Harlow Media

Friday, June 08, 2007

A2s Last Minute Stuff!

(1) I should have given you my email address - do email me with essays, Critical Research Notes, queries & problems. I shall try and reply promptly (unless on the picket line!). I'm phrasing it as follows so it won't be harvested by spambots:

peter@ednet.harlow-college.ac.uk

(2) The two articles on present state of the Magazine Industry are:

A devil of a market - detailing the overall pattern, and emphasising how as many titles close, many new ones are launched

Bottom falls out of lads' mags market - which talks more about the declines & successes of titles & markets, particularly the fall from grace of what had been a very thriving sector, lads' mags (downmarket men's mags), which had gone downmarket (upping the "nipple count" etc), and then found itself in the sort of territory done occupied more successfully by the uncensored internet.

(3) Lower on this page are two sets of links: ONLINE MATERIAL ON FILM GENRE &
INFORMATION SOURCES ON MAGAZINES AND GENDER + Glam: Your Life, Your Style – New Style Portal for Web 2.0; New Style eZine, which indicates what the Internet can do to rival magazines.

(4) The Textbooks

(a) Magazines
OCR Book - focused but rarely detailed - pp 159-169 - stuff on industry, on male/female targeting & differences
Studying the Media - p 53 - on genres of magazine
pp 64-67 - on celebrity culture (mainly TV focused, but same arguments apply to mags)
pp 85-89 - on gender representation & stereotypes, with some magazine references

(b) Genre
OCR Book - pp 145-151 - pretty general indeed. Raises idea at end that modern films are all, as they say in Bollywood, Masala movies - mixtures of genres
Studying the Media - pp 52-64 - discussion ranges across media forms and focuses heavily on role of stars

Friday, May 18, 2007

JOOST - INTERNET TV

Some links to sites that give information on this new development, which has big media companies very interested. It's from the creators of KaZaa (which you may well have used for [illegal] downloads - it has proved more resistant to the lawyers than Napster), and Skype, totally legal means of using Internet for free telephone calls (very serious business - its sale [$2.6bn by eBay] has financed work on Joost).

Don't think YouTube - Joop will deliver high quality broadcast TV on demand. The absolute end of scheduling (and of new programmes?)

Joost - the new, new TV thing by Andrew Orlowski, on The Register, a newssite specialising in new media. A good account of the project, with some of the problems raised on the 2nd page, when discussing how the site will be "monetarised", ie how it will raise money. This will be advertising, targeted at the user (using obviously cookies to get information about your interests). Notice also the emphasis behind Joost on concepts like "the Long Tail": money to be made by providing small sales of lots of specialist media products (rather than the stuff everyone wants to see at once - which would crash the network.

Viacom in video deal with Joost on BBC News indicates the support Joost is getting from Multimedia Conglomerates, and also talks about the parallel schemes some broadcasters are starting up.

Joost unveils full web TV service by Jemima Kiss, on
Guardian Unlimited Technology. This updates the previous news story, with more detail on mainstream TV companies involved.

Babelgum launches to rival Joost in IPTV battle on
e-consultancy, a professional site for e-marketing, describes Joost's first rival.

Joost has a little material on its site.

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Glam: Your Life, Your Style

– New Style Portal for Web 2.0; New Style eZine
from http://www.glam.com/, at About Us page

2002: The Idea of Glam is born and starts to take shape. Esther Dyson, at PC Forum gives the founding push- "Well, don't just stand there talking about it - go make it happen."

The work on social networking starts - six degrees and small worlds and how what we love connects us.



Early work in social networking - Jerry Michalski is one of the pioneers that leads some of the discussions; the Clue Train by Doc Searls fuels the open source movement.

2003-2004: The founding team starts building the first version of Glam in a retro-modern Victorian Home ("The Painted Ladies of San Francisco") in the famous Haight-Ashbury district on a quiet tree-lined street called Downey in Cole Valley. Taking inspiration from the great Japanese Magazine revival (Magazine Designer Collective) and the social networking revolution taking root in the United States, a multi-industry team converges with a view of the future.

