Use of New Media in Cultural Sector - Literature review Example

Use of New Media in Cultural Sector [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] Use of New Media in Cultural Sector Introduction The explosion in size and use of the Internet - and more generally of Information Technology (IT - was providing the technical (and in part the organizational) basis for a truly self-managed economy. Tens of thousands of grassroots social movement organizations around the world can contact each other through the Internet, as can businesses, government and research organizations with their massive databases and economic modeling tools. Were there to be a revolution in any country in the world tomorrow, the possibility for an immediate transition to democratic and efficient planning using the Internet would put to rest the claims about the unfeasibility of a socialist economy. (for further reading on the potential of information technology for democratic planning, including concrete estimates of times required to carry out various decision making tasks using existing computers (Turow, 2003). Use of IT for self-management assumes, of course, that those things about which IT would store and analyze information would be in the hands of workers, not capital. Information technology is simply a tool for administering power, not a way of seizing it. Media hype about the information age and the way IT can provide a friction-free, democratic capitalism, ignores how and why IT is developed and applied today: as a tool to find newways of extracting surplus value in an economy still centered on the production of material, not virtual, goods and services. A down-to-earth understanding of the use of IT in today’s political economy is a prerequisite for a level-headed picture of how we might get to a self-managed society, which will not come through the click of a mouse but through the tramping of millions of feet, the raising of millions of hands, the use of billions of voices to seize the factories, the mines, the offices - and the computer. Use of new media as a strategic management tool within the cultural sector Highly flexible technologies are transforming the economic landscape. Modern computer software only requires the tapping of a few control board keys to re-programme large industrial processes and machinery. Capital-to-labour ratios are growing and workers find themselves further removed from making things and closer to the consumer-driven tasks of ensuring product variety, innovation and quality. This demands fresh skills, oriented towards people and technical developments, with less involvement in specialised production activities. (Aaker, 1997; 315-328) Work is being re-organised, with the rigid job hierarchies of the mass production era being abandoned. Responding to the advance of information technology, employers have seized opportunities to twist the new industrial flexibilities to their own advantage. Workforces have not only contracted, but temporary and fixed-term employment contracts, sub-contracting and other forms of job insecurity have been imposed. Some trade unionists, ill-prepared by today's lack of detailed debate in the labour movement about industrial change, have responded defensively, viewing these deliberate tactics and the technology itself as a single project, to be condemned--as if a return to yesterday's large factories geared to volume production were possible. (Aaker, 1997; 315-328) The challenge, however, is of a different order. Trade unionism will confront the injustices of the next century by offering greater security for members within the new technology-based economy, in practical and policy terms. For most of its brief but spectacular rise in public consciousness, the Internet has been a tool to look things up, a cyber-place of information. But with the onset of high-speed access via cable and digital phone lines -- what is called broadband service -- the Internet is poised to unleash a wealth of high-quality music and videos to homeowners, interactive and on-demand. With the new digital and broadband technology coming to the fore, the Web will soon become a showcase for what people want to see and play with and ultimately buy. Goggin and Newell (2003) defined new media as "new digital communications technologies that include the Internet and broadband networks (fast, high-capacity data services), advanced telecommunications networks (offering services such as caller ID, digital mobile phones, third-generation mobile telecommunications, video telephones) and digital broadcasting (with digital television)". Pavlik (1996) argued that the new media revolution has altered the way institutions work while Castells (1996) discussed about the "pervasive expansion" of what he calls "the networking form of organisation" in every realm of social structure. In three to five years' time, when high-speed broadband or wireless delivery is expected to be the norm, they see themselves as a kind of electronic supermarket. Theirs will be a totally integrated offering in which they can push through the Internet their direct-to-home movies, TV shows and magazines, and sell, not only the advertising that goes with them, but the products viewers see on the show and the screens, services and portable equipment they will want to watch them with. Engaging the new media can constitute as an extension of media relations work, which is ranked the most common PR work (Chay-Nemeth, 2003), or it can open up a whole function altogether. Siah, Namrata and Pang (2009) argued that the use of new media is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can be used by organisations to embark on online monitoring and dissemination of information. On the other hand, it can escalate and exacerbate crisis faced by the organisation. The New Media Crisis Communication model that they posit involves a whole new slew of functions that need more hands on board than merely an extension of media relations work. It also involves new expertise, new knowledge and a renewed sense of communicating 24/7. So far, the government has vowed to build up its e-communication capabilities (Li, 2009). With more