Recent copyright case: Brit Photographer Screws Texas Pornographer

Texas porn peddler Robert Burge is ruing the day he ripped off a teenage English girl by stealing her self-portrait and using it to market a sexually explicit movie. Last week Lara Jade Coton was awarded almost $130,000 damages against Burge and his company TVX after a Florida court found that Coton – who generally goes by her professional name of Lara Jade – had suffered personal and professional humiliation, harm to her career and damage to her physical health as a result of his actions.

Though the last link above is best, here's the author of the above.

RSS feed links

In case (like me) you want to subscribe to posts and comments on this blog, so that the material is pushed to you real time, here are the links to do that. You'll have the choice of what software to use as your RSS reader.

Posts -- http://2200dms.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Comments -- http://2200dms.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default

Class Presentation

Link to the article Here
Link Explaining the Great Firewall of China and the how there is a group of guerrilla bloggers that always try to outwit the Firewall in order to post their ideas, news, etc; here

Class Presentation

You Tube killed the television star class presentation.

Forrester: Social Networking On The Rise Worldwide, Content Creation Not So Much

Forrester Research claims adoption of social networking continues to rise across the globe, while other forms of social interactions, such as content creation, experienced no substantial growth in the past twelve months.

Based on data from more than 275,000 consumers in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, the company has released a report dubbed “A Global Update Of Social Technographics”.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/forrester-social-networking-on-the-rise-worldwide-content-creation-not-so-much/

Question: What is the actual value of studies like this and how do they compare with your own social circles? Are you surprised or not?

Filmer Family

As a snowboarder and filmmaker it's only natural that I enjoy combining the two pursuits by filming snowboarding. One of the many resources I've stumbled upon is a forum called SnowPerception. On this website there are a few hundred snowboarders and filmmakers who have joined together almost as a family to help one another learn about not just filming snowboarding; but just about anything. We share resources, stories, techniques, cocktail recipes, and almost anything else that you could think of.

Computer vision project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D96_UzbQmlc&NR=1
This is a link to Youtube, about inroduction to computer vision project.
Nowadays with the booming of the computer technology impove. More and more new things come out, Computer vision project is just one of it. It can helps people in the area of medical science to build modeling object, which helps doctors to exame patient's body, and also it apply to recording the files about criminal records and other records. In the future, this technolgy will apply to more field to help people.

TEXTing is caring

Recent development is where people can text on their mobile phones in order to help non-profits deliver support/funds to ground units. One example is how people can text a varieties of things for Haitian support after the devastating earthquakes. Now some people who are not as tech savy and don't always read the fine print can get themselves in trouble by not understanding the contract of texting to help. One example is where this girl was letting people know via Facebook to text HAITI to one of the support numbers. She thought someone else would be making a 10$ donation for her and didn't realize that it was going to her phone bill. She was boasting that she texted it over a 200 times making her donation of 2000$.

Whats A Man in a Cowboy Hat Doing on the Black Pearl?

If you go watch Pirates of the Carrabian: Curse of the Black Pearl, you will notice that in the shot where Jack Sparrow yells "On deck, you scabrous dogs", you will notice a crewmember with sunglasses and a cowboy hat to the left of Jack's head. While I did not personally find it, a person whose username is called omg posted it on this website called moviemistakes.com.

This website is entirely created to put every movie available under scrutiny and find every mistake possible. This is a great example of a collective intelligence website. How it works is that you create a username, find the movie the mistake is on, and if no one else has already posted that mistake you post your own. Then if enough people agree on this mistake (by pressing the green thumbs up button), your post will be kept up. Anyone can participate on this website and you can track specific usernames if you feel that credability is an issue. You will be suprised how many mistakes there are in the most highly acclaimed blockbusters.

Non Profit Campaigns

When thinking about the use of technology for the crazy connecting it is capable of, I thought about a campaign that was introduced in a church service I went to a few months ago. The campaign is called 10,000 nets and can be viewed here.

