Mia the Band

Hi there,

Today – being a public holiday and all – I would like to write something short and sweet! Just recently, Mia, my manager at work set up a website about her folk/rock band. I have added her as a link on my page, under Mia the Band. I think Mia’s website is a really great example of the whole produser idea. As John Banks put it in the KCB201 Week 3 Lecture, the Internet is now providing networked connectivity between consumers and producers. For example, Mia, a massive consumer of music media, established her website as a point of connectivity between other music producers like herself. Mia also created the website as a destination for her fans, by providing free downloads of her music. Similar to the way Arctic Monkeys developed their following, Mia has allowed free distribution of her work so that it can be shared by people around the world.

Additionally, Mia’s website effectively illustrates the notion of the New Media Economy, or a convergence between traditional media forms like music with Information Communication Technologies like the Internet. For example, Mia has created an electronic press kit, specifically for clients, or people interested in her work. Using this kit, she has received gigs around Brisbane and surrounding areas.

Overall, I think Mia’s website it just another example of the dissolving distinctions between media producers and media consumers. Through using music technology to develop sound clips and the Internet as a promotional platform, Mia’s band has flourished. She has now formed networks of relationships with fans, local and international bands and other people with similar music interests. If you would like to listen to her music, just go to her website. Alternatively, if you would like to experience Mia the Band live, her gigs are posted on the site regularly. I hope you have a great day off and I’ll post again soon!

Em x

Online Community Presentation

Hello again!

I’m so sorry I haven’t made a post for so long, Easter came around and so did a 3000 word take home exam for Media Audiences which was absolutely life changing (can you sense the sarcasm here). Anyway, onto more exciting news, today I presented my group online community proposal. To be frank, I think the other students in our class judged our idea of having a social community for QUT online, entitled 'QUT Socialite', rather harshly. As QUT is an academic institution, it would be near impossible for students to communicate on a level completely external from what they have in common – their academic studies! Therefore, it is important to acknowledge that whilst ‘QUT Socialite’ proposed to foster relationships between QUT staff and students, QUT policies and procedures like the End User Licence Agreement apply to members. Within the confines of these regulations, we were criticised for creating the community less social and more academic. However, I believe that these regulations are necessary for social relationships and networks to evolve, because they protect member privacy.

My tutor, John Banks also suggested that perhaps for 'QUT Socialite' to work more effectively, it should operate on separate website, external from the QUT enterprise. However, for this website to maintain any affiliation with the QUT brand and the student guild, one assumes that students or staff that publish defamatory comments about members will be dealt with according to a similar set of community rules as 'QUT Socialite'. Overall, I just wanted to reinforce the idea that our group suggested 'QUT Socialite' as a welcoming place for students and staff to hang out, chat and become actual friends. The idea did not evolve as a place where QUT staff and students could criticise each other and pay out their uni degrees. It was really disappointing to realise that people in our class wouldn’t be supportive of the community, particularly because I believe there is a real opportunity for its development! Until next time, have a great weekend! I promise to blog soon :)

Em x

Virtual Community Report

Community Participation Task: Virtual Community Report

The online community I have joined is called Discuss Cooking. I joined this group as it was the least crude and the most interesting one I could find. My registered username as an 'assistant chef' is em_wight - very creative! :) What makes Discuss Cooking a successful community lies inherently in its aim to bring people together who share a common interest in cooking. Discuss Cooking’s aim is also reflected in its mission statement: ‘Discover Cooking. Discuss Life.’ There are approximately fifty forums within the Discuss Cooking Community, which enable its five thousand, four hundred and fifty-three members to create relationships through sharing ideas, photos and recipes. Forum themes range from ‘Canning and Preserving’ and ‘Entertaining, Special Events and Party Planning’ to ‘Health, Nutrition and Special Diets’ and ‘Desserts, Sweets and Baking.’ Discuss Cooking also has a links page where members can place a link to the Discuss Cooking from their own personal website, or alternatively, they can place their website URL on the page so other members can access their information. The links page also includes recipe websites and other general cooking information sites.

Additionally, Discuss Cooking has been running for six years and is part of Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. The rules within the community are determined by the owners who “…reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason” (Discuss Cooking, 2006). Discuss Cooking employs both administrators and moderators to ensure the elimination of obscene, threatening or political discussions within its discussion forums. I believe it is imperative for the longevity of the community that social governance policies such as these are employed so that members feel safe to discuss their ideas and opinions freely. According to Preece (cited in Lazar and Preece, 2002) “communities with good sociability have social policies that support the community’s purpose and are understandable, socially acceptable and practicable.”

Furthermore, the type of people who belong to Discuss Cooking are both male and female, typically aged around thirty years and older. Some of these members work as chefs in the food industry and some just have a passion for cooking. I believe these people keep coming back because the community platform enhances their drive and passion for cooking. The Discuss Cooking site is very easy to navigate and provides members with a sense of belonging through a common interest they share. The site administrators and members are also very welcoming to 'New-Bees' like myself. For example, on April 9, I made my first post and I received five responses within two days.

Overall, I think Discuss Cooking works effectively as both a financial and social enterprise. Although a number of Google advertisers sponsor the community site such as the American Diabetes Help Centre and Amazon this does not inhibit one’s Discuss Cooking experience. I believe that Discuss Cooking is a successful online community, primarily because it operates in a culture of trust where members and guests can access and distribute information not only about themselves but also about a shared purpose. This success is not only reflected in the sheer number of people around the world that are members, but also because it has been running for six years.

I hope that my comments about Discuss Cooking have been somewhat insightful. Perhaps if you feel like cooking in the near future, you might want to sign up to get some great ideas like I did for my Mum’s dinner party. Until next time, take care!

