What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine

How would you feel about an idea conjured up in your mind stolen, tweaked and fixed to become a money making machine (keeping in mind none of this money making is for your benefit)?

Not too happy? I didn’t think I would be either until I realised through the lecture and readings this week that this is an everyday practise, this is the basis of issues surrounding intellectual property and copyright.

Week in week out I’d like to think my blogs are innovative and unique- then I realised that I only ever compose my blogs after reading the material of students first ,and drawing upon their blogs for inspiration and other ideas (sorry, guys!). But does this give every student in DIGC202 a right to accuse me of breaching the law and stealing what is not rightfully mine?

It’s another touchy topic we’re trolling through this semester however I think Lessig’s Free Culture reading provided a nice summary of what he deemed appropriate in the world of copyright with his references to Disney. He explained that Disney ‘builds upon the culture and makes it something different’, might I mention this idea of ‘different’ also being extremely profitable.

It seems a shame that the old copyright laws of allowing 30 years before intellectual property can hit the public domain are well and truly buried. It is highly unlikely that these laws will resurface anytime soon, so the clash of the copyright will continue.

What do you do for a living? I’m a professional in my social life

The days of counting down until that 5 O’clock clock-off is well and truly a thing of the past. After reading Bradwell & Reeves, I realised that:

1.       The word ‘clock-off’ has pretty much become extinct 
2.         If you’re not networked, you’re no one
3.       There is no distinction between social relationships and professional life

They raise the concept of the ‘network citizen’ and allude to the fact that without engaging in social networks, you will be left behind in the working world. Throughout tutorials this week, Teodor Mitew got me thinking about the vitality of net presence and just how heavily we all rely on it in everyday life.

It is almost as though a social life has become an occupation as there is pressure to know exactly what is happening in each of your friend’s lives on a daily basis (thank you Facebook newsfeed). Bradwell and Reeves comment on constantly being connected to the workplace improves customer loyalty, but at what cost to employees who are constantly connected?

Once again drawing upon ones social life as an occupation, just how much time are we loosing by constantly seeking updates on our friends lives? And if we aren’t connected (GASP) does that make our friendships weaker for not knowing that your best friend checked in at McDonalds for lunch?

Petty as it sounds, I think we are living in fear that if we aren’t connected we will not only lose touch with the workforce, but with friends as well. Indeed it may seem like our social worlds are becoming our occupations, but when technology makes it so easy to be connected to such a wide network, there are no excuses for not knowing what, not just your best friend, but what each and every one of your friends had for lunch.

Barlow declares independence. I declare fear.

image from google

After reading Barlow’s perfect utopian world in, ‘A declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace,’ I couldn’t help but laugh as his 1996 view of cyberspace’s offerings appeared somewhat naive.

He writes with such confidence that that cyberspace is ‘creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.’

Oh, to live in a perfect world!

With the explosion of cyber bullying incidents in the media, sadly there is fear. There is fear for youths coming home from school only to find that their social networking site has become bombarded with words of hate. There is fear for parents who are apprehensive of their child’s safety on the internet with the influx of paedophilia incidents. There is fear that an individual’s past mistakes will resurface and ultimately affect their future. And lastly, there is fear for the bully’s behind these incidents that worry about getting caught.

Barlow’s declaration assumes a perfect world on the internet, correcting the wrong doings of the government in the real world. He speaks of the power of free speech and almost trusts the morality of individuals on the internet as he states; ‘Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonwealth, our governance will emerge.’

Drawing upon a previous blog entry concerning the ambushed funeral of a ‘World of Warcraft’ gamer, I would like to ask where this emergence of ethics currently resides?

Barlow might be declaring independence, but I’m going to declare fear in cyberspace.

Where is the fun? Gaming losing its way

The Internet indeed offers an abundance of freedom to all its participants. Sure, that’s what decades of human rights activists have been fighting for, but has the Internet superseded its initial intentions?

Sterling (1993), speaks praise of the internet and claims its ownership belongs to ‘everyone and no-one’ (p.3). This lack of distinct ownership creates troublesome quarrels due to the lack of boundaries in the online world, which was discussed by Mitew (2011) as he showed us an invasion of an online funeral in the World of Warcraft gaming world.

It is unquestionable that the Internet gives users agency to whatever we want, whenever we want to do it, but ethical questions do follow.

·         Is there a double standard of ethics for the online and offline world?

·         Should unethical actions be punished in the online world?

·         Or, should the online gaming world be treated exactly as that, a game?

The distinction between the two does become increasingly blurred, but I think there is a key word that needs to be acknowledged ... Game. This fictitious culture has lost what I consider its initial purpose – to provide entertainment and relaxation.

 Perhaps these online gamers need to take a step away from their online world and take a step back into reality.

Sterling, B. (1993) 'A Short History of the Internet', The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [URL: http://sodacity.net/system/files/Bruce_Sterling_A_Short_History_of_the_Internet.pdf]

Get Networked, or Get Neglected

Image from google

Our networked society is a cut-throat way of life. If you don’t conform to the innovations technology has to offer, you WILL be left behind. Communication revels in its prime as the world is networked together and is constantly communicating, regardless of their incommunicative status.

Castells (2004) draws upon the concept of passive communication and the power of networks to subconsciously shape and mould our society as we are trapped in a cycle of ‘adapting ourselves to the instructions received from their unseen codes’ (p224).  But if I’m trapped, I definitely am not thinking of escaping anytime soon!

Think about the networks that you are linked to. The first few that spring to my mind are; Facebook – to keep in touch with friends, Twitter- To communicate with fellow DIGC202 peers, the Intranet at work – to be kept up-to-date with progress within the company, and how could I forget the plethora of fashion blogs I’ve signed up to that conveniently  send me e-mails to my inbox daily.

Networks are indeed ‘the underlying structure of our lives’ (p224). Without these networks I would be left behind in my social, educational, working and fashion world. Networks aren’t something to be feared, they should be embraced. And I for one, have no trouble embracing them!

Castells, M. (2004) 'Afterword: why networks matter'. In Network Logic: Who governs in an interconnected world? (pp. 219-224)