Viral Videos in Politics and Advertising

Today, I will be discussing viral videos and their relationship with political and advertising campaigns. As the internet grows and becomes the most significant device for providing information it is necessary to analyze the usefulness of viral videos in politics and advertising; whether or not they are effective and how they become so wide spread. While discussing viral videos it is also important to look at Web 2.0 which is the way of using the internet for collaboration and sharing of data among individual users. Daniel Gayo-Avello helps define the importance of social media in a study and how it is becoming an important channel for information on the internet. Viral Videos are the distribution through sharing. A viral video is a video which is spread through online sharing and social media outlets. Through analyzing the “Yes We Can” video that was released during the political campaigns in 2008, Kevin Wallsten did a study on the influence that viral videos and found that bloggers played a larger role in spreading the video than journalists did. Furthermore, to see the effectiveness of viral videos, there was a study conducted by Kristen English and also a Newsweek article that stated that viral videos didn’t play a key role in influencing the public and increasing votes. Much like in advertising, there was a study of the Evian Skating baby commercial that went viral, but didn’t increase the profits for the company.  Through the use of Web 2.0 videos keep making their way through the network and becoming viral. However, through evidence, the number of views does not determine the attitude or influence that a person will take from it.

Net Neutrality

Today, I will be talking about Net Neutrality. Net neutrality means that Internet Service Providers cannot discriminate or block the transmission of lawful Internet content. Since ISPs are between users and the net, it is theorized that ISPs could control access to websites. However, opponents to Net Neutrality would be quick to point out that for the most part, ISPs have not engaged in this practice. “But, why leave the opportunity open?” supporters would say. Supporters of Net Neutrality mainly argue from a business standpoint, and they think that ISPs have a great incentive to regulate content. They would most likely do so in order to promote their own services. Opponents argue from a technical side, in the sense that, the Internet’s normal functioning depends on regulating the transmission of data packets. In other words, the Internet is efficient because data is regulated.

The FCC has enacted and put into practice a policy that has been described as Net Neutrality lite. This policy states that ISPs must be transparent in their operations and wired services cannot block or discriminate the transmission of lawful Internet content. Neither sides are in much agreement about this policy. Supporters state that it is too lenient and contains loopholes, and they question the FCC’s ability to enforce it. Opponents argue that the FCC has enacted a policy that has too broad an authority. Verizon has already gone so far as to sue the FCC for this policy, twice! Their first attempt was denied on the basis that the policy hadn’t been officially published, but their second attempt was only several days after publishing. The case has yet to be resolved, and the courts will decide the outcome.
This policy will likely continue to be debated, and Net Neutrality will continue to be a hot topic of today’s Internet.

The Great Firewall of China

                In class today, April 5, 2012, I will talk about internet censorship, specifically the Great Firewall of China, the largest and most effective internet censorship project to date. Officially known as the Golden Shield Project, development of the Great Firewall of China started soon after internet came to China. Started in the 1990s, the original idea was to have a comprehensive surveillance system that included speech and facial recognition, video monitoring, etc. It seemed like a mix of 1984 and V for Vendetta. However, this ultimate goal was never reached. The internet expanded so fast, that it was hard enough for the Chinese to keep up with the firewall, that they did not have the time or resources to implement everything else. The project was officially done being installed and integrated in 2008, but it is still updated almost every day.

                The Great Firewall uses four main techniques to keep people in China from accessing censored material:

1.       IP Blocking

2.       TCP Connection Cut-Off

3.       URL Blocking

4.       Content Scanning

Together these methods work to make sure that you cannot access anything that they have on their “blacklist”. The thing is, things on the “blacklist” change everyday, depending on what’s going on in the world. For instance, some news sites may be available most of the time, but if one day they have an article about riots in Tibet, the site will be blocked that day, and become available again when the article goes away.

This project has signifiganctly impacted the effect of the internet in China. Everyone and everything from your common citizen to mega companies like Google have to deal with it. The system is so effective and high tech, that China has made a business out of exporting its technologies. The Great Firewall of China has taken internet censorship to the ultimate extreme.

