Categorizing My Life Through Blogs

I've come to realize that I've been categorizing my life based on my blogs. That is, I write certain things in one blog and not another. I currently have three blogs. Two are on Blogger - one for my daily life, the other for school (this one), and the last one on LiveJournal for the writer in me.

The daily life blog is a picture blog full of photos of myself, my family, and my friends. From time to time I scribble inanities or musings in there. It's quite pitiful because no one ever leaves a comment. However, my friends do read it I believe.

The school blog is full of assignments. The sort of cheem (or profound) sounding stuff you'll find a stupid kid writing in a desperate attempt to impress. In fact, I've got a friend who has been counting the number of "insofar"s I've used in my assignments. I apparently introduced him to the word.

The LJ writing blog is great for blogging about my writing exploits. It's a great community. Definitely more lively and interactive than Blogger in my opinion. People drop comments freely and are more than happy to share their thoughts with you or give you assistance.

Perhaps it's the neat-organizational-freak in me that's acting out through my blogging. It's telling me that everything in life has to be categorized or compartmentalized. That it's neater this way.

Or perhaps it's me showing different sides of myself. The fun-loving side, the academic side, and the writer side. There's a difference between the last two by the way, writing is my passion and hobby - it isn't as much of a chore as assignments are. Although I have to admit that it seems like a monumental task when I'm faced with writer's block.

Well, now that I'm done ranting, I'll go post this on all my other blogs. A first!

Qn: Do you find yourself doing what I'm doing? Blogging in different blogs to show your different circle of friends the different sides of you?

In case you're interested here are my 3 blogs:
Personal - http://felsong.blogspot.com
School - http://felsong125.blogspot.com
Writing - http://felsong.livejournal.com

QotW10: One of My (Second) Life's Greatest Failures

Orientation Island: Appearance Castle

I have to say that Second Life (SL) is fun if you know your way around. Sadly, I'm a non-computer game freak. In other words, I'm a computer game idiot. As much as I enjoy escapism into a virtual or make-believe world, SL just isn't my cup of tea.

I did have fun choosing my avatar though. For easy identification I created Felsong Anatine. Felsong for me and Anatine because it was one of the first few names on the list that sounded pretty. As I was unable to graduate from Orientation Island, one of my life's greatest failures, I took my time making my avatar pretty instead.

For starters, I tried to make her look like me. Bangs for my recently acquired fringe, rather long hair, and perky boobs! I was tickled pink by the instant breast enlargement and shaping that SL provided. Instant lipsuction treatments for trouble spots like thighs as well! It's little wonder that I've only been seeing hot girls and guys around. I chose a fuchsia top with belled sleeves because that's one of my favorite colors and the sleeves gave it a vintage feel (all the rage right now, I think). Did a bit of layering with the white tank underneath (something that's difficult to do in hot and humid Singapore), and threw on a pair of jeans and black boots for good measure.

I met two guys who happened to choose the same avatar, bumbling around Orientation Island as well. One was from Tokyo, the other from the Philippines. I called them the identical twins. Both were equally hot, and equally clueless as I about SL. Which goes to show that good-looking people aren't exactly very smart. Haha. Tokyo guy asked me about getting around, so I tried to help him as best as I could then said goodbye.

I quite enjoyed flying around though. It gave me a feeling of freedom. Like a bird, if you will. I finally took a snapshot of my avatar sitting in a throne-like chair in the Appearance Castle. Partly because the 'throne' was put there for that very purpose, and partly because I like fantasy-ish stuff.

I do hope to immerse myself in SL again so long as the service improves here in Singapore and my computer doesn't crash every five minutes.

QotW9: Seen, Sent, Shamed?

What is Citizen Journalism?
Citizen journalism is “the act of citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" according to Bowman and Willis (as cited in “Wikipedia: Citizen journalism”, 2007). It is unlike civic journalism, which has an obligation to society that goes beyond the reporting of news or facts (“Wikipedia: Civic journalism”, 2007).

Having learned about blogs, peer-to-peer, and wikis while researching for my numerous essays and research papers, I have come to realize that the aforementioned are all forms of citizen journalism. In my opinion, blogs come closest to citizen journalism. After all, “they are clearly written by human beings with genuine human passion” (Gillmor, 2004). These ‘voices’ are from numerous individuals that are part of the greater society at large, and are thus relatively representative of the general public.


Is STOMP an ideal form of citizen journalism in Singapore?
Judging by the deluge of information, photographs, and videos on STOMP.com.sg; I have come to the conclusion that despite the fact that citizen journalism has become an almost integral part of our daily lives – especially since the advent of mobile phones with photo-taking and video-recording capabilities, many of us still underestimate its prevalence and overlook its reach. It is little wonder then that many have fallen and continue to fall ‘prey’ to trigger-happy citizen journalists.

Seemingly straightforward, citizen journalism with regards to STOMP actually raises some ethical issues. For example, would taking videos of unwitting offenders of social etiquette be counted as a gross invasion of privacy? Furthermore, as spontaneous as citizen journalism is, would it not be less objective since the citizen journalist is hardly likely to interview all parties involved. In fact, it is more likely that these ‘journalists’ would impose their own moral values upon the subjects of their ‘news’ instead of hearing the other side of the story.

Unknowingly mooning the world, literally.

STOMP was started shortly after the latest General Elections, a possible attempt by the Singapore government to emulate its political rivals and their successful ventures into Internet campaigning. As the online subsidiary of the national English paper, STOMP, like its hardcopy counterpart, is more or less within the government’s iron fist. Politics – always a touchy subject in Singapore, and its effects on citizen journalism with regards to STOMP during the next general elections waits to be seen.

