CHAPTER 4 What constitutes what Constitutes Meaningful Participation?

                In almost every industry there are producers and consumers except the media.  In media it is hard to determine who is a producer and who is a consumer.  Our book makes an important point how can there be listeners if everyone is talking.  To make things even more confusing we are a part of a convergence cultural: in this culture old and new media collide.  There are still people who just watch and listen to media that are produced by others but they do so differently if as consumers they realize that they can participate in the discussion.  Does this make them consumers or are they consumer/producers?  The truth is that there are so many more virtual reality web sites, inner active web site, social media, and blogs that many of us have become creators, producers, and consumers all at the same time.  As soon as there is a new type of site introduced it is quickly followed by variation of that site and finally the variation will evolve into something innovative that will start the process all over again.  The technology of the web and the roles we play are changing so rapidly that we can’t keep up.
            An example of the ever changing web is Web 2.0. The term Web 2.0 was coined in 1999 to describe web sites that use technology beyond the plain one dimensional page of earlier web sites.  Although Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to the web and how it technically operates, but rather to the overall changes in the ways software developers and users of the  web use the internet.  Prior to the internet, communication pretty easy to identify and describe.  This is not the case now.  There are so many different faces of communication for example: if you are on a virtual reality site like Second Life and you become involved in many of the Second Life communities are you still communicating even though you are communicating through an avatar?  Should it matter that you are communicating as someone else or are you at the core you even though your voice is that of an avatar.  These are new challenges that the field of communication has to sort through in order to get the answer.

                        There are so many new terms that we need to understand and utilize.  For example, what does peripheral participation mean and is it any different than lurking.  In the past we considered the 90% of the population who were not creating as lurkers.  Now there are so many levels of participation on sites that it seems more realistic to map the type of participation instead of dividing the participants into groups of lurkers and participants. Just as in face to face communication many people learn by observing (lurking) from the fringes.  It is from these fringes that they learn how to participate; hence the term peripheral participation denotes that the person is learning how to participate though observation which is not inactive behavior at all.  There is scaffolding which are levels of participation.

            There is also resistance vs. participation.  Since the web is fastly growing as the place to advertise there are people who see the web as primarily the media for displaying their products. These consumers can be described as displaying resistance or participation.  Politics can also be described as resistance vs. participation.  We know that we are resistant to a dominant power.  Instead, we wish to participate in our own governing.  The same goes for marketing we are not crazy about corporations marketing at us instead we would like to participate in the marketing.

            Audiences are produced through measurement and observation while publics direct attention onto messages that they like.  The difference of these terms may be distinguished between”fans” who are people who have a relationship between media groups and fandoms who are parts of larger and more diverse media groups.
           Participation vs. Collaboration is also represents people attempting a place to find a place for themselves between occupying a position of resistance and actively complying with a dominant power.  Many feel that they need to evaluate carefully both of these positions.  Active participation may not be ethically or morally what the average individual feels he or she can endorse.  Collaboration suggests that the action is more underhanded and sneaky.

            There are also concerns around Web 2.0 regarding hearing vs. listening.  Listening intimates that the person not only reads or hears what the author is saying but he or she actually listens to comprehend the authors intent.  Hearing is actually hearing the words but not looking for the meaning that wood promote actual communication.  The hearer would be nonactive while the listener would certainly be active.

            The web and all of its various components has changed our lives forever.  It continues to change our lives and our ways of communicating with each other.  As we continue to evolve in our endeavor to communicate efficiently and personally we also evolve in our ability to label what communication is and how we describe it. 

