Writing Assignment 13: Government 2.0?

So the question from Slashdot was "With the announcement that President-Elect Obama will record his weekly address as a YouTube video to be posted at Change.gov, questions arise as to how an Internet-fueled candidacy based in part on a platform of government openness can begin to use technology to make government transparent. Aside from popular Slashdot policies, such as Net Neutrality, how do you think government (either in the United States or elsewhere) can best utilize technology to engage the public and make government more transparent and accessible?"

I think this is something that creates a wide array of different emotion. This is something that has never been tried before and I think that’s a good thing. If Barack Obama is viewed as an advocate for change, well this is a good start. When you think about what people expect from Obama it’s an over abundance of change that they’re looking for. This is a time to embrace every alternative and view it as a possibility instead of disregarding it because it’s different. A reason that things haven’t changed much I think is derived from a certain amount of fear that, we don’t know what will happen if we go down that road, but what if it does work out?

I don’t believe that all aspects of government should be transparent but, some aspects should be and either way I think the public should be more involved than they are. I think the public should involve themselves more than they are and I think the public should be portrayed as more involved than they are at times. The government could include the public more by the utilization of our current technology as Obama intends to. Open the floor to discussion via Email, Instant Messenger, etc., obviously screening inappropriate material proposed that may be proposed by some but, get that immediate feedback. Know what the people want by listening to them. So what do you think this suggestion or plan of action of Obama’s will do, to record his weekly address as a YouTube video? If anything he’s going to by reaching a whole other demographic who can view him whenever, post a comment for or against something they’ve heard. This could really start something if you think about the anonymity of the associated users and the element of fear or ridicule removed from speaking one’s mind truthfully and honestly. This is a whole other ballpark.

Now if this is the beginning of a trend , then so be it. If this is an approach that President-Elect Barack Obama wants to take, It’s okay by me. I trust the fact that if this man whom is about to lead our country wants to utilize our communication technologies to help us not to hurt us. Another view of this is , think about what it could do for the telecommunications industry. It may push them to strive for requirements for future communication devices to a higher standard. “Trying to keep up with time”, and it may improve the quality of many things that are already thought to be high quality. This concept of the use of YouTube may also mandate that internet have a more efficient connection and streaming of material. Quicker, faster. That’s where we are now, where will we be.

Hey either way, no matter what happens, I’m rooting for this to work. I’m rooting for Obama to succeed. I think it’s time that we begin to embrace and support rather than degrade and put down the differences between us. I think that Barack Obama is that difference, he knows that and that’s what he’s attacking. It’s a cause for hope and hope for change.

Writing Assignment 11: Internet Gaming and Virtual Worlds

I would have to say that the concept of these virtual communities an interesting one. Who would have ever thought that something as simple of a concept could be so appealing to so many individuals. If I’m not mistaken, second life is a simulation of an economy within society. And from the article in Newsweek, Joi Ito said, “Yes, it's just a game, The way that the real world is a game." So basically he’s saying that virtual worlds are simulated forms of real-life, as real-life is a game. Does anything sound wrong about that or is this a good tool to see how people may actually be within a society when there is anonymity and an allowance for the bending of rules when the consequences aren’t real for acts of misbehavior. I don’t know maybe my perception of the virtual worlds is unclear, the article about the rape in cyberspace was like reading Greek to me and I just couldn’t follow who was who and, I don’t know.

Anyway, the fact that it seems as though people are spending so much time on the programs is that it appears to distort their perceptions of what’s real or tangible and what’s not; this is pure insanity. How are these games so appealing that people won’t even get up to eat? Like in “The Unreal Estate Boom” article where the man paid “real” money for an imaginary house and property, WTF. The article said he spent more than a week’s earning of wages from his actual (real) job to make this purchase. I would say that this is a major intersection of where real-life and “virtual” economies have crossed. Part of an example within a search for virtual economy on Wikipedia was that an attorney was banned from second life in 2007, this guy sued the developers on the basis of, “depriving him of his land” keep in mind this is imaginary land.

