This week we discussed copyright and intellectual property. The minute I heard of intellectual property I thought of The Social Network. In the movie Mark Zuckerberg is being sued by the Winkelvoss twins for stealing their intellectual property. They claimed that they gave Zuckerberg the idea for Facebook and he stole it from them. The case ends up being settled out of court.
It does not matter if large corporations steal someone's idea because they have so much money. They can settle out of court for a set price and it is over with. I personally do not think this is fair. If someone worked hard to create a product, they should have the credit for it and they should make the profit. If they want to sell their product that is a different story. A copyright is there for a reason.
So yes a copyright is there for a reason, but then we move into the topics of downloading movies, TV shows, and music. I was raised where it was wrong to steal. However, my parents could not control everything I did on the internet. I wanted to get songs for my iPod and my friends taught me how. They used illegal downloading websites so therefore, I used the illegal downloading websites. I had no idea that what I was doing was wrong. Eventually my computer got a virus (from the websites of course) and my parents found out what I was doing. All of the music had to be deleted and I had to purchase it through iTunes or use a CD to put it on my computer. Music artists need to make a living and illegally downloading their music is not going to help them. I am not going to say if I continued illegally downloading music or not, but I do think that copyrights are there for a reason and they should stay around. Maybe prices could be adjusted so the poor college students can afford things, but other than that I think the copyright is a necessary.
Friday, 26 August 2011
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Week 4
This week's discussion was really interesting for me. I am going to focus on two discussion points though. What hit home most for me was work in personal lives and the need for re-training when it comes to computers and technology.
When it comes to work during personal time, I do not consider it a good thing. I mean if you are working on a big project with a deadline, that is different. You actually need to finish that. But if you just decide to check your email, that should not happen. My mom has a work Blackberry, and she is always checking her email every time she walks by the phone. My aunt also has a work Blackberry. She is always getting calls, texts, BBMs, every type of message that she "needs" to respond to because she is upper management. I do not find this necessary. If you are on vacation, or even just home for the weekend, you should not be dealing with work.
The other topic of re-training made me laugh a little. The first thing that came to mind was my grandfather. My grandfather took a computer class 10 years ago and then bought a computer last year. He expected everything to be the same, but was surprised to learn that everything was different. He needed to take yet another computer class to learn how to work his new computer. People need to stay on top of new technologies so they have a better advantage at work ect.
When it comes to work during personal time, I do not consider it a good thing. I mean if you are working on a big project with a deadline, that is different. You actually need to finish that. But if you just decide to check your email, that should not happen. My mom has a work Blackberry, and she is always checking her email every time she walks by the phone. My aunt also has a work Blackberry. She is always getting calls, texts, BBMs, every type of message that she "needs" to respond to because she is upper management. I do not find this necessary. If you are on vacation, or even just home for the weekend, you should not be dealing with work.
The other topic of re-training made me laugh a little. The first thing that came to mind was my grandfather. My grandfather took a computer class 10 years ago and then bought a computer last year. He expected everything to be the same, but was surprised to learn that everything was different. He needed to take yet another computer class to learn how to work his new computer. People need to stay on top of new technologies so they have a better advantage at work ect.
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Week 3
"A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" was discussed this week and in the lecture, Andrew Turner, my fellow American in class, leaned over to me and whispered, "This is just like the Declaration of Independence." I do not know how much Australian's study the American Declaration of Independence, but the Cyberspace version is amazingly similar. I can understand why the Cyberspace version would be similar though, I do not want to sound like "a conceded American," but if the Declaration of Independence has been working since 1776, why not use it?
In the tutorial we also talked about the monitoring of the Internet. I personally do not think this can be done. The Internet is too large and it was created to be free. It isn't supposed to have all of these blocks and monitors. Look at China for example. I actually tweeted a link the other day to the "Great Firewall of China". It amazes me how China can have such a strict hold over their Internet.
Basically this is how I see things: there needs to be someone or something out on the Internet patrolling for things such as people who deal with child pornography and child prostitution, but when the Internet gets to the point of the "Great Firewall of China," that is too extreme for my taste and the government needs to reevaluate their system.
In the tutorial we also talked about the monitoring of the Internet. I personally do not think this can be done. The Internet is too large and it was created to be free. It isn't supposed to have all of these blocks and monitors. Look at China for example. I actually tweeted a link the other day to the "Great Firewall of China". It amazes me how China can have such a strict hold over their Internet.
Basically this is how I see things: there needs to be someone or something out on the Internet patrolling for things such as people who deal with child pornography and child prostitution, but when the Internet gets to the point of the "Great Firewall of China," that is too extreme for my taste and the government needs to reevaluate their system.
Monday, 1 August 2011
Week 2
I thought the readings this week were extremely interesting. I'll start from the Information Ecology reading and go from there. =]
Information Ecology describes how networks need to be made up of different parts. Each part works together to make a whole. This reminded me of a company. There could be a few people, hundreds of people, or even thousands of people going to work in a building (or multiple in some cases). Each of these people going to work has a different job to do. If they work hard and achieve their individual goals, then the company will thrive. The company needs each department to work together so that it can continue to be a success.
The next reading, A Short History of the Internet, was well written, but it made me laugh. It was published in 1993 and the article kept talking about what the Internet will be or what the Internet can do, but 18 years later and....the Internet HAS achieved these things. Not only has it achieved the networks the article was talking about but it has achieved so much more. The article did not even mention anything along the lines of Skype. I find Skype fascinating.
The last reading, Four Puzzles from cyberspace, was different. I did not know how the author was going to sum each story up, but he did it nicely and made his points about regulation.