The team decides to focus on the emotional, aspirational feel of print magazines and their rich heritage as a model.The Glam team decides to focus on the contextual combination of content with brand advertising - this leads to the realization that the Web is still very young as a medium. In real life more than 83% of all purchases and 85% of all advertising is directed towards women - in 2004, women represented less than 50% of the total e-commerce spending on the Web.



In 2004, the team decided to focus on women as the initial primary customer!
The next decisions made were regarding the type of content/context and the type of advertisers to target. What was interesting was while we all want to Tivo the TV ads- glossy magazines had a very balanced content and brand advertising mix. In fact, the MPA numbers told us that the "mix" between content and advertising was a tight range and that print magazines represented 17% of total advertising.

There were several aha's from this - the Web represents about 4% of total advertising - mostly (more than 70%) search or direct. Network/Spot TV and brand print magazines represent the two largest mediums- at 18% and 17% respectively - with TV declining faster than magazines. As the Web grew, it seemed clear that there would be 3 types of advertising -

Text:Search:Direct
Video:Entertainment:Interstitials
Brand:Emotive:Engaged

Glam decided to lead the revolution by building a media company that would bring brand advertising to the Web. The goal was to move brand advertising from the 17% in print and 18% in TV to the Web.

What we also liked about the magazine model was that the consumer self-selected the magazine and the mode they were in. It is not unusual to see someone pick up In Style, Vogue, US Weekly, Dwell, and Marie Claire- each of these is a unique combination of content, advertising, entertainment, and engagement. Our goal was to bring this level of context to the Web- by simply focusing on content by type - fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. The narrower we kept our focus, the better the context was for the consumer.

The third major decision we had to make was the level of focus - the experience of having helped launch the first generation of social networking was that while the page views were very high, the effective CPM's were very, very low. Looking deeper into this, it became clear that we needed to somehow separate the mode the consumer was in- directed search mode, content engagement, and utility (e-mail, messages, comments.) We found that in directed search and content engagement - having the right ads was a benefit, while in utility mode - they really were in the way. Think about the different reactions a user has if a Pepsi ad comes flying by when the user wants to check e-mail versus the reaction when an ad for a handbag appears when the user is reading about handbag trends. With this realization came the focus on advertising that needs to be in context to the page/story/article- and this set Glam completely apart from the other platforms. At launch, Glam had the top brand advertisers as a part of the basic experience - and continues to vigorously defend against not respecting the consumer's intelligence and time by serving "hit the monkey" ads.
This led to the next decision we had to make: What level of content and advertising should we focus on? Glam made the decision to help make fashion and style accessible and focus on the appropriate premium and luxury advertisers.

Lastly, the most difficult decision was to come just before launch: What kind of Media Company would we want to build? With the rapid increase in both the mid-sized publishers and the long tail of personal publishing and talkback, it did not make sense for us to build a new type of portal, that is repeating what the traditional media companies and the Web 1.0 models tried. Here came the hardest decision - the one that felt like jumping off a cliff - and accepting that control in itself was what actually needed to change.

Almost all media models we could find had the notion of control deeply imbedded in their core- editorial control, publishing control, distribution control. Here is where we found the biggest "cultural" divide- new media companies like MySpace, YouTube were glaring examples of what is truly happening in consumer media today - where the user is firmly in control. The problem we saw with this model was inherent in many Web 2.0 websites: great transformation and growth, but with unclear monetization. In fact, the more we spoke to the indie publishers, the more we heard that the current model simply did not work for them.

Here is a great link on this by Keith Teare: http://blog.edgeio.com/?p=57. In his terms, Glam would be one of the first websites that is building a media company focused on the rise of the foothills (indie publishers) and the growth of users visiting hundreds of websites, while many Web 2.0 companies are going after the flats in the long tail.



With this Glam started to build a platform that would bring it all together - a destination website with the best content from Glam Editors, major publishers like Hearst corporation, Magazines like Dwell and Nylon, the best indie publishers, and user-generated content. In the end, the focus was to build what users really want -the glossy top editors' picks AND content from the indie publishers' blogs AND to look at what other users are talking about.

And pulling it together is what Glam started to do: the first contextually focused new media company that is helping bring content and brand advertising together from different sources- major media companies, indie publishers, and consumers together with a hub that provides services to publishers and consumers.

