Final Blog

When I started this course, I was a great appreciator of technology. I was hoping this course would take me from being a passive appreciator of the wonderful world of multimedia to a competent creator. Mission accomplished!

This course challenged my creativity, as well as my ability to learn to work quickly with new programs. I enjoyed the creative freedom we had in this course, and I really learned quite a bit about many useful things that I will continue to use, such as video editing, Jing and Animoto.

I also never dreamed that I would learn so much about copyright law! While it seems we spent a lot of time with this topic, it demonstrated how real and pervasive this issue is. I was not really aware of it before, and never really reflected on how changing technology impacted the law, but I'm glad I learned more about it. In the future, I will definitely be reading tech-related articles that touch on this and other topics we've covered this semester.

Overall, I've had a great experience in this course, and I thank all of my classmates and Lisa for the assistance! It's been a fun ride!

Adding Value?

In watching the interview between Lawrence Lessig and Stephen Colbert on copyright law, I think Lessig's argument was most neatly supported at the 3:50 mark. At that time, Colbert draws with marker all over a copy of Lessig's book to demonstrate a "remix". As Lessig points out, Colbert has just added value to the original work, causing that copy of "Remix" to net much more revenue than a mint copy of Lessig's work.

To me, this is the crux of the issue. In this example, obtaining the original copy of the book would have put revenue into Mr. Lessig's pocket. He should not be owed the additional revenue that Colbert has added to the book, because he was not responsible for it.

I am of the opinion that remixes benefit the original artist, because it opens up new possible markets for the original. If someone buys the Colbert original copy of "Remix" on Ebay at an elevated price, but happens to also read the book's content, whose to say they won't seek out more works by the same author? Speaking for myself, I found a lot of cool music via sampling by another artist (for example, the Beastie Boys album "Paul's Boutique" samples Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, to name a few).

I agree with Lessig that copyright laws are due for an overhaul, unfortunately, as I commented on someone else's blog, technology moves faster than the law...

The Characteristics of Online Life

I am a member of Generation X, not Generation F, but I really appreciated the article on the 12 characteristics of online life that are fundamental concepts for Generation F. I am an avid user of the internet for many things, and I've seen these characteristics in action in many different forums. Here are the characteristics that most resonated for me:

• Tasks are chosen, not assigned. Having worked as a manager for many years, I saw for myself that people tend to be drawn to the things they are "good at", and when I let people focus on those things that made them feel confident and successful, they WERE confident and successful. There's certainly always a place for people to stretch and be challenged, but it's also true that no matter how hard you push and pull, a square peg just doesn't fit into a round hole and that's okay. Self-selection of tasks can be a good thing.


• Resources get attracted, not allocated. The same way people are drawn to tasks that make them feel confident and successful, the momentum that's generated will build on itself to create more success. "The web is a market economy where millions of individuals get to decide, moment by moment, how to spend the precious currency of their time and attention" (Hamel 2010). I think that in the future, as our options continue to expand exponentially, time and attention will be the most precious commodity.


• Intrinsic rewards matter most. "Money's great, but so are recognition and the joys of accomplishment" (Hamel 2010). Truer words were never spoken, and if more managers recognized this, there would be many more satisfied and engaged employees of all generations out there.

Sliding Down the Long Tail

I apologize in advance that Blogger seems to want to blob all text into one loooong paragraph :( While reading Wired.com's article about the Long Tail theory, I found myself nodding along emphatically. As a regular user of sites like Netflix, I've become more savvy from a consumer perspective about the benefits of marketing directly to consumers in the digital world. I regularly rate the films and shows I watch on Netflix, knowing that it will improve the site's ability to recommend additional content that will "hit the spot" for me. While some may be concerned about an invasion of privacy, I see it as a great way to allow Netflix to reach into it's hundreds of thousands of titles, and pull out those that I will most enjoy. In short, it will save me a great deal of time. I've always been confused by the film and music industries' resistance to new media. As this article easily explains, marketing old titles via electronic download or inexpensively produced hard copies will actually help the studios make more money on its back catalogue than it would by allowing those titles to languish away in a vault somewhere. The digital age is allowing so many new opportunities for revenue, and clearly consumers have jumped on board, so why are studios in both the film and record industry dragging their feet? Ironically enough, I just wrote a review of an article printed last month in The Economist. In it, the current marketing strategy of the film industry was analyzed, and summed up with the following: "The studios are old-school advertisers: every year they spend billions of dollars in scattershot campaigns that often hit the wrong people. Every dollar spent trying to persuade a grandmother to see a Quentin Tarantino film is a dollar wasted (Quentin's granny excepted)." Why not embrace the fact that though they will lose money when their existing hard copy distributors go away, they will save billions in a more effective marketing campaign? In short, when will they see the long tail for what it is: a golden (cha-ching!) opportunity?

Tuning In to Podcasts

I discovered podcasts when I bought my first iPod. I was dizzy with possibility while exploring iTunes and found the wealth of music, audiobooks and podcasts. My car ride will never be the same!

I do regularly subscribe to a few podcasts, but my favorite are those that showcase discussions and back and forth. My first and favorite podcast was "Pop Trash Radio", which was essentially two friends gossipping about celebrity news and random current events. "Pop Trash Radio" was the radio show that would never make it on the air at a major radio station, but that I found much more entertaining than any morning show I've ever heard.

Like many of the multimedia outlets we've explored in class, podcasting gives a voice to the millions of individuals that are looking for a way to share what they love, what they are passionate about, and what moves them. It never ceases to amaze me how many different podcasts there are; there is literally something for everyone!

The other very nice thing about podcasts is that they are mostly free, unlike audiobooks, which can be very expensive. I am very cautious about the audiobooks I buy, but I can try a podcast with no risk and no commitment. If I hate it, there's always the off button! For me, podcasts are a great option for entertainment or learning.

Blast From the Past: A Book Review

Sorry for the long vlog, but this was a topic near and dear to my heart!

Vlogging: Take One

Join me in learning one of the secret weapons of parenting: The Supertickle!