Jake's Story about the guy who wrote rape and murder stories online intrigued me. I understand that it can be creepy, but he had a large group following his stories. Clearly he was doing something right if people were reading them. I do not support rape, murder, or anything along those lines, but it is creative freedom. As long as he is not hurting anyone in real life he has every right to go and kill whoever he wants in cyberspace.
The online gaming story also brought up issues of cyberspace gaming and real life. It made me think of Grand Theft Auto. I personally find the game extremely fun. Your character will run around, steal cars, blow up the road, shoot people, and just go crazy. Yes, I said I find this fun, but I would NEVER walk up my street, shoot a guy in a car, steal it, and drive away. There is a difference between cyberspace and reality. People need to acknowledge that difference.
The worm story was also interesting. It brought up issues of the government looking through your computer for information specific to them. They can't see anything else, just the information, and if you're innocent then you have nothing to worry about. Now I'm sure that many people feel violated by this, but I personally could care less. I have nothing to hide so if the government wants to look for terrorist documents or whatever else they're looking for on my computer, feel free. It is for the greater good and if it helps me stay safe then I completely support it. The one issue with this is that the government can not overstep their boundaries. Let's say they start looking at pictures or something along those lines. The government should not be looking at pictures of me on the beach and that I do not support.
Information Ecology describes how networks need to be made up of different parts. Each part works together to make a whole. This reminded me of a company. There could be a few people, hundreds of people, or even thousands of people going to work in a building (or multiple in some cases). Each of these people going to work has a different job to do. If they work hard and achieve their individual goals, then the company will thrive. The company needs each department to work together so that it can continue to be a success.
The next reading, A Short History of the Internet, was well written, but it made me laugh. It was published in 1993 and the article kept talking about what the Internet will be or what the Internet can do, but 18 years later and....the Internet HAS achieved these things. Not only has it achieved the networks the article was talking about but it has achieved so much more. The article did not even mention anything along the lines of Skype. I find Skype fascinating.
The last reading, Four Puzzles from cyberspace, was different. I did not know how the author was going to sum each story up, but he did it nicely and made his points about regulation.
Jake's Story about the guy who wrote rape and murder stories online intrigued me. I understand that it can be creepy, but he had a large group following his stories. Clearly he was doing something right if people were reading them. I do not support rape, murder, or anything along those lines, but it is creative freedom. As long as he is not hurting anyone in real life he has every right to go and kill whoever he wants in cyberspace.
The online gaming story also brought up issues of cyberspace gaming and real life. It made me think of Grand Theft Auto. I personally find the game extremely fun. Your character will run around, steal cars, blow up the road, shoot people, and just go crazy. Yes, I said I find this fun, but I would NEVER walk up my street, shoot a guy in a car, steal it, and drive away. There is a difference between cyberspace and reality. People need to acknowledge that difference.
The worm story was also interesting. It brought up issues of the government looking through your computer for information specific to them. They can't see anything else, just the information, and if you're innocent then you have nothing to worry about. Now I'm sure that many people feel violated by this, but I personally could care less. I have nothing to hide so if the government wants to look for terrorist documents or whatever else they're looking for on my computer, feel free. It is for the greater good and if it helps me stay safe then I completely support it. The one issue with this is that the government can not overstep their boundaries. Let's say they start looking at pictures or something along those lines. The government should not be looking at pictures of me on the beach and that I do not support.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Week 1
The reading this week week by Castells was interesting. I found it somewhat difficult to read, lack of focus probably, but it was still interesting. I do not know much about networks and the size of them amazes me. The fact that everyone can communicate globally is quite remarkable. I also thought it was interesting how he talked about civil society being reconstructed at local and global levels through networks filled with activists. It is amazing how people can communicate almost instantly over the internet and networks and plan something that will change the course of the future. Also, the power aspect of networks is interesting. The power within a network is always changing, and I think that is a good thing! After reading Lauren's post she had me thinking about "cyber bullying." It is terrible that people get harassed daily over networks and many young people do not know how to handle the situation and can cause harm to themselves. Hopefully with the power in networks constantly changing, people who are harassing others can be stopped.
Yes, it is astonishing how a network, even a social network, can change governments. I even discovered Osama Bin Ladin was dead via Facebook. One of my teachers at Roger Williams took a poll in class and out of 20 students, 18 of them found out Bin Ladin was dead via a social network. The other two discovered he was dead via another social media. It amazes me how fast information can travel over a network and the impact it can make on lives.
Yes, it is astonishing how a network, even a social network, can change governments. I even discovered Osama Bin Ladin was dead via Facebook. One of my teachers at Roger Williams took a poll in class and out of 20 students, 18 of them found out Bin Ladin was dead via a social network. The other two discovered he was dead via another social media. It amazes me how fast information can travel over a network and the impact it can make on lives.
About Me
Hi I'm Kathleen. I am 20 years old and I am from Massachusetts. I attend Roger Williams University in Rhode Island where I study journalism, but this semester I am studying at the University of Wollongong in Australia.
At Roger Williams I am on the campus radio station, 88.3 WQRI, where I am on the executive board. I have also interned at 105.7 WROR. I love working with radio and I enjoy broadcast journalism. I also enjoy radio because I get to give people free stuff. I love giving people free things; it makes them so happy.
I am looking forward to this semester and my time in Australia!
Cheers!
-Kathleen
At Roger Williams I am on the campus radio station, 88.3 WQRI, where I am on the executive board. I have also interned at 105.7 WROR. I love working with radio and I enjoy broadcast journalism. I also enjoy radio because I get to give people free stuff. I love giving people free things; it makes them so happy.
I am looking forward to this semester and my time in Australia!
Cheers!
-Kathleen
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