However, Edward Castronova, is an economist at Indiana University in Bloomington, whose interests now are mainly in creating such economies for experimentation purposes. His latest is a simulated world known as “Arden”. Arden’s purpose is to run economic experiments. Basically, it’s to develop an economy and incorporate aspects of the real world, such as inflation and aspects of supply and demand.

The purpose of these experiments are to test the affects of how laws will influence individual behavior, and also to test new forms or assumptions of marketing theory. I think Castronova is heading in the right direction and the “virtual” economies are something novel and there’s a need for them to be dissected, analyzed and interpreted. This is something that can benefit us but we need the reasons, we needs reasons as to why these virtual worlds are found to be so appealing, what is it that makes individual users act in certain ways when it comes to involving themselves. Is it the fact that it’s something to just take up time or that its fun? Or is it the society has become individualized into practicing these games or virtual worlds secluded and distancing that real life contact or face-to-face interaction that appears to be dwindling away in the coming generations. Either way, this is something that requires the devotion of research to obtain a better understanding what really occurs with the usage of these "virtual" worlds in relation to the human psyche.

References:

Dibbell, J. (January 2oo3). The Unreal Estate Boom. Retrieved 4 November, 2008, from Wired Web site: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/gaming.html

Levy, S. (2008). World of Warcraft: Is It a Game? Retrieved 4 November, 2008, from MSNBC Web site: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098

Writing Assignment 10: Journalism

The first article I have here is regarding a major case in the buffalo area involving an attorney who is the defendant in a hit and run case in the south towns and the article is from the Buffalo News. It seems to be pretty significant in the media right now for the local area and the verdict of the case is awaited however, there has been no decision made yet due to the fact that the defendant has already pleaded guilty and the judge has yet to sentence the defendant. To describe the article there isn’t much of an appeal, just the specifics regarding the defendant and his actions in text-based form and other than that there is a picture of the defendant in the courtroom. Overall, it’s pretty basic of what you would expect to find in a newspaper article.

The other source for the basis of this assignment is from CNNPolitics.com. the topic of this article is over the fact that right now Barack Obama is holding onto the national advantage. Basically its stating that currently Obama seems to have the nation pushing for him to win the November election for President. With this article though, I found to be a little more interesting. On the web page itself there are numerous photos, not just one photo pertaining to the topic as well as supplemental video footage. There was a choice of seven different video clips to help portray the topic of the article. There are a few more options as well, one of which was the ability to email the article to a friend and share the material immediately upon viewing the material. You can blog to comment on the material or to debate. There were also links to different sites allowing you to educate yourself further at an instant to help create your own perception of the presented material instead of the sole view of the author. From Gillmor regarding internet news,

“I realized I was getting a better overall report than anyone watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a news­paper in the United States. It was more complete, more varied. In effect, I’d rolled my own news. It was a convergence of old and new media, but the newest component was my own tinkering to create my own news “product”—a compilation of the best material I could find. It was a pale imitation of what we’ll be able to do as the tools become more sophisticated, but it worked. “(2004).

Although the content of each of these articles are at opposite ends of the spectrum as far as what their concern is, the common ground is the fact that they both relate to journalism and the display of information to the public. However, the main differences are seen in the presentation of material. Also, there may be a difference in who sees the articles and how many people have the access to the articles as well. With the printed news article from the Buffalo News, you a selected population or a sample, if you will that is secluded to the approximate parameters within the close area surrounding the city of Buffalo. With the online news source, there is a vast increase in the number of potential viewers.

Online news is a definite benefit to us, allowing for information to be accessed and reached sooner and faster. By obtaining knowledge of events taking place in opposite sides of our country and even in different countries, it allows us to help each other sooner and faster as well.

