Four Puzzles from Cyberspace
Borders
What's interesting about borders is the replication of real life - there are physical property borders in the online life, and then borders within which participants function. In real life, though, amending the function border is a lot more difficult than online. When Martha and Dank are negotiating they are not talking about real flowers, dogs or land. However, while there is emotional attachment to what they've built, when an online action or item affects the solutions can be a little more unorthodox or unrealistic. In Martha and Dank's cases they suggested (or argued) solutions that were simple enough online even if not in real life - so the constraints are different and to function in a virtual world online the participant must think differently.
Governors
Geography has changed the rules - geography doesn't matter in cyberspace. Something can be banned in one geographical location, but if the operator is savvy enough they can still operate that same business out of another geographical location. Online technology has made it far easier to operate 'virtually'. It has changed the regulability of online activities.
Jake's Communities
I connected with the identity issue and the matter of attribution. Jake could be a writer in the real world, write the things he did, have them published and he'd just be a writer (albeit a very genred one). Other novel writers write some horrific stuff but they're not scrutinised as much as those online. Television crime shows frequently show graphic violence towards women. This particular story raises all sorts of ethical issues about what and who is online. But back to the attribution. Jake was arrested based on his email exchange with one of his readers. And, as the story states, there was no evidence that what Jake said was anything but fiction. So, was the crime wrongly attributed to Jake instead of the fellow who was reading the material and saying he was going to re enact the crime? There's a number of issues here - firstly, the 16yo reader's father, who, if he hadn't recognised the university tag probably wouldn't have pursued the author. Secondly, should the news sites have more security or warning to readers before they get to explicit or graphic material? Thirdly, should Jake have been using his work hardware/software to access this material? Fourthly, does the father have a responsibility to put a net filter on his daughter's computer when they're so readily available?
This story also illustrates the vessel that online publishing becomes for those who have a love of a craft. There was no money involved in this - Jake just produced online media because he liked to do it.
Worms
What you don't know can't harm you, right? I'm a firm believer in the end never justifies the means - only the means justifies the means.This particular section of Lessig's paper centres on privacy. Allowing a worm to inspect a random anyone's computer just incase they have something illegal is no different to searching someone's house without their knowledge or a warrant (maybe I've watch too many crime shows - do they have warrants in real life?). It's important that the technology exists to deal with any criminal activity, given that online activity can be particularly hard to trace. Because the web is global, privacy from another governing body (outside your own country) is not guaranteed and any web user is at risk.
These four stories in the Lessig book talk about the undefined nature of rules (boundaries) and the way that rules can be challenged in a ficticious virtual world, management or governance, identity and issues of privacy. This technology has moved so quickly that I'm sure the global nature of the internet means that we (entire web community) will ever be able to come to some sort of consensus on how these four issues should we.
Here Henry Jenkins briefly talks about the way media is used now and the way that we have become contributors, participators rather than observers; active rather than passive. Later we'll look into copyright laws in more detail, but Jenkins mentions the domination by a few large organisations and that they used to have the ability to manage their product. Now, with online media and software the consumer can easily take portions of their product and give it their own gaze, meaning that the producer loses control over their product. They still have creative control, but it's more difficult to manage third parties. So, just because we have the means to take a snippet (or a little bigger .... ) and use it creatively to produce something else does that mean we can or should? I guess that's one aspect of this debate.
In addition, the observer can now be a storyteller. Particularly in news media - we're not limited to the side of the story. Earlier this year Adelaide experienced a minor earthquake. Within minutes the information about where and the intensity of it was being shared on Twitter. People were talking to other people that they would never have been likely too. In countries where internet is regulated, online technology savvy users can get around it and have a voice to the world. Sites like CrowdVoice crowdsource info about protests and events or activism around the world. It's much easier to find up to date information if you can quickly establish credibility.
Collective intelligence - more complex explanations or ways of information gathering to get a more accurate picture than the limitations of one person or group's knowlege.
A favourite media text
I really struggle to narrow down a favourite - it changes regularly, each time I watch, listen, read something new that I love it builds on all the others. So, for the sake of this exercise I'll go back a few years to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series). I think the reasons why I love this so much are the writing and production - Joss Whedon is a genius. This started before online stuff became accessible to the masses - I was working in an office that had one shared admin computer and we checked the email manually 3 or 4 times a day. There was no internet - data was too costly and too slow. Whedon's wit was incredible and his team of writers were clearly on the same page. He crosses many genres with this fantasy-teen series, and plays with everyday realities of life.
As for consumers, probably not so much involvement initially but as online media became more accessible fansites would have popped up, discussion boards or newsgroups (like the browncoats for his Firefly series) and possibly fan fiction (maybe Comi-con). I can't say I ever sought it out, but I follow Jane Espensen (regular writer) on twitter. It's also interesting following the other projects various contributors to that series have done, including actors, writers and directors.
Jenkins, H. (2008). Henry Jenkins on Transmedia. Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/4672634
Lessig, L. (2006). Four puzzles from cyber space. In L. Lessig Code version 2.0 (pp 9-30). New York: Basic Books.
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