REAPPRAISING THE RESIDUAL

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Reappraising the Residual

            What is reappraising the residual exactly?  It means finding the worth of materials that some may label as “old stuff”.  In order to understand this we must first understand that people involved in selling or buy “stuff”  all have a different conception of its worth.  The worth may be monetary to some, have emotional value to others, or even a political value to others.  Curation is a lot like appraisal but the value might be linked to history of a people or a nation.  It is curation that is a type of appraisal that attempts to put a value or price on museum pieces, prehistoric bones, vases, clothing and hieroglyphics.  This stuff may have been bought for a very small price, example: baseball cards 5cents a pack with bubblegum and then sold in today’s market for tens of thousands of dollars.  This makes many of us shake our heads and wonder how old pictures of baseball players could end up being valued at that much money.  Certainly baseball is part of American Culture.  Is it that Americans attempt to re capture the good old days or Americano culture that actually has driven up the price or is it more? 

Many people would like to know what makes a piece valuable.  If you decide to collect you might as well collect what will be valuable in the future but there does not seem to be a formula for what will be determined to be valuable.  One thing that certainly does contribute to the negotiations for “old stuff” is the internet.  EBay or Amazon.com is used to help people buy and sell without much formality.  With forums to sell your belongings on such as these is it any wonder that we as a culture have become retro-crazy. 

Another medium that is used to sell things is You tube.  People who wish to sell their talents, promote existing products, or just share their thoughts on the internet are making videos.  The book “Spreadable Media” relates a story about two friends who rap about Chicken McNuggets.  McDonalds picked up the piece as an advertisement changing very little.  The authors sold their advertisement as well as their talents as rap artists.

Television has a show called Antiques Road Show.  In this show people bring all of their treasures that have been around the house forever.  The person who has the treasure tells a story about it, there is an expert who gives a value based upon his experiences.  Missing from this scene is the Auction House and the collector.  The value is probably an educated guess but the show is widely watched and has had some amazing consequences.  All of a sudden people are looking at things they once considered trash as objects of value.

You Tube perpetuates hybrid audiences.  Material, nonmaterial, and digital goods can be given as gifts.  Many subscribe to the idea that digital media has started a new hybrid means of

exchange.

            Residual Culture is a concept that recognizes that culture changes at variable rates.  Even though certain aspects of our culture may no longer be an actual part of the mainstream culture we can still be influenced by things, events, places, or people from that time in our history.  Raymond Williams (1977) suggests that change in culture influences is only understood by its ebb and flow.  Williams also indicates that there are four types of cultural practices:

Emergent

Dominant

Residual

Archaic

            The digital media has altered people’s relationships with the past though collecting and recycling “stuff” from the past. It is through this stuff that people connect with their own cultural roots.  Some people are interested in the history of their old stuff because they may receive monetary gain from it but some are interested in the “stuff” because it links them to a past that is uniquely their own.  Take for example Ancestry.com. This web site is unbelievably popular. Ancestry.com is a website for people who are looking for their roots.  They use digital technology to explore their own personal history.  As they explore their own history they are also exploring the culture that they are from.  There is something inherent in our need to explore where we came from and who we are.

            Residual Economics is a term for what the value of the cultural objects that are no longer in the cultural mainstream.  Since many look at antiques and old stuff as monetarily valuable.  We have recycled superman, batman, Spiderman, and countless other Marvel Comic Heroes.  The interesting thing about the recycling of these heroes we have used movies, videos, and video games to represent them to our culture.  These retro-heroes are as popular if not more popular when they were first created and put in print.

            Finally, WWE Classics on demand were found their niche in fans who wanted to know where their favorite wrestlers came from and were also going.  Fans in areas that did not have actual access to early wrestling matches fought by their favorite wrestler began trading their own media.  The promoters may have had control over their own areas as far as the matches went they could not control what the fans had acquired on their own.  Which brings up the argument about intellectual property and if the wrestling promoters should have some control over media and media rights.  Television itself has preserved our past but it has also brought many legal issues as to who owns what, what can be seen, and who it can be seen by.  Ironically, the modern media is an important part of preserving past and our ability to remember that past.

 

WIKINOMICS

            What is Wikinomics? Wikinomics is a term that describes the effects of extensive collaboration and user-participation on the market place and corporate world.  As we Know Wikipedia is becoming a huge success within the internet industry throughout the world. Several countries are using, commenting on the ways to professionalize and to interpret information on the web, and to share important data about research, ideas, broadcasting videos, and other useful resources. 

