Online Shopping

www.topshop.com
The topshop website is one of the most popular websites amoungs young girls for updates on the latest fashions. Compared to the websites of other HighStreet giants such as H&M and UrbanOutfitters, the Topshop website is very advances and interactive, as I will go on to demonstrate in this post. The shop seems to be trying to create a franchise, and immitate high fashion seen on the catwalks through clever advertising and promotion. Below is a sample advert from Topshop, which definetly promotes high fashion.
The Topshop website is replacing the shop itself in many ways. The only thing that shoppers can't do is actually feel the fabric and try it on, but every single piece of clothing which braces the Topshop floors is show-cased on the website in an array of colours and sizes, available to buy at the click of the button. However, the Topshop website seems to offer even more than the shop does through careful explanation of each collection and added bonuses, of which I will give some examples of below.
A new media technology that is present on the Topshop website is the use of RSS feeds. Topshop explains to its audience: "RSS feeds are sort of like an old-fashioned ticker-tape news machine. Only ours gives you the latest on clothes, shoes, events - all straight from our site. Think of it like a sneak preview, straight from Topshop." The laid back, informal language used on the Topshop website helps to appeal to their ideal audience, young females, and make these new technologies seem very easy and simple to use.Below are instructions of how to use RSS feeds, in pink of course:
Another new media technology used by the topshop website is that of Podcasts, which is discussed in this blog. In this case, Topshop is offering video Podcasts 'to help keep you informed about exciting new designs and styles.' It gives the fashion saavy the chance to plan their outfits, seek inspiration or simply check out the latest collection from Topshop. It also includes the option of sharing these various video clips with your friends, which is good promotion for Topshop.
One of Topshop's latest features is that of the new Topshop range chosen and designed by Kate Moss, world renowned supermodel and style icon. This is her first fashion collection, and so Topshop have made the most out of including fans in as much information available as possible, with still leaving a little to the imagination. The collection has it own seperate website which is apart from the rest of the Topshop website, that offers a digital 'LookBook' and many mini video podcasts 'behind-the-scenes' of the making of the collection. The 'Style Notes', which are promoted below, offer the chance to be kept up to date with the lastest news on the collection and even be entered into a prize draw to win a Kate Moss Topshop Look Book:
This is a new and innovative way for fans to find out more about this latest feature from Topshop, instead of having to phone up and inquire, or even go down to the shop to find out more. The fact that there is so much hype about highstreet clothing also suggests that the times have moved on.
Topshop offer a Topshop Card, the benefits of which are seen above. This complies with the personalisation seen in many new media technologies, as it helps to make fans of Topshop feel special through the rewards they are getting.

The personalisation to students is another factor which makes the Topshop website a new media technology. As with the Topshop Card, the biggest fans of the brand, i.e. Girls aged between 14 and 24, are treated specially to appeal to them. This is again repeated in the ranges for particually tall or particually small girls, the Tall range and the Petite range. The brand does not exclude expecting mothers either, with the relatively new maternity range, who can also buy baby clothes from Topshop Mini when the baby has arrived!
The final feature of the Topshop website I will review is that of the Style Advisor, a special treatment that can be booked months in advance which gives females a chance to be advised by a trained stylist as to what kind of clothes will suit their figures and what colours will suit their complexions. The website offers plenty more information on this feature (carried out in the flagship store on Oxford Street) and the ability to sign up you or a friend in need!The Topshop website stands out for its wide and extensive range of features that are available to their target audience and more, all of which are very interactive and often personalised to the buyer.

Vlog: YouTube – LonelyGirl15

www.youtube.com/user/lonelygirl15


lonelygirl15 is an interactive web-based video serial centering around the life of a fictional teenage girl named Bree, whose YouTube username is the eponymous "lonelygirl15". The series is presented through short, regularly-updated video blogs posted by the fictional characters, as well as through an optional alternate reality game. lonelygirl15 came to international attention ostensibly as a real video blogger who achieved massive popularity on YouTube, a popular video sharing website, but was eventually outed by suspicious viewers as a hoax featuring a fictitious character played by American-New Zealand actress Jessica Rose. Many believed that lonelygirl15 was a real person, but now word is out that she is played by an actress.
A story in The New York Times entitled "‘Lonely Girl’ (and Friends) Just Wanted Movie Deal" revealed the series' creators: Ramesh Flinders, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, California, and Miles Beckett, a surgical residency dropout turned filmmaker.
The series, which began June 16, 2006 is still running, with new videos appearing regularly on YouTube and Revver.
YouTube is popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. Videos can be rated, and the average rating and the number of times a video has been watched are both published. The use of YouTube by everyday people posting all kinds of posts, whether a home-made music video, a video blog or holiday snap-shots has become a global obsession. The wide variety of site content includes movie and TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos and the company was named TIME magazine's "Invention of the Year" for 2006. The site is praised as one the most user friendly sites on the Internet. Unregistered users can watch most videos on the site while registered users have the ability to upload an unlimited number of videos. Related videos, determined by the title and tags, appear to the right of the video. During the summer of 2006, YouTube was one of the fastest-growing websites on the internet, and was ranked as the 5th most popular website on Alexa, far outpacing even Myspace's growth. One hundred million clips are viewed daily on YouTube, with an additional 65,000 new videos uploaded per 24 hours, and the site has almost 20 million visitors each month. Of the views of the website, 44% are female, 56% male, and the 12- to 17-year-old age group is dominant. YouTube also commands up to 64% of the UK online video market. It is here where Lonelygirl15 was created and became a worldwide obsession, with hundreds of 'hits' a day.


