Week 6 Response to Content

Movie Piracy

Piracy of movies and music has become an increasing issue in the past decade (Jacobs, 2010). Until recently downloading movies as been a rarity, people in the past were more likely to download music files due to their small size averaging 3 megabytes. Comparing this to downloading an average size 700 megabyte feature film (Jacobs, 2010), there is no wonder why the trend was swinging towards music downloads. Although, due to recent technology of high speed internet and unlimited downloads home viewers are able to download movies or television shows for free in the time it takes to drive to the video store and back, less the cost of fuel. This, although convenient and seemingly harmless is highly illegal. “Copyright law protects the value of creative work” (R.I.A.A, 2011). “Penalties for first time offenders of the crime can be as a high as 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines” (R.I.A.A, 2011), while “the minimum fine equates to $75,000 per song downloaded” (R.I.A.A, 2011). There are many clips that have been put together to deter people from illegal downloading such as this;   

 

In contrast to this, a recent trend of independent film makers is to post their films on the internet to be downloaded. The idea of crowdsourcing is becoming a popular means of gaining creative material and free marketing for independent film makers through the internet medium (Mascioni, 2010).  Through this medium independent film makers are now laying their own path to success with websites such as busika.com, which pays independent film makers for content, or Azureus, where aspiring film producers can post their films for free and be discovered by big time movie makers.

Although these two ideas are at different ends of the downloading spectrum, it highlights the highs and lows of “piracy”, and how it can be both beneficial and hindering to film and music makers.

References:


Jacobs. R. S, ‘Digital Movie Piracy; A Perspective on Downloading Behaviour through Social Cognitive Theory,’ University of Twente, 2010 sourced from  http://essay.utwente.nl/59875/ on 04/09/2011

Mascioni. M, ‘Film making through crowdsourcing’, Internet Evolution, 2010, sourced from

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=709&doc_id=190970 on 4/09/2011

Recording Industry Association of America, ‘The Law’, 2011, sourced from http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy_online_the_law  on 4/09/2011

http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Interviews/azureus.html

http://www.bukisa.com

Week 4 Tutorial Task

Facebook is a social media site that I visit a few times per week. The content that Facebook allows includes pretty much whatever you like to put on it. There are clauses under the “protecting other people’s rights” and “safety” sections of Facebook’s terms of use stating that you cannot upload viruses, bully, post spam etc. although there is nothing set in place (that I could find) that stops these things happening. The only way i could find that you can get caught for doing these things is if someone is offended by it and reports you. Nudity and the like are not recommended and you can have your account suspended if the mentioned material is posted, although, again there is no screening that stops such material being published, aside from being specifically reported by a fellow user. The terms of use sight does say that they will not give your content or information to advertisers without your consent, although earlier in the page it states “for content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permissions, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grand us non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensed, royalty-fee, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP licence).” my understanding of this clause is that they have right to use your information however they want,  if you have not changed your Facebook privacy settings to state otherwise. These seem like two contrasting statements.  Facebook’s privacy statement does not actually guarantee anything, unless you go through the privacy setting and change them on your own. When someone first joins Facebook their privacy settings are automatically set to the lowest setting, this person needs to take it upon themselves to change their privacy settings to how they would like them. To me, If I put something on the internet that I didn’t want anyone to see and that information was taken by Facebook and sold onto a third party, that is my own fault! If Facebook decided to make a coffee table book of stupid status updates, funny groups or ugly photos, (which legally they can do) it would be highly unethical, and a stupid move by Facebook in a marketing sense. Facebook has over 750 million active users (as of July 2011), and is one of the most popular social networking sights in the world. If for example Facebook did decide to make this coffee table book, they would evidently upset these 750 million active users thus resulting in a decline of active user.This could possibly lead to a fall that social networking sights such as MySpace or bebo have suffered in the wake of Facebook. All in all, Facebook could shape up their privacy settings to make its users more aware, and could maybe implement more screening processes to make sure that explicit material could not be posted. But if people do not want their information searched and found by third parties, then they should not post their information in an easily accessible place such as the world wide web.      

www.facebook.com/terms.php

www.facebook.com/policy.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

Week 1 Tutorial Task

Greetings, My name is Steph. I have just moved to the Gold Coast from Melbourne to complete an undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Communications. I love the weather here!! In Melbourne I was half way through completing a double degree of Sports and Recreation Management and Marketing but I did not like it. So I opted for a change. After a couple of big drives from the cold south east of Australia I arrived in the Sunshine State. New Communication Technologies doesn't pay a huge role in my life, I use a mobile phone and facebook, but that is about as far as it goes for me. I am interested in learning more about New Communication Technologies so i don't get left behind the rest of the world both socially and in a career.