This program has made it so simple to donate, which is often what deters people, that all a person needs to do is text and $10 is charged to their cell phone bill. It shows the collective power to fight for a campaign that is working to buy nets to give to people in Africa to stop malaria all together. In addition there are options to follow this campaign on twitter and get email updates. This process just proves the power of connection through technology and the Internet. Just another way to harness the power of the Internet and technology for a good cause.

The Climate Crisis

The internet has enabled us to easier get and spread information fast and easy. Todays websites are even easier to read and more informative than ever before. One area I think the internet has helped a lot in is the issue with global warming. There are many great websites with tips and examples on how you can lower your carbon dioxide footprint, and information on the crisis itself. One great example of such a website is Al Gore's climate crisis (made as a connection with the movie) website which has a beautiful informative design. The website offers several features such as a carbon calculator, ways to lower your emissions and a blog. Another website that has a lot of information on the climate crisis is EPA. But the differences between these websites are the design and the social aspect. EPA may have a great website but the Al Gore's Climate Crisis is definitely more appealing and easier for the eye.

Convergence in our future life

Last time in class when we watched that video about a futuristic house I was so impressed that I looked around a little further. I found a really amazing video on youtube, in which you are guided through the "house of the future". This house really defines convergence. Especially the part with the mirror, which is also a device for latest new and so on. I think it is really amazing to see what you can do already today. And it's probably just going to get fancier...
So check out this video if you are interested in the house of the future and all its possibilities. It's really cool!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DJr8QwgLEA

Netflix Stock on the Rise

Netflix Inc. recently announced a plan which would bring members steaming videos and TV shows for a low premium every month, 7.99$ is the rumored price. Currently, Netflix sends DVD's in the mail instantly and members can also stream a select set of videos from the PS3, xbox, computer, or whatever the technology may be. The new service would allow members a broader selction of videos and TV shows instantaneously. The plan is offered in Canada at the moment to test the waters if they were to bring it to the United States.
Netflix Inc. has nearly tripled their stock in this fiscal year and there is no sight of it going down. With a stock market that is going up and down everyday, Netflix has been able to rise their stock. The answer is customer satisfaction. Word travels fast along the web and between friends who love to watch videos. Anyone who has a computer can't say they have ever streamed a video or TV show on the web. Netflix is trying to eliminate these sites and create profit. They are doing this by low costs, accessibility, and customer satisfaction.
Netflix
What do you think will happen to Netflix? Will they rise or fall?

Solve world hunger with a click.

The scope of the internet is something that is often up for debate. Some consider it a great tool to help with life, and some seek it out to the solution for every problem with no limits. Although it may be ignorant to admit, I consider myself in the ladder category.

Take the classic issue of world hunger. Sure, the internet could help spread the word, organize volunteers and more, but unfortunately there are only so many dedicated enough. However, with the infinite power of the internet, it can even get the lazy masses to help.

For instance, TheHungerSite helps even the most un-motivated give a little something to aid those in need. What the site simply does, is it shows you advertisements. I'm sure your familiar with adds, and sites can make money with one of two ways, by click or by impression (just seeing it). So, when a user lands on the page, they see the add, that site gets paid. They put that money into helping people.

Sure, its not much, but imagine making that your new page window, thats thousands of views in just a month, per user.

I'm not saying the world will get fixed by visiting a website, but imagine the potential of wealth that could spread if this was in every home, or even on less than a quarter of every computer.

Its the un-tapped potential of the internet we, as a race of intelligent being need to start harnessing and appreciating the resources.

I encourage you to use it and pass the information around!

Voting Too Subjective? Fans Ruining Television

This article from The Dead Bolt discusses whether or not the process of having fans vote for television show winners such as American Idol and The Biggest Loser is ruining these shows. The article discusses reasoning behind this statement being that the majority of shows' winners are simply winning a popularity contest with fans and that the person who should win often does not.

Is it always fair with fan voting? No. But how do you give fans their say, still leave other viewers satisfied, and give victory to the right person? Is the term "winner" too subjective? Perhaps fan voting should play a part throughout the season but not in a finale.

