Star Wars

Let me introduce you to the cataylst of cinema according Jason Wishnow. Fans have always new media technologies. Their fascination with fictional universes brings about cultural production. Fan digital film is essential to cinema. The Star wars franchise has been pulled between two extremes both over time and across media. Media producers must accomodate consumer demands in order to hold onto the consumers.

Funny Stuff

Hey all,

I watched this today, and thought it was hilarious. Since you're working hard on your papers, take a few minutes and enjoy this. (There's also a post for Chapter 2, if you're interested.)

P.S. I'm sorry if you like Twilight. Don't hate me.

Reality Shows

We have recently been talking a lot about reality television in class. Today we discussed how reality shows are common and popular to us today. As a group we could all piece together aspects of the shows, just as the spoilers do through collaboration. Honestly, I don't watch much television anymore and if I do its mainly just certain shows such as One Tree Hill. I have never gotten so involved in many show other than this one that I watch all episodes. I occasionally watched Jon and Kate plus Eight also. These reality shows are not ones with winning results but still constitute the reality aspect. These shows have to work around the audience as well as other television shows. They have to avoid letting the audience find out what is to happen next within the drama filled lives of the actors. The editors have to play with this aspect and work with it to make the shows the best they can. Its odd to think that so many people get hooked on these shows and find entertainment in trying to spoil the endings. As it was said in class, these shows have become so popular that we can collaborate and work together to put together some aspects of the shows.

The Daily Prophet

I can remember hearing about the so called harry potter wars that made so much contraversy between schools, librarys, and students. There were some who didn't mind the books, but others who found it offensive and did not approve of their children reading it. As I was reading chapter five of Jenkins, I was amazed at what I was reading. I did not even realize that children went about and collaborated about a fictacious novel. The other part that amazes me is that they all find joy in doing this. They do this on their own time and enjoy going about and making the newspaper for hogwarts. I went onto the web and searched through some the sites that were about this. The individuals who become members have this whole set up of how they are related to Harry or the other characters within the book. I just found this whole concept interesting to look into and read about. I never even considered students doing this, or setting something like this up that so many other students got involved in. Here is a link to just one of the many web pages that I looked into.

Storytelling

http://fiction-plots-pacing.suite101.com/article.cfm/3_ways_to_build_a_story

There are many ways to form a story. Jenkins talks about movies such as X-men, Alien, and Living Dead where the story is told by installing the world, and then building a story off of it. The Matrix is another story where the world is introduced, and then the story is built upon it. "World making follows its own market logic, at a time when filmmakers are as much in the business of creating licensed goods as they are in telling stories." This is one way for a digital storytelling to happen. Each interesting element can yeild its own product lines.

Complex technology

I was browsing through google when I stumbled upon this picture. I wanted to post it because it relates to chapter 3 and how Jenkins relates technology to the matrix. Technology is not always as it seems, and is more complex than what people think. The bench on the left has speakers built in, so you could call it an "advanced bench" perhaps. This relates to chapter 3 because Jenkinds related how complex and open-ended the matrix is to technology. Technology is becoming more advanced and complicated every day.

Exploitation and Reality Television

The other day I was searching for info about reality TV shows for a paper I'm writing for another class. I came across this article that talked about the negative effects of having a camera around children. It said that, "Nobody wants to watch normal behavior. Kids have to be co-conspirators to get the camera to stay on." And talked about the fact that people, like the family of "Balloon Boy" are often "damaged goods." It does seem that reality TV shows are often full of messed up people, desperate for attention. Even still, they get exploited. A woman who was on Wife Swap, "said that it took a year to recover from the humiliation and depression" of having footage of her family being severely edited.
Thinking about this article made me realize that when TVs first came out, most people probably never dreamed of having a camera crew in their house to film them so they could be on a TV show. It seems that a few decades ago, being on TV was probably a really big deal and the thought of a camera in one's house would be very strange.

Spoiling T.V.

When it comes to big hit t.v. shows that are a weekly thing, some people will get impatient and set out to find out the result. Examples like Survivor, A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, or The ever popular Ultimate Fighter, are shows that air once a week and the results are already over but the results are probably one of the best protected secrets in the world. Those that become impatient and find the result early and ruin the end are asses. They are the ones that can make t.v. shows go down the drain because if the results come out before it shows then nobody will want to watch and if nobody watches then T.V. will simply run out of funding to air shows and then television will not exist. I wonder why people would want to ruin a show. Why would you not want to wait and hold onto the suspense and be surprised?

AdvertistmentSince

Since in class we have talked about advertisement pretty much for the last couple classes, and i was browsing the internet, like always. And i came across a funny website that is just about ADs.

Advertisement has become vary popular in the world today, but when it is on TV we all know that no one wants to watch it, because we don't have the patience to watch a commercial that doesn't interest us. Yet there are also commercials that do interest us, but most of them don't.