 Wikipedia is a database allowing professionals, writers, historians, and other researchers to lay out particular material information about a certain project or research that they have found and then presenting it to the World Wide Web in order to share their ideas with the world.  They are sharing ideas and research about a various economic topics and problems that concern us all.  First some of our finest minds have defined and then wrote their own idea of what they got out of the research that they decided to focus on.  Wikipedia is a good source to use, especially doing different kinds of research. Finding the ideas and knitting together what other people post or write about it.   As in the video, Wikipedia has over billions of interoperations each year within the web itself. Wikipedia is like a huge mind web which allows the people of the world to write or post ideas to get the idea across.  So, Wikinomics and Wikipedia is like a gigantic dictionary or book in a Westernized kind of way and changing the way we do research. 

            Jim Whales is the founder and co- founder of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a business but isn’t a running business. He motivates people cross the world to bring within his business how to make Wikipedia better and stronger in success.  We know that Wikipedia has made dramatic changes without the years and throughout generations.  Wikipedia’s data base is not only is changing and succeeding all around the world, but it is designed and modernized to fix within a culture in a particular society. For instance, Wikipedia has the ability to have multiple languages. The internet and World Wide Web have brought changes and found ways to make things easier and maintain a balance.  Like Wikipedia, the internet gives a shelf full of ways to pick any way that can help us learn new concepts and succeed in a particular area.  The Wikipedia format Allows us to extend our knowledge, expand our thoughts, and bring about different ideas through technologies that have made Wikipedia a success.

            Wikipedia has branched out into various areas such as Wikinomics.  It is amazing that just a few years ago academia was shunning Wikipedia as being without references and faulty in its research base.  As the years have progressed there has been a change in the writings that appear on the topics under the titles.  There is information from many writers and it is submitted with citations.  In the sub divisions of Wikipedia such as Wikinomics there is the same type of evolution going on in all of the articles.  In the past in was unheard of for a serious research book to have the opinions and research of many writers on one piece.  Wikinomics as well as the other Wiki sources are living documents that are constantly changing to keep up with our changing world.  This is innovation and change at its finest.

            In addition to this idea within the web and Wikipedia itself, Wikipedia as everyone is aware that it has its drawbacks, and dis-advantages as well as advantages.  Many young adults take advantage of Wikipedia regarding the credit given to the sources it has used.  This of course is plagiarism whether it is Wikinomics or the Harvard Review.  Many, think that the people who add to Wikipedia steal others ideas and writings.  This may have been the case once but not now.  If you look at the citing’s in Wikipedia you will see that the citing are many and accurate. If there was stealing of ideas without a citing this would surely causes problems with in the business section of Wikipedia and would not reflect what the purpose of Wikipedia is really for.

It has happened in the past but has this particular problem been stopped?  Wikipedia has not only succeeded through the years in tightening up its citing procedures but it has been able to link the information to where the information originated from.  In other words Wikipedia has linked information from the original database.  Not everything is going to be 100% accurate but the organization has been getting better interpreting and presenting correct, accurate, information in the articles. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Wikinomics+&view=detail&mid=24135EA4F3B7FD301B9B24135EA4F3B7FD301B9B&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR

PUBLIC SPACES

PUBLIC SPACES



With the advent of cyberspace all of the components that make up culture have been affected.  Space is no longer physical space but the spaces we inhabit while connected to space.  We can buy a house in Florida while relaxing in California.  If necessary we can participate in global politics or create a push toward global restructuring.  An individual can relocate to the United States from India and still keep in touch with their family in India.  Why is this important?  It allows people to travel within parallel universes.  They can participate in their new culture while still observing the customs of their own. 