Week 5 Tutorial Task

Question 1

·         Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, 967AD

·         http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060729054252AAiUY0V veiwed 24/08/2011  

·         Found using yahoo

Question 2

·         The black Assassins, Steve plays keys and sings.

·         a few songs; 

o   Death Take Me Now

o    Drugs

o   Azaria

o   Multinational Corporate Lifestyle

o   Planet X

o   Death Comes To Townsville

o   Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight.

·         Found using Bing

·         http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm

Question 3

·         Liebherr T 282B is Largest Earth-hauling Truck in the World

·         Costs: US$3.5 M

·         Weight;

o   empty - 203 tons

o   maximum operating weight - 592 tons

o   maximum capacity - 365 tons

·         http://www.bukisa.com/articles/40463_worlds-largest-machines-ever-built

·         Found using Ask

Question 4

·         Justin Bieber has not announced his lawyer/lawyers to the public. His talent manager is Samuel “Scooter” Braun.

·         Found using ChaCha

Question 5

·         Fying jet star or virgin, both costing $99

·         http://travel.webjet.com.au/webjettsa/home.aspx?TripType=OneWay&CityFrom=OOL&DateOut=2011%2F9%2F13&CityTo=Melbourne&DateBack=2011%2F9%2F13&TravelClass=ECONOMY&NumAdult=1&NumChild=0&NumInfant=0&EntryPoint=Flight&RequestFrom=Outside

·         Found using about.com

Question 6

·         She is the main voice from the Vocaloid 2 program.

·         She belongs to Yamaha

·         http://dumbotaku.com/2009/01/17/who-is-hatsune-miku/

·         Her birthday is the 31^st of August

·         Found using Zuula

Question 7

·         http://www.camscape.com/view/5976 (live web cam in Minsk Belarus)

·         http://www.icemarathon.com/live/155.html (accommodation in Antarctica)

·         Found using dogpile  

Question 8

·         Everything I do I do it for you, by Brian Adams.

·         http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1991/main.htm

·         Found using Quintura

Question 9

·         Google uses the new Volkswagen beetle to make Google Street view.

·         http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/01/take-a-look-at-the-vehicle-thats-taking-a-look-at-you/

·         Found using Kartoo

Question 10

·         Spanish translation

¿Dónde estuvo la primera Universidad establecido y en que año? ¿Qué es llamada la banda de Stephen Stockwell y qué juega él? ¿Puede denominar un par de sus canciones? ¿Qué es el peso de la máquina más grande de mundo? ¿Cuánto costó construir? ¿Quién es el abogado de Justin Bieber, y qué son la mejor manera (más rápido, más seguro) contactar al abogado? ¿Qué es la forma más barata de viaje de la Costa de oro a Melbourne? ¿Quién es Hatsune Miku? ¿A qué compañía pertenece ella? ¿Qué es sus cumpleaños? Encuentre una webcam viva en Bielorrusia. Encuentre que un lugar para permanecer en Antártida. ¿Qué canción fue la cima del taponazo australiano traza esta semana en 1991? ¿Qué tipo de coche es utilizado para hacer 'Vista de Calle de Google'? Traduzca estas preguntas en español y entonces tradúzcalos atrás al inglés.

·         English translation

Where it was the first University established and in which year?  What is called the band of Stephen Stockwell and what plays he?  It can call a pair of its songs?  What is the weight of the largest machine of world?  How much it cost to build?  Who is the lawyer of Justin Bieber, and what they are the best way (faster, surer) to contact the lawyer?  What is the cheapest form of trip of the Coast of gold to Melbourne?  Who is Hatsune Miku?  Why company belongs she?  What is its birthday?  Find a webcam alive in Belarus.  Find that a place to remain in Antarctica.  What song was the top of the Australian pop outline this week in 1991?  What type of car is utilized to do 'View of Street of Google'?  Translate these questions in Spanish and then translate them behind to the English. 

