Sunday, April 24, 2011

Blog #12

RIP and Lessig have many things in common. Intellectual property is an important concept that is going to be at the forefront of copyright music. People are going to be restricted from free creative form as big music corporation restrict the use of their music on an unfairly individual basis.
Those who participate in a sharing economy do so with the obvious intention of creating something new with something already created. As long as they buy the CD, such as someone buying a book, I think creative control is good for the artists. Radiohead did a good job by prompting people to pay whatever they felt appropriate for the album and by doing this their music was mixed and spread around the internet for more people to become exposed to. Lonely Island, as described by Lessig, allowed people to take their music and mix it, and this allowed them to break into the market. Ownership of music only goes as far as it can be enforced. People are going to sing Happy Birthday and many will not get in trouble for it, but still knowing how far reaching these copyright laws go is frightening. To own story culture, like Disney began with its Fairy Tale Princess franchise, should not be allowed.(RIP)
“take and share my work freely. Let it become part of the sharing economy. But if you want to carry this work over to the commercial economy, you must ask me first. Depending upon the offer, I may or may not say yes.”(Lessig)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Blog #11

Describe the difference between a sharing and a commercial economy. Why does this distinction matter to Lessig's main argument?

A commercial economy is defined as “…an economy in which money or “price” is a central term of the ordinary, or normal, exchange.” (118) For example, going to the store to buy a CD, clothes, food etc.

A sharing economy is defined as “…as an economy, where access to culture is regulated not by price, but by a complex set of social relations.” (145) the concept here is that as part of a community there are social norms set toward giving and we are obligated to perform them for our community members. However, in a sharing economy, there is no monetary value set.

These two concepts are important to Lessigs argument because he claims that society could not function without one or the other. We need both the tangible exchange of money vs this volunteerism idea to function. This in part has been represented by the internet and sites that we purchase from like Nordstrom, lets say, and sites we don't pay for like Wikipedia.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blog #10

First, post a link and/or description of a remix you like.
I think this video remix of double rainbow is hilarious. One of my personal favorites. They remix this dude's double rainbow reaction, with a grown a#$ man crying about a double rainbow. They put two video's on the bottom of the screen at one point. one of a man beating a drum and the other of a clown-like dude singing it looks like. They end with them playing instruments and singing about the double rainbow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA

Next, make 3 specific connections between today's reading and the remix. (eg: This remix illustrates Lessig's point about X. This remix reminds me Lessig's claim that Y. so on...)

Lessig says that remix songs are important in community settings. Well the 4 people who put this one together it was a community effort and the community at Utube was very appreciative of it. The video has had 23,086,415, just a couple million short of the original video with 26,560,632 hits.

Lessig also states that ""whether text or beyond text, remix is collage; it comes from combining elements of RO culture; it succeeds by leveraging the meaning created by the reference to build something new" (76)." The inclusion of the video's on the bottom right hand of the screen in this remix align well with this concept. The drums signal a wind up and then the clown with the rainbow shooting out of his hand signals the rainbow. He then shoots himself in the head and catches on fire. Still not seeing that one entirely but it probably represents the mind blowing experience this dude is having.

Lessig also argues that a remix can better argue the point that the original did. In this case I think the length of the video supports this statement. The original video is long at 3:30 and the remix has been shortened down to 1:58. As a photojournalist, when i do soundslides, I keep them between 1 minute and 2 because people tend to lose patience after 2 minutes and will click off of your sound slides. So in this case, shortening the video allows for the message of the video to get out more completely.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

blog #9

First, describe what you see as Lessig's key argument in the Introduction.
Lessig's key argument in the introduction is that copyright laws are extremely out of date, and companies are allowed to go to extremes to try and make examples out of people. Like the mom who had some music playing in the background when she made a video and put it online.


Second, describe the difference RW and RO culture and why it matters to Lessig's argument.
RO or read-only culture, is where people do not participate, or contribute to their culture, but just consume it. RW, or read-write culture, is where people contribute to their culture as well as consume it. Similar to this blog, we can read others posts to be RO culture, but having a blog that we contribute to makes this a RW community.


Third, why does Lessig use Sousa?

