Media for children: terminological frameworks and research paradigms.

The article clarifies the terminological status of the concept of "media" in the context of expanding the boundaries of social practice of its application and technological modernization of the processes of production and dissemination of mass information for children. In the work there is given the operational definition of children's media in the context of the technological paradigm, and the four components of their structures are defined: mass media addressed to children in their physical embodiment; technological channels of mass media distribution for children's audience; web platforms for broadcasting children's media content on the Internet and technical devices for reproducing information. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the consideration of media for children as a set of officially registered media that are intended for a children's audience and distribute relevant content through various technological channels and digital resources. The author proposes a theoretical understanding of the research object in a complex of three theoretical paradigms: technological, empirical-functionalist and anthropological.

An Exploration of Lingua-Cultures on YouTube: Translation and Assemblages

Online platforms allow the instantaneous circulation of media content on a global scale, and geographically fragmented audiences of media content circulated through such platforms engage with the same content at their convenience. Such media distribution in today’s digital culture problematizes the traditional conceptualization of lingua-cultures, which is predetermined based on the concept of nation-states. The aim of this study is to contribute to theorizing the concept of lingua-cultures on the Internet in relation to the role of translation that boosts the mobility of cultural products across national borders. To this end, I draw on the Deleuzian concept of “assemblages” and look into what translation-driven communities can reveal about different language constituencies using an illustrative example of a YouTube vlog with bilingual subtitles. Ultimately, I argue that lingua-cultures in digital media culture can be redefined as constellations of heterogeneous people who display their perceptions, attitudes, and expectations of self and others using a common language, while engaging with media content for various purposes and in different ways.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE AUDIENCE ECONOMY: BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS AND CO-DEPENDENCE

Social media platforms’ digital advertising revenues depend considerably on partnerships. Business partnerships are endemic and essential to the business of platforms, yet their role remains relatively underexplored in the literature on platformisation and platform power. This paper considers the significance of partnerships in the social media ecosystem to better understand how industry platforms, and the infrastructure they build, mediate and shape platform power and governance. We argue that partners contribute to ‘platformisation’ through their collective development of business-to-business platform infrastructures. Specifically, we examine how they have integrated social media platforms with what we call the audience economy – an exceptionally complex global and interconnected marketplace of intermediaries involved in the creation, commodification, analysis, and circulation of data audiences for purposes including but not limited to digital advertising and marketing. We determine which relationships exist, which are exclusive or shared, and identify key ecosystem partners. Further, we find that partners build and integrate extensive infrastructures for data-sourcing and media distribution, surfacing infrastructural and strategic sources and locations, or ‘nodes’, of power in this ecosystem. The empirical findings thus highlight the significance of partnerships and partner integrations and call attention to the powerful industry players and intermediaries that remain largely invisible to us as audiences.

Infrastructures for media ‘extension’: licensing trade expos and the production of media distribution

This article focuses on licensing – the practise of brand ‘extension’ – to investigate global media distribution as it contingently emerges from the infrastructural spaces of professional trade events. Licensing expos are not only aesthetic, legal and financial compounds that ‘produce’ media distribution by coordinating the exchange of economic assets and the provision of adaptations, ancillary goods and ‘scripted experiences’ for global blockbuster films and media franchises. They are also sites where diffuse forms of power circulate within and against the bodies of their attendees through assemblages of data, objects, architectures and repeatable technical standards. Through multi-sited participant observation at these affective infrastructures, the paper argues that the production of media distribution is inseparable from the production of subjectivities – of the professionals that make these events as well as the active audiences whose behaviours they aim at envisioning, preempting and shaping.

Strategies and Challenges in Conventional and Digital Film Distribution and Exhibition in Indonesia