References:

Grtya, M. (2008, October, 31). Hit-run driver pleads guilty in Hilbert student’s death. The Buffalo News,

Retrieved http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/southernsuburbs/story/479602.html

Poll: Obama holding on to national advantage. (2008). [Shows information that barrack Obama has a higher electoral vote estimate than John McCain October 31, 2008]. McCain looks to turn Obama’s Ohio advantage. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/31/obama.mccain.polls.election/index.html

Gillmor, Dan. (July 2004) “We the Media.” Chapter 1. Retrieved on October 31, 2008 from http://oreilly.com/catalog/wemedia/book/

Writing Assignment 9: Paladino

I found this blog posted at blogs.artvoice.com and the name of this blog is Carl P. Paladino: Let's change State Constitution. The bloggers name is Carl P. Paladino, you may have heard of him if your from the area, Mr. Paladino is the CEO of Ellicott Development Company. This blog dates back to August 21, 2008 and i wasn't able to find a Technorati Rank linked to this blog.

It appears that Paladino is attempting to promote or spark an emotional response into New York state into doing something that will change the way things are done. This is because the way things are done in New York state are said to be corrupt, benefiting the only certain demographics. Keeping the rich on top and the poor on the bottom, to try and offer an vivid analogy. However, Paladino is not really known to fend for the people from what I've understood from some of the posted comments in response to this blog. Anyways he wrote the entire blog in capital letters. That to me shows he's trying to grab the attention of any and everyone. Insisting that we need change in our state and that we need to act, not just sit there and make comments to ourselves.

I find it kind funny, if Paladino is trying to reach the people within the state of New York is this really getting their attention. According to Smith and Lee, 46% of Americans have used the internet to get political news and share their thoughts (June 15, 2008). Now that may seem like a high number of users, I think it is. But, within Paladino’s use of the internet to try and spread word there were only 10 comments to this blog. Out of the entire state of New York and accessible users to the internet, 10 people took the time to respond and even more so in a negative response. Does that seem kind of out of whack? Now what’s wrong? This man a Mr. Carl P. Paladino is trying to get his own home state to react in a way to change the way things are done in state government to help the people and yet no else is trying to do anything about, even in an attempt in the opposite direction that Paladino has posed.

So, according to Baker , “Millions of Americans now spend much of their life online, with 20% of the population using broadband at home”, then why is it so difficult to get more than 10 people to respond to something that really does have great effect to their lives within New York state (March 29, 2004). Maybe it’s the actual messenger of this message. It appears that basically Paladino is contradictory of his words with his actions and in light of things he’s viewed as not a credible source to be making such statements. Stated by one comment, “That’s funny, Carl doesn’t seem to mind the State government when they are giving him tax breaks on waterfront condos”, comment by Tony August 21,2008 in response to Paladino’s blog. Another comment stated by WNYMind August 21, 2008, “Poor Carl. He always has an ax to grind and a cross to burn. Carl needs to step aside. Anything he touches is poision. Carl is probaby working for the unions and legislators. His brand on any initiative means there will be no change and the status quo will prevail”.

Its seems as a valid attempt by Paladino to make change, however it doesn’t seem as though the hook has sunk, more so there were just a few nibbles until the worm was gone. I don’t know, I wish I knew more about what Paladino did in regards to the city but all I know is the here say. My last comment is just that either way to be a developer, and to be the CEO of a development company, I would assume that for the most part the position would require somewhat of a visionary and risk-taker if there was truly a goal to promote growth within our cities and state.

Works cited

Smith,Aaron. Rainie Lee (June 15, 2008) The Internet and the 2008 Election. Retrieved on 10/24/08 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

Baker,Stephen. (March 29, 2004) Click the Vote. Retrieved on 10/24/08 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

Writing assignment 8: Web Application Review

The site that I’ve visited was www.albumsnaps.com. This seemed quite interesting, it’s a photo-sharing community. You can easily become a member creating a user account then just login in with user ID and password. This is basically a file sharing community but, with photos. There are posts on the sites including pictures of celebrities in all different settings like Eva Mendes to Star wars wallpapers and backgrounds yet also including photo albums from non celebrities all around the world sowing pictures of places like Vatican city, Rome.