Sousa was up against a lot of adversity when it came to gaining money from his work. He argued that the machines that were copying, were creating a culture primarily focused on RO. Now the machines are creating a RW culture, where people are manipulating to make new stuff out of the old. Surprisingly, the companies are now the ones primarily fighting this phenomena, not the artists.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Blog #8

The first quote i liked is "We're left with the ability to make our own interpretation of a given framework, and are invited to run with it as a kind of game 'system'" (97) When listening to stories, seeing a hug between people, cooking a favorite food that contains a memory, or petting a cat that looked like ours growing up, everything we associate with has a given framework we have created for ourselves.

another one of the quotes I picked was "the selection of sound becomes a narrative" (85)Music is existential in and of itself. It can mean something different to each of us and not change in its form. Even faster beats will encourage us to get up and dance, while slow beats relax and calm. the 4/4 beat is the closest to the heartbeat and provides comfort we may not even recognize. The sound can then narrate our lives or the words can narrate or influence decision making in regard to our emotions.

"the sense of living in a racially divided culture that has lost the ability to think about anything but media entertainment"(109).
This is really true. We are more concerned with the quick dollar through being involved in the money making entertainment industry and all of the fame associated with it. It is interesting to note how we have our 'token' characters however, that are supposed to represent the different ethnicity's. So in some small way it may unite us, but only if the standard of living is equalized between the races. When we have an equal amount of diversity on each ends of the spectrum, then i think we will be equal. However, the focus on entertainment, does not solve these problems. I think they create a false sense of idea that we are all considered equal in this country, through equal media and entertainment representation. Some may argue this isn't even true.


It is not a surprise that Miller like Duchamp and his famous urinal fountain. The Urinal represents everything Miller is trying to convey. Existentialist thought and Miller are alike in that they seek to question the status quo and redefine what is considered acceptable. Duchamp sought to question what art really is and push the boundaries of what is considered a conventional art movement. I think it really is art because he was the first one to think of it and prompt the question, what makes REAL art?

The song i chose to look at was Cupid's Chokehold by gym class heroes. It is a pretty much direct sampling of Supertramp's 'Girlfriend'. The words are even the same, with a tweaked beat. The chorus

Take a look at my girlfriend
She's the only one Igot
Not much of a girlfriend
Never seem to get alot

and Gym Class Heroes

Take a look at my girlfriend
She's the only one I got (ba ba da da)
Not much of a girlfriend
I never seem to get a lot (ba ba da da, ba ba da da)

Ya. They are pretty much the exact same, except for some Badadada's and an 'I'. It is brought up to date but gets more detailed than the classic supertramp version.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Blog #7

First, briefly summarize the overall argument(s) of the deBourgoing piece.

That hip hop is an oral tradition that needs to embrace female rappers to even out the playing field. The article provides tips on how to become a hip hop artist. It suggests branding yourself at open mic nights, be authentic and marketable, keep the unity within the business with your peers, and collaborate with other artists.

Second, briefly describe any connections you see between her argument(s) and the things we discussed in the first half of the course.

Weinberger said 'hoarding knowledge diminishes power'. Collaboration is a trait that the hip hop groups are embracing so they can promote themselves and each other to benefit the business and get their name out there. When they say “We were scholars before colleges” i think of the oral tradition as being passed down in a historical sense, this ties into convergence culture, because now people are writing down the lyrics and recording these songs, therefore they are changing and adapting to new forms of media. This way when they embrace social media and online presence to promote themselves.

Third, the Miller book is a bit tough to read, but do your best to summarize his key argument(s).

It seems, after all the fancy words that miller is trying to state that present considerations for art are influenced by the past and everything we base what we know of now, is essentially collective intelligence. Essentially he relates this to DJ'ing and sampling because basing a new form of intelligence, or a new song, off of what has previously been done is considered ok when it comes in everything else academic, such as quoting, like he does a ton with goethe. However when you apply it to music it somehow becomes not ok.

Lastly, make any connections you can between deBourgoing, Miller, and any of the topics we've discussed in class so far.

Miller talks about the “battle to control and distribute culture” This is like the political nature of information and how those who control this information, control the politics of what is produced and distributed. This control can be harnessed through the use of tags and key words.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Blog #6

What are the key points/terms from Jenkins?

The key points from Jenkins are about the youth of each generation building social networks in the mediums of the radio, the internet etc. to impact and have a voice as youth. One example is of the bowling leagues of the 1950's. Bowling was the central hub of social life and networking. Nowadays games like World of Warcraft, Fifa connections, Farmville for example is a community that people interact on. A place of exchange does not always need to be rooted geographically. Protests in China are being conducted on the internet in space where they can protest. This is all great for civic engagement as Jenkins points out, but is scary times for journalism and the truth of information. Harry potters army is a good example of youth challenging the newspapers and the government of the time. Aaang Ain't white is another great example of how young people are recognizing the white washing of characters of other nationalities, and how hollywood continues to cast white characters. Another great one are people dressing up as the Navi, from James Cameron Avatar to represent oppression and genocide.