I found the pictures at this website to be pretty comical. link

I think it's safe to say that Survivor and American Idol are two major reasons why we have so many craptacular reality TV shows today. Media corporations need to realize that enough is enough and come up with new ideas for shows. Reality TV was new, but now it's effect is wearing off quickly, so now TV networks are competing for viewers by using shock value. TV networks are trying to sustain this shock value by making "reality" shows of families. Some examples of these would include Little People, Big World, 18 Kids and Counting, and Jon and Kate Plus Eight. All of these shows are taking advantage of a family's situation and sticking it in front of a camera for the world to see. In 18 Kids and Counting, they are trying to appeal to an audience that probably cannot relate to the show. In Little People, Big World, the family has had to deal with overzealous fans trying to invade their privacy in addition to having cameras follow them constantly. In Jon and Kate Plus Eight, the family was torn apart because of the show and it was recently named to Kate Plus Eight. Jon has since filed a cease and desist order against TLC to try and come to terms with his ex-wife.

Reality TV...why can't I stop watching it knowing its fake?

I found an article/dialogue with Henry Jenkins and others talking about reality TV and this culture convergence. One thing I found interesting is someone in the article who said that reality TV is "TIVO PROOF" because of the hype created around it. Even though you can see the same episode later if you don't see it when it first airs everyone you know is already going to be talking about it tomorrow. People become greatly involved in reality TV programs. We relate so well to particular character and characteristics of the contestants that we must know what happens to them next. They talk of how Survivor was so popular because everyone can relate to them feeling of being lost or abandoned such as "voted" off the Island. This made me think about reality shows I watch and the first episodes of the season. That first episode always goes over the contestants thoroughly. They tell you where they're from and about their background. Within that episode you find someone you love to watch and someone you can't stand which makes you already care about what will happen in the show. Another thing I keep thinking about is how even when I miss the episode and a friend tells me who goes home or what happens I still can't wait to watch it myself. I wonder why that is. Ghen Maynard of CBS says, "Reality TV takes ordinary people and puts them in extraordinary situations." One episode of a Reality Television show is jam packed with drama and arguing showing us that the point of the show isn't really so and so finding "love" or finding out whose the "biggest loser" but rather the stories going on between episodes. This idea makes these shows no different from sitcoms but putting the word "Reality" in front of it made it new and exciting and even more edgy because people are "really" doing these things on their own.
Heres the article....It's really short take a look

Shows getting Canceled

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/252842/from_creation_to_cancellation_why_good.html?cat=39

"One by one, an explanation of these unlucky thirteen factors, which are divided into eight categories: DOA (pre-production problems, script and cast changes), Corpse (not enough buzz and hype, postponing the return date, no lead-in), Incision (schedule changes, hiatus), Diagnosis (no additional episodes or full season orders and early renewals), Dissection (cut back on episodes orders/premature orders), Burial (pulled from schedule early in advance) and Casket, (pulled from schedule effective immediately, all leading to Flatlines (ratings)."

Above are reasons and factors that go into canceling a show. One of them emphasized points on the American Idol chapter focuses on why shows are being canceled. The book states that networks should be focused on the quality of audience engagement and less on the quantity of viewers. However this is not what keeps a show on the air, such as American Idol. The "Corpse" section that talks about the hype of the show is one of the most important things in a show. So for those whose shows are getting canceled, it is most likely because of the amount of viewers, or has something to do with money.

How much spoiling is too much?

Chapter 1 shows the effect spoiling has on a television show. But spoilers appear in more than television. Video games and movies are also spoiled by searching hackers. Some hackers give the minimum amout of information, but others give a full detail "spoil" on the plot and features in the game. So how far is too far? Page 54 expains this theory perfectly. "Knowing the final four before getting to know the contestants was like someone sneaking into their house and unrapping their Christmas presents before they had a chance to shake and rattle them to figure out what was inside. Spoilers can take all the fun out of critically acclaimed books or movies if one comes across them on the internet. Spoiler TV is a great example of a spoiler site that just takes all the fun out of those "Christmas presents." A reader can get full information about the new TV shows and movies that others have just been dying to see. Even our daily news papers have begun to spoil movies for us. General information just isn't enough for the viewer anymore. We want the facts and all the information we can get on something. Its become like a disease that has spread through the world because of our easy access to the internet. So maybe we are spoiling "too much" but that is just part of the time.

REALity T.V.

In Chapter 1 Jenkins talks a lot about Survivor and reality television. He really talks about how how REALity television might just not be so REAL after all. He explains that these T.V. shows can be called Reality T.V. because they are actually filmed live and you are seeing people doing these absurd things, but these things are all some form of acting. It may not even be something that a producer or writer has told these people to do, it could just be the person acting in a different manner than they would in their own real life setting. So they really aren't being real at all, they are just acting. So after he got me going on my Reality T.V. trip, I started looking around for some solid Reality T.V. information. While I was surfing the web I found a pretty funny website that list the 15 worst reality T.V. shows ever made. I have watched portions of almost all of these at some point in time and it's laughable as to what these shows are trying to accomplish. I hope you all enjoy because they are pretty ridiculous!

15 Worst Reality Shows

Reality TV

In chapter one of Jenkins book, he talks a lot about reality TV, specifically the show Survivor. He talks about how although the show lacks a specific script, it still has writers. I started researching reality tv show facts and I stumbled upon a short article on a fun site, Court TV 360. This article talks a lot about the same false information that we discussed in class. It says that the general people in these shows are truly unskilled and untrained actors who got into reality tv to become famous, and to make money. It also talks about the shows editors who will take these people and turn them into enemies and characters to provide more drama on the show. The future of this type of television show is on the internet.

