Media Companies: AOL Time Warner April 22, 2008

Time Warner and AOL merged in 2001 and made AOL Time Warner the world’s biggest media company, now the second largest.

Major operations in film, television, publishing, Internet service, and telecommunications.

Some major assets owned by AOL Time Warner: AOL, New Line Cinema, Time Inc., Road Runner, Time Warner Cable, HBO, Cinemax, Turner Broadcasting System, The CW Television Network, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Cartoon Network, CNN, DC Comics.

Competition: CBS Corporation, Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, Viacom

                Fewer AOL  subscribers

Film and TV companies (Warner Bros)

CNN, Time Warner Cable- 13 million customers in the US

24 book brands

Magazines- Time, Fortune, 33 others (120 million readers)

Theme Parks- Warner Bros Studio stores in 30 countries and merchandise

52 Record Labels

4 Sports Teams

AOL US and AOL International- 14 countries (CompuServe and Netscape)

Has 27 million subscribers on AOL

 

Research Ethics Case#1 April 15, 2008

“I am a research assistant for a project that involves studying participants in a website for a particular deviant sexuality. The only way to study this group is to join as a member. We made up several fake email accounts in order to make several fake membership profiles, and we sign in under these profiles to examine the profiles of the real members. Members have begun to contact my persona. I have found out that they get a notification if i look at their profile..”

My first thought is whether or not this is any different that an old man posing as a younger boy to reach girls that are younger. Personally I would say that it is very different but I am curious as to if it is techniqually any different. It reminds me of the show on TV where the news people pose as a young girl, get the guy to come to the house, and then dramatically tackle him- which is my favorite part.

I would ask the research assistant if material was being used for observance or for data collection. I would feel that data collection may be violating research ethics if you are talking to someone without their knowledge. However I think that perhaps if you are just observing and not participating the data might be ethical. I would like to know if there is something ethically wrong to create fake accounts for the purpose of research, or if you have to be honest.

After the lecture on research ethics I realized that posing as another person and gathering information from a site where the people believe they are in a private atmosphere is against research ethics. Their website is a member only setup and the the participants believe that their space is private. By posing as someone in the community and using personal conversation with them, the researchers would be unethical.

This makes me a little worried as to how I’m going to compare websites. Since I am not focusing so much on the context of conversations, as much as the societal roles the members are taking, I feel that I might not be in violation of research ethics. Some of the websites I am considering are not member only to view, but in order to post. In this regard I do not feel like I would be unethical to use information gathered in the public realm.

cafepress April 7, 2008

Cafepress is a website where one can create and buy, create and sell, or shop a marketplace for personalized materials ranging from T-shirts to baby bibs to buttons. The website allows for individual shopkeepers to create an online “store front” where they can sell items with a logo they have designed. Cafepress additionally has over 50 major accounts, including wiki and startrek.com, as well as strategic agreements with licensors that include more than 90 properties. The website represents every aspect of online business by offering storefront development, site hosting, order management, secure payment processing, etc. They feel that as a company they stand out because they offer a free online shop, shipping world wide, customer service, and the freedom from a minimum order. Cafepress can create and sell a variety of customizable products, for a large cut of the price. The base price of a T-shirt is $16.99 and is marked up on average about $5.00. This price covers the product creation, customer service, transaction management, returns/exchanges, and online shop maintenance. If you were to create you own custom T-shirt it would be about $14 dollars. I thought that this might be a little high, so I checked other sites and found that it is the lowest. The double edged sword to cafepress is that there is no minimum order requirement. So that’s great if you want to buy one shirt. However, customink.com has prices that significantly decrease when you order more shirts.

Cafepress is a great example of user generated content. You can put essentially anything on a variety of products and sell it to anyone in the world. This openness is what I love about Cafepress. If you want to find a product for almost anything you can find it there. In this sense it appeals to all people of all generations, races, sexes, genders, etc. There is something for everyone. I personally have bought shirts from cafepress because I find things there that I wont find anywhere else. The concept behind cafepress is fascinating to me, and I feel it coincides with the ideas of creative commons. Cafepress is essentially sharing their ability to produce with the creative minds of others. In collaboration they create a product that people can own and make their own.