Glam Media's Growth

comScore MediaMetrix Data (in thousands)





What is Glam Today:
Fastest growing Fashion & Entertainment Web Property


Exploded to over 90 Million Page Views, 35 Million Global Visitors, and an estimated over 8 Million Global Uniques and 3.8 Million US Uniques a month.

Entered Media Metrix Top 10 Women's Sites and Media Metrix Top 250 Properties within 10 months from launch. Also Media Metrix Top 10 Fastest growing Web properties in June, July, and August 2006.

High CPM Brand Advertising and Engaged Brand Campaigns.

First Web 2.0 Hub: Consumer Brand (Destination Site) and Network (Content and Ad Affiliates).

Summary:

1. Glam is Number 1 in Fashion Online.

2. Glam is the first Web 2.0 Hub- bringing together Publishers, Advertisers, Consumers, and Content Syndicates.



3. Glam helps Top brand advertisers reach their target audiences online.



4. Glam is creating incredible interactive engagement online.

5. Glam has built a platform for contextual content and advertising.

The future is happening now - at Glam.com...

Major Publishers' Content: Print, Video and TV: The first network that helps you reach your audience, enables consumers to connect with your brand, and drives traffic to your websites. (Hearst Magazines, Dwell, Nylon)

Indie Publishers: If you have a website, blog, podcast, or video content targeting women in lifestyle, the Glam Network can help you join a branded network, monetize your sites, increase visibility, and provide network marketing. (Over 200 network affiliates)

Fashion and Style Users: With GlamSpace, users can build a profile, start a blog, upload photos, and share favorites. GlamSpace is also a great social network for editors, designers, store owners, fashion students, models, and people that love style. (Over 450,000 registered users)

Content Owners: Add your content to GlamCentral - the largest focused place where users can rate, comment, and talkback on all major sources for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content on the Web. (New York Magazine, Style.com)

Portals and Publishers: Syndicate Glam Media content to offer the best lifestyle articles and posts on the Web. (AOL/AIM Today, Yahoo)

Major Publisher Advertising: Offer cross-medium advertising to top brand advertisers, bringing the best of print, TV, and Internet together. (Cosmopolitan - Cosmo on Glam, Oxygen)

Web 2.0 Technology Companies: Build services in conjunction with Glam and Glam Network to reach a large audience. (FeedBurner, Slide, Meez)

Brand Advertisers: Reach and engage women 18 to 49 with the fastest growing new media company targeting women and lifestyle. (P&G, Neiman Marcus, Sony)

Entertainment Companies: Leverage the reach of Glam to launch new programming and behind-the-scene looks, and engage consumers with your brands. (ABC)

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De-portalization and Internet revenues

Posted by Keith Teare on http://blog.edgeio.com/?p=57
on December 11th, 2006 at 07:12

This post is a little more philosophical than most that you will see here. It provides a little bit of background as to why edgeio is in the business of bringing together, organizing and distributing listings to the edge of the network. In short it is because we believe that the Internet is moving away from big centralized portals, which have gathered the lions share of Internet traffic, towards a pattern where traffic is generally much flatter. The mountains, if you will, continue to exist. But the foothills advance and take up more of the overall pie. Fred Wilson had a post earlier this week about the de-portalization of the Internet which is essentially making the same point when seen from the point of view of Yahoo.

The following 3 graphics illustrate what we believe has happened already and is likely to continue.
The first picture is a rough depiction of Internet traffic before the flattening



The second picture is a rough depiction of today - with the mountains still evident, but much less so



The third picture is where these trends are leading. To a flatter world of more evenly disributed traffic.



