Where's the Loot?

Downloading music illegally, as it has become to be known, perhaps has stolen a little from the music industry. However, how much have other avenues stolen, such as the ability to stream music consistently online or commercial free satellite radio that allows you to have favorite channels that play nothing but your favorite music? The music industry and the critics of individuals being able to download music online without paying, need to take a step back and not only target those they have marked as looters. Society is changing along with the media that is changing around it. Instead of fighting it, it should be embraced and ways need to be found to use it to an advantage.

Before reading a few chapters by Lawrence Lessig, I think I leaned more toward the extremist side of the fence in saying society is seething with pirates of the music industry. But then Lessig explained this extremist side in a perspective that started to make me think more about how drastic it is to call one who downloads music free online a pirate. As Lessig provided strong examples from our history of how piracy has been the way of the world, I think now those who call us pirates (yes, I am including myself) in such a drastic meaning of the word, are the real pirates.

I am sure there has been much written on this, perhaps by Lessig himself, and certainly online. But I have some thoughts of my own on all of this. In particular, note above that I stated the music industry. I think, for the majority, this includes only those who feel they will lose some of the great fortune they have already made. I am by no means speaking for musicians, but I do have a love of music as well as other arts, especially writing. Personally, as a writer wanting to break into the publishing world, I’d be OK posting a book or poem or a few samplings of my writings online for free to grab interest. What better publicity is there? I think an artist that isn’t well known yet certainly wouldn’t mind a few songs out there that would be free to their listeners and soon to be fans.

My prime example of this – while I will not state I “stole” anything and yes, the band is more well known – a few months ago I heard a song on Q98 by Avenged Sevenfold, I asked my husband, the music guru in the house, if he had any CDs by them. While he did not, his network of friends provided the latest Avenged Sevenfold CD. It went straight onto my Zune, and I spent the next few days listening to it at work, it growing on me like crazy. A few weeks later, I asked dear husband to check if they were on tour. Something came up that distracted us from checking, but a few weeks later, Q98 announced that if you were part of their Inner Circle, you could get the presale code to order Avenged Sevenfold tickets for November 9 at none other than the FargoDome. My tickets arrived in the mail today. Do you really think Avenged Sevenfold cares that I didn’t go buy their CD, especially since I am likely to go do so now and check out their other ones to possibly buy those too?

And no, I don’t think there should be this free for all online as that isn’t fair to the artists. I am an artist. I know what it is like to starve as you possibly make it into the industry. Instead of being so concerned with who is stealing, the attention needs to be turned to a solution to make these individuals not want to do so. Personally, I think the solution is an easy one. Musicians need to turn people on to their music. May it be (god forbid!) a free download or two, well, put it out there. I don’t care if you are Metallica or TxRx (click to sample). People love anything for free. How do I know? Well, back to Q98, for 24 whole hours, you could download a song from Nickelback’s upcoming album free. Seems someone is working on their marketing team using creative resources and what society wants to target sales. Looters (and society) unite!

The "New" Facebook

While we read the article Brave New World of Digital Intimacy by Clive Thompson a few weeks ago for our first online class, I have repeatedly been thinking back to it almost every day I sign into Facebook. I think most of us are aware of the “New” Facebook and for me personally, I’ve noted a lot of negative comments about it, typically that people hate it. In looking to reasons people leave for this hate, I really could only come up with one concrete reason, a report of an individual having trouble using Facebook now due to the Digital Divide. Well, there actually are two reasons, that one, and how us creatures of habit simply fight change. Will those petitioning about how bad Facebook is win out in the end?

Every time I see someone post that for an update or on a wall or some where on Facebook, I think to all the controversy Thompson noted in the article that Facebook faced when they started the News Feed. Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, was directly quoted in saying that Facebook does indeed try to push the envelope. Certainly, they are pushing it again as they have unveiled the “New” and “Only” Facebook (while I have not bothered to spend the time to confirm this, I have noted that you can go back to the “Old” Facebook) within the last week.

