In this article, we discuss Facebook's strategy to influence the development of a new communication format known as live video streaming. We take this case study as an example of the ways in which Web platforms operate to harness media innovations and their social uses. The case of Facebook Live illustrates exemplary how, far from developing spontaneously, media landscapes are actively shaped by the technological and financial initiatives of their more influential players. In this article, we describe how Facebook's technical infrastructure and partnership scheme influence the editorial organisation as well as the storytelling of live video streaming.
While broad interest in the historical, theoretical, and practical issues behind staged illusions and magic performance in modern culture is on the rise, it is perhaps less commonplace to seek the prototypes of present-day magic media in the realm of archaic shamanic practices. Meanwhile, the natural elements of ritual sites can be counted among the magic media of shamanism responsible for bringing auditory and visual illusions to life. The archaeoacoustic team of the University of Helsinki has been studying how sacred sites in Northern Europe, used by shamanic cultures since prehistoric times, are home to remarkable acoustic properties. As ethnographic sources clearly point out, sacred sites were places inhabited by spirits, places where the voices of spirits could be heard. Apparently, this unique value, together with a special power available from the same places, made the sites ideal locations to perform rituals and magic. This premise served as a starting point for an initiative to test and analyse the acoustic conditions of Fennoscandian sites back in 2013. It was discovered that the steep cliffs and rock walls of such natural landscapes create echoes and illusory or hypnotic sounds, endowing the performed sounds with a magical effect, or responding "voices".This chapter focuses on natural-site acoustics as a magic tool in ritual practices. Based on our acoustic measurements as well as experimental sound tests carried out during in situ studies of prehistoric and historic sacred sites in Finland, we discuss possible sound media (voice, instruments, noise), performing techniques and methods of sound production used at the sites. While the acoustic study of the sacred sites is at the core of our research, we also discuss the visual aspects and visual phenomena observed at the sites during our fieldwork. Our attempt to restore the sound culture of shamanism associated with the hosting sites and their sound potential profoundly rests on ethnographic research of the Finno-Ugric peoples, predominantly the Sámi and the Finns. The end result of this ethnographic and practical research study is our interpretation of the shamanic ritual practices as seen through the prism of the miraculous acoustic illusions and visual appearances created by the sacred sites.The sacred sites discussed in this chapter are prehistoric rock art sites in Finland and historical offering sites of the Sámi in northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and northwest Russia. While the rock paintings were made by Subneolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers between 5200 BC and 1000 BC, the offering sites, called sieidi, sáiva, passevare or passe paihk, were used by the indigenous Sámi people, who during the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries practised a livelihood based on reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing (Manker 1957;Pentikäinen 1995;Lahelma 2008;Äikäs 2015). Despite the differences in dating, geographical distribution, and other characteristics, 1 these two types of sacred sites have much in common. According to some researchers, they can be regarded ...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.