Key terms are ones such as Participatory Culture, which needs the attributes of 1.relatively low barriers for engagement 2. strong support for sharing creations with others. 3. informal mentor ship 4. members believe there contributions matter 5. Care about others opinions of self and work. Most importantly all must feel free to contribute, even if they don't continually, they must feel that when they are ready, what they contribute will be appropriately valued.

How do they (or do they) connect with the key points from Weinberger?

This does relate to weinberger because he states that classifications are political. The fact that many schools, businesses and those of the older generation want to keep facebook and myspace out of kids hands is harming their connection to a cultural phenomenon. Therefore the way many young adults networked at the bowling alley, many kids are finding there civic engagement via the internet and these social networking sites. The fact that we can have things like collective intelligence and the fact that it is not being embraced by schools, that are places of learning is odd. So many teachers do not let you cite sources on the internet, but as we progress i know the internet is going to be the main place for many people to go to obtain information for schooling, research, social, buying power etc.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Blog #5


Weinberger, relying on German philosopher Heidegger, says that "the meaning of a particular thing is enabled by the web of implicit meanings we call the world" (170). First, describe what he means by this.

Weinberger means that the web is a world unto itself and the meaning of individual tags, links etc. is something tangible to the world of the web. To take it out of the world would not mean what it does within. We could call going to the grocery store a link, or a hit on the location, but it does not have the same affect as going to amazon.com and buying something lets say. Meaning such as metaphor is tangible to us because we understand the hidden meaning. The internet has its own hidden meaning implicit within it that we cannot translate into this world. A Hammer, as was the example, may not be relevant to your understanding of the world, so you break down the potential uses of a hammer. Meaning for each person is individual, the reason why i look wonderwall is not the same reasons why you like or dislike the song. We may connect the hammer to nails... nails to wood, wood to a tree and the list of associations go on and on.

Second, explain how this is relevant to the third order of order.

The third order of order is bound by the physical so we do not need metadata like a card catalog. When we google a phrase, we are able to add multiple meanings to it. Kind of like ho a toaster can also be a toaster oven, but times like 10. We can do this with our own personal meaning also.


Third, draw/sketch/photoshop the following: choose a song that is important to you in some way. Draw the implicit web of meanings that make this song important to you. That is, make the implicit explicit. Ask yourself: what would a computer need to know in order to understand the relevance of this song in my life? (yes, a computer)



"Wonderwall"

Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now

Backbeat the word was on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels
The way I do about you now

And all the roads we have to walk along are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
I don't know how

Because maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall

Today was gonna be the day?
But they'll never throw it back to you
By now you should've somehow
Realized what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About you now

And all the roads that lead to you were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
I don't know how

I said maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall

I said maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after an
You're my wonderwall

Said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me
You're gonna be the one that saves me

Monday, January 31, 2011

Blog #4

Weinberger says that "And we college students had it right. We were just ahead of our time. The best digital strategy is to dump everything into one large miscellaneous pile and leave it to the machines to find exactly the table setting we need for tonight's dinner." This quote matches with web 2.0 because it is all about information flow. That is what was so monumental and continues to be monumental about the internet. It is a constant flow of linked in words and pictures that flow seamlessly and endlessly among one another. According to the Web 2.0 article there are more than 9.5 million citations in Google. That is a TON of referencing and books/scholarly journals etc. getting on the web. Web 2.0 states, "Google, by contrast, began its life as a native web application, never sold or packaged, but delivered as a service, with customers paying, directly or indirectly, for the use of that service....it was just a massively scalable collection of commodity PCs running open source operating systems."
This is why google succeeded so well and why others like Netscape failed, because they wanted to control the market and jack up prices.

The internet has to be classified some way and we do it through a sorting program like Google which links keywords. These classifications are political because the person who controls the means of classification controls the whole system. Weinberger stated that when we try to 'organize' our systems and plug things into boxes that match, we will inevitably leave out more than we include. He mentioned cupcakes and hard candy as dessert, but now you have eliminated carbs. This is where tags let us bridge the gap and simultaneously labels both. In Web squared they touched on collective intelligence and how it leads to, "“crowdsourcing,” meaning that a large group of people can create a collective work whose value far exceeds that provided by any of the individual participants." Weinberger mentioned he see's this as the end of gate keeping, or the filtering of 'slush' that is considered unworthy. I would argue that as we move forward there will be different web locations for the 'slush'. There are now, we have good wordpress blogs, and bad wordpress blogs. This is determined by you. It doesn't mean we can delete them off of the internet, but we will probably choose to stop reading them. Its like someone on the side of the road protesting and yelling. You will probably walk away, they still may be there, and garner negative attention, but the very idea of crowd sourcing means you must interact with peers to gather intelligent thought. So they will stand as islands of one. I would argue that among the generations my age now that myspace has become 'slush' there is a collective intelligence at work that ended their success. Why? We probably could break it down, but the point is at some time, the majority stopped crowdsourcing myspace.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Blog #3

Go back to the thing you described organizing on Tuedsay's blog. How might someone else organize this item? What does how YOU organize it say about what you value and who you are?