Nike Ad

I found a Nike ad I thought was very interesting and funny. I remember we talked about Nike ads in class and how they used famous athletes and more of an emotional approach towards advertising. The ad I found is of Roger Federer, World Champion tennis player, in his home in the dark, while a man deemed to be his Coach sneaks in and bombards him with tennis balls that he must return every time. Nike is trying to associate itself with Strength; the strength of Roger Federer's athletisicm and his ability to return whatever is thrown at him, no matter how fast. It also gives a close up of Roger's eyes so that you may see determination there, and the house they are in is expensive and upperclass. These parts of the advertisement give Nike Strength. If you would like to view it, here is the link.

Reality TV

In chapter 1, Jenkins starts talking about survivor and how it's viewers were figuring out who was going to be voted off next. Even though the show isn't scripted, the show still uses writers. Not to mention that the editors play a huge part in this. The writers need to come up with what the contestants are going to do each episode. Then the editors edit some of the things that the people say. Then with the commercials, viewers are starting to guess who is going to be kicked off next. Sometimes they can figure out who is going to win the whole thing. There was one season of Survivor were a guy faked his grandmother's death during the show. He ended up winning that season and it was revealed that his grandmother never died. I thought it would be pretty obvious on who was going to win that season.

Only a Portion

In all of Chapter 1 Jenkins talks about the "spoiling" of survivor and the how it is done and plays it out to be a serious thing that everyone is doing and how it is affecting our culture. One sentence caught my eye late in this chapter when he talks about Mark Burnett in an interview saying " Spoiling is what it is as long as it doesn't affect ratings. There may be 5000 people on the Internet but there are some 20 million viewers and they don't spend their time reading the Internet.". I agree with this statement, although this convergence is taking place, it is not very wide spread. Our community as a whole overwhelms that small community of "spoilers" and I don't believe this is a proper example. This year, Survivor has an average of 13.8 million viewers (Gorman, Bill). Obviously, this convergence of media isn't as wide spread as Jenkins talks about.

Jenkins Chapter 1

After Reading Chapter 1 of Jenkins' book, and discussing it in class, i decided to take an internet trip to my favorite website, www.howstuffworks.com. I searched for reality tv and found a lot of interesting information of how reality TV started and how it actually works. If you get a chance you should really take a look a this article. I will sum uo what it said for you though. By definition, reality TV is essentially unscripted programming that doesn't employ actors and focuses on footage of real events or situations. "The defining aspect of reality TV is probably the manner in which it is shot. Whether the show takes place in a real setting with real people (much like a documentary), shoots in front of a live studio audience that participates in the program, or uses hidden surveillance, reality TV relies on the camera capturing everything as it happens." So, reality TV isn't necessarily real as it is live. They shoot it live unscripted, so this saves on the production costs. They rely heavily on producers and editors instead of writers and directors. So how successful was survivor and why? Well, adding the show survivor was said to be one of CBS's best moves. They captured their largest audience after adding this show. Some Shows that followed were "Big Brother," "The Mole," "The Amazing Race" and "The Bachelor." But how "real" are they? Not so much, they are technicly unscripted and aired live, but they are also heavily edited. They are also said to be rigged. "In 2001, first-season "Survivor" contestant Stacey Stillman filed a lawsuit against producer Mark Burnett and CBS, claiming that Burnett rigged the show by talking two other contestants into voting her off the island. Stillman said that Burnett wanted to keep 72-year-old contestant Rudy Boesch on the island to maintain an older viewing demographic. Also, a number of contestants on shows like "The Apprentice," "The Bachelor" and "Joe Millionaire" have claimed that their actions were taken out of context and presented in misleading ways."

Survivor Spoiling

In chapter one of Jenkins he talks about the spoilers of Survivor and how they collaborate together to find information about the show before the epsiode is actually shown. I found it interesting to read this and see information about these spoilers. We all want to know everything in adance; we can't wait until it shows, but we want it now. Survivor is a popular show, which is why Jenkins used it as an example. All viewer get interested in the show and can't wait for the next week. The viewers help modify the show and impact the show by things such as this. We predict what is going to happen, so the show has to try to trick us into thinking something different. The viewers have great impacts on shows. As I was searching the web, I wanted to look into the spoiling more of Survivor. I found several web sites of spoiling and then others just on spoiling itself. Here is just one site that is of the spoiling which links to other spoiling pages. It just amazes me how people just sit down and do this for their entertainment and for the entertainment of others.

Survivor

As i was reading the first chapter from Jenkins, they started off by talking about survivor. Jenkins stats " Enormous fines are written into the contracts for the cast and crew members if they get caught leaking the results...". I laugh when i found this, because if you can find out the results to a show and get caught by the producers, you should just get kicked off the show for that. This just shows that, even though they are on an "island" somewhere far away. There are ways you can bring your technology to places where you should not have technology. And for a show that you do not have electronics at all in, you know that there is a flaw in this show.

Collective Stupidity

Collective Stupidity

In chapter one of Convergence Culture, Jenkins talks a lot about collective intelligence and uses the show Survivor as a real world example of it. I think that when people put their minds together, they can come up with all sorts of new ideas that individually would have never came about. However, with most things, there is also a downside. While surfing the internet about collective intelligence, I found several websites that talked about an idea called collective stupidity. It’s the idea that as a group, people can come up with some very dumb ideas and do dumb things. In an article about Collective Stupidity, author Sean Gorman cites a 45 minute traffic jam due to people slowing down to gawk at someone pulled over and rumors that are quickly spread by crowds as examples of the negative side of collective intelligence. He says that sometimes, as a group, we can easily only focus on what is right in front of us, losing sight of the bigger picture. I think a lot of what he says in his article is true but I think that collective intelligence is a lot more common in everyday life than collective stupidity is. A lot of seemingly simple things actually require the work of many people and without everyone working together, these things would not get done.