What do you think?

Real Life Online Shopping

Out of the many different augmented reality apps and various other tie-ins to the internet of things concept, the app that stands out as being one of the most useful was the Android (now iPhone app too) ShopSavvy. It is a very user friendly app that transforms your phone's camera into a barcode scanner, allowing you to scan a product in and compare prices online as well as with stores in the surrounding area to your current location. It also allows for user feedback to be added to any item, so you can get customer reviews on just about any item and give your own reviews on anything you deem work commenting on. With all these function plus many I have not mentioned, ShopSavvy is easily one of the largest contributors to "the internet of things".

Digital Farming

I was considering the clip we watched on the Internet of Things, specifically the section that described a home being managed simply by the data being put into it. Where the water is heated ahead of time because the home understand the temperature outside, etc. And I was thinking, who could really use that technology? Farmers!
Farmers could really use machines that know when to turn themselves on or off, or when they would be most useful to run on which days of the week. Check out how much water gets used by farms, and more importantly, how much is wasted. Just think, if farmers had sprinkler systems that knew when it was going to rain, they could shut themselves down and save plenty of water. And that might even save the crops from over-watering, as well.

Social Networking: changing our world for the better

In the article entitled How the Web Can be Harnessed for Social Good, author Adam Conner discusses how the social web connects people with family, friends, causes, and interests, while organizing information and taking action in ways not possible before. The article focuses on how this changes people's relationship with the government and non-profits, as well as altering the way people approach the world's challenges and engage in taking action. It speaks of MDGs and how these social sites have greatly affected the concept of Millennial Development Goals.

Overall, i feel that this article shows how social networking like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. has become a form of tactical media. It is a way for us to make a change in the world and keep people updated on everything from a needed citizen response to natural disasters. Its true that many people have had a negative response to these sites by seeing them as a waste of time, a stalkers playground, or a loss of real life communication. However, I agree with this article that social networking has had a greatly positive effect on our society today. Not only has it greatly helped the world to connect with each other, but it has helped create cause for taking action and changing our world for the better in times of conflict and disaster. Especially in these rough times with poverty levels rising, natural disasters becoming a common occurrence, and warfare, I find that social networking is a way to make our lives simpler and allows the everyday citizen to get involved.

Remembering Netscape: The Birth of the Web

I found this CNN article that captures some of the primary voices that were involved in Netscape and it's start-up. The article refers to Netscape by saying,

More than any other company, it set the technological, social, and financial tone of the Internet age.

Thought it was interesting, especially as we just passed the 15 year anniversary of when it was launched on the Stock Market (Aug. 9th, 1995) and becoming

...the spark that touched off the Internet boom,

Read here for the full article.

MPOWER

The purpose of MPower is to raise awareness of world issues by creating projects to help solve these issues. “MPower is a way to support urgent, life-changing projects that deliver opportunities and lasting change to people in the world’s most challenging places.” There are three steps to joining the MPower Team: 1. Choose a project. 2. Make a Gift or Create a Fundraising Page. 3. Share it with your friends. They are encouraging people to get involved and to recruit others as well to make “good things happen.”

One Laptop Per Child

More and more people around the world are gaining access to the internet, and there is an organization called "One Laptop Per Child" that's mission is to do just that:

"The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege."

One laptop per child created a laptop designed specifically to withstand harsh weather conditions such as extreme heat and humidity and even the lack of a power source. They are consistently making changes and improvements to the hardware as well as developing new easy to use and educational programs. Who knows what will happen to the world if everyone, n matter the economical status, has access to the internet. We are all becoming more and more connected everyday.

V-Day

V-Day is a virtual organization that works globally to end violence against women and girls. "In 2010, over 5,400 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls." V-Day has opened up women's shelters in Iran and Egypt, have collected satellite phones for Afghan woman and have raise $75 million over the past eleven years.