Obama’s Website March 25, 2008

Why would I go to a candidates web page, what am I looking for?

• Platform
• Comparison of Platform with Competing Candidate
• Appearances
• Video clips of speeches
• Response to negative comments on platform
• Specific Plan of Action for Health Care
• Same with the Iraq War

 

I chose to examine Barack Obama’s website to see how effected I believe it is. When I first opened the website I was faced with what seemed like a mandatory sign up for invitations to Barack Obama events. There was not a skip button or anything of the sort visible, but if you click around and click on his picture, the webpage will navigate to his homepage without making you sign up. I thought this was very tricky on the webmasters part, but I’m sure is very successful in increasing information output to people to looked at his website. Once I was at the homepage I was pleased to see how very well organized everything was. The tabs made searching for stances on political issues, family background, or state information extremely simple. I thought it would be more difficult to receive this information, but I was pleasantly surprised. Barack Obama uses many forms of Web 2.0. He has links to his Facebook, MySpace, twitter, YouTube, flickr, blogging etc. that allows for easy access to the most recent information in whatever means the specific audience feels most comfortable with. I feel like his use of Web 2.0 has been vital in reaching the younger audiences especially. His website is full of archived videos, pictures, and speeches that Obama has participated in, making most public appearances public and easily examined/studied/or read for the first time. This brings politics to a greater number of households. I also like the clean cut, simplicity that Obama’s website has. It is very clean and precise looking, which gives the impression that information is extrememly easy to navigate and well catalogued, even if in reality it is not.

I next visited Hilary Clinton’s website. Her opening page was constructed exactly like Obama’s in that you had to fill out a form or click on her face. In Hilary’s case, I had to go through two different of those before I could even begin to look at her website. In fact, in almost all aspects, Hilary’s website is almost identical in principle to Barack Obama’s. I was able to find both of their platforms, family history, blogs, and video easily. Hilary also belongs to several networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Youtube. Her webpage is not quite as easy to navigate as Obama’s, nor is it as clean cut looking.

The website presentation of a candidate is very important, even if only 8% visit their websites. They are very important because some people base their entire decision on voting based on what they read online. When information that improves the appearance of the candidate is readily available, it helps distract people from paying such a vast detail to the negative. I believe during this election and the elections to follow, the use of websites will become the main source of receiving news information. In this specific 2008 election, I feel as if the purpose of campaign websites is to get the attention of those who frequently use the computer, especially teenagers and those who are coming of age to vote.

Web 2.0 March 2, 2008

When our class was discussing Web 2.0 and the many fascinating developments that have risen from Web 2.0, I was found most interested in Library Thing. That has to be the most amazing website I’ve ever seen. I know my excitement for it might be a little strange, but my grandma and I have always talked about wishing we could catalog our books without us having to slave over handwriting each one down. I used to read a lot more than I do now, thanks Pre-Med, and I have tons of books. My grandma however has significantly more. She has a group of best friends that are all retired school teachers, one of them being a librarian, and they LOVE to read. They often share books with each other, and my grandma always wanted a way to catalog her books and keep track of who had them. I thought this website would be perfect for her. I’ve set up an account for her, and I’m going to purchase the CueCat Bar code scanner, so I can upload a lot of her books quickly over Spring Break. I’m so excited to tell her about this.

The concept of Web 2.0 is something that I really like. I feel like it shares a lot of the same philosophies as Open Software and Creative Commons. With the increase in Web 2.0, it has increased accessibility to networks with other people who through collaboration and sharing of creativity create advancement as individuals and as for the community as a whole. For example, Wikipedia is set up so that almost anyone can edit a Wikipedia page’s information. Similar to OS software and applications, this is the quickest way to debug information and have the best form available at all times. Unfortunately with Wikipedia, people like to prank sites or purposefully mislead people, but the accessibility to millions of viewers allows for the opportunity to be fixed quickly.