Emilie x

References

Discuss Cooking. 2006. Discuss Cooking Rules. http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/register.php (accessed April 7, 2006).

Lazaar, J and J. Preece. 2002. Social Considerations in Online Communities: Usability, Sociability, and Success Factors. http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/8%20herre_chapter.pdf (accessed April 11, 2006).

The MMOG Debate

Hi there,

This week I would like to write a little bit about Sal Humphrey’s (2005) journal article entitled Productive Players: Online Computer Games’ Challenge to Conventional Media Forms. I would also like to make a few points in reference to the lecture she gave last week about gamers’ rights, particularly those who play Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) like EverQuest and World of Warcraft.

Firstly, in the lecture Sal Humphrey suggested that an MMOG is not necessarily a good or a bad thing. In response to this idea, I agree. MMOGs are social arenas where players collaborate to take on challenges within the game, whilst forming binding relationships with each other. Therefore, in these virtual spaces, players receive rewards for being sociable. For example, in EverQuest, if a raid is successful, the players involved become more powerful. What I take issue with here is that for some people, these MMOGs are not just fun games of social interactivity. For some players, these games in fact become a central part of their day-to-day existence, where forty to fifty hours per week is invested inside a virtual world. Sal suggested that these player’s identities are not fixed within the game, nor are they fixed in the external world. The problem I have with this argument is that these players, who are hardcore addicts, are in fact living their life through a fantastical identity, which doesn’t exist in the real world.

Furthermore, Sal argued that players such as these, who have invested an extraordinary amount of time, money and emotion in these MMOGs should be entitled to greater legal freedom. At present, End User Licence Agreements are fixed, in favour of the enterprise. This has caused many problems within what Ms Humphrey refers to as “owned proprietary worlds” where users have been banned without explanation or negotiation. This agreement also forbids players to sell their characters for money on auction sites like eBay after they have invested time building them up. In her journal article Humphrey (2005, 37) states that the structural differences presented by online multi-user games like EverQuest compared with the distribution of “fixed” texts such as Napster have created new tensions in the relationship between commerce and culture. This means that because players are now producing free content for these games and building social infrastructures such as guilds, the line between what an enterprise can claim as Intellectual Property, and what actually belongs to the user is harder to define.

Additionally, like Ms Humphrey, I believe that the balance of power weighs too heavily in favour of companies like Sony Entertainment, who have the power to cancel a loyal player’s subscription for any reason at any given time. However, it is important for players to understand that without the enterprise, their worlds would never exist. It is important to respect the rules and regulations of any infrastructure you become a member of, whether that is a school, university, virtual space or workplace. Without these codes of conduct, there would be no order. I believe that the current legislation needs to be restructured which gives players greater ownership of their identity within the game and the content they produce. In doing so, hopefully gamers and enterprise can work in a collaborative relationship to ensure that Massively Multiplayer Online Games remain a fun and enjoyable experience for all.

I am sorry that this entry is so long! I got really involved in Ms Humphrey’s ideas because I found that she took a very extreme approach to gamers and their activities. I hope that you didn’t find this too lengthy to read! Until next time, take care!

Emilie x

References
Humphrey, S. 2005. Productive Players: Online Computer Games’ Challenge to Conventional Media Forms. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 12 (1):36-50.

The Network Society

Hello again!

Today I thought I would cover some of Castells' ideas mentioned in the Week 2 lecture concerning 'The Network Society'. What I found particularly interesting in Manuel Castells' theory (a Professor of Sociology at the University of California) is how networks on the Internet are affecting the way people communicate in modern society. The main crux of his theory lies within the importance of these networks of learning, entertainment, political activism, barter and exchange. (Leadbeater, 2001). Castell's idea of the networked society can not only be applied to social relationships and how we communicate with our friends, lovers and family on a day-to-day basis, but also how enterprises operate to do business. Castells also developed the notion of "Portfolios of Sociability" - which basically refers to how one keeps in contact with friends, family, colleagues etc. through these networks. For example, instead of just writing emails, people can now set up their own web blog where they can update images and information daily, place videos of themselves doing particular activities or commenting on what they've been up to, provide programs on their sites that others can download and develop new technologies with other Internet users. A great blog I discovered this morning which uses a few of these applications belongs to Katie Rice, a californian cartoonist. I found Funny Cute attention grabbing because Ms Rice used text to explain the images she had drawn and uploaded on her web blog. Another web site I was shown in a lecture on Friday, March 31 for KCB301 Media Audiences also uses these applications effectively. Google Idol is a hilarious site, whereby competitors lip sync to their favourite pop, rock, or original songs on video to compete for the Google Idol title. The website is also interactive so that viewers can vote for their favourite video. So far my favourite is Anthony and Katy's version of Kelly Clarkson's song 'Since you've been gone'.

According to Leadbeater (2001), "the applications that have really worked on the internet are tools that allow people to do something for themselves, often through peer-to-peer communication, networking and transactions: e-mail, file sharing programmes like Napster, bulletin boards, mass open auctions." Leadbeater (2001) also believes that "...participation sites that provoke people and empower them with tools to do something with the material, often in collaboration with others," are more successful than 'destination sites' where users are passive in consuming culture, news and information. I believe that Leadbeater's argument is correct - interactive sites that allow a free flow of communication between users are much more effective because they support Castells' idea of building a sense of community through virtual networks.

Anyway, that's it for me today, I hope that my opinion on 'The Network Society' has been somewhat insightful for you! Emilie x

References

Leadbeater, C. 2001. Participation websites; [Surveys edition].Financial Times, p.18. (accessed April 3, 2006, from ProQuest: Multiple databases).