07/06/07 – Social Networks

Social Networks Online Research 

This piece of research intends to delve into the beginnings of social networks and social networks online. As I have covered an adequate amount of primary research into this project which has formulated a clear idea of what I am about to produce I felt it necessary to better comprehend social networks online and to put them into context with any surrounding and controversial debates that exist. I will first of all research into social networks generically before carrying out another piece of research specifically on MySpace, the platform I intend to use as my host for the social experiment of bringing Chalkhill to life online.  An essay entitled “History of Communications” quite rightly suggests that in an age of technology which is readily changing each day to make our lives more convenient many of us have forgotten the processes and development that these technologies have gone from and arguably come from to reach us today. Communication between people, whether through speech, body language, the clothes you wear, the place you may be or your actions brings people closer together. Once a person knows a person on friendly terms I think it is safe to say they are then friends. When people introduce themselves to each other and realise that the same people you know, your friends know as well you begin to see an invisible web emerge and it is this which we call a network. Hypothetically a network can be as small as three people but I’d argue that less then three people is merely a conversation between two people where has three people have the ability to open three separate channels which will grow exponentially the more people you add to the network.  Before the age of travel social networks were more then likely very small and consisted of your family and those who lived near and around you and who you worked with. When people started travelling I’d assume their social networks were able to grow but it probably wasn’t until the dawn of a primitive form of postal network where communication could reach further and wider then the local area that social networks really started to build up. It was believed that the Chinese had the first form of public postal system as far back as 1111BC (some three thousand years ago) as stated in the online Encyclopaedia Britannica. As populations grew however and so did transport links, it was inevitable that people needed more consumables and products, would have to work in larger scale businesses and therefore would meet more people so networks would grow larger again.

In more recent years it has been the telephone and satellite network which has initially conquered time and space to bring humanity closer together, but without doubt the largest, most influential and accessible communication and networking device of all time thus far has to be the Internet and the World Wide Web along with its applications. In some earlier research which I carried out on this course, I discovered how the Internet was formed. It began by a simple networking of computer systems across America to form a defence and communication network. Soon enough the potential of this online networking was seen and it wasn’t until computers and technology became cheaper and more accessible to the public in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s that the home computer was developed and the desktop soon with the Internet was available to the everyday man and woman. The World Wide Web was the interface that was developed to make the internet more use friendly. Once this was established and the home computer became popular many business, companies, entrepreneurs and visionaries began to have ideas (if you’re interested in reading my own theoretical research one the Internet, it’s uses and a networked society, fundamental topics of this course, please contact me on mrandrewdavid@hotmail.com as once again this is indicative reading of my current knowledge and understanding). Bulletin boards were the first simple forms of communication on the web but this soon developed into emails, chat rooms and then the social networking websites.  A wiki based site (wiki meaning others may contribute or edit the page/s) on the history of social networks places Classmates as the earliest form of social networking based site. It is a US based site initially based on when you left school. It has since grown to include jobs and even the military. You can create a profile and then share through various media your own life. These started to become popular and it wasn’t until the 21^st century that sites began emerging and becoming ever more popular such as Friendster (2002), MySpace (2002), Facebook (2004) and Multiply (2004). Most of these sites were initiall developed with a smaller social network in mind but many grew into much larger scale networks.The web definition of a ‘social network’ has been summed up as;”

The personal or professional set of relationships between individuals. Social networks represent both a collection of ties between people and the strength of those ties. Often used as a measure of social “connectedness”, recognizing social networks assists in determining how information moves throughout groups, and how trust can be established and fostered.”                                                                                                                Parliament Glossary  

This being retrieved from a Parliamentary document puts a very interesting spin on both the idea of connectedness through similar interests and trust. It can often be found in an online world of so much potential that much time, effort and space is wasted or neglected and this goes as much for social networks as it does for anything else. For example some companies will set up a profile page on MySpace which will attract huge amounts of fans because they’re interested in the same ‘product’ and as a result this profile may have excess of a million friends. That doesn’t mean that the person or product actually has that many friends and if the company decides to neglect the website, and doesn’t upload any new information the site becomes little more then a bulletin board for those who have already joined to leave comments or for further people to join. Maybe one benefit is that people will be linked to other people who like something similar to them but let’s take a quick look at the definition of a ‘friend’;”A person whom you know well and whom you like a lot, but who is usually not a member of your family, someone who is not an enemy and whom you can trust”
                                                             Dictionary.co.uk

It is arguable that when it comes to artists, television shows and even some so called friends on many peoples profiles are not that well known, there is no level of trust that has been built but it simply boils down to someone or something you like a lot. MySpace also markets itself as “a place for friends” (see image on homepage) which could be greatly argued in the context of the entire network and what the network actually stands for (which I am beginning to discover is a huge advertising board for not only yourself but for your products, services and people worldwide).

