QotW10: We All Deserve a Second Life

If you don’t already know what Second Life is, I think its time that you crawl out that ‘rock’ you live under, and check whether it is a real or virtual one.

Second Life (SL) is an Internet based virtual world developed by Linden Lab. ‘Residents’ can interact with each other in a virtual world with the use of avatars, which one can customize to suit their fancy. What makes SL revolutionary and different from other virtual communities is that SL has a virtual currency, the Linden Dollar (L$), which is exchangeable for US Dollars. The exchange rate is approximately L$250 for USD$1.

Although SL is usually compared to World of Warcraft (WOW), both virtual worlds are actually different dimensions of the play. Resembling the popular game ‘Sim City’, SL has a grow-your-own quality that appeals to its ‘residents’ (‘If Second Life isn’t a Game, what is it?’, 2007). WOW, on the other hand, offers objectives. Players have the ability to build up its characters. Once the characters reach the ultimate level (60), players can join with other players to raid dungeons or engage in massive rumbles against other guilds (‘World of Warcraft: Is it a game?’, 2007).

Still need a tell tale sign that SL is not a game? I just told you: users of WOW are called players, users of SL are known as ‘residents’.

So if SL is not a game, then what exactly is it? It is, quite literally, a second life. An intricate social network that, amazingly, is build upon two ingredients that, in another circumstance, would not go together: anonymity and trust. Using the Internet as a platform, ‘residents’ are allowed to do almost everything in the virtual world. Lessons are thought in virtual classrooms. Even concerts were held. Avatars of the members of the popular band, U2, were created and they rocked the stage in SL.

In actual fact, the only thing Linden Lab gives to its ‘residents’ is the land that the avatars walk upon or fly over. Unlike most of the other games that SL is compared to, the edge that SL has is that the contents in the game are build by the users. Need a house? You can actually build one yourself. Feel like carrying a piece while exploring? You can even make yourself a gun. ‘Residents’ spend a total of nearly 23,000 hours a day creating things (‘The Phony Economics of Second Life’, 2007).

The boundaries are pushed even further when ‘residents’ are allowed to purchase the items that are manufactured by other users. This means that SL has its own virtual economy. Anshe Chung, the main avatar of Ailin Graef, became the first millionaire on SL. She built an online business that engages in development, brokerage, and arbitrage of virtual land, items, and currencies to support an orphaned boy in a developing country in the real world (‘Anshe Chung’, 2007).

One would be mistaken if they saw SL as a game. One would argue that it is not a game because there are objectives involved. But more importantly, it is not a game because it is a reflection of our real lives. With SL, not only are the boundaries pushed, it might even be blurred. Give it a few years, I dare say it might be diminished.

Reference:

‘If Second Life isn’t a game, then what is it?’, K. Kalning, 2007

Retrieved on 5/04/07

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17538999/

‘World of Warcraft: Is it a game?’, S. Levy, n.d.

Retrieved on 5/04/07

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/

‘The Phony Economics of Second Life’, S. Raulph, 2007

Retrieved on 6/04/07

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/20/second_life_analysis/

‘Anshe Chung’, Wikipedia, 2007

Retrieved on 6/04/07

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anshe_Chung

QotW9: STOMP

Straits Times Online Mobile Print (STOMP) is an extension of Singapore’s main English-language newspaper, The Straits Times. It is a website setup by Singapore Press Holdings to attempt to deliver current affairs to the youth.

What makes Stomp different from The Straits Times is that the news that is featured on STOMP is not the work of professional journalist. Instead, STOMP promotes citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is the act of citizens ‘playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information (‘Citizen journalism’, 2007). Any layman, with a digital camera and a good enough command of grammar, can now be a journalist contributing to the good of many others. Moreover with the integration of cameras in everyday ‘essentials’ like the mobile phone, quite literally everyone can be a journalist. What this means is that wherever and whenever a newsworthy incident occurs, a ‘journalist’ is there. All the ‘journalist’ has to do to publish his or her article is to get on the Internet, log on to STOMP and information is ready to be shared.

On the other hand, there is a downside to this. Due to the liberal nature of the website and the entire idea of ‘citizen journalism’, a good amount of news that are published in STOMP can be deemed somewhat trivial. Ask yourself honestly; does an article of the indecent exposure of some random person’s butt cheeks take precedence over Sing Power’s $17 billion dollar buyout of an Australian firm?