Thus, STOMP is a form of citizen journalism in Singapore, but it is definitely not an ideal one. It is the former because it encapsulates what citizen journalism is all about – spontanaity, indignation, a desire to bring certain issues to the attention of others. However, it falls short in that it is hardly political, an area that requires greater openess in Singapore, and toes the line of the privacy issue.

How would you improve it?
While the political issue would be harder to deal with, the issue on privacy could be easily remedied. For one, citizen journalists should protect the identities of their ‘news’ subjects and not use STOMP as a veritable wall of shame. They should also be wary of what they post, bearing in mind that STOMP is a national forum of sorts. After all, what is a citizen journalist to do if he is sued for invasion of privacy? In short, having a respect for the privacy of others and self-censorship is imperative.

Shaming a parking offender

Another improvement that can be made is to include a political page. As far as I can tell, citizen journalism in relation to STOMP extends only to the mundane goings on in Singapore. Where are the videos of Meet-the-MP seesions? Or interviews with members of the opposition party?

In conclusion, citizen journalism is alive and well in Singapore through STOMP, but it still has a long way to go before it becomes an ideal form of citizen journalism.


References
Citizen Journalism. (2007, March 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

Civic Journalism. (2007, January 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_journalism

Gillmor, D. (2004, July). We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. Retrieved March 28, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html

QotW8: Yawning Bread's No Yawn

Blog’s Title: Yawning Bread

Blog's URL: http://www.yawningbread.org
Blogger’s Name: Au Waipang
Blogger’s Occupation: Citizen Blogger
Blog’s D.O.B.: October 1996
Technorati Rank: None (Technorati does not consider it a blog due to its URL). However, it has 1,855 links to it.

The general tone of this blog is critical and focuses largely on issues that are related to the gay community. A homosexual himself, Mr. Au relates and analyzes the impact of global events on the gay community in a more or less impartial manner while underscoring the local government’s homophobic tendencies, as well as, the growing of acceptance of homosexuals in Singapore.

In one of his recent posts on the prosecution of gays in the early 1990s, Mr. Au supported his assertion that the jailing and charging of gay men were unjust and deliberate by scrutinizing numerous newspaper reports regarding such incidents. He then stated that “The Straits Times seemed to see it as part of its nation-building role to make an example of these hapless men” by publishing the names, jobs, and photographs of the accused, as well as, describing the actual acts in graphic detail to induce disgust in its readers. It should be noted that he substantiates most of his posts with surveys, studies, and news articles.

This particular post garnered numerous comments, many of which disagreed with his stance on the issue. For example, a comment by Boon stated that:

“After reading your article, my impression of gays is a world filled with sleaze and casual sex. If your intention is to pin the blame on the Government, it has failed to gain my sympathy.”

Instead of being offended, however, Mr. Au replies that he merely states “the empirical: that there is indeed a lot of sleaze, casual sex and paid sex in this world”, and that he tries “to write without making moral judgements of others”.

The conversations that ensue following this entry is a debate of sorts, whereby individuals offer their two cents worth or refute what has already been said. This open discussion follows the tone which Mr. Au has set by being both critical and logical as well.

Do blogs allow for greater democracy in Singapore?

In my opinion, blogs may allow for greater democracy in Singapore especially when they pertain to parts of the community that tend to be marginalized, namely women and gays. However, this is only the case online in virtual Singapore, where government surveillance is more difficult to maintain, and blogs harder to litigate.

According to Alinta Thornton, male dominance of the Internet is still the case in many countries (Thornton, 2002). This is the case in Singapore as well. Think about it, of the famous bloggers in Singapore how many are female, much less gay?

Fortunately, although “studies have pointed out that the absence of gender cues in bulletin board discussion groups does not eliminate sexism or even the hierarchies of gender that pervade society generally” (Poster, (1)), the gender balance is changing rapidly due to the Internet and blogs. This is because depending on the topics discussed, bloggers tend to signify their status “by using signifiers external to the Internet” such as, academic standing and published works, or “by internal signifiers” like the worth of their contributions and their style of expression. In other words, such methods of establishing identity and building online reputation may be the reasons behind “the diminution of prevailing hierarchies of race, class, age, status and especially gender” (Poster, (1)).

This gradual disregard for gender works in the favor of YawningBread.org as it champions the rights of gays – members of society who often go unheeded, especially in Singapore. As aforementioned, the fact that electronic beings are difficult to govern increases the possibility of changing the nature of political authority, and thus democracy in Singapore.

In fact, according to Poster, “the Internet seems to discourage the endowment of individuals with inflated status”. This is apparent from the undermining of scholarly authority formation “by locating and disseminating texts on the Internet” (1). It can thus be inferred that blogs such as Yawning Bread may subject political authorities to a similar fate.

Despite this optimistic view of the possible effects of blogging on democracy, I find it difficult to fathom much change coming about in the real world of Singapore. While the last national elections proved interesting due to the large number of blogs that documented the rallies and campaigning efforts of the numerous political parties, highlighted the biased reporting by the local media, and provided the masses with information about the opposition; the People’s Action Party (PAP) still won the majority of parliamentary seats.

However, the number of people who supported the opposition exceeded the PAP’s expectations, highlighting the fact that blogs and other modes of online communication did play a large part in getting the opposition’s message across to the public.

This example alone shows that despite having an impact on democracy in Singapore, blogs and other online media are not yet powerful enough to bring about political changes in real life.

