CaseStudy: File Sharing

New/digital Media Case Study: File Sharing

by Jamie Lewis

Primary Text: LimeWire/FrostWire

Technology

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multi-media (audio, video), documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of storage, transmission, and distribution models and common methods of file sharing incorporate manual sharing using removable media, centralized computer file server installations on computer networks, World Wide Web-based hyperlinked documents, and the use of distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) networking.
File sharing is not in and of itself illegal. However, the increasing popularity of the mp3 music format in the late 1990s led to the release and growth of Napster and other software that aided the sharing of electronic files. This in practice led to a huge growth in illegal file sharing: the sharing of copyright protected files without authorization.

History

In the early days of the internet, the most popular file sharing was the (anonymous) file transfer protocol. The user can find the files which they want in anonymous FTP from a server called ARCHIE.
Next, from 1995 to 1997, FTP (file transfer protocol) file sharing and free Homepage file sharing become the major way to share files. By using free Homepage, you are able to upload the files to let people who want it to download the certain file.
Around 1997, Hotline, or ICQ (messenger) become the major way to share files. Messenger is a communication tool on internet which allows you to have chat or electric bulletin board. And in messenger service, there is a category for file sharing.
In 1999, Napster becomes the major way to share files. Napster changed the way of sharing files than before because this service lets peers download music files and also the capacity of it is much greater than other file sharing programs before. If you download the application, you’re able to share files with the peoples who also have the application downloaded in the computer, which means that you’re able to share files with people around the whole world. Due to this merit, about 60 million people were using this in the world and 1 million Japanese were using this application. Because of there were so many Napster users, copyright on music files become a major problem in this application. From this problem, the Napster Company crashed down and the application is no longer useable.
But in 2001, another file sharing application called WinMX have been made. This WinMX lets you share music files and also other files such as pictures, movies, and computer software. The main idea of the application is mostly same as Napster but the function have been improved. Due to the boom of WinMX, there become another problem about copyright, not just music, also on pictures, movies, and computer software. On November, 2001, first WinMX user got arrested by using the application in a wicked way.

Economy

The current economic climate has a lot to do with how opinions on File Sharing have changed. Since the recession has hit the world, particularly the U.K., more and more people have thought twice about the ethics of File Sharing because they cannot afford to purchase all the music they want to. Music genres and variety is expanding and iTunes prices are rising and people don’t want to lose interest in music because of their financial status and therefore look to file sharing to illegally download and obtain all the music they’d like.

Social/Cultural

The ethics of file sharing come into social discussion. Through two-step-flow people’s opinions and ethics are changed to adjust to deciding that file sharing may be for them, again referring to the economic status of the country; some might not be able to afford the rising prices of mp3 downloads.

Political

The political discussion that surrounds the file sharing debate is whether or not it is ethical; of course it is illegal but with increasing prices, faults in technology and data storage lead to loss of files – is it right that we should pay as much as a pound per song possibly filling the latest iPods such as 160GB: 75,000 songs – with music and files. That’s a potential £75,000 spent on music – still with the risk of losing it all at any point.

CaseStudy: The Representation of Masculinity in Modern Cinema + THESP

Representation Case Study: The Representation of Masculinity in Modern Cinema

by Jamie Lewis

Primary Text: 300 (Zack Snyder 2007)

Technology

A film like 300 could never have been made as recent as 10 years ago because of the latest advances in CGI and editing.
DVDs and Blue-Ray DVDs.

History

During the 1960’s the Vietnam was one of the defining events in terms of masculinity. It started in 1955 and ended in 1975. Films such as Platoon and Apocalypse Now were made in response to the film; interestingly the two films had completely contrasting representations of US forces; Platoon depicting the US soldiers and forces as inhuman and showing a Vietnamese perspective on the violence rather than Apocalypse showing the US dropping bombs and enjoying the experience.
Not only the Vietnam War but also the World Wars changed masculinity and roles of women because women had to fill in for jobs on the Home Front. Whilst men were out being conscripted and fighting Germans, the women had to change their stereotypes and gender roles of the early 1900’s.