Do not get me wrong. Personally, I do feel that citizen journalism is revolutionary and STOMP is a valiant attempt. But it could be a brilliant way to deliver citizen journalism that will interest the masses, not just for the youth.

We all know that the Singapore’s government, the People’s Action Party (PAP), has shares in Singapore Press Holdings. And we all have notions that the government practices the priming of information. But in the case for STOMP, I think that a kind of filter will actually do some good to achieve mass customization, disintermediation and media convergence ('We the Media', 2004).

STOMP is an online community of citizen journalist. One of the rules of how we should behave on the Internet is that we should respect each other people's time and bandwidth ('Netiquette', 1994). In saying that, some of the news articles that make it on STOMP may not be worthy. But who are we to say that which happenings are not important?
Ideally, the party who runs STOMP should be impartial, that is not prone to the influence of the government. Only then can we be assured that the news that is published is not messages that the government is feeding us.

To tackle the problem of what is deemed newsworthy, we should allow the public to decide. Categorizing the news published gives the reader options to what he or her wants to read.

It is amazing how information technology has evolved the passive reader to now have an active role. We can only hope that we can take advantage and thus, making us more informed.

____________________________________________________________

Reference:

Citizen Journalism
Retrieved on 30/3/2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

We the Media, Dan Gilmor, 2004
Retrieved on 29/3/2007
http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html

Netiquette, V.Shea, 1994
Retrieved on 29/3/2007
http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/internet/netiquet.htm

Technorati Profile

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QotW8: "Democracy"

We are all familiar with the blogger ‘mrbrown’. On the 30^th of June, 2006, mrbrown wrote an article criticising the government for its price increases following the Elections in his column of TODAY. The government was sore that ‘his opinions were circulated in a mainstream newspaper rather than on his blog, which has a much narrower and more limited audience’ (G,Giam 2006).

Tempted to pick a more popular and entertaining blog (www.mrbrown.com or www.talkingcock.com), I have decided instead, to write on Singapore Politics (http://singaporegovt.blogspot.com/). The author goes by the pseudonym Thrasymachus, whose occupation is, as expected, undisclosed. He merely states ‘thinker’. The first post is recorded on the 27^th of June, 2005 and is ranked 139,820 on Technorati.

It is easy to see that the author of Singapore Politics is pro government. In the post ‘The Argumentative Singaporean (Part 1) – PAP-Bashing with Reasoning’ dated December 14^th, 2006, Thrasymachus urges his readers to ‘engage in a thought process to see if regular qualms and criticism of PAP are justified.’ He goes on to say that the way the Singapore government reacted to the split decision of the people to go ahead with the IR, ‘is precisely how a democratic government should and would function’. He adds, “this is the true democracy at work, and in this aspect, PAP is democratic” (G,Giam 2006).

But can we truly claim that our beloved country is governed democratically?

Singapore has a land area of 697.2 square kilometers and a population of 4.5 million people (‘Singapore’, 2007). Needless to say, we are a small, and still very young, country. Our main, and only, television and radio broadcaster is owned by Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's wholly owned investment arm (‘MediaCorp’, 2007).

It seems that the only outlet for one to set his or her own agenda, to be publicly heard, is the Internet. Even then, we still see traces of the government’s attempt to appeal to the democratic-hungry public. In June of 2006, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), of which Temasek Holdings has share in, launched a new web portal, Straits Times Online Mobile Print, or STOMP. Local celebrities such as musician Maia Lee, blogger-turn-celebrities Dawn Yeo and XiaXue, and TV and radio presenters Jamie Yeo and Joe Agustine have been recruited to set up a blog in the government’s attempt to reach the youth of Singapore who spend most of the time on the Internet.

Interesting how the government has decided to set up a blog too. Some might call it reaching out to the entire mass. Some might deem it ‘insecurity’.

Be it television, radio, the newspaper, or the Internet, the information that we receive about what is going on within our country, is through government owned mediums. Singapore Politics is just an extension of the arm that embraces us. It is an illusion that we are involved in the politics of the country.

Before there can be full participation in democracy, individual citizens must see themselves as an important part of political life (A. Thornton 2002). To a certain extent, we do live in a democratic country. The democracy is controlled; a fake ‘democracy’.

Imagine if we lived in a truly democratic country; a small country, divided by our beliefs. Would National Service still be compulsory? Would we still be that small, but powerful country? Would the 1964 racial riots be repeated?

