The Future of Live

Description

Liveness is a persistent and much-debated concept in media studies. Until recently, it was associated primarily with broadcast media, and television in particular. However, the emergence of social media has brought new forms of liveness into effect. These forms challenge common assumptions about and perspectives on liveness, provoking a revisiting of the concept. In this book, Karin van Es develops a comprehensive understanding of liveness today, and clarifies the stakes surrounding the category of the ÂliveÂ. She argues that liveness is the product of a dynamic interaction between media institutions, technologies and users. In doing so, she challenges earlier conceptions of the notion, which tended to focus on either one of these contributors to its construction.   By analyzing the Âlive in four different cases – a live streaming platform, an online music collaboration website, an example of social TV, and a social networking site – van Es explores the operation of the category and pinpoints the conditions under which it comes into being. The analysis is the starting point for a broader reflection on the relation between broadcast and social media. Cover Title page Copyright page Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1: Introduction Liveness as a Concept in Media Studies Ontology Phenomenology Rhetoric Aims of the Book Structure of the Book 2: Constellations of Liveness Media Power and the “Live” User Participation in the Social Media Era Analyzing Constellations of Liveness The Domains of Liveness Metatext Space of Participation User Responses 3: Liveness and Institutionalization The Mogulus/Original Livestream Metatext: Emulating Broadcast TV The Space of Participation Between Live-streaming and On-demand Platforms Creator Tools The Challenges of Monetization User Responses: Unattractive User-generated Channels The New Livestream Metatext: Being There The Volvo Ocean Race’s Space of Participation The User Relation to Liveness The Producer Relation to Liveness The Relation between Liveness and Institutionalization 4: “Live” as an Evaluative Category The eJamming Metatext: Empowering Musicians The Space of Participation User Responses: Liveness as Value Real Time Sociality Between Liveness and Real Time 5: Social TV and the Multiplicity of the Live Social TV: A Strategy of Broadcast TV Relations between Social Media and Television Extensions Overlays Enveloping Integration The Voice’s Metatext: From Authenticity to Participation The Blind Auditions and Battle Rounds The Live Shows The Live Shows’ Space of Participation User Responses: Different Constructions of the Live Live Television Watching Live Live-tweeting Live Performance Live Audience Some Conditions of the Live Tension Surrounding the Live: The Rhythms and Temporalities of Broadcast Television Series Dumping Data-driven Decision Making Tension Surrounding the Live: Audience Participation The Future of Broadcast TV 6: Social Media’s New Relation to the Live The Facebook Metatext: Me and My Friends The Space of Participation The Live Feeds of the News Feed Live Feed Most Recent Ticker The Algorithms of the News Feed User Responses: Privacy Issues Tension Surrounding the Live: Producer Relation to Liveness Between Sticky and Spreadable Media From Normative Frameworks to Statistical Ensembles The Emerging “Like Economy” Conclusions The What, When, and How of Liveness Comparing Broadcast Media to Social Media The Future of Live Notes Resources Online Videos Platforms, Forums, and Weblogs Television Tweets References Index EULA