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Final Project

Internet Studies Screencast

Internet Studies Screencast

Blogger and Copyright Laws

Blogger is a service that provides an online community with the means to socially network through blogging. On blogger, one can post content, videos, and photographs. It was started in 1999 by Pyra Labs, but was purchased in 2003 by Google. Since then, it has been redesigned and integrated to the point that with a simple click, one can link to a blog directly from the Internet and upload a blog from Google Documents and Microsoft Word. Blogger maintains a large presence online. In 2007 it was ranked 16 on the list of top 50 domains in terms of unique visitors.

As a large online community, Blogger is susceptible to copyright infringement by its users. Copyright laws protect ideas from being reproduced without permission of the creator. It was created to insure that creativity was rewarded with profit, giving the creator 14 years of exclusivity. Now copyright law regulates any creative work produced after 1923, for a maximum term of life of the author plus seventy years, or ninety-five years for corporate work. In Lessig's Remix, he discusses how copyright laws have strengthened with the growth of technology that challenges it, blogs included. Courts have upheld that every time a digital work is viewed or downloaded, it serves as a copy. So virtually all unoriginal content published to blogs are subject to copyright laws unless they qualify for the Fair Use exception. Fair Use is the idea that works can be copied for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. There is lenience when small portions of the work is used and when it is for noncommercial purposes. 


Blogger handles copyright issues through policy and reporting. On its website it states that if an infringement is reported by a third party, Blogger will remove the content. There are greater consequences in some instances. "Posting copyright-infringing content can lead to the removal of your post, blog, and even account termination. If a copyright owner decides to take legal action against you, this may possibly mean that you'd be liable for monetary damages."This is part of the statement of Blogger's policy. So even with the option of having content pulled, copyright violators can still be subject to legal ramifications. 


The laws that have turned ordinary citizens into potential felons is of great disturbance to author, Lawrence Lessig. Lessig is a copyright lawyer and activist for changes in the laws concerning thus. His book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in a Hybrid Economy, addresses his concerns with copyright law and its stifling of creativity and progress. Copyright law used to only affect corporations. The ability to reproduce was held in the hands of companies that could print and distribute. Now that power belongs to anyone who can use a computer.  The laws do not stop creativity, but it does criminalize it. Studies have shown that two thirds of music downloaded by college students was done illegally. And though people still push the envelope, it stagnates progress in the open. Institutions like schools don't promote song and video remixing in fear of ramifications. 

Copyright tightens it hold as it loses profits to illegal sharing practices. Lessig has many ideas about how to converge the commercial and sharing economies. Commercial is a profit based economy, while sharing recoils at the idea of monetary exchange and ownership goods. Wikipedia is an example of this. The content is owned by no one and is run on donations.


One commercial idea follows the Long Tail principle. This says that if the "cost of inventory falls, the efficient range of inventory rises. And as transaction costs generally fall to zero, the efficient inventory rises to infinity." So the less it costs for a company to hold something, the more it can profitably hold. Internet based websites can sell more than physical stores. Amazon sells books online that you cannot find other places, and does it well. Now Red Hat is trying, with Lulu, to sell the even more obscure works that Amazon and traditional publishing misses. Lessig hopes that following Long Tail principle, future companies will promote people creating by making all works available online. Red had has also been instrumental in the creation of Linux, a free operating system. Red Hat has maintained a delicate balance between commercial and sharing by developing community loyalty and supporting free software, while also making profitable programs. Red Hat is a hybrid company.

So Lessig suggests that we deregulate amateur creativity and decriminalize the copy. In this future, companies could distribute unlimited works for free, reaping profits from advertising or small subscription fees. They would pass back a share to copyright holders, who benefit through this and through increased exposure. These new avenues would also open up opportunities for new and unique artists.


But until copyright holders give way, social networks will run in caution of legal ramification. Creativity still thrives on sites like Blogger, but has an unlimited potential when granted greater freedoms for its users.

Second Draft

http://www.appstate.edu/~cranfillag/FirstExperiencesWithTheInternet.htm

Dogs in Sweaters

Hey has anyone been to this really cool website about dogs in sweaters? Its quite enlightening.


www.appstate.edu/~cranfillag/UglyWebpage.htm

My Early Experiences with the Internet

First day of Kindergarten, before I knew that the Internet could be used for evil 

(evil being homework, not cyber warfare or porn... not that I knew of those either)

Its hard to think about my earliest experiences with the Internet. I can remember our first computer. It was on the second floor hallway of our first house that we lived in until I was 4. It was huge, off white, and you could hear the fan buzzing if you used it for too long. It followed us to our next house and then lived upstairs in the playroom. I remember some of my computer games from early Elementary School. I played JumpStart, Sims, SimCity, Rollercoaster Tycoon, and of course, Oregon Trail. I also remember the majesty of discovering spell check on Microsoft Word, and that ridiculous paperclip man. Though the Internet has become a large part of life over the past decade, it used to make up a fairly small fraction of my time on the computer. I don't think I have strong memories earlier than the 4th or 5th grade.