The site itself is set up to be very basic. You can see there are popularly viewed or searched photos. There are recently added pics presented, showing popular members and popular searches. Also, following the highlighted popular items there are numerous listings of categories that can be viewed. Along with all of the available options there is are search boxes. One enabling the search of photos and another to search for other members of the site. For the most part the site seems to be quite user friendly, basically very simple to use once a member you have the ability to upload and download pics. The searching capabilities entail a simple text-based search or just following the icons with the simple point and click feature.

the site’s main social aspect is that it allows for sharing of photos to others who are interested in seeing or viewing places that they have never seen or may never be able to see in their lives. This is a community that promotes growth. You see that people want others to see what they’re doing and that other people are interested in what is going on outside of their own lives.

I think the site is interesting. It offers again, a wide variety of pictures and this can be used for all different types of things. Using the pictures for an assignment of an area that you are talking about in a project. Maybe you want to find a nice picture to place on the background of your computer desktop. Also it’s the fact that the site allows you to see some really interesting things or places that you never knew about or that you wanted to see and just didn’t know how or where to find anything about it. The site also allows the option to offer comments on the pictures and allows for tagging the photos as well. This is basically just another form of an online community that allows people to share their photos openly for everyone to see.

Writing assignment 7: Community

A group that is completely mediated by the internet of which I am an active participant is Facebook. I recently created a Facebook account so I haven't spent too much time on it yet but, from the few weeks that I have had the account I can honestly say that I like it better than MySpace. It just seems like the site itself filters out all of the garbage that you end up getting on MySpace and I think that’s the major reason that I like the site. But, not to get off topic. To begin with referencing the reading, Fernback &Thompson state, “The concept of community commonly refers to a set of social relationships that operate within specified boundaries or locales, but community has an ideological component as well, in that it refers to a sense of common character, identity or interests. These notions of community illustrate that the term encompasses both material and symbolic dimensions”.

When I think of the communities that I’m involved in this is a textbook definition. The communities that I’m involved in is based on the premise of a common ground through likes and dislikes, including behavioral responses in different situations that are shared in the community. But, I guess when I think about how the communication technology affects the development of social ties within the group, it really opens up a few doors that may not have been there before. Considering the following, I mainly use the site to maintain contact with friends who have moved out of state and therefore this doesn’t affect the development of that relationship, it only maintains it. However, say one of my friends that moved out of state is friends with someone else who attempts to befriend me via Facebook, (communication technology) this is where the aspect of development comes in or even if its someone that I haven’t talked to in a long time that is friends with one of my friends and I receive a random message from them. This then is adding to the development of a relationship that was not preexisting.

And in the readings of Wellman and Gulia, Social networks analysts have had to educate traditional, place-oriented , community sociologists that community can stretch well beyond the neighborhood. Now, I do highly agree with this statement but, in contrast to any of my online communities, for my offline communities the medium for communication is probably only my phone and my offline communities still have more meaning and stronger ties than any of my online community relationships. So, I’ll make a call or send a text message to a friend stating what I’m doing and that I want to meet up. After that there is solely face-to-face communication which gives for instantaneous feedback during interaction. This goes for just about all of the communities that I’m involved outside of Facebook or MySpace. I have my core community of friends and the need is that instant feedback. Short of a telephone call or a text message I have never emailed any of my friends. It’s just not how I am and for the most part I see my core community frequently enough where email and alternative online communication seem to be almost a hassle.

Similarly, I don’t even have half of my family member's email addresses. I would have to say that we have a close enough relationship and again, we see each other frequently enough that to send an email and wait for a response is actually an inconvenience, which sounds really weird but, it’s true. I do believe that online communities are a benefit to society however I’ve always conflicting feelings about the depth of the social ties in these relationships. Call me old-school but, I just prefer to establish and maintain relationships on a more personal level. I feel that I creates a better knowing and understanding of the self and those alike.

