Copyright in the Digital Age

Question: In your opinion, is sampling a form of copyright infringement? Explain your position.
Answer: This is a very controversial issue that can go either way, but I'm going to have to side with the samplers. Yes, in a way it could be considered stealing someone else's work, but what is used is generally changed dramatically to produce something much different. I don't think that when these portions from songs are used in a new song mashed together that it devalues the orginal song in any way, in fact, I think it bring popularity back to it if anything because if people like the beat or the words, they'll look up that original song and maybe buy it.

Question: Do you agree that, as was stated in the film, hip-hop’s sampling is no different from other artistic work (e.g. Andy Warhol’s paintings of soup cans or a photographer’s taking scenes and reconstructing them)? Why or why not?
Answer: I'm going to have to agree that the work these artists produce is just like anything other artists, such as painters, filmmakers, and other professional artists create. These people are taking little bits and pieces from various sources and creating something much larger and more detailed, and from that, can easily be compared to the work of a painter like Warhol. "All recordings have a unique character, depending on the instruments used, and where they were recorded. Sampling lets you get a piece of that character" (http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Pros-and-Cons-of-Audio-Sampling&id=1971700).

Question: 5. Some people, such as Lawrence Lessig (a founder of Creative Commons), say that current technology enables more creativity; others feel that new technology allows musical artists to take the easy route and just patch together pieces of music created by someone else. Where do you stand on this issue? Where do you think the filmmakers stand?
Answer: I do agree that today's technology enables us to be able to create pieces of music that creative beyond older generations minds. As the years pass, the technology improves, therefore, the music becomes more creative, detailed, and awesome. In a way these artists are patching together pieces of music, but by no means is it taking the easy route out because constructing a song the way they do is very strenuous and takes inordinate amounts of time and effort.

Explicating Sources

http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/all-atwitter-on-the-campaign-trail-20100727-10tl9.html
Thesis: Australia, amongst other governments, have started using Twitter to help dictate election outcomes.
Using hashtags as "ausvotes" the Australians used these to determine who was leading and by how much, and also to organize election-related messages.
"Interestingly, the Prime Minister has established a commanding lead over the Opposition Leader – in terms of #ausvotes tweets received (not counting retweeted messages), Gillard leads Abbott by 74 per cent to 26 per cent to date."
"Both leaders have their own Twitter accounts – even if, in reality, it's most likely their staff who do the actual posting. Many other users have directed support or criticism to them by including "@juliagillard" or "@tonyabbottmhr" in their messages."

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitter_for_journalists.php
Thesis: 140 character Twitter messages can be very beneficial for journalists, for it helps educate them with breaking news, interviews, quality assurance, as well as promoting their own articles.
"Whether it's natural disasters, political developments or breaking tech news - it's common to discover items of interest first on Twitter. Robert Scoble wrote a year ago about how Twitter users reported a major earthquake in Mexico City several minutes before the USGS did."
"When Sarah Perez wrote a post here titled "Real People Don't Have Time for Social Media" she found a wide range of respondents for her questions. Some were hardcore early adopters and others reported that they just dabbled in tools like Twitter."
"We often get feedback on misspellings, missed links and other publishing faux pas very quickly via Twitter. It's an easy way for readers to offer quick feedback."
"Promoting your online articles over Twitter is probably the crassest way a journalist can use the medium."

10 Sources

1. Bennett, Chris. "» Twitter, the Most Important Website Since Google?" Utah Search Engine Optimization Company | SEO Firm | 97th Floor.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.97thfloor.com/blog/twitter-the-most-important-website-since-google/.

2. Bese, Jackie. "Why Twitter Is Important and How You Can Use It to Grow." Dallas Web Designers, Email Marketing Agency, SEO, Social Media, Joomla Agency.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.atomicdc.com/blog/why-twitter-is-important-and-how-you-can-use-it-to-grow.html.

3. Brahm, Laura. "Ten Reasons Why We Use Twitter (the Communications Network Blog)." The Communications Network Blog.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://comnetwork.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/02/why-do-we-tweet-here-are-10-reasons.html.

