Mark Deuze (2007) expressed in his book Media Work the changes that media practitioners experience in their work and lifestyle through the developments in culture, society, economy, and technology, which in turn make ways for new paradigms such as convergence culture, and liquid life. He used such paradigms for discussing the altering condition of media work. In the book, he described it as a complicated reality with contradicting components, necessarily working on the way to the convergence of content, creativity, connectivity, and commerce. With these contemporary circumstances, power has also been shifting. The term new media is used nowadays, signaling the passing of the old and traditional. This meant that the ways of the old, where the media producers solely made content, is dissolving. Power today can also now be found with the audience. They, too, can create content that the world consumes. This is the brief idea behind convergence media culture. In turn, through this new culture also come new behavioral patterns of every individual, affecting all aspects of life.
In reviewing Media Work in this paper, we would be following the structure of discussion in Deuze’s book. We begin in describing today’s media reality and new work style pattern. From here, we would delve into concepts such as convergence culture, liquid modernity, and participative media. The discussions would also include the macro-factors involved, particularly the social, technological, and cultural factors, to examine the scale of the changes happening in the media and the world today. Moreover, we would consider the perspective of Deuze in his analysis of the four main fields that determine the work style of the professionals in these fields. The first is the institutional field. This is followed by the technological and cultural fields, and lastly, the cultural field.With this, we would proceed in discussing the implications of a precarious life in relation to work opportunity, freedom, and security.
Before the media has become what it is today, it has undergone years of developmental processes. The medium of television, for example, used to be box types, and pictures were black and white. Now, there are flat-screens and colored high definition TVs. These drastic changes go for the other media as well. Nonetheless, the one medium that influenced the media upgrade is the Internet. In the 90s, only computers contain the Internet. Apparently, it was a threat to the existence of television because the Internet can do what the TV did and more. Other than the Internet being an audio-visual medium, it can also be used for searching for information and for enabling communication on a global scale (De Vaick and Teurlings 2013).
The unique ability of the Internet at the time was so phenomenal that it has expanded through the other media. With this, not only the computers are enabled for the Internet today but also the phones and television. Other types of media were incorporated with each other as well. Or example, one can listen to the radio through their phone and computers via online streaming. It is important to note that such a media device is small and easy to carry. In turn, basically, the access to media has gone more mobile than ever. The influence of the Internet spreading in this manner enabled information search and communication practically anytime and anywhere through the various media devices. Media have become convergent.This paved way to the development of new media in the new age, which is called the Information Age.Undeniably, this drives today’s media reality (De Vaick and Teurlings 2013; Hesmondhalgh 2007; Deuze 2007).
Given today’s media reality, people have also acquired new patterns of behavior called the convergence culture that is evident in the seemingly precarious life of leisure and work.Precarious life came from the concept of precarity. It pertains to the vehicle of control. It is believed to have limited opportunities for people and disempowered societies. Through the emergence of convergence culture, however, the power has been shifting (Deuze, 2007).
This new culture is also changing the way that people perceive things, giving terms new meaning. Art, for example, has also changed its meaning for people. When discussing Art, painting was the first thing that comes to mind. But in the new age, people have defined what Art is. In Why are Artists Poor of Han Abbing (2002), the writer presented the dilemma of the artist Alex. When people get exposed to his artworks, they categorize them as avant-garde and contemporary. Alex delved into the people’s perception through an observation (Deuze, 2007; Abbing, 2002).
On the first set, he noticed that people just passed by his work and expressed that although the artworks seemed good, they didn’t like it more than the traditional paintings. The second set, however, asserted that his artworks were the only ones that must be called Art in relation to the traditional paintings. The findings that Abbing gathered proceed in pointing to the issue of pop music. There may be contradictions in how artists and art lovers perceive the concept of Art. Thus, defining Art and its values have changed, depending on how people perceive them upon their consumption. Today, people categorize art as more art or less art that are detailed from high art and fine art to low art, popular art, and non-art. In this case, if the definition of Art were based on people’s judgment, Art would largely depend on who are defining it and who the receivers of information are. This is similar to the insider and outsider concept in sociology. This concept makes meanings relative (Deuze, 2007; Abbing, 2002).
Art is one of the many terms that people gave new meaning to. Due to people acquiring power in this new age, daily living and work have also meant differently than they used to. Since the ones who give new word definitions are dependent on how they experience their environment, people’s take on work reflects the employment structure of the society they are in. Media merely amplify people’s experiences through the way people use and consume media. This gave rise to what Deuze (2007) pertained to as contemporary employment. Nowadays, people are struggling to catch up with costs through their income, that is why work is dominating the precious time of people. With this, people look for more work.
Through the convergence culture, people are also empowered to act upon the option of multi-tasking. In some instances, they use this ability to arrive at their dream job. This is not to say that the stability of employment today is finally secured. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The pool of talents has become wider. Moreover, employers could get access to low-cost labor through internships, part timing, and contractual job posts that people respond to through the Internet. Thus, an employee can easily be replaced(Deuze, 2007; Perlin, 2011).
