Technicalities Of Multi-Design In The Internet Environment

Abstract

In the modern world, project techniques are becoming increasingly popular in various spheres of life, developed in both traditional and new forms media. Project technologies are one of the most effective forms of work with video content in an online space. Most often they take the form of multi-projects. By multi-projects, we mean projects that share broad topics but are different in formats of video products, the purpose of which is to provide the most detailed coverage of some aspect of our lives. In our study, we explore the forms of manifestation of multi-projects in an online environment. It is the online environment that is the optimal platform for the implementation of a multi-project due to the fact that the multi-project allows one to appeal to different audiences and form a community of people around itself that is united only by information needs. Simultaneously, the various components of the multi-project will be of interest to different audiences, but in general, it will be united by the project, which makes it possible to successfully use multi-projects to form public opinions. Based on research of modern internet video content of the Russian-speaking Internet sector, we define types of multi-projects according to such features as a target audience, method of production, thematic focus, genre, delivery form, production schedule. Analysis of online resources allows us to demonstrate the integration of multi-project forms into online content and the tendency for their development based on multimedia, interactivity and modularity.

Keywords: Network videoTV project designmulti-projectsblogosphere

Introduction

Design techniques that acknowledge the characteristics of the modern media-space, such as acceleration, fractal perception, rapid changes in the fields of engineering and technology, are becoming popular in various fields - including in the field of video content production (Вaranova, 2014; Zvereva, 2016; Vartanova & Kolomyets, 2017; Vartanova, Vyrkovsky, Makeenko, & Smyrnov, 2017). This is largely due to the transformation of the model of informational behaviour of the audience, which today is characterized by multi-channelling, reduction of the attention span for a separate media text with a simultaneous increase in media consumption, local perception, streaming nature of information consumption (Kachkacheva & Shomova, 2017). These trends of the modern audience make project design a successful form of organization of the filming and broadcast process in an internet environment.

What are the advantages the project design in such conditions? It is, above all, concreteness, locality and mobility. Concreteness is expressed in a clear definition of the time frame of the project and its formal content. The audience understands that it will get acquainted with all media content in the foreseeable time and is ready to spare time for media consumption. Locality is typically manifested in the thematic and problematic spheres. Mobility is basically the option of transposing the project onto various platforms.

Among the video projects, a special place is occupied by multi-projects. A multi-project is a combination of shared topics and different formats and genres of video products, the purpose of which is to provide the most detailed coverage of any aspect of our lives. It is a project consisting of several technologically dependent projects, united by a common set of goals that cover different objects. In the modern time, when television channels are forced to turn to different channels of content delivery to advance the program and contact with the majority of their target audiences, almost every television project acquires the features of a multi-project based on online platforms.

Problem Statement

The degree of knowledge and experience when designing and operating most multi-projects is low. While the multi-project design is given satisfactory attention in the theory of journalism, then multi-design is still outside of the scientific interest of most researchers. In the work of Padeysky (2004), we find mentions of such a phenomenon as poly-projects. The researcher describes them as works of different video formats. However, they are distinguished from multi-projects by focusing only on the audiovisual form of information representation. A multi-project by our definition may include both a text, printed form, a visual static form (photo, drawing, infographics), and an audio form. Despite the effectiveness of this model of representation of information in the modern network environment, it is still outside the scope of scientific understanding.

Research Questions

Definition of the following: 

3.1. Features of audiovisual multi-design in a modern internet environment; 

3.2. Benefits of classifying audiovisual multi-projects; 

3.3. Types of audiovisual multi-projects depending on the selected classification feature and their specific features.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is the classification of multi-projects with audio-visual components based on their essential type-defining features.

Research Methods

In our study, we used mainly the method of analysis of media content and the comparative-typological method. Having selected the most significant audiovisual multi-projects, we used the results of their analysis to create a classification of the most frequent forms of their behaviour in the modern online environment.

Findings

As a result of the study, we were able to conclude that a multi-project is a combination video-products of shared topics, but different formats and genres of video, the purpose of which is to deliver the most detailed examination of any aspect of the human condition. Most often, such works in a networked environment have a textual author or user accompaniment in the form of explanations or comments. It is a project consisting of several technologically dependent projects, united by a common group of goals, which is distributed in relation to different objects.

Today, when television channels are forced to turn to different channels of content delivery to advance the program and contact with the majority of the target audience, almost every television project acquires the features of a multi-project based on network platforms. This is due to the fact that multi-projects allow one to appeal to a varied audience and form a community of people who are united by their information needs. At the same time, the various components of a multi-project will be of interest to different audiences, but in general, the audience will gain a shared interest, which makes it possible to successfully use the multi-project to form public opinions.

