Zunzuneo: the American social network to overthrow the Cuban government

Times have changed. Wars and Imperialism are no longer a matter of tanks, guns and mined borders. New media and social networks have emerged and become the new banners of a revolutionized new world. Such media hasn’t just served to give a voice to the oppressed in movements like the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and the 15M in Spain. They have also become a key weapon in foreign policy for Western governments.

Pro-western propaganda is not only now spread through traditional media, but is also spread through social networks that help to rapidly circulate messages, whether true or not. As explained by the scholar Howard Rheingold, social networks have the power to create "smart mobs" able to self-organize and generate massive protest movements, and western governments have now implemented this technology as a means of influencing other societies. It is therefore no surprise that many accuse the U.S. of trying to overthrow hostile governments, or at least trying to influence political situations in countries like Egypt, Venezuela and Ukraine through social networks.

A few days ago, Associated Press revealed the tactics used by the U.S. government to influence hostile countries in this new interconnected world that we live in. ZunZuneo was a social network conceived, created and financed in secret by the U.S. in 2009 with the aim of modifying the political situation in Cuba. With the guise of being the Cuban alternative to Twitter, the real purpose was to destabilize the government through the publication of political messages targeted towards the younger citizens of Cuba.

ZunZuneo was forced to use SMS technology because of Cuba’s strict control over informative content (especially on the Internet). To do this, the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) unlawfully created a database of more than half a million Cuban phone numbers. At the beginning, to avoid suspicion, the network was filled with banal posts on topics such as sport, entertainment and weather forecasts. They used this content to generate a good base of users who relied on the network before sending ideologically loaded political messages with the aim of promoting the Cuban Spring, which consequently would make the government fall.

The Cuban government is aware that in order to maintain its hegemony and prevent riots, it must provide progress for its citizens. They promised to continue their programs of implementing Internet and landlines in Cuban homes, despite of the American initiative to destabilize Cuban government through ZunZuneo, and other technologies like Piramideo, Martí Noticias, Diario de Cuba and Cubasincensura. Despite the well-meant words of Cuban government, Internet on the island is restricted, although it is true that 500 public navigation facilities have been installed in Cuba.

At its peak ZunZuneo reached more than 40,000 users throughout Cuba. For them, this network became a sort of window to the world. It was really useful for them to receive free information daily on their mobile phones, in a country where access to the Internet is very limited and where the citizens were not allowed to have mobile phones until 2008. The citizens of Cuba, not knowing that the U.S. was behind this new social network, shared not only their opinions but also their private data. As a result, the U.S. government collected demographic information without consent. They then analyzed the collected data to uncover tastes, ideas and preferences that could be used to push young people to dissent.

Collecting such data without consent was not only illegal, but also created a potential risk to the Cuban users of this service. Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist from Princeton University who researches the social impact of technology, criticizes ZunZuneo because nobody foresaw that it could lead to the government taking reprisals against those that promote or share dissent actions across the network.

Since Associated Press made this information public, Washington has been quick to deny that this project was an undercover operation. However, following the revelations of AP, it is obvious that the USAID did everything possible to hide U.S. involvement in the project. Shell corporations were established in third countries such as Spain and Ireland, and all banking operations were conducted through accounts in the Cayman Islands.

U.S. involvement in this project is clear, as The State Department has now issued a statement defending the operation, arguing that it was not disguised and that its objectives were “to promote democracy in Cuba, guaranteeing freedom of information and strengthening civil society”. In my opinion, a social network based on forcing the audience to receive unsolicited messages is not exactly like building a free communication platform to promote democracy and exchange of information. Nevertheless, the tight control that the U.S. government has on the communications of its own citizens and the recurrent espionage scandals of world’s political leaders make these explanations sound hypocritical.

This big-hearted idea of promoting unfettered information through citizen communication platforms could hide much darker intentions behind. AP provides an internal document of the U.S. Armed Forces from which they explain that the first phase of an unconventional war is the “psychological preparation to unite the population against the government in power” and “prepare the population also issued to accept U.S. support”.

Finally in mid-2012, ZunZuneo disappeared after the several attempts to lock the network were made by the Cuban government. In June of that year, users stopped receiving messages on their phones. According to AP, the service ended not because it was censored by Cuban government, but because of the expiration of a grant that funded the program after having spent more than $1.5 million. For Cuban users, the network disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.