Because of today's technology V-Day is able to keep administrative costs very low - putting the majority of donations towards directly ending violence against women/girls - referring to themselves as a "virtual organization." While the site doesn't elaborate any further on operations, one could see the the site provides information for getting involved in specific V-Day events/campaigns. The site is also easy to navigate - I could quickly find information on their mission and how to donate.

Engender Health

Engender Health is an organization that works to provide knowledge and care to developing counties through its work in family planning, maternal health, gender equity and much more. All summer, my sister was in Ethiopia working for them by creating a map on Google Earth that allowed the user to see exactly where a hospital was in the entire country. This was the first time anyone had seen exactly where each hospital was. I think that this program could be taken further by having all of the hospitals linked. They could post in live time what services that are providing and what materials they have. Since Engender Health is primarly focused on women's care while pregnant, the hospitals would be able to send signals saying who at that moment would be able to provide the best maternal care, and that is where that women would go. You could set it up as an app that the public has access too, and also as solely a system between the hospitals.

Facebook Famine '10 First Reactions

Just a great line from StuffinMyBrain about the Facebook Malfunction minutes after the servers went down.

Snow Fun

Just for fun, I thought I'd throw this up just in case people haven't seen it. It's super cool and I want to figure out how they do it. Anyone knowledgeable? The riders carry a flashlight and which makes a trail of color behind them. Also for those who like it, outtakes.

Netflix pays actors to pretend to be customers and talk to press at Canadian launch

Let's start at the beginning. Netflix just launched in Canada. And in a flashy promotion it shut down a street in Toronto and attracted dozens of onlookers. Journalists interviewed the people who were all oddly passionate about Netflix. Turns out, they were actors.

LHC

From a photographers point of view, we can see the Large Hadron Collider. Click into the link on the blog, it leads to a photo essay about the LHC. It goes into pictural details that help show whats happening. What next?

"The Johannesburg police are pushing back, saying they have charged the @PigSpotter Twitter user with defamation, impairing the dignity of another person and "defeating the ends of justice""

That line from this article on CNN discuses how a twitter user who was tipping people off to speed traps set by the police in South Africa has been charged with those offenses stated above. The article discusses how the twitter user, who was charged on a friday, continued to report on speed traps that monday. This claim was of interest to me because of the absolute freedom one has with the internet. Although @PigSpotter, who remains anonymous, is facing charges, he is still able to access the internet, and therefore twitter. When is it OK to keep using the internet as a way to make a point, in this case, @PigSpotter is grateful for the attention as he thinks it will bring notice to the corruption of the South African police force, and when it the internet unsafe for the users? Since the web is exactly as it states, world wide, it is easy to be found out. I thought this article brought up issues of convergence in ways that Twitter is being used as an always accessible police radar. @PigSpotter was using the platform of Twitter as a means of warning.

Produsage and Web Squared discussion questions

What’s different about user-led content production and why does it need a new name?

What is social software?

What are the wider economic and legal questions that emerge from produsage as an alternative form of production?

How do machines learn?

What are information shadows?

What is the internet of things?

The article concludes that the web’s “collition course with the physical world opens enormous new possibilities not only for business but also in solving the worlds biggest problems." How is this is happening or how could it happen?

Starbucks' Schultz: Social Media Is Key to Building Brand Trust

Social media seems to by in our news and talked amongst our friends daily. How often does a conversion involve or evolve from a facebook notification or picture. I think most of us are on our facebook atleast once a day if you have an active account. I love to hate facebook but when bordem strikes I find myself browsing facebook not even remebering what I just looked at. I recent article I came upon noted how the CEO of starbucks strives to use social media to build the trust and economy of Starbucks. With over 100,00 retail stores having wifi, social media should be more than a marketing campaign but key aspect in the company's future. Combining all the social media websites, Starbucks can reach their consumers more affectingly and timely with social media. I think Starbucks has the ability to capture this market because of their product coffee and addition of wifi. The retail store environment poses a necessity for social media.