In conclusion, blogs do allow for greater democracy in Singapore, insofar as the members of the public are informed of non-mainstream political ideals. However, the implementation of such ideals is still a work-in-progress.

References

Au, W. (2007, March). The good ol’ days of jail and caning for immorality. Yawning Bread. Retrieved March 23 from http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2007/yax- 722.htm

Poster, M. (1) Cyberdemocracy. Internet and the Public Sphere. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/writings/democ.html

Thornton, A. (2002, October). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/thesis_2002_alinta_thornton.doc

QotW7: Flitter, Twitter

Introduction
According to Rheingold, an online community is “a social relationship aggregation, facilitated by Internet-based technology, in which users communicate and build personal relationships” (as cited in Lin & Lee, 2006). It is driven, more or less, by the same motivations that drive the gift economy. This includes anticipated reciprocity, increased recognition, sense of efficacy, and communion – understandable driving forces of the online community, as it is one of the platforms upon which the gift economy is built.

Communication
From the aforementioned definition of an online community, it is my opinion that social networking sites like Twitter are online communities. This is apparent upon my signing up for an account with Twitter. After submitting the necessary information about myself, I was asked to provide an update about what I was doing. This would enable me to inform my friends about my current activities and thoughts. Furthermore, I could keep in touch with my friends and receive updates from them “via phone or instant messaging” (“Wikipedia: Twitter”, 2007).

Interpersonal Relationships
The fact that Twitter is bringing about a convergence of communication media makes it clear that its main purpose is to increase interaction and foster interpersonal relationships between its members. According to Boorstin, “the advance of technology brings nations together and narrows the differences between the experiences of their people” (Fernbeck, & Thompson, 1995). Twitter is such advancement in technology as it has successfully removed the barriers of geographical distance and time difference. Thus, its provision for communication and interaction via the Internet makes it an online community.

The result of being able to communicate and interact over Twitter is apparent from the public discussions or private conversations that can be carried out for as long as it is desired with “sufficient human feeling”, leading to the formation of “webs of personal relationships” (“Wikipedia: Virtual Community”, 2007).

Pseudonyms & Reputation Management
The only thing that sets Twitter and its ilk apart from traditional communities besides the absence of a physical presence is the use of pseudonyms. Having studied about online identities, I have learned that pseudonyms are popular as they enable individuals to build reputations for themselves, and continually interact with others online. Consequently, as pseudonyms are inherent in online communities, it is safe to say that Twitter is such a community as well.

In addition, it should be noted that any sort of online identity requires reputation management. On Twitter, the number of friends and followers a person has is indicative of his or her reputation. Since reputation management is “the process of tracking an entity’s actions and other entities’ opinions about those actions” (“Wikipedia: Reputation management, 2007); Twitter’s “Public Timeline” which enables others to monitor a person’s communications on Twitter and his or her friends’ replies, makes it an online community.

In conclusion, Twitter is an online community as it allows for the communication and interaction of individuals, creates interpersonal relationships over time, employs pseudonyms, and requires reputation management.

References
Fernback, J., & Thompson, B. (May, 1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?. Retrieved March 14, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Lin, H., & Lee, G. (December, 2006). Determinants of success for online communities: an empirical study. Behavior & Information Technology, 25, 6, 479-488.

Online community. (2007, March 14). In Wikipedia, The Free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community

Reputation management. (2007, March 1). In Wikipedia, The Free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management

Twitter. (2007, March 14). In Wikipedia, The Free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

QotW6: My Dirty Little Secret

Introduction
Rosen wrote about the Portraits of Grief published in the New York Times after 9/11, an attempt “to give a snapshot of each victim’s personality, a life lived”. On the other hand, its critics contended that the Portraits “had managed to homogenize them instead” (Rosen, 2004). Instead of dissecting the rights and wrongs of the Portraits of Grief, however, we should attempt to understand the motivations behind the individual’s willingness to reveal personal details to complete strangers.

Motivations
It is my understanding that people are so eager to become members of the Naked Crowd due to social proof – where “we view a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see other performing it” (Cialdini, 2001). With the rise of the blog, as well as, social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace, it is little wonder that so many people are posting snippets of personal information online.

Individuality & Self-censorship
Unfortunately, in their attempts to stand out from the crowd and make themselves identifiable as unique individuals, many netizens have not only forsaken their privacy but may have caused others to misunderstand them as well. Individuals are unique insofar as they are able to express their individuality, an element of self that is difficult to accurately share with others in its complexity. This problem is compounded by self-censorship, an imposition that makes one present an image of their choosing to the world. Thus, many of them are “judged out of context” (Rosen, 2004).

Sousveillance & Me: A Mini Case Study
“Personal sousveillance is the art, science, and technology of personal experience capture, processing, storage, retrieval, and transmission” (“Wikipedia: Sousveillance”, 2007). By taking photographs and videos of ourselves and others then uploading them – to blogs, Facebook, and YouTube, to name a few, we are actually enabling others to infringe upon our privacy.

I recall my surprise on the first day of school when Kevin flashed a picture of myself I had recently uploaded on to Facebook. Till then, the ease with which a total stranger could access my personal profile and consequently my blog, had not crossed my mind.

From the aforementioned, it can be inferred that I have yet to take the necessary precautions to ensure my privacy online. In fact, I have purposefully posted my blog address on the various accounts I have on social networking sites. Fortunately, I have yet to have had any truly nasty experiences from posting my personal information online.