Commercials

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_advertising_during_the_Super_Bowl_cost
http://www.gaebler.com/Television-Advertising-Costs.htm

MediaCom cheif executive Jon Mandel says, "We know when people are watching a show they care about, they tend to watch commercials more." Mandel was referring to American Idol, but the quote can be proven with any popular television show or event.

I decided to help Mandel prove this by looking up one of the most popular events on television, The Super Bowl. The second link shows that the average 30 second commercial costs about 350,000 to air. If Mandel's theory was right then would the Super Bowl commericals cost more?

The answer is yes. The average 30 second Superbowl commerical aired in 2007 cost about 2.6 million! The costs would have only grown higher in the last couple years. The reason the commercials costs so much is because of how popular the event is. If more people like a show, more poeple will watch it, and therefore watch the commercials. I don't know if this directly proves Mandel's argument, but it certainly helps it out.

Ambush advertising

In the past few weeks we have talked a lot about advertising and how it seems to be everywhere these days. On the radio, billboards, movies, in TV shows, and everywhere else we look. Well at last Sunday's game between the Eagles and Cowboys, the company Captain Morgan attempted a new kind of advertising. After scoring a touch down, Eagles tight end Brent Celek stood directly in front of the camera and did the pose that the pirate on a Captain Morgan bottle does. The pose came after a deal in which Captain Morgan offered a donation to the organization Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund after any player is caught on camera doing the pose. Once the NFL heard about this, they quickly put an end to it, prohibiting any kind of on field advertising for any company. I think a lot of these new crazy ways of "advertising" are coming about because we have become so used to the typical 30 second ads on TV and billboard ads as we drive down the highway that companies are constantly trying to think of ways to outdo each other. And although the pose during the game was barely noticed, the after effects of the controversy and publicity is probably just what Captain Morgan was hoping for. I find it a pretty creative idea and also like the fact that they weren't giving the money to the player but instead making a charitable donation. NFL Shipwrecks Captain Morgan campaign

Week 12

I found this article at PC World that relates to how several different aspects of life are converging on the internet. For example, one quote that is familiar to everyone is "You've got mail!" from AOL. This quote from the early days of e-mail was the basis for a movie of this name, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. This quote is also often used for news stories regarding AOL. Another quote, this one from the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey", occurs when HAL says "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." This quote made its way from the movie into everyday life, just in a slightly different form. The more common forms of the quote are "[the application] has stopped responding" or "[the application] has quit unexpectedly." The quote from "2001" may not be the most memorable, but it does illustrate an ironic aspect of modern computing, which is that sometimes computers don't work the way we want them to. A third quote has become more true than when it was first stated in 1999. This one is by Scott McNealy, who co-founded Sun Microsystems. He once said, "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." This quote was made in response to privacy concerns over a new software package. Today, with social networking and Google, it is impossible to remain anonymous online.

Is the Internet Hitting A Mid Life Crisis?

I was surfing the web and found this awesome article that relates to what Ted was talking about last class. It talks about net neutrality and many other important topics of media convergence. If you have time you should definently read this article. It talks about other countries controlling the internet and how the social networks were the "Buying a red corvette" mid life crisis situation.
Do you think the internet should be corporately and government controlled or do you think it should be a completely open network like it was intended?

Check this out>http://mediaconvergence.org/blog/?p=543

Media Convergence affecting the Movie World

With this whole introduction being based on the convergence of media, I searched the internet in hopes of finding an interesting take on the converging media world. I went to technologynews.com and found a great article on how the movie world is now even being affected by the convergence of media.

I know all of us at least one time in our life have watched a downloaded movie. It is something that kids these days just do. But I'm not sure how much longer we will actually have this capability. This is because movie companies are becoming smarter and are now making movies that are almost impossible for us to download. Movie companies are now starting to make more 3D and IMAX movies. This is because they are very hard for people to download and watch on there personal computers. While they are doing this, I'm sure there are plenty of people around the world trying to find new ways to download these amazing movies.

Home phone VS. Cell phone

Before cell phones emerged in this world, the home phone was the primary means of communication. Today cell phones are such a high priority in peoples lives that most don't even use their house phone anymore. Some have even gotten rid of their house phone and stuck to their cell phones. I myself use my cell phone more than my house phone because it is much easier to access. I also like to use it so that I don't have to worry about others listening in on my phone calls. My step dad is possibly the only person in the house that really uses the house phone and that is really only for work. Otherwise most of the time we are all using either our cell phones or we are not even talking at all. I believe that as we move further into the future that home phones will just become completely obsolete. The cell phone is much more fun to use than an ordinary house phone plus why would you want to pay for 2 phone bills instead of just one?