This new Imperialism is of course cheaper, less noisy, more politically correct and less bloody. The tension between the United States and Cuba comes is long-standing, after many decades of violence and blockage. However, events like the one revealed by AP demonstrate how American methods have evolved to promote the desired regime change in Cuba. The U.S. knows that the ones to destabilize the regime are the younger ones. Even though we are not yet aware of this, our participation in the trivial matters of social networks makes us part of a group which links us to people that we do not know. Indirectly, this makes us able to mobilize ourselves in the future. If the revolution will be, it will be tweeted.

Twitter and politics : just a new medium ?

      Twitter entered the world of French politics mostly during the presidential and legislative elections of Spring 2012. When Valerie Trierweiler, Hollande's wife in those times, expressed her support to one socialist dissident via Twitter, French political world understood that it was entering suddenly a phase of accelerated twitterisation. If Twitter seems to be a fashionable, individualized and direct way of communication, it is far from being perfect. In my opinion, it is deteriorating politics and politicians even if they are more and more present on the social network.

Twitter, the new tool of political communication.

      In only a few months, Twitter imposed itself as an essential medium in the field of political communication. Twitter is no more only used to distribute press releases, links towards documents, or to support the institutional action of any elected representative. Twitter has now become a space for official announcements – the place where action is taking place, where talk is acting. With the twitterisation of politics, each actor is playing its own score, rôle, without any process of complex validation and with the feeling of a relative transparency. It is like every secrete meeting was happening in public, as if we were taking part in it directly. Hence, Twitter is seen as a promoter of direct democracy, connecting more and more people with politicians, and protecting citizens from secrete skulduggery. However, we should look at the other side of the coin.

The convergence culture of the « little sentence ».

      The micro-blogging social network, pushed politicians to favour this way of a very short, striking communication ; mixing in-depth thoughts (sometimes), sarcastic commentaries (often) and simple anecdotes. Twitter is not the only responsible for this. 24/7 news channels also furthered the use of the « little sentences », mostly because of the news' banners in the bottom of your screen. Instead of focusing on real political issues, the majority of media are now concentrating on every cutting remark. A majority of political observers, journalists and others, are bound with any little sentence they can find. It is almost for this that people are going on Twitter today. They are looking more for the good word than for ideas of general policy. Then, Twitter, as other instruments of social networking, would be a veritable accelerator of blunders and bum notes of ministers and others.

Twitter or the negation of politics.

        It is quite difficult to weigh the impact on public opinion of the permanent show given by Twitter and politicians. However, it is legitimate to ask, in those times of distrust towards politics, if the space given to those modes of expression short and superficial is not actually an exacerbating factor. People have the right to ask for a higher debate on complex societal questions. According to some scholars, the shortness (140 characters maximum) of the tweet is a form of « negation of politics ». If it is true, that the followers of political tweets are already politicized, but it certainly contributes to the desecretion of politicians supposed to be in a constant reflection. There is, because of this, a weakening of the political speech and quite a loosing of respect in general.

Moreover, Twitter is forcing politicians to be in instantaneousness and immediacy. This is provoking a « symbolical discredit ». Citizens want to be carried and enlightened by politics in a certain direction, focusing more on the future than on the present. We are now losing little by little our perspectives and projections. If Twitter is not the only responsible for French's loveless in politics, it is at least one of the accelerator of this trend.  

Life-sharing for $1 billion

Life-sharing for $1 billion

The signifacant event happened in the media world a week ago. Facebook bought a popular photo-sharing service Instagram for an enormous sum of money of $1 billion in cash and stock. How can free mobile add cost such an incredible sum and why Marc Zuckerberg has decided to buy this very simple service? Let us look into phenomenon of Instagram itself and define the resons of its growing popularity.

First of all, we need to admit that the base of Instagram is a pictire. The pictire which has won the text. Stanford University graduates Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger who launched a new iPhone application are supposed to be the first who meaningly and on purpose turn an amateur photography in the mean of social communication. The creators think Instagram is not about sharing photos but about the people who do it.

