Just a quick post for SEO ;p
I am building and maintaining a student based website for our university with some friends ... Whoever sumbles upon here, give it a look
www.tepaknews.com
An Alternative View
Going for another change!!!
After I stopped using blogger for its better counterpart, wordpress at http://empneusmeno.wordpress.com and after using wordpress for about a year, I decided to move on to a self hosted blog, that I hope will continue to thrive and become a blogging community in the future.
From now on I will be hosting the self-hosted www.empneusmeno.com which will provide me with more options to customize my website/blog as much as I want and maybe make it something more. However I am blogging rarely now, when I finish the designing and work on the new website I will start again writting posts, I hope more often than previously.
Expect more and visit my new website (in one or two weeks I will be probably ready)...
See you there!!!
From now on I will be hosting the self-hosted www.empneusmeno.com which will provide me with more options to customize my website/blog as much as I want and maybe make it something more. However I am blogging rarely now, when I finish the designing and work on the new website I will start again writting posts, I hope more often than previously.
Expect more and visit my new website (in one or two weeks I will be probably ready)...
See you there!!!
Will we be all connected in an emotional web in the future?
Have you ever thought that we might be the computers connected in the distant future? That you could email not an emoticon, but a feeling?
Alternative journalism – Chapter 5 Contemporary Practices of Alternative Journalism (Chris Atton and James F.Hamilton) – A critisizing summary on the article
STATING MY OPINION against the opinion of the article writers, when they are categorizing as alternative journalists everyone that creates content with the use of different practices, they are wrong. Reading the article, you can find some categories, such as radicals (or just minority writers), yellow press or bloggers, that barely some of them can be categorized as forms of journalism by me. Some people feel that are misrepresented and thus they create their own media, some people are writing about rumors and “social interest” gossiping, or are just writing about a variety of content in blogs and websites. These people may or may not be journalists, but at least in the blogosphere, most of the people are NOT considering themselves as journalists and do not even try to give news but content … When an individual does not even consider his/herself a journalist and does not provide something as news, but as content, how can someone categorize and write about them as a bigger part of the journalistic picture? thus creating a misrepresentation of the journalists. If a blogger is considered a journalist, then why not be considered as a book writer? If a commentator on events, an opinion writer in a radical press/website, an activist, writes about his/hers actions, how is this alternative journalism and not friend or colleague update, or a personal kind of mediated diary? When yellow-press journalists are considered alternative journalists, have anyone thought that the ethics and acceptable , not just journalistic writing is being misrepresented? That is how I will continue criticizing this chapter that I disagree with the point of view of the writers.
AS THE CHAPTER begins, the writers ask about how people learn to be journalists or editors and about their practices. But, as I have already mentioned, they must firstly select the content writers that are “selling” themselves to the public as journalists and not the ones that are commenting or sharing events, else we are all journalists through our own social media, else everyone is a journalist, every person who uses facebook and writes 100 words in their statuses or notes. Continuing, the analysis of the chapter, I will consider that the writers have discern these persons and choose the self-named journalists and news writers or commentators. In the prologues of the chapter, the writers open the discussion with differentiating some of the practices and ways of alternative journalists, closing with the medias used by them, that are mostly local or smaller media, and with noting that the internet has provided the tools for the expansion of the alternative practice.
ALSO A USER generated model of journalism and an emphasis on eye-witnessing from the more professional journalists (as in indymedia) is consider by them a kind of alternative media. But if the user generated model is considered journalist, then a man working as a waiter (or a girl) goes online and writes a comment on indymedia for two famous businessmen in the restaurant he was working last night, is as much a journalist as the journalist that got an interview with them? If someone passing by an accident and then writes about it, is the same as a journalist that reported the event using sources, and more than his own eyes for eye-witnesses? But also for the professionals using more eye-witness than earlier, that is not just alternative journalism, but a more people-centered journalism, where the elite is not the main event, but the mass is also playing a bigger role in the society than ever, where multi-opinion journalism and not elitist is coming to surface.
THE AMAZON PARADIGM, is when the writers suggest that a review in an amazon product is an alternative method of journalism, when in the same way, a reporter walking the road for a political poll and asks a pedestrian his opinion, then the pedestrian takes the role of the journalist commenting on the event? It is becoming easier to be considered a journalist these days (irony).
ALSO THE FANZINE misunderstanding, is when they writers are examining fanzine writers, such as comic fans or music fans as journalists, when they are just writing about their hobbies in a kind of online or offline forum and opinion for their misrepresented side of the coin or not mainstream media important event that happens to be important for their subculture. A lady-gaga fun who writes in her blog about her last appearance, because she was on her concert, is not a journalist as a periodical journalist with the cultural column and maybe a more objective view of the event. Even if journalism can be subjective, the kind of fan-writing is cannot be consider journalism, but opinion writing or content writing.
