Convergence Culture

1) To Henry Jenkins, convergence culture is a connection between all people. Information is easily accessible now and it is a never ending flow. To Jenkins convergence is the flow of information across multiple media platforms and between multiple media industries. People will go anywhere to obtain information and entertaining experiences. Convergence is determined by giant corporations and teenagers in their bedrooms. Media conglomerates desire to expand their business across multiple media platforms. Consumers desire to have the media and information they want, where they want it, and when they want it. In Jenkins work he identifies potential obstacles to convergence culture: media concentration, media reform movements, and research critiques on media convergence.

2) Users can be so creative when they take media into their own hands. I think that making YouTube videos are some of the most creative uses of media by everyday consumers. YouTube videos are also easily shared and accessed. 

3) The Internet has allowed all our media to be in one convenient place. The internet allows you to create, share, and view all types of content. Smart phones allow us to be constantly connected to the internet and social media, which keeps us constantly engaged.

It is shaped by the desires of media conglomerates to expand their empires across multiple platforms and by the desires of consumers to have the media they want where they want it, when they want it, and in the format they want - See more at: http://henryjenkins.org/2006/06/welcome_to_convergence_culture.html#sthash.90mKRxbF.dpuf

Stopping Illegal Downloading

This week in my Internet Communications class we discussed copyright laws that were created by the media and our government. According to Attorney General, Martha Coakley, "A copyright is a form of protection, granted by the laws of the United States, to the creator of an original work of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, to control the distribution, usually for a limited time, after the work enters the public domain". The risks involved in illegally reproducing or distributing copyrighted material are significant. It is against the law both to upload and download the copyrighted works of others without express permission to do so. It is stealing and both civil and criminal penalties are severe. If the penalties are already severe and a huge  portion of our generation is still stealing documents, and music than how can we stop this?

I believe that one way to at least slow down piracy of music would be for music artist to lower the cost of purchasing there music. When you purchase a new released album from a store, you may pay anywhere from $10-$20 for an average of 16 songs. You may only like two or three songs on that CD. When iTunes came out it allowed you to purchase not only whole albums but individual songs as well. The average cost for a song would be about a dollar. Now that you could purchase only the songs that you liked for a cheaper price, why are we still downloading them for free illegally?

There are several "file sharing" website that are readily available to the younger generation. I want to see the government place stronger restrictions on this type of website. The government should have the power to shut down a website where illegal file sharing takes place.

Since the media is a huge influencing power, they should do more to let people know that file sharing is illegal. The media companies should also inform the public of the consequences of breaking the law.

Personalization and Our Privacy

Personalized content is highly valued among online users, according to consumer surveys. The problem with personalizing a web page is privacy threats, because of all the personal data that is collected on the consumer. Online privacy is a top concern for most consumer today. When we like a page on Facebook, later there are similar ads that pop up on our homepage. Some advertising agencies look for key words in things we post to social media sites, and then they post ads relating to our post on our home page. How is our privacy being kept private if this is happening?

According to Kobsa, "current privacy theory regards people's privacy-related behavior as the result of a situation-specific cost-benefit analysis, in which potential risks of disclosing one's personal information are weighed against potential benefits of disclosure". This is a problem because the general public is ignorant on what information is safe to give out, and what isn't. Always be careful to whom you give out your social security number, but did you know it can be just as detrimental to give out your full birthday too.

Forty countries already have privacy laws, but with technology advancing daily and custom personalization increasing I think that these laws should be re-evaluated every 5 years at least. This will potentially help protect consumers privacy. Educating the public on online privacy may to cut down on fraud.

The question I propose is: Will online privacy threats become the downfall for our economy?

I ask this because I believe that one day in the near future privacy will no longer exist. Consumers will no longer be able to purchase merchandise online without fraud occurring. This could deter future purchases and cripple the economy slightly.

5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives

http://mashable.com/2009/10/16/social-media-changing-lives/

I would recommend anyone taking any communication classes to read this article. It really makes you stop and think about how different our lives are now compared to 5 or 10 years ago. The author Soren Gordhamer talks about how social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way we interact with one another and with the world around us. Gordhamer also talks about how social media networks and our friends on them have become our most trusted source for information. This article is related to Internet Communication because the internet is a huge part of doing business, meeting and staying in touch with people, what we reveal about ourselves, and what we can influence. Our daily lives revolve around new media technologies and how we use them.

Metacalf's Law and The Future of the Internet

The Web is information as both running software and the information contained within the software such as pictures. Information moves through networks in a variety of ways. A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to exchange files. There are two types of networks: a local network is limited to a geographic area of a computer lab or a school; while a wide network connects larger geographic areas such as North Carolina, or the United States.

Metcalfe's Law states that the value of any telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system. People could talk in both directions and with more than one conversation occurring simultaneously. An example of this would be you sending an email to your targeted recipients. The effect of this would be a network of 100 people is roughly 100 times as valuable as a network of only 10 people. The law has often been illustrated using the example of fax machines: a single fax machine is useless, but the value of every fax machine increases with the total number of fax machines in the network, because the total number of people with whom each user may send and receive documents increases.

There are two main critics to Metcalfe's Law. Some say that the term value is not defined and can mean different things to different people. Others say that it assumes that connections in the network are all equal. I agree with Metacalfe's Law because i believe that a social network site such as Facebook, or Twitter, works the same way as the fax machine described above. The greater number of users with the service, the more valuable the service becomes to the community. Deriving from Metcalfe's Law, every new "friend" accepted or added on these social networking sites makes the user's profile ever more valuable in terms of the law.

I believe that five years from now the internet will be the number one main source where people get their information from, specifically social media sites such as Facebook, and Twitter. It's simple to me, people trust the word of the internet and their social media friends more and more each passing day. I hope that the future of the internet provides a better way to teach people the proper way of conducting research and not just plagiarizing someone's work other than their own. Let's hope the internet makes the human race smarter, not stupider and more dependent upon it.

Why We Blog

Why do we as humans feel the need to blog? We blog because we are social creatures, with emotions and needs. We feel a connection to other human beings but sometimes it is hard to communicate with others verbally or even physically. Some people find blogging as the only way they can connect to other people and make friends.

There are five major motivations for blogging. One may blog to document their own life experiences. The blogger may simply want to provide commentary and opinions on products they use. Some bloggers blog to express their deeply felt emotions. Others articulate ideas through writing; this allows the blogger to maintain community forums.

Blogging provides two main benefits to the writer. Blogging provides an audience to shape the writing that goes on. It also is an archive of potential reusable posts. Blogging provides an outlet for expressing a point of view on topics the author considers much more than just chatter. Many bloggers have a code of ethics that dictate what he or she writes. This may include things like: never criticizing family or friends or expressing political views and opinions that are openly inflammatory.

In conclusion, blogging is a form of stress release through writing; as well as, a way people connect to other people. Normal everyday people are the ones who usually blog about everyday things or events in their life.