Never before has immigrants been allowed to participate in two or even three cultures at the same time.  How will this affect the United States?  It will be interesting to find out.  Prior to the internet many of our newest citizens lived together in neighborhoods that reflected their past cultures.  Eventually however as the children of immigrants attended American schools they became more Americanized. For example: many of Italian, German, Irish, Mexican descent spoke their native languages in their homes,  as they became more Americanized the mother tongue gave way to English.  The first and second generation immigrants crossed the lines of ethnicity and married outside of their ethnic group.  Although there are still neighborhoods that keep the traditions of first generation nationality there are fewer and fewer of these subcultures in the United States.  It is why the U.S. is considered the melting pot.

As we evolve into cyberculture first generation immigrants can remain connected.  It is yet to be seen if there is less or more of the melting pot result that is presently being seen in the U.S.  Although Nayar did not actually comment on the assimilation process and how it has affected the U.S. without cyberspace it stands to reason that as the cyber culture becomes more advances the subcultural dynamics will change.  No longer are people restricted by travel and time.  We can be in two places at once and participate in two cultures at once.

Many business men still are required to travel across the ocean and across the country however, less often and with less expense.  Financial arrangements, international deals, the sharing of new technologies can be done in cyberspace without physical restrictions.  With the click of a button meetings can be held while physically the participants are thousands of miles apart.  This has changed radically the business culture.

The availability of global participation in all areas of our lives has changed our lives long term in ways we have not even discovered yet.  Presently according to Nayar the cyberspaces are primarily American with the language predominately English.  As countries become more technologically advanced in the opinion of this observer there will be other languages and cultures that will mix with and transform cyber culture.  Not only English, but Chinese and Russian are now only a click away how long before these languages are spoken as often in cyberspace as a part of a cyberculture.  Global cities are already linked by finance, data, and ideas.  It is only a matter of time until they are linked by language.

Global restructuring is part of public spaces.  Unfortunately it is not equal or democratic.  Many continents such as inner Africa have large areas that do not reap the benefits of technological advances, public spaces, or cyberspace.  Those that hold the Technological advantage can easily prey upon those without these advantages.  However, because of cyberspace the crimes against third world countries and their indigenous populations seldom remain a secret.  Children and women who are forced to work for low wages, horrible conditions, and long hours cannot remain a secret sin for long in the world of the world wide net.  Human rights activists and organizations do not need offices in every town, in every country to stop the abuses of the poor around the world.

Cyberspace has allowed us an entire range of tools with which to obtain information in places that we are physically not present.  Webcams, electronic tracking, digital traces are technologies of surveillance.  Private is no longer private but by the use of these tools the babysitter cannot abuse children, thieves cannot longer steal without being caught, and employees who steal from their employees are more often caught.

Religion has also been changed by the use of public spaces.  At any time of the night or day and regardless of the religion you may belong to you can access a service or spiritual guidance on the internet.  For the most part this is a comforting though however, cults reach out and recruit members for the good of their pockets and not the spiritual growth of their human disciples.  It is probably a good thing that Charles Manson or Jim Jones did not have the use of the Web.

Finally, the sharing of public spaces has changed the face of crime.  A criminal can rob a bank without a gun or violence and a lot more effectively.  “Identity theft” is the new mode of crime.  Criminals do not steal a material item but passwords, numbers, accounts, and identities that can be used to possess the material objects that they deem are important for them to possess. Ponzi Schemes are possible to pull off because of Cyberspaces.

Without the restrictions of physical barriers the world is rapidly changing and yet many things have not changed.  The strong still prey on the weak, children are still abused and exploited, and thieves still operate to take the property of others even though it may not be material property.  Religion and faith is still important to many people and in many cases culture specific.  On the other side of things it is easier to catch the perpetrator that preys on the innocent and catch those who take the intangible property of others.  It will be interesting to see if a world of public spaces that do not have a physical nature assists the evolution of humanity in a good way or a detrimental way.