THE MORE HOT topic is blogging. As the writers recognize the “diary form” of bloggers, are also examining the news creators, but the examples given are much less than journalism, as most of them are commentators of event, as much as your neighbor talking with you in a neighborhood meeting and everyone is hearing your conversation, but he is not a journalist because he happens to comment on the event or being part of it and considers writing it. Blogging, as the whole web and its technologies, are just tools to be used and humans are the ones deciding how to use them, as journalists decided to make blogs themselves in a more professional way, fighting back the power that was taken from them and given to the blogs. Blogs are a tool that can also be used for democratic purposes and multiopinions, as a politician writes in a newspaper, but he is not a journalist, but an opinion writer … Now everyone can do it, might not be as popular, or might become even more popular …
ALSO, WHEN THE writers choose to talk about objectivity, I choose to talk about technology. People that can not be journalists, but be part timers or alternative (really alternative subjects, stories and way of seeing things), have their own websites or blogs, as with the new technologies is easier than ever to build and maintain a basic website/blog. Also, these people can have a wide variety of tools to help them be journalists … These technologies vary from personal email, mobile phones with cameras and recording function, as much as small good quality (for web) video cameras, as much as a place to upload them (blogger, youtube, veoh etc), but also a wide variety of paying or free software to build their site (dreamweaver or joomla).
MISREPRESENTED MINORITIES AGAIN, or just different way of viewing things. The real alternative journalists (pg 85-86) who choose not to be objective or are biased, and used media in a different way, usually in smaller medias without the economic power, or advertising that the bigger corporations have on their disposal. These can be extremists, activists (or supporting them), biased, or parts of misrepresented communities. Some of these might not be journalists but people that need to mediate some information and are using the media, or journalists that choose to write about events and subjects that the big corporations that protect their own (or someone else’s ) interests will not accept their articles. Some of the big problems of alternative journalism, is that they don’t have the money centered policies of their bigger corporates counterparts, and don’t have more than their fame to lose if they do not have reliable sources, or are themselves reliable and being subjective without caring about losing part of their audience. Continuing writing about ethics, as much as the alternatives are not money based or in need to follow some ethics, but that has also the downside to them, as a not reliable source will have less “followers/readers” making them worthless as media sources. That is a way that journalism is safe from people that will choose to misuse it.
FINALLY ON CONCLUDING, the writers see alternative journalism as localized and with less access to elite sources, but seeing some examples of alternative journalism and reporting, we can find a variety of bloggers mostly (that can be accessed more easily from a wider range of public) than localized media, which have the power to get close to important sources or find out and comment faster on latest developments, rising to power. A minority example is the http://torrentfreak.com/ as a quite popular site for a minority in technical and ethical terms of the internet. They might not be as strong and popular or widespread as traditional corporations of media and not have their resources, but as more and more of the people are accessing and learning to use the web, bloggers or online journalists that are mostly alternative journalists are having more prestige, that helps them have access to the sources of the traditional media and soon be their bigger news opponents!
PS: The opinions stated in this article are mine and I am not an academic or have read as much as the professional writers that wrote the specific subject, but I had to write a report on the chapter for my journalism course. But due to a big disagreement with the writers, I couldnt resist in criticizing it as much as I could.
(original http://empneusmeno.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/alternative-journalism/ )
AS THE CHAPTER begins, the writers ask about how people learn to be journalists or editors and about their practices. But, as I have already mentioned, they must firstly select the content writers that are “selling” themselves to the public as journalists and not the ones that are commenting or sharing events, else we are all journalists through our own social media, else everyone is a journalist, every person who uses facebook and writes 100 words in their statuses or notes. Continuing, the analysis of the chapter, I will consider that the writers have discern these persons and choose the self-named journalists and news writers or commentators. In the prologues of the chapter, the writers open the discussion with differentiating some of the practices and ways of alternative journalists, closing with the medias used by them, that are mostly local or smaller media, and with noting that the internet has provided the tools for the expansion of the alternative practice.
ALSO A USER generated model of journalism and an emphasis on eye-witnessing from the more professional journalists (as in indymedia) is consider by them a kind of alternative media. But if the user generated model is considered journalist, then a man working as a waiter (or a girl) goes online and writes a comment on indymedia for two famous businessmen in the restaurant he was working last night, is as much a journalist as the journalist that got an interview with them? If someone passing by an accident and then writes about it, is the same as a journalist that reported the event using sources, and more than his own eyes for eye-witnesses? But also for the professionals using more eye-witness than earlier, that is not just alternative journalism, but a more people-centered journalism, where the elite is not the main event, but the mass is also playing a bigger role in the society than ever, where multi-opinion journalism and not elitist is coming to surface.