Here is an example of one on Lonelygirl15's video blogs.This kind of Video Blogging is an extremely new media technology, with YouTube only being created in February 2005 (it has been running for just over 2 years), but already become a huge part in many people's lives, and spawning off many copycat video websites, such as Google Videos and Myspace Movies. It is revolutionary because it allows everyday members of the public to become film directors in their own right, and display simple features of their day in a video blog. Users can also exhibit skills they have, or immitations of favourite television programmes.

Lonelygirl15 is a particularly interesting case as it has attracted so many views and fans despite being a simple video blog about a girl's normal life, which has turned out to be fake even so!

Blog: StyleSlut MySpace/Blogger

http://www.myspace.com/styleslut



Recent Press:

www.thestyleslut.com was voted one of the 'Top Five Blogs In Europe' in the peoples choice category at the 2006 BT Online music awards.

'The Best Blog Ever' Dazed and Confused


'Ghetto-fab indie-electro mash ups that are sleazier than Amy Winehouses wardrobe. A party and then some.' Time Out

'Riotous party starters' Rewind Magazine

A blog (short for web log) is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of most early blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

Early weblogs were simply manually updated components of common websites. The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. Blogs are replacing personal diaries, emails or particularly in this case magazine articles.



Promotional flyer:

StyleSlut use their blog to promote their organised nights, through useful factors such as bullatin posting, in which images and hyperlinks can be inserted, and also draws the audience to their attention as many people would check out the latest bullatins everyday.

Blogger information:

This is obviously not taken as seriously as the rest of the blog, which promotes the fun-living personality of the blog.

Many bloggers differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Some institutions see blogging as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing messages directly to the public. Some critics worry that bloggers respect neither copyright nor the role of the mass media in presenting society with credible news. Many mainstream journalists, meanwhile, write their own blogs, and StyleSlut are a perfect example of this.

Sample page:

This gives an example of the kind of pages the blog send out every few days. They inclide interviews with the new up and coming artists and bands, check out the latest trends on the catwalk and underground scene. They offer a lifestyle of fun and fashion which can be seen by the fresh layout of their Blogger page!

Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo, and first released in 2004. The console features a clamshell design, with two LCD screens inside - one of which is a touch-sensitive screen. The DS can stand for "Dual Screen" or "Developers System," from Nintendo's belief that the system "gives game creators brand new tools which will lead to more innovative games for the world's players." The Nintendo DS is replacing the GameBoy series, and competing with PlayStation's portable console, the PSP. It also shows many aspects of convergence, as I will go on to demonstate in this case study.



The Nintendo DS features stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound located on either side of the upper display screen. This is a first for a Nintendo handheld, as the Game Boy only offered the use of headphones or external speakers. A built-in microphone is located below the left side of the bottom screen. It has been used for a variety of purposes, including speech recognition (Nintendogs), chatting while playing online in some games (Wifi Talou Yakuman DS during gameplay; Metroid Prime: Hunters in lobby), and for minigames that require the player to blow or shout into the microphone (Feel the Magic: XY/XX, Wario Ware: Touched, etc).

Communication is a big part of the Nintendo DS. The PictoChat program, which is permanently stored on the unit, allows users to communicate with other Nintendo DS users within a small range over the wireless network by text, handwriting, or drawings, using the DS's touch screen and stylus for input, or a small visual keyboard on the screen. This gives the impression that it is much like a mobile phone, simplified in the way that it can only work within a small radius, but modernised in the sense that coloured text and drawings can be sent, for free.

The DS's main menu also features an alarm clock and the ability to set preferences for boot priority (booting to games when inserted, or always booting to the main menu), Game Boy Advance game screen usage, and user information (name, date of birth, favourite colour, time, etc.) This ties in with the recurring theme in new media technologies of personalisation, as these kinds of features which makes the hand held game consol personal to you were not available in earlier additions. Consumers also have the chance to buy the Nintendo DS is special limited edition colours and patterns, or buy it in a colour to suit your personality, for example the Fiery Red or Pearly Pink.

