Patriot Act

Relating to what we talked about today, this is a video about the Patriot Act and how it allows the government to detain people with no evidence that they have commited any crime. The man, Padilla, in the clip supposedly knew inside information about the 9/11 attacks. He was, therefore, taken into custody by the military without any evidence or announcing themselves. His lawyer was one of the last to know and was told she couldn't see him or talk to him on the phone. She could, however, write him, but there was no promise that he would get the letter or that they wouldn't read confidential communications between an attorney and her client.

This is an absolute invasion of privacy and I definitely would like to see this act abolished.

review for midterm

Midterm DMST 2200

social web/web 2.0
convergence
participatory culture
produsage
collective intelligence
free culture
control over internet
IP
Filtering
government
net neutrality
Google
ATT
Creative Commons
Patriot Act
EFF

Save the Internet

After spending a little time searching around the internet for websites on net neutrality, I came across a site that particularly interested me. Savetheinternet.com is a website designed to educate people on the importance of net neutrality. They have up-to-date stories on recent news related articles involving net neutrality. One of the more recent posts is about the government penalizing Comcast for invading net neutrality. Head over to this website to learn more about savetheinternet.com. They also include videos if you are interested in watching.

presentation schedule

9/30 Meghan Holly
10/2 Polina Portnaya
10/9 Dulce Saenz
10/14 Katrina Glover
10/16 Jonathan Foos
10/21 Alexi Herman
10/23 Taryn Hemmings
10/28 Anthony Stillitano
10/30 Leah Schwartz

Video on Net Neutrality

I thought this was a great video (made by 'Save the Internet.com') that promotes net neutrality and explains it in Layman's terms. It also makes some interesting points on the reality of this issue, like how big corporations tapped into the radio and cable/television industries, so it's probably only a matter of time before they jump on the internet too.

The Internet

Relating to the south park clip that Leah found. I also found another clip from the episode where the internet it gone. The speech that Stan's dad gives, relates to what we debated on in class on thursday. one of the things we discussed was how net neutrality would be a problem, and that is over usage, overcrowding of the servers, and i think he puts it in a perfect perspective for us.

so here it is

Verison Caught Censoring Texting Messages

I thought this was a good way to think of Net Neutrality. Making it little more simpler terms.


Click here to view video

Net Neutrality and Comcast

Here's an interesting read regarding net neutrality. It details some interesting views and bits of information that some of us might not have already known.

You can read about it here

Mean Harry Potter Spoilers

The spoiling going on in this homemade video clip is a type that I think completely crosses the line.  While the clip-makers call it a "prank" and although it isn't actually happening on the internet, I think it brings up an important point of spoiling information for people that do not want to see it.  I think the sites and blogs dedicated to spoiling are fine, because it is only the people who WANT to see/know and collaborate to ruin their own endings.  When it is forced on public that does not want to see it, it is truly unfair and wrong.  As I think people have the right to express themselves however they want, I also think people have the right to decide when and what they want to see.

Seeing something like this also makes me understand why some people in the Survivor's spoiler camp were upset that one blogger came in with so much information that he basically ruined their "game".  For a lot of them knowing everything wasn't really worth it, unless they could be part of figuring it out.

See the Harry Potter prank here.

A Producers View on Spoilers

I found this article posted by Entertainment Weekly which, instead of taking on the fan view like Jenkins, starts off with an example of Lost producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof when 2 of their season finale's were posted on the web.

From there, the article goes into different examples and views. Overall, it's a pretty interesting read with lots of industry insight.

South Park wants to get paid

I found this South Park video and i thought it was kind of funny. They put a YouTube video up and want to get paid for it.

Second Life

Last week we talked a little about second life, and we saw the video of Henry Jenkins as Dumbeldor. Here i have found a article about the Obama campaign and his second life presence. In second life Obama has a campaign headquarters. Avatars can pick up hats and t-shirts, and watch videos of Obama.

Also here is a ABC news feature on Obama's second life. There is a short tour of what the campaign headquarters is like, so check it out. 

Spoilers

Going off of Tuesday's reading, I found another reality tv show spoiler blog. This blog is a little different than the one we read about in Henry Jenkins book. One person writes the blog which recapped last week (including the judge's comments) and spoilers. On the left side of the page there are posts about everything American Idol. This is where you can leave your two cents.

You can link to the blog here.

Fan Nation in Web 2.0

This website has some many sport resources to look for. It includes articles and pictures from CNN and Sports Illustrated. When you create a account they have the ability to select their teams for each sport, then customize a news page based upon those teams.