Secondly, Instagram could be considered as the last point of evolution(or dergradation - it depends from which point of view we will consider) of the social media, well and in detail described by Google veteran Elad Gil. Its main charesteristics:

1) information transmission by photos or pictures. We has entered into the "screen epoch" and it's no reason to write if we can share our information or emotions faster and brightly with picture. Several years ago society was confused (обеспокоено) with real communication being replaced by online one - people preferred to text massages and forgot how to speak. Nowadays young generation is too lazy even to text messages or to organize an event in facebook conversation. Instagram users communicate through photos. You don't need to tell your friends you are going out this evening - they will understand it by your new pictures and join you in a bar (you put a location near photo). People even started to write an announcements or invitations in the поле message, then make a screenshot and post it. 

2) photographical information could be interpreted as more honest, sincere and democratic one 3) photography wipes language and cultural barriers - not every person can explain himself with words, but everyone can show what he sees through camera lens 4) "button communication" - the way from an emotion to a post takes few seconds as a result of pushing of several buttons 5) "social content curation" - content isn't lost in a public newsfeed, but is being structured automatically and creates a visial portrait of user's life. What was aimed in the beginning to become popular with new so-called hipster culture and "visual generation" now is conquering older generations and other social groups. Recently launched Android add was updated by more a million people during first 24 hours. Moreover, success of new photo-social network Pinterest is connected with its popularity with american housewifes.

Thirdly, Instagram is a perfect mean for "popular", easy-understood creative work. Let us imagine a service for sharing other types of creation such as poetry. Poetical Instagram - user writes key words of his poem, choses style filter, pushes the button and his followers can read his piese of art automatically generated with Shekespeare, Biron or Bodler style. However, nowadays there is no service which could replace a real compostion work. Fortunately. While photography appeared as the best sphere to satisfy the mass demand of popular amateur creation. The phenomenon of mobilography has been already known and desribed, but a new option appeared now - filters. Scientists and phsycologists defined this as "technologisation of creation process". The simplest regular shot after passing through filters appears as independent piece of art, result of creative work. 

It causes a lot of dicussions and contraversions. On one hand, a photo-sharing add and its numerous copies are catastrophically increasing the quality standarts and are killing the market of professional photography. On the other hand, there people who are sure it made the photography more available and destroyed "sacral process" of taking photos.

Moreover, according to phsycologists instagram filters appeared to be popular because they can be used as means of efficient embellishment of reality. Photoservice hepls to satisfact a mass neccesity to present their life better that it is, to seem and not to be, to make people think what you want.

The last and very important point - the elitism of Instagram. However, it's in the past now. After appearing the add for Android started the angry discussions about marginalisation and future degradation of the service. After the transaction between fb and insta some users deleted their accounts - it was a riot of very early iphone add users who made this service mass and cult.

One of the main reasons of instagram popularity - the image of elitism, selection and mass unavailability of service which cultivated by marketers on purpose Obviously, the key role played a choice of the first platphorme - Apple with its closed ecosystem, expensive gatgets, very loyal and estetic audience. When the amount of users became more than 10 millioms they understand Instafram can easily go over every platphorme. This fact proved the later service development. To pack very simple and free product into glossy cover and to make it so professionally that it would determine the matter - very difficult deal.

According to one of the versions the formers of instagram had an opportunity to launch an add for android, but they delayed it on purpose and did only after an agreement with fb - being afraid that an image of selection would be lost within the pics of Android users.

BEING A POKÉMON MASTER EASIER THAN NEVER

On Monday 31^st of March a YouTube video was spread all over the world through Google Maps official account with the following message:

"Dozens of wild Pokémon have taken up residence on streets, amidst forest and top mountains throughout Google Maps. To catch 'em all, grab your Poké Ball and the newest version of Google Maps for iPhone or Android. Then tap the search bar, "press start" and begin your quest. And, follow Google Maps on Google+, Facebook or Twitter for hints and tips for the most dedicated trainers."

According to the video, anyone can use their smartphones to track down the entire world’s Pokémon using Google Maps app to find the Pokémon location and their camera to see them in different parts of the world through 3D reality.

Google had incorporated its map app with one of the biggest franchise in entertainment: Pokémon; making possible for everybody to earn the title and become a Pokémon Master only by using a smartphone or tablet with Android or iOS device.

The reason? April Fool’s Day had already arrived in Japan. Google, Nintendo and Pokémon developed Pokémon Challenge as an online joke.

To play it, you only need to launch the Google Maps app ant tap the “Search” option, and it will appear a new “Press Start” option with a blue Pokéball icon. Once you start, you will be bounced to the Pokemón Lab, located in Switzerland. To catch the Pokémon, you should swipe around the map and you will see some creatures appear; once you have found one, you can catch and add it to your Pokédex for safekeeping. Also, you will be able to see a list of all the 150 Pokémon, and the characteristics and abilities of the ones you caught.