Refences:

Fernback, J. , & Thompson, B. (May 1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved October 16, 2008 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (August 1997). Net surfers don’t ride alone: Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved October 16, 2008 from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

Writing Assignment 6: Identity

Well, I’m not really involved in many virtual communities. I have a MySpace and Facebook page but, I don’t really use them much for reasons of networking and stuff like that. And maybe check them once a week. Yet, I do have an identity established with both. Neither of my pages contains much information about myself mainly because I created them simply to have something other than E-mail and the phone to talk to some of my friends on the west coast and also because I’ve become somewhat paranoid about having certain types of information about myself available to people who in the real world as opposed to the virtual world are more commonly known as strangers. It’s something that I question when you consider the amounts of self-disclosure involved in the sites that people subscribe to and in a face-to-face interaction those same people would be reluctant to give the same information.

But, sorry not to get off on a tangent, after reading “Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community” by Judith S. Donath, I would have to say that due to my lack of use with the internet I associate it more with deception. What its comes down to is that I use the internet frequently but, only for the same things, research and typing papers. Occasionally checking my email and visiting sites like Youtube and Collegehumor. Other than that I haven’t established myself other than posting a few blogs for this class, you could say that I have no credibility online first, because no one knows who I am (not to say that I want people to know who I am) and secondly I don’t even know if what I do blog about really makes any sense to anyone else except for me. And that doesn’t say a whole lot about me, in the virtual world.

I understand that identity plays a key role in virtual worlds as stated by Donath in the readings, and that knowing who is trying to communicate and what they are trying to say and do is going to establish that credibility(truth) and identity of being an expert. As Donath states, “For assessing the reliability of information and the trustworthiness of a confidant, identity is essential. And care of one's own identity, one's reputation, is fundamental to the formation of community”. I would have to say that all of my account names or as Donath refers to as, “Basic ID’s” are in some way linked directly to my name but not really anything else. I guess I consider that to be free information therefore it has no relation to my reputation and or amount of credibility that I have not established yet. It’s the unreliability and deception in the community that it can cause frustration.

An example of this would be if someone chooses to assume say, one of my own identities in a virtual community that would be considered “Identity Theft”. For some to fraudulently represent themselves as me and access my bank account information online and make unauthorized purchases. This example may be more relative to the amount of information that is available about myself on the internet. How much information do I give about myself on the sites and in the virtual communities that I am associated with. It’s the fact that the information is accessible when you use the internet because everything is in a copied form of text.

I do like how Donath uses analogies to gauge levels of deception though. Like, putting that you have a lot of experience waitressing on your resume when you may embellish the amount that you actually do have. But, for instance if you were to say that you have years of experience in say, the medical field and have no idea how to perform a surgery, then you can see the high cost in punishment involved based on the level of deception that you deceive.

References:

Donath, J. S., (November 12, 1996) . Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved October 3, 2008, from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboar
d%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url% 3d

Writing Assignment 5: Privacy

So what are the biggest challenges to personal privacy posed by the internet? The first thing that comes to mind would have to be that question of, Do you think that you really have any personal privacy on the internet? To answer this you would have to consider that you do to an extent and even the amount that you do have is quite limited. I think about the fact that I have no idea who monitors my activity on the internet, whether it’s the company the I have my internet service through or the government? Who knows because I sure don’t and I guess that’s the scary part about it. Yes, I worry about the amount of privacy that I have or at least the perception of the amount of privacy that I think I have. Who has the ability to see what I’m doing, especially if I don’t want them to see. It’s creepy.

With the amount of time spent on the internet now buy the general public, we each put of selves out there creating the opportunity to affected negatively through internet use as much of a positive and a convenience as it is to us. According to Danah Boyd of the University of California-Berkeley, School of Information, “Social network sites (SNSes) like MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo are ubiquitous and today’s youth are spending a great deal of time using these sites to access public life”. And to add to this, from an article by Bob Sullivan from MSNBC.com, he says, “Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself to friends, family and lovers in stages, at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to reconstruct who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret”. I think this is a very true statement. Even now what we consider to be our privacy it feels as though we just be losing as much as we gain and not really even realizing it. But again how is privacy defined by the general population?

