The Influence of Technology on Contemporary Photographic Media Practice - Essay Example

The emergence of such technologies as laptops, cell phones and digital cameras transforms the nature of media practices and opens new possibilities for 'citizen journalism' (Gillmor 2006). An average citizen receives a chance to publish unique videos and photographs on line neglecting strict censorship rules and privacy concerns. The problem is that "the production values of the image are hardly professional. What does matter is the utter authenticity of the image, made so by the fact that the man was there at the right time with the right media-creation gear" (Gillmor 2006).

Following Bowman and Willis, people are not passive consumers at the mercy of technological instruments but active users of different technologies and mediums. Just because the average television is switched on for several hours a day does not mean it is being avidly watched (Peterson 87). Gillmor (2006) and Bowman and Willis (2003) call this process 'we media' underlining an increasing role of citizens in news creations. "Everything from eyewitness accounts and photo galleries to commentary and personal storytelling emerged to help people collectively grasp the confusion, anger and loss felt in the wake of the tragedy" (Bowman and Willis 7-8).

Individual sites and blogs tend to focus on what a person wants to tell the visitor rather than responding to the visitor's requirements. Typical of this category is a focus on the way in which the blog is structured, photographic facilities and details. Audience-centric sites reflect the fact that many types of visitor will use the site and that their needs may be very different. A brief visit to a site of this type will give a clear picture of why it was constructed and which audiences are being targeted.

Rosenblum (1997) underlines that new technologies allow an average citizen to manipulation public opinion and produce false images of news and public figures. This can lead to negative perception of journalism and photography in general (Peterson 87). Technology such as the video machine can also allow audiences to take more control over their viewing practices and shared video-watching can be used as a social event in itself. It can also be a way of gaining access to cultural resources unavailable on mainstream programming (or only shown unsociably late at night).

Following Bowman and Willis (2003) "From a participatory journalism perspective, P2P [person-to-person] has enormous potential to distribute the content created by digital amateurs. One example is the recent emergence of P2P photo-sharing software programs" (31). Thus, interest in the use of media technologies and the process of consumption also opens up new questions about power, not the power of the media per se, but the social power structures within which consumption is embedded (Rosenblum 569).

Web blogs and web sites are designed to gain a tangible advantage. While the nature of the WWW site gives an insight into the way the audience intends to use the Internet it is only a snapshot of how far the strategy has evolved. The visual attractiveness of the site will still be important but the main concentration is on the quality of the content and facilities it provides (Peterson 87). The other problem is many amateurs do not want to be paid sharing unique images and photos for