Only a few hours after the launched of the video a lot of online articles and news about the Pokémon Challenge appeared in different websites all over the world, encouraging people to download or update Google Maps app and start playing. As the time passed, online communities created blogs and forums to share the location of all the 150 Pokémon; some of them even talked about the 151 Pokémon- Mew- who only appear when you catch the other 150 first.

The process of sharing information that only few people have in order to fill the empty spaces of a bigger puzzle of information is known as collective intelligence. This process is characteristic of the participatory culture that exists nowadays, where the role of producer and consumer of media content is no longer passive and specific. The audiences are interacting together sharing different kind of content through all the media platforms, collaborating between each other and extending the available information.

As a result of this process, the ones who could not found the 150 Pokémon by their own were able to find them using the information that others shared on internet before; making easy for them to become a Pokémon Master.

Pokémon: the beginning

Pokémon started as a video game developed by the Japanese company Game Freak and distributed by Nintendo. The word Pokémon is the result of the combination of ‘Pocket’ and ‘Monster’, and it is used in all the products of the company.

After its great success it became one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, and got into new entertainment industries such as television, film, board games, toys, clothes and others. One of the most famous products is the television cartoon named “Pokémon: Gotta Catch’em All!”; where only existed 151 Pokémon, nowadays there are more than 700 Pokémon.

Pokémon Challenge and popular culture

As a result of its success Pokémon characters have become international icons. They appear like puppets in parades and shows in other countries besides Japan, also they are used as decorative furniture items which are sold in special stores, and there are two amusement parks of Pokémon. Additionally, different Pokémon characters have been mentioned in other television shows such as The Simpsons, South Park and others.

Even a lot of years after its creation, Pokémon Company is still rising in the market and creating more and new Pokémon for the television cartoon and the video game; wining more fans of different ages all over the world which each one of its entertainment products.

The launched and great success of the Pokémon Challenge is an example of the continuing popularity of Pokémon. Even when the game was only available for a few days, it was played for millions of people of different ages, including the older generation who plays the video games and the new generation who watches the television cartoon. The only requisite was having Google Maps app in their smartphones and following the official social networks of the companies in order to get clues about the location of the Pokémon.

Instead of replacing old media platforms for the new ones, Pokémon, Nintendo and Google Maps absorbed each other strengths to finally create a unique entertainment product: Pokémon Challenge, and make the game available for lots of people through a new tool.

This is an example of the media convergence that characterized our society nowadays. The new technologies create the possibility to share and extent media content through different media platforms without eliminating the old ones. Instead the content is converging in specific platforms, which are selected because it represents an advantage to share the content property.

Extension to other entertainment industries and the possibility to create new franchises in other places apart the location of the company’s headquarter are pushing media companies to embrace convergence if they want to rise in the market and get to more people.

Pokémon Challenge is an example of how the new media brings popular innovation.

Bibliography

NINTENDO LIFE. Whitehead, Thomas. Google Maps Laucnhes a Pokémon Challenge. (http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/03/google_maps_launches_a_pokemon_challenge)

TNW. Google Maps now lets you find and catch wild Pokémon. (http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/03/31/can-now-find-catch-wild-pokemon-inside-google-maps/)

BECOME A POKEMON MASTER WITH GOOGLE MAPS (http://google-latlong.blogspot.cz/2014/03/become-pokemon-master-with-google-maps.html)

Pinterest: Board-ening Your Horizons

When I first heard of Pinterest, someone was referring to it as "Google images for girls."

It took awhile for me to jump on the bandwagon, but when I did, the appeal was instantly apparent.

It also became apparent that "Google images for girls" was an inadequate description. 

Pinterest, in essence, is a visual discovery tool.

Users explore and organize various interests by saving "pins" to "boards."

Pins are images. Many are linked to websites where you can find more information pertaining to the picture.

Some don't link to anything, and others are simple, user-generated j-pegs. 

Boards are categories in which users save related pins.

These categories can have wide scopes ("Truth") or specific purposes ("Wedding Ideas").

Users can also choose to "follow" friends and strangers alike, giving them access to other users' pins. 

Below, you can watch a short video of how it works.

Pinterest gives users an aesthetically-rewarding way to learn more about their interests or perhaps find new ones. 