THE AMAZON PARADIGM, is when the writers suggest that a review in an amazon product is an alternative method of journalism, when in the same way, a reporter walking the road for a political poll and asks a pedestrian his opinion, then the pedestrian takes the role of the journalist commenting on the event? It is becoming easier to be considered a journalist these days (irony).
ALSO THE FANZINE misunderstanding, is when they writers are examining fanzine writers, such as comic fans or music fans as journalists, when they are just writing about their hobbies in a kind of online or offline forum and opinion for their misrepresented side of the coin or not mainstream media important event that happens to be important for their subculture. A lady-gaga fun who writes in her blog about her last appearance, because she was on her concert, is not a journalist as a periodical journalist with the cultural column and maybe a more objective view of the event. Even if journalism can be subjective, the kind of fan-writing is cannot be consider journalism, but opinion writing or content writing.
THE MORE HOT topic is blogging. As the writers recognize the “diary form” of bloggers, are also examining the news creators, but the examples given are much less than journalism, as most of them are commentators of event, as much as your neighbor talking with you in a neighborhood meeting and everyone is hearing your conversation, but he is not a journalist because he happens to comment on the event or being part of it and considers writing it. Blogging, as the whole web and its technologies, are just tools to be used and humans are the ones deciding how to use them, as journalists decided to make blogs themselves in a more professional way, fighting back the power that was taken from them and given to the blogs. Blogs are a tool that can also be used for democratic purposes and multiopinions, as a politician writes in a newspaper, but he is not a journalist, but an opinion writer … Now everyone can do it, might not be as popular, or might become even more popular …
ALSO, WHEN THE writers choose to talk about objectivity, I choose to talk about technology. People that can not be journalists, but be part timers or alternative (really alternative subjects, stories and way of seeing things), have their own websites or blogs, as with the new technologies is easier than ever to build and maintain a basic website/blog. Also, these people can have a wide variety of tools to help them be journalists … These technologies vary from personal email, mobile phones with cameras and recording function, as much as small good quality (for web) video cameras, as much as a place to upload them (blogger, youtube, veoh etc), but also a wide variety of paying or free software to build their site (dreamweaver or joomla).
MISREPRESENTED MINORITIES AGAIN, or just different way of viewing things. The real alternative journalists (pg 85-86) who choose not to be objective or are biased, and used media in a different way, usually in smaller medias without the economic power, or advertising that the bigger corporations have on their disposal. These can be extremists, activists (or supporting them), biased, or parts of misrepresented communities. Some of these might not be journalists but people that need to mediate some information and are using the media, or journalists that choose to write about events and subjects that the big corporations that protect their own (or someone else’s ) interests will not accept their articles. Some of the big problems of alternative journalism, is that they don’t have the money centered policies of their bigger corporates counterparts, and don’t have more than their fame to lose if they do not have reliable sources, or are themselves reliable and being subjective without caring about losing part of their audience. Continuing writing about ethics, as much as the alternatives are not money based or in need to follow some ethics, but that has also the downside to them, as a not reliable source will have less “followers/readers” making them worthless as media sources. That is a way that journalism is safe from people that will choose to misuse it.
FINALLY ON CONCLUDING, the writers see alternative journalism as localized and with less access to elite sources, but seeing some examples of alternative journalism and reporting, we can find a variety of bloggers mostly (that can be accessed more easily from a wider range of public) than localized media, which have the power to get close to important sources or find out and comment faster on latest developments, rising to power. A minority example is the http://torrentfreak.com/ as a quite popular site for a minority in technical and ethical terms of the internet. They might not be as strong and popular or widespread as traditional corporations of media and not have their resources, but as more and more of the people are accessing and learning to use the web, bloggers or online journalists that are mostly alternative journalists are having more prestige, that helps them have access to the sources of the traditional media and soon be their bigger news opponents!
PS: The opinions stated in this article are mine and I am not an academic or have read as much as the professional writers that wrote the specific subject, but I had to write a report on the chapter for my journalism course. But due to a big disagreement with the writers, I couldnt resist in criticizing it as much as I could.
(original http://empneusmeno.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/alternative-journalism/ )
And people tell me that pirated movies are bad!