Well let’s start with, What’s my definition of privacy? Something along the lines of - The ability to know that I have the choice or the right to expose something about myself to a population or to keep it to myself from that population. Well, according to Wikipedia, privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. I guess that’s an alternative way as to how I stated it. I would assume that most people have different views on the definition of privacy, but when I think of the term and the usage I feel that it relates more to individual or the self or the rights that go along with the word privacy.

A specific scenario involving privacy and the internet with myself actually took place a while ago. I was attempting to purchase a textbook online from the site known as half.com and I found the book that I needed at a fraction of the cost of course compared to the book store, so I decided to carry through with the purchase. When I was prompted to enter my credit card information I followed the guidelines and entered the appropriate information and clicked the pay now selection and within a few seconds I was notified by the site administrator that the seller of the text was a fraudulent setup and even though they were able to terminate the account of the seller they were unable to cancel the transaction that occurred and now this random dude just ran off with my money and credit card information. Now I don’t know who else has experienced something like this before but, I’m sure that I wasn’t the first and at first, your kind of scared because you don’t know what to think. This was something that had never happened to me before, it’s a very uncomfortable feeling that this happened even when you think that your pretty aware of what’s going on with the security of your accounts over the internet. There’s just nothing that can prepare you for the initial blow. After I realized the severity of the event my immediate reaction was to call the credit card company and cancel the card, which I did and then you just end up feeling kind of bad knowing that there are people out there who are intentionally trying to hurt you.

But, to be completely honest, I don’t feel that I am educated enough on the topic of privacy and the internet to make most of the statements in this blog and that is something that causes some discomfort in my mind because this is such a pertinent issue in our society today that it is something that people should be researching these topics more thoroughly (including myself) and raising the level of awareness up a few pegs.

Works Cited

boyd, danah. 2007. “Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?” Knowledge Tree 13,May. http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/?page_id=28

Privacy. (n.d.) WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia online. Retrieved September 26, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy

Sullivan, B. (2006). Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?. It's vanishing, but there's no consensus on what it is or what should be done. Retrieved September 26, 2008, from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

COM 125 Writing assignment 4: Online Economies

I think this one is kind of interesting, considering that it would actually create room for discussion from last week’s assignment on copyrighting and conflict but, how about Limewire. This here is a gift economy, there is an established network between users and there is a lot of information or file sharing that takes place. Or what Kollack would consider generalized exchange. Now, only for the purpose of this assignment, I’m going to disregard the fact that Limewire itself promotes copyright infringement because that’s not the topic for discussion here.

Now, I have viewed the site before (Limewire) and have seen how it works and you have to admit it’s quite impressive. It’s impressive when you think about it the way Kollack states, “Yet the wonder of the Internet is not that there is so much noise, but that there is any significant cooperation at all. Given that online interaction is relatively anonymous, that there is no central authority, and that it is difficult or impossible to impose monetary or physical sanctions on someone, it is striking that the Internet is not literally a war of all against all. For a student of social order, what needs to be explained is not the amount of conflict but the great amount of sharing and cooperation that does occur in online communities”.

When using Limewire its always for personal/individual gain or growth. You never see who you are sharing a file with or obtaining it from, and you don’t feel an obligation to reciprocate the transaction to the immediate individual that you receive the file from however, you know that someone else will be interested in what you have and that other users can gain from you now also.

When you think about what Limewire provides, it be viewed as what Kollack considers, “Public goods”. And to be honest I couldn’t explain this any better than Kollack does, so Kollack says, “In particular, many of the benefits provided in cyberspace have the quality that they are public goods, which are goods that anyone might benefit from, regardless of whether they have helped contribute to their production. A public good is defined by two characteristics. First, it is to some degree indivisible in that one person's consumption of the good does not reduce the amount available to another. One person's viewing of a fireworks display, for example, does not reduce what can be seen by another person. Second, a public good is to some degree non-excludable in that it is difficult or impossible to exclude individuals from benefiting from the good – one receives the benefits of a national defense system regardless of whether one pays taxes. In most cases a public good will exhibit these two qualities to some degree only; pure public goods are the exception”. And to just kind of tie all of this together Kollack also states, “Everyone in a group may be made better off by the provision of a public good, but that in no way guarantees that it will be produced”.