Skype. The New Age in Communication

Ah.. the telephone. Back in the day it was the main way to communicate. I could simply call up a friend and talk for hours with them. I didn't generally talk that long, but none the less, I could if I wanted to. Today, the home telephone seems almost obsolete to the competition of social networks, cell phones and the internet. Today most cell phones allow internet access and access to social network sites from their phones. But one program takes talking on the telephone to the extreme. Skype seems to be the new way to talk your friend face to face or computer to computer. Skype is just one of the examples of culture convergence of this time but has proven to be very effective among separated families and friends. Its become a great combination of the computer, telephone and video technology that is sure to grow in the future. Soon other bussinesses will one day fight and compete to possess this technology. I expect this technology to one day converge with the phones in the United States for a new, better way to communicate with each other. Possibly one day, this program will take the place of the telephone and become the main way to talk to each other.

Heres skype's website. Check it out. It's not disappointing.

Is converging media good or bad?

When I heard the idea of converging media I instantly thought about what our convergence culture seems to do a lot of. I started to think of all the movies I seen before they were even in theaters or all the albums I've listened to before they were even released. We learn the plots of shows before the episode even airs. We seem to get sneak peeks into everything before we are even supposed to. This has a great deal to do with the convergence of media. It is very easy to leak things onto the internet and when everything becomes so interrelated there is no limit to the things that are at our finger tips. With the use of social networking we can even blog or face book our views and opinions on a show, product, and idea and instantly let others know what’s so good or bad about something. We can either prevent something from reaching the potential the media hoped or it can be to their advantage helping spark the interest of others. We are a demanding generation so it makes sense for media to be moving in the fashion it is but I think the media itself when it comes to making money are going to be hurting. They are losing control of our attention and time because everything is becoming more convenient by being so connected. I found an article talking about what will be happening in the future with converging media and the pros and cons to consumers and corporations. The Future of Media

Media Convergence

In Convergence Culture, Jenkins talks about how the media is converging into different mediums. He also talks about how companies are resisting or going with the shift in the media. I did a search on some sites that talk about convergence in the media. I found this website called TechNewsWorld. If you go to this link, you can look at all of these articles about the convergence of the media. Some are about TV and others about social networking. One article that I would recommend is this one. It talks about how commercials are starting to move online. It brings up the fact that we don't really watch commercials on TV, but commercials online are different. They follow the old style of TV commercials, but have their own challenges and possibilities. So when ever you have the time, take a look at the website. Also, what do you think is about how commercials have shifted more from TV to online.

Media Convergence

When I read the introduction, I was immediately captured by the word media convergence. It made me think what does this mean in todays world? Well, after doing some site searching, I found this site called, The Economist. It is a website for the magazine that talks about what they do in terms of media convergence. On their site, it describes what they do as leading the debate in the pursuit of knowledge, in this case media. Their plan of attack is to go to events, and host blogs where people talk about their ideas for new technology and what they want. They then take this information, take it into consideration, and start debate on whether or not it is a good idea. Most importantly they immediately tell you that they have a forward look on the advancement of technology.

Convergence of Cell Phones

As I read the introduction to Convergence Culture, I noticed a lot about the talk on the convergence of cell phones. They have arose to become something more than anyone expected when they were first developed. They are now used for the internet, sending picture and music messages, and playing games. As Jenkins states, "When people take media into their own hands, the results can be wonderfully creative;they can also be bad news for for all involved (17)". The change in the cell phone has made for some great changes, but it has also resulted into bad things. Bad things, such as this book mentions, like picture messages get sent to a large crowd of topless cheerleaders. I searched the web for articles on cell phone convergence and found this particular one website. It is an older article that covers how cell phones are changing. Since it is an older one it covers how cell phones are becoming the mp3 players, cameras, and video downloader we have never seen before. It was something new for us back then. Media is still changing to more advanced technology than they previously were. We are still experiencing the development of new advances in cell phones such as the iphone applications, as we are with other media also.

Cell phones changing

"I didn't want a video camera, a still camera, a Web access device, an MP3 player, or a game system..." Jenkins talks about how he is old-fashioned and that he only wants a phone that just calls his contacts. I don't know anyone that wants to have a phone that just does that. He also says that the phone store laughed in his face, because he wanted a phone like that, but they said that they do not make those phones anymore. The reason why phone companies don't make those phones anymore is because with all the technology we have these days, who can settle for a phone that barely does anything. I also found a link that has the same idea of what Jessie's link is but with different phones. And why would you just settle for an old-fashioned phone when you can get a phone with pretty much anything?

graphic design....extra credit

So i was stumbling upon the internet and i came across a really interesting and comical website, that dealt with graphic design. I find it amazing on how people can great these types of images and have a great sense of humor about it. This pictures are digital made but artist and they are truly amazing. This is kind of what i want to get into, and it also ties in with our class. From what i know about Ted, i might think he would like these pictures and get a good little chuckle over a couple of them. Check out the pictures here.

Cartoon Network's Terrorist Plot

When reading the introduction, Jenkins talks much about culture convergence. Jenkins says that, "Convergence occurs within the brins of individual consumers through their social interactions with others." After reading that, I couldn't help but think of a failed example of a network trying to promote their movie using this kind of tecnique. In Boston, on January 31, 2007, there was a rather large bomb scare across the city. What people throught were bombs were actually guerilla advertisements for the upcoming movie Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. A link to an article about the supposed tarrorist attack can be found here. this idea of advertising can be very cool, however, this is just one example of many that failed miserably.