·         http://www.freetranslation.com/

·         Found using blekko

Week 5 Response to Content

Humans have been developing movies for over a century, and due to the rapid technological advances that have occurred throughout this century movies have undergone significant change. The first motion picture ever recorded was titled “horse in motion” in 1878 by Governor Leland in Californian. To record this picture he used 12 cameras placed side by side at a distance of 21 inches. Wires were connected to the cameras and set up in a way that when the horse, Abe Egerton galloped past, he triggered the wires. This allowed 12 successive photos of a galloping horse in a single stride of 22 feet to be taken. At the time, this was not intended for entertainment purposes; rather, it was used for practical purposes, to clear up the errors assumed about trotting and galloping horses (New York Times, 1880). Little did these horse enthusiasts realised that they had just stumbled upon the first motion picture, in turn breaking into a medium of entertainment that had never been explored.

For a long time motion pictures were created and admired by audiences without the luxuries that we have in today’s society. Walter Murch, an American film editor and sound designer explains that the first film on record with sound was in 1895. This film was an experiment of men playing a violin into a large megaphone and people dancing around it. Although this film has been put together only recently by Walter Murch,  it was recorded in 1895, therefore this film has become the oldest film with sound on record (Edited from, The cinema Audio Society Discussion Board, 2000).

In recent decades the technological advances of the film industry have hurled forward at an amazing pace. It is now possible to watch 3D films on a movie theater size television screen at home, played through a blue ray player or USB. There is an option of LED, LCD and Plasma screen televisions. People can chose between high definition, standard definition and full high definition. All this amazing technology that the population back in 1878, when the first motion picture was “accidently” recorded, would never have dreamt of.

This is the first motion picture spoken about above. 

Sources:

Unknown Author, “photographed in motion, instantaneous pictures of horses while running and trotting”, New York Times, January 14 1880. Sourced from  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E5D81131EE3ABC4C52DFB766838B699FDE August 26^th 2011

Edited excerpt from:

Discussion thread "Dickson Experimental Sound Film 1895", The Cinema Audio Society Discussion Board,  June 3 , 2000   www.ideabuzz.com/cas/webboard/ Sources from http://www.filmsound.org/murch/dickson.htm  August 26^th2011

Week 4 Response to Content

Bronnec, Rocher, Baujn and Venisse in their journal article Gaming, Gambling and addiction define gambling as “one who plays more often, longer and more than he can afford it” (2010). Gambling is a huge problem throughout the world. There are many different help lines and programs that run to help the vast number of gamblers. Another huge and similar problem that is presenting its ugly head far above the surface is gaming. Gaming addiction has grown exponentially over the last 20 years and is making people stand up and pay attention (Bronnec, Rocher, Baujn, venisse, 2010).

Although there has been no scientific validation stating that gaming is considered an addiction, there has been links drawn between the social and emotional problems associated with both gamers and gamblers, such as anti-social behaviour and isolation (Bronnec, Rocher, Baujn, Venisse, 2010). Unfortunately mortality rates of gamer's are growing higher, just as that of gamblers, although these are from varying reasons. In 2007 a man in china was pronounced dead after a week-long gaming session. The reason for his death was said to be his 330 pound obesity, this too, a result of his gaming habit. Other fatalities have been recorded from gaming habits, one of which a man engrossed himself in a 50 hour long gaming session in a video café. Another where gamer's "forgetting" their reality fatally play out their precious games in real life. (McIntyre, 2007).   

The Crown Casino in Melbourne experienced over 881 ambulance calls between August 2007 until August 2009.This is an average of 1.2 calls per day. Although not all these calls are related to suicide attempts in relation to gambling, experts in the field of suicide help line say they believe a suicide occurs every week within the casino in relation to gambling. In contrast other statics show that in this two year period 18 suicides have occurred and 21 people have threatened to suicide in relation to gambling(Rolfe, 2009). Both statistics, although one more frightening than the other, are outrageous, and make one take a good hard look at the problems associated with gambling.

These two “addictions” have similar and contrasting attributes. Regardless of this it is clear that there is a serious problem associated with both, and both need copious amounts of ongoing research and funding. “Pathological gambling is recognised and validated in the field of gambling and money by rich international scientific literature that makes model for some non-drug addiction. Practices of excessive video games are on the other hand an emerging issue warranting research to better understand their reality and the risk factors involved (Bronnec, Rocher, Baujn, Venisse, 2010).