JOHNNY DEPP

 JOHNNY DEPP

an American actor

JOHNNY DEPPLONE RANGER

Native American spirit warrior JOHNNY DEPP

Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.

 a man of the law, into a legend of justice. The two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

Pirates of The Caribbean

JACK SPARROW Johnny is awesome and brilliant

SUBCULTURES

Subcultures

                Subcultures are cultures that are outside the mainstream.  The mainstream culture has a tendency to support the status quo.  With the rise of cyber space subcultures can develop with little risk of the people involved becoming discovered.  Yes, we all have digital footprints but there is the element of anonymity that cyberspace provides.  You can say anything with in in reason and be anyone you want and if you do it carefully enough you will not be found out for what you are.  Since subcultures often times disagree with the mainstream population this element of anonymity serves the purpose of those who wish to be unique in their acceptance of government and corporate strongholds.  Many of these individuals express themselves through the internet and other technologies others go much farther and actually commit cybercrimes.

  Cybercrimes actually can range from hate inducing speech to credit card fraud and identity theft.  Any type of subversive activity can be found on the internet.  For example there are web sites that fish for personal information so that they can use that information to invade a bank account that is not theirs.  There are web sites that promote all types of adherent sexual behavior.  Including but not limited to child pornography, incest, and other taboos. 

 Crime and subversive criminal practices are similar as technology becomes more sophisticated so does cybercrime.  Cybercrime requires more technological advances to assist in the control of the offenses made against the unsuspecting victim.  One of the more recent applications available to the general public is an application that will change your voice and allow the perpetrator to register a different number when they call.  For example a man calls using a women’s voice from what appears to be A Domino’s Pizza Parlor.  He can say that you won a pizza but he needs the credit card number to pay for the tax and delivery charge.  The call will actually register for the Dominos store when in fact the caller is just trying to get the card information so that they can use it for themselves.  This is just one of the scams that the subculture of cybercriminal can use in their arsenal to get personal financial information.

   There are legitimist means of voicing ones opinion if you do not agree with the structure and principles of government and corporation.  One of these methods is blogging.  Blogging is not really a subculture anymore because of the diverse topics that are communicated on the World Wide Web in this media.  Blogs are a form of writing that expresses the views of others on line.  Blogs can present oneself in a persona that is acceptable to the author.  Unfortunately blogs can be factual or primarily fiction.  That depends upon the writer and their need to present facts that have been verified.   Blogs are only as good as the writer regardless of the focus of the blog.
            Webcams are an extension of the blog.  The technologies of self-representation can now use the Webcam adds to their autobiographies.  What does this mean the Commentator can show who they are as well as tell who they are?  They can also tell and show how others are.  Many people have been captured on phone video and their secrets have gone viral.  Reality TV could be considered part of the webcam sub-culture.  Webcam sites run by women have gained popularity in the last several years.  Many of these sites are run by women as self-representation.  Women can decide to place themselves in pornographic situations but they control what they present to the world.  This is a way of altering gender power whether it objectifies women or not.

            Hacking is another undesirable sub culture of the cyber world.  Hacking represents a more dangerous form of sub culture.  The computer and Internet generate a more novel threat to individuals, corporations, and nation-states.  Person details may be stolen and sold to third parties, emails can corrupt your hard drive by spreading viruses and messages/information without any truth may be spread by placing them on websites.

Stealing identities by stealing a password can allow a person to steal an entire identity.  Cyber stalking has resulted in cases of child molestation.  Many hate groups such as whit supremacist and extreme right –wing groups run hate campaigns using the Net called cyber hate.

        

    New technologies bring new methods of perpetuating subversive subcultures.  The technology comes first, the abuses second, and finally a way of dealing with the abuses third.  The legislation for the restriction of internet offenses is not yet a part of our world.  Many do not want regulations because they feel that our first amendment rights are being violated.  Others want controls on everything.  There is one thing for sure to keep up with the subversive subcultures there must be some type of controls levied upon the internet community.

BLOG chapter 14

Nostalgia Of The Young:

What is Nostalgia? Nostalgia is best described as a memory or long for the past, reminding the individual of an event or something that occurred in their life. Nostalgia includes emotion on both ends of the spectrum like happiness and sadness.  If Nostalgia was a taste it would be a lemon pie, tart with an underlying sweetness.  It is with this emotion of Nostalgia that we greet the new technologies that we are confronted with daily.