So for the Elections, I rather the ‘devil’ we already know, than the ‘devil’ that we do not know.

________________________________________________________

Reference:

'Review - The Politics of Singapore's New Media' by Gerald Giam 2006
Retrieved on 22/03/07
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/

MediaCorp
Retrieved on 23/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaCorp_Singapore

Singapore
Retrieved on 23/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore#Demographics

“Does the Internet create Democracy?” by Alinta Thornton (2002)
Retrieved on 22/03/07
http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/

QotW7: Twitter.com

www.twitter.com is the newest craze on the Internet. It is a social networking site that allows you to update it using different kinds of media. You deliver updates through its website, www.twitter.com, over instant messaging or by Short Messaging Service (SMS) from your mobile phone.

By making it more accessible, Twitter.com allows users to update their profiles at the point of time when he or she is experiencing it. For example, I could be out shopping and I can update my Twitter profile, describing what I am about to buy, while standing in line to pay for it.

Imagine Friendster, blogging and instant messaging all in one website.

Now the question of the week: is Twitter.com an online community? I believe it is. Wikipedia states that an online community is a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet (‘Virtual Community’, 2007). Containing the following elements: social interaction, a shared value system and a shared symbol system, Twitter.com belongs to one of the four realms of community, the social realm. It encompasses social interaction, solidarity and both individual and institutional interaction (Fernback and Thompson, 1995).

Social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between individuals, or groups, who modify their actions and reactions according to the actions by their interaction partners (‘Social Interaction, 2007). By posting a question or a comment open for discussion on your profile on Twitter.com, it allows social interaction take place. One might want to add their two cents worth by replying your question or by disagreeing strongly with it. For whatever reason, the ability to give feedback can allow social interaction to develop from an accidental one to a regulated interaction.

Signing up for Twitter was part of my assignment for my COM125 class. Along with me, about fifty others had to do it. Inevitably, all my friends on my Twitter profile are my classmates. So naturally, work from school would be our primary interest. This is a form of solidarity as this is a community of responsibilities and interest.

Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) is a revolutionary way for humans to communicate with each other. One of the characteristics of CMC is that communication can be effected one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many. This allows me to communicate with one classmate individually, or have a discussion on a certain topic with many classmates simultaneously on Twitter.

While online or virtual communities claim to be free, fun and open to anyone, there is a certain degree of privacy about it. Who we are, as private individuals, constitutes our membership to certain communities (Fernback and Thompson, 1995). Take the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for example. One would have to be a homosexual if he or she wanted a sense of belonging in a homosexual channel, as they need to contribute in order for that particular ‘gay’ channel to thrive. A person who is not homosexual will, naturally, not enter that channel.

Twitter is no exception. Unlike Friendster, you are not allowed to see the list of friends on your friend’s profile. You are secluded to the people you are close enough to know their email address. In other words, Twitter.com is not a ‘making more friends’ network. It is a ‘make better friends’ network.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Reference:

Virtual Community
Retrieved on 16/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community

'Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?', Fernback and Thompson, 1995
Retrieved on 16/03/07
http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Social Interaction
Retrieved on 16/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_interaction

QotW6: It ain't easy being Britney

Like it or not, we are being watched. Every move, every phone call, every online interaction or transaction we make, you can be sure that someone is paying a certain amount of attention to it. If you recall, there was a case in Singapore where a man was charged with indecent exposure for walking around naked in the privacy of his own home. Which leads to my next question: how much detail of our personal lives can we expose?

So how would you deem a person who makes a living, and enjoys, invading someone else’s privacy? Despicable? The paparazzi are photographers who take candid photographs of celebrities. This means that the paparazzi usually shadow the celebrity in public, while they are doing their private activities (‘Paparazzi’, 2007).

Imagine a swarm of cameras going off when you accidentally expose a little of your bum-crack while bending over to comfort your child after she a fall. And the next thing you know, a private moment between parent and child is plastered all over newspaper and magazine tabloids. To make it worse, there are tabloid websites to reach interested parties where the magazines and newspapers cannot. www.perezhilton.com is an example of such a website. On February 19, 2007, www.perezhilton.com served over 4.75 million visitors in a 24-hour period. This was credited to the article of pop icon Britney Spears shaving her head and admitting herself in to rehab (‘Perez Hilton’, 2007). The author of the blog, Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., posts gossip items on a variety of celebrities. His posts are usually delivered with an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek and sometimes even cruel slant (‘Perez Hilton’, 2007).