References

Bronnec. M, Rocher. B, Baujin. G, Venisse. J. L, 2010, ‘Gaming, Gambling and addiction’, Annales medico-psychological, psychiatric journal, Vol. 168, No. 7, pp. 509-512, retrieved August 18 2011, From SciVerse database.    http://www.sciencedirect.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0003448710002052#secx1

McIntyre. T,  ‘Chinese man dies of gaming addiction’, Tech.Blorge, top technology news, 28 February 2007, Retrieved August 18 2011 http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/02/28/chinese-man-dies-of-gaming-addiction/

Rolfe. P, ‘Gambling with life crown’s emergencies’, Sunday Herald Sun, 13 December 2009, Retreived August 18 2011 http://global.factiva.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/ha/default.aspx

Week 3 Tutorial Task

Task 1

Question no 1

What was Stephen Stockwell's first article in an academic journal? What year? Provide a full citation. What database did you use?

Stephen Stockwell’s first article published in an academic journal was called “Kuranda police shooting”.  It was published in 1981.

Full citation:  Stockwell, S. 1981, "Kuranda police shooting", Legal Service Bulletin, vol. 6, no. Feb 1981, pp. 48-49.

I found this on HeinOnline Law Journal Library.

Question no 2

 In which comic did Governor Slugwell appear? Which Issues? Give their full citation for the earliest. Where did you find this information? What database did you use? (Check the trial databases)

Governor Slugwell appears in the “Flaming Carrot Comics”. There are 3 issues in which he appears and these are numbers 7, 10 and 11.

Full citation:

Flaming Carrot Commics, No, 7, by Bob Burden. (Burbank, CA:Renegade Press, 1985) 36 pages      

I found this on the Underground and Independent Comics” database and looked up the character page.

Question no 3

What is the latest medical thinking on the dangers of mobile phones? Provide a full citation.


"the absence of an exposure-response relationship either in terms of the amount of mobile phone use or by localisation of the brain tumour argues against a casual association."


Full citation: D. Aydin, M. Feychting, J. Shulz, T. Tynes, T. V. Andersen, L. S. Schmit, H. Poulsen, C. Johnason, 2011, 'Mobile Phone Use and Brain Tumors in Children and Adolescents: A Multicenter case - Control', Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol 103, Issue 16, June, Pp. 1264-1276 Viewed August 25th 2011 


Full Citation:

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/content/103/16/1264.abstract?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&title=Mobile+Phone+Use+and+Brain+Tumors+in+Children+and+Adolescents&andorexacttitle=and&titleabstract=a+multicenter+case+study&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

Question no 4

In Bladerunner, What is Leon's Reaction when Holden asks him about is mother? Quote the 1982 draft script and provide a full reference. (Check the trial databases)

Leon's reaction is to check if Holden really asked about his mother he then offers to tell him about his mother Leon then shoots Holden.

Leon: My mother?

Holden:                Yeah.

Leon: Let me tell you about my mother...

[Leon shoots Holden]

Full citation:

Fancher, H. Peoples, D.W. Kibbee, R. (1982). Blade Runner. [Script]. American Film Scripts. Chicago.

Question no 5

What does Paul Soukup say Walter Ong saw as the main paradox in 20th century communication? Cite your source.

Walter Ong saw the main paradox of 20th century communication as "that a society given so much to the use of diagrams and to the manoeuvrings of objects in space... should at the same time develop means of communication which specialize not in sight but in sound" 

Full citation:

Soukup. P, 2004, ‘Communication research trends’, Centre for the Study and Communication of Culture, Vol 23, p.14, viewed 25 August 2011

Task 2

Newsgroup, shortened to Usenet, was used before there was such thing as the World Wide Web. This idea was discovered by two university graduate students, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979. These two boys came up with the idea of using UUCP to connect machines to exchange information.  Usenet was a world-wide discussion system that distributed global information for public access. For example News articles could be posted onto Usenet by people with topical or interesting information and the correct software; these articles were then broadcasted to other computer systems making the information available via a wide variety of networks. Back in the day when there was no World Wide Web, but the internet was available, although very expensive, users of the internet could gain information within limited systems, such as a university system. Usenet allowed these people to gain information from other systems globally, not just within their own community. Usenet was the World Wide Web of its day. Usenet gained an influx of users every September as freshman university students were able to access the network. The September of 1993 however, was a never ending influx of new users as Usenet could be accessed from outside university systems and opened to the general public. At its peak Usenet had over 120,000 groups dedicated to various topics, such as computer programing languages as well as many other topics of interest.

It has been reported that Usenet played an important role in the attractiveness and expansion of the internet. Unfortunately due to decline of use and increased costs the plug is being pulled on the Usenet server.  

For more information on Usenet please view this clip.

Sourses:

http://tldp.org/LDP/nag/node256.html

http://today.duke.edu/2010/05/usenet.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/20/usenet_duke_server/

http://www.usenet.com/usenet.html