According to the results of a content analysis conducted on blogs created by teenagers aged between thirteen and seventeen, teenaged bloggers “reveal a considerable amount of personal details including real name, age, and location, as well as a variety of ways to contact them”. Even more worrisome are the revelations of their personal lives that may result in “cyberstalking, sexual predation or cyberbullying” (Huffaker, 2005).

Personally, I have navigated the Internet ‘minefield’ by refraining from posting my address or telephone number on any social networking site and even my personal blog. At most, I reveal my email address and blog address, avenues which I can easily make private by blocking unwanted individuals or password locking, respectively.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I have realized that it pays to be aware of what information I put online for the world to see, and that there is a fine line between building a believable online identity and forsaking my privacy altogether.

References
Cialdini, R. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Allyn and Bacon: Singapore

Huffaker, D. (2005). Teen Blogs Exposed: The Private Lives of Teens Made Public. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/gradstudents/huffaker/papers/Huffaker-2006-AAAS-Teen_Blogs.pdf

Wikipedia: Sousveillance. (2007, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance

QotW5: Stranger Than Fiction

My Online Identity

An online identity that I have claimed as my own is FelSong. A combination of my first and last names, it is a name that my online friends best know me by, and has become a nickname that those who know me in real life use. This online identity of mine is situated in my email, my blog, my IM, the forums I participate in, and is also the penname I go by when writing on fanfiction.net.

According to Rebecca Tushnet, author of Using Law and Identity to Script Cultural Production: Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law, fan fiction is “any kind of written creativity that is based on an identifiable segment of popular culture such as a television show, and is not produced as ‘professional’ writing.” (McCardle, 2003) Thus, a fan fiction writer is someone who produces such literary work.

Homepage of http://www.fanfiction.net

While the “canon” or the original work from which the fan fiction author borrows is properly credited to its creator (McCardle, 2003), any work of fan fiction is not officially acknowledged by copyright. In fact, “fan fiction infringes on copyright protections” (McCardle, 2003). However, as some courts have ruled that “the ultimate purpose behind fan fiction writing is to satisfy innate desires, not to make a profit” and fan fiction writers can claim that what they are doing constitutes fair use, the copyright problem is fuzzy at best.

To return to the discussion of online identities with regards to fan fiction, I refer to the fact that only the original creators get due credit for their work. Fan fiction writers such as myself have to depend solely on the online identity or pseudonym that we use, as well as, the fan fiction we produce, to build credibility and to gain a following for ourselves. To do this takes time and a dedication to creating literature that others like myself enjoy. Therefore, Judith Donath hits the bull’s eye when she writes that “one is far less inclined to abandon an online presence that had taken great effort to create” (Donath, 1996).

Reputation

As aforementioned, fan fiction writers establish a reputation through their writings. If their works are well-received they would slowly gain a following. Fanfiction.net enables the fan fiction writers who post on its web site to set up a profile page that lists their works, their own favorite fan fiction authors and stories, and the communities they participate in. Furthermore, it provides an email notification service of newly received reviews or personal messages.

My profile page on fanfiction.net

This means that I am able to communicate with my readers – answering whatever questions they may have about my work, giving them clues about future plot developments, or introducing them to my other writings. This ‘immediate’ and personal way of communicating with the very people who share my passion for a particular “canon”, makes my online identity more than just a name that appears on the screen but a real human being.

Identity Theft

The creation of “FelSong” as my online identity sets me apart from other fan fiction writers and enables fans of my works to easily search for my other writings. It also means that I am able to create a ‘name’ or a reputation for myself through my fan fiction not only through fanfiction.net but via related forums and my blog as well. My desire to gain more readers for my fan fiction through the creation of an online identity that seems real and credible is at odds with my desire to maintain my privacy. I refer to the Manifesto for the Reputation Society’s definition of the inbound reputation or “reputation that others have about me”, and its claim that the inbound reputation is a shifting balance between my right to privacy and the right to share and collaborate with others using this same reputation (Masum & Zhang, 2004). However, this is hard to do as I employ the same online identity throughout most of my online transactions or activities.

In fact, an online search using Google turns up links to my numerous online activities using my online identity "FelSong".

The loss of my privacy is one such risk I have to take if I wish to become a more accomplished writer. After all, “a key perk of being a fan fiction author is getting feedback from other authors and readers within the fan fiction community” (McCardle, 2003). This means, that I face an added risk of having my online identity stolen; a risk that grows as my reputation for writing good fan fiction grows as well. A person who wishes to steal my online identity has only to discover my password. With that password, they can easily flame other fan fiction authors using my pen name or post ‘troll’-like remarks on the forums I participate in. More importantly, they could post fan fiction under my name, possibly lowering the standards that my readers expect of me.

In conclusion, my online identity is something that I have carefully cultivated over the years, and am immensely proud of. It allows me to be easily recognized by those who read my fan fiction, and sets me apart from all the other fan fiction writers. Should this online identity ever be stolen, I would be hard pressed to create another online identity as I would need to invest time and effort into informing my readers of the theft and the subsequent change of my online screen name, as well as, reclaiming my writings as my own.