 Gone are the days where you pick up a phone, call a friend, and talk for hours.  Our lives do not fit this concept.  We are too busy to spend this much time “communicating”.  Instead, we must be satisfied with simply connecting with as many people as we can.  Is it any wonder that people look at the past with Nostalgia?  How many of us experience communication that expresses emotion to each other in meaningful ways? 

Should we actually be settling for texts that communicate the important details of our lives?  Is it appropriate for a spouse to communicate to her significant other that she is pregnant.  Is it more important to be practical as well as personal to ask your partner to marry you in a text message?  Is all communication supposed to be quick abrupt and impersonal.  What does this do to us as people?  Are we relegating emotions as something that belongs in the past in order to keep up with digital world technology?  Our new technologies change daily.  We as a generation are becoming technology junkies and we are missing communication techniques that our mothers and fathers employed.  Should this bother us? I think that it should.  I believe that we can have both the digital world of technology along with excellent communication skills.  I do not think that it is necessary to put our entire lives on Facebook.  I also feel that good communication begins with trust.  We have the best tools to communicate with than any generation thus far and yet I fear that we are abusing them.  You very rarely see an individual under the age of 25 without a phone, tablet, iPod, or laptop with them.  How many times have you been in a coffee shop, seen two people together, and yet they are texting someone else on the phone.  What happened to the basic rules of good interpersonal communication?  How can you be a good listener if you are more interested in answering the last text that talking to the person that you are with?  How can we bond with who we most want to be with if when we are with them we are texting someone else?  When we fail to make a personal connection with other people with new technology we have the ability to join a fantasy reality like “Second Life”.  In virtual realities like second life we can communicate on a personal level with other people who want to pretend to be someone other than they are rather that actually working to become the person that they really would like to be. As a generation I feel that we have lost the much of the human bonding that we as a species need for positive mental health.

In my opinion digital technically advanced technology has flooded our lives and given us a different set of rules and expectations of others.  Unfortunately the rule book is a secret and we are floundering attempting to find our when our human side fits with our technological side.  Facebook, twitter, dating sites, and sites for true confessions have given people a new way of communicating and dealing with the emotions and pressures of today but how much of our technology helps us work though our problems and how much does our technology actually help us avoid our problems.

Our country has been faced with multiple tragedies involving shootings in schools and other public places by individuals who are mentally unbalanced.  Our answer to restricting these incidents would be to control the access of guns in our cities in states.  I do not feel that this is the only answer to this very serious problem.  As a nation I think that we have to pay attention to the way that we are communicating with each other.  A virtual reality site would be psychologically devastating to person who is not reality based.  The virtual reality war games can have a pathological effect on someone with violent tendencies.   For unstable individuals, to suggest that it is ok to kill thousands of people in a video game, how big of a stretch is it to suggest its ok to kill groups of people in a movie theater, mall or school.  Are video games, virtual reality games, true confession sites, Facebook and twitter bad?  I don’t think so but I think that they have done additional psychological damage to the psychologically impaired.  Technology has changed so quickly that there has not been enough time to evaluate the positive and negative effects of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWBbg5GzGw4

Attention to each other is what we are lacking as our dependence on technology increases.  Young teens can multitask texting while they are doing other things but they are losing the ability to focus when asked to attend to a new concept or skill.  I have experienced the results of broken relationships due to too much dependence on technology and not enough attention on interpersonal skills.

Finally, technological advances are wonderful but we are allowing these advances to control us.  We should not throw away what we have learned from interpersonal contact.  It is rude to text while the person that you are with is sitting across from you expecting conversation.  It is insensitive to place personal information about another person on the internet without discussing it with them first.  It is alright to let someone hear your voice when you want to tell them you love them, and if you do something to offend a friend it is better to tell them you are sorry than text them an apology.