A Pirates Treasure- Music, Movies & More

A topic that has been a forefront of media and communication is 'piracy', a robbery not committed at sea- music, movie and TV pirates are considered thieves, plain and simple. It happens when you download movies for free, burn free downloaded CD's from the Internet and even when you jump online to watch that missed episode of your favourite show. What happens when people download or stream free online when they can't afford to go to the movies, or even when they live in countries where everyday shows like 'The Simpsons' are regulated and banned by governing bodies? They are still considered thieves!

Music piracy has been a major hotplate in media since the 1990's, with movie piracy hot on its heel. However, in today’s era, technology has been advancing society and businesses- but not without a price. Speedy Internet connections, high capacity storage availability, and underground peer-to-peer networks on the Internet have opened the gates of piracy wide open (Al-Rafee and Cronan, 2007). The MPA (2005) describes piracy as the unauthorised downloading, taking, copying or use of copyrighted materials without permission and recognised the act as a growing international phenomenon with serious consequences. The most costly and damaging of all is the experience dubbed 'Software Piracy 2.0', a type of digital piracy defined as
'the illegal copying/downloading of copyrighted software and media files' (Cronan and Al-Rafee, 2007: 2).

Since the introduction of the 'original' peer-to-peer media distributor Napster in 1999, the music industry has taken the hardest hit in pirated digital downloading. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), there was a 31% decline in music sales from 1999 to 2002, which was primarily a result of piracy (Feuilherade in Al-Rafee and Cronan, 2007). Today file-sharing programs have paved the way for piracy by torrent-based websites such as Limewire, and Mininova. Due to the growth of Internet and file-sharing a new type of pressure has been placed on the music industry with most media industries opening digital music stores such as iTunes. However, this 'fluid' phenomena has now taken a competitive peak through a battle of digital rights management and price wars over which online music store will have the best prices. Still, it has to be considered that some digital stores pump their prices higher, therefore pushing consumers to download illegally.

In an attempt to shut-down piracy, initiatives such as 'The Industry Trust' have been established to try and tackle copyright breaches, and protect intellectual property. Furthermore, bands such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are releasing their albums free on their websites in an attempt to make piracy useless. Following in similar footsteps, Coldplay has released a few free 'preview' songs from their new album 'Viva La Vida' for a week but insists they will not do a 'Radiohead'. All in all, in this avalanche of peer-to-peer file sharing and free downloads where music insiders leak albums, and the ever rising participatory culture and growth of Web 2.0 it is evident that digital piracy is here to stay.

It is in my opinion that piracy itself was unavoidable and the growth of digital piracy was to be expected. Firstly, cost-efficient and timely attributes have made digital piracy attractive options to everyone, not just those with minimum access to music. Furthermore, the music industry's shift to digital and their 'modern' distribution patterns will provide an ongoing piracy legacy.

References:

Al-Rafee, S. and Cronan, T. (2007) 'Factors that Influence the Intention to Pirate Software and Media'. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 78, pp 527-545: Springer.

Motion Picture Association of America (MPA). (2005) https://mpaa.org/piracy.asp (Accessed May 15, 2008).

Gaming Culture & Web 2.0

The electronic gaming culture is a growing phenomenon of a new media that has been inspired by video and computer games. The gaming industry has increased in popularity over the years it has resulted in a frenzy of enthusiasm that has escalated in a passionate gaming sub-culture. Today, the impact of the gaming culture of video and computer games has influences television, politics, Hollywood and even popular music. As the gaming culture has exploded it has often endured many skeptic theories and negative attention.

Electronic gaming is a media sensation that has been completely influenced large masses of individuals all interested and influenced by computer and video games. The expansion of technology and the upgrades in electronic material have caused a mountain of popularity and ultimately picked-up many social fads and consumer created content. The gaming culture has expanded with the introduction of new technologies such as Web 2.0 and has impacted most societal groups with its’ large ability to interact and socialize worldwide, resulting in an upsurge in gaming social networks and user-created content.

