ethnography of the new 19.1.2005

Ethnography of the New

19.1.2005

Goetz Bachmann

Goldsmiths College, Centre for Cultural Studies

g.bachmann@gold.ac.uk

Content

1. The Broadband Project

2. Ethnography and the New

3. Researching the New

4. Some Results

1. The broadband project

Basics of the project

Topic: Non-linear media in a cross-platform environment

Technologies: IPTV and 2nd generation broadband

Approach: Produce a pilot. Research production and usage.

Coalition: Video Networks (HomeChoice), Hildebrand, Archangel and Goldsmiths

Started 8/03. Will last till 1/05

HomeChoice: Technology

ADSL-based TV -> full and immediate backchannel

Server-based -> one to one network

Simple set-top boxes -> TV and VoD is streamed, not downloaded

Connections of 4-6 MB/s –> TV-quality

Own Exchanges -> limited availability

HomeChoice: Current offer

On the computer:

Broadband internet with up to 2MB/s (guaranteed)

On the TV-set:

Digital TV-channels, VoD (e.g. Hollywood and film archive) and some TV/VoD hybrids

User research

“Laboratory” of everyday life

One year, 21 households, 68 members

All: IPTV, 1 MB internet

Some: Selected other technologies (e.g. 3G mobiles)

Ethnographic, wide mix of methods

Extensive and intensive phases

Interconnected household

Production

Producing and broadcasting of a cross-platform interactive object

Archangel: Concept, filming, editing

Hildebrand: Brand, design and website

Video Networks: Coding, EPG and broadcast

Goldsmiths: Research, consult and project management

Production: Goldsmiths role

GS provides data on users (consult), based on user research

GS researches interaction in the project network, gives feedback on this (consult) and researches reactions

to feedback

GS researches the reception, gives feedback on this to the producers (consult) and researches their

reactions

Project management

2. Ethnography and the New

What is Ethnography?

Meet people

Observe and participate and experience and ask (and reflect)

Understand

What is Media Ethnography?

‘Proper ethnography’

Accumulated ethnographic miniatures

Virtual ethnography

Why is the new a problem in ethnography?

Most ethnographies are about everyday life -> the field/object must have existed for some time

The classical ethnographic holism tended to stabilize (this is nowadays much less so)

Ethnographies of practice tell stories in the aftermath -> danger of over-theorizing practice

Why is the new a problem in media ethnography?

Ethnographies contextualize -> they produce an inherently conservative attitude?

Most media ethnographies are about audience/users

Ethnographies that research media products by researching the producers are often about the

conditions that constrain the product

The new and the future

New phenomena

The emergence of new structures (a future that is ‘present in the present’)

The actual virtual

The ongoing process of change

The indeterminate becoming of the present

3. Researching the new

Research right form the start

A topic close to the “cutting edge”

An (auto-)ethnography of how the cutting edge is constructed

Research production/R&D and usage

Ethnography on forming the coalition (project networks with a history)

“Real participation” in the production

Share a responsibility for the product

Participate in the virtual of the creative process

Use hindsight to identify decisive moments of the process and alternative routes

Compare this with how the situation looked at the time (the virtual of the creative process)

“Experimental” elements in the audience ethnography

A before-after scenario via new products/technologies (one year)

Stimulate change in everyday practices: stimulate realistic dreaming, nurture

innovative ideas

Concentrate on innovative practices

Spread innovative practices

4. Some results

The product: Iwant2 be comedy

A Reality TV show, seven episodes over 7 weeks

Competing sketch comics (beginners, 2x2 candidates) are being mentored

Interactive? Voting for topics and candidates, order tickets on IPTV and online

Multi-path? Full versions of interviews, sketches etc.

Cross-platform? A website, a live-audience

The engineering of enthusiasm

Formation of a project network: Hype

Interaction in the project-network: (Shared?) visions

The production of the material: producing the Reality of Reality TV

Inscribed enthusiasm in the digital object: Cross-platform users

Audience and broadcaster feedback: Denied and reconstructed enthusiasm

On-demand Media-time

Self-scheduled media rituals

Co-viewing: Less but more intense?

The series: Condensed but more intense?

International times: From tuning into the national audience to tuning into the New.

Aliveness instead of Liveness?

Temporal instead of synchronized communities?

Practical experiences and ideas

Do’s and Don’t’s for the EPG in a multipath formats on IPTV

“Live” production for IPTV and cross-platform

Cooperation in the production of cross-platform content for IPTV: From clearly defined roles to overlapping

roles

Possibilities of closed and open multi-path narratives

Possibilities for VoD/TV hybrids (like non-linear channels)

The new and the future

New phenomena

The emergence of new structures (a future that is ‘present in the present’)

The actual virtual

The ongoing process of change

The indeterminate becoming of the present