HOW THE WORLD works right now? In the movie industry, you are going to the cinema which is a means of entertainment and culture production (some times), in order to be entertained, pass your time feeling some kinds of emotions, usually fun, happiness, horror/terror, love etc. You pay for that a certain amount of money, before you see it, having in mind that you will be satisfied. As I am now at Sweden I will talk about their cinema charges, which is 110 kronor for a 3-D movie and 75 kronor for a normal one (which translates to a little more than 11 and 7.5 euros, in american dollars must be near 20 and 15).
BUT IF THE movie is not good, what happens next? You have supported a film that has taken about 2 hours of your life? As a media student I am coming face to face with researches and opinions of mostly people with interests in the entertainment industry that p2p technology seems to be their enemy, taking away a big sum of money. On my point of view, it seems that as a consumer I pay a lot more than what the media industry is offering me these days. Most movies I have watched the last 2-3 years were not worth my money, I have seen more than 20 movies in cinemas the last two years and maybe near this amount of pirated, but only a few ones were worthy of my money. Is it me or the system need to change?
LAST COUPLE OF years, the movie industry seems to consider that making a movie 3-D is making it better, but the better for them is not quality but profits, because people want to check the new phenomenon. But in reality, they do not adapt, or are using a lot of their budget in the 3-D technology and under-budget for the rest of the movie such as actors,supernumeraries, direction and storyline/scenario.
AFTER SEEING A movie, and this time was Avatar: The Last Airbender. I paid 11 Euros for it and I believe everyone could do a better job if they used their budget in better everything ... EXCEPT 3-D. But I can't really ask for my money back. So, my point is, that a new way must be found, in order to show to the "entertainment" industry which movies we support and which not. I would love to be able to first see the movie and then pay an amount equal to what I believe it was worth as a support, because I would want to see a movie as good as this next time. I would want to be able to support movies I like and disapprove or show in an economic way that I didn't like it, not paying and being an un-satisfied customer with no way of protesting than writing in a web document.
CHANGE TAKES TIME AND IS DIFFICULT, BUT IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE.
BUT IF THE movie is not good, what happens next? You have supported a film that has taken about 2 hours of your life? As a media student I am coming face to face with researches and opinions of mostly people with interests in the entertainment industry that p2p technology seems to be their enemy, taking away a big sum of money. On my point of view, it seems that as a consumer I pay a lot more than what the media industry is offering me these days. Most movies I have watched the last 2-3 years were not worth my money, I have seen more than 20 movies in cinemas the last two years and maybe near this amount of pirated, but only a few ones were worthy of my money. Is it me or the system need to change?
LAST COUPLE OF years, the movie industry seems to consider that making a movie 3-D is making it better, but the better for them is not quality but profits, because people want to check the new phenomenon. But in reality, they do not adapt, or are using a lot of their budget in the 3-D technology and under-budget for the rest of the movie such as actors,supernumeraries, direction and storyline/scenario.
AFTER SEEING A movie, and this time was Avatar: The Last Airbender. I paid 11 Euros for it and I believe everyone could do a better job if they used their budget in better everything ... EXCEPT 3-D. But I can't really ask for my money back. So, my point is, that a new way must be found, in order to show to the "entertainment" industry which movies we support and which not. I would love to be able to first see the movie and then pay an amount equal to what I believe it was worth as a support, because I would want to see a movie as good as this next time. I would want to be able to support movies I like and disapprove or show in an economic way that I didn't like it, not paying and being an un-satisfied customer with no way of protesting than writing in a web document.
CHANGE TAKES TIME AND IS DIFFICULT, BUT IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE.
Music, a message in so many levels!
INSPIRATION IS NEEDED, for a creation. My inspiration? another night in a club, in a kind of music that does not feels like me. Music is in a lot of cases an indicator, an indicator of the soul, ideology, beliefs, biorhythm, state of mind, mood and so much more.
COMMUNICATION? WE ARE used to music as entertainment, but we never think of it as communication. However, a main use for music was through entertainment to pass on messages, stories and myths. It was also a way for creative artistic persons (and still is) to express their emotions through music, or for ideologies to create their own kind of music to inspire people. Music is a powerful tool for reaching the souls of people, their conscious and subconscious or even cloud their thinking and judgment.
DIFFERENT MUSIC STYLES mean different styles, thinking approaches or actions. The beat-music in clubs signals to the brain that it is time for dancing, every music gives a kind of rhythm, a message of which affects the kind of movements or maybe the frequency and speed of the movements we are doing ... that is called dancing. Also, people with more interested in lyrics than the rhythm, might want to identify themselves with all the other persons hearing the music and the artist in an emotional state that might be love, happiness, sadness, self-destruction, creativity, fun or more primal such as sex and hate.