Another application that would be considered part of Web 2.0 that I really love is blogging. I don’t really blog much, I did when I was first in High School, but I love reading blogs. My favorite blog in the world to read is my friend Michael’s blog. He is probably the funniest person I know, and I love that on his blog I can search by topic, read his blog from 3 years ago, find my favorite one by looking at his tags, and being able to navigate to the blogs of his friends, whom are also hilarious. There is something funny about being able to delve into the details of someone’s life that you don’t even know, and I find it entertaining to be able to do so. I’m also a huge fan of PostSecret and check it every Sunday. The community sense of PostSecret is growing in that they now have a forum where people can even post their video-secrets. Blogs are becoming so much more diverse, and I wonder where they will be taken next. As long as I can still read Michael’s sarcastic descriptions of life, I’ll be happy.

Intellectual Property February 26, 2008

Every time I think about Intellectual Property (which I have to admit isn’t that much) I think about iTunes. iTunes really frustrates me sometimes. I buy songs on iTunes instead of illegal downloading them (kudos for Marisa!) but then I can’t do anything with them, other than listen to them on iTunes or my iPod. It makes me irritated that I can only burn the same song onto a CD seven different times. I bought the song, I paid money for the song, why can’t I have control over my song now? What if I want to make a ringtone, or edit it to use for a compilation that I am making, or want to cut it short for a dance recital (I don’t dance by the way). If I want to do any of those things, that’s too bad. I will listen to my song on my seven CD’s or my iPod or my iTunes… but only in the format that it was given to me in. Talk about killing creativity.

Lessig had some very good points in his lecture about Intellectual Property and the Creative Commons. If we keep copyrighting every word that comes out of someone’s mouth what will happen to creativity? Will all artwork be made on microsoft paint, because lord knows you can’t duplicate something that rigid program. I think of all the wonderful things that have been developed after being influence by other amazing, or not so amazing, works. It seems like every play/movie/story/etc can be tied in some way to something Shakespeare wrote… I mean let’s face it, what didn’t he write about. So if we consider his works copyrighted and that they can’t be used to build upon for future plays/movies/books/ect then what would anyone write about? Could anything be published? I’m using sarcasm, surely someone else has used sarcasm in the past that can sue me. Let’s ask turnitin.com.
All joking aside, I really love the concept of Creative Commons. I think it embraces using creative, which has been on a decline in my opinion over the past few years. The idea that we don’t have to dream up our own perfectly unique masterpieces and can instead embrace our history is a wonderful lesson. When we watched The PBS special, one of the complaints was that the internet makes people not creative, and lets them cheat. But what if instead of cheating, getting ideas from other people was considered expansion of art? I find something strangely beautiful about that. I love the idea of artists sharing for the sake of art, or having open source for the sake of truly benefiting the society in which uses the technology. Open Source and Creative Commons in my opinion sets a good example of unity, and caring about the welfare of others in our society. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to embrace that.

Research Paper Ideas February 24, 2008

When our class watched the PBS documentary, Growing Up Online, I became really interested in a certain topic for a research paper. I want to research how internet support groups can positively and negatively affect social behavior and personal attitudes. For this topic I would explore both extremes as well at try to find a neutral community. On the negative influence extreme, I wanted to research how Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia websites can encourage girls to dive deeper into their eating disorders, or bring about one. This topic has a very personal connection to me, and I know several girls who can give me personal insight on this topic. This topic in particular is interesting because it has two sides. I know several people, who Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites have encouraged them to become more severe, but I also know girls who were turned off by this extreme and it helped them to see how their eating disorder was unhealthy. I would also like to explore how the Pro-Suicide websites impact society as well.
On the other side of the spectrum, I would like to research the effects that support groups for medical disorders has on people. I know there are websites, such as Carepages, that provide a way to find someone who has encountered similar medical obstacles and been able to conquer them. This provides a person with a sense of encouragement to be able to talk to someone who has defeated the battle they are currently struggling with. Along with this there are websites where parents of children with learning disabilities can communicate and share tips. It would be interesting to see if this had a positive effect on the approach the parents took with helping their child or dealing emotionally themselves with the struggle.
Is there an online community that has a neutral response? Like sharing recipes online, giving relationship advice, or swapping secrets on Postsecret.com? Can those have both positive and negative effects? I think online communities are so vast and fascinating, and I really hope that I can find enough research to delve into this topic. If not, I guess I need to brainstorm some more ideas, because right now this is all I have. My guess is that since my topic is so broad, I will need to narrow it down a little. I would first get rid of trying to explore neutrality, and then I would get rid of the positive side. I find the harmful effects of online communities to be more interesting since I have seen firsthand their side effects. Hopefully though, I’ll be able to touch on a lot.