Starbucks

Condé Nast chief: up to 40% of sales could be on iPad

http://bit.ly/dwK6RR

In digital media news today:

'Catfish' Creators Catch Digital Life In Action: NPR

What Makes Online Film, Music Critics Tick: NPR

Former high school student pleads guilty to criminal libel

This is just another example of how the internet opens the doors to scandal. I attended Fruita Monument when this happened to Bill Johnson. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter give opportunity to connect to people but it also gives opportunity harassment and opportunity for people create false identities and post deceiving information. I'm always questioning things I read on the internet. Thankfully I haven't dealt with anyone harassing me through Facebook and as far as I know no one has stolen my photos to create a profile... But I guess its good to be reminded of the possibility.

'Cloud Computing' is the REAL future

EDIT: I checked back for comments, but was surfing with java turned off, submission issue, resubmitting now...

The web 2.o article for last nights reading was interesting, yet I found it horribly lacking. I'm under the impression that we should share an opinion with our blog post. However, I would rather spread a commonly accepted aspect of the web that was lacked from the reading.

If I had to inject my opinion, I would say that I consider cloud based computing an almost mandatory bullet point for the Web 2.0 check list. For those who are not familiar with the aspect, see this wiki on how it will change your Internet. -Basically, it means that information and data will be stored remotely. So, you can see an example of this with classic web mail. You never download your mail, and its all stored in the 'cloud' that is the internet. Google (or whoever) holds all of your data and then simply shows you. But this can be taken to a whole new level, imagine rendering and doing processing that only a SUPER powerful computer could do, you couldn't afford it, but you could have it pumped back to you via your broadband. You could receive images or (insert special complicated geek things here) from that "cloud" that you normally can not achieve.

With this post, I aim to simply correct and bring to attention that slip in the article. THis si something that will be dominating our internetz in the coming years.

You aren't just supposed to use your phone to call...

Check out this article.

It seems that phones today aren't really meant to be used to call people anymore. They are rather like a small computer. So much so that today, companies are creating phones just for certain internet sites in order to further social media. Sites, such as facebook, have become a new way of connecting to people and the world around them. So why not have your social life in your pocket? Much like Apple's and Google's phones, Facebook is creating its own phone as a way to make this possible.

Google Shows Us Plenty, Too Bad We Can't Remember It...

When reading Shelby's blog about Google being the new classroom it reminded me of an article that relates completely to that. Unfortunately according to studies conducted by numerous people, even if theres loads of information on each subject, there is too many distractions to keep yourself from remembering.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_nicholas_carr/

Now I can't say that sites like wikipedia, which are mostly text only, and whos images are in places that are not as distracting, and no ads, I can give you an example of a website that incorporates every problem that is mentioned in the article.

Heres the link with the example:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39255502/ns/weather

Also look at the link that Spencer posted in his blog titled "Video Game Industry Shake-Up" for an even better example.

World of Warcraft Addiction

Most people in this blog probably know what Worls of Warcraft is, so I won't go into much detail about it. But if I had to descibe it in a few words I would say this: "an online game, in which you have a second life".
I have heard some crazy stories about people, who got really addicted to it. Of course, I don't know whether they are 100% true or not, but after finding thousands of addition pages and stories about it, these stories might be true.
I heard about a regular, every-day family; both parents employed and a kid in school. This fortune, however, did not last long once WoW was introduced to them by their kid. The whole family basically got addicted to it and it was so bad that they stopped going to work. Their lifes consisted of eating, sleeping and playing WoW. Of course the parents lost their jobs and the kid got excluded from school...
As I said, I don't know how much truth is in this story, but after finding a site for people, who are addicted to WoW I can imagin it's true!

www.wowdetox.com

13 Most Beautiful

The day after we sat through the Mike Wesch video I stumbled upon an interesting set of videos that made me think about the idea of youtube vlogs and really opening up to a camera. Andy Warhol did a set of screen tests with 13 actors and actresses. These are people who spent their lives in front of cameras pretending for the world, but when placed in front of a camera and told to just be, to just exist, these men and women seemed just as uncomfortable at times and vulnerable as regular people who pour out their hearts on youtube. It's interesting to see the reactions of first time vloggers to those of professional actors and actresses in a vulnerable state in front of the lense.
13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests

Video Game Industry Shake-Up

Halo Reach is one of the most anticipated video games for over the last couple years was released this last week. Although the video game industry is in a slump, Halo Reach boosting temporary sales might not be such a good thing. The original article I wasn't able to find again went into more detail. But the game is so popular that it will actually keep gamers and consumers from needing to buy another game for a long time... putting lots of pressure on smaller game developers. In mid November Call of Duty will release another title making many avid gamers playing only two or three titles for over the next year, while hundreds are being released. With so many fans of these video games and sales in the billions. When are we going to see the first crossover from video game to community (besides second life, because second life is not a sought out game by intense gamers). Well Halo Reach is a start, gamers can update and make their own personal content (maps, game modes, and videos) and share them with a new installed tagging system. Similar to tagging key words in a blog post (like this). Video games keep getting more and more popular and once big titles keep taking the spot light smaller game developers are going to need to re-evaulate how they make games, fan-bases and eventually the gaming community. The Halo franchise has also been able to build this fan base through its extensive website devoted to the halo community with multiple items updated daily. The web address for the halo series website is bungie.net, and it acts like a blog for passionate video gamers.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39159647/ns/technology_and_science-games/

Web 2.0 discussion questions

1. According to O'Reilly, what is Web 2.0?

2. What does it mean to say that Google's success came from an understanding of the long tail? What are examples of other companies that have embraced the long tail?

3. How is collective intelligence related to Web 2.0 companies?

4. What does RSS do? What are permalinks and why are the useful?

5. According to Kevin Kelly, what was the revolution launched by Netscape's IPO?

6. How have the impulses for participation upended the economy?

7. What is the real transformation that is happening?

8.How is the convergence Kelly describes different than Jenkin's conception of the term?

Facebook: stalk or be stalked.....

Social media is taking over the world. People seem to know more about each other these days than ever before. We have all searched for friends and family via facebook and twitter and shared stories and laughs threw the keyboard. So when does it go to far? Are people safe? Could your job be as stake? People share everything on facebook and now with the new smart phones application (foursquare), people can now track your current location through updates. Sounds cool right? The problem with this is that all it takes is the wrong person with the wrong motive and your life could be in danger. So when will the government put holds and restraints on some of this new technology or do we even need any restraints at all?

Link to Application

http://foursquare.com/

Hyperlinks or Hyperwords?

Our conversation about Wikipedia in class got me thinking about the web in a more interconnected way. Wikipedia has successfully created its own web platform. By this I mean that through their complex systems of hyperlinks, they embody the web, or how the web used to be. In the Wired article, one of the first paragraphs quoted Vannevar Bush's idea that hyper-linked pages really outline the core ideas and values of the web. But what I am getting at is that hyperlinks are not all that prevalent. Instead, hyper-words are the new way to view the web.

Hyper-words, to me, are a form of media convergence. Although it is completely on the web, you are taking a world and linking it to other forms of the web. If you take a name and get the wikipedia page for that person, than you are linking two different pages. Media convergence is going on all around, not just just in the obvious forms.

Google, the new classroom

My generation has a very different use of technology then my parent's generation. When I have a question, how does my generation solve it? Do we look it up in a book? Ask an expert? No, we Google it. More practically, we YouTube it. Just recently I learned to solve a Rubik's Cube and I did this through YouTube. When I told my parents my new trick, they were not surprised that I could solve a Rubik's Cube, but that I learned how through You Tube. I do this with most things. When I want to learn new tricks on photoshop, I YouTube it. Also, if I ever have a question in math or biology when I didn't understand the teacher, I will Google it.

