Media Re:public

While I process all the interesting conversations I’ve had recently on participatory media, here’s a quick quiz to put the ad market in perspective in this post-shopping frenzy season. Answers on New Year’s Day, or send me your best guess at pmiel at cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu and I’ll send you the answers early.

Quiz!

Without looking it up anywhere answer these questions:

1. In first 3 quarters of 2007, how much money was spent to buy advertising in all the following media combined: TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, billboards and those annoying inserts in the Sunday paper?

A) $9.5 billion
B) $54 billion
C) $108 billion
D) $327 billion

2. For the same period (Jan-Sept 2007) match the media to the correct % of the total:
1) Magazines
2) Internet
3) Radio
4) Newspapers
5) TV*
6) Outdoor (billboards) + Inserts

*Including ads on broadcast, cable, spanish-language, and syndicated programming

A) 43%
B) 20%
C) 18%
D) 8%
E) 7%
F) 4%

3. Online advertising in the first three quarters of 2007 grew in comparison to the same period in 2006 by what percentage?

A) 10%
B) 17%
C) 50%
D) 150%

4. And now that you have all the data, match the actual numbers to the media:

1) Newspapers
2) Radio
3) Internet
4) Magazines

$ spent on advertising Jan-Sept 2007
A) $7.9 billion
B) $8.3 billion
C) $19.2 billion
D) $21.8 billion

Good Luck and Happy New Year!
Persephone

Welcome to Media Re:public, a research project to analyze the current and potential impact of the “non-traditional” news media. A project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, it is made possible by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Media Re:public hopes to collaborate with the many practitioners and researchers working in this field take an analytical but constructive look at the way new voices, sources and formats are changing the information landscape. The goal of the project is to bring the best ideas together to inform the effective creation and dissemination of news and information that is meaningful in people’s lives.

We hope to begin from the position Jay Rosen eloquently put forth in a paper for Berkman in 2005: Blogging vs. Journalism is Over.

In the simplest terms, there are four big topics:
Can we agree on ways to define and measure the impact of the myriad forms of news media (on people, on politics, on policy, on the news agenda)

Whether and how the current environment is and isn’t expanding the diversity of voices, viewpoints, and topics and the audiences that are exposed to them

How to promote the sustainability of models and systems that increase and encourage the production of high-quality news (which I think of as information that in some way enhances people’s individual or collective life, liberty and pursuit of happiness)

How technology could and should continue make the creation, dissemination and consumption of news and information more efficient, effective, affordable, accessible and generally wonderful

We look forward to discussing each of these in depth and getting lots of comments, especially those pointing out where others have already proved us wrong or said it better.

Since you’ve read this far (thanks!) I’ll tell you why this page is in the category CAPPUCINO. We can’t agree on one word to describe the stuff we’re studying, and at one time or another I’ve used all of these: Citizen/Amateur/Participatory/Personal/User-generated/Interactive/New/Online

Persephone Miel