Click here to view this website

A book on Produsage

I was searching around google and came upon this blog website. This guy is promoting a book that came out last November called The Produsage Revolution.

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-produsage-revolution-a-stellar-new-book/2007/11/15

Bloggers and News

The Web site http://jezebel.com (I am trying to make this into a link but it's not working!) seems to be a good example of blogging mixed with actual news and how well it can work. This site has a bunch of different contributors that write about all kinds of subjects from politics to women's rights to different humorous topics. I don't always like reading blogs, because sometimes I get annoyed reading someone's opinion or commentary, but in this case, I like that the writers/bloggers stories mostly include links to the "real" stories, so that you are able to read about what they are commenting about. 

Produsage

So i Totally found this web site and kind of explains how they get the word produsage

 

if you would like to read more click here

Science Blogging

This is a very interesting article about the rise of blogging within the science community. An effort is being made to make science blogs a more respected resource, as many upper-echelon scientists still believe that published articles are the necessity, not blogs. The fact that this issue is taking consideration just shows how big a part of our lives blogging and web 2.0 have become in our lives.

You can read about the issue here.

Web 2.0 in a Sonic Commercial

So I was YouTubing Sonic commercials (weird I know, but I just really like them), and I ended up finding one that I think perfectly exemplifies two of the topics that we discussed in class this week. The first is from the Introduction we read and the author’s call for the need of new terminology for Web 2.0 and everything else that goes with it. If you watch the commercial you will see the use of the term without any idea of what it means. Another thing that this clip evades to is the misuse of the term Web 2.0 by firms as a marketing tactic, when what they are doing is really not 2.0 at all. I thought this was just a very simple and humorous way to display Web 2.0 coming into our everyday lives.

Sonic Commercial

Web 2.0

This article tells you not only what Web 2.0 is, but how you can use it to network, publish information, and share your life stories. Under each subtitle there are links and a short summary about how you can use or apply each subtitle. For example, under the Publish and Disseminate Information subtitle there is a link to a site on how to easily publish your own RSS and how there is more than one way to create one.

McCainBloggette.com

Dulce Saenz

As a suggestion from our professor, I have begun to read the blogs posted by Meghan McCain on McCainBloggette.com. Regardless of my political affiliations, I find her blogs to be of great interest. The conversations she has with her audience are not necessarily vital or share relevance with great issues of our world today; however they do insight us into the lives of people just like ourselves. I use the word converse, because she talks and describes with such professionalism but at the same time uses a common tone that we can all relate to. It brings this political family to the American people by having access to their experiences, thoughts, and events. Meghan links us to household names we hear and see on television only, also providing us with many of the pictures taken during their tours.
As I continue reading these blogs, I find myself fascinated. The responses Meghan receives are of praise and one can tell her audience committed to reading her daily posts. I myself have gone to past dates those blogs. I am also equally concerned with the advantage the McCain family is gaining through McCainBloggette.com. Following her Meghan’s blogs are convenient for people because they can look them up whenever they have time. They remain available and because she uses a relatable tone, she is shooting up her fan club. I admire her skills and strategy to help her father out in his election because I do think it is very helpful. One question I do have, is I wonder what a realistic count of how many people follow Meghan McCain’s blogs?

Web 2.0

This week we've been talking about Web 2.0 and what it entails. I found this article by Frank Bell which was written in 2007 and published by Entrepreneur.com. In it, he gives a brief overview of what Web 2.0 is, what has gone in to "making" Web 2.0 and what the end result(s) have been. It's a very interesting article that kind of sums up everything we've been discussing.

Sports Devices: Another Area of Convergence

Nokia’s Sports Tractor that can be installed on the Nokia Cell phones. Now Nokia put out a web site to use with the application. People that run or walk can upload their activities onto a map on the website. You can keep tract of speed, distance, and other runners around you. This program has led Nokia to putting out some sport-theme phones.

http://www.ccsinsight.com/blog/?p=79

Popped Culture

Sticking with the themes of blogging and convergence culture from last week, I thought this was a really interesting site that combines blogging with news with pop culture with interactivity. The site is phillyBlurbs.com, and I found the "popped culture" section particularly interesting. Here, bloggers post videos and comments about recent events in the news and in pop culture. Some of the most recent posts have been about things like Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin on SNL, or the recent instances of people in animal costumes interrupting Hurricane Ike weather reports. (Some of the info is also more serious.) This site provides a great medium to be informed, but also contribute your own opinions. It is entertaining and very visual-orientated (which are some of my favorite qualities in a blog). http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/pop-culture

Economics and the Black Box

While looking for something on media convergence, I stumbled upon an article about the effects that America's current economic situation is having (or potentially could have) on the future of media and its products.  The author describes a recent study in which US broadband subscriber rates decreased by half in 2008 due to the recession.  While a steep decline in the broadband is made obvious through this study, the author also mentions how something like this will greatly affect sites like YouTube and Hula because using sites like these without broadband (mostly dial-up) will make you want to pull your hair out.  The speed at which dial-up operates simply cannot comply to sites like these, a slow in broadband sales is not good news.

