deconstructed Experiment - Video
No matter how offended you are - watch
DIGC102 - Fail Blog
DIGC102 - What are we looking for in conversational analysis?
language — jargon/specialised language
multimodal?
Authority/order/social behaviour is constructed in conversation
- who is allowed to speak
failers, anyone, appears to target certain people
- Turn-taking (frequency and length)
once sidetracked comment threads can go on for quite a while
- treatment of ‘noobs’
humiliation, ignorance
- norms and enforcement of norms
what norms?
- ‘power users’
- definition of purpose
- moderation
none
- silenced?
- decisions about whats ‘on topic’
anything is valid. just prepare to get humiliated.
neenerneener - talks about beauty
- who/what is a troll?
Troll_bot_5000
Ouch! These trolls are getting thick. I gotta whip up a new batch of Troll-Away soon!
- how/when/where is help offered, accepted or asked for?
the one in the green making the basket is jaronne maymon whos playing at marquette next year and the one not playing defense is jamil wilson whos a junior that committed to play at oregon
nobady cares
DIGC101 Research Question
Ideally, i’d like my research question to revolve around Google Sites seeing as thats what I’ve primarily used. I think of Google Sites as one of only a few sites that allows you to customise a whole site, not just a blog. Therefore it’s empowering people to explore, express and present themselves to a new digitized section of the world. That being the case I’d like to expand on my first essays question ‘How has the proliferation of the blogosphere allowed otherwise non ‘tech-savvy’ members of the public to communicate and participate in online communities?’, but take a closer look at my own development of my Google Site, and focus less on the blogosphere.
Question: How are webhosting services like Google Sites allowing public members to present their online persona’s differently to how they appear in reality? Are they the same as bloghosting websites?
In the first essay I lost marks because I didn’t reflect on my own learning and development, and because i focused too much on other websites. With this essay i’ll reflect more on my own online presentation, only look at a few other projects, and include more reference to academic material.
Fail Blog
Language - Jargon/specialised language/abbreviations
abbreviations: lol,rofl,srs,tbh
jargon: nom?
specialised language: action words i.e *sigh*
Authority/order/social behaviour is constructed from preconceived communities, also whoever replies first has some pride in getting there.
- who is allowed to speak?: Any member of the community can post and/or reply to posts
- turn-taking (frequency & length): random, structure isnt helped by failblog, length - under 10 words.
- treatment of ‘noobs’: if its obvious that theyre a noob then subject to ridicule. even if your not new but act like a noob, earns you the nickname noob and a long list of humiliating posts.
- ‘power users’: certain community which stick together, effectively making them power users.
- decisions about what’s ‘on topic’: nothings off topic, frequent ramblings about inconsequential things. i.e progressing from a picture which is about a truk with 10 tailpipes, to sticking potatoes in all of them, to whether octomums family could finish a 30 gallon tub of mustard.
- who/what is a troll?: Someone who scrolls through the thread and deliberately picks out one topic, person or group to ridicule and pick a fight with.
DIGC102 Industry Analysis
How has the P2P community helped the industry mature?
The peer-to-peer community is one made out of literally millions of computers, a network of file sharing individuals. The success of these communities is built around ‘individual self interest’ (Cunningham, Alexander, Adilov, 2004). Cunningham (et. al) states that in joining and providing for this community, individuals self interests are served because ‘the act of sharing helps reduce search and congestion costs. In this sense, the virtual commons are continuously and endogenously restored’ (2004)
The file sharing community has helped the Online Distribution industry grow, and mature, through creating and exploring the limits to which peer to peer networks can be pushed. One of the most notorious file sharing websites, The Pirate Bay, is an example of how the community sustains the industry, a reversal of the traditional relationship. Community websites like P2Pnet are informing the community, and therefore the industry, of global happenings and events relating to the peer-to-peer community.
The community galvanises around cases like Joel Tenenbaum, a college student that was fined a total of $675,000 for 30 copyright infringements (Joel Fights Back, accessed 24/10/09), and other cases of the media production industries trying to enforce copyright law. In a community response to tightening legal definitions the Swedish political party The Pirate Party has lobbied for reform to copyright law, and abolition of the patent system (The Pirate Party, accessed 24/10/09).
The Pirate Bay is a file sharing website that ‘founded in 2003 by anti-copyright organization Piratbryran, but for the last five years the site has been run by individuals. No copyrighted materials are stored on the Pirate Bay servers. Instead, the site connects people’s computers, enabling them to share millions of files a day. Many of those files contain TV shows, movies, and music’ (NA, 2009). This site exemplifies how the community has helped the industry to grow. Pirate Bay relies on users to provide files for download, therefore the community is sustaining the site.
The Pirate Bay has come under increasing pressure from governments and music production companies to shut down. As yet they haven’t , they state that ‘even though large parts of Internets and many old and famous trackers have fallen… we shall not flag or fail.’ (NA, 2009). Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde and 3 other founders have been sentenced with fines and jail time after Hollywood production companies challenged the legality of the site (NA, 2009).