For example, the majority of food-related pins are linked to websites where the recipe is written. 

When pinning a picture of lemon poppyseed pancakes, a user has the option of annotating the pin. 

That is, he or she can write a short blurb about how wonderful or awful the recipe was. 

The numerous and varied nature of the web sources that Pinterest is built on is in itself a foundation for collective intelligence. 

When you add in a touch of social networking and annotating capabilities, you have a buzz of information sharing. 

Obviously, it is not possible for any one person to learn everything.
However, with this platform, a user can learn from multiple sources in one scrolling session, and the wealth and richness of those sources is made possible by the input of many other users.
The sum contribution of multiple users creates a compilation of knowledge much greater than that of an individual user: thus, the very definition of collective intelligence.

Pinterest has already become a popular way of gathering inspiration and information in the process of planning anything from hiking trips to weddings.
Collective intelligence via easily consumable bytes provides Pinterest with a plethora of possibilities. 

The Internet is a vast horizon of information.

Pinterest gives people a way of broadening it pin by pin.

Well Forgotten Old

Only sixty years ago when our grandparents were young media was mostly the tool for getting news. People did not have immediate connection with each other: they just walked, wrote letters, in emergency used telegraph, read books and magazines, listen to radio and vinyl records, collective intelligence was rare and had different forms. Is it all gone?

Letters

Letters appeared when people invented writing. Initially they were more like our stickers “Don’t forget something”. With development of writing letters become important source of getting news, most important (for example, from imperator to nation) were read out loud on main squares of cities. Invention of radio substituted such kind of letters, invention of phone and internet substituted other kind of letters. However, more than 1300 localities with 500-10000 people in Russia still don’t have mobile and Internet connections. They have to write letters or travel to exchange opinions with friends.

In the second half of the 20^th century sending letters with opinions or complains to magazines was very popular. Some people still do it, but the majority of letters have an informative, business nature. With popularization of the Internet people stop writing letters, and now they have more intimate character. To get a paper letter from your friend is something very unusual, surprising, and pleasant. I’ve got only two letters in my life, and the last one was several months ago.

Letters stop have its role in collective intelligence, sharing news with a public, but get new, more intimate and less media status.  

Telegraph

Although the first telegraph was invented in the second half of the 18^th century, it started to be widely used only by the end of the 19^th century. It works faster than delivery of letters, but wasn’t cheap. Thus, people used it much rarer than the phone now. If e-mail is development of paper letters, than from the users’ point of view I think that answering machine is kind of successor of telegraph. It also gets sound messages (for telegraph message people usually dictated the text to the worker who then sent it). Answering machines are not really widespread in Russia, but if old people want to leave a message (for people who live in a different city), they go to post office and use telegraph.

Books and Periodic

Reading is one of the most important parts of education and personal development. People evolve and books with them. Old massive books transform to smaller lightweight, and then in electronic books where you can have several books in one device. Magazines changed with books. Electronic versions of books and magazines win competition, but paper copies heatedly fight for a place on readers’ bookshelves. While children aren’t used to use electronics for reading, publishers print lots of children books. It is one of the most important targets for them. Magazines in Russia offer readers not only paper materials, but also some gifts. Magazines like “make your collection” use TV advertisement the most. For example, this magazine offers you to collect minerals, semiprecious stones.

Paper materials are not going to disappear.

Radio and recorders

Music also moves to the Internet, even radio. In previous century people bought records and device for playing it: gramophones, tape recorder, cassette player, CD player, MP3 player. Now they can buy it in the Internet and play on their computers. Moreover, property rights are quite invalid in Russia, so it is possible to freely download almost all you want.

In Vkontakte, Russian network, you can find even apps such as radio of Moscow Institution of Physics and Technology. Many people listen to radio in their cars, so it is still popular media instrument. I remember ten years ago radio was alarm clock for me: I woke up when translation started, near 7am. 

My grandmother, despite she has TV, still use it for getting news. To be honest, only in the kitchen when she cooks where she does not have TV.

Our grandparents are going to save old technologies and make them popular in next generations who’ve never seen them. I believe that, maybe, next fifty years clubs will appear which will use old technologies.

Progress or not: Two examples of Convergence Culture from Denmark

On www.youtube.com you can hear a then four-year-old boy called “Oliver” tell how his grandfather among other things sexually abuses him.