A picture of Britney Spears shaving her head found on www.perezhilton.com.

On the other end of the spectrum, the pursuit of the paparazzi may be fatal. Paparazzi photographers had pursued Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed after leaving the Ritz Hotel for Fayed's apartment (“Diana: Princes ‘disgusted’ with paparazzi”, 2006). Moreover, the driver, Henri Paul, was drunk at the time of the accident, as blood test later verified. Henri Paul driving at a high speed, and recklessly, in order to evade the cameras of the paparazzi. This led to the fatal accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. Even as the paramedics were trying to revive her, the paparazzi took pictures of the Princess slumped in the back seat while a paramedic attempts to fit an oxygen mask over her face (‘Diana, Princess of Wales’, 2007).

Why have celebrities been the targets for such invasion of privacy? According to Daniel Boorstin, celebrities are ‘neither good nor bad’ (Rosen, 2004), regardless whether they were caught on camera having done good or otherwise. This ‘human pseudo-event’ of being ‘morally neutral’ has been ‘fabricated on purpose to satisfy our exaggerated expectations of human greatness’ (Rosen, 2004). It is inevitable that the rest of the human race will be interested to see human greatness fall. If and when these celebrities they slip off their pedestal by getting arrested for drug abuse or picking their nose in public, be sure that the paparazzi will be there, fingers ready to snap.

______________________________________________________________

Reference:

Paparazzi
Retrieved on 09/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paparazzi

Perez Hilton
Retrieved on 09/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perez_Hilton#.22Outing.22_celebrities

Diana: Princes ‘Disgusted’ With Paparazzi, 2006
Retrieved on 10/03/07
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/14/diana.report.princes/index.html

Diana, Princess of Wales
Retrieved on 10/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Diana#Death

The Naked Crowd, J. Rosen, 2004
Retrieved on 10/03/07
http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

ZR3ST5

Ladies & Gents, introducing the talent that is Adam Wang, aka 0365 (ZR3ST5).

ZR3ST5 is a shoe design which customizes the designs to the liking of the purchaser.
In other words, you tell him what you want on the shoe, he'll draw it on with graphics.

Click on the images for a larger and clearer image.
To see more of his work, please go to www.zero3sixty5.com/portfolio.html
Feel free to email him or call him. Trust me, he's pretty harmless and friendly.

I'll shan't use words to cheapen the amazing work, instead, I'll just show it to you:

QotW5: Who are you? Seriously?

As everyone knows, a blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order (‘Blogs’, 2007). The blogging community is an ever-growing population. As November 2006, there are nearly 60 million blogs worldwide. And with any Tom, Dick or Harry around the world, setting up blogs every other day, its inevitable that one blog will stand out amongst others. More so, the Internet allows that particular blog to be viewed from any part of the world.

In order for all of us to relate, let us narrow it down to a blog from Singapore and explore how a chosen identity establishes reputation. Forget Dawn Yeo’s www.xanga.com/clapbangkiss or Wendy Cheng’s www.xiaxue.blogspot.com, whose popularity and reputation have been aided, or marred, by the tabloids and local television shows respectively.

www.xanga.com/eleventhour is one of the most prominent blogs in Singapore, without the publicity of the media. In other words, Eleventhour’s popularity is by word of mouth. Friends or viewers of the blog will make enquiries from where is the best place to buy the latest fashion accessories, to questions like what brand of camera she uses for her collages.

Eleventhour’s blog entries include images of her partying with her friends at exclusive parties, wearing the latest in the fashion trend, thus enforcing her reputation as a ‘party animal’ and fashionista. In order for an online community to thrive, knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for understanding and evaluating an interaction (Donath, 1996), and identity definition aids the motivation to contribute within an online community. A few of the factors that motivate contribution are reciprocity, reputation, a sense of efficacy, the need of information, and attachment to a group (Kollock, n.d.).

Like many other blogs, www.xanga.com/eleventhour has a tagboard (marked with the red square). A tagboard, shoutbox, saybox, or chatterbox is a chat-like feature of some websites that allows people to quickly leave messages on the website, generally without any form of user registration (‘Shoutbox’, 2007). Though convenient for communication, it is also an easy way for identity thieves to prey on their next victim. Mainly due to the fact that one does not need to register before using a tagboard, identities of reputable people can be assumed easily. This means that an identity thief can pose as a trusted member of a certain community and obtain personal information from others. Fundamentally, it is similar to using your friend’s mobile to communicate with his ‘hot’ friend, to obtain information about her.