The article publish in Wikipedia has a very succinct idea of what a social network is which includes links between ‘values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, kinship, dislike, conflict, trade, and sexual relations’. People are connected to others for many reasons and this has happened since the dawn of time. In another article on Wikipedia specifically looking at the social ‘web’ it defines these social networks as being a platform for ‘expressing and developing identity (especially for youth), relationships, trust and is user driven and generated’. I have to agree that particularly in youth, the web and these social networking sites are a place to define and mould either an actual or an online personae and it is for this reason initially that it would be very useful for my project as we can further develop television based characters using these applications. We can then not only build stronger more personal relationships through various profiles of different characters (and more interestingly links between different shows) but also build a more personal relationship between the characters, producers and the audience they serve which I believe is a key element in this project.  Interestingly Wikipedia (which in itself is a user generated application) lists in an article of social networking websites some 101 social networking applications the world over. What’s interesting to note here is that there are social networks which cater for specific interests such as cars, books, and even Christian Churches.  They also have a current list of membership which ranges from as little as 3,500 (Anima a private group for the Chechen community) to the gigantic 180 million of MySpace (these statistics can be verified at the respective sites and will no doubt have become much larger upon reading this). Social networks are also categorised as open, private, invite only, for over 18 and even for the USA only (and online website for Physicians in the USA called Sermo). Another website has a weblog entitled “Home of the social Networking services meta list” which contains more then a hundred different networking sites and categorises them.    Without any doubt the social online network is an interactive and creative platform which is here to stay. It is something which was initially developed to bring back in contact old school friends but has turned into a platform to establish our own online identities which mirror our lives through pictures, blogs, videos and our own interests. We without doubt enjoy our lives much more when we share and with the aid of the Internet we now have the ability to share this with millions.  

04/06/07 – Project Proposal and Schedule

Introduction During my initial time at University while studying for my first degree in Video Production, I met a man who was producing what he claimed to be the world’s first online soap opera, Chalkhill Lives¹. The following summer I took up work experience with him, which assisted my growth as a filmmaker and gave me greater understanding of not only drama but also the potential of the Internet as a broadcasting platform. When I began my Masters in RTMC I realised how much potential Chalkhill² had as a subject for my major project and as a  foundation of my research to explore the processes and capabilities of the World Wide Web and then to intervene in a way where I felt I would be contributing to knowledge.  A primary idea was to stay on the lines of video production and to endeavour to produce my own soap, or at least a single episode (a pilot) in a similar format; however I was required to do something a little more interactive. Although through viewing platforms such as YouTube³ the audience would not only be able to view but also interact through leaving comments, this would probably only happen once and therefore there would be little depth or contribution to this notion. So thinking more about the audience, I wanted to assist Chalkhills performance by getting the passive audience more involved. Those who have shown interest to be in the show are now attending the acting workshops (under the training section of the website), but those who are not sure or just enjoy the show should also have the option to be more interactive from their homes wherever they may be watching.
For a while I wasn’t sure how this could be achieved. But without realising, right under my nose was an online application which had huge potential which was yet to be tapped. I was therefore not only looking at a sufficient project but also a gap in the market and thus any knowledge on this new area would therefore be a contribution in the academic sense. I recognised that if certain characters from Chalkhill could live beyond the television set, and could hypothetically interact with the audience, this would not only potentially raise viewing figures by being something new, dynamic and exciting, but would have many other benefits such as audience contribution through comments, viewing of exclusive material through blogs, vlogs and photos which could be shared and therefore the characters themselves would not only expand but would  be real in the online reality setting. Social networking was the way forward, no fan clubs or generic websites, but an actual personalised page that probably any one who can send an email could create for themselves. MySpace (www.myspace.com) would be the platform to take this idea forward. MySpace would not only make the profiles accessible to the masses but with an online database of more then 200 million⁴ it would act as an advert in its own right. Through this project I would still like to take an element from my initial, idea and that is to produce a video for upload to the Internet. Instead of it being a soap however I will focus on one of my strengths, that of documentary. The documentary will create part of my research into Chalkhill, as will the process of uploading it. It will also function as an understanding for the audience of how Chalkhill actually functions.
The main focus of this project however, is to extend the boundary of Chalkhill, by creating a live online presence and then to get the audience interacting and feeding back. The outcome of this project is not necessarily to improve the ratings of Chalkhill but to experiment on how this using a social network may work and to make recommendations to others of how they may best use the idea.  The following stages outline not only the steps to be taken to reach my goal but also the deliverables.   Stage one: Background This project has been in development since the start of the RTMC course and as a result subsequent modules have assisted in its progress. In the Definition and Development Unit (which can be found online through my blog at http://wordpress.com/dster) I extensively looked over many different kinds of websites and discovered that although some television shows were using a similar idea, none had fully expanded to the potential of what could actually be done. My research started primarily at the birth of the moving image online, televisions cross over, movies use of the web, current TV, the download culture, creative commons, Big Brother, QVC, and many other examples of how the web was utilising the moving image. It was the E4 show ‘Skins’ (http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/S/skins/) however which really set the idea of social networks and how they are underused which gave me the initial idea for how I or anyone else could fully exploit this online tool to our advantages. The aforementioned blog is essential reading for the background on this project and the initial developments for this idea and also contains all references and links to examples.  The blog also contains another earlier Unit which RTMC offered entitled “Professional Practice Forum”. The piece of work I am referring to is called “This is MySpace: Extending the boundaries of reality and audience interaction” and was posted on 7^th May 2007. This Unit further developed my idea and took it into a more professional business persuasion of how it may benefit television soap more then a drama or a sitcom as soaps are continuous and on every week. This assisted in the development of the Management for the project and so I once again urge you to read this brief document so you have a well rounded understanding of the process which has lead me thus far as so I do not repeat myself too much.  With the stage set and a clear idea of what the focus and aims of my project now are I can begin to elaborate on what I am about to do through my Major Project Resolution Unit;

