Ten Revelations

Copy Write

1. My first revelation about 21st century media is ironically about copy write issues. I decided for my final capitalism and democracy paper that I would explore the issue of illegal fire sharing. I discovered some really interesting aspects about how the government is having trouble dealing with illegal fire sharing. It’s estimated that over one billion tracks are exchanged on the Internet each month. This doesn’t compensate Apples Itunes only selling 2 billions songs since it was launched back in 2003. It’s also important to note that Itunes represents over 70% of all legal music downloading.

RIAA Vs. Tanenbaum

2. During this paper I also came across an incredibly interesting court case that made me re-think everything about record companies. The RIAA Vs. Tanenbaum. The recording industry Association of America sued Joel Yenebaum, a 24 year old graduate student at Boston University, for downloading seven songs and making more than 800 others available over Kazaa. I find it crazy how the RIAA is allowed by the U.S government to sue Joel Yenebaum up to 12,000 dollars because of the Digital Theft Deterrence Act. It shows that copy right holders have to much power and shouldn’t be allowed to sue people for what they consider criminal actions.

Check out my commentary on illegal music sharing. "Music for the people and by the people."

Rage Agaisnt the Machine

3. On the same topic of Record companies, I would have to believe that one of my biggest revelations about 21st century media came to me last year during Mass Media and Society. I don’ remember the women’s name but she brought up an incredibly interesting point about the Rage Against The Machine. It’s commonly known that Rage Against the Machine is a band that stands for going against large corporations and sticking it to the “man.” however, she brought up an extremely interesting point when she pointed out that Rage Against the Machine signed a contract with Sony, which is just another large media corporation.

Vision of Students Study

4. I had a revelation when I saw the video “vision of students today.” It made me feel better that I wasn’t the only one that was feeling strong about certain issues dealing with college. For example, buying hundred dollar textbooks you don’t use, knowing people who pay a lot of money for school but never go to class and how the contemporary education system today hasn’t really adapted to the modern day student. This youtube video helps support that the technology generation is much more fast paced and standard class rooms with teachers reading power points as lectures isn’t an effective way of teaching. I often sit and class and wonder when things are finally going to start to change. I feel that i'm lucky to go to Champlain College because there at least aware that college students are changing. I feel bad for students who go to large universities who have to set through long lectures all day.

Sustain Champlain

5. I found that doing the Sustain Champlain project was an awesome way to show how Champlain College is using various different types of techniques to be more environmentally friendly. It was a revelation to me because it shows a different way of retaining information. All the videos are short, sweet and to the point but they are all filled with incredibly valuable information. For example, low flow showerheads, energy efficient washer and driers and motion censored lights. I never even knew how the green roof worked until I watched some of the Sustain Champlain videos. I liked this project because it's shows the power of Web 2.0. If you have a class split up into groups and everyone makes a youtube clip for everyone to see, people are going to learn more because youtube videos are a great way to learn.

Reality T.V

6. I had a huge revelation when I read in Hilliard that not all reality T.V shows are scripted. I learned that most of these shows are built upon a story line or an outline and people just act upon the plot. I never knew this and made me really wonder about reality T.V. I still have trouble believing that shows likes Laguna Beach and the Hills have actor that are capable of improvisation. In general it was interesting to learn about how T.V shows are scripted because I like to write T.V shows but Hilliard made me realize that even with just an outline of a T.V you can make something happen with it. I feel like with new technologies like Nano's and Flip Cameras you can make a T.V out of anything.

Blogging

7. One of the biggest revelations I had about media in the 21st century is the power of blogs. One of my friends who started a blog about bmx bike riding. (I had media mediation about “the come up.”) I found it incredible that if you create a blog that everyone likes that companies we’ll pay you money to put there advertisements on it. It just makes me feel better about going to school knowing that people do become successful by using the powers of Web 2.0. Taking eletronic media writting has helped me figure out ways to make my blog stand out than others. Now, the biggest task is to find something to post about that the world we'll wan't to see.

A place with no Web 2.0

8. As we learned to Blog and Twitter this year in class I still have trouble imagining a world where you aren’t allowed to use social networking tools. I find the topic of how governments regulate media to be incredibly interesting because media has become to big for governments to control. I feel that the Internet is a beast of information that gives power to the people and this threatens how certain governments operate. Specially, I still have trouble getting my head around how China believes it’s ok to cut its citizens off from facebook, youtube, and twitter. However, I still believe that the Chinese population must find ways to use these social networking tools. They’re nearly impossible to live with out these days.

Advertising

9. This year I learned a lot of media and advertising and it totally changed my perspective on how corporations advertise. I never knew that Pepsi commercials clearly appeal primarily to love of family versus Coca Cola which strives to advertise it’s consumers to be more adventures. It’s crazy to think how corporations will pay advertisers a ton of money just to figure out different ways to get into peoples heads. This class along with advertising has made me skeptical of every commercial I see. I now always find my self-breaking down a commercial into the different tool steps subconsciously. I feel that I don’t get tricked as much and that I now know that advertisers are simply trying to sell me things I don’t need. In a sense it's a good thing that everytime I watch a commerical I don't get sucked in and the only way for it not annoy me is if I can point out at least 5 persuasive techinques in the three second clip.


Creativity

10. The biggest revelation I had about Hilliard was that he made me understand that creative writing has so many different places in today’s media driven world. I know that I’d never really want to write a book, but I feel that I could possibly write a commercial or maybe a T.V show. This book has showed me that internet has made it possible and has created so many new different platforms that require so many different various formations of writing. I’m looking forward to seeing where the world of Web 2.0 takes me.