This is just an example of how the public reacts to the comment of someone who has a reputable identity:

anonymous:
which site do you get ur fonts from for photoshop? I can't find pretty fonts for my photoshop texts :(

charme:
anon>> u can try www.dafont.com. i go mad downloading fonts there!

anonymous:
thanks for the tip, i just found the exact font that i was looking for

In this scenario, ‘anonymous’ posed a question for ‘charme’, the owner of www.xanga.com/eleventhour. I assumed the identity of ‘charme’ and offered her the advice that she needed. ‘Anonymous’ heeds the advice and assumes that ‘charme’ is truly the owner of the blog. What do you think would happen if someone with malicious intent, posing as ‘charme’, asked for the identity card numbers of the readers of the blog?

Victims of identity theft spend an average of 600 hours recovering from this crime and they struggle with the after-effects of it which includes increased insurance or credit-card fees and higher interest rates (‘Hooked on Phishing’, n.d.).

So what can be done to stop, or at least curb, this new breed of criminals? There is only so much that technology and the government can do. It basically starts with the individual. One can practice destroying credit card statements and other documents that contain private financial information or receipts from the ATM or purchases using the credit card ('10 ways to stop identity theft cold', n.d.)

One will be wiser knowing that leaving your ATM receipt on the coffee shop table or casually throwing it on the floor may not just cost you a fine and corrective work order. It might cost you your life savings.

_______________________________________________________________

Reference:

Blogs
Retrived on 20/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

‘The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace’ n.d.
Retrieved on 07/02/07
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Shoutbox
Retrived on 20/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoutbox

Hooked on Phishing
Retrived on 18/02/07
http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/04/29/cz_0429oxan_identitytheft.html

10 ways to stop identity theft cold
Retrived on 19/02/07
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/FinancialPrivacy/P33715.asp

QotW4: Gift Economy

At this day and age, where participants of the rat race have adopted a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality, the idea of a community in which a person goes out of his or her way to lend a helping hand, for the simple reason that it might be offered back when in need, may be a little hard to digest. But all we have to do is to look into cyberspace and realize that there is hope and opportunity to repent our selfish ways.

A gift economy exist when help and information is offered without the expectation of any direct, immediate quid-pro-quo (Kollock, n.d.). Because a gift economy usually occurs over the Internet, the benefits of it come from improving the ‘technology of social relations’ (Kollock, n.d.). In this essay, we will explore an example of a gift economy and why it is considered one.

“This music is the glue of the World - it holds it all together. Without this, life would be meaningless.” – Empire Records.

Ask any musician in Singapore where is the best place to find a community of local musicians, chances are, S.O.F.T., www.soft.com.sg, will be the general reply. S.O.F.T. is an online community dedicated to the local music industry. It is a platform where music lovers, musician, music teachers, instrument dealers and event organizers come together to share knowledge on various subjects and spread their information to fellow users.

One example of how a gift economy is evident here is that S.O.F.T. has the ability to reduce the cost of contributing to the production of a public good in numerous ways (Kollock, n.d.). Since information is considered a public good (Benklar, 2003), the ability to share information and help via forums helps reduce cost considerably as compared to seeking help from a professional. For example, a user, AEnimic, posted a question on the forum requesting help on how to compose a harmonized solo. Lessons from a professional guitar instructor will cost easily over a hundred dollars a month. With the use of S.O.F.T., one can receive help without having to pay for it. Other users offer their two-cents worth through the forum, thus, offering help and information. By placing the information on the Internet, it does not only benefit the person who asked the question, but also other users or readers who happen to have the same problem.

‘Jamming’ is a term where musicians gather and play their instruments without extensive preparation and predefined arrangements (‘Jamming’, 2007). It used to require musicians to be at one place physically. But users of S.O.F.T. have come up with an ingenious idea of ‘jamming’ through the forums. One will upload a tune, which is available for downloading, and users who are interested in contributing to the forum, can download the tune, record a solo to that tune, upload it and allow other users to critique.

Why do I even bother?