 Stage two: Initial Research of Chalkhill: Documentary Having done enough research to begin the project, the next stage of my research was then to actually uncover what Chalkhill was all about, how it works, why it has chosen the Internet as a platform and I figure there was no better way to do this then to use my initial skill as a video producer and produce a short documentary on the system of things. This would not only reinforce to me what I already knew about Chalkhill but would hopefully help others to understand more what Chalkhill is all about.  I could then also use this film as an example of broadcasting on the Internet by uploading it and seeing not only what kind of reaction I get but also the kind of audience figures I would receive. This would be in similar effort to the process Chalkhill follows to upload an episode but for a different style of film. Once I had understood and carried out some research on Chalklhill I could then focus on the MySpace pages themselves, but first a little more research would be in order.    Stage three: Developmental Research and Experimental Practice Dossier  My primary research, which leads me onto this path, extensively looked at the use of video on the World Wide Web. What I was yet to research was the use of social platforms themselves. In this stage of my project I therefore would need to research deeper into social online networks, their history and development, social and political context and any debates surrounding them. I was already aware of the ethical implications of my project before I had started which will be discussed later in this project, but more importantly is how others have reacted to the issues I have identified. This research will initially look at social networks generically and then focus more particularly on MySpace.  In this stage of research I will also delve deeper into some of the reseach I touched on in the initial stages, case studying some of the programmes which had used MySpace as an advertising tool, how they had utilised it, my criticisms of the way they have used it and finally any other debates around the individual programmes uses of the platform. Finally in this stag I will refer to my initial ongoing blog which looks at developments of the moving image on the Web as well as other examples of my idea which have not yet been covered to give this project a more rounded conclusion once I reach the end.   Stage four: MySpace Pages This stage will almost be purely practical. Initial meetings will have to take place to decide one how many characters will be profiled and to engage with them to ensure that their profiles come across as realistic. The Management of these pages in this give instance will need to be discussed further as the examples given in the aforementioned Unit ‘Professional Practice Forum’ are not only for a larger corporate business but also for one with a budget and a team of people which I do not have in my arsenal.I will then methodically take you through a step by step guide of how to create a page as I have done to take it to a place where it can be primarily published. At this stage I will once again need to return to the Producer of Chalkhill to discover m limitations of what I can create as material to place on each character page as not to get ‘out of character’ or to break or leak any plot lines which were about to be released in the soap opera itself.