Cell Phone Technology

In his introduction to Convergence Culture, Jenkins says that, “convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content.” He talks about the way cell phones have emerged from simple devices for calling people, to being able to do everything from play games to write and send e-mails. He compared modern cell phones to Swiss army knives; one device that has many uses.
This youtube video shows the evolution of the cell phone. I remember back when my parents and all their friends had Nokia phones that were like little bricks, and had black and white screens. I loved taking them to play Snake. Now we all have phones that have colored screens and can take pictures, get on the internet, play music, record sound, and a lot more. This site shows some concepts for phones of the future. Some are foldable, and even detachable. Some articles I found said that phones of the future may be able to test air quality and blood sugar. It’s fun to think about what cell phones will be like when we grow up.

Net Geners = democrats?

http://www.progressive.org/adler0609.html
Net Geners are more likely to be democrats?
Tapscott says, "Net Geners are less conservative than Generation X'ers were." According to a 2008 poll, 57 percent of Net Geners were leaning democrat.

The articles above is about how democrats are going to rule the Whitehouse for the next 40 years. Obviously, this is when the Net Generation will be most interested in polotics and voting. It makes me wonder what the future has in store with a democratic government in control over the next 40 years. Will the net generation be able to climb out of this recession and get back to a strong econonmy?

The Extinction or "shift" of CD players

Jenkins stated in his introduction “old media are not being displaced. Rather, their functions and status are shifted by the introduction of new technologies.” but in this article the author states that the CD player is in danger of extinction within years. The new invention of the iPods is taking over the need of buying CD’s and using CD players. IPods come in all shapes and sizes depending on how much memory one needs for their music. A mother who may just use an iPod for exercising can buy a cheaper one than her son or daughter who may use it for exercising, homework, the ride home on the bus. Apple has made iPods acceptable for all ages. Such a big success with iPods is really bringing CD players not only to a shift but also to extinction. So Jenkins is correct in that CD players were put to the side for awhile, but soon no one will be using them they will be extinct.


“While reading the introduction of Jenkin’s book I didn’t understand his point about another country steeling an American designed picture photo shopped with Bert from Sesame Street and Osama Bin Laden and how they used an American designed picture on an anti-American signs and posters.”


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/get-ready-here-comes-the-ipod-mini--and-a-revolution-in-how-we-enjoy-music-552564.html

iPhone Apps Changing Music

After reading the intro to Convergence Culture, I'm not sure yet what his argument about technology is, if he even has one. So far he just seems to state what is going on with technology and defines several terms that he will use throughout the book. One of the things that he said which stuck out to me was about how old media never dies but instead is just reinvented. I think this is very true and that people are always trying to outdo and advance the technology we have, which can be both good and bad. The iPhone is an example of how music can drastically be changed. A new app created by the artist Deadmau5 allows anyone who buys the app to be able mix and remix their favorite song by the artist by cutting parts out of songs, fading in, applying delays, and much more. The look of the app reminds me a lot of audacity with the tracks showing and how you can do a lot of precise editing. After reading the reviews of it on my iPhone, almost everyone loved it and the only complaint they had was that they wanted more songs to edit. I think this shows how music and technology is constantly evolving and how everyday people are able to get involved in the process. You can read an article about this app here!

Nothing New

The other day I had my iTunes on shuffle, and a with lyrics that caught my attention. The song says, "We're all getting tired of the media, cause creating something new is just recycling." It made me think about our seminar class, and the way that digital technology is constantly shoved in our face. It really is exhausting to have so much media thrown at us all the time. This is especially true when it all seems the same. Advertisers use different techniques, but there is only so much to do before it becomes repetitive. TV shows can be different, but it is rare for them to vary too much from one another. MP3 players, laptops, cell phones, and video games are everywhere.
While new things are being created every day, it often seems that it is all more of the same thing. I found this blog that quotes the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes on what it has to say about the matter: "There is nothing new under the sun." The author of the blog talks about how this applies to the internet, in that yes, technology is innovative, and we continually make progress, but "we are not doing anything new at the core." All we do is simply refine methods of communication.

Chapter 7

In Chapter 7, I think that Tapscott actually got stuff right for once. One thing that he stated correctly was that teenagers don't buy most of their products on line. Instead, we research the product online before buying it in store. We do this because most teenagers don't have credit cards yet, which are required for every online purchase. Unfortunately the person he interviewed to get this information didn't realize that was what happened until his daughter told him, and Tapscott probably didn't know this either.

I had issues with the section on "integrity." I remember seeing earlier in the book how his daughter wouldn't buy roses from companies who used lots of pesticides and chemicals and child labor. He said that Net Geners only buy from "fair trade" companies. This cannot be further from the truth. Many teenagers are obsessed with companies like Holister and Abercrombie & Fitch. Both of these companies have many of their items made in Chinese sweatshops. They also have their employees working in highly "toxic" environments from all the cologne and perfume they spray.

The quote on page 187 could not be more true regarding really annoying ads. Tapscott nailed this on the head. Net Geners want clever ads that tell us the product is out there and gives us a few reasons why we should buy it (humor helps too). A good example of this would be the "Mac vs. PC" ads. As much as I hate Apple, I will say the commercials are very well-done.