EACH PERSON, IDENTIFY themselves with one or more kinds of music that are most likely their character's, type of entertainment or memories that they want to relive. For me, Rock/soft-Metal music reminds me of the way I like to have fun with friends in specific places with that kind of style. That's why I am writing this, in a different town with different kind of entertainment, I find myself missing my friends but also the kind of entertainment I have with them in the form of place and music. Clubs have a specific beat-like music in opposition with bars that are more rock-oriented (exceptions can exist). So, a music that I don't so much like but only can "stand" for some time, creates the need for a musical environment. That is also connected to the psyche of a person, as the music I like it connected with beliefs, emotions, memories etc.
CONCLUDING, MUSIC CAN indicate so many things in our lives, and we can identify some characteristics of people by what kind of music they hear, but also their beliefs or ways of entertainment (of course this kind of thinking most times can cause us to misjudge people, as it is a more complex thing). Music unites but also divides people. It is a part of our lives that!
FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR MUSIC AND WHAT IS IT THAT YOU LIKE OF IT, WAITING FOR YOUR COMMENTS!!!
COMMUNICATION? WE ARE used to music as entertainment, but we never think of it as communication. However, a main use for music was through entertainment to pass on messages, stories and myths. It was also a way for creative artistic persons (and still is) to express their emotions through music, or for ideologies to create their own kind of music to inspire people. Music is a powerful tool for reaching the souls of people, their conscious and subconscious or even cloud their thinking and judgment.
DIFFERENT MUSIC STYLES mean different styles, thinking approaches or actions. The beat-music in clubs signals to the brain that it is time for dancing, every music gives a kind of rhythm, a message of which affects the kind of movements or maybe the frequency and speed of the movements we are doing ... that is called dancing. Also, people with more interested in lyrics than the rhythm, might want to identify themselves with all the other persons hearing the music and the artist in an emotional state that might be love, happiness, sadness, self-destruction, creativity, fun or more primal such as sex and hate.
EACH PERSON, IDENTIFY themselves with one or more kinds of music that are most likely their character's, type of entertainment or memories that they want to relive. For me, Rock/soft-Metal music reminds me of the way I like to have fun with friends in specific places with that kind of style. That's why I am writing this, in a different town with different kind of entertainment, I find myself missing my friends but also the kind of entertainment I have with them in the form of place and music. Clubs have a specific beat-like music in opposition with bars that are more rock-oriented (exceptions can exist). So, a music that I don't so much like but only can "stand" for some time, creates the need for a musical environment. That is also connected to the psyche of a person, as the music I like it connected with beliefs, emotions, memories etc.
CONCLUDING, MUSIC CAN indicate so many things in our lives, and we can identify some characteristics of people by what kind of music they hear, but also their beliefs or ways of entertainment (of course this kind of thinking most times can cause us to misjudge people, as it is a more complex thing). Music unites but also divides people. It is a part of our lives that!
FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR MUSIC AND WHAT IS IT THAT YOU LIKE OF IT, WAITING FOR YOUR COMMENTS!!!
Global Media Class - International Organizations
TODAY, A QUICK brainstorm about what I have learned in this semester's Global Media Class. Of course I wouldn't describe it exactly as Global Media, but as International and Intercultural Communications and interactions/exchanges between countries with a focus on international organizations.
SO, WHAT HAVE I learned? That people have more power than I thought in their hands ... and I never thought that their power was limited or too small. Non-Governmental organizations are acting for what they perceive as our interest as a country (each one for its country), but International Non-Governmental Organizations can be powerful, and if you can't think a couple of them, try United Nations and GreenPeace. Watch their influence in international affairs and think about that, they don't just influence governments, but the people who constitute the governments. That is their strength, the power of the mass, but the ideological mass and not the unthinking one.
NEXT, DISCUSSED BUT without a conclusion, as opinions collide, about the matters of Media Influence. Should they be allowed to reign uncontrolled by the rules of the free market? or constraint to safeguard the culture that their imperial motives for money are destroying/changing/influencing/upgrading/empower or they just give power to the people. Here is the scholarly fighting place. People to people actions and reactions are not easy to predict or analyze, especially when they are consisted by masses of individuals. My opinion? Media are tools and should be used in a proper way ... which is absolutely not mine to decide, but of each individual person, but watching, interacting or not, or even voting. You need active citizens in order to use that tool in the way that people feel better, but of course you need someone to show them the paths and results they are choosing, but not deciding for them. Scholars, politicians and generally the more educated people should do that. Active citizenship should be promoted more by governments, because people are late for the battle of the decisions on the most powerful informational tools, the mass media. Already powerful individuals or entities (companies) control these tools and they will not give up so easily.