Personally, I guess I don’t care either way and honestly, I am not so sure what people are so upset about. Trying to make sense of it, I logged on to my own account and searched “hate new facebook.” There are six groups so far that you can join in the mission to hate it… I clicked to view the one with over 1,000,000 members to read the comments. There are 20 reasons listed as to why it should be hated. I liked how, before the list began, there was what appears to be a disclaimer that states “First of all, it's NOT because we don't want change.. it's because THE CHANGE IS BAD). Obviously these people aren’t designers and to me, that statement flat out says, we just hate adjusting to change. If the reasons they list would have confirmed the reasons for Facebook being so bad, surely they wouldn’t have had to make sure we know they don’t dislike change….

But really, I am trying to stay on the fence here. Read the reasons for yourself. Feel free to comment on why you’re on one side or the other or what you think of this “list.” For me, it boiled down to not wanting to accept change. Then I got to reason number 17 – finally someone made a good point that is worth Facebook taking the time to look into:

17- "It does not support old windows 98 systems, even those with Opera browsers. If you've got an internet explorer browser, then you're just plain out of luck!
Guess what... there's still plenty of us out there who are not that rich, own an old computer and like it just fine. We're basically being kicked out of Facebook which is a shame. I too thought Facebook was different!? I'm willing to bet that the change has a whole lot more to do with accomodating advertisers and how to get even more of them on here!" Diane Courchesne (Halifax, NS)

I feel fortunate to be able to keep up with most of the latest technology online. Unfortunately, I know many are not. I feel for many more years we are going to see that, especially with the state of the economy and people moving towards a more conservative nature in their spending habits. We have touched on this already in our readings for the course, too. The “Digital Divide” is huge and likely always be a factor.

As we all know at this point from history is that Facebook did get its followers to love the News Feed, leading to a social phenomenon of ambient awareness. People love knowing what their friends are doing and being able to quickly check in on Facebook has allowed this. While I do not foresee Facebook’s upgrade causing any big turn in society or a way of socializing, I think it will be an interesting few months ahead to see if these haters of Facebook have enough influence to change the minds of the gurus of Facebook. Will they completely change the changes they have done? Or will we slowly, we creatures of habit, give in and accept change? I’m willing to bet Facebook will iron out the technological glitches, such as those plaguing Diane in NS, and we’ll all go on being just fine with the “New” Facebook.

Admission

In addition to wondering if I am strange, the situation I encountered also made me think about the forms of digital media I wasn’t thinking about. And social influences I hadn’t considered either. Thankfully in our class on Monday, Dr. Platt never got to me when she asked the question about online video viewership. While I wouldn’t say I am embarrassed, I will admit that I felt out of place. Why? Well, I don’t watch online videos. The YouTube craze hasn’t gotten me (maybe with Sarah in the class it will?) and for the most part, I would rather read than wait for a video to download so I can watch it. Yes, I know, with broadband they do download relatively quickly and maybe I am still sour on it from when we had wireless, but I would easily choose to scan an article quickly to see if it’s worth reading than to consider a video. So there, my secret it out. Other than watching movies on demand from Netflix (which I stream through my TV and don’t really consider an online video), I don’t do YouTube or anything alike.

Thinking about it more, how many others are out there like me? Is it because of my age (take my word for it, I’m older than you think) or because I didn’t grow up exactly on the Web? It certainly isn’t because I am not technically savvy. Perhaps I thought I should blame it on work. At my job, almost everything is Websensed. Sometimes I feel my computer is going to tattle on me if I choose to go to the ladies room at the wrong time. Still, I get my news fix at work as best as I can. As I thought more though, I have free range at home and still do not choose videos. I simply do not have any interest.