Some of the consequences of this trend are profound. Here are our top 10 things to watch as de-portalization continues..
1. The revenue growth that has characterized the Internet since 1994 will continue. But more and more of the revenue will be made in the foothills, not the mountains.
2. If the major destination sites want to participate in it they will need to find a way to be involved in the traffic that inhabits the foothills.
3. Widgets are a symptom of this need to embed yourself in the distributed traffic of the foothills.
4. Portals that try to widgetize the foothills will do less well than those who truly embrace distributed content, but better than those who ignore the trends.
5. Every pair of eyeballs in the foothills will have many competing advertisers looking to connect with them. Publishers will benefit from this.
6. Because of this competition the dollar value of the traffic that is in the foothills will be (already is) vastly more than a generic ad platform like Google Adsense or Yahoo’s Panama can realize. Techcrunch ($180,000 last month according to the SF Chronicle) is an example of how much more money a publisher who sells advertising and listings to target advertisers can make than when in the hands of an advertiser focused middleman like Google.
7. Publisher driven revenue models will increasingly replace middlemen. There will be no successful advertiser driven models in the foothills, only publisher centric models. Successful platform vendors will put the publisher at the center of the world in a sellers market for eyeballs. There will be more publishers able to make $180,000 a month.
8. Portals will need to evolve into platform companies in order to participate in a huge growth of Internet revenues. Service to publishers will be a huge part of this. Otherwise they will end up like Infospace, or maybe Infoseek. Relics of the past.
9. Search however will become more important as content becomes more distributed. Yet it will command less and less a proportion of the growing Internet traffic.
10. Smart companies will (a) help content find traffic by enabling its distribution. (b) help users find content that is widely dispersed by providing great search. (c) help the publishers in the rising foothills maximize the value of their publications.

Update: 11am Pacific, Sunday 10 December
Several commentators are seeing the word “de-portalization” (first coined by Fred Wilson) and reading “end of portals”. To be clear, and apologies if I wasn’t already, de-portalization represents a change in the relative weight of portals in a traffic sense, and the emergence of what I call the “foothills” as a major source of traffic. This will affect money flows. Portals will remain both large and will continue to grow. But relativeley less than the traffic in the foothills. The foothills will monetize under greater control of its publishers and the dollar value of its traffic is already large and will get much larger.

Plug-Ins, Apps and Components
The term has also been applied to various types of software. In the Opera Web browser, a widget is a plug-in that adds functionality, just like an "extension" in Firefox. In the Macintosh, widgets are mini-applications written in JavaScript that are launched from the Mac Dashboard or desktop. The term is also used to describe software components used as Web services. See widget set, Dashboard, gadget and Web services. - http://www.answers.com/

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Thursday, May 03, 2007

2 Good Videos from YouTube on Web 2.0

It costs to have these on my blog! (Extra needing paying for to Blogger/Google). But you will find them on this webpage: http://www.greatworks.org.uk/youtubevideos.html.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Links on New Media Technology

General Sources of Information for ALL TOPICS


BBC News
     Search for wide range of news articles, especially under Technology and Click "The BBC's flagship technology lifestyle TV programme"
Media Guardian
     Search for wide range of news articles on media. You may need to register: email address: pphilpot@ednet.harlow-college.ac.uk; password: media – or register yourself (free).
+ Technology Guardian
Also good for New Media Technology issues
Wikipedia
     Online, open source encyclopedia – use with care, but good with new technologies (benefits of cybercommunism, yes?)
P2pnet.net
     “The original digital media and p2p news site” – p2p=filesharing
Wired News
     US-based new media magazine
Screen Digest: Global Media Intelligence
     UK media research company with a surprising amount of information available free
ZD Net UK
     New media technology news & information site aimed at business. US-based version is silicon.com
NMK: New Media Knowledge is a very useful site set up for industry and workers, with good accessible news stories on new media technology matters.
The BBC's Commissioning pages
     give useful information on various age groups' differing use not just of television but of a wider range of media
Future Media page of C21 Media:
     "an international publishing company specialising in worldwide television, media, and associated business information" - basically a set of newsfeeds from other sites (ie links to news articles on new media technology topics)
To hell in a handset
Convergence: "Watches are on the way out. The days of the diary are numbered. And cameras could be next. The world is becoming a poorer place, says Stuart Jeffries - thanks to the mobile phone"


Downloads and Digital Rights (Music + Film)