organisations jumping into the same bandwagon, it may be inevitable that PR expertise will need to be enhanced. Practitioners may be asked to spearhead such engagement efforts. Entrusted with this task, it is envisaged that as practitioners build their credibility, over time, organisations will likely accord recognition and respect to the profession. In many respects, it is back to the same rigour of positioning the professionals and the profession in winning back respect of its role as a "management of credibility" (Stacks, 2002: 18). To do so, practitioners need to continue to exhibit professionalism and continue to impress the management of the value the profession brings (Pang, Croppand Cameron, 2006). Using Italy as an example, Valentini (2009) argued that credibility and professionalism were critical criteria towards institutionalising PR within organisational and societal systems. Competitors like the giant AT&T Corp. cable and telephone company in the United States and Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. cable companies are also into bundling. Customers can be offered wireless, long-distance connections and the Internet on the same bill. (Kavoori, 2004; 99-114) The next step might be service packages of so many minutes to be used on any of the common offerings. The step after that: interactive connections to partnered news or business services or special group discounts to electronic retailers. In current e-jargon, this practice is called "nesting" -- as in those Russian dolls that nestle inside each other. The competitive battle of the future will be over who has control of the consumer mind-share. The question of the moment: who will nest with whom? The right kind of mix In this technological development, the question is where does online media fit in? The answer is in the right media mix. Each medium has its own strengths and purposes when it comes to reaching customers. Print has some value that TV does not have and vice versa. The same is true among all media, be it TV, radio, print or online media. (Kavoori, 2004; 99-114) For instance, in selling a range of products to cellphone users (operator logos, ringing tones, shampoos, milk, etc) where they may need to choose from among a set which they want to buy, this cannot be done through SMS since each message normally contains only 160 characters and every message has a cost attached to it. You also cannot use TV or radio because ads normally last for only 15, 30 or 60 seconds. (Junion-Metz, 2004) Print can contain an entire catalogue of the products but has a limited reach compared to the rest of the media. Internet advertising can do all of these and therefore has an advantage. However, it is still undeniable that TV, radio and print can reach certain markets that online sites cannot. The ideal scenario is a multimedia campaign that addresses the needs of the product or service being sold. For example, print can carry the ad with an accompanying catalogue or description of the products (or even a promotion, perhaps) while TV and radio can be used to push for awareness. The online approach can do the same as print, plus it can have a registration page and hold the database while ads can be pushed to the registrants in the database via the SMS pipeline. You then have a true-blue cross-media campaign. (Junion-Metz, 2004) But not all campaigns can be ideal. At least a combination of some of these media can be effective, depending on the need and objective of the campaign. The key is getting the right media mix. Remember, traditional media (radio, TV and print) will always be the tri-media circle. The objective of online media should not be to compete with the tri-media circle but to complement it. And SMS technology can be one avenue to do this. Impact of Digital Technologies on Management Styles and Structures within the Cultural Sector The potential for self-management within an individual economic unit can be seen by the spread of intranets, that is, internal company networks. Most firms today have or are setting up intranets on which employees can electronically send data, correspondence, charts, and even video images to each other. This has led to a lot of hooey in the business press about the potential for new styles of horizontal management - a potential, however, which could be realized under a different system. Technologies now used to monitor and intensify work, to increase the rate of exploitation and profit, could be used for very different purposes. Workers put data into shop-floor terminals about the number of the parts they machined, the time it took, which department it went to next, etc. The computer then calculated workers bonuses, as well as overall plant production. This co-worker used one of these terminals to show me how we were being exploited, demonstrating the difference between what we got in wages and bonuses per piece, and what the company got from each piece as part of the total sales price of the finished machine. (Bolter, 2000) That is, he demonstrated to me the theory of surplus value using the company's computer. The Evil Computer Empire, Microsoft, sells an array of programs sufficient to perform most of the computing tasks that would be necessary for grassroots economic decision-making within a given economic unit: e.g., Team Manager, Project, Access, Excel, Word and Publisher. Team Manager and Project, perhaps the most important for the decision-making process, enable scheduling and allocation of resources, and constant revision of each. (Bolter, 2000) Access is a database, which stores and analyzes relationships between workers, inventories, suppliers and customers. Excel is used to perform calculations about production and pay. Word and Publisher can be used for memos, newsletters, resolutions, etc. And the hottest program on the corporate IT market today - SAP/R3, made in Germany - links the database and spreadsheet functions of such programs in a massive multidimensional format, connecting departments in giant firms in qualitatively new ways. (Bolter, 2000) Planning Across Firms The use of computers for ongoing recalculations has become part of the management mania for just-in-time