Week 6 - Website Analysis, NME To Me

What is the appeal for you as a user?

Having being a regular reader of the magazine for a while and a huge fan of most of the bands/artists featured, the website certainly interested me once I discovered the offerening to the users.

With the internet offering a quick link to the latest news and reviews, this is certainly the same situation with NME.com and one of the main reasons for my visits to the site.

However within the past couple of months I have tended to venture further into the site. An example would be that I regularly listen to NME radio which obviously gives me the opprtunity to listen to the new music rather than just read about it.

When there is a time when a new album is about to be released which I am waiting for then I tend to use most of the website to find things out about the new album or the artist. This would include watching videos on the band. This also helps finding out information I want to know.

One final point I'd say about the site that helps me is the lists of gigs being played across the country by some my favourite bands. This informs me in advance which allows me to get a ticket early days before the event is sold out.

Week 6 - Website Analysis, NME As A Cultural Site

What is it about on a cultural level?

When we think NME, we most oftenly think indie students reading the magazine, catching up on the lastest news and keeping up to date with the poular bands on the genre.
However with this site offering more to the reader of the magazine, we see a wider culture range.
With the site being open to all, there is no restriction for the internet user to read the content that has been published.
As I have previously mentioned the site offering other features such as NME radio and TV, this will gather in a wider audience as well. Talking on a personal level I use the site for most of it's features. It is a place were I find out the latest news, listen to the radio station and sometimes watch the TV channel (mostly as I don't like to fork out the £2.30 every week).
Another major point which makes this site branch out on it's culture side is that NME has a large American interest. With the site having another area for NME USA, this reaches out and gains interest from our friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
In terms of an age audience for not just the magazine but also the website, NME has and always will target itself towards the younger generation like ourselves as thats were it started off back in 1952. With the magazine standing for New Musical Express, it will always be the younger population who are interested in it's contents.
One final point would be that the magazine and website bases it's contents and coverage around the celebrity world of new music. With Britain living in an obsessed interest with celebrities, NME is always going to draw in an interest. An example would be Pete Doherty and how he always cropping up in the news. As a result people will buy or visit the site to gain updates on the singers status.

Week 6 - Website Analysis, NME

http://www.nme.com/home

How is your chosen site structed?

NME.com is in affect your average magazine website. We see the latest music reviews, headlines and stories displayed in which anyone can view and read.

However as this is a website, it can hold an awful lot more information and opportunities the normal weekly printed magazine does. We see the site expanding into other areas, of not just the internet, but also mass media.

This may make the site sound more complicated with all these additional features, however the way in which it has been structed makes it as easy to use as, a microwave, or whatever.

The homepage is basically split into two areas, the top of the page and the left hand column running the entire length.

With headlines leading to band/artist news down the left side of the page, users can find the very latest news within seconds of opening the front page, whereas running along the top of the home page are links to the other features the site has to offer.

This includes the other francise NME has to offer these days, such as the forums were users can talk about many different topics the site has prepared for them, NME radio, NME TV, the store and many other useful things readers are interested in.

However like a magazine, the site is littered with advertisments. They are still in keeping with the genre of the site, but still prove to be a distraction to the user.

Week 6 - Joint Enterprise In Communities Of Practice

In relation to my earlier post when I talked of my school day rugby playing days, I'd say it is quite possible to tie in the idea of a joint enterprise into this activity.
Of course the objective for the team was to win games and be champions of the regional area.
So with the idea of comminity in practise, we set ourselves to strive for the best outcome by helping one another. However most of the time it would result in the coach having to shout so much and loud that even people in the next village knew what he wanted us to do in training.
This enterprise as a whole is a very simple system. All we did in the ways we wanted to improve from the previous week, was to show up to training twice a week and run set pieces. A far simple process than the players of today having to return to the classroom to learn the ropes.

Week 6 - My Community Of Practise

When we look at Wenger's theory model of communities in practise, I'd say we can apply this to any social group we are/have been apart of.
In relation and comparison of myself to this model he created, it's quite difficult to refer back to my own personal experiences. However I'll relate back to when I played rugby for a very sort time (a difficult picture to imagine I know!).
It's prorbably best to refer my experiences as a school boy rugby player to the Communities of Practice in Organizations model we see. This model maybe in relation to business plans and routines, but in terms of the social asspect of my activity, I found it fits in very well.
At the start we have the finding each other stage, which would obviously relate to how when first joining the team, I was introduced to the rest of the players and was very much just a social asspect.
The second part of Wenger's model refers as 'Exploring connectedness, defining joint enterprise, negotiating community'. This would carry on with the social side of being part of a group or team but on a much more personal note, such as making good friends with some of the lads and staying away from others (most often the forwards!).
At the peak of the model we see 'Engaging in activities'. Obviously this would be actually playing a game together which is the best part of being in the team as thats why we were all there, to play a game a rugby.
However after this peak of the model and my rugby playing days, it all quickly decends. For many of my friends, these games would be the only opportunity in the week to meet up and have a good time. But once we started heading our seperate ways, the level of staying in touch slipped.
This then leads onto the last stage of the model, which in many ways relates to what I'm doing at the moment, telling the stories to others, keeping it alive and preserving memories.
Therefore I'd say my experiences would relate to all three of Wenger's characterists of communities of practise:
The domain - The club was a place where we created part of our identities as we all made the same interest in the game
The community - Somewhere we made friendships and relationships so we could learn from each other
The practise - We all gained the same experiences, stories and problems together as a team and club.

Week 5 - Meikle D, E and F

Open News - When looking at open news as a whole, I'd say that it can be quality news to that local area. They can have their advantages to some areas, for example my hown town only has one small weekly newspaper (which is quite poor if i'm honest), so if the town was to have a site which was dedicated to the local news, then informing the locals of recent events would be much more relivent. As lets face it, events happening a week ago is ood news these days.
However if we were to see these sites which had endless amounts of spam attacted to the page, then our assumption into weather they are quality sites is definately questioned again.

Too Open Or Not? - I would say it's hard to answer if these sites are completely open. When we look at Wikipedia for example, we may be able to add to any page we wish, however our contributions are checked and moderated by the Wikipedia team into confirming if the text we wrote is indeed correct. So is this the same case with open news sites, as contents can remain of the front pages for weeks on end, or are we the open news moderation team?

New Institution - As with any internet site, it generates new possibilities for that group, business etc. This is the same case with open publishing. These sites such as open news ones may not be as big as the major media ones (such as BBC News), however they are most ertainly growing in popularity as the Net is a place in which everyone logged in can have their say and be heard about it.

Week 5 - Meikle A, B and C

News On The Web - When it comes down to the basic form of news on the web, we should be sticking with traditional sites such as the BBC, Sky etc. These are the sites in which real qualified journalists are writing for, instead of this idea which the audience becomes the researchers/journalists. This gives me the impression of false news and information and reminds me of Wikipedia where anyone can add information. I understand that these are 'additional sources for information retrieval' as Meikle describes, however with these major news sites such as the BBC, there is a sense of reliability and trust.

New Journalists Online - I do agree with this and what Meikle says. With the mention of blogging and news groups even the everyday joe can contribute to the discussions. I would still relate back to my first point in questioning weather these are reliable sites to gain our information, but I suppose this gives the user that sense of being a real journalist. An easy thing to do on the Net where we can become anyone we want to be.

DIY News Online - When taking this into mind, my first thought I would relate this to is blogging. A place were we can start off discussions of our own and build on it. When questioning it as an alternative culture, I probably would agree with this statement. Not only as it's an online society which is an alternative to the big named news media groups, but they are part of Indymedia where we see small time sites making an impact.