I organize my photos by date/assignment into folders. This says i value time and each event as traceable in a linear time frame. I also then edit the pictures i would like to keep and save them in the folder outside of the originals. So it looks like this... 1/27 WSU vs Arizona > 100EOSD and below this would be something like, A1.jpg A2.jpg A3.jpg A4.jpg A5.jpg and then in the 100EOSD > there would be the original files, a couple hundred or so. I value organization and every photo i consider somewhat worthy i edit and consider for print. I may have anywhere from 7-20 photos from a game or event that were close to the cut. Then sometimes, if there really is that many, depending on the publication i am shooting for and how many images they want, i may make a sub folder in the 100EOSD folder that says something like >Edited final picks, and place those final files to send, in there. I organize this way so i may easily find by date or assignment what i have previously shot. This is good for submitting resume's, and soon will be good for a photo blog which i plan to start soon. Others may not use the date, they may just pick a blerb. Many people just categorize into like and don't like, or have big folders labeled like friends, family, fun etc. For me having the date gives my images a sense of order, and i like being able to revisit my previous shoots in a timely manner and keep up with what i have done in a semester.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

DTC 356 Blog #2

Weinberger discusses in chapters 1 & 2 the physical order of things and data and how this cannot be translated into the digital realm in the way we have traditionally organized knowledge and physical thins. There are three types of organization, called the three orders of order.
Objects and data are the first. The second, physical meta-date, is like a card catalog. The third is digital data that has no by physical limitations. Weinberger thinks that because the internet is filled with miscellaneous information that there is no logical organizational place for everything in the digital realm.
In the second chapter he discusses methods and how disorder is inefficient in physical terms, but when it comes to the internet and computers and labeling, and keywords, there is so much more gray area to finding things stored on your computer and the web.

I keep my apartment super organized as well as photos/hw etc on my computer. I have folders and sub folder for everything, labeled by date and assignment, complete with quick description. This is because I am totally OCD about organization. Without being this way though, it would be totally difficult to manage my portfolio, and save to my hard-rive each semester to free up space on my computer. I also really really dislike having a messy room. It takes me forever to find things/clothes/HW and such when everything isn't put away where it belongs. When i am messy, things don't get done as quickly as they should and it stresses me out. If its not where i last put it, for some reason, things get lost in a black hole that follows me around. therefore. yep. borderline OCD.

Monday, January 17, 2011

DTC 356 Blog #1

1). First, describe what you see as the most important idea from this article given your own future professional goals--what can/should you take with you?

I think the most important idea from the article is that the internet is evolving and taking on new forms based on the needs of the individual. The internet is a tool that reflects the needs of the people and despite the lack of face-to-face contact, there is consideration that it is actually bringing people together. The article states, "there is worry about the dehumanizing effect of technology.We share that worry, but also see the countertrend,that communication binds us together, gives us shared context, and ultimately shared identity." (Web 2.0 Web Squared) I think as we move forward, technology will only have a stronger influence in our everyday lives. As i write this i am on my computer, connected to the internet and have a cell phone that can do almost half of what my computer is capable of. My professional goals are photography and communication. I hope to use my knowledge of the evolving internet presence to propel a future business forward. Understanding the importance of a web presence, i will be able to market myself. My abilities in web design and communication will help me to build an online presence that will propel my work.

Second, what is the most exciting web application you've seen in the past year? What is exciting about it?

There are so many web applications that are out there these days! The first neatest one i have seen in the past year is the syncing of your facebook application with the contacts on your phone. This is really helpful when meeting new people and tying a face with a name. I also like GPS ability to locate your phone when you can't find it. It takes a little setup, but is really handy when your phone is lost or stolen. Most of the innovative 'web' applications are related to the phone. Phones are really the future of the internet. There are some innovative web applications for sites like steepandcheap.com where you can get text messages, or a pop up on your screen indicating there is limited time to buy a certain item.