As Jenkins states, "much video game play is social", funnily enough this is contrary to most popular belief. Almost sixty percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and twenty-five percent play with spouses and parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players — for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Gaming researchers have invested many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta-gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rule-breaking (Jenkins, Undated). It is evident through the information above that ‘normal’ social interaction is governed and practiced through gaming cultures even with the lapsed fantasies presented on the gaming console.


Jenkins, H. (Undated)."Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about Video Games Debunked." PBS,
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html.
(accessed, May 8, 2008).

Web 2.0

How is Web 2.0 different from Web 1.0?

The vast change from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has not only changed the face of business but has completely altered the online environment. Tom O'Riely perflectly outlines his view of Web 2.0 as 'the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform and an attempt to understand the rules of success on the new platform'. Web 2.0 technology is a modern trend throughout the World Wide Web and web design that provides a platform for collaborative technologies and information sharing that not only facilitates creativity but also provides a home for online communitites that ultimately promotes content creation and collaboration among it's users. These collaborative technologies and concepts have ultimately led to an evolutionary generation and palimpsestic development of collaverative online communities and the growth of social software such as wiki's which collect, connect, share knowledge.

Web 2.0 websites enable users to interact, unlike Web 1.0 which is just used as a platform from retrieving information. 'Produsers' can now build on the interactive facilities of 'Web 1.0' to present 'online networking' computer technology. Web 2.0 websites generally characterise a user-friendly interface, where most sites include the social-networking perspective. Web 2.0 is now classified as the 'particpatory web' whereas Web 1.0 is characterised as a information source.

O'Riely exhibits the following rules of Web 2.0 as...

1. Don't treat software as an artifact, but as a process of engagement with your users.

2. Open your data and services for re-use, but others, and re-use data and services of others whenever possible.

3. Don't think of applications that reside on either client or server, but build applications that reside in the space between devices.

Overall, the emergence of Web 2.0 technology has greatly impacted on a new societal change preferably seen as DIY communitites. The growth, evolution and development of various domains include bases such as open source software, online publishing (blogs, open news), media sharing and creative practice ( YouTube, Flikr), knowledge management (Wikipedia, del.icio.us), geotagging and viral marketing which are changing the face of not only online technologies but offline culture as well.

GET A second LIFE!!!

The line between the real world and virtual reality is becoming harder to draw. Web 2.0 or social software offers the public an online platform to connect in a wide range of genres such as music, social networking, careers, sports, film and television, and ultimately helps create millions of different cultures. In today's online era, you rarely have to go far to make yourself known on websites such as Youtube, or make a million new friends on MySpace, and even start a romantic relationship on AdultMatcher.com. Given the various open source phenomena, it seems that this is not enough, companies are now introducing entire life-altering worlds at the click of a mouse. Secondlife.com is the latest phenomenon that allows you to be virtually reborn, it is often described as a mix between The Sims and MySpace where users are digitally transformed into characters known as 'avatars' (Secondlife.com). The online community allows you to interact and meet new people, work, shop, buy and sell land, and even engage in sexual activity- basically anything you would do in the real world and more.

The popularity of Second Life has completely escalated with over 13 million worldwide registered accounts, not only this, the virtual residents of the digital continent trade, buy and sell in 'the marketplace' which currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transaction with the in-world trade of the 'Linden Dollar' (SecondLife.com). The introduction of this virtual community has provided the basis of a 'significant paradigm shift' (Bruns, 2008), where the rise of social software stands to have a profound impact on social practices, the media, economic and legal frameworks (Bruns, 2008). The perfect example is in the produsage and produsers, as residents of Second Life retain intellectual rights they are surrounded by their own and fellow community members creations. As Bruns (2008) explains, "Second Life operator Linden Lab's decision to break with standard industry practice in allowing its community to retain copyright over its contributions is commercially exploiting produsers without remuneration or acknowledgement"(p. 4).