Lewis Hyde expresses the spirit of a gift economy (and its contrast to a market economy) as follows: The opposite of "Indian giver" would be something like "white man keeper"… Whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away not kept. Or, if it is kept, something of similar value should move in its stead… The gift may be given back to its original donor, but this is not essential… The only essential is this: the gift must always move.^[19]

To provide another example of this, according to Gifford Pinchot, who also refers to Lewis Hyde, he states, “In a commodity (or exchange) economy, status is accorded to those who have the most. In a gift economy, status is accorded to those who give the most to others. Lest we think that the principles of a gift economy will only work for simple, primitive or small enterprises, Hyde points out that the community of scientists follows the rules of a gift economy. The scientists with highest status are not those who possesses the most knowledge; they are the ones who have contributed the most to their fields. A scientist of great knowledge, but only minor contributions is almost pitied - his or her career is seen as a waste of talent”.

Kollack offers great insight to this topic providing vivid analogies to explain the material. So I want to end this with what I think really puts it all into perspective by Kollack, “This is not to say that online cooperation is inevitable or expanding. Nor is it to say that online cooperation and collective action is always a benefit to the larger society. However, the changing economies of online interaction have shifted the costs of providing public goods – sometimes radically – and thus changed the kinds of groups, communities, and institutions that are viable in this new social landscape”.

Works cited

Gift Economy. (n.d.) In WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia online. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy

Pinchot, G. (1995). The Gift Economy. Business on a Small Planet (Summer 1995 page 49). Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

Writing Assignment 3: Copyright and Conflict

Today, one can easily subscribe to a newspaper, order a magazine, listen to a radio broadcast over the Internet or purchase a video from a retail store. However, when asked which law would govern those transactions, most people would have a very difficult time answering this question. When discussing copyrighting and conflict, viewed individually have distinct definitions that make the two completely different things, however there are traits that connect them together when raising certain questions. Like, even though exclusive rights show ownership over something to the creator, “Is there conflict in the sense that although the work is offered to the public for use of obtaining knowledge and for use of reference, is it okay to use the piece without giving proper credit to the initial creator?” otherwise known as copyright infringement.
According to Wikipedia, Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time, after which the work enters the public domain. Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. A conflict can be internal (within oneself) or external (between two or more individuals). Conflict as a concept can help explain many aspects of social life such as social disagreement, conflicts of interests, and fights between individuals, groups, or organizations. Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.
So the conflict occurs in copyrighting when there is copyright infringement and the question posed is, is it okay to use something that’s not mine and say that it is because of the fact that it’s not a physically bound text? In an attempt to accommodate both the interests of content creators and the public good, laws created by governments to protect everyone alike should be made well known, so that everyone can abide by them and in turn give everyone what they want and need. Maybe the laws created need to be more explicit and clearly defined or at least more well-known to regulate any violations made by the public. However this may be somewhat of an international conflict as well, considering that one country’s laws governing copyright infringement may be different from another and dependent on the violation that took place as well. For example, from Wikipedia there is worldwide collaboration to fight copyright infringement, “Servers enabling internet-based copyright infringement are often based in countries with less strict copyright laws or enforcement history.^[9][10][11] BPI spokesman Matt Phillips has said the lax copyright laws in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet countries made it hard to crack down on copyright infringement there.^[12] Copyright holders are collaborating to fight this activity, through lobbying governments and other means.”
The technical structure needed to carry through with regulation are our modern advancements in technology that allow us to govern online activity. The technical structure is already available it just needs to utilized. Maybe this means hiring more employees to monitor appropriately and accordingly. The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA), a portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act known as DMCA 512 or the DMCA takedown provisions, is a 1998 United States federal law that provides a safe harbor to online service providers (OSPs, including Internet service providers) that promptly take down content if someone alleges it infringes their copyrights. Social structures may require something along the lines of educating the public for its own good on the laws and rules and the governing bodies that monitor activity to ensure that violations made are caught and punished. So, I agree with the steps that have already been conducted and that will be taken to regulate laws created and that governing bodies can eventually produce a tight regime to ensure that the work of others is not exploited in a way that would withhold credit from the rightful creator.