References

Donath, J. (1996, November). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved on February 19, 2007 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/%20Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Masum, H., & Zhang, Y. C. (2004, July). Manifesto for the Reputation Society. First Monday, 9(7). Retrieved on February 19, 2007 from http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_7/masum/index.html

McCardle, M. (2003). Fan Fiction, Fandom, and Fanfare: What’s All The Fuss? Boston University, 9(2). Retrieved on February 19, 2007 from https://www.bu.edu/law/scitech/%20volume9issue2/McCardleWebPDF.pdf

QotW4: Spreading the Cheer, Escaping the Jeers

What Drives The Gift Economy? ~ Sharing knowledge not shutting up

The ‘gift’ in gift economy pertaining to the exchange of information online such as providing answers to questions posted in forums, is a public good. This is so as “it is to some degree indivisible” and “non-excludable”, and is especially so in this digital day and age where the ease of copying and transmitting material enables “even a single individual's contribution of information or advice” to be transformed “into a public good” (Kollock, 1999). While these factors contribute to the willingness of many to provide expert advice, how-to tips, and advice, etc; it is social proof and the rule of reciprocity, as well as, the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that we ourselves and others provide, repspectively, that makes this economy of giving as successful as it is.

Social Proof & Reciprocity in Online Forums ~ The cycle of love = give and take

The principle of social proof involves the viewing of a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it (Cialdini, 2000). Therefore, the individual upon seeing the forum community’s unhesitant acts of ‘charity’ feels inclined to do the same in order to fit in. Of course, this could also be a cause of the rule of reciprocation, which states that “we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us” (Cialdini, 2000). According to Tiger and Fox, this “web of indebtedness” as viewed by cultural anthropologists, is a unique human adaptive mechanism that creates interdependencies which bind individuals together into highly efficient units (as cited in Cialdini, 2000).

Thus, the individual forum user having received a gift in the form of advice or any other online material feels the need to return the favor by helping someone else within the group. It has to be said that within such online communities, each member is regarded as an inherent part of the whole as they are all connected to one another via a shared interest or otherwise; enabling a “system of generalized exchange” (Kollock, 1999) where reciprocity occurs within the group as a whole and immediate reciprocation is unnecessary.

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation ~ Don't let the cat get your tongue

The two motivations are not extensions of the gift economy but rather make up the fuel that drives it. This can be inferred upon the study of tribal societies like those in Polynesia, who “organized themselves around the potlatch – the circulation of gifts”. The resultant gift economy “bound people together into tribes and encouraged cooperation between different tribes” (Barbrook, 2005). In other words, the intrinsic motivation was to desire to belong to the larger community by contributing, and the extrinsic motivation was to cooperate to achieve the common goal of survival.

Relating this to the modern day concept of online communities, whereby technology has enabled the individual to easily create a ‘gift’ by simply moving his fingers across a keyboard is simple. For instance, the Apache computer program that is “continually developed by its techie users” is open to modification, amendments, and improvements by anyone with the appropriate programming skills for “its source code is not protected by copyright” (Barbrook, 2005). What makes it interesting, though, is the fact that it is shareware instead of being marketed by a commercial company. In short, the creation and evolution of Apache is powered solely by its creators’ intrinsic motivation of passion. While the lack of copyright means no monetary reward and thus points to an absent extrinsic motivation, Apache’s creators have looked past financial gain, choosing instead to revel in the recognition of other user-developers within the community.

My Gift “Economy”

A fan of fantasy novels with political intrigue and strong female characters, I am a member of numerous forums where fans of such stories are able to discuss and recommend books they have read. As a new member of the LiveJournal community Athanarel (http://www.livejournal.com/users/athanarel/), I recall tentatively asking questions about the novel, Crown Duel, the group was dedicated to. The responses I received were overwhelming, and it was an added bonus that the author herself was able to answer my queries while posting and ‘friend locking’ her unpublished works. This meant that I could read her unpublished stories so long as I signed up as a member of the community. As time went on and upon learning more about the world and characters of Crown Duel, I was more than happy to share my knowledge with new and old members alike. Furthermore, having read other novels similar to Crown Duel thanks in part to the recommendations of other readers, I am now equally well-equipped to point others in the right direction.

This cycle of give-and-take not only enables me to keep in touch with like-minded others, it also fosters a sense of community and belonging that far exceeds the costs of ‘giving’. Moreover, as such information would hardly benefit me more should I keep it to myself I have no qualms about making it a ‘public good’ by sharing it with others who would value it as much as I do.

References

Barbrook, R. (2005). The Hi-Tech Gift Economy. First Monday. Retrieved February 7, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/

Cialdini, R. B. (2000). Influence: Science and Practice Fourth Edition. Singapore: Allyn and Bacon.

Kollock, Peter (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Communities in Cybrespace. Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Photo Credits

Anuka Baratashvili: http://anuk.deviantart.com/store/
Msog~: http://msog.deviantart.com/
Firebird books: www.firebirdbooks.com/crownfull.html

Looking Back at Beacons

It feels strange blogging nowadays. I guess it's because it has become something I do for school. It kinda takes the fun out of it. The lack of spontaneity is unnerving when you have to write a mini-research paper every week.

But there's a silver lining surrounding every storm cloud. And in this case, the silver lining is having the ability to think for myself. I like such learning experiences because I'm not spoon fed. That's the whole point of an American education really - to learn and think for yourself. The teacher mainly serves as a guide and a mentor.

Sadly, such teachers are hard to come by. The kind who, at the end of the day, leave you with a greater sense of self and the belief that you're a better person than you were before. I often recall with warm and fuzzy feelings Ms Low, my ESL teacher for 2 semesters, and Ms Lesvesque who taught me UGC for 2 semesters as well.

Ms Low always came down hard on us. She was strict about punctuality and had higher expectations than all the other ESL teachers our friends had. Because of that, I felt as if her lessons were worth my time and attention. It certainly helped that she provided the necessary instruction and encouragement that fuelled my interest and made her lessons less work than play.