BBC News
     Very useful is Click Online
eg Sound future for music on mobiles
     David Reid declares music phones are emerging as the quality players in mobile entertainment. (Many other stories in Technology section of BBC News + discussion on site of BBC’s own practice).
'Old' music's digital comeback
     Spencer Kelly explains the Long Tail
Electric Frontier Foundation
     US-based organisation defending users’ freedoms
Motion Picture Association of America - Antipiracy
     Hollywood’s defence against you downloading pirate films
Washingtonpost.com
     Search for wide range of news articles on media in online version of leading US paper. You may need to register: email address: pphilpot@ednet.harlow-college.ac.uk; password: mediamedia – or register yourself (free).
The Buzz on the Beats
     touches on the controversies over Digital Rights Management
Umair Haque's Bubblegeneration
The New Economics of Music: File-Sharing and Double Moral Hazard: Part 1: Why the Music Industry is (Really) Broken
     Detailed account from blog on "the strategy and economics of innovation"
Cinemas Online
The downfall of the movie industry or the inevitable turn of the digital age?
     Commentators from UK cinema industry discuss the issues (they're against it)
Campaign for Digital Rights
     European-based organisation campaigning against restrictive DRM
Open Rights Group
     British-based organisation campaigning against restrictive DRM, site organised like a blog with postings and links, eg
Despite lawsuits, digital music downloads grow
     Newspage summarising the industry issues on music downloads

Digital Photography


Photos Leave Home
     Blog on personal photography and the web
What is "Digital Photography?"
     Simple account of digital photography on University website, with links
Photo Imaging Skills Issues
     Training body for audiovisual industries (SkillsetM) reporting on issues to do with digital photography, skills and employment
Future of Digital Photography
     photoessay on BBC News
Christmas goes digital for many
     BBC News article giving (expert) use of digital photography in people’s lives
Flickr
     Leading photosharing website - explore what's being done!

Digital Cinema

– see also material under Downloads and Digital Rights (Music + Film)
BFI: British Film Institute
Digital Test Bed
     The Digital Test Bed at the National Film Theatre is the main UK and European facility for exploring the digital distribution and exhibition of film
The End of Celluloid: Film futures in the digital age
     Website of Matt Hanson, The End of Celluloid: Film Futures in the Digital Age (Rotovision, 2004) – interviews and additional textual material from book (in library!) on developments in digital imaging techniques
Stage4: UK art/technology ezine + independent webcaster
Is Digital the Future of Cinema?
     Yes, it claims
Digital Cinema: A Slow Revolution
     Digital cinema offers a high-quality image, unaffected by repeated showings. So why can’t you see it at your local multiplex? On the Institute of Electrical Engineers website.
Screen Digest: Global Media Intelligence
     Search for the many reports on digital cinema. Look for fee pdf samples from larger reports, eg Broadband Digital Movies: European market assessment and forecasts, prophesying digital markets for films
UK pioneers digital film network
     perhaps over-positive BBC news story

CGI


Spectacular Realism in Digital Cinema
     This article from an academic website gives a clear account of some basic principles and uses for CGI.
Cinema and Technology

     Also from an aademic website, this introduction to a course starts with a run through of some of the principles involved.
computer-generated imagerypage on answers.com
     is useful, with a set of links attached.
Story vs CGIforum on an informative site Britmovie
     Pick up on the debates among film-makers - who are often very split over the creative value of CGI. Other forum threads carry this on, like Miniatures vs. C.G.I.?

Personal Video Recorder


PVR page
     on informitv.com, site dedicated to information on TV developments has some very useful news stories & information.
Virgin Media rebrands its personal video recorder…
     indicates how PVR technology is now part of the total offer from a home media service provider.
Brave New World
     one of the most useful pages on the TV-Anytime Forum Website, set up by an organisation of manufacturers and others to ensure common standards. This article spells out the magic promise of PVR as "TV anytime".
PVR - the next DVD?
     slightly dated research paper on PVRs, which spells out some of the user problems - "The bewildered consumer". Are consumers still bewildered?

Computer Gaming and New Media


Games-based learning
     A set of linka, not all necessarily that user-friendly (from an e-learning site aimed at teachers & developers)- that indicates how gaming is becoming another multi-use aspect of new media
Wii bring you the news
     columnist/blogger on Daily Telegraph website commenting on the Nintendo Wii as news source
The Games Industry: Changing Times, Reaching New Audiences
     detailed paper from an industry conference (2005) on the future of the games industry

Interactive Television


The Interactive Television Dictionary & Business Index
     Large and authoritative US site all about Interactive television (ITV in America). Includes guides, definitions & even little tests
Interactive Television Alliance
     US trade association. Site has clear information & a little history of Interactive Television
White Dot: the international campaign against television
A Guide to Interactive TV
     A thorough attack on Interactive TV from a US & UK-based organisation that campaigns against TV

Mobile Phones & Media


Japan Media Review – internet and wireless sections
     “Japan is held to be a generation ahead of Europe & America in mobile phone use – see how their use is different
Opera Telecom
     “Company selling services for broadcasting and streaming video on mobiles. Try their case studies.