This context of user-led content creation needs to be challenged as real-life problems are beginning to plague the virtual world. Second Life enthusiasts are realising the world as having limits, with activity such as illegal gambling, tax-free commerce, child pornography and bestiality currently practiced in the virtual community. You only have to hear the words 'age-play' to be concerned with the open-mindedness of the virtual reality, the practice has recently come under serious scrutiny as it has been discovered that adults are engaging in sexual activities with avatars made to look like children and the lack of law and limits makes it unlikely to press charges (Terdiman, 2006). One of the major appeal of Second Life is the freedom and privacy of the online community making it harder for the website to restrict illicit activity without loosing registrations.

Even with its ignominies, I personally recognise the significant of Second Life as a useful online tool. The collaborative environment breaks down the boundaries between producers and consumers and allows participants to share information and knowledge, become filmmakers, musicians, university students, tycoons and housewives. As with any online community there are problems and scandals but you only have to see the formation of a complete online economy to really realise the value of this virtual phenomena that allows people to be creative, worldly and free. All in all, if this trend persists, the balance between mass and networked media will continue to further shift in favour of us 'citizens'.


References:

Bruns, A (2008). The Future Is User-Led: The Path Towards Widespread Produsage. (http://produsage.org/files/The%20Future%20Is%20User-Led%20(PerthDAC%202007).pdf
(accessed May 13, 2008).

Bruns, A (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. News Blogs and Citizen Journalism: Perpetual Collaboration in Evaluating the News (p.69-100). PeterLang: New York

Terdiman, D. (2006). Phony Kids, Virtual Sex. Cnetnews.com. http://www.news.com/Phony-kids,-virtual-sex/2100-1043_3-6060132.html
(accessed May 14, 2007).

Online Communitites

There are three specific questions that will be addressed...




Why do online communities organise themselves?



Firstly, in the networked environment individuals have limited ability to change certain areas such as technoloculture frameworks and are generally bombarded with information overload. Conversely, in online communities, people are able to create their own technocultures whilst easily managing and evaluating information and gaining strength in numbers (Bruns, 'Online Communitites', 2007). As explained by Bruns in the week 6 'Online Communities' podcast, the benefits of online communities include: new forms of personal and community identity, community interests, new forms of collaboration and social organisation, active user participation as content creators, ability to operate in fields of interest neglected by mainstream media, business, politics, research etc., and the ability to build cooperative networks with other communities. As Ridings and Gefen (2004) explain, 'social psychology has found that people join groups in general for both feelings of affiliation and belonging as well as for information and aid in goal achievement'.

How do online communitites organise themselves?

When looking at online communities it is important to analyse the impact of community power. Evidently, the upserge of online communities has escalated in an transferral from offline to online powers in relation to factors such as cultural institutions, media practices, knowledge management, political movements and even economic factors (Bruns, 'Online Communities, 2007). Amy Kim (2000) proposed the following memebership life cycle for online communities, she explains that members of virtual communities begin their life in a community as a visitor or lurker (in technical terms). After breaking spending some time in the community people become novices and beging to participate in the community life. After some contributions for a sustained period these contributors become regulars and if they break through another level barrier they are seen as leaders and after contributing for some time these people become elders. A similar model can be found in the works of Lave and Wenger, who illustrate a cycle of how users become incorporated into virtual communities using the principles of legitimate peripheral participation. They suggest five types of trajectories amongst a learning community:

Peripheral (i.e. Lurker) – An outside, unstructured participation

Inbound (i.e. Novice) – Newcomer is invested in the community and heading towards full participation

Insider (i.e. Regular) – Full committed community participant

Boundary (i.e. Leader) – A leader, sustains membership participation and brokers interactions

Outbound (i.e. Elder) – Process of leaving the community due to new relationships, new positions, new outlooks.

What does it require?

good morning.. good afternoon.. good evening & good night

good morning... this morning was pretty slow.. amazing but slow.. i hate traffic.. nearly 2 accidents...

good afternoon.. im currently here.. uni is fun.. hard.. and the calamari here is good... and this is the start of my new and exciting world of blogging for this particular little subject called Virtual Cultures.

good evening...not here yet.. but will be... assignmenting fun & maybe a bit of facebook action..

good night.. i don't know about tonight but last night was.. ended it with some free krispy kreme donuts!!!

So enjoy my 'educational' and hopefully insightful future blogs!