By going onto www.facebook.com you can join a group by the name “Help Oliver NOW!!” if you believe he is telling the truth and you want to support him. On www.skrivunder.net you can use your signature to try and make a difference that way. On www.caremaker.dk you can donate money to help the cause.

The sound files with “Oliver” have been listened to by more than 20 000 people and the Facebook group has more than 7000 members. Around 4000 signatures have been collected as well as around 28 000 CZK.

It is “Oliver”'s mom who has the custody over “Oliver”. It is the child's father Kim Buch-Madsen who has recorded his son on tape. It is also him who started suspecting that “Oliver” is being abused and he has been the main force behind the cause. Kim Buch-Madsen criticizes the authorities and says that their case work has not been good enough.

When Henry Jenkins focuses on shared problem-solving in an online community, he writes that collective intelligence refers to an “ability of virtual communities to leverage the combined expertise of their members. What we cannot know or do on our own, we may now be able to do collectively” (source: Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, p. 27).

In this case the most active people have divided themselves into groups. The different platforms have then been used to for example get in contact with social workers, teachers and policemen. The strategy is to use their assessments to strengthen the cause, to inform the group's followers and to get in contact with and/or influence politicians and different media. 

Hjælp Oliver NU!! on Facebook. It is Kim Buch-Madsen on the right and Manu Sareen, the Danish social minister, on the left (photo: Facebook).

Kim Buch-Madsen has been able to tell his version of the story several times in traditional media. For example multiple times in BT: 1, 2 and 3 and in a program at the radio station Radio24syv 

The authorities and the police disagree with Kim Buch-Madsen. According to them there is no signs that the boy is unhappy, no prove that he has been abused and therefore no reason to remove him from his mother. 

The local authorities have set it as a target not to let the accusations stand unchallenged. Some of the arguments have been that the community's actions are hurting a little boy and other people they - the members of the community - have never met or spoken to, and that “Oliver” has told the police that he made the accusations to make his father happy (source: http://journalisten.dk/pest-og-kolera).

The local authority - Gladsaxe Kommune - answering Kim-Buch Madsen on Facebook. They write that "Oliver" is doing fine, but that he is starting to think more about the situation as he grows older (photo: Facebook).

Another community that is active in order to change something they find unjust is “Klemte Borgere” and the campaign “Sygt Valg i Aalborg” (it can be translated into Sick/Wrong/Boring Election or Choice in Aalborg). 

According to them their municipality - Aalborg - violates legal rights for sick citizens who have lost the ability to work. The community was especially visible during the local election in Denmark in November 2013 and their Sygt Valg-Facebook page is continuing to be active. Their aim is to share knowledge, cases, experiences and skills to put their cause in focus, hold the municipality responsible and get them to change.

The main communities are https://www.facebook.com/sygtvalg and http://www.sygtvalg.dk/. By the use of for example case stories on the homepage, handing out very direct materials, commentaries, a manifest and demonstrations they have managed to get several politicians to react. More traditional media focused on their cause several times and in that way they have influenced the agenda.

Material from Klemte Borgere. "Vote again for the alderman if you are healthy enough", it says (photo: www.sygtvalg.dk).

“Klemte Borgere” was - perhaps not surprising - criticized by several politicians, but the man, who worked as a journalist as well as being responsible for the groups way of communicating, won a journalistic award for his efforts. After receiving the award he expressed how insecure he had felt making a campaign while working as a journalist at the same time. He added that it would have felt more right to win it for traditional journalism (source: http://journalisten.dk/vinder-journalistpris-politisk-aktivisme).

Although both “Hjælp Oliver NU!!” and “Klemte Borgere” would probably always wish they had been more successful, it is two examples of the quite powerful possibilities of influencing agendas that journalists or other people - the people formerly known as the audience - have today.

Old consumers/new producers use the possibilities to break into more traditional media, make people active in the process and see how their content spread (relatively) fast from page to page from media to media.

It is changing the old rules/borders for activists, authorities, journalists “on both sides” and for all the people around them. A lot of things are happening today that would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago, and the current development can be both good or bad.

The ideal journalist's (or the idea of his or her) role - the objective journalist who “filtrates” information and chooses between right or wrong - has certainly been weakened. Such a filter does not exist in the same way. Instead people who are no longer just an audience act. That can be a good thing, but things perceived as progress are sometimes overestimated.