WAITING FOR ANSWERS, OPINIONS, DISAGREEMENTS, ADDING OR ANYTHING ELSE. EXPRESSING YOUR OPINION IS THE FIRST STEP TO BECOME ACTIVE!!!
SO, WHAT HAVE I learned? That people have more power than I thought in their hands ... and I never thought that their power was limited or too small. Non-Governmental organizations are acting for what they perceive as our interest as a country (each one for its country), but International Non-Governmental Organizations can be powerful, and if you can't think a couple of them, try United Nations and GreenPeace. Watch their influence in international affairs and think about that, they don't just influence governments, but the people who constitute the governments. That is their strength, the power of the mass, but the ideological mass and not the unthinking one.
NEXT, DISCUSSED BUT without a conclusion, as opinions collide, about the matters of Media Influence. Should they be allowed to reign uncontrolled by the rules of the free market? or constraint to safeguard the culture that their imperial motives for money are destroying/changing/influencing/upgrading/empower or they just give power to the people. Here is the scholarly fighting place. People to people actions and reactions are not easy to predict or analyze, especially when they are consisted by masses of individuals. My opinion? Media are tools and should be used in a proper way ... which is absolutely not mine to decide, but of each individual person, but watching, interacting or not, or even voting. You need active citizens in order to use that tool in the way that people feel better, but of course you need someone to show them the paths and results they are choosing, but not deciding for them. Scholars, politicians and generally the more educated people should do that. Active citizenship should be promoted more by governments, because people are late for the battle of the decisions on the most powerful informational tools, the mass media. Already powerful individuals or entities (companies) control these tools and they will not give up so easily.
WAITING FOR ANSWERS, OPINIONS, DISAGREEMENTS, ADDING OR ANYTHING ELSE. EXPRESSING YOUR OPINION IS THE FIRST STEP TO BECOME ACTIVE!!!
www.ThePirateBay.org - The other Side of the coin
INTRODUCTION:
AS A MEDIA students, I got lessons concerning ethics, laws or media news. In these three categories, the Pirate Bay and similar sites are mentioned and always discussed in the class. Today, it was a media news event, the recent second trial of the website is coming soon here in Sweden and it was a topic mentioned to class. But why? always the topic of this dialogue is the copyrighted material that may or may not be responsible the site.
THE OTHER SIDE of the coin here, is the USE of such sites as the Pirate Bay. I believe that people should start learning what is the OTHER most important use for these sites, as this may be also the solution to a part of this copyrighted material being stolen and distributed by anyone. The following article is based mostly on my opinions about the subject and partly I believe the reason why such sites were created.
USES OF TORRENTS is not just for (every) me to download the latest FIFA or PRO or the latest SIM game or CS 1,2,3,4,5 software. It is also for every artist, programmer, simple person or just a crazy one to share his/hers work with the world. I remember some months ago, that I read somewhere about torrent sites or was only the technology, that were one way of helping teams around the world to communicate, exchanging part of programs that they were creating together ... commonly known as sharewares. Programs developed by people at their spare time for all the world and without asking for money sharing even the source code so that others that may find the torrent (search or just find it by accident ... everything can happen ;p ) and then using the .torrent file, can download it, update/add their own tools or part of the program and then reshare through another .torrent file.
ALSO, THERE IS going to be a documentary for the Pirate Bay and if I remember correctly, the words of the editor were that many people were asking him how as a director supported the work of the piratebay when they were responsible for undermining his work as a director by sharing movies. This is where I would love to answer!!! Because the people who "direct" us to believe that sharing a movie undermines it are the ones that are making huge profit out of selling them. But, what is the purpose of a movie? If you think about it, it is fairest to share it and then support it by money than just sell it in so high prices. But, for the minds that are used to capitalism (and I am not against it, just sick of overusing products and a false sense of individualism), a movie or series or anything that has to do with multimedia hasn't only got a value for market, but it is created for the individual as well as the community, it is a way of creating culture, cultivating ideas, sharing ideas, expressing feelings (usually by artistic means). Like in some cultures in Asia, copying the work of someone is considered an honor ... why? Because it means you liked it and you want to preserve it and make it accessible to more people by multiplication, that means also that the artist is respected and liked.
BUT YOU WOULD question me as to why share it when it is your work and you spend time in it, which means money. If I share all of my works, I wouldn't be able to sustain myself economically and not even be able to buy the most common products to live. All of you that are against this kind of sharing, have you ever downloaded a game? or a movie? or a software? Most people that put them there (I mean serious ones that crack them and are doing it all the time, not a person that just found it somewhere downloaded it and reuploaded it in a torrent site), in their "declaration" of downloading and the rest, usually at the end is an important note, some times as a last step for downloading the software == "If you like it, BUY IT". That is also a kind of support, try something and then support it.