I believe the true reason is those I am in contact on a daily basis with do not have any interest either. I am sure most of my friends have watched online videos unlike me; however, the topic never comes up in a discussion. It is not relevant at all in our social realm. Unless news is constrained to that medium someday, I don’t foresee it ever being part of our realm either. Of course, I despised Facebook too, but signed up for a profile before starting the end of my college years.

Ah, huh! The transition to the digital world does have a big impact on how we socialize. As I’ve been writing this post, I am realizing more and more how peer pressure or the need or desire to fit in or make sure you are in the loop leads one to join in, such as me making sure I didn’t look like a complete fool (or more of one) among my college peers and signed up for Facebook. I am not saying that everyone watches videos because everyone else is. They are watching the videos as it is part of what their friends are doing and talking about. They want to be part of that and there is probably a little bit of not wanting to look too out of place with the “in crowd.”

Interestingly enough, I think the “in crowd” has always guided us. The research out there on this seems to say the same thing. Simply search the term “being popular” on Google Scholar for all kinds of evidence. There are the few and far between who want nothing to do with it, but we can all admit that at least once in our lives, we’ve done something because someone else is doing it. And I am sure media in all forms knows that as well. So in the end, we’re all fed what everyone else thinks is the in thing at that particular moment. I can’t help thinking how much peer pressure has influenced where the Web is today along with the content it holds.

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In searching for a nice example to show you all of my daily frustration with Websense, I came across a great blog on it. Some of you may even be familiar with this guy's site. I wanted to note this separately though as it does contain offensive material. Please note before proceeding. Click here to proceed.

Wide Open

To dive into my topic, I first wanted to see what research has been done on the possible effects of new media and how it effects us socially. At first, I thought perhaps I wasn't searching the right terms or the terms I was using were too broad. I came across lots of information, just nothing concrete on the impact new media has had on socialization. So I turned to my favorite research tool, EBSCO. And it led me perhaps to a type of article I didn't want to find in this quest...

The article certainly was appropriately titled, The Wired Family: Living Digitally in the Postinformation Age. It grabbed my attention, a silent "Finally!" going through my head. I was at work though and since I should have been working, I put it in my EBSCO folder to read later. A few days after that, I was finally able to return to it and was excited to get some ideas for my blog post.

The opening story was a humorous Jetson like portrayal of a family living in the digital age. For me, it was like an ominous peek into the future, the very very near future. I couldn't help thinking that the story and characters could quite easily be a family of tomorrow waking up to a hot breakfast that had been programmed to cook the evening before. And I bet you'd really like a link to it right now, huh? Yep, I remembered now why it was Google Scholar where I hoped to find material - much easier to link to for everyone. Instead, only you, my fellow NDSU mates can peruse the little opener if you'd like. Simply click here and then log in to the NDSU library system.

Moving on from the cute story, I revisit how my happiness went to dismay. Why? Well, turns out the subject I decided upon and was excited to delve into is one that needs a lot of research. There is little to none on the effects of new media on our social being. However, there is a huge need for it. So I am trying to see this good in how this is an intriguing field to study.

Why do I feel so strongly about the need for research? In the article, Peggy Meszaros notes that children age 2-18 spend an average of 38 hours per week watching television, playing video games, surfing the Web, or using some other form of media (Meszaros 384). Now tell me this doesn't have some sort of impact on a child's social skill set!?! Good or bad!

Sadly, there was a call out for research on this even before the boom of the World Wide Web. In 1985 Rowan Wakefield forecasted the impact of computers on family life and the need for investigation:

"Continuing family and societal changes suggest an urgent need for much greater understanding of the impact of home computer use on families."

No one answered that call. I was only left to wonder why someone hasn't and what a huge field this is to research. While I may not have any case studies in the end, I look forward to pulling together the little research there is. Who knows, maybe grad school someday will get me a few case studies.

Reference:

Meszaros, P. (2004, December). The Wired Family: Living Digitally in the Postinformation Age. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(4), 377-390. Retrieved September 1, 2008, doi:10.1177/0002764204270276