Gaylene, or Ms. Levesque, is the one-of-a-kind teacher I'll never forget. She was always full of fun and humorous to boot! In a grandmotherly sort of way, she'll only gently admonish and it always felt as if she had our backs. I guess the teacher really does matter when it comes to making history come alive! UGC wasn't dull or boring, it was interesting and engaging.

Then we had the American professors coming down to teach us. Hmm... we had our fair share of eccentric professors, as well as those who were utterly exemplary. Most of us fell in love with Prof. Vishwanath. Haha! And we all agreed that the man was charming. Looking back, it's funny how he commanded our attention with such ease. I think half of us were entranced by his accent. Then again, he kinda exuded charm and since most of us are girls it's understandable why we succumbed to his teachings.

Dr Sachs, too, in his own way was a great teacher. He's another one of those teachers who require you to think for yourself while prodding you in the right direction. I'll never forget the day he called my name out in a booming, God-like voice because I had written a good essay on the exams. That sort of validation was just the kind of encouragement I needed since I'd thought I'd screwed up that paper.

Personally, I think too much praise for one particular student may breed envy and jealousy among the rest. However, the giving of praise where deserved would bypass that nasty side effect and serve the express purpose of motivating the other students, especially if they know they stand a chance of doing better through sheer hard work.

I don't think I would make a good teacher. I lack the patience for one thing. Grading assignments is not my idea of a nice weekend for another. Seeing that, I do have an idea of what a good teacher should be.

I suppose the teacher-student relationship has to be comfortable. It's difficult in the Asian context for students to be overtly friendly with their teachers. We tend to maintain a respectful distance. The teacher at his or her discretion sets the tone of the relationship, and the students tend to dance to his or her tune. I don't see this as a fault per se but it can get frustrating when there is no distinction between the role of teacher and friend. That's why I think the mentor role is the best - it's the combination of the two! Maybe that's why Asian students prefer to be safe than sorry, retreating back into their strictly business facade when in class.

However, as strong-minded individuals, I've noticed that my classmates as well as myself are very critical of our teachers. Since we have new faces every semester, the first day of school is always interesting. First impressions are formed immediately and by the end of the first lesson we can pretty much predict whether or not we'll enjoy the class. Then comes the assessment of the teachers which occurs just as quickly. Those who are easily taken advantaged of lose our respect, those who are unorganized annoy us, those who are overbearingly strict terrify us, and those who are mediocre are forgotten.

I never thought I'd ever remember any of my teachers well, but looking back at all the teachers I've had there are a few that stand out. I guess the saying that many people walk in and out of your life, but only some leave footprints on your heart, is true.

QotW3: The Copyright Conundrum

The Copyright Conundrum

To summarize the problem at hand, it can be said that the interests of content creators and that of the public are at loggerheads. In order to accommodate the needs of both parties to achieve the greater good, a compromise has to be made.

In my opinion, copyright – or the content creators’ ability to have some form of ownership over their works, is imperative, for the monetary rewards it could reap would serve as a motivation for them to continue creating their original works (Ovalle, 2005, p.2). Unfortunately, should everything be completely protected by copyright and nothing be allowed to pass into the public domain, the public’s ability to innovate by drawing upon available ideas, would be severely hindered.

On a side note, the latter view is echoed by Fiona Macmillan, a professor of law from the University of London (2006). She states that copyright has failed the “concepts of genius, creativity, and culture”, as the” threshold of the originality requirement in relation to literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works” is very low (p.1). In other words, any creative work can be copyrighted so long as it is considered ‘original’. However, originality extends insofar as the creators’ own ideas, neglecting the fact that they may have been inspired by and thus have infringed upon other copyrighted works. This situation succinctly describes the copyright conundrum.

Copyright laws as we know them are at best unclear and differ from case to case. They are further complicated by exceptions to the rule like First Sale and Fair Use. In addition, the advent of the digital age has brought about digital objects that require “mediation” via the creation and displaying of copies (Ovalle, 2005). Such copies are double-edged swords, increasing the ease of copyright infringement while promoting greater creativity. For example, the incident involving the creative remixing of the band Green Day’s American Idiot album by two disc jockeys, was a “copyright nightmare” that “became an instant hit” (“Remix culture”, n.d.).

Technical Solution: Creative Commons

Creative Commons licensing “allows the copyright holder to grant some of its rights to the public while retaining others” (Brady, n.d.); a non-profit organization, the Creative Commons (CC) provides free tools that content creators can use to “mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry” (“Creative Commons”, 2007). In short, this avenue, which enables content creators to choose from a continuum of copyrights, could prove to be the answer that would best please both content creators and users while providing sufficient encouragement and ability for all to continue creating and innovating.

Evidence of the success of CC licensing is obvious from its global jurisdiction of thirty-five countries; and an adoption scope, which includes the likes of archives such as Flickr, formal publications such as the Public Library of Science, collaborative content such as Wikinews, and instructional materials such as Clinical Skills Online (“Wikipedia: Creative Commons”, 2007).

However, CC does have its detractors who claim that it lacks an ethical, political, common sense, and pro-copyright position (“Wikipedia: Creative Commons”, 2007). While this may be so, I believe that CC is a viable technical structure that offers a form of copyright that would reasonably satisfy both creators and users of creative content. Naturally, it can be improved upon by defining more clearly the extent of the copyright its licenses provide, as well as setting a minimum requirement for the granting of its licenses.


Social Solution: User Honesty

The hope of abolishing piracy and plagiarism is a far fetched one, and it can only be achieved by total honesty on the part of the general public. This means changing the mindsets of pirates and plagiarizers and ensuring that they do not exploit copyrighted works for their own commercial benefit. To do this, the masses must be made to understand that intellectual dishonesty will not be tolerated.