decision-making, to better recalculate flows to and from suppliers and consumers. (James, 2001) Wal-Mart boasts that its computer system allows it to minimize inventory, managing its shelf space to match quickly changing consumer needs. Auto manufacturers use similar systems to tighten their connections with parts suppliers and car dealers. FedEx's Business Link lets shippers build their own Websites to advertise their goods. (James, 2001) Customers can then place orders and tell FedEx to have them delivered, all online, through FedEx’s Internet links. FedEx executives boast that they are providing a wide range of integrated information, transportation and logistics help, including order entry and confirmation, inventory management, invoicing and service for returns or repairs. One FedEx VP said the move solves one of the key limitations of electronic commerce by linking the automated order and fulfillment system to the delivery of the product to the end customer. (Des, 2006; 275-90) Now imagine these computers turned over to consumer councils, who would use them to tally the direct registering of consumer desires that have been input into ATMs and home PCs - and keep track of how those desires are fulfilled at the point of purchase; the councils could then pass on these figures to production units. What's more, all of this can be done on an ongoing, real-time basis. That is, we're not talking about ballpark estimates of consumer needs based on a hypothetical basket of goods: were talking about the direct input of billions of expressed desires and the constant recalculation of production and distribution requirements that flow from them. (James, 2001) Desktop Internet is stationary, has limited penetration but has rich content. Mobile wireless communications is mobile, has high penetration but has limited content. However, a convergence of these two technologies will result in, and indeed it is imminent, the creation of handheld devices that have the mobility and high penetration of the cellphone and the rich, unlimited content of the Internet. (James, 2001) Therefore, since technology will eventually allow such convergence of these technologies that will both use the IP (Internet Protocol) technology, we should begin acquiring expertise in both technologies now before the bandwagon comes in. Online media should now begin engaging in wireless-applications-related campaigns and encourage its advertisers to do the same. In fact, the arrival of the 4G technology with a speed of 1 gigabit per second and capable of streaming TV, radio, voice, the Internet and several other kinds of signal all through wireless technology is also forthcoming. (Abernethy, 2006, 1-17) With this development, we should then start preparing by getting our feet wet in all of these media. Impact of Digital Technologies on Cultural Management, and Benefits for Organizations The development of e-commerce services and online advertising/selling has brought an unexpected consumer revolution in all over the world. Companies, doing online business have generated great interest among investors. A fundamental transformation in business is now in full swing. Organizations and business networks have realized the power of the internet and started taking advantage of it to make their business process more efficient. Internet technology has significantly increased the competitiveness and quality of consumer goods. The rise of a dot com culture, e-shopping and e-marketing on the web, internet-based banking and stock trading have changed the ways of consumer dealings and business. Technology has changed the way of doing business and it is becoming an integral part of the corporate sector for inter-organizational dealings and finding the instant business solutions. Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems can supply important input to general business management, and identify opportunities for reduction in use of energy, material, and wastes. Computer-aided designing (CAD) can help in reducing the product development cycle and virtual reality simulation can be used to speed up test methods. More than economics, one can perhaps delve into the minds of decision makers to understand the nature of the mindset change in favour of PR. Wee, Tan and Chew (1996) surveyed 109 organisations on how they utilised PR. They found that organisations with PR functions were more proactive in customer relations, either responding to customer complaints or promoting new products; proactive in engaging in media relations; proactive in engaging in government relations; and proactive in engaging in community relations. What this means is that the dominant coalition appears to be coming to the realisation that PR do indeed add value to organisations by positioning them favourably in the eyes of key stakeholders. If this recognition continues to permeate into the minds of more decision makers, it might transform to greater professionalisation. Anecdotally, industry players are noticing that practitioners are filling up key positions in corporate boardrooms and becoming decision makers in government agencies. Fang (2004) and Aggarwal (2006) reported that practitioners are called upon to provide strategic advice and counsel to top management on a wide range of corporate issues, testifying that the pool of practitioners here are regarded as credible and professional. Yeo and Sriramesh (in press) found that top in-house PR practitioners enjoy strategic reporting and unhindered access to senior management. More than half or 21 of the 38 interviewed were even given a seat at the top of the management table (Yeo and Sriramesh, in press). This suggests that senior management acknowledges the importance of communication and the work performed by PR practitioners in contributing to the long-term goals and success of the organisation. Digital Technologies and Workplace Characteristics The high performance workplace is different from traditional workplaces. It is a contemporary environment focused on the future, constantly changing and evolving in relation to trends both internal and external to the organization itself. With emphasis placed on individual