You might wonder what motivates people to contribute. One reason could be that by offering help to a fellow musician, one can hope for reciprocity. Also, if each person contributes freely, the S.O.F.T. community will have ‘access to information and advice that no single person can match’. This might encourage other users to contribute and in turn, add on to one of the features that a successful online community requires: an ongoing interaction (Kollock, n.d.).

Reviews of instruments can also be found on the website. Users can give a review of a particular instrument for other users to learn more of. For other users to take the review seriously, a reputation of one who gives high quality information must be obtained. Increase in the number of contributions might add to the reputation of a user as more people might recognize the person’s contribution. Identity persistence is needed in order for this to be possible (Kollock, n.d.). Making sure contributions are visible and that contributors are recognized for the efforts is another structural feature that might be advantageous in building up a good reputation.

Conclusion

S.O.F.T. is not only a common, but it is also a public good. Consumption of the information found on www.soft.com.sg by one individual does not reduce the amount of information, which is available for the consumption of others (‘Public good’, 2007). One can agree that with the gift economy so evident on websites today, the glue is only getting stronger.

____________________________________________________________

Reference:

‘The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace’ n.d.
Retrieved on 07/02/07
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

‘The Political Economy of Commons’, 2003.
Retrived on 07/02/07
http://www.upgrade-cepis.org/issues/2003/3/up4-3Benkler.pdf

Jamming
Retrieved on 08/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam_session

Public good
Retrieved on 08/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good

Who needs Copyright anyway?

Madonna is a pop icon with hits like ‘Like a virgin’ and ‘Vogue’. Renowned Hollywood director, Steven Spielberg, has movies like ‘E.T.’ and ‘Catch me if you can’ to boast about. Rock legends, The Eagles, are known for classics like ‘Hotel California’ and ‘Tequila Sunrise’. These people have one thing in common: they are professionals. They make their living, be it singing or directing, with their God-given talents for their fans to appreciate. And Copyright makes that possible.

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information (“Copyright”, 2007) over a certain amount of time. It’s a point where creativity and business meet. “The purpose of these laws is to ultimately by promoting learning and knowledge” (Ovalle, 2005). What this means is that instead of inventing something that has already been created, copyright forces one to come up with something better. You could call it a friendly competition.

The copyright laws protect the creators as well. It gives the creator or inventor the rights ‘to the reproduction of the work, preparation of the derivative works, and the distribution of the copies’ (Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions, 2004). In short, the copyright law gives the creator ownership of his or her creation. In 1998, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Act was passed by the American Congress, which extended the term by 20 years. This meant that the copyright over works owned by their creators would now last the life of the creator, and an additional 70 years (Manjoo F, n.d.).

But the age-old issue with artist, musicians alike is the argument that copyrights, in one way or another, stifle creativity. There have been countless debates about this issue and the lines are still somewhat blurred. Copyright owners jump at the opportunity to exercise their right and take legal action to those who, unintentionally or otherwise, cross that line. One example is when rap group, 2 Live Crew, wanted to make a parody of a song, ‘Pretty Woman’, by Roy Orbison. Despite refusal of permission to use the song, they stubbornly published the parody and ‘exploited it commercially in a nationally distributed album’ (Music and Copyright, n.d.). Thankfully, though a little too late for 2 Live Crew, some compromises have been made.

One of them is Fair Use. ‘Fair use is a doctrine in United States Copyright Law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review’ (‘Fair Use’, 2007). Again, the line that separates commercial use and educational purposes is still not clear. Hence, Fair Use has come up with four parameters to eliminate the possibility of copyright law infringement due to ignorance.

But in 2001, the gap between creativity and copyright law was bridged with the launch of Creative Commons (CC). CC is a non-profit organization that has released several copyright licenses, known as Creative Common Licenses, which restrict only certain rights (or none) of the work (‘Creative Commons’, 2007). In other words, instead of stating ‘All rights Reserved’, CC allows owners of materials to have ‘Some rights Reserved’. What this means is that there is royalty-free work available for other creative minds to work and build on. One other organization also allows the dissemination of royalty-free material is Getty Images. They provide photos and illustrations that are royalty-free for designers to design without worry that they might be slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Even with the aid of Fair Use and CC, a big problem lies with the public. Fines have been imposed, prices of music have been cut down, big Hollywood stars have urged us to stop, but piracy is still an ongoing problem. Downloading of music and movies is considered piracy and an infringement of the copyright laws as it provides pecuniary gain and displaces potential gains (Brady K, 2004). Music labels against downloading seem to be fighting a losing battle.

