Digital Innovation: tradition and potential in the history of cinema

Jessica Crosby is a PhD Student in Newcastle University School of Arts and Cultures. Her PhD is in Media and Cultural Studies, and considers the millennial generation’s engagement in a digital dialogue with popular culture. Here, she explains what Social Renewal means to her, with particular reference to the theme of Digital Innovation.

Chairs in a cinema

How has digital technology changed cinema?

To me, social renewal means taking the old alongside the new. We’ve experienced such rapid digital innovation in such a small space of time that our cultural and social landscape has been dramatically changed; whether for the good or the bad, it’s clear that we need some new definitions for our current cultural state, as well as careful consideration of just what has been altered. My own research is an exploratory study of the contemporary film audience, and the ways in which active audience practices can be manifested by interaction on social networking sites. This work must involve an appreciation of the traditions and critical history of the cinema, which as a long-standing cultural institution has had a significant role to play in our day-to-day lives. However, it cannot be denied that the nature of our viewing experiences has changed, facilitated by innovations in mobile and entertainment technology, and the act of being ‘audience’ has become an altogether more transitive, collaborative, and immersive affair. I consider these changes in light of traditional definitions of film audiences, in order to establish the progression of our film viewing habits.

The act of being ‘audience’ has become an altogether more transitive, collaborative, and immersive affair.

Emerging findings from ethnographical study have already demonstrated some interesting trends in online audience interaction, including practices of ‘ownership’ over extended aspects of the film narrative, which brings forward some interesting questions about audience agency and power. These trends speak to larger issues with audience agency in film, which has long functioned on a background of textual pleasure and passivity. What I feel is most significant about this topic however, and indeed what is significant about the focus of social renewal overall, is the attention given to digital ‘inclusivity’. This is an acknowledgement that digital innovation does not function as merely an advancement of older technology, cultural institutions or practices, but as a relationship between traditional elements and future potentials. During my time at Newcastle University I have come across a number of fellow researchers and students, as well as institutions and societies, that have shared the same sense of excitement when discussing the possibilities of digital inclusivity.

Digital innovation does not function as merely an advancement of older technology, cultural institutions or practices, but as a relationship between traditional elements and future potentials.

I have been lucky in that my PhD journey so far has introduced me to a lot of like-minds, both in my own field and without, who have been positive in discussing the ‘potential’ for digital and technological innovation in the cultural field. Though there are apparent consequences to technological growth, the communicative function of digital tech is – in my experience – most often encouraged, particularly when considered also as an academic or networking tool. For example, social media, mobile technology and networking have all figured widely in discussions on research impact, a subject that was at the heart of the recent Humanities and Social Sciences research showcase, for which I was on the organisation committee. It was clear when speaking about individual (and collaborative) impact, the potential for expanding impact both within and beyond the academic sphere was very closely tied to concepts of inclusion, exchange, communication and social policy, making platforms such as social media an invaluable asset.

Whilst the case for digital advancement is by no means cut and dry, and there are factors of transformation in this regard which need careful and close consideration, it seems clear to me that the functionalities of digital technology have opened the floor for close discussion on social interaction and design. This discussion must make room for what has already been established in this field, as well as possible innovations and developments. Taking stock seems a simple act, but it is necessary in times of such rapid change. The work done in the Institute for Social Renewal, as in other sectors of the university, shows clearly the relationship between digital interactivity and cultural enterprise, as well as the more innovative possibilities of a relationship between tradition and potential.

Jessica Crosby, PhD student in Newcastle School of Arts and Cultures

Investing in Young People

As part of our ‘Ideas for an Incoming Government‘ series, Professor Peter Hopkins from the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology writes about the urgent need to end the marginalisation and misrepresentation of young people.

Investing in young people

A number of recent policy changes have placed an unfair burden upon young people, particularly for those who live in the most socially and economically deprived areas. In England, Educational Maintenance Allowance has been withdrawn, tuition fees of up to £9000 a year have been introduced for those wanting to study at university, and many young people across Britain are expected to undertake unpaid internships or voluntary work to gain ‘work experience’. Young people are bearing the brunt of these policy changes unlike the generations before them. It is time to start investing in young people by providing additional youth services and funding for educational training, and to stop marginalising, excluding and misrepresenting young people.

Research has been undertaken to counter these problematic and negative representations of young people, particularly those from the most deprived backgrounds.

  • Hill et al (2006) undertook research with children and young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and found that they hung out in groups in order to protect themselves rather than to threaten others.
  • In a more recent example, MacDonald et al (2013) searched for ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’ in response to political rhetoric about ‘three generations of families where no-one has ever worked’; interviews with 20 families in Glasgow and Middlesbrough who were long term workless found no evidence of intergenerational cultures of worklessness.
  • Related to this, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation noted that in 2007-08, 31% of children were in families in poverty (4 million children).
  • Recent research with students involved in the Newcastle Occupation found that the young people who participated in this social movement were politically sophisticated, astutely aware of political matters and savvy about how to have their views heard by those in power (Hopkins, Todd and Newcastle Occupation, 2012).

What is the solution?

  • Creating environments where young people can express their views, be listened to, and encouraged to foster social change with others (including with adults and older people)
  • Providing additional educational funding and paid training opportunities for young people, particularly those from the most economically and socially deprived backgrounds
  • Representing young people better in the media (consider for example, the sophisticated ways in which students engaged with political issues through organisations, occupations and marchers in protest at government proposals about the funding of education).

The evidence

  • Much of the work of the Intergenerational Foundation demonstrates clearly that young people are being treated very unjustly in many areas including education, employment and housing. Moreover, such stark inequality between the generations means that young people are continually losing out compared to older and wealthier generations.
  • Recent research with young people growing up in social and economic deprivation in the UK has found that austerity cuts have meant that services in such areas have been cut back dramatically with religious organisations being some of the only services left to support young people (see this Religion and Society resource)
  • Many churches have experienced disinvestment or have been closed, leaving young people with very few, if any, services in their local area. This is particularly challenging for young people from such backgrounds that may be experiencing family breakdown, bereavement and social isolation.
  • The protests against the rise in tuition fees in England demonstrates that young people are politically engaged and aware of their situation (as opposed to their dominant representation amongst politicians and in the media as being disengaged, apathetic and inert). Research surrounding this involved interviews with young people involved in the Newcastle Occupation (Hopkins, Todd and Newcastle Occupation (2012) Occupying Newcastle University: student resistance to government spending cuts in England. The Geographical Journal 178 (2) 104-109).

It is time to invest in young people in order to counter negative assumptions about their peer group behaviours, their engagement with work, and to minimise their experiences of poverty.

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