Once a sufficient amount of material has been uploaded including blobs, photos, videos and themes for each profile the plan would then be to leave the profiles to breathe initially for about a week before any promotion is started to see if anything happens. The next stage would be to promote the profiles via email to friends, family and all those who have shown interest in Chalkhill via the Producers database of contacts. The profiles will be carefully watched and interaction will take place where the online audience have asked to join as a friend to the characters pages, or have left messages or comments. This will all be documented. A final effort may be to produce a very brief advert for YouTube advertising this project to the rest of the world to then see what happens. My assumptions are that if Chalkhill has a good fan base already this will spread pretty quickly. As the soap is initially and online soap it would mean that its audience already have access to and are probably capable of using the Internet.  As the audience start to interact (by simply joining to the pages will be enough) I will then begin to produce and upload more exclusive material. This will occur over about a four week period.Stage five: Recommendation In this stage I shall in my own experience make a recommendation to other soaps and TV shows who may be thinking of doing the same thing. Here I shall look at the pros and cons that I have experienced, the strengths and weaknesses and just outline very briefly what I would do to make this work for a bigger production more successfully if I was to do the project again. This will also act as the first step of my evaluation.  Stage six: Knowledge Base The knowledge base will then encapsulate the project in an easy to view online dossier. I hopefully will be able to incorporate the knowledge base into a MySpace profile thus not only fully exploiting the means of media sharing over the web, but to also keep my entire project inline with it’s aim. This profile can then be linked to the earlier profiles to give greater depth explanation and results to the project as a whole. The knowledge base will have its own unique aesthetic and be a step by step walk through in summary of this project from initial concept to final resolution.   Conclusion: Written Report In conclusion to the entire project  I shall write a report to evaluate not only the project but my own experience and growth and what I feel I have achieved through this project and my hopes for where I may take it in the future. The report thus will contain elements from all of the above and will also be published online on both my blog and through the Knowledge Base.

Andrew DavidJune 2007   Footnotes
1.  The main Chalkhill website is now www.chalkhillsoapopera.com for all the latest information and access to online episodes. 2. Chalkhill Lives recently re-branded itself to be known only as Chalkhill which is how I will refer to it from here in. 3.  YouTube (www.youtube.com) is probably by far the most common public video sharing server on the Internet, however since it’s creation many other video platforms have been created by other giants such as Google (http://video.google.co.uk/) Microsoft (http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm) and Yahoo (http://video.yahoo.com/).   4. At the time of reprinting this document on 15^th September 2007 the total networking possibility had risen to over 200 million participants on MySpace.   

Project Schedule

June 4th, Monday  - write a clear plan of action (this may change but it gives you focus) - begin keeping a small journal of development and write in this continually throughout project. - research into social networks. - add to blog.

June 11th, Monday- research into MySpace.- case study three examples of programmes using similar idea to projects. - add to blog.- brainstorm documentary and write a pitch/treatment.

June 18th, Monday- create a beat sheet for documentary – ideal structure – write interview questions around this. - gain access to past archive video footage and start capturing. - work out any additional footage you will require (workshops/day on set), book equipment for next week. - create a filming schedule, release forms, call sheets etc. for paperwork. - add to blog.

June 25th, Monday- film initial interview of producer this week and workshop)- extend equipment booking.- capture footage and continue reviewing archive footage. Begin transcribing interview and aim to complete. - add to blog.

July 2nd, Monday- film day on shoot and any further cutaways. - capture footage and continue reviewing archive footage. - add to blog.

July 9th, Monday- begin edit. - add to blog.

July 16th, Monday- continue edit and aim to complete by the end of this week.- seek any music you require through the Creative Commons. - begin researching into broadcasting platforms for documentary. - add to blog.

July 23rd, Monday- export documentary and upload to internet. - create a short advertisement edit for documentary and upload to YouTube.

July 30th, Monday-          overlap week, use this week to either catch up or get ahead depending on where you are in the project at this stage. -

August 6th, Monday- initial discussions and research for MySpace profiles, choose characters, discuss character styles, personalities and attributes etc.- gather initial imagery.- create basic profiles for chosen characters and one for Chalkhill as a production, also change your own personal profile into a Methodworks Profile. - create an email promotional template for profiles.

August 13th, Monday- out line the process of how to set up. - email promotional advert to friends and all Chalkhill contacts. - create YouTube advert? - document any developments in profiles.

August 20th, Monday- upload exclusive material for the week.- publish YouTube advert also.- document any developments.

August 27th, Monday- begin knowledge base – summarise early stages of project and research. - upload further exclusive material and respond to any threads.- document any developments.

September 3rd, Monday- upload further exclusive material and respond to any threads. - document any developments on profile.

September 10th, Monday- summarise findings from experiment, upload any remaining material, reply to any threads and discuss with Producer whether to keep profiles up and running or to remove them. - write recommendation. - write report. - complete knowledge base.

September 17th Monday- review all work for errors and add any meta-dialogue and evaluations where possible. - create a site map for knowledge base ready for presentation. [Wednesday 19th September @ 10:30am in Eldon R.1.123]

Please note this is an initial plan for the schedule and does not include all elements of the project, and the schedule may well change as the project develops.