After researching the most rated and visible network audio-visual multi-projects of 2017-2018 presented by YouTube channels, websites of TV channels and featured on social networks like VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook, we established the basis for the formation of their classification. The classification is completely original, taking into account the approach formulated by Padeysky (2004) in the book "Designing TV programs". In the basis of this classification, we put such characteristics as the target audience, type of production, thematic focus, genre, the form of delivery and scheduling.

1. Target audience. On this basis, multi-projects can be divided into universal (intended for a wide range of viewers), narrowly targeted (addressed to a specific target audience) and combined (mutating from one type to another). An example of the latter type is the multi-project “Gholos”, which features various formats that can target a wide audience or a narrow circle of viewers. Due to the transformation of models of informational behaviour of the audience, noted by many researchers (Ilchenko & Okner, 2005; Kovalyov-Sluchevskij, 2012; Kuznecova, 2011; Shesterina, 2018b) it is the combined multi-projects that are becoming most popular in the internet environment, with each user finding an informational aspect of a multi-project that caters to their personal interests (Bresler, 2018). Furthermore, multi-projects allow for the use of interactivity only where it is needed and appropriate.

2. Type of production. Another classification of projects can be based on analysis of the process of the projects' creation, what component dominates in the preparation process - creative, organizational, technical, or their combination. According to this basis, multi-projects can be assigned to the creative, creative-technical, organizational and organizational-technical types. Let's state right away that most multi-projects are of an organizational type, if only because they bring together a significant number of people in the process of preparing multi-format components (for example, the multi-project of Bronislav Vinogrodsky presented on social networks VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook). However, creative multi-projects can also be popular in this context, which is explained by the tendency to personify information in an online environment. Lately, with the number of multi-projects increasing, new multi-projects appear that combine all production types.

3. Thematic focus. On the subject of projects can be divided into universal and specialized. In the internet environment, there are a lot more specialized projects which can be explained by the audience separating into niches, as well as by the predominance of the so-called "plural personality", which has a strong intra-group identification and perception of the group as a continuation of itself. In this case, a community of like-minded people is formed around a multi-project, and it becomes not only a source of information but also a communication platform. An example is the multi-project "Media psychology", which includes multi-format video and text documents of a narrow focus. In addition, narrowly focused multi-projects can widen their thematic focus to attract a wider audience - for example, including personal info and lifestyle of a project's participants outside of the project's main focus.

4. Genre. On the genre basis, projects can be divided into single-genre and multi-genre. The first group is created with the dominance of one genre in the structure of video product (we often observe such projects in the field of video blogging). For example, multi-project "Nevzorovsky Sredy" (Echo Moskvy) is based on the interview format and always consists of the three participants or hosts. It is important to state that although this type of multi-projects is represented by works of a single genre, they can mutate depending on the context in which they appear in the case of copying or reposting (Shesterina, 2018a).

Multi-genre projects are built on the principle of integrating genres on a modular principle - when compositionally, each issue of a project is split into modules that can be created in different genres. A fine example is "Parthenon 18". Such projects can be built on a combination of almost any genre of modern blogging, but the personified and synthetic groups of genres are considered dominant (Pinchuk, 2018; Tekutyeva, 2016; Shamaev, 2013).

5. The form of delivery. Multi-projects may vary depending on which platforms are used to deliver content to the viewer and how active it is. In general, the nature of multi-projects suggests the use of various distribution channels by the project (the project of Sasha Ivanov “SHEO” is presented on YouTube, VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter platforms). However, for some projects, the delivery channel of choice remains a YouTube channel or a community on social networks. For example, the format of "The Late Show" (e.g. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert").

6. Scheduling. On this basis, projects can be divided ones with no schedule or those that consist of a single issue - and those that do have a schedule. Undoubtedly, it is the latter that meet the criteria for the dominant paradigm of Net-thinking today, based on temporality and locality (Pronina, 2003). A good example of that is the multi-project "Nevzorovskie sredy", which even in the title contains an indication of the broadcast being scheduled. Despite the fact that this multi-project includes additional scheduling issues, its main component - the broadcast on "Ekho Moskvy" radio station - is issued at regular intervals, and in the case when a broadcast is impossible for technical reasons, it will be replaced with some other component. The broadcast schedule overall always remains the same, even including holidays.

Conclusion

Of course, the parameters we have explored do not exhaust all the possibilities for classifying multi-projects. In our study, we do not cover such issues as the functional and target orientation of a project, the type of the dominant format, the type of the dominant metaprogram, the specifics of multimedia and interactivity. However, the study of the project activity of the authors of video products of various Internet platforms alone allows us to conclude that it is multi-projects that are the future basis for the formation of content in the modern online environment.

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07 August 2019

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Future Academy

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Communication studies, press, journalism, science, technology, society

Cite this article as:

Alla*, S. (2019). Technicalities Of Multi-Design In The Internet Environment. In Z. Marina Viktorovna (Ed.), Journalistic Text in a New Technological Environment: Achievements and Problems, vol 66. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 98-103). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.08.02.12