Open Source February 17, 2008

1.  Summarize what you knew about Open Source before viewing the video.  What did you learn that you were not aware of?I wrote this before the video: I really don’t know much about open source.  I understand why some really want things to be open source so they can alter the code, but since I don’t ever do that I don’t really feel passionate about it.  I can see where companies would want to keep their code secret so that people will actually pay money for it.  Basically I guess that I don’t know enough about it yet to have a strong opinion, I’ll let you know how I feel after the movie.Before viewing the video I really had little knowledge as to what Open Source was.  So basically I learned a lot that I didn’t know before the video.  I use Firefox, Gmail, and I’ve heard a lot about Linux through one of my computer guru friends, but I never really pieced together that they were Open Source.  I learned a lot about the philosophy of OS and why people believe it is the future of the internet and why people should move toward this.

  2.  To what extent can OS be termed a Social Movement?I wouldn’t say OS was a social movement like the Civil Rights Movement was, but I definitely see a following occurring.  I think it is mostly just a bunch of people who are passionate about the philosophy of free software/ open software.  If you get a group of people together that are extremely passionate about something, a movement is bound to occur, but I think that the OS movement is definitely on a small scale.  I don’t see a day being named after one of the leaders any time soon.

3. Describe the shared values, norms, beliefs of the OS community.  Would you consider yourself an ally of this community?The OS community very strongly believes in the bazaar model vs. the cathedral model.  The bazaar model includes:    users should be treated as co-developers, early releases, frequent integration, several versions, high modularization, and dynamic decision making structure.  The OS community believes that a community works better if everyone has the power to make changes on comment on developmental issues.  If the new version is put out there immediately, and anyone can make changes on it, the software is able to be improved upon instantly.  They argue that everyone benefits from this.  I would say I am an ally of this community.  I feel like they have a really good philosophy based on sharing and encouraging knowledge.

4.  Do you use any OS software? Discuss your experience with the software, be it Open Source or not, in terms of usability, price, access, etc.  How would OS software make your experience different?I use Firefox, and I love it.  I love that instead of having to wait for new versions to be published, and then bought, I can get immediate updates and fixes.  I hate how with internet explorer, a new version only comes out every once and awhile, and it always has bugs that take forever to be fixed.  The fact that Firefox is free isn’t too shabby either.

5.  What’s next?  If you have ever tried a web application like Google Docs, comment on what this experience is like.  In this case, not only is the software free, but the storage of data is also provided by someone else.  How does this help or hurt the OS movement?  The commercial software business?I use Google Docs, not a lot, but some.  I think it is fascinating that my documents can be saved anywhere without me having to save to a specific part of hardware.  I get nervous sometimes saving to it though, because I’m afraid that it may have a bug and delete itself some time.  I think this can help the OS movement because it such a wonderful feature, but I think it will hurt the commercial software business.  I think if OS gains more popularity it will consume a lot the commercial business.  The ease of use and ability to improve are winning factors, and I think will pose a lot of competition. 

Blog #7 February 12, 2008

Will the internet produce new kinds of inequality based on information literacy and access to technology?