Along with the fact that subscriptions to broadband have decreased dramatically, is that the US is already behind the rest of the world in broadband adoption (15th in the world according to the Phoenix Center).  This is a problem because broadband adoption is one of the best measurements of technological priorities, and a falling number indicates a falling priority for technology and the rest of the US.

According to this article congress has started to auction off part of the available spectrum for free broadband to try and steady the decline.

Here is the article link....

I don't know if any of you have heard about the website called ohmyNews. For you that haven't, here it is: http://english.ohmynews.com/. This is a open source website where their motto is "every citizen is the reporter", so any normal citizen can edit and post articles .

also going back to class where we talked about the social bookmarking known as del.icio.us, there is another social bookmarking site/ application that you can get on your web browser. Stumble. Stumble is different to delicious, because it is more of like an internet browsing tool. It is an application that is added to your browser or whatever, and when you click on the stumble icon it takes you to different websites. It is like delicious, because you can bookmark your pages and you can access your friends bookmarks etc. It is a pretty good time-waster as-well. 

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Another thing i found using stumble was a video on youtube about the future of communication, i thought was interesting, and it talks about alot of the stuff we discussed in class, so check it out. 

some convergence from a band site

On the band Web site for Nine Inch Nails (nin.com) I found some interesting ways that they use the Web and various other tools and display some aspects of convergence. Like most other band Web sites, they already have things like news, photos, and common stuff like that, but they added a section titled, Remix, where anyone can take existing Nine Inch Nails songs and remix them themselves. Fans are also able to post their remixed songs and rate the work of others. I think it's cool for a band to add something new and a little different to contribute to some ideas of what can be done. I was surprised that when you go into Itunes, you can find remixed versions of people's work under Podcasts. 

Something else that I found to be very interesting from the band was that while making one of their albums a little bit ago, they left USB drives with new songs for fans to find in random places such as a bathroom at a Nine Inch Nails concert. 

I think that all of these things create a community for fans and for the band both online and offline and I see it as being fairly useful for a variety of reasons. 

Seth MacFarlane's Advertising Job

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-11-n86.html


As a big fan of Family Guy, I've always kept tabs with what is going on in the series. But this is an interesting read about the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane's "Cavalcade of Comedy", which is a new series he's producing on the side. It's a pretty creative way of advertising; an ad plays before each "episode", which have various themes, but are in MacFarlane's trademark Family Guy style. The videos have been quite popular on youtube in the short time they've been released. I think it'll be interesting to see if the advertising works and MacFarlane continues the series or not.

convergence-divergence

I found a named Patrick Dixon who has tons of videos on YouTube which i haven't figured out how to put them up on there yet (sorry I'm not that smart) Anwho he's a speaker at convergence conferences and he some of the videos i found he talks about the reason we have so may "black box's because we don't believe in convergence and we have an emotional attachment to all these different products and there uses. He also talks about even though we dont believe in it, its happening all around us and everything that we do is about divergence. Setting ourselves apart form everyone else, how we can customize our "little black box's" so that we can still be individuals. As soon as i can figure this out 'll put some videos up.

Media Convergence

http://english.people.com.cn/200602/22/eng20060222_244785.html

I found this article on what China, specifically Gino Yu who is the chairman of Hong Kong's Digital Entertainment Association, thinks about media convergence while searching Digg.com. The article describes how Yu believes that by creating video game characters and plots and then turning those same characters and plots into movies, books, toys, etc. you will increase your overall profitability. Yu uses Star Wars as an example of good use of media convergence because of all the different media outlets they used, such as t-shirts, toys, and music.

Although this article doesn't talk about media convergence in the form of combining all the different delivery technologies "black boxes" into one. I like that it shows you that media convergence isn't just about combining all the different delivery technologies, but the forms of media (both electronic and non-electronic) too.