In this regard, it can be said that the work opportunity has expanded. The work today comes in a form of lists where people can choose from. Also, people could take in more work than their usual 9-5 jobs, enabling them to earn more, pay for the costs of their living expenses, and even afford luxuries. This, in turn, has given people more freedom in choosing how much they would spend their time on work and leisure. However, the availability of options for both the employees and the employers made work opportunities as well as life more uncertain. This is where Deuze (2007) has paralleled life to liquid modernity. Life has become more difficult to grasp just like water.
Achieving the dream life is also within one’s reach. Small businesses extend their market in the Internet despite the strong presence of the giant businesses. This is because people’s behavior as consumers have also changed from mass to fragmented. In the past, people buy similar products especially, when they are projected on TV. Today, people buy according to their personal preferences. For them, the products can be offered by the smaller businesses that are not necessarily featured on TV. Moreover, these products are also bought not necessarily through stores (Deuze 2007; Gutman 2014).
When we think about this, it is the bigger businesses that are threatened in the new age. Not only the media contents have become crowded but the media distribution channels as well. Perhaps, this is the reason why advertisers put more effort in their advertising and take advantage of another ability in the new age, the participative media.
The media professionals in charge of the companies’ advertising compete for the attention of the people in the new media reality. The complexity of the convergence culture and the effects of liquid modernity take away people’s focus. People are forced to prioritize according to their preference. Consequently, it would be more difficult for businesses to reach such audiences in the desire to take over the market. This challenge pushes media professionals to seek ways of grabbing people’s attention that some advertisers resort to desperate and manipulative tactics. The least measure they set as an indication that media professionals have grabbed people’s attention is through views. Views are generated when people click or open the post of the content they created (Deuze 2007; Borkowski 2000; Gutman 2014; Ivanauskas 2010).
However, the ability of the participative media heightens the use of the convergence culture and liquid modernity. Through this ability, media professionals are proven to have found a new way to engage the consumers such that they would do more than just view their posts. Here, what happens is that participative media invites the easy access of the convergence culture with the motivation that is relatable to liquid modernity. In this circumstance, people feel that their presence matters as they can also create and share contents under a subject. Moreover, they will be able to feel a degree of social connection among the co-participants. With this, collaboration among various people occurs. In this regard, the fragmented audiences are emerging as a whole (Deuze 2007’ Jenkins 2009).
In theory, it can be said that the market can be treated as mass once again because the idea of the collective is applicable to this phenomenon. The difference is that the old term of mass literally targeted everyone, with the danger of some people not being able to relate. Meanwhile, the new term of mass massively gathers people with the same interests. Thus, the message that is sent would be significant to them.
Crowdfunding, for example, gathers crowds of people to raise funds for projects that interest them through small donations (UK Crowdfunding, 2014). The same principle applies to the efforts of media professionals. They would release something that would interest people to get them hooked and have them participating in activities that are brand-sponsored (Jenkins, 2009). The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a talk show in the United States that is televised globally, exemplifies this new age practice of media professionals. In the show, the host Ellen DeGeneres invites her audience to send in videos of lighthearted contents in which there is a possibility that she would feature them on TV. At the very least, the show would include them on their web archive. Furthermore, whenever people are featured on the show, Ellen gives away prizes that are sponsored by brands promoting latest products (Telepictures Productions, Inc., 2014).
Overall, Mark Deuze (2007) on Media Work pointed out the permanence of continuous changes, influencing life in liquid modernity into a precious one. He stated that “the liquid life involves a complicated dance of work and play in relation to the rapidly changing global environment that is enacted in and through media” (Deuze, 2007, p. 42).
He illustrated the negative implications of media today. However, based on the findings integrated in the discussions, media work also has positive implications. Arguably, these implications are more significant than the negative ones.Deuze highlighted the difficulties in tasks that the media professionals are facing. The convergence culture made it harder for media professionals to get and maintain people’s attention towards the brand they are promoting. Also, the words of today are full of new meanings that add to the burden of creating relatable messages. Nonetheless, through the support of other sources, media professionals may take the trends in the new media reality as opportunities. With convergence culture, media professionals would have limitless channels to utilize in reaching the audience. Most importantly, new meanings would serve as tools in particularly relating with a set of fragmented audience. In utilizing new meaning in media messages, a fragmented audience would collectively participate with a subject that a brand sponsors because the messages are relatable and significant to them.
In conclusion, Mark Deuze’s Media Work serves as a guide to give media professionals an idea of how different the world is today. It is likely why his writings take a more ponderous tone, especially when he expressed that liquid modernity yields a precarious life. Truly, the media reality today is challenging. Convergence culture has been contributing to the uncertainty of everything, from the meaning of words and work, to life in general. This is because more information and options are accessible to the audience. At the same time, however, it can be viewed as advantageous. Because through this new culture comes the ability of participative media. Here, people collaborate in the creation and sharing of content that is dedicated to a subject with their community .This new pattern of behavior empowers both the people and the brands hat serve the people’s consumption.
References
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