Digital and Internet Radio

(+ some material on audio downloads)
BBC Digital Radio
     Explanation & guide from main digital radio broadcaster
Digital Radio Development Bureau
     UK trade organisation – try also link to consumer site for a simpler sell
DAB Digital Radio
     Clear account of DAB on UK site aimed at general public – with clear explanations
Podcasts bring DIY radio to the web
     Good account of podcasting on BBC News, with useful links attached

Thursday, January 11, 2007

ONLINE MATERIAL ON FILM GENRE

note that these are in order of difficulty in terms of ideas


The Outlaw, What is Genre and How is it Used in Film

a simple account of film genre on a useful UGC site, Associated Content


Tim Dirks, Film Genres

Simple analyses of main genres


Karina Wilson, Horror Film History

A decade by decade guide to the development of the horror film genre.


James MacDowell, Safety, Danger, Dreams and Genre-worlds

Excellent article on very interesting UK film site, Alternate Takes, “providing film criticism that is in-depth, considered, challenging, yet accessible.” Article links genre with “safety” (in a known “genre-world”) – and the importance of a challenging of this safety (eg by genre mixing)


Alan Beck, Genre (academic)

Good discussion of academic theories of genre on site devoted in fact to radio drama (shows how powerful these film studies theories are)


Daniel Chandler, An Introduction to Genre Theory

Detailed, but good on how wobbly & fuzzy definitions of genre are


Knight, Deborah (1994): 'Making sense of genre'

“As Frank Kermode remarks, generic fictions encourage underreading. They are fictions of easy access, not usually the sort to make many demands on the reader’s or viewer’s breadth of cultural knowledge. However, generic fictions do make demands on the reader’s or viewer’s knowledge of other generic fictions, and the sorts of story patterns that are to be associated with the particular generic category of the text in question.” Difficult, but rewarding account of genres in general, using literary examples


Stuart Fischoff, Joe Antonio & Diane Lewis , 'Favourite Films and Film Genres As A Function of Race, Age, and Gender'

Analysing genre consumption in detailed demographic terms


Stephen Rowley, Generic Conventions and Genre Evolution

“Altman suggests a basic model of genre creation using these terms. He argues that genres start out with a set of semantic elements, and only achieve true genre status when they complete a process of evolving an accompanying syntax. Altman is intelligent enough to point out the limited scope of this interpretation. After all, the syntactic and semantic elements both continue to shift after this process is completed. Nevertheless, the idea makes sense” + hybrid genres. Difficult but rewarding

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

INFORMATION SOURCES ON MAGAZINES AND GENDER

Websites: Industry


http://www.nrs.co.uk/ - National Readership Survey, with some breakdown by demographics. Open Access: - Topline Readership: - choose category

http://www.abc.org.uk – Audit Bureau of Circulation. ABC Data: - Magazine Data: - Consumer Magazines: - choose categories (look for Men’s Women’s & Teenage)

http://www.ppa.co.uk/ - Periodical Publishers Association, with some useful information. Look under Circulation, & Data and Trends, and go to www.ppaadmarketing.net – for some research data into reader attitudes

http://www.emapadvertising.com/ - EMAP Advertising gives more relevant information than main EMAP site (http://www.emap.com). Magazines: - ABC, NRS (- go to categories for information on a range of magazines [not just EMAP] in that category) & Portfolio (- some individual magazine details & ratecard profiles)

http://www.mediauk.com/ - Media UK Internet Directory has a range of industry information and a lot of industry links