Kids Influence

In chapter 7 tapscott discusses how the net generation has started to have massive persuasive decision making in how their parents are making purchase. He points out that net geners 21 and under have influenced 81% of the families apparel purchases and those between 5 and 14 have influenced 78% of grocery purchases. I myself can agree that we are starting to have more influence what our parents buy. For yeas I tried to convince my step dad that getting an Xbox 360 would be so much better than a playstation and eventually i brought my xbox 1 from my dads to show how much more fun I was having. Eventually i guess i got through to him because he ended up getting me one. Now as of today even little kids have some influence in what parents buy even though it is small today, who's to say that in the future they will have maybe some influence on maybe buying a car?

Marketing to the Net Generation

Throughout chapter 7, Tapscott talks about how hard it is to market products to the Net Generation. He gives various reasons for this problem including the eight norms, the popularity of social networking, trusting friends over critics, and that our generation knows how to tune out conventional advertising. While I agree with all these points, I believe social networking and the trusting of friends are key players in marketing new products. If I intend to buy something, I first look to my friends for opinions. If they have a certain product and like it, chances are I will also buy that product. On the other hand, if they have a certain product and dislike it, I will save my money for something else. If none of my close friends have opinions on a product, I then branch out to the internet. This includes reviews conducted on Cnet, blog posts, and other various reviews that I can find on the web. After all this research, I have a good idea of the product I want to buy and conventional advertising hasn't even reached me. This got me thinking...If most of the Net Generation buys products in this fashion, they why do companies continue to use old-fashioned advertising? A quick Google search revealed that companies are beginning to change how they market. The site I found, entitled Youth Marketing Connection, is a company that works with big corporations to help them market their products to today's youth. They provide different services such as campus advertising, spring break advertising, and youth research for all the companies listed in the picture I posted. All of this shows that corporations do see that a marketing change is needed to keep up with our generation.

Are Newspaper Readings Declining?

In the beginning of Chapter 7, Tapscott talks about Brian Fetherstonhaugh and how he wanted to see what his daughters media habits were. He found out that his daughter didn't ever read the newspapers. So what are the statistics about newspapers? Are readings increasing or decreasing? I would have assumed that readership was decreasing due to all of the other news sources that have erupted from the Net Gen. I looked up some information and on Journalism.org it states that the circulation of newspapers in 2007 was down 8.4% less circulation daily and 11.4% less Sunday than in 2001, but readership was actually higher than circulation by 2.1 times daily and 2.5 Sunday. By 2009, Journalism.org shows that circulation is steadily decreasing even more. A survey found that those who read a newspaper yesterday was 34%, compared to 40% two years earlier, and that the people who read newspapers online jumped from 23% to 29%. This is a scary thought to newspaper companies around the world.

Net Geners in Politics

Everyone has seen a video in the last year of a presidential speech or debate in the last year on YouTube or has read an article/blog posts covering the subject. I think Tapscott got it completely right in chapter 9 for most Net Geners. Take for example all of the political talk amoung teens in the last year. They are still arguing over what Obama is doing right and wrong and why the other candidate would have been better. During the election and the primaries, we all laughed when we saw Tina Fey impersonate Sarah Palin. Net Geners may not know everything about the candidates, but they all have seen something in the last year about politics. It's nearly impossible for anyone to ignore the attack ads to mock each of the candidates. So even if we are not directly involoved in the election, we are capable of knowing where to get information. Most of us knew last year who was running and their stances from political parodies, T.V, the internet, blogs and other media. Just goes to show that we really may be one of the most active generations in politics ever.

This is probably one of my favorite SNL videos ever.

It covers the VP Debate last year in Missouri.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/

Net Generation and E-Commerce

AS JT said in hist post, Tapscott does talk about e-commerce and how he believes this is not affecting the net generation. However, i looked up our generation online and found many articles about our generation and e-commerce. It describes how companies are coming after us and finding ways for us to feel comfortable to purchase online.
Link - E-Commerce News
Link - Don Tapscott Discusses the "net" Generation

Collaboration: Making the Product Better

In chapter 7, Tapscott talks about how 7 out of 10 youths like to work with companies to make their products better. I actually think this is true, since I too feel this way about some companies. Companies are starting to connect to their consumers more to make their products better suited for them. Video game companies seem to have taken this into account, and have been having consumers beta test their games, before they put them on retail. One video game company that I know does this is Valve. They constantly making updates that fix bugs in their PC games, and adding more content to them. This is best example I can think of, for a collaboration between a company and consumers.

E-Commerce

In the beginning of Chapter 7 in Tapscott's book, he talks about a form of commerce called E-Commerce, or the buying and selling of goods online. He states that because children and young adults do not have credit cards the concept of E-commerce has not caught on. He then goes on to state that what these kids do instead is research what they want to buy on line, and then go into a store and purchase it in person. However, what I can't understand is why that isn't considered E-Commerce. The site I have listed is a link to the WikiPedia definition of E-Commerce, because I believe that the definition should be changed. E-Commerce should not be thought of as the solid buying and selling over the internet but, instead, the research of products online to figure out what you want. I believe this, because before the internet, a person had to go to several stores to find out what they wanted and what it offered to them. Now, however, a person is able to do all their research online, and then they just walk in and out of a store with what they want. Due to this, I believe the world of commerce has been changed because in order for a product to sell well, it has to have all its information stated online for kids to look at quickly.