4. Bruns, Axel. "How Twitter Is Being Used In The Election Campaign." National Times.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/politics/all-atwitter-on-the-campaign-trail-20100727-10tl9.html.

5. Gasser, Beth. "Top 10 Reasons Why Twitter Is Bad." Steve Gasser — Exploring Possibilities in Social Media.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.stevegasser.com/top-10-reasons-why-twitter-is-bad/.

6. Kirkpatrick, Marshall. "How We Use Twitter for Journalism." ReadWriteWeb - Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking and Social Media.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitter_for_journalists.php.

7. Loong, Joe. "5 Stories of Twittering Gone Bad | Small Business Conversations by Network Solutions." Domain Names, Web Hosting and Online Marketing Services | Network Solutions.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.networksolutions.com/blog/2009/5-stories-twittering-gone-bad/.

8. Patrick, Deval. "Governor's Office Social Media Usage and Policies." Mass.Gov.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3terminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Key Priorities&L2=Civic Engagement & Strong Communities&sid=Agov3&b=terminalcontent&f=staying_informed_involved_online&csid=Agov3.

9. Pfauth, Ernst-Jan. "How Can We Use Twitter for Business?" The Next Web | TNW Is the International Source for Internet News, Business and Culture.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://thenextweb.com/2008/04/23/how-can-we-use-twitter-for-business/.

10. Rhodes, Matt. "Long-term Success in Social Media Is about More than Tactics | Social Media Agency London | FreshNetworks Blog." Social Media Agency FreshNetworks London | Social Media Strategy, Software and Support to Help You Engage Customers.
Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2010/04/long-term-success-in-social-media-is-about-more-than-tactics/.

Who Tweets?

The Pew article I read documented who exactly uses this new cultural phenomenon, Twitter. It quickly pointed out that out of all the adults that use the internet, eight percent of them are Twitter users. It also points out that the majority of Twitter users are young adults, minorities, and people that live in cities. The article examines how it has now become one of the most popular online activities among tech enthusiasts because it lets them study the conversations of users, buzz about news, products or services, and announcements by commercial, non-profit, and government organizations. Moreover, Twitter has even become a prominent tool used by the Pew Research Center, "For instance, it is an important component of the analytical work by our colleagues at the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in its New Media Index, which assesses the most prominent topics discussed in social media every week." It also charted what types of people make up most of the Twitter world, and the most prevalent kind of person is a woman that is between the age of 18-29, who is Hispanic, who makes either less than 30,000$ a year or 50,000$-74,999$ a year, who either attended some college or is attending one now, and lives in an urban neighborhood. I think it is very significant to note that African-American and Hispanics are more than twice as likely to use Twitter than white internet users. Clearly there is a lot to learn from these demographics about how our society operates on the internet, and although I don't know why certain groups use Twitter more than other, I know that if there was one site that could crack the code, it would be Pew.

Smith, Aaron. "Who Tweets?" Pew Research Center. 09 Dec. 2010. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1821/twitter-users-profile-exclusive-examination