Henry Jenkins on YouTube

I found this video on YouTube of Henry Jenkins speaking to GOOGLE employees about convergence culture. Although the video is rather long (just short of an hour), it is an opportunity to hear Mr. Jenkins speak about his book and the ideas that went into it.

Like the video we saw in class, Mr. Jenkins is able to clearly make his points and use current events and technology to draw interest.

If you have an extra hour, I recommend watching it.

questions for Thurs. 9/11: Jenkins: Intro

What is convergence?

Where does it occur?

What’s the difference between and medium and a delivery technology?

What are 2 trends shaping US media. Why are they contradictory?

Does the phenomenon Jenkins describes resonate with your experience?

Syllabus

DMST 2200: Critical Approaches to Digital Media Fall 2008
Professor: Adrienne Russell
Sturm Hall Room 311 Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:50
Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:00-2:00 or by appointment
Office: Sturm Hall 212 Contact: adrienne.russell@du.edu
Course Blog: http://2200fall2008.blogspot.com/

This course introduces students to the historical, economic, social and behavioral context of the digital media with particular emphasis on the Social Web—the so-called web 2.0 technologies focused on social interaction and community.

The rapid growth of participatory culture online through, for example, interactive news sites, community boards, bookmarking, tagging, virtual worlds, gaming, IM, social networking, and blogging has significant social implications and brings up issues of privacy, intellectual property, and the nature of community and public engagement. This class will explore these issues as they manifest in various cases including politics, youth culture, activism, news and art. Particular emphasis will be placed on the question of how new media differs from mass media across various fields of cultural production (music, news, advertising, for example) and on what influence new digital products and practices might have on these industries and on cultures and societies more generally.

The objectives of this course are two-fold: 1) to become familiar with the various cultural, economic, and political forces that help shape the digital technologies and practices and that vie to determine its future; 2) develop analytical and theoretical tools to examine a specific Internet space, issue, topic, or phenomenon. The aim of this course is not simply to accumulate facts, but to develop analytical and theoretical tools to examine digital media products and practices. We will use two methods in our research. The first centers on our own observations. Students are encouraged to bring to class on a regular basis digital media artifacts that relate to the issues and ideas being covered in class. The second method is based on close reading of the assigned texts. Students are expected to have read the assigned chapters and articles before the class period for which they are scheduled to be discussed.

Classes will combine lectures, student presentations, and discussion. We'll conduct discussions both within the traditional classroom setting and on a course blog. Please remember that discussion is a way of helping you to see different sides of issues and to evaluate different arguments. It is essential in the development of your thinking that you participate in discussions and that you work to express your thoughts effectively.

REQUIRED BOOK
Henry Jenkins. Convergence Culture. NYU Press. 2006.

ORGANIZATION OF COURSE AND ASSIGNMENTS
Blog
You will receive an invitation via email to join our blog group. Please follow the directions in the email. This is not an extended discussion format as much as it is a graffiti wall and an ongoing exercise in collaborative linking. At least once a week by Sunday at midnight you must contribute to our blog a link and a short review (1 paragraph) of a site, article, art project, news story, or other resource relevant to that week's reading assignments. Also you are required to comment on at least 2 other blog posts each week.

Reading Responses
Each Thursday you will be asked to turn in a one-page typewritten response to the reading. This should include your reflections on the readings and questions and issues it raised. You need not reference all of the reading but your response should be informed by your grasp of the all of the material assigned for the week.

Presentation
In order to integrate diverse material into the course, each student will present in class a digital media product (an ad, a website, a video clip, an article, a video game etc.) and present it, explaining how it exemplifies, problematizes, or in some way helps illuminate an issue or idea that we are discussing in the course. The assignment is intentionally not strictly defined.

Here are a few guidelines to consider as you plan your presentation:
1) you must show a digital media product in class; 2) be prepared to talk to the class about how your media
product is related to a particular topic, issue, or theory; 3) consider preparing some questions for the class to encourage involvement in the analysis of your media product; 4) consider focusing on a media product you are particularly familiar with that others may not be (for example, if you are from a country other than the US presenting something from where you grew up, or if you are really into cell-phone ring-tones bring in your phone and some ideas about how ring-tones relate to the larger issues being addressed in the course); 5) be prepared to speak for at least 10 minutes and not longer than 20 minutes; 6) be absolutely sure to present on the day on which you signed up to present; 7) come talk to me or send me an email if you need help coming up with or refining an idea.

