Today's Convergence Culture

 Professor of Humanities at MIT, Henry Jenkins,  describes the current convergence culture as "The flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want." To professor Jenkins, convergence culture is more than the merging of devices like the phone and mp3 player. It is consumers using various media forms to interact with each other and share their ideas, which leads to creative engagement. Creative engagement is what has appeared through the new convergence culture where consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make new forms of media content that make sense in their everyday lives.  These consumers are participating in various ways. Some are creating blogs to expresses their opinions and give advice, while others are interacting with businesses by writing online reviews and "tweeting" at other companies. The type of content they are posting is always changing, along with the participants so this creates a completely diverse and unpredictable environment. My favorite kind of participators are the humorous ones. One of my favorite examples of creative engagement is the "Things Tim Howard Could Save" meme.

  Due to the internet and photoshop Time Howard is now immortalized as more than a goalie and thanks to creative engagement and the rising convergence culture, the internet will always be filled with endless entertainment.

Preventing Illegal Downloading

 Illegal downloading is a naturalistic occurrence that has been going on for quite some time. Prices of music, movies, and television have steadily risen and as expected, consumers have sought new outlets to obtain the media they want with minimal expenses. I think there is little that the government and media can do about this dilemma and little they should do.
 I think it is completely unethical for the government to regulate the internet even more than they do now. However, I do understand the unfairness to musicians and artists that devote their time and money to their work so here are a few ideas:
 One idea is to create an emotional campaign designed to deter online users to stop illegally downloading items such as music. Many people think that artists have many other ways of making money, but thats not always the case. Illegally downloading music is only going to make your favorite artist more expensive to see live and not enough people understand that. In addition I think it would be helpful to hear from musicians themselves that this illegal activity hurts them in more ways than we understand.
 One way the government could interfere is by taking down the websites that allow you to illegally download material. It is fairly easy to find a website that can steal the music from youtube videos. If these websites were taken down it would be harder for a consumer to download material and eager for simplicity they might just buy the media from itunes or amazon.
 A final method for decreasing illegal downloading activity is just to make harsher punishments. I think large money fines would be extremely influential. If I knew there was a better possibility of getting a fine I would be more hesitant to downloading music.

Privacy & Enhanced Personalization

It seems that an increase in personalization results in a decrease of privacy, but that isn’t always the case. There is an entire field dedicated to privacy-enhanced personalization that aims to create the best method of personalization within privacy boundaries. This article summarizes this field and its findings.

            The current theory is that potential risks of disclosing personal information is weighed against the benefits of giving out information, but it is believed that internet users lack the information needed to make those decisions. For example privacy statements are difficult to understand and, considered by most, too lengthy to read. There are several traits examined about internet users that affect their privacy concerns such as age, attitude, and personality. Most internet users can be placed into one of three groups: privacy fundamentalist, privacy unconcerned, and privacy pragmatists. Privacy fundamentalists express extreme concern about use of their information and do not disclose any information even when privacy protection mechanisms are in place. The privacy unconcerned express some concern about privacy and are somewhat anxious about how information about them is used. Privacy pragmatists are generally concerned, but not as much as the other groups. They are much more willing to disclose information when they understand reasons for use, have benefits for doing so, and see privacy protections in place.

            While internet users do have privacy concerns, surveys have found that 80% of users are interested in personalization. Two researchers, Chellappa and Sin, found that the consumer’s desire for personalization is almost two times more influential than their desire for privacy. When they do decide to disclose information they are much more likely to disclose demographic an lifestyle information including hobbies and personal tastes. Financial information, contact information, and credit card information are much less likely to be revealed

            So in an era when consumers want to express their personal interests online, but are concerned about their privacy, how can websites encourage them to do so?  Findings suggest that websites should explain to users exactly what information they are giving up and exactly how they are going to use it. By doing so they will gain a consumer’s trust. It is also suggested that websites include a privacy seal, a privacy statement, and can be navigated easily. There are many questions regarding privacy including is it necessary or ethical responsible for websites to include a simple version of their privacy. The question I purpose is: Is it the government’s role to regulate internet privacy or the independent website?

New Media & Technology

The idea of "New Journalism" is a direct result of the internet and it's new ways of collecting and reporting information. New forms of media, such as the internet, have both positively and negatively affected today's journalism techniques and have sent journalists on a new mission to mold their content to fit with the new methods. With this new journalism comes a new model: new writing techniques, fragmented audiences, high speeds, and an open network.

The most recent addition to new journalism is that journalism is becoming more interactive. The audience can now gather and report information, give insight, and research on their own time. This interactive possibility is now leading to a free environment for journalism where time and geographic distance are now insignificant. In addition story length is no longer an issue. With newspapers there is a limited amount of space dedicated to each article, but with the internet one can post as much information as necessary about a topic. However this is an imperfect system. There is a question of whether or not these new practices are damaging to the nature of news. Now comes the problem of unlimited content. Journalists, or news seekers, may spend hours searching the internet for reliable information and sometimes it is hard to tell what is truthful. In addition we must ask, "Is new media edging out accountability and standards with ill-informed opinion and user-generated rants? Or is it the evolution of journalism, breaking down barriers, which previously restricted the flow of information and narrowed the range of debate?"

The full article can be found at: http://cie.acm.org/articles/new-media-redefining-journalism/

Why We Blog

In "Why We Blog" the authors explored the reasons people blog through twenty-three interviews.
Through two interactions with each interviewee the authors were able to put together five main motivations for blogging: Documenting one's life, use as commentary, as carthas, as a muse, and as a community forum.
I have always had mixed feelings about Blogs in general and this article was unable to sway me a certain way. When I hear the word blog I think about my overbearing Facebook friend who started a fashion blog because she got complemented on her kimono. I understand bloggers may find comfort through expressing their opinions online, but I tend to see blogs as irrelevant ranting that only the blogger sees as striking and important and yes I see the irony that I am writing about being against blogs on a blog of my own. However, the authors make a very good point that blogs are not intrusive. No one is forced to read them or respond them unless they want to. Evan, an interviewee, explained how he used his blog to help expand his writing skills. Based on how many people viewed his blog or responded to his writings, Evan was able to gage how interesting or well written his posts were. Another blogger, Laura, revealed that she used her blog to work out emotional issues. She was able to talk about her passions in a safe place with limited interactivity. The more I think about it maybe I don't dislike blogs. Even though Facebook gives me a link to the blog it doesn't mean that I have to read it. Sometimes I actually find comfort in reading the opinions of others. It can be nice to know that someone feels the same way you do about a certain subject.
The authors also talked about the future of blogging and how more classrooms are incorporating online journaling. I think that sometimes it is easier to express your opinions behind a computer screen rather than in a traditional class room setting, but it shouldn't replace classroom discussion. On the other hand I think that students who don't like to participate during class discussions can start slowly in online discussion and work up to class discussions.

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