The old social communities are breaking down, says Pierre Lévy, and he believes that there will emerge a new sort of political power and “sees ... knowledge communities as central to the task of restoring democratic citizenship” (source: Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, p. 29). He calls his model of collective intelligence an “achievable utopia” (source: Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, p. 29).

But although the changes are not complete, people are likely to use new tools or opportunities in many different ways - and access to internet communities or the possibility for a former audience to no longer be an audience does not in itself guarantee better communication or more equality amongst people. It does not prevent 10 000 from being just as wrong as 10 people. Neither does it necessarily make life more simple or people more intelligent or well behaved. Perhaps the outcome will be the opposite.

The Cosmonaut: Spanish Transmedia

During the last decade, stimulating achievements in technology and new forms of communication have brought an unprecedented development to the ground of artistic creation. Regarding the design and promotion of entertainment products (films, books, video games,...), the verdict seems clear: the traditional narratives have become obsolete. Just as the different channels of distribution have experienced a deep diversification over the years, the way in which the content is presented has also suffered strong changes. New narratives and platforms seek to involve the public in virtually infinite stories, which are constantly enriched by many different ramifications. The outputs are getting more complex, the fields are broader and the future still boundless, but the concept is nothing new: we are talking about "transmedia storytelling".

The idea was developed by Henry Jenkins, Provost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts and one of the major scholars regarding the field of Convergence Culture. Jenkins introduced the term on his essay “Searching for the Origami Unicorn” (Henry Jenkins: Convergence Culture, pp.93-108), defining the transmedia storytelling as a process where the integral elements of a fiction are systematically dispersed across multiple delivery channels, in order to create an unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Thus, each medium has its own unique contribution to the development of the story.

Beyond the creation of complex artistic universes, the transmedia narrative opens the door for huge opportunities of promotion. From viral marketing campaigns, spread through several different platforms, to the total involvement of interested audiences, which become the actual promoters of these projects. Furthermore, since different extensions of the same story are placed in clearly distinct media, this can attract greater types of public, filling different segments of the market. All these benefits have been explored by the entertainment industry all around the world, which finds in Transmedia Storytelling a new creative horizon and a profitable model of business.

Experts on the subject maintain that one of the pioneering experiences regarding Transmedia narrative was "The Matrix", by the Wachowski brothers. It all started in 1999, with a successful movie that brilliantly set up a specific universe of references and innovations. Soon after, this "cosmos" kept on growing with subsequent films, comics and numerous video games. Throughout this prolific landscape, and contrary to what skeptics might think, viewers did not attend a constant repetition of the same themes and plot, but these were increased with new characters, situations and storylines. The inquisitive viewer could not acquire a complete understanding of the narrative by just watching a movie, therefore, he must delve into the multiplying ramifications of the universe.

What at that time seemed strange and eccentric is nowadays a consummated reality. We can talk about several examples of Transmedia storytelling all across the globe (from modest independent movies to the biggest commercial franchises). Although most of these projects still limited to the American media landscape, it is not difficult to find some remarkable cases overseas. Here in Europe, the Spanish precedent stands vividly among others, not only because of the structural innovation of its projects, but also regarding their original strategies of production (through collective financing and participatory creation). Among several examples, there is one case we must highlight:

The Cosmonaut (El cosmonauta)

It is the biggest and most successful transmedia project produced in Spain, an audacious science-fiction movie directed by Nicolas Alcala and released in 2013. 

The story is set in the Soviet Union, during the turbulent years of the space race. It begins in 1967, when a couple of young friends, Stas & Andrei, start their training as cosmonauts. During the process, they will be involved in dangerous political intrigues, power struggles and some of the biggest technological achievements of the 20th Century. They will also meet Yulia, a telecommunications engineer with whom they will establish a deep friendship, always teetering on the verge of love.

“A film made by more than 5000 people”. 

"The Cosmonaut" is a notable piece of work, not only because of its approach and narrative, but also for its innovative funding plan, new business model and use of Creative Commons license in its production. It has been one of the most successful projects in the world in the use of CROWDFUNDING, having raised €400.000 from over 4,500 people who have made small and medium sized donations to make the film. The production was completed through private sponsorship, merchandising and pre sales distribution, accomplishing what was initially designed as a three/stage plan.

