Media meshing

Media meshing is the process of using one of the media, such as a blog or a website, to enhance the experience of another medium, such as a newspaper article or a fictional television program.[1] "Meshing" may describe activities and motivations of an information receiver which are completely independent of the intentions of the source of that information. "Meshing" may also be used to describe the activities of an information provider, who may intentionally encourage consumer engagement by using multiple media or channels of information exchange related to a product or organization, as in an integrated advertising campaign. Strictly, in both cases, "media meshing" ultimately describes the behaviour of the person receiving the information.

When the meshing of media sources is encouraged by the source itself, as is often the case with commercial products and special interest promotions, media meshing may be better described as integrated media.[2] This describes the activity desired by commercial entities when they encourage web traffic through non-web media such as billboards or newspaper articles in a comprehensive advertising campaign.[3]

However, from the perspective of the information consumer, Lerma describes that meshing represents a way to experience media which is fundamentally different from the way people interacted with mass media in the past. When the participants themselves choose the channels, pieces, sources, and specific media that they use to enhance or disassemble the first piece of media they encounter, especially when these are perceived to be mostly independent sources, the result is an enriched self-discovery experience with a level of engagement not possible from even the most well designed guided experiences. Meshing goes beyond simply mutually inclusive public relations across media channels, pieces, and product placement. Broadband technology and diversity of online services have increased the accessibility and prevalence of simultaneous media experiences to the point where some would argue there is a new, more demanding and more inquisitive, incarnation of information consumers.[4] The richness of experience in meshing becomes even more evident when information receivers puts their new views and interpretations back into the media by posting or answering questions on a discussion forum or blog, publishing a formal in-depth response, or creating an independent fan site. In cases like these, the persons may be called information prosumers, as they are both consuming information from various sources and producing a web of related information for other "meshers" to consume (or prosumers to mesh).

It is arguable, however, that this is the traditional approach of historians and scientists to information sources, and that what is new is the speed and ease with which cross-referencing and elaboration can be achieved with the media delivery and display technology that is used, and the amount of time invested in multi-source research by the non-specialized population. It is also arguable that multi-form/multi-source information gathering only "seems" new when contrasted to the recent era of single-voice and non-interactive commercial television and radio information broadcasting. It is also important to note that if the sources are not chosen carefully to be as orthogonal as possible, media meshing will result in a false reassurance of the "facts" presented by the single-voice of the original articles, but it would still technically be media meshing (i.e., confirming a CNN television story about an event in London by meshing the CNN.com web-site, BBC radio, and The Guardian newspaper will probably confirm the original facts, but a different set of facts may be forthcoming from an email to a friend who lives there or from reading a blog from a beat-cop in the area.)

Engagement

Using the Web in this fashion--dubbed "media meshing" by the report--"fulfills a need to become more deeply involved with hobbies, interests or stories that kindle passionate involvement," states the report.

— Wendy Davis, Online Media Daily [4]

...the Yahoo/mediaedge:cia research shows people with broadband don't necessarily make big shifts in their media consumption in terms of time spent. Instead, they change how they use other forms of media in conjunction with the Internet. They use the Internet to maximize their engagement with other media.

— Pete Lerma, clickZ [1]

Advertising

Producers retain their shows interactive rights and integrate "experience triggers" into them

— Pete Lerma, clickZ [1]

Activities

The following activities, while perhaps not unique to media meshing, are characteristic of this type of 'enhanced' media consumption

  • look up Web sites related to TV programming [4]
  • look up Web sites mentioned on TV ads [4]
  • take part in online polls mentioned on television [4]
  • access more than one type of media simultaneously [4]
  • Communicating becomes socializing[1] - email, instant chat and online communities bring families and friends together in real ways, replacing other forms of socializing
  • Sound bites become full stories[1] - a five-second headline on the evening news turns into four hours of deep multi-source coverage and 14 hours of discussion online
  • Just for fun becomes personal entertainment[1] - try correcting a few pages in Wikipedia for fun, for example
  • read stories in magazines and newspapers, then go online to get multiple angles on the same stories [1]
  • watch a reality TV show, then go online to get character bios, behind-the-scenes information [1][4]

Examples
  • In news, using WikiNews and Wikipedia together to investigate, confirm, and gain a deeper understanding of broadcast news stories from a commercial or publicly funded source
gollark: I know. It's great.
gollark: Reduction of printers is a worthwhile goal.
gollark: The best cats are those which look like voids in space.
gollark: My favourite is that nice brown one.
gollark: What nice cats.

See also

References
  1. Media Meshing: An Evolution in Media Consumption, Pete Lerma, clickZ, 2005-Jun-28, retrieved 2007-Apr-14
  2. Integrated Media Association retrieved 2007-Apr-14
  3. American Express' Media Meshing, Pete Lerma, clickZ, 2006-Oct-03, retrieved 2007-Apr-14
  4. Yahoo!: Internet Users 'Mesh' Web With Television Archived 2007-02-27 at the Wayback Machine Wendy Davis, 2005-Apr-19, retrieved 2007-Apr-14
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