performance as well as the end result, rather than just the intervening processes, organizations practicing high performance work are able to respond and adapt with remarkable speed to new organizational formats, new technologies, and new trends that impact the output goals of the organization (Galagan, 1994). Not only is change seen as a "good thing" in the high performance workplace, it is welcomed and often sought in order to address organizational improvement opportunities. Within the high performance workplace, mechanisms have been developed and implemented to actively monitor and manage change. The organization as a whole is viewed as a team, and as such, the expectation is that each team member will contribute and participate. Each employee is empowered with the responsibility for identifying and communicating new concepts and new technologies that can positively impact performance and output. In many high performance organizations, work is carried out by self-directed work teams that are motivated by a customer-focused philosophy (Benson et al., 1994). This type of collaborative style allows for the direct sharing of knowledge among employees and maintains open communication channels with management representatives. Pervasive in any high performance workplace is the use of unto-date, flexible communication and information technologies. These technologies are integrated into daily operations so that workers can exchange information and receive training needed for new processes and tools. The use of this technology has the potential to decrease training costs and provide the employee with immediate familiarity with new technology and work processes. (Kellner, 1995) By using computer networks for data exchange, distribution, and manipulation, the organization can make information available to all managers and employees simultaneously. There are already many examples on the Net of macroeconomic analysis and planning tools used by the big stock exchanges, by multinational corporations, and by academia and government. On the exchanges, computers register ongoing changes in the prices of stocks and commodities for tens of thousands of firms, and anyone with Internet access can already view the workings of the exchanges on their PC. Every day in its business pages the Daily News reminds its readers that it offers free, up to the minute stock quotes and info on its web site, including earnings, revenue, and high-low pricing. Millions of mutual fund investors already have Internet access, and 32 percent of them have already visited the Web sites of financial service companies. (Sobchalk, 2004; 83-106) Entrepreneurs are using the latest IT to find ways for the small investor to get access to markets previously open only to the big houses, for instance offering after-hours trading online, a privilege previously reserved for securities firms. (Sobchalk, 2004; 83-106) A reflection of the new importance of such interactive services is Dow Jones's recent embarrassing admission that its online services needed massive overhauling - and its subsequent alliance with Microsoft to do the job. The current run of the stock market through successively higher landmarks - however artificial these landmarks may eventually prove to be - have been facilitated in a technical sense by the proliferation of the brokerage houses, the mutual funds into which they steer investors - and the IT they use. These changes were dramatized by the recent merger of Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter-Discover, expected to be a precursor of similar big investor-small investor marriages. Billions of dollars have poured into mutual funds by middle- and working-class investors (and by their pension and medical funds). The firms that manage these funds by necessity have IT that make connections between the databases of national and international exchanges, of huge state pension and health benefit systems, and of millions of individual investors. Their IT must therefore provide linkages across the full range of economic levels, from the individual to the macroeconomic. It is just such linkages that could be used by midrange workers' councils to ensure an active flow of information across levels of a self-managed society, to keep track of how micro and macro level decisions are affecting each other. Under socialism each brokerage house's computer network could be turned over to a region wide or industry wide council, which could in turn be connected to PCs in homes, union halls, etc. The stock markets and commodities exchanges themselves could be transformed from gigantic betting pools into measuring devices of real production and consumption changes - changes that could be constantly monitored on millions of PCs, both individually at home, and in council offices using the brokerage house apparatus described above. Decisions made at a national level, and registered through a socialized Big Board, could be disaggregated through the brokerage house IT apparatus into databases appropriate for the kind of decisions which smaller units would need to make. Conclusion Despite the relative newness of the Internet, one can already see several examples of how capital is frustrating its inherent potential. The Internet, and IT more generally, has an openness that drives the corporate world crazy, as they scramble to find ways to secure their business secrets and yet still be able to take advantage of the networks openness to boost their marketing potential. Thus the fear of the Net’s free flows of information, and the mania to develop software to maintain corporate secrecy. Communications industry mergers, already happening at a feverish pace, were given a new boost by the recently concluded global telecommunications pact. The expected increases in size and power of these IT titans will further weaken those who would seek to maintain the open, indeed anarchic, nature of the Internet. What's more, the new Information Technology, being touted as leading to a leaner and more productive capitalism, will in the long run lead to a system every bit as wasteful as the precomputer version. 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