For some Nintendo games, it is possible to play multiplayer games with other Nintendo DS users using only one game card. The maximum distance for this to be effective is about 60 feet. There is also a multiplayer Wi-Fi feature. At certain hotspots, or Wi-Fi enabled areas, you can hook up and play with DS owners around the world. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is an online service run by Nintendo to facilitate free Internet play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games through a wireless internet connection.

DS Download Play is an adaptation of the Game Boy Advance's popular "single cartridge multiplayer" feature, adapted to support the system's wireless link capabilities; players without the game search for and download content, while players with the game broadcast it. Some games also use this feature to transmit a playable demo of the game to players who do not own a copy. The downloaded data is available as long as the DS broadcasting the game is turned on.

Also, in November 2004, Nintendo announced plans to make download kiosks available to certain retail stores and other public places that would transmit a signal for a Nintendo DS in the area to download a demo of a game using the DS Download Play feature. As of 2006, there are now download kiosks placed in select EB Games, GameStop, Game Crazy, Toys R Us, and Target stores. The downloaded demos are not permanent, and will be deleted when the system is shut down. However, this gives a taster of what the customer could be buying into, persuading them to buy the full versions of these demo games if they enjoy them. It also helps to spread word of mouth with new games, creating more 'underground' publicity.

Extra features of the Nintendo DS include a USB-flash-disk-sized accessory, which plugs into a PC's USB port and creates a miniature hotspot, allowing up to five Nintendo DS units to connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service through the host computer Internet connection. It also offers an MP3 player for an extra €30, showing the aspects of convergence in the Nintendo DS.

The system's promotional slogans revolve around the word "Touch" in almost all countries, with the US slogan being "Touching is good." The Nintendo DS is currently seen by many analysts to be in the same market as Sony's PlayStation Portable, although representatives from both companies have said that each system targets a different audience.

The Nintendo DS has also made an effort to appeal to the more niche market groups, for example older people who are persuaded that certain ‘mind games’ will help prolong their memories, and girls, with more female inspired games such as ‘Nintendogs’, using girls in their advertising and specific pink consoles.

Downloading Music

A music download is a song or album available for downloading on the Internet. Downloading music first became popular with file sharing technologies, with people breaking copyright laws by not paying for any of it. However, it was claimed that this was hurting the music industry, and a series of law suits led to many of these networks being closed down. However, those who support such technologies argue that the music industry said the same thing about recordable tapes and CDs, and even when recorded music came out as before then artists got their money through live performance, and that the industry should adapt to the advancements in technology.

The second phase of music downloading was the online music store, whereby songs could be downloaded at a price. In 2003, iTunes saw the popularity of legal digital downloads skyrocket. Other online websites include URGE, Napster and MSN's Music store. The sales of downloaded music has now surpassed the sales of 'physical copies' in some countries; this has been indicated in the UK where Crazy by Gnarls Barkley reached the top spot in the UK Singles Chart based on download sales alone

Some artists allow their songs to be downloaded from their websites, often as a short preview or a low quality sampling. Others have embeded services in their sites that allow purchases of their singles or albums, as demonstrated by Metallica's official website. In addition to this and to music stores, illegal downloading programs or websites such as limewire, kazaa, bearlite, and many others are very popular.

iTUNES:



iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store (provided an internet connection is present) in order to download purchased digital music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, various podcasts, and feature length films.

With iTunes, users are able to organize their music into playlists within one or more libraries, edit file information, record compact discs, copy files to a digital audio player, purchase music and videos through its built-in music store, download podcasts, back up songs onto a CD or DVD, run a visualizer to display graphical effects in time to the music, and encode music into a number of different audio formats.

iTunes 1.0 also came with support for the Kerbango Internet radio tuner service, giving iTunes users a selection of some of the more popular online radio streams available.

LIMEWIRE:

LimeWire is a peer-to-peer file sharing client, which locates and transfers files. Limewire is free software. It also encourages the user to pay a small fee, which will then give the user access to LimeWire Pro.

The iPod

www.apple.com/ipod


The iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple which launched in 2001. They are primarily digital audio players, designed around a central click wheel. As of October 2005, the line-up consists of the video-capable fifth generation iPod, the smaller iPod nano, and the display-less iPod shuffle. In January 2007, Apple announced the iPhone, a device that combined the features of the video-capable iPod with mobile phone and mobile Internet capabilities.



The website for the Apple iPod claims that “you can buy movies from the iTunes Store and sync them to your iPod, and the whole world is your theatre. With a 30GB or 80GB iPod in hand, those movies fit comfortably next to TV shows, new iPod games, podcasts, audio books, photo albums, and, of course, an entire library of music — up to 20,000 songs, in fact. Now starting at $249, iPod is a pocket-size prodigy. With enough room for your favourite music and video, this iPod has both sound and vision. Of course, it also boasts stamina (up to 20 hours of battery life), generous capacity (30GB or 80GB of storage), a great personality (intuitive, customizable menus), and a touch of genius (the Click Wheel). In other words, iPod makes an ideal companion. Why not get to know it better? Click on a feature to see it on the new iPod display, then read about it here.”



Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a free jukebox application, iTunes stores an entire music library on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. It can also transfer photos, videos, games, and calendars to the models that support them. Some built-in games are available, including Brick (a clone of Breakout), Parachute, Solitaire, and Music Quiz. A firmware update released in September 2006 brought some extra features to fifth generation iPods including adjustable screen brightness, gapless playback, and downloadable games (available for purchase from the iTunes Store).



Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. The company found that existing digital music players were "big and clunky” or “small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful", so Apple decided to develop it's own. As of October 2004, the iPod is the world's best-selling range of digital audio players and its worldwide mainstream adoption made it one of the most popular consumer brands. Some of Apple's design choices and proprietary actions have, however, led to criticism and legal battles.

Here is a quick idea of how the iPod has changed over the past six years:

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The iPod is an extremely modern piece of new media technology which has captured many people's imaginations and spawned many more copies -- take the CreativeZen for example, which has tried to create the same kind of consumer loyalty that Apple have obtained. The iPod is a good example of microsizing and convergence, through its small and sleek design, and the multiple features the new iPod now has.

BBC Podcasts

www.bbc.co.uk/podcast

The Podcast is a relatively new media technology which is slowly growing in popularity due to its ease and instantivity, which attracts many people on-the-go. The technology behind podcasting became available in January 2001, and the word was coined in early 2004, and only a few websites used the format. The basic idea of a Podcast is to download segments of a radio or now a TV programme, and then either watch/listen to it at a later date on your PC, or upload it onto your MP3/MP4 player, hence the term 'pod' which comes from Apple's iPod.

Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital audio formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically, using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS.

Podcasting's initial appeal was to allow individuals to distribute their own "radio shows,"

but the system is quickly becoming used in a wide variety of other ways, including distribution of school lessons, official and unofficial audio tours of museums, conference meeting alerts and updates, and by police departments to distribute public safety messages.

The BBC began a podcast trial in October 2004 with BBC Radio Five Live's Fighting Talk, extending it in January 2005 to BBC Radio 4's In Our Time and in April 2005 to several more programmes from 1Xtra, BBC World Service, BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal and BBC7. After BBC Radio 1 began podcasting highlights of the Chris Moyles show, US based Sirius Satellite Radio began rebroadcasting the station in North America.


The BBC podcasting website is a good example to show how quickly the podcast has moved on since it was first developed. Instructions are clear and simple to learn how to use podcasts:

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You can choose from a list of genres of Podcasts, which will eventually take you directly to the download you are looking for.


There is also an option of feedback, which will presumably benefit both the producers and the consumers, as the BBC will be able to find out the current problems and the public will be able to express them:


It is clear how significant in the BBC the podcast has become since it is a main feature on the BBC homepage:

Vogue

www.vogue.co.uk

As one of the oldest fashion magazines around, Vogue's website has done extremely well to bring the magazine up to date and keep consumers happy. The website is extremely interactive with many features for fans of the magazine to check out, that relate to the magazine and develop it further. Vogue is aimed at the most stylish and chic women in Britain, through many ages, from their early twenties through to the late fifties -- Vogue is a magazine for sophisticated women, and the organised website reflects this. However, as with many highly technical and detailed webistes, they might appeal to the younger generation.
As shown in the above image, this high technology yet effortless style has been noticed and appriciated, and they have won an award for the quality of their website.
The many features of the website are displayed in the menu board which runs across the top of the webpage:
Top features of the website (of many!):
The opportunity to subscribe to Vogue via the internet, which suggests that email is quickly overtaking physical mail in the post. However, the actual magazines will be sent in the post instead of email, but maybe one day in the future this will become available. Current day example = Webzines, magazines on the web.
Photo galleries. Photos can be quickly uploaded onto the website as oppose to being developed manually and then printed into the magazine. This links to the theme of instantness in which fans can quickly see the latest fashion news from the highest providers.
This feature (on the HomePage) is again showing the latest news.
This feature seems to offer even more exciting news, through the use of the word 'breaking' which possibly makes the audience feel special and the website personalised -- surfers are being exposed to this exciting news before anybody else.
A Vogue blog!
Vogue 'Art on Demand' -- new and innovative, not often seen on magazine websites.
registery to enter a competition
online shopping
information on fashion shows
Vogue TV -- Exclusive fashion videos of catwalk shows, designer parties and front row expertsOverall, it is obvious why the website for British Vogue won the BSME award for website of the year. It is an extremely good example of convergence (videos, picture galleries), interaction (Vogue blogs, competitions, subscriptions) and personalisation.