.

Similarly, a set of tests for AI/gen AI solutions should be established to demonstrate that data privacy, debiasing, and intellectual property protection are respected. Some organizations, in fact, are proposing to release models accompanied with documentation that details their performance characteristics. Documenting your decisions and rationales can be particularly helpful in conversations with regulators.

In some ways, this article is premature—so much is changing that we’ll likely have a profoundly different understanding of gen AI and its capabilities in a year’s time. But the core truths of finding value and driving change will still apply. How well companies have learned those lessons may largely determine how successful they’ll be in capturing that value.

The authors wish to thank Michael Chui, Juan Couto, Ben Ellencweig, Josh Gartner, Bryce Hall, Holger Harreis, Phil Hudelson, Suzana Iacob, Sid Kamath, Neerav Kingsland, Kitti Lakner, Robert Levin, Matej Macak, Lapo Mori, Alex Peluffo, Aldo Rosales, Erik Roth, Abdul Wahab Shaikh, and Stephen Xu for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Barr Seitz, an editorial director in the New York office.

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Weakened Leaders of the West Gather in Italy to Discuss an Unruly World

The Group of 7 gathers major industrialized countries, but its leaders are politically weak and Ukraine and Gaza remain unsolved.

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By Mark Landler and Steven Erlanger

Reporting from Bari, Italy

When Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy convenes the leaders of the Group of 7 countries on Thursday at a luxury resort hotel overlooking the Adriatic Sea, she might be forgiven for thinking her guests are seeking a refuge.

Except for Ms. Meloni herself , every one of the leaders is arriving at the meeting beleaguered, embattled or endangered — an ill-starred convergence that speaks to the political tremors rattling across the West. It also doesn’t bode well for the results of a gathering that already faced vexing challenges, ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine to China’s global economic competition.

Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is three weeks away from an election in which his Conservative Party is expected to be swept out of power . President Emmanuel Macron of France has called a snap parliamentary election after his party suffered heavy losses to the far right in European elections.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and his Social Democratic Party were humbled in those elections as well , while President Biden is in a dogfight with his predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump. Even Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan faces rising unrest within his Liberal Democratic Party and may lose his job this autumn.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, who faces his own disenchanted public after more than eight years in office, spoke for his fellow leaders when he lamented the surge of populism in Europe and the United States.

“We have seen around the world a rise of populist right-wing forces in just about every democracy,” Mr. Trudeau said on Monday. “It is of concern to see political parties choosing to instrumentalize anger, fear, division, anxiety.”

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