Websites: Academic/Educational



http://www.magforum.com/index.htm - Magforum is extremely useful, with material on the industry, on genres, on individual titles and on publishers, with data and links, plus FAQ New!
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/ - MCS has a little useful material:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/magphotos.html - Daniel Chandler, “Cover Photos in Women’s Magazines”, using ideas from Ferguson
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/sid9901.html - Siân Davies, “Semiotic Analysis of Teenage Magazine Front Covers” (student essay), covers wider issues of representation and body image, with URLs given at end (some good, some dead) - very useful

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm – Media Awareness Network, Canadian campaigning organisation features material on Media Stereotyping and Sexualized Images in Advertising, reachable from the Issues page (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/index.cfm) - very useful

Media Guardian (http://media.guardian.co.uk/) has many useful pages, on recent news stories, with a mass of current industry information and discussion over controversies. But you’ll need to register.

www.theory.org.uk/ has several resources:
http://theoryhead.com/gender – David Gauntlett, Media, Gender and Identity – material from his book – very useful
http://www.theory.org.uk/mcrobbie.htm – on McRobbie
http://theory.org.uk/giddens6.htm – on Postmodernism
http://theory.org.uk/ctr-role.htm – on Role Models, with a number of essays dealing with gendered magazines - very useful

http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html – “Folk devils and moral panics” – easiest to find by looking for McRobbie on moral panics in index on LHS of page (under “Ma”), on the Communication, Cultural and Media Studies database

http://www.mediaknowall.com/gender.html – on Gender and Representation – has some very useful links to pursue, on Media KnowAll (http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevel.html)

http://www.stevewlb.zen.co.uk/ A-Level Media – good “booklet” on Representation

Textbooks


ed Peter Fraser, AS Media Studies for OCR Students (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) – useful material on analysing contents & representation in magazines - very useful

ed Peter Fraser, A2 Media Studies for OCR Students (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006) - very useful little section on Magazine Industry

Tim O’Sullivan, Studying the Media (Arnold, 2003) – very useful sections on representation and gender (pp 78-94) & also quoting Winship on magazine covers (pp 122 123)

Stuart Price, Media Studies – includes some points from Winship, and also from McRobbie on Jackie

Theory


Myra Macdonald, Representing Women: Myths of femininity in the popular media – concentrating on consumerism and representation

ed Helen Baehr and Ann Gray, Turning It On: A Reader in Women and Media – most useful pieces: Ros Ballaster, “A critical analysis of women’s magazines” (gets increasingly difficult, but some useful observations) & Ellen McCracken, “The cover: window to the future self”

Joke Hermes, Reading Women’s Magazines – classic study of the variety of responses and pleasures from a range of readers

Anna Gough-Yates, Understanding Women’s Magazines: Publishing, Markets and Readerships (Routledge, 2003) – combines detailed theoretical approaches (summarised in first chapter) with detailed information on the industry. Most useful chapter, “Desperately Tweaking Susan: The business of women’s magazines in the 1990s” – difficult but useful

Ed Jane Stokes & Anna Reading, The Media in Britain: Current debates and developments (Palgrave, 1999) – useful chapters by Jane Stokes, “Publishing”, with useful brief pages on British Periodical Publishing, & “Use It or Lose It: Sex, Sexuality and Sexual Health in Magazines for Girls”, content analysis on sex in women’s magazines

College Intranet (S-drive): S:/media/magazines/Ferguson – conclusion to Ferguson’s book, Forever Feminine: “Plus ça change …” OK - I'll put it on here soon!

Analysis


Vivienne Clarke, Key Concepts and Skills for Media Students (Hodder & Stoughton, 2002) – useful section on “Analysing print-based media layout”, ie Sugar

Industry


Jenny McKay, The Magazines Handbook (Routledge, 2006) – textbook for magazine journalism course, with detailed information for would-be journalists

Benns Media Guide – lists all magazines with brief details + ownership details

Chris Alden, The Media Handbook (Guardian Books) - ownership details + some data + brief essays on industry

Postmodernism


Mike Edwards, Key Ideas in Media (Nelson Thorne, 2003) – brief general section

Gill Branston and Roy Stafford, The Media Student’s Book (Routledge, 2006) – useful material on audiences, advertising & consumer culture, celebrity and postmodernism


Please add any more you come across as comments. PP

Welcome

Welcome back! Look out for a lot of fresh postings through this year!