Works Cited

· Copyright Infringement. (n.d.). WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia online. Retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.wikipedia.org/

· Copyrights. (n.d.). WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia online. Retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.wikipedia.org/

· Conflict. (n.d.). WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia online. Retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.wikipedia.org/

· Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act. (n.d.). WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia online. Retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.wikipedia.org/

· Yu, P. K. (April 2001). Conflict of Laws Issues in International Copyright Cases. Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://www.peteryu.com/gigalaww0401.pdf

COM125 Assignment 2: In the Beginning

Found in an article by Karen Coyle pertaining to privacy rights, prior to the year 1994, commercial activity of the internet was not allowed; this means prior to the year 1994, the internet was a basic tool used solely for the exchange of technical information between users. Websites were unable to advertise on their sites in anyway to users to in the network. Even when this changed after 1994 under more privately run networks, like Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, most sites were still strongly limited as to what material they could and could not display to users on their sites.
According to Karen Coyle, since that time, Internet software has been modified to provide more information about the interaction, techniques have been developed to deliver information about "customers" to web sites. What this allows for is the sites are able to see how the customers are using their sites. Information is sent back to the sites administrators and this way the site can decide what types of information, other than the information being searched by the user, what material can be sent to the individual user, like advertisements and other non-technical information. The sites can also see what sites the user had previously visited to their own and if a search engine was used, that it linked the site properly from the initial search engine.
Prior to 1994, other than exchanging technical information, usage of the internet in alternative ways was considered a privacy risk; unlike now Facebook and Myspace although still have may have some security risks involved, are two of the most frequently used sites of the World Wide Web and are used for no other reason than to market and advertise ourselves to others. In attempts to lower security risks and privacy issues, the creation of "cookies" was introduced. A cookie is a small text file that the web site writes to your hard drive (according to Wikipedia's definition), assigning a unique ID written to the cookie file and each time you visit the site it tells the site that you've returned.
Obviously at this point, many things have changed with internet use and availability of information; ways of using the internet and we are able to do or find information on just about anything conceivable quickly, saving users time in our high-speed life styles. However, the abilities and capabilities of internet usage may not be the same if it had never been boundaries to venture beyond.

New to Blogging!

This is the first time i have ever written a blog, so its a new experience. I guess I don't think of blogging as an activity that is convenient for me. I'm mostly on the run between my two jobs and school as well as my home computer is currently being repaired, so that alone is the major inconvenience for me and at the same time again its an activity that until now being the fact that its a requirement of a course, I wouldn't think to take any extra time on line that i would find unnecessary to completing school assignments. Either way this does seem like a worthwhile cause knowing that blogging is such a common thing these days. maybe I'm a little old school too, I would rather spend my time doing something outside than inside especially on the summer months here in buffalo knowing they're few and far in between. So is this first blog suppose to tell a little bit about who we are? Well I'm a Buffalo native and any Buffalo knows that you eat potato chips with bison dip. I've lived in the southtowns my whole life between West Seneca and Orchard Park. I graduated from West Seneca West high school in 2001 and started my college academic career at ECC south campus. I'm in my senior year technically but since I transferred here about 2 years ago I've taken about a total of 3 years off from school because until now I worked to pay my tuition each semester which could explain the amount of time taken off. Anyway I feel that as a communication major here at UB I've found for the first time in my entire life something that I actually enjoy studying. Since I've transferred to UB my college experience as been nothing short of exceptional. I do look forward to meeting fellow students for the duration of my time with the university and expanding my network. Since I began to study as a communication I have realized that my opinion on life is that its all about establishing and maintaining relationships, consuming as much knowledge as possible, pushing ourselves outside of our comfort-zones and in the meantime having a little bit of fun.