While the act of piracy is deliberate and unavoidable without user honesty, there are times when plagiarism is accidentally committed. The simplest way to avoid doing so would be to ensure that all sources are acknowledged “in a full and consistent manner” (Claerhout, 2004).


Conclusion

In conclusion, current copyright laws are not entirely satisfactory due to their vagueness, and are biased towards protecting the interests of the content creators with almost complete disregard for the content users or would-be content creators.

Therefore, it is my belief that existing copyright laws should be more clearly defined, constructed in such a way that would benefit the public, and appended with probable punishments for offenders.

Lastly, alternative avenues to copyright such as the Creative Commons should be taken into consideration as a means of balancing the needs of the user and the ownership of content creator; the achievement of which would lead to the good of the greater public.


References

Brady, K. S. (2007). Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://users.goldengate.net/%7Ekbrady/copyright.html

Claerhout, L. A. (2004). Copyright Issues in Online Courses: A Moment in Time. [Electronic version]. Theory and Practice of Online Learning.

Creative Commons. (2007, January). Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://creativecommons.org/

Macmillan, F. (2006, February). Copyrights Commodification of Creativity. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from Birkbeck College, University of London Web site: http://www.oiprc.ox.ac.uk/EJWP0203.pdf

Ovalle, C. (2005). An Introduction to Copyright. Information in Cyberspace, 2. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~i312co/1.php

Remix culture: a rights nightmare. (n.d.). ABC: Catapult. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1645533.htm

Wikipedia: Creative commons (2007, Jan 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 31, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_commons%2028%20January%202007

COM125 Week2: Email

History

The birth of the electronic mail or email in 1965 predated the Internet and “was a crucial tool in creating it” (“Wikipedia: History of the Internet”, 2006). It also paved the way “for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate”, and it soon evolved into a network which enabled users to “pass messages between different computers” (“Wikipedia: Email”, 2006).

Then, in 1971 Ray Tomlinson created what we know now as the “standard email address format”, that separated user names from host names with the @ sign (“Wikipedia: History of the Internet”, 2006). Only in the early 1990s, however, did the widespread public use of email begin.

Today, not only is email employed in the “Internet email system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol” (“Wikipedia: Email”, 2006), it is also inherent in intranet systems that enable members of an organization to communicate with one another. The proliferation of its use is unavoidable as it is user friendly, efficient, and versatile in facilitating asynchronous communication. In fact, about 60% of the UK population use email in their daily lives – an unsurprising statistic if you consider that about 50% of UK households have access to the Internet.

Graphic Representation of UK Households with Internet Access:

Spam

The advent of the email and its prevalence has heavily influenced the Internet in both good ways and bad. For example, email spam – the sending of unsolicited, “nearly identical messages to numerous recipients by email” (“Wikipedia: Spam”, 2007), has become a negative side effect of email. According to the Message Labs Home Page, spam accounted for “about 83% of all incoming emails” in 2005, “up from 24% in January 2003” (as cited in Gomes et al., 2005, p.1).

This trend resulted in the creation of spam filters, that according to Internet researchers dramatically decreased the amount of spam received between “March and September” 2006 (Sloan, 2007). However, within three months, spammers have developed new spam techniques that “have effectively defeated these email filters”. This is possible as spam filters cannot differentiate between legitimate and spam image content. Thus, spammers simply convert their advertisements into images and insert them into their emails. In fact, this practice is now so prevalent that “email security firm Postini said recently that image-embedded spam made up 45% of all spam” at the end of 2006, as compared to the measly “2% a year ago” (Sloan, 2007). This problem is compounded by the use of botnets – expanded systems that are created via the hijacking regular Internet users’ computers.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that current spam filters are capable of dealing with the new forms of spam. Meanwhile, users would have to waste precious time deleting spam emails from their inboxes and retrieving legitimate emails from their spam folders.

Therefore, email and inadvertently spam has had such in impact on the Internet for it has revolutionized the means of advertising and marketing; making millionaires of spammers, and sparking near impossible proposals of “a tiny fee to send email” by Bill Gates, as well as “a one year plan to change the entire, underlying system of sending, routing, and receiving electronic mail” (Sloan, 2007).

Benefits

On the other hand, email also has its benefits. According to Professor M. Lynne Markus of The Claremont Graduate School (1994), the use of email for intra-organizational coordination, is believed to “increase personal and organizational productivity”. This could be possible due to the fact that “managers who receive email are not passive recipients of data, but active produces of meaning”, and “empirical findings in which email readily supports the level of richness that information richness theory reserves for what it considers to be rich media”.

My Personal Experience

On a more personal note, for the past two years I have been in communication with an American girl only via email. We are not pen pals and barely know how the other looks like, but we email each other frequently as we are co-authors of a novel of sorts. In other words, the creation of our literature from characterization to world building has been done solely through email. Email has been such an integral part of this endeavor that without it, we would have been unable to edit our drafts, discuss possible plot lines, or receive notifications of reviews submitted by our avid readers.

Our work can be viewed at these links:

Pirate Princess (complete) ~ http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2064459/1/

Gypsy Queen (in-progress) ~ http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3252904/1/

Conclusion

In conclusion, judging by the enormous influence email has had and continues to have on the Internet, it is a double-edged sword. With its ever-extending reach into the awareness of the masses, it can be used for good or ill. As such, it should be employed with the utmost care.