Today, media distribution and consumption can occur anytime, anywhere, anything, both conventional and digital. The change in media consumption behavior has brought many challenges for the Indonesian film industry, particularly distribution and exhibition. Film distribution should not just rely on the domestic market and film exhibitions through cinemas. The number of Indonesian cinemas and screens is not ideal, still concentrated in big cities, has low moviegoers, is dominated by foreign films, and lacks support from the government. This study intended to identify challenges and strategies for conventional and digital distribution and exhibition. Answer to that question, this study was carried qualitatively by conducting a literature review through meta-analysis related to history, experiences, and situations in some countries. Research findings indicate film distribution and exhibition need to run simultaneously conventional and digital. Digital distribution is urgent for expanding market size and cinemas revenue. The conventional distribution needs to be maintained because the highest film revenue still comes from cinemas exhibitions. Therefore, filmmakers should begin to organize their distribution strategy and expand cooperation with digital film providers. The government needs to build distribution infrastructures such as global film festivals and distribution agencies, also create policies related to exhibition incentives and tax rebates, especially for films with small audiences. Distribusi dan konsumsi media dewasa ini dapat dilakukan kapanpun, dimanapun, apapun, baik secara konvensional maupun digital. Perubahan perilaku konsumsi media membawa banyak tantangan bagi industri film di Indonesia, khususnya terkait aspek distribusi dan eksibisi. Distribusi film tidak boleh hanya bergantung pada pasar domestik dan mengandalkan eksibisi film melalui bioskop. Hal ini karena jumlah bioskop dan layar yang tersedia di Indonesia belum ideal, masih terpusat di kota besar, memiliki sedikit penonton, berada dalam dominasi film asing dan kurang mendapatkan dukungan dari pemerintah. Kajian ini dimaksudkan untuk mengetahui tantangan dan strategi dalam distribusi dan eksibisi film secara konvensional dan digital. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut kajian ini dilakukan secara kualitatif dengan melakukan kajian pustaka melalui analisis meta terkait sejarah, pengalaman, situasi yang terjadi di beberapa negara. Temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa distribusi dan eksibisi film perlu dilakukan secara simultan. Distribusi digital penting untuk memperluas pasar dan meningkatkan pendapatan. Distribusi konvensional perlu dipertahankan karena pendapatan film terbesar masih berasal dari distribusi melalui jalur bioskop. Oleh karena itu, pembuat film harus mulai mengatur sendiri strategi distribusinya dan meningkatkan kerjasama dengan provider film digital. Pemerintah perlu membangun infrastruktur distribusi seperti festival film dan agensi distribusi di tingkat global, dan membuat kebijakan terkait pemberian insentif eksibisi dan potongan pajak, khususnya bagi film dengan sedikit penonton.

Loving idols: K-pop and the limits of neoliberal solidarity in Cuba

In the 2010s, new forms of hand-to-hand digital media piracy displaced state control over media distribution in Cuba and facilitated the influx of global media, including K-Pop, just as Cuban socialism came under renewed pressure through economic reform. In this context, this article contends, Cuban youth turned to K-pop to reimagine the self, sociality, and Cuba’s place in the world. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this article shows how K-pop appealed to fans by fostering fantasies of becoming enterprising individuals through neoliberal solidarity. These aspirations were reinforced by the industry’s pursuit of immediation, that is, its use of digital media to produce intimate and immediate connections that denied the mediations on which they depended. Ultimately, this article demonstrates how desires for and anxieties about immediacy motivate K-pop fandom and its geo-political imaginaries and how a global capitalist culture industry can appeal to fans by offering relief from the neoliberal capitalism it reproduces.

How partners mediate platform power: Mapping business and data partnerships in the social media ecosystem

Social media platforms’ digital advertising revenues depend considerably on partnerships. Business partnerships are endemic and essential to the business of platforms, yet their role remains relatively underexplored in the literature on platformisation and platform power. This article considers the significance of partnerships in the social media ecosystem to better understand how industry platforms, and the infrastructure they build, mediate and shape platform power and governance. We argue that partners contribute to ‘platformisation’ through their collective development of business-to-business platform infrastructures. Specifically, we examine how partners have integrated social media platforms with what we call the audience economy – an exceptionally complex global and interconnected marketplace of intermediaries involved in the creation, commodification, analysis, and circulation of data audiences for purposes including but not limited to digital advertising and marketing. We determined which relationships are involved, which are exclusive or shared, and identified key ecosystem partners. Further, we found that partners build and integrate extensive infrastructures for data-sourcing and media distribution, surfacing infrastructural and strategic sources and locations, or ‘nodes’, of power in this ecosystem. The empirical findings thus highlight the significance of partnerships and partner integrations and draw attention to the powerful industry players and intermediaries that remain largely invisible.