After a year of promotion, the "The Cosmonaut" received a lot of attention from the biggest Spanish media. There were several reports about the film in various television channels across the country, as well as in different newspapers, magazines and radio stations. However, the main coverage of the project came mainly through the Internet. A great amount of blogs and websites based on new media content published promotional articles on the movie. It is also important to mention that most of this mediatic attention was generated after a two-day music festival called "CosmoNauts". It was organized as a mass event to promote the film: nine popular bands of the Spanish indie panorama played in front of an audience that, according to the organization, reached the 400 people between both days. The emerging filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo was the host of the ceremony, and the event was held in one of the most popular concert halls of the country. Although it was a mild economic failure, the organizers connect the subsequent promotional success of the movie (and its ulterior peak of sales in the online store) to the interest aroused by the festival.

In the same way, the movie distribution model was also innovative. It was simultaneously released in different platforms, in order to allow every user to choose the format they prefer, and each of them adopted distinct particularities: For instance, the release on the Internet still today totally free and in HD, while the TV distribution will have an alternative ending for each channel. A special presentation in cinemas was also designed to encourage people to go to the theaters. This was called “The Cosmonaut Experience”, and it merged elements of performance and recreation with active interaction of the audience. It is also planned to make a series of webisodes, mobile content, or even an ARG, among others. Each series of content will show its own perspective of the story, enriching the transmedia experience.

References:

-Searching for the Origami Unicorn. The Matrix and Transmedia , by Henry Jenkins (Article here)

-The Cosmonaut (Official website)

Facebook Advertising - Innovative or Inactive?

I consider myself very much a boring internet user. I don’t claim to be familiar or ‘down with the lingo’ that is associated with the high-tech and ever changing world of the web. However, I would like to claim the title of being social media savvy. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram; I've dabbled. They are excellent for passing time, staying connected or even self-promotion, but the one thing that I find ever so bothersome is the bombardment of so called ‘personalised’ adverts plastered on my Facebook homepage. During the inevitable un-tagging of the weekend’s unfortunate and somewhat unflattering pictures (pictures clearly sponsored by Czech beer) is it really necessary or even relevant for the latest health cereal advert to frame the side of my screen. A healthy cereal which is only considered of interest to me as I once in a rare moment of health consciousness ‘liked’ a page related to fitness. Personally, I’ve never once viewed one of these adverts and thought to myself, “Yes! Finally the product I’ve longed for! How did they know!”, so I find myself asking are these adverts affective or even accurately personalised? Or are they in fact an annoying inaccurate waste of time?

For some time now Facebook has allowed advertisers to target users with personalised adverts. The personal aspect being derived from the information given out by the user themselves. On the surface this phenomenon seems like an excellent opportunity for the savvy business; particularly as they no longer have to waste time money or effort in promoting their products where there is little interest to start with. Through the power of social media they can now contact and interact directly with those who according to computer algorithms or coding are likely to have an interest in said product. This however, is precisely where the flaw with advertising on Facebook lies. It is well documented that most people do not provide detailed personal information; if any at all. For instance, many users seek to keep their relationship status private and therefore do not display it all over Facebook; after all why is it anybody’s business? By not filling in the relationship status Facebook will automatically assume its users are single and thus need a dating website. Hence the adverts at the right of your homepage. Thanks for the help Facebook but we will find our own dates. Moreover, if you do not list where you are employed; hey presto the adverts for job seeking websites are there. Understandably, this may be useful and in some circumstances accurate; but this is not guaranteed.

Furthermore, for the aspirational internet user or in many cases the ‘hard up student’ visiting a website to view that pair of shoes or that holiday destination that you've long for is a common past time. Facebook will become aware that you have shown interest in these products and attack you with images of these desired items at the side of your page. Although, for some this reminder of what you want but cannot have may be a tool of inspiration, a driving force to get that job, or get that degree. Nevertheless, for me it is a cruel taunt, Facebook is a cruel master laughing at me, knowing that those boots will never be mine! However, let us face it, in moments of weakness we will sub come, worn down by the constant reminder posed by these adverts and buy those metaphorical boots. In this case undeniably personalised adverts on Facebook have succeeded in what they set out to do; getting us to part with our sparse student loans or hard earned cash.

I admit that my annoyance with these adverts is simply that; just an annoyance. I am aware that this blog post could just be considered a rant about what I find oh so irksome, but aren’t most blogs just one person’s opinions about the world? Unfortunately with the introduction of ‘promoted tweets’ on Twitter my annoyance is here for the long stay and is unlikely to ebb.