But does the downloading of music and movies put the creator, or copyright owner, at a disadvantage? Studies have shown that up to 75% of all artists actually profit from file sharing. There are a few explanations on why this is happening. One explanation is that pirates save money by downloading the music of highly popular artists, thus leaving them more money to buy albums of less popular artists. Another is that the downloading allows the public to sample the music. If they like what they hear, they will buy probably buy the rest of the album. Downloading also acts as a form of advertising for the artist (Why most artist profit from piracy, 2006).

It seems like the only thing we can do to stop piracy is to try to change the mindsets of both parties. Artist and copyright owners should realize that downloading does not necessarily ‘hurt’ them. Instead of banking in on the public buying the music that they put out in stores, they could embrace the downloading and look at it as ‘advertising’ for the concerts. They could make the singles available for download to generate a greater interest for the desired artist.

On the other hand, the public should not take advantage of the situation. They should adopt the mindset that copyright laws are there to protect the interest of other human beings that are trying to make living; just like them.

Copyright is just protection of a skill that most of us possess: imagination. One might argue that if Shakespeare’s heirs had copyright over Romeo & Juliet, would West Side Story be made? But on the hand, without copyright, would Bono, of U2, be the humanitarian that he is today?

______________________________________________________________

Reference

Copyright
Retrieved on 01/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

An introduction to Copyright,
Retrieved on 01/02/07
http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/%7Ei312co/2.php

Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions
Retrieved on 31/01/07
http://users.goldengate.net/%7Ekbrady/copyright.html

The mouse who would be king
Retrieved on 31/01/07
http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2004/04/08/copyright_culture/index.html

Music and Copyright
Retrieved on 02/02/07
http://publishing.wsu.edu/copyright/music_copyright/

Fair Use
Retrieved on 01/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Creative Commons
Retrieved on 02/02/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

Why most artist profit from piracy
Retrieved on 02/02/07
http://torrentfreak.com/why-most-artists-profit-from-piracy/

COM 125 Week 2: Email

The invention of the email was credited to Ray Tomlinson. He was a scientist that was hired by the United States Department of Defense to develop a ‘computer network, which allowed general communication between users of various computers’, commonly known as Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET (The Invention of Email, 1998).

He wanted to be able to send a message, through the ARPANET, to the other 15 nodes, which were located all over the United States. In 1972, he decided to use the @ symbol to ensure that the message sent over the network, was received by the intended recipient. It was simply saying that the message sent was for ‘name-of-recipient@name-of-computer’ (The History of Email, 2004).

This development proved to be extremely popular. A study held found that 75% of traffic on the ARPANET was email. It was something ‘ordinary people all over the world wanted to use’ (The History of Email, 1998). With the invention of other packet switch networks such as UUCP, Usenet and ‘the first international packet switched network’ (Wikipedia, ARPANET, 2006), X.25, this meant that emails could be sent all over the world.

With the invention of the Internet and the email, globalization inevitably takes place. It is as easy to ask about the well being of a relative, half way across the world, as asking your neighbour how his day was.

The email become more than just messages sent over the Internet. From the business aspect, markets ‘that used to be limited to one country or continent’ (Online Globalization: Swim or Sink, 2000), can now be tapped into by a businessman working from the comforts of his own bedroom, in another country. Businesses, big or small, can now advertise, communicate or trade through emails and the Internet.

The email and Internet has introduced new forms of communication. It forces countries, and its people, to develop hand in hand with technology to open different forms of media to communicate (New Media & Globalization in the Internet Age). Sending messages through emails have paved the way for Instant Messaging (IM). Since its appearance in the 1970’s (Wikipedia, Instant Messaging), development of technology in IM has brought us from multi-user systems such as UNIX in the 1970’s, to Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and ICQ in the 1990’s, and now, to popular IM protocols like MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger (Wikipedia, Instant Messaging). Other IM services include AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Google Talk, iChat, Jabber and Skype.

While emailing is seen as more for business use, IM is a less formal way of communication. MSN Messenger allows one peer to not only engage in a real time conversation with another peer, but also offers functions for both audio and video conferencing, online games, and an ability to transfer files of any size. Functions such as ‘emoticons’, allows an individual to personalize or inject a sense of humor into a message. And since the best form of communication is one that allows interactivity with as little time lapse as possible, IM is the closest one can get without having a conversation face to face (COM 101, Field of Communication).