ALSO, DON'T YOU think that people in the entertainment industry of let's say Hollywood are overpaid for their work? But everyone want to be them because they are so overpaid. Then, we are leaving from the cultural and entertaining reasons and the worst one ... the public service media, that are no more in America, to the capitalistic, one-way messages of what the people want, but what the people want is what they are told to want, because there is not a real alternative.
IN THE BASIC ideology, .torrent sites can be used like youtube, but not in streaming, but downloading stuff. Let's say that me and my friends feel the artistic nature in us and we want to create a movie, then such as youtube, a bigger movie file will be hosted as torrent to share with the world. The same can be said for alternative programs such as gimp (alternative for photoshop) that let's say my international group of programmers has created to put effects in videos, or maybe Desktop backgrounds which I have created for my own use and I want to share them. Infinite solutions to the payable society. My free time saves million other free hours and money spent!!!
FINALLY, I AM not saying that .torrent sites are not used or will not be used as illegal material being shared, but don't look the dark side (for some it is not really a dark side) but the even brighter side of collaborating effort and sharing of work. We only need to understand what sharewares, freeware and multimedia as artistic, funny or serious cultural ones are and then start using them. In the future, you might see a collaborating free game that everyone can change a see different versions of and add-ons, supported and created by such sites that just connected the billions of people of the world in one website.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DOWNLOADING EXPERIENCE THROUGH TORRENTS. LEARN ALTERNATIVE USES AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX THAT THE MEDIA CONTROLLERS HAVE FORCED TO OUR MINDS!
AS A MEDIA students, I got lessons concerning ethics, laws or media news. In these three categories, the Pirate Bay and similar sites are mentioned and always discussed in the class. Today, it was a media news event, the recent second trial of the website is coming soon here in Sweden and it was a topic mentioned to class. But why? always the topic of this dialogue is the copyrighted material that may or may not be responsible the site.
THE OTHER SIDE of the coin here, is the USE of such sites as the Pirate Bay. I believe that people should start learning what is the OTHER most important use for these sites, as this may be also the solution to a part of this copyrighted material being stolen and distributed by anyone. The following article is based mostly on my opinions about the subject and partly I believe the reason why such sites were created.
USES OF TORRENTS is not just for (every) me to download the latest FIFA or PRO or the latest SIM game or CS 1,2,3,4,5 software. It is also for every artist, programmer, simple person or just a crazy one to share his/hers work with the world. I remember some months ago, that I read somewhere about torrent sites or was only the technology, that were one way of helping teams around the world to communicate, exchanging part of programs that they were creating together ... commonly known as sharewares. Programs developed by people at their spare time for all the world and without asking for money sharing even the source code so that others that may find the torrent (search or just find it by accident ... everything can happen ;p ) and then using the .torrent file, can download it, update/add their own tools or part of the program and then reshare through another .torrent file.
ALSO, THERE IS going to be a documentary for the Pirate Bay and if I remember correctly, the words of the editor were that many people were asking him how as a director supported the work of the piratebay when they were responsible for undermining his work as a director by sharing movies. This is where I would love to answer!!! Because the people who "direct" us to believe that sharing a movie undermines it are the ones that are making huge profit out of selling them. But, what is the purpose of a movie? If you think about it, it is fairest to share it and then support it by money than just sell it in so high prices. But, for the minds that are used to capitalism (and I am not against it, just sick of overusing products and a false sense of individualism), a movie or series or anything that has to do with multimedia hasn't only got a value for market, but it is created for the individual as well as the community, it is a way of creating culture, cultivating ideas, sharing ideas, expressing feelings (usually by artistic means). Like in some cultures in Asia, copying the work of someone is considered an honor ... why? Because it means you liked it and you want to preserve it and make it accessible to more people by multiplication, that means also that the artist is respected and liked.
BUT YOU WOULD question me as to why share it when it is your work and you spend time in it, which means money. If I share all of my works, I wouldn't be able to sustain myself economically and not even be able to buy the most common products to live. All of you that are against this kind of sharing, have you ever downloaded a game? or a movie? or a software? Most people that put them there (I mean serious ones that crack them and are doing it all the time, not a person that just found it somewhere downloaded it and reuploaded it in a torrent site), in their "declaration" of downloading and the rest, usually at the end is an important note, some times as a last step for downloading the software == "If you like it, BUY IT". That is also a kind of support, try something and then support it.