Catfish

When watching the film, I had no doubts about the authenticity of the film, but in the end when everything was revealed and exposed, my suspicion of the realism of the film escalated greatly as I lost serious trust in the film. It was filmed beautifully; everything seemed real as the filmmakers were very creative in what they wanted the viewers to believe. It might have started out real, but once the character of Megan Faccio became a protagonist, or antagonist if you will, they legitimacy of the film dwindled.
There’s actually nothing Facebook can do to prevent this and to be honest, Facebook should not care at all. Facebook puts all the power in the world into the user’s hands and if he or she can’t tell if someone whom they are talking to or even starting a relationship with is fake, then that is all on them, not the social networking site. All of the responsibility is on the user, but if a user reports a fake profile to Facebook, then the site can investigate and then do what they seem fit for punishment. I have never heard of a fake profile being deleted off Facebook from the site, but there are red flags like naked pictures or strong, hateful comments that can lead to a profiles termination.
I think the chances of something like this happening in real life are very high because there are so many people out there looking for love in all the wrong places, and it just takes one fake profile to tell them what they want to hear for them to believe the person they are talking to is the man or woman of their dreams.
I think Nev was disregarding the red flags because he was so attracted to what he thought she looked like and became engulfed into the lies she was telling him. I think he noticed the red flags, but looked the other way because he had so much hope and optimism that they could become something serious.
In my opinion, obviously she’s a huge weirdo on many levels and committed moral crimes, but other than that she did nothing wrong. If anything, Nev should be the one to blame for this for being so stupid and oblivious. She did everything Facebook allowed her to do; sometimes we all wish we were someone else, and yes most of us don’t go and do something like this, but she was merely playing out her “Utopia” and portraying someone she wanted to be through the tough times she was going through.
The impact Angela has had from this movie couldn’t be better. As the old expression goes, any publicity is good publicity. From this film, she has now gotten her website off and advertised, as well as being interviewed by serious programs and journalists. Aside from the death of one of her son’s, her family has undoubtedly benefitted from life after the film because now they are sort of like celebrities, especially coming from a small town in Michigan.
I think something that is hard to prevent, but is a major issue to not just Facebook, but to our society, is the relationships pedophiles can have with young kids. If you think about it, it’s quite easy for someone to create and portray a fake person, as illustrated in the movie. How we prevent this is something society, as well as Facebook, need to figure out.
I do believe that if someone makes a fake profile, posting pictures of other people as themselves is in fact identity theft. Say I put a picture of Lebron James and make that my default picture, that is not theft because it is just one simple image in an album where I am clearly represented. On the other hand, if I just put pictures of another person for all my default and all of my pictures and I say I am that person, then that is identity theft because you are literally stealing the identity of that person. It is an interesting debate, because we don’t own our own photos, Facebook does. Having a profile is like staying as a guest in someone’s house; you live there, but you don’t own anything.

My_____

From what I’ve gathered and learned from our Myspace unit is that the site can have a tremendous effect on an individual, even to the point where it can seriously interfere, as well as change and alter an individuals life. Granted, Myspace is very beneficial to actors, comedians, and bands, but to regular everyday people, it can be very detrimental. All of the famous people that have Myspace pages most likely aren’t even them, but instead, a team with a good understanding of proper public relations. Regular individuals on the other hand do not have someone either creating their page for them or at least monitoring what gets put up, and sometimes even a little mistake can be very costly. An article published on associated content.com illustrated how harmful Myspace can really be and how it can even tarnish careers, “Here is a hypothetical situation. You have been working at your job for about a year now and, for recreation, you drink or use drugs on the weekend. You posted pictures of this on one of the above websites. You go into work one Monday and you are fired on the spot” (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/496891/fired_because_of_myspace.html). It sounds silly, but getting fired due to posts on social networking sites happen countless times, just ask the New England Patriots, “A Cheerleader for the New England Patriots was sacked from the cheer squad following inappropriate photos on her Facebook account. It seems that the 18-year-old Davis attended a college Halloween party. When one of the attendees passed out he received the age old tradition of being drawn on with Sharpies. Some of those drawings included swastikas and crude depictions of male genitalia. Davis made the no so smart move of posing with the victim with a Sharpie in her hand and posted the pictures on her Facebook. The Patriots organization didn’t particularly care for her behavior and released her” (http://www.reputation.com/blog/2008/11/07/new-england-patriots-cheerleader-fired-over-facebook-photos/).
There’s no doubt that Myspace can be very beneficiary, but I believe that cons outweigh the pros when looking at the big picture. Myspace made it very easy for sexual predators to pose as teens and establish relationships with innocent young kids. Unfortunately, a lot of these predators have been successful in their attempts to lure in kids and victimize them, “A judge sentenced a man, who used MySpace to find his victims, to more than 33 years in prison Monday morning on 22 counts of rape, sexual abuse and other crimes” (http://www.kptv.com/news/16624921/detail.html). Sexual predators aren’t the only criminals on Myspace: the deranged people that pose as kids and spark love interests with children have led their victims to suicide, “A Missouri mom was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in the death of a teen who killed herself over a failed Internet romance that turned out to be a hoax. A federal indictment accuses Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Missouri, of using the social networking Web site MySpace.com to pose as a 16-year-old boy and feign romantic interest in the girl” (http://articles.cnn.com/2008-05-15/justice/internet.suicide_1_megan-meier-tina-meier-lori-drew?_s=PM:CRIME). Cyber bullying is just as bad and detrimental, for it has led to a superfluous amount of suicides every year, including the sad story of Megan Meir, who took her life because she could not stand the cyber bullying the kids at her school were giving her any longer, “Six weeks after her death, Megan Meier's parents were informed that the mother of one of their daughter's friends—with whom Meier had a falling out—had created the "Josh Evans" account. The parent, Lori Drew, who created the fake account, admitted that she and her daughter had the password to the account, and characterized the hoax to a reporter as a "joke” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier).
It is evident through this research that Myspace is a very dangerous site that should be used wisely. Although there is plenty good that Myspace can bring, its flaws are far too detrimental. What should happen is more censoring and less revealing content, especially from women, who have been shown to produce more risqué content on their pages then men, “Content analysis of MySpace site profiles has documented several sex and age differences in user profiles. For example, findings indicate that women and girls tend to post more: (a) personal information, (b) sexual pictures, and (c) links to sexual communities than men and boys” (https://elearning.ua.edu/webct/urw/lc5116011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct). Less controversial material could lead to a major decrease in unwanted attention and a rapid decline in online predators. The site needs to become more secure, and although I don’t know how that could happen, I’m still optimistic that in the future, these sites will be cyber-bullying and predator free.