Surfing the ‘world wide web’, emailing and IM does not confine an individual to a desktop. With the introduction of the mobile web, users now have an added advantage: the ability to access the world in the palm of his hand. This meant that you could be on the move, at any place in time, and would be able to check your emails, receive faxes (Wikipedia, Mobile Web), and check the latest soccer scores on the Internet via your mobile phone.

The first Internet technology to ‘cross over’ to the mobile web technology was the blog. Bloggers were able to publish an entry from their mobile phones thus, allowing readers to access the desired blogs through the mobile web. Hence the term, Moblog. The ‘first post to the Internet from an ordinary mobile device’ was by Tom Vilmer from Denmark in May 2000 (Wikipedia, Moblog).

Companies can now customize their website for mobile web use with the introduction of new website creating programs such as Macromedia’s Flash Lite. This program ‘enables the production of user interfaces customized for mobile devices’ (Wikipedia, Mobile Web).

With advances in technology of the Internet, IM and emails, access to the world is made easier, the language barrier is no longer an issue and the world is now not as big as we think.

_________________________________________________________________

Reference

The Invention of the Email (1998)
Retrieved on 25th January 2007
www.econ.berkeley.edu/~bhhall/e124/e124emailinvention.pdf

The History of Email (2004)
Retrived on 25th January 2007
www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html

Advanced Research Project Agency Network.
Retrieved on 25th January 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET

Online Globalization: Swim or Sink (2000)
Retrieved on 27th January 2007
www.glreach.com/eng/ed/art/rep-eur22.php3

New Media & Globalization in the Internet Age
Retrieved on 27th January 2007
www.mevic.org/keynote.html

Instant Messaging
Retrieved on 26th January 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messaging

Mobile Web
Retrieved on 26th January 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_web

Moblog
Retrieved on 27th January 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moblog

The thought of making some 'coffee money' from this never crossed my mind.
Trust me, I'm no business man.
My entrepreneurial spirit = zilch.

I just thought there should be a system that will help the students who are not from Singapore, or those who are paying for their own education.
I'm sure Mr. Ho Viet Hai (kudos to, by the way) had the same intentions when he started the same thing.

Just one question, how do you put media stuff on your blog? e.g. videos, music.
Do you need to upload it on the net first?
Help! Please! Anyone...

Give me a C! Give me an I! What does it spell?!

I want to try something to do with CI.

Here are a few suggestions:

1) 2nd Hand Book Store

The textbooks here are pretty expensive. On one hand, there are people who want to buy the book but realise that they need it for just 1 semester. On the other hand, there are those who have blown all their money on this course and have forgotten all about the textbooks.

There are people who want to sell their used textbooks but its all hand-written and pinned onto a cork board in the student lounge. Real messy.

So how bout something like a forum? Where books are catergorised, prices are neatly labeled, contact numbers screaming out at you. All you have to do is type the book you want in the search engine and voila, results. Sorta like National Library Board meets Ebay.

2) Music

Have you ever listened to a song and wish you knew what it meant?

I've seen a website like that before.

But maybe we could go a few steps further? Maybe while looking up a meaning of a song, you're suddenly inspired to form a band. All you need now are talented musicians. You click a link that brings you to a page where there are contacts of people who think they can shred a guitar to bits, or have more octaves in their voice than Mariah Carey, or someone who can play a mean triangle. You can take their number down, arrange to meet at a void deck somewhere and let creativity flow.

Job offers to play at bars/pubs/private functions could also be posted?
Recommandations of songs?
Recommandations of guitars, jamming studios, bands?

Will come up with more soon. But these are just off the top of my head.

Ladies & Gentlemen, this is the Blogtopus...

Long time reader of blogs, first time blogger.


It has never occurred to me to start a blog. Something about giving the world access to my private life just doesn't go down well with me.
Same thing with Friendster. I don't need a website to remind me how many friends I have.

So on a Tuesday afternoon, after a 1.5 hour long lecture with a Mr. Kevin Lim, I decided that it would be wise for me academically (if i do not comply, I'd probably fail) to start up a blog, just to try out something new.
It won't hurt, will it?

It could be fun.
Correction: It WILL be fun.

So Blogtopus is just a persona.
Jonathan Jason Yip is just a name.
1983 is just a date.
Music is just an interest.

But Media is the key.