ALSO, DON'T YOU think that people in the entertainment industry of let's say Hollywood are overpaid for their work? But everyone want to be them because they are so overpaid. Then, we are leaving from the cultural and entertaining reasons and the worst one ... the public service media, that are no more in America, to the capitalistic, one-way messages of what the people want, but what the people want is what they are told to want, because there is not a real alternative.
IN THE BASIC ideology, .torrent sites can be used like youtube, but not in streaming, but downloading stuff. Let's say that me and my friends feel the artistic nature in us and we want to create a movie, then such as youtube, a bigger movie file will be hosted as torrent to share with the world. The same can be said for alternative programs such as gimp (alternative for photoshop) that let's say my international group of programmers has created to put effects in videos, or maybe Desktop backgrounds which I have created for my own use and I want to share them. Infinite solutions to the payable society. My free time saves million other free hours and money spent!!!
FINALLY, I AM not saying that .torrent sites are not used or will not be used as illegal material being shared, but don't look the dark side (for some it is not really a dark side) but the even brighter side of collaborating effort and sharing of work. We only need to understand what sharewares, freeware and multimedia as artistic, funny or serious cultural ones are and then start using them. In the future, you might see a collaborating free game that everyone can change a see different versions of and add-ons, supported and created by such sites that just connected the billions of people of the world in one website.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DOWNLOADING EXPERIENCE THROUGH TORRENTS. LEARN ALTERNATIVE USES AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX THAT THE MEDIA CONTROLLERS HAVE FORCED TO OUR MINDS!
Media ethics or media use or media idiots
THIS POST IS different from what I am usually trying to write, as it is mostly my frustration at some "higher power" that controls my fiber optics. This power is the technician which has put some restrictions at the web access at the hostel that I live the last month and for the next 2 months. 40plus people living there, accessing the internet through a house modem with a 10mbs internet speed.
I AM STARTING TO feel like a teenager with a parental control program on his computer. Implying that the reason the internet is always disconnecting is because a lot of us are using youtube and visiting porn sites simultaneously making the router disconnect us all. Of course, after a week of "banishment" for these websites, as much more like any website with flash game and video or audio streaming (i think the technician just disabled the html tags for multimedia on the web).
THEY THINK THAT because we are university students, bechelor and masters in there, we only use the internet for emailing and educational purposes. However, their limited perspective doesn't let them accept the fact that some multimedia services can be used as informational tools or educational purposes such as tutorials or serious videos. Also, are we not allowed to have some "fun" whatever that means to anyone, or are they the ones responsible for our ethics controlling if we want to visit porn? If they thought a text was inapropriate would they censor it, or if a web game is too violent, are they our parents to decide if we will play it or not?
IS IT JUST that they are stingy and don't want to pay more for internet? or a new router? It would solve all the problems in a matter of days that need to install the new router and the updating of the connection. Even with all their "banning" we still can't even talk to skype with our families and we have to choose ours of "less traffic" in our hostel.
UNACCEPTABLE, WHEN THEY earn 10 000 euros, 100 000 SEKS (about) from all of us and can't spend a less than 1-2% for a better connection. Shame on the money making machines of owners. When accessibility to the internte is a need and they find excuses to not let us access it ...
I AM STARTING TO feel like a teenager with a parental control program on his computer. Implying that the reason the internet is always disconnecting is because a lot of us are using youtube and visiting porn sites simultaneously making the router disconnect us all. Of course, after a week of "banishment" for these websites, as much more like any website with flash game and video or audio streaming (i think the technician just disabled the html tags for multimedia on the web).
THEY THINK THAT because we are university students, bechelor and masters in there, we only use the internet for emailing and educational purposes. However, their limited perspective doesn't let them accept the fact that some multimedia services can be used as informational tools or educational purposes such as tutorials or serious videos. Also, are we not allowed to have some "fun" whatever that means to anyone, or are they the ones responsible for our ethics controlling if we want to visit porn? If they thought a text was inapropriate would they censor it, or if a web game is too violent, are they our parents to decide if we will play it or not?
IS IT JUST that they are stingy and don't want to pay more for internet? or a new router? It would solve all the problems in a matter of days that need to install the new router and the updating of the connection. Even with all their "banning" we still can't even talk to skype with our families and we have to choose ours of "less traffic" in our hostel.
UNACCEPTABLE, WHEN THEY earn 10 000 euros, 100 000 SEKS (about) from all of us and can't spend a less than 1-2% for a better connection. Shame on the money making machines of owners. When accessibility to the internte is a need and they find excuses to not let us access it ...
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