So now my generation is teaching my parent's generation. I have finally taught my mom the wonderful classroom of YouTube. She learned how to knit by having YouTube teach her step by step. So no more boring How-To books to read after renting them from the library. It will only take a few simple clicks before you have the entire world's knowledge under your mouse. Because of collective intelligence, we do not have to travel across the world to find the knowledge that each person possesses. All we do is Google it.

Big Bang Big Boom - Paintings that Come to Life

Much of my searching and sharing of interesting things on the internet involves sending and receiving funny or interesting videos from various websites. A few years ago I saw an incredible video by an artist that remains anonymous but calls himself Blu. Blu is an artist in Italy who is highly recognized for his incredible graffiti and street art. He has a very unique style but the presentation of his art is the most unique part. Through this video, he combines the use of old mediums (mostly roller painting, but probably some graffiti as well) with new forms of visual performance. In the streets of Italy, he takes his paintings and creates a time lapse to create a moving animation of his paintings in real areas and settings of the community. These animations are not only just paint, however. They also include actual objects intermixed within the animation to cross over between different mediums of art. By painting and taking a photo, then painting over that image with a new one, his paintings are not only very cool, but they come to life as well.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Thoughts on the Black Box Fallacy

In class we discussed the "Black Box Fallacy" theory that Henry Jenkins describes in his book Convergence Culture. Jenkins is arguing that there will be no final black box to gather and collect all the media forms we are using. I don't think that's entirely true.

Lately we have seen more and more media boxes and media center software being developed, not only by major corporations like Apple, but also by smaller companies such as the people behind "Plex" and "Boxee" which are two of the major media center softwares out there today. I think people are actually looking for this one box that can do it all. These software solutions make it easy to gather all your own media while also being connected online to enjoy the web and all that comes with it (Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, Spotify etc.). The possibilities are almost endless...

I think an interesting idea right now would be if for example the Apple TV would evolve further and run Apple's iOS. iOS is not only a solid OS but with the App Store you get endless of possibilities. For example, I can now stream live TV to my phone, I can rent tv shows, buy movies and music, play games and so on. Recently Boxee has taken the step from only providing software to also making the hardware and that means we have many great options to chose between. I can definitely see these boxes replacing everything in the home, except the computer of course. So I would argue that we are still looking for this one black box where we use the phone and computer as hubs to send out the media.

Collective Intelligence

The other night I was watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the travel channel. It was an episode where he travels around China eating strange foods like blowfish and other poisonous animals at renowned restaurants around town. He had a few locals traveling with him but he mentioned at one point during the show that he found out about most of the restaurants online.

This got me thinking and reminded me of the idea of collective intelligence. In today's world, when I travel someplace new or just want a new restaurant to eat at, I almost always turn to the internet to see restaurant reviews and ratings. This is similar to Wikipedia in the way that there are many people contributing to one "review" of the restaurant to give you an overall rating. I think that because of the fact that it is a collection of opinions rather than one so called "expert" it gives you a really good sense of what places are good and which are not. This idea of collective intelligence is something that I keep seeing more and more all over the web and i believe it is much more affective than any single source ever could be.

Viral Videos go Viral

So there's this guy, Ray William Johnson. He has his own Youtube channel, and on his channel he goes by the name of =3. Twice a week, he gathers a handful of viral videos and reviews them on his channel; what makes them funny, what makes them weird, what makes them scary, etc. He's taking videos that have already gained popularity on the net, and pushing them further into fame using the same medium. In my opinion, this guy is great at what he does. He understands the fads of the internet, the fast pace that most internet users run at, the things that come across as funny, and more.
But don't just take my word for it! Check him out.

Does the Digital Classroom Enfeeble the Mind?

"Nothing kills music for me as much as having some algorithm calculate what music I will want to hear. That seems to miss the whole point. Inventing your musical taste is the point, isn’t it? Bringing computers into the middle of that is like paying someone to program a robot to have sex on your behalf so you don’t have to."
...
"To the degree that education is about the transfer of the known between generations, it can be digitized, analyzed, optimized and bottled or posted on Twitter. To the degree that education is about the self-invention of the human race, the gargantuan process of steering billions of brains into unforeseeable states and configurations in the future, it can continue only if each brain learns to invent itself. And that is beyond computation because it is beyond our comprehension. Learning at its truest is a leap into the unknown."

http://nyti.ms/blYydJ

Net Neutrality?