In 2006 police raided a key facility used to host Pirate Bay data. The raid failed however, and the attempt to shut down the file sharing network meant that the community was stirred into action. Growing at an average rate of 10 members per day, political movement The Pirate Party’s membership jumped 500 on the date of the police raid. The Pirate Party has recently gained two seats in the Swedish Parliament and advocates that ‘file sharing should be encouraged rather than criminalized’ (Pirate Party: International, accessed 24/10/09). The Pirate Party is an organization that demonstrates the file sharing community’s ability to create strong and powerful social movements, an indication that the industry has matured.
P2Pnet.net is a community-based site, revolving around news, updates and technology relating to peer to peer networks. They have published papers and blog posts stating their opposition to government proposals to suspend the internet accounts of those who are accused of filesharing. ‘Consumer rights groups and privacy activists are preparing a vigorous challenge to the government’s proposals to suspend the internet connections of those accused of swapping music and films online. (Bradshaw, Palmer, 2009)’
With the file sharing software industry agreed to regulate itself, implementing a code of conduct to address inadvertent file sharing (U.S Congressional Hearing, 2009), sites like P2Pnet.net are becoming more important to oversee and provide guidelines to the industry. With P2Pnet providing up to10 stories about the peer-to-peer community a day (P2Pnet.net, accessed 24/10/09), intense scrutiny by the community is able to regulate, to a certain extent, what happens in the Online Distribution industry.
With a strong community behind it, the Online Distribution industry has matured through peer-to-peer networks and file sharing sites. The Pirate Bay website is sustained by the millions of computers that contribute and are part of its network. The political movement that coordinates the Pirate Party in Europe has gained enough momentum to win two seats in the Swedish Parliament. Without the galvanization of the file sharing community behind the Pirate Party, this would not have been possible. In many industries, self-regulation means no regulation. This is not the case in the Online Distribution industry. With community-based sites like P2Pnet contributing and re-broadcasting articles, news and blog posts about file sharing, the community contributes to regulation by voicing its approval or disapproval through these sites. The traditional relationship between industry and community has been reversed. In the Online Distribution industry it is the community which provides the necessary information that allows file sharing to continue and grow as a distribution platform.
References:
Cunningham B, Alexander P, Adilov N, 2004, Peer to Peer File Sharing Communities, Information Economics and Policy, vol 16, pg 197-213
Bradshaw T, Palmer M, 2009, Backlash Over Plan to Curb Online File Sharing, The Financial Times. (August 27, 2009): 4, Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Wollongong Library.
Pirate Party: International, accessed 24/10/09, http://www.piratpartiet.se/international/english
2009, Joel Fights Back: Overview, accessed 24/10/09, http://joelfightsback.com/about-the-case/overview/
2009, Pirate Bay Digging In For Battle; The file sharing site is determined to keep its site in operation, and is being aided by both open and anonymous supporters. InformationWeek. (August 25, 2009): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Wollongong Library.
2009, Pirate Bay Spokesman Sunde Steps Down; Peter Sunde has been the frontman for the file-sharing site, making him a Web celebrity and leader among supporters of making copyright laws less restrictive, InformationWeek. (August 3, 2009): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Wollongong Library
2009, P2Pnet, accessed 24/10/09, http://www.p2pnet.net/categories/p2p
2009, Hearing of the house oversight and government reform committee subject: inadvertent file sharing over peer-to-peer networks: how it endangers citizens and jeopardizes national security chaired by: representative Edolphius Towns (D-NY), Congressional Hearing), Congressional Hearing Transcript Database. (July 29, 2009): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Wollongong Library.
DIGC101 - Folksonomies
Metadata - data attached to other data thats used for descriptive purposes
Taxonomy - institutionalised during the ‘enlightenment’ period, when the natural science was devloped.
- based on a tree structure
- used for the comparison of information
- the basic element of a taxonomic relationship is the parent and child
the parent is always at the top, the root of the information
- Folk taxonomies, different to folksonomies, connected to a specific time, place and context. Still relies on this tree structure for the organization of knowledge and information.
Folksonomies
- No parent and child relationship, the entries or tags are entirely arbitrary
- No strict rules over the ordering or tagging of information
- purely online phenomenen
- Thomas Vanderwall - creater of folksonomy, suggests that the ordering, labelling of information is something that we do almost unconsiously.
- Wisdon of Crowds, Surowieckl, 2004, ‘the collective aggregation of information by users is often better and more useful than what companies can achieve’, but has its limitations.
- ** Theres a small reward for the user from using these folksonomies.
- Because theres no relationship between tags and information, you can use popular tags or you can use ‘misinformation’ tags
- folksonomies rely on accurate tagging and trust relatinoships between the users.
- tagging creates a cloud of tags, ‘a tag soup’.
Horseless Carriage
- The horse was the guiding system of transport, the horseless carriage was a system of transport but without the guidance
- Folksonomy is largely dependant upon the technologies of the web, the horse, while a taxonomy is highly portable, independant of the horse.
