Postmodernism Problems

Conceptualizing Media Ecology Editorial

Dobrinka Peicheva — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

Media Ecology – Conceptual and Content Dimensions

Dobrinka Peicheva — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

The media are positioned as increasingly important factors in the people civilization formations, competing with the family environment, the education system and other socializing agents. The study of the content aspects of the media ecosystem and the attitudes created for its key manifestations presented in this article is the study of the real role of the media in contemporary Bulgarian society.

The purpose of this article is to to reveal the state of the media ecosystem, highlight its environmental problems and trends, and pave the way for future research by using the quantitative and qualitative methods (representative content-analytical research on 900 media units from traditional and online media in a special representative sample and a focused interview among 23 leading scientists and media practitioners).

It is an attempt to search for the answers to the key questions that the founder of the media ecology, Neil Postman (2006) puts, namely: What are the moral consequences? ; Are the consequences more humane or anti-human? "We, as a society, earn more than we lose, or lose more than we earn?

Information Ecology and Interactive Interface

Rusi Marinov — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

The interface is an environment that in the past 50 years has been the subject of research by media ecologists. The main problems faced by researchers are the following: how to build comprehensive and deep relationships and connections between the physical environment, information resources, and the media. One solution is to introduce more interactive elements on media sites to visualize scenes and improve the quality of content.

The article is devoted to the models of building an interactive interface using new technologies, considering the trends in the development of information ecology.

Ecology of Media: Metaphors and Media Paradoxes

Tolya Stoitsova — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

Article discussed problems, in connection with mass media purity – objectiveness of information, truthfulness of facts, false news role, use of literary Bulgarian language, and style of writing/speaking in journalism. Some of major real mass media paradoxes in Bulgaria are analyzed. One of them is together with increasing of professionalism of journalists and in the same time – reduction of confidence in media. Other one is related to the media freedom and “the democratic censorship”. The third and last paradox concerns the freedom and the abuse of freedom of mass media.

As a result of the theoretical analysis, modern basic requirements are introduced. They are oriented towards both – students in journalism and professionals in mass media.

Media Ecology and Digital Media Literacy

Ivanka Mavrodieva — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

The article is an attempt to highlight some basic features in the meaning of the terms “media ecology” and “digital media literacy”. On thе basis of a brief theoretical observation the indicators are identified and they are combined with the rhetorical analysis, the aim being to identify, on the one hand, changes in the Bulgarian blogosphere, in the business social network Linkedin and in SlideShare. On the other hand, the focus of the investigation is on elements of digital media literacy in a different media environment, and their opportunities for using of digital tools not only by professional journalists.

Debating the New Notion of the Media in the Bulgarian Media Ecosystem

Lilia Raycheva, Neli Velinova, Mariyan Tomov — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

Since the turn of the century the ICT developments caused significant transformations in contemporary media ecosystem. The convergence of media, however, requires regulation to achieve a balance between access to online content services, consumer protection and competitiveness. As part of the Digital Single Market strategy, the European Commission revised in November 2018 the existing Audiovisual Media Services Directive as a media regulatory framework for the 21st century. The adopted new rules created a fairer regulatory approach for the entire audiovisual sector, including not only the traditional TV broadcasters and video on-demand services but also the video sharing platforms.

The aim of the proposed paper is to determine the extent of the applicability of the criteria and the standards outlined in the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on a New Notion of the Media (2011) in the contemporary communication environment in Bulgaria. In order to do that, quantitative and qualitative social surveys were conducted in December 2018/February 2019 among journalism students, media practitioners and media experts. The main research question was to find out to what extent the global challenges of ICT have impacted the national media performances in the new ecosystem, which encompasses the interaction of all actors and factors for allowing the media to function and to fulfil their role in society. The results of the surveys outline the basis of discussion and analysis of the media trends in the country in multi-layered aspects.

Semiotic Aspects of Media and Information in the Evolving Digital Communicative Ecosystem

Maria Popova — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

Contemporary Digital Journalism in Bulgaria

Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

The paper aims to identify the level of transformation of contemporary digital journalism in Bulgaria in view of the influence of technologies in the process of media content creation. The authors interviewed ten online media journalists and experts. The results reveal the current state of Bulgarian online media and journalism regarding the recognition and use of cultural software for creating digital media content. The interviewee’s responses helped outline some of the ongoing professional transformations in Bulgarian online journalism, problems with the paradigm shift regarding journalistic labour, trends in new media content consumption and quality in view of form diversity and topic significance. The conclusions show that Bulgarian online journalists adapt to new technologies and are optimistic about their general influence on journalism. On the other hand, they are critical of the effects of social software. Among the main challenges, the interviewees point out the necessity of quick action, increased work volumes, the large number of potential sources of information, the merging of a multitude of professional roles into one. Interviewees consider long reads, vertical and square videos, the 360-degree photos and videos to be the best-known forms of new media content; infographics turn out to be the most popular way to present visual content. Generally, they recommend using more visual content, adding podcasts, which allows the information to dive into deeper contexts. While taking the local audience habits into consideration, the research showed that a significant portion of Bulgarian online journalism follows the global tendencies. Our goal was to talk to professionals who work for established media brands and are guided by the immutable professional standards, thereby respected and trusted by the audience.

YouTube media ecosystem. Сrowdsourcing, Crowd Storming and Crowdfunding

Violeta Nikolova — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

The media ecosystem balance of the new content- technologically convergent and personalized media is largely determined by the values and rules of conduct of their own audience. The media's target is to engage the audience in the own cause, which should be recognize by audience as "theirs" and become them in loyal "consumer". In order to be achieved the goals in the media ecosystem were add the processes of crowdsourcing, crowd storming and crowdfunding.The crowdsourcing process can be explored as “mining” of many up-to-date ideas for improvements which are interesting to the audience. The most profitable and successful idea out of the many that have been acquired, must be chosen. The process by which have been précised and produced the leading idea which would be realized is called crowd storming. However, the realization of the "winning" idea requires some funding. One way to secure the funding is through the crowdfunding process.The crowdfunding process represents group funding of a project. The funding comes out of the audience in order to realize their desired idea.Each of the three processes can contribute to the success of the media, but in case of misconduct, management and execution, it can "pollute" with hatreds, attacks, insults, discretion, disqualification, fears and insecurity, the media ecosystem.

Horizons of the Media Ecology. The Reflections on the Media Rebus

Dilyana Keranova — Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300

The purpose of this article is to outline the specific attitudes towards the media environment among experts and students in the field of media, communications and sociology.

The analysis is based on empirical data from several methods used: expert assessment, structured interview among students, and World Café method combined with a visual quality approach. What are the assessments and meaningful meanings? What are the expectations and aspects of the value attitude towards the media purity and the dimensions of the media ecology in the Bulgarian context?

Among the main challenges for the "ecology" in the media space is the problem of the produced media image of the social world. There are also aspects of the need for relevant information and digital literacy.

Social behavior and social interaction are being developed as dimensions of media content and digital media literacy. An important aspect is the need for competences for digital citizenship in the context of the "knowledge society". The literacy is committed to participation-consumption-creating digital media content.