Economy

The cost of the film was supposedly $60mil and demonstrates how much money goes into modern cinemas and blockbusters with high-earning directors that can afford to ‘slash the cash’ no their films and then make a killing as 300 did making back all that money in the first week. Also for a blockbuster, increasingly nowadays, that’s still cheap. The IMAX cinema viewings of 300 would have been more expensive and therefore helped the profit substantially.

Social/Cultural

The trend of films such as 300; ‘sword-and-sandals’ including Troy, Gladiator and others. The media suggests that they have been made in response to the changes in the definition that the ‘modern-man’ that have arisen. The increasing appearances of musicals and dance-based shows and programmes focussing on expressive arts rather than sport shows (the attempt to remake Gladiators, presented by Ian Wright, failed as it was cancelled due to lack of viewing figures. Sky1) – this tells us that not only a female audience but also a male audience seems to prefer watching your X-Factors, Strictly Come Dancings and High School Musicals. From the latter a global celebrity Zac Efron has emerged redefining the modern man because of his interest in singing and dancing in the characters he plays and his attention and care of his appearance in real life. Also promoting the men’s healthcare and skin products etc – toiletaries; is David Beckham – men’s health and a great example of a footballer – usually seen as masculine (he is tatoo’d, from an average English family: son to a kitchen fitter and a hairdresser; and average upbringing from London. However Beckham features in constant toiletary adverts such as deoderant, after-shave and Gillette. He was always renowned for changing his hairstyle throughout his football career, watched and exploited eagerly by the media.

Political

The director of ‘The Hurt Locker’ is James Cameron’s ex-wife and perhaps this had some influence in how The Hurt Locker eventually became ‘Best Film’ rivaling her ex’s Avatar; both great films for the advances in cinema. Interestingly the film’s content is heavily about war and masculinity; teamwork and bonds/relationships in masculinity etc. similarly The Sun, renowned for page 3 is run by their female editor Rebekah Wade.

Academic Articles:
http://www.tesisenxarxa.net/TESIS_UdL/AVAILABLE/TDX-1203109-154039//TMISC7de7.pdf
http://www-copas.uni-regensburg.de/articles/issue_8/Christina_Judith_Hein.php

2008 US Election

Barack Obama vs John McCain

I am blogging two days before the US Election goes into swing and the expected winner of the election is the Barack Obama.

Barack Hussein Obama II ( born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

The election has brought out many issues and topics of general conversation such as the former canditate Hilary Clinton. 'Would she become President twice?' was one of the gossip topics insinuating that when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was president she had control of him and the country. For the time that Hilary, as she was known in the press, was in the running with Obama, McCain didn't actually seem to be in the picture as the press wasn't covering him and I hadn't herd of him. The gossip and media issues surrounding the election then was that America must choose between a black man and a woman, which blossomed a racist and sexist negative opinion that there's no good choice of president, so choose between a black man and a woman, neither of which have been president of the USA before in history.

Interestingly now, as Obama seems the most likely candidate to win, winning the voting statistics and majority of states, suggests that a country of many communities and backgrounds, many of whom contain racist beliefs, has changed overall views for there was a time in America when a black man wouldn't of stould a chance in US politics and now the obvious candidate, in comparison with previous presidents, McCain, seems as if he will lose and all steriotypes of the president of the US have been declined.

Also, impacting a dent in the recent media is McCain's choice of vice-president, Sarah Palin, who has been heavily subjected to the media because of the fact that she is so original in politics, as many male politicians would comment, she's the first good looking female politician and her famous wink has encouraged that judgemental attitude. She was recently the victim of a prank phone call by someone pretending to be the French president. The fact that I couldn't even name Obama's choice of vice-president highlights the fact that they haven't been in the media at all compaired with Palin and therefore strengthening the reality of Palin's media attention. Also if you search the BBC website, which I have just done, there are links to McCain, Obama and Palin and not Joe Biden (Obama's vice-president).

jL

The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan

The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan

[Series so far, BBC1]

