My Notes

I have written them accordingly to appeal to not only the style of writing of a teenager, and the language I feel they would best respond to when trying to learn, but also to their sense of humour. I have used subtle references from the show Monty Python (which, although relatively old, many teenagers still watch) along with references to up-to-date internet videos.

Here are the notes that will make up most of my article:

Contemporary Media Regulation

- The internet enables dissemination of information on a revolutionary scale - one person, or a sneezing panda, can be heard by the whole world. Should this be regulated? Can it be regulated? (Yes - China manages it, despite - perhaps because of? - its being the home of the panda.)

- The UK Government might seek to restrict the publication of these images on Google. Is that right? Is it possible? Google was quoted "It would be impractical to ask Google to withdraw images as they can be easily obtained from other sources over which we have no influence".

- Is self-regulation valid or effective? An MP is quoted as saying ''There needs to be a certain degree of restraint shown by people like Google”.

- But if Google is to be regulated in this way, shouldn't it apply to all search engines... all organizations... all people? Therefore, would it mean YOU are not allowed to take a picture and show it to a friend? - that's the reductio ad absurdum to which this logic could lead.

Global Media

- Consider how the Web 2.0 has allowed "everyone to see everything". If Google Maps/Google Street View keeps evolving then pretty soon anyone can, immediately and without introduction, see into anyone else's house, anywhere in the world.

- Five years ago this would have been very different. To get this information you would have had to either travel to the country yourself, or have an individual mail you the pictures.

Media in the Online Age

- Conventional media still over-represent tiny but powerful groups of people. Note how the article quotes MPs, and Google - but not Mrs. T Nesbit who lives in the village near the SAS and who's worried about the impact on her life and security.

- But, 'new media' will allow Mrs Nesbit to blog about this, or the whole village to create a lobbying website for example.

Media and Collective Identity

- That is, Mrs Nesbit and her cohorts of web-enabled brolly bashers.

Postmodern Media

- Google Maps has taken the idea of sending someone a photograph, and taken it to a level where simply sharing images can be seen as criminal.

'We Media' Democracy

- Consider how Web 2.0 has put publish-power in the hands of everyone, including Mrs Nesbit and the panda interest groups.

- But consider also - Google is one of the world's biggest companies; so huge power still rests in the hands of a tiny number of people (the Board of Google). How democratic is that?