Exams
There will be two exams. They will be essay exams and you will be allowed to use any material you like to inform your work including consulting with classmates, the web, books, articles, email exchanges with your parents, whatever. You must, however, use your own words to craft the answers to the questions and you must do so in the time allotted for the exam.

Evaluation
Class discussion and participation 150
Blog (10 points each) 100
Reading responses (10 points each) 100
Presentation 50
Exams (100 points each) 200
Total possible points 600

ACADEMIC HONESTY
Please be honest in your work. You are expected to express your thoughts in your own
words and to use citations when using other people’s words or ideas. Any form of
dishonesty in this class will result in an F, either for the assignment or for the entire course, depending on the incident. If you have questions or are unsure about a particular practice, please ask me for help before you turn in the assignment in question.

course schedule

SCHEDULE
WEEK 1
T 9/9 | intro

TH 9/11 | where old and new intersect
Reading:
1. Jenkins intro.
Please find at least 3 blogs you like and 3 blogs you don’t like and be
prepared to discuss why.

WEEK 2
T 9/16 | what is the social web and where did it come from?
Reading:
1. Kelly, Kevin. Wired 13.08: We Are the Web. Wired News. 1 Jan 2005.

2. O’Reilly, Tim. What is Web 2.0

TH 9/18 | what is the social web and what can we do with it?
Reading:
1.List of social networking websites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
2. Bruns, Axel, Introduction, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage

WEEK 3
T 9/23 | who controls the internet: amateurs and code
Reading:
1. Jenkins ch 1
2. Lessig, Lawrence. Code is Law

TH 9/25 | who controls the internet: corporations (or what is net neutrality?)
Reading:
1. Manjoo, Farhad. The corporate toll on the Internet, Salon

2.Net-neutrality
3. NetNeutrality (what would happen)
4. Ask Ninja

WEEK 4
T 9/30 | who controls the internet: governments
Reading:
1.PBS Frontline: The Struggle to Control Information
2.OpenNet Initiative
About Filtering
Country Profiles
Filtering Map
3. Electronic Frontier Foundation resources:
The Patriot Act
Chilling Effects of Anti-Terrorism

TH 10/2 | who controls the internet: governments and corporations
Reading:
Lessig, Free Culture, introduction

WEEK 5
T 10/7| Exam

TH 10/9| kids: digital natives and helpless victims
Reading:
1. Jenkins 5
2. Livingston Intro (handout)

WEEK 6
T 10/14 | social networking and the meaning of friendship
Reading:
1. Boyd, Danah. Why Youth Heart Social Networks
2.Pew Internet and American Life project. Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview Jan. 7, 2007.
3. Pew Internet and American Life project. Teens, Privacy, and online social networks. April 18, 2007.

TH 10/16 | politics: new and old tools and practices
Reading/viewing:
1. New Media, Old Politics? MIT Communication Forum.
(in class)
2. Tryon, Chuck. ‘Why 2008 Won’t Be Like 1984’: Viral Videos and Presidential Politics. Flow.
3. Heffner, Alexander. YouTube Debates. CJR.



Sites to check out:

Rock the Vote
MoveOn
Campaign Ads
Meetup
Obama
McCain

WEEK 7
T 10/21 | pop and politics
Reading:
1) Jenkins 4
2) Jenkins 6

Sites to check out:
McCain Blogette
Political Remix
The Yes Men

TH 10/23 | transformation of cultural industries
Reading:
1. Jenkins 2
2. Jenkins 3

WEEK 8
T 10/28 | future of entertainment
Reading:
Anderson, Chris. The Long Tail
Quarterlife
Webtv
Watch an episode

TH 10/30 | news
Reading:
1. Jenkins Conclusion
2. Rosen, Jay. PressThink: The People Formerly Known as the Audience. Department of Journalism at New York University. 27 Jun 2006.
3.Diggnation

WEEK 9
T 11/4 |wikipedia debates
Reading:
1.Daniel Terdiman. Wikipedia Faces Growing Pains. Wired.
2.Chris Anderson. Jimmy Wales. Time. April 30, 2006
3.“Will Wikipedia Mean the End Of Traditional Encyclopedias?The Wall Street Journal Online invited Mr. Wales to discuss the topic with Dale Hoiberg, editor-in-chief of
Britannica. Sept 12 2006.


TH 11/6| future of the social web
Reading:
1. Cascio, Jamais. WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: The Rise of the Participatory Panopticon. 4 May 2005.
2. Googlezone
3. Anderson, Chris. Free

WEEK 10
T 11/11 | Review

TH 11/13 | Exam