References

Car, J., & Sheikkh, A. (2004, August). Email consultations in health care: 1 – scope and effectiveness. BMJ: Helping doctors make better decisions. 329 (435). Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/329/7463/435?ck=nck

Gomes, L. H., Almeida, R. B., Bettencourt, L. M. A., Almeida, V., & Almeida, J. M. (2005). Comparative Graph Theoretical Characterization of Networks of Spam and Legitimate Email. Retrieved January 26, 2007, from http://www.ceas.cc/papers-2005/131.pdf

Lee, A. S. (1994). Electronic Mail as a Medium for Rich Communication: An Empirical Investigation Using Hermeneutic Interpretation. MIS Quarterly, 18, 2, 143-157. Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0276-7783%28199406%2918%3A2%3C143%3AEMAAMF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U&size=SMALL

Markus, M. L. (1994). Electronic Mail As the Medium of Managerial Choice. [Electronic version]. Organization Science, 5, 4, 502-527. Retrieved January 26, 2007, from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1047-7039%28199411%295%3A4%3C502%3AEMATMO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8&size=LARGE

Sloan, W. (2007, January 10). The new spam: it's bigger and uglier. Bangkok Post. Retrieved January 26, 2007, from http://www.bangkokpost.com/.

Wikipedia: Email (2006, Feb 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email

Wikipedia: History of the Internet (2006, Aug 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Internet&oldid=70771572

Wikipedia: Spam (2007, Jan 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 26, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spam

Gatecrashing Class B

I gatecrashed Class B on Thursday to kill time at first but I ended up paying attention to the entire lecture (more or less). I have to say that you guys in B class certainly get more information than we do! I don't know whether to be jealous or not. After all, A class gets the better class times.

In any case, I read through the assigned readings for week 2 and discovered that they are hideously long. Your mind just kind of blanks out after a certain number of words. However, I have to admit that they're useful in that they provide defnitions for some of the stuff we learn in class.

Also, I have found that it is very difficult to define what a blog is. In my previous post I focused solely on personal (diary) and corporate blogs. The additional readings showed that the term blog can be pretty loosely used. The blog is so much more than an individual's expression. It can be a private forum between friends or an online self-published newsletter. In short, it can be anything you want it to be.

I'm actually toying with the idea of setting up a blog for book reviews. It'll probably be like the sort of book review websites all over the Internet but I want to give it a shot anyway. I plan on writing book reviews for books that I enjoy and then inviting my friends who enjoy reading the same stuff I'm into to write reviews as well. Since we're all from the same forums (i.e. Yahoo!Groups, LiveJournal), and constantly get new members asking for book recommendations, this booklog might prove valuable.

Now, I just have to figure out a name for it. Fantasy Femme Fatales? Ah...I'll figure something out. Something less restrictive that is.

About Blogs

As I have yet to get my textbook yet I can only rely on the notes I took in class to remind myself of what we learned in class today. Problem is, having 2 classes back-to-back taught by the same teacher is pretty confusing. Everything starts getting melting together in your brain. Is that good? It might actually be proof that I have more than 2 brain cells to rub together.

On to the serious stuff:

Kevin talked briefly about the history of the web and how it has evolved from Web1.0 to Web2.0. He then mentioned the abuse of the latter term with the 'invention' of Web3.0. It made me wonder if such a thing as Web3.0 is possible in the future. With passive, and now active web, could we possibly push the envelope and make it more? Perhaps, interactive? Or may be we are already at that stage. Then again, it is possible that 'interactive' falls under 'active', for it takes two hands to clap just as it takes two 'active' participants to 'interact'.

He also defined what a blog is, and why individuals and companies use blogs as a form of communication. These were simple enough to understand but they did not address the effects of blogs on their audience. While it is obvious that blogs have supplanted the personal diary, and possibly the corporate newsletter, they are in essence, the same words on a screen. Certainly, the web and consequently blogs are very much more accessible than hard copy documents; and it is my opinion that this greater accessibility and the increasing number of blogs - in particular blogs about some one's life, are correlated. Together, these factors have possibly made us more voyeuristic than before. After all, we read the personal blogs of people who are total strangers to us!

The blog is no longer just a way for friends to keep in touch with the goings-on in each other's lives but an open window into the other's personal thoughts and feelings. Imagine reading some one's personal diary! Of course, it can be said that personal blogs are not all that personal since people tend to censor what they write when they know they have an audience.

Regardless, as food for thought, we should all reflect on how blogs - personal, corporate, or otherwise, have affected us.

More About Me

Edited: 16th Jan 07

Name: Song YuYing Felicia

Age: 18

Special Abilities: Writing fiction

URLs: http://felsong.blogspot.com

Extra information about yours truly for the voyeurs out there. You know who you are!

I think everyone knows that I adore reading and writing. I would like to think that I am great at both. So forgive me if I come across as being narcissistic at times. I'll try to deflate my ego from time to time. If you're keen feel free to read some of my fanfiction at www.fanfiction.net under the pen name FelSong.

More about me - I've been studying pretty hard for the past couple semesters, so my social life has dwindled down to nothing!

Right now I'm still apeing a duck (calm on the surface but paddling furiously underneath) while refraining from running around like a headless chicken. The semester seems to have gotten off on a good start; we have nice teachers and we're back together chit chatting about everything and anything over our bowls of ban mian.

Last scrap of information: I'm going to learn how to drive. That's a New Year Resolution I failed to make. I have got to get my driver's license before I go to the States! Honestly though, I'm terrified that I'll wreck whatever car I'm in or kill someone in the process.

Okay, leaving you with that morbid thought, I'll bid you adieu!