The programme is presented by Piers Morgan, former editor of the News of the World and then The Daily Mirror newspapers between 1994 and 2004. Morgan, as a former British newspaper editor, and tabloidese newspapers at that, is well informed and respected within the media world and the show offers an interesting angle because he is trying to find out the truths behind these people, who have had a famously dark or upsetting experiences of fame, through his own tabloidese perspective which presents the guests with public opinions and press portrayal as, for some of them, he would have felt whilst publishing their stories in his former newspapers. However Morgan is also open minded and understanding and, more often than not, accepts what they're saying and as he develops a sympathy or understanding behind what categorises them into this category of 'dark fame' and therefore so does the audience because the counterargument lies within Morgan and is embraced, if possible, by the guest.

From browsing online I have discovered that the series is now over, and so all the guests on the show were limited to the ones we've seen and, for atleast this series, there are no more to come. The series has consisted of the interviews of firsty contraversal comic Jim Davidson, discussing the truth of his racist and wife-beating reknowned persona. Then Jason Donovan, who went from Neighbours to cocaine to a legal case that cost him his respect and credit. Nancy Dell'Olio, who became famous whilst dating Sven Goran-Eriksson, Pamerla Anderson, who talks to Piers about the dark side of her career as a sex symbol and rock'n'roll relations throughout her life. Mickey Rourke, who fell from Hollywood stardom and is gradually making his way back into movies, primarily based to his successful acting part in Quentin Tarantino's Sin City in 2005, and undoubtedly one of the most opinion changing episodes of the series. Bruce Jones, who discusses his very public fall from fame out of Coronation Street, Tracey Emin, bad girl of British art who talks to Piers about the tabloids' reactions to her work and her rise to fame, and finally Chantelle Houghton, who went from having her heart broken by The Sun for only putting her on Page 3 once to winning Big Brother and becoming an official celebrity.

jL

Steven Fry in America: Mississippi

Steven Fry in America: Mississipi

[Broadcast: 26/10/08 BBC1 21:00]

I thought that the programme showed an interesting insight to the area of Mississipi, although as the programme went on it became less relevant and slightly boring to watch. However the parts of the programme I found interesting were when the content was relevant to a wider audience that could relate to Hurricane Katrina that hit the area in America and was mentioned during the programme.

The programme presented an interesting perspective, one that was not to knowledge of what I would think of the majority of an audience; the perspective of the people of the area coping in a positive way to the natural disaster. The Mardi Gras scene shows the audience how they are trying to move on in a united and supportive way with one another; that despite the tragedy one must move on and celebrate life and how easily it can be done, insinuated by the numbers within the community participating in the featured celebrations.

I think it's interesting how this is a BBC production, and the BBC were one of the main news corporations to broadcast news of the hurricane in August 2005, and so the programme gives insight to the topic that the media (including the BBC) did not pick up on or choose to broadcast (until now because the BBC have).

The programme is presented in a charming way of getting Steven Fry, an intelligent, trusting and valued opinion to the audience who is a good choice of presenter because the audience doesn't concider any real bias of the tour of America, although outside the UK it may be seen as a bias opinion; the UK views the programme with their own knowledge of community and can only judge the American community through their own opinions and Steven Fry's. He roams around in a London taxi which seems charming and representative of the definition of the tour; an Englishman seeing America but the charm seems completely out of place and innapropriate, highlighted dramatically when Fry drives through Angola Prison in the Mississippi area, a reknown black prison, which intimidates his little London cab greatly.

The programme seems to be mainly related to religion, music and culture; the visiting of voodoo, christianity, jazz music, blues music and knowledge of the history of the genres and background and their place in American culture. The episode brushes up on the industrial revolution and modern presence of the motor industry and the Ford/General Motors development and competition within America.

The programme touches up on the communities and cultures within America, in this episode visiting a Mong area, and questions the unity of the USA. It presents an interesting aspect of the America that is perhaps never shown very well, from a UK based perspective, of how America fits together within their own country, the togetherness, unity and community or lack of those things within the country.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00f7g56/b00f7dj2/Stephen_Fry_in_America_Mississippi/

jL