 Sims people really know how to set appliances on fire.

In the beginning, I used the Internet for about two things. The first of which was AOL Instant Messaging. I was Doodlebug208. My dad used to call me Doodlebug. I liked to doodle. I used AIM to talk to friends for hours. About nothing. I would have 4 or 5 conversations at one time, minimizing and maximizing chat boxes to keep up. This sort of Internet use reminds me of what Nathaniel Hawthorne was worried about in his essay, "Fire Worship". He feared that the Airtight Wood Burning Stove would change social interaction for the next generation. Without the need to gather around a fire, families would not gather and socialize. Hawthorne was so pessimistic about this change. He thought about how sad this would be, I thought about how a fully heated house would mean freedom. People could read books, have private conversations, really anything besides huddle around a fire for warmth. There is a value to family communication, but I think it is irrational to put that fear ahead of progress. My use of Instant Messenger was not the Airtight Stove. In a house with heat, television, homework, and teenage hormones, I was already going to be locked up in my room. The Internet just changed how I used this time. And it was not a waste of time. I have always hated talking on the phone and with AIM, I was able to talk to friends when I otherwise wouldn't have. The Internet increased my communication.

 Q: Jeeves, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A: A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood

My other use of the Internet was for school. As I got older, our elementary school tried to increase our competence with computers. We played games that helped our spelling, math and typing. We also had to use the Internet to research for little school projects and papers. In the 5th Grade I had to do a project on Czech Republic and in 6th Grade I remember papers on Roman Gladiators, Russian Tsars, and black holes. We got to choose our topics. My papers were awesome. I found some easy information in the library, mostly through the Encyclopedia. But there was only so much I was willing to Dewey Decimal when I had the Internet at my fingertips. I remember using Netscape and hating how slow it was. To open a page I would have to sit and wait for 5 minutes only to find that the pictures came up replaced with small red "X"s in the corner of a blank box. As I got older the Internet speed improved and we used computers outside of the class to complete these projects. Ask Jeeves, Dogpile, and Yahoo gave way to Googling soon after. In this sense my Internet use reflected Vannevar Bush's "As We May Think". My early use of the Internet as a research tool falls in line with his vision for the Memex. He wanted a machine the size of desk that could store incredible amounts of information, including the works written by the person who owned it. At this time, the school desktops were about the size of a desk. The Internet may not be updated by subscription, but it is constantly growing and evolving. For one of my papers in the 6th grade we had to upload our work to the teachers website. This in a sense, was like adding our work to the Memex. Scholastically, the Internet has served the same purpose as Vannevar's vision.

 Our desktop survived Y2K, but it did not survive the trash can.

But in my opinion, these two old old fellows can only offer a glimpse to the use or impact of the Internet. Especially for a 10 year old. I can relate their visions to my experiences, but for me, at the time, the Internet was basically for fun. Any real learning I did was because teacher's assigned it, or the Internet games happened to be educational. And the socializing on AIM I did was only because I was already bored with Boy Meets World and my mom was cooking dinner, not as a replacement for family bonding that would have been happening. I used the Internet to Ask Jeeves really stupid questions. I used the Internet to look up cheats for The Sims. I used the Internet to download silly backgrounds and screensavers for my desktop. I used the Internet download music illegally. I used the Internet to buy cheap electronics on Ebay. I bought a portable DVD player in 7th grade for 60 dollars. It was a real steal.

For Hawthorne, the Internet would be the undoing of social interactions. For Vannevar, the Internet would be the evolution of knowledge. But for me, as a child, it was just that cool gadget that let play Sims with 1 million dollars in the bank and listen to Nelly's "Hot in Here" for free. It was pretty awesome. The Internet has evolved since my childhood, and my use of it has also.

Welcome!

I never thought I'd have a blog. I'm already such an old fogey so stuck in my ways that I refuse to have a Twitter. But here I am. For anyone who comes across my blog by accident, this is a required blog for my Internet Studies class. My name is Allison.. I am a senior from Raleigh, NC. I am an advertising major but I have no clue what I want to do with that. I have two older brothers and 6 month old puppy named Mason. I enjoy painting, playing soccer, watching TV and being too lazy for my own good. I am fairly computer savvy due to the fact that one of my older brothers is a total goober who knows way too much about electronics. I look forward to getting to know everyone in this class and trying to master this whole blogging shenanigans.