I believe that the internet will produce new kinds of inequality based on information literacy and access to technology. Eszter Hargittai mentions in her article that factors such as history of web use and type of connection can largely affect the information that is sought out by the internet, as well as the quality and amount. This makes a lot of sense. The example that she uses is how often people look up health care information on the internet. I think the principle can be applied to a much wider spectrum of influence though. History of computer use in general will have an influence on how often one uses technology and how much they use it. If someone is new to the use of computers, they will most likely stick to the simple tasks, such as email, word processing, and simple internet searches. They will most likely not jump into buying an iPhone and the latest lap top that has gaming capabilities. This is also probably the case with the frequency the user is actively using the computer, and in the depth in which they are using. I believe a digital divide will occur if “haves” continue to gain access not only to the top notch of technology, but also at the fastest rate. Top colleges such as Trinity have an incredible access to computers, where as lower income universities do not. Think of the online media that we have access to that others cannot. This can really affect education, and that is just one part of the vast spectrum of aspects of life that are affected by media. ·

Will the internet serve as a tool for social mobility, ameliorating existing inequalities?

If the internet was available to every single person, in every single country, then it might help diminish the existence of social inequality by creating more social mobility. But that would be only if everyone received equal technology. As long as there is stratification, there will be inequality. Just as Hargittai mentions, the history of use, and the knowledge of technology greatly shapes how the internet is used and what information is gathered from the internet. I think that social mobility might be improved if people can take online courses or get online degrees, but that would involve a high level of access to technology. If a person cannot afford those luxuries then they are trapped in a cycle of not having access and not being able to gain it. The only way that I can picture the internet serving as a tool for social mobility is on a small scale. It would improve communication ties, and allow certain businesses grow, but that would be more in developing countries where the internet is not a prevalent as in the United States or Japan. Japan is basically the technology capitol of the world, if you didn’t already have access to the internet there, getting the internet probably will not help you to climb the social ladder much since you would already be so far behind. Additionally all information would have to be in every language in order for things to be equal enough. The internet creates stratification by language availability.

· Is the internet completely irrelevant to understanding social stratification?

No, the internet is not completely irrelevant to understanding social stratification. I gained a lot of insight on social stratification through reading several of Hargittai’s articles. I’ve developed the opinion that access and prevalence of knowledge of technology is actually a very good indicator of social position. Hargittai outlines eleven different elements of the internet that can influence how a person is able to use the internet. Stratification can be drawn from just these elements alone. Additionally, the internet enhances the definition of the well know term the “haves” and the “have nots.” With the way technology is developing, it is very expensive to stay up to date on all the latest improvements. Only those with a vast amount of money or access to someone who has the luxuries will be able to learn from and use these technologies. The rest will have to go with what they can afford. For some people that is an iPhone, for some a new computer, for some it is a hand me down free computer from a government program, and for some it is nothing. Looking at the access that someone has to technology and the internet can be used to hypothesize what someone’s social stratification might be. However it is a not a definite factor, other aspects obviously need to be considered. I think the use of wireless internet among colleges is a great example of how the internet gives understanding to social stratification. Do you see many low income schools with broadband wireless internet available everywhere and for every student?

Websites Consulted:

http://www.eszter.com/research/c09-digitalmediausesframwork.html

http://www.eszter.com/research/c05-digitalinequality.html

http://www.eszter.com/research/pubs/hargittai-digitaldivide.pdf

Oh Katie February 5, 2008

Katie has been following a blog about anime for the past week.  To be completely honest, I have no earthly idea what she wrote about.  Something about anime I’m sure… but that is about the extent that I understood.  Apparently Bleach is a series of anime, and not a household cleaner.  That is about all I understood.  Well that and that some poor guy got his eyeball torn out.  Ouch.  And what is with these characters being dead but alive but really dead all at the same time.  I want to be a doctor.  These characters are not a part of the world I am accustomed to.

Katie sure does love her anime.  She loves reading it, watching it, writing fanfict for it, drawing it, making videos about it, dressing up like it, and more than anything, talking about it.  I think the content of her blog is similar to many conversations that we have in our dorm room.  They at least always share one thing in common: a blank look my eyes and total confusion on my part.  It should be known that despite Katie’s best efforts, I do NOT like anime.  I do however love my roommate, and I guess that includes the part of her that loves her Japanese friends with unusually large eyes and obnoxious voices.  So… go anime!?