Social Networking & The Virtual Revolution

When watching “The Virtual Revolution” I did not really learn too much that I already didn’t know or suspect, but I did learn that “Our thoughts and desires expressed on the web are traced, tracked and traded in pursuit of profit,” which is pretty scary to think about. I agree with the assumption, which by now is pretty much factual, that our society has become completely dependant on “screen” (pretty much anything anyone can see or do on a TV or computer screen). I also think its cool that there is a debate whether the invention of the web is more important to that of the creation of the printing press. What is a concern from all of this is the question of whether or not the dependency of “screens” could actually harm children due to the webs possible distortion of these children’s’ sense of reality. Do we want our children growing up only knowing life online? Should we care? I think its something that should be changed, but never will, for it’s impossible to try and put a limit on it when it’s only growing larger and more powerful.

Myspace.com is a website that enables users to communicate with friends, families, and even strangers through messaging, picture commenting, and even video. This social networking site also allows users to post their current moods and feeling, as well as blogging about anything on one’s mind. Not only does the site allow you to keep up with friends and family, but it also let’s users keep track of what their favorite celebrities are currently up to.
Myspace was founded in 2003, but did not become a dominant networking website until 2006, when it stood out as the most popular. The reign of dominance for Myspace ended two years later, when major rival, Facebook, overtook the site as the most popular social networking site on the web. The purpose of Myspace was not just to keep up with current friends, but also to meet and make new ones on the site.
Honestly, I am strictly team Facebook now, but from 7th to 9th grade, I was all about Myspace. It was all my friends and I did, in fact, we pretty much lived on that site, but all good things come to an end, and I quickly switched to the trendy Facebook. Looking back on it, Myspace was pretty damn cool, but lost its flavor, partly because of Facebook’s emergence, and also because it got a little ridiculous with all of the things profiles could have on them. I didn’t really have a pimped out profile, but I did have “Pimpin all over the world” by Ludacris as my song and a picture of Will Ferrell from “Old School” holding a blowup doll in tiles as my background. Other than that, sadly, I didn’t really have a “pimped out” page, even though I wish I did.
What I learned from touring the site was that I feel as though Myspace has pretty much given up on the social networking side of the site, and has focused a lot more of it’s advertising on the music aspect of the site.