I decided to look more into BitTorrent after the name came up in the article from wired that we were supposed to read. I thought it interesting because BitTorrent has its own blog that has one post talking about net neutrality. I think it is interesting because they really seem to agree that the only way to go on is to allow for the constant speed of net innovation to take place. They feel as though people should have access to pretty much everything on the internet free because that helps the progression in technology and would only slow that progression down with restrictions.

I personally have mixed feelings on this. I do think that law is important and that there is too much “free” stuff out there… I just don’t know really where the line could, should, or would be drawn. Any thoughts from anyone?

http://blog.bittorrent.com/2010/08/13/net-neutrality-is-not-decided/

Limbaugh Taken In: The Judge Was Not Loaded for Bear

This is a hoot. And an interesting case for a future class on the risk/benefit of a Wiki. It's also a cautionary tale on not checking sources in any old or new medium.

http://nyti.ms/cdx35H

A Social (Media) Experiment

A small technological college in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has banned social networking as part of a social experiment. Students and faculty alike have no access to facebook, myspace, twitter, IM, or any other form of social networking while on the campus. The blackout has had mixed reception among everyone on campus. Some find it extremely inconvenient, while others have embraced the ban saying it has allowed them to focus more on school and less on their online social obligations. Eric Darr, the provost of the college, has said that the blackout is meant for students to think critically about social media. This goal is obviously being achieved, for even student who are trying to cheat the blackout by using smart phones or accessing local wifi points are forced to the realization of how much social media has influenced their daily lives. Many classes have also tied their curriculum to the blackout, asking students to write papers about their opinions of the experiment.

Overall I found this article to be an interesting idea that truly shows just how much we have tied our identities to online society. I feel it also might yield valuable research data for many different areas of study ranging from Digital Media to Psychology. For the full article follow this link from Yahoo! news:

A Week Without Facebook?

Yellow Arrows & enjoysthin.gs

In his intro, Jenkins briefly talks about Yellow Arrows, and the idea caught my interest. It reminded me of websites like enjoysthin.gs where people can bookmark discoveries and things they like online. Instead of searching the world of the web, people are exploring the Earth and placing yellow arrow stickers on objects pointing toward things they like. I think it is interesting to look at how we do things online compared to how we do things out in the world and how the two are meshing together.

Catfish.

I don't know how "true" the story actually is, but the beginning of the trailer looks like it shows a realistic relationship between two people who met on the internet - this made me think of the love story Mike Wesch described in his YouTube speech. From what I can tell the movie may also address issues of identity on the internet.

Summer Fun

I thought i'd add a little clip of my summer time hobby back in Minnesota. These are the pro's of the trade, who get paid to have fun. Unfortunately it isn't me but one day. The clips are taken in Duluth, MN and on the lake I live on, Lake Minnetonka. Enjoy a thrill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGvwEEOJDbM&p=1E768A1A004B3FB5&playnext=1&index=95

All the credit goes to WAKEHEADS. They are out of the Twin Cities.

Also another MN riders blog http://www.pwctoday.com/f47/

The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet

Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline, as simpler, sleeker services — think apps — are less about the searching and more about the getting. Chris Anderson explains how this new paradigm reflects the inevitable course of capitalism. And Michael Wolff explains why the new breed of media titan is forsaking the Web for more promising (and profitable) pastures.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1

Welcome!

This is your blog. Write on it. Post links and videos and anything related to what we're doing in class. Read and comment on posts too.

You can find the syllabus and schedule on the right there.

Here's a talk by Henry Jenkins, the author of the text for the class. Watch it and so you know who is talking to you as you read the book.



And here is Mike Wesch on YouTube.



What do you think?