E-Commerce

Advertising

In chapter 7 of Tapscott's Grown Up Digital, he discusses advertising and how the Net Generation uses the 8 norms to look into a product before buying. I can agree with some of these but others I do not. We do not look into the product as much as he claims we do. Many of us do not consider where our clothes were made before we purchase them or where the food came from. Tapscott makes our generation seem like we look into these products and care more about them then we really do. We do like to customize or have the freedom of choice with shopping or purchasing, some of the ideas I agree with him on. With all the new technology we can look past and ignore all these advertisings. We simply ignore them with TiVo or using commercial time for other stuff or skipping over the ads. There are issues that arise with this about how advertising can get across to our generation and others. As I was searching the web I came across this article that states the issues and concerns of the new advertising methods being used. http://www.globalissues.org/article/160/media-and-advertising

Customization

Tapscott talks about how we enjoy customizing everything that do. He states, "Net Geners love to customize new products offerings, even if it means hacking." When i think of Customization, i come across four very known cites, which are Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Bebo. All of these three social networking websites can be customized your own way. By just changing a picture, the information about you, or even the background(myspace). The Net Generation can't just settle for a boring social networking website, or just anything at all. They need options that make them more interested in what they are doing, or even buying. I find that having more options to something, becomes more interesting and it keeps the user wanting to stay with it and not become bored while they are using whatever they are using.

How to Advertise to the Net Generation

In the Tapscott chapters that we are reading right now, and in the last few class discussions we have talked a lot about how to market products toward the Net Generation. It is definitely not easy and big time companies are trying to figure out the same thing. It is kind of crazy how kids these days will just space out through all of the advertisements and basically act like they never even happened. Well after surfing the web I found a pretty interesting article about how to advertise to the Net Generation. In the article I found a lot of really interesting information and statistics about how the Net Generation is being targeted. With the recent boom in Online Television, marketers are starting to spend just as much, if not more money on Online Televison as they are with regular T.V. Its pretty wild.

Web Advertising

Entertaiment

One of the eight norms for the net generation is entertainment. I saw this picture and thought that the whole Jackass entertainment series fit into the net generation. The people are at the very beginning of the generation, but as maturity goes, they could pass as being born in "Generation Next." The eight norms are something that seperate us from the other generations. We love entertainment, especially stupid entertainment (Jackass). The picture is just a funny example of entertainment being a norm of our generation.

Social Networking

In chapter seven, Tapscott has a section called "My social network." He says that traditionally a person may have a social network of about a hundred people that they interact with, but with the internet, we are connect with hundreds and even thousands of people. Different people may have different opinions of you, depending on how many friends you have. One person may think you're popular if you have 1,500 Facebook friends, while others may find that creepy. This section ends with him saying that "Today's typical Internet user already has 2.3 percent more significant social ties than a nonuser does." This statement immediately made me realize that the internet is a great way of networking in the professional sense, in that , if you use it right, the internet can provide you with great opportunities with people you may not have met anywhere but the internet.
I found this article that discusses the advantages to using social media as marketing. One big reason that it is so useful is that it is free. Another is that people not even directly affiliated with a company can market their products.
“One interesting example furthering evidence of companies relinquishing brand control is The Coca-Cola Company, known for its utmost security of its brand. Coca-Cola had little success with social networking until a "fan page" emerged from the hands of an out-of-work writer who simply liked drinking Coke. That page, not owned or controlled by Coke, became the most successful fan page on Facebook (3.3 million members) through viral marketing while defying the rules of traditional advertising and stunned execs who spent millions on 'inside the box' campaigns.” This ties into the idea of prosumerism; companies and their consumers, working together for the betterment of the product.

Oprah and Product Placement

The main topic in chaper 7 is advertising and how companies target Net Geners and uses the "8 norms" to describe how we think before we buy a product, some of which I agree with and others I do not. People today are influenced to buy something in a variety of different ways; through advertisements, the internet, product placement in movies and shows, and friends. Over the last few years product placement has tremendously increased and has become much more obvious when watching tv shows and movies. However, product placement has been around for much longer than many people realize, just in more subtle ways. Oprah has done this on her show by bringing people on her show that she reccommends, using books for her bookclub, and especially during her anual favorite things show around Christmas. The article "Oprah, Investment Guru" is an interesting article about a guy who watches her show not for entertainment, but instead for stock tips. He included a list of company products featured on her "favorite things" show and showed the stock increases over 6 months. Nine out of the ten listed had a positive increase, several with a very high percentage increase. He also discusses the success of Dr. Phil and books from her book club that have almost instantly become best sellers. This just shows that the right combination of product placement and having the right person showing your product can have a very good effect on a company. I think that her show is an example of succesful product placement because it is not super obvious and instead fits well with the talk show and makes people feel like these are things Oprah genuinely feels confident about and uses herself.

Chapter 7 N Fluence

In this chapter, Tpascott talks about how the net generation uses the internet to find and compare the products they want to buy before they buy them. Some net geners are switching completly to buying online while most net geners dont have credit cards, so they just read reviews and determine the best bang for their buck, then go to the store and buy the product. The use sites such as consumerreports.org, or my personal favorite, mysimon.com
He also talks about how we use our friends recomendations more than ever these days. We use social networking sites even to determine what we will buy. We trust our friends opinion of the product more than we trust the company. We also want a lot more form the companies than ever before. We want them to treat us with respect and to accept our feedback and thank us for helping to make the product better.

www.mysimon.com