Slingbox

In today's class, I will be presenting on the Slingbox and how innovations in technology have changed the way that we watch television. I will start by discussing television through the Internet and how over the last decade, our mediums of watching a show have changed drastically. Then I will introduce a product that continues to change the way that we are able to watch our favorite shows. This product is the Slingbox. I will explain how it functions and is able to stream live television to a portable device such as a mobile phone. I will discuss pricing of the Slingbox so that the class can gain an understanding of how much this technology costs. After that, I will talk about the history of the Slingbox. When it was founded and how the Sling Media industry has progressed since its inception. The uses of the Slingbox will be discussed after the history. The uses include traveling for business or pleasure and not wanting to miss a second of your favorite sports team’s game. I will then show products similar to the Slingbox and show that though this is a recently new technology, there is still competition. Some of these include the “Vulkano Flow”, “TV2Me”, and USB TV Tuners.

After this discussion about the Slingbox, I will talk about websites that offer television to be watched after the live airing on standard television. I will reveal something that I found in the book that I thought was interesting on how television networks are allowed to count Internet viewers within three days of the original airing as part of their ratings. Finally, I will ask if there are any questions that I could answer that may have come to mind while listening to my presentation. I will present the discussion questions and come to my conclusion about the Slingbox, internet television, and the direction in which technology is taking us.

The Freeze of 1948

            Today in class, March 22, I will be talking to you about the FCC’s issuing of the temporary freeze in 1948, as it relates to our topic of TV.  The freeze of 1948, which was issued by the FCC, was intended to last six months to give the FCC sufficient time to deal with matters regarding giving licenses to new stations and creating standards for them all to follow. Six months was suppose to give the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) the time it needed to study the issues that were arising and create a blueprint, so to speak, for the future stations that were seeking a license. However, do to circumstance beyond their control, such as the Korean War, the FCC was unable to lift the freeze in the six month time period that they had hoped to.

             The FCC had five major issues on their hands: the freeze the FCC put on new TV stations in 1948, reservation of channel space for educational-  noncommercial television, the reduction of channel interference, establish a national channel allocation map or scheme, and opening up of additional spectrum space. Some of these issues were more difficult to solve, some very easy, and some differed from city to city. The freeze was finally lifted after the Sixth Report and Order was issued, which expanded the channels for very high frequency channels, ultra high frequency channels, and educational channels.

              By the time the freeze was lifted, the war and Great Depression had also ended, which was changing the day to day life of Americans, giving them more leisure time. This new leisure time was filled with television and many new fads such as Davy Crockett and Elvis Presley emerged. 

Internet Television: Hulu

Today I will be talking about internet television and specifically about Hulu. Although internet television was around before, it gained notoriety in 1994 when ABC World News began broadcasting their shows on the internet.  After this pioneering broadcast, there was a steady increase of networks putting their shows on the internet as well.  The biggest breakthrough of internet television came in 2005 when the site YouTube began putting videos on their website from many different shows and networks. People knew that if they wanted to see a clip from a show they missed that they could easier find it on YouTube.

            After YouTube was somewhat restricted through copyright laws and impending lawsuits, NBCUniversal and News Corp. had an idea to create an internet television website that would allow consumers to legally watch their favorite shows and movies. This idea turned into what is now known as Hulu. Hulu is an internet television website where people can watch most of their favorite TV shows and movies for free. Since it’s start on March 12, 2008, Hulu has expanded greatly and has titles in their libraries from networks such as NBC, ABC, MTV, Comedy Central, The CW, and Fox. There are many great features such as Hulu Desktop, Time-Based Browsing, and Recommendation that allow consumers to have the greatest viewing experience.  In addition to television shows, Hulu also has hundreds of movies, documentaries, and even original programming that is sure to leave the viewer with plenty of interesting options to watch.

            Recently, Hulu launched their newest venture called Hulu Plus. This is a subscription-based service that gives consumers even greater choices of shows and movies to watch. The service is $7.99/month and also allows consumers to watch it not only from the computer, but from their video game console, connected TVs, smart phones, iPods, iPads, and more.

            Hulu has completely revolutionized the concept of internet television. It has given networks a way to stream their content online without losing revenue or viewership, and has allowed them to keep up with the fast pace of new media and technology. 

The Motion Picture Code of 1930

Today, March 8, 2012, I will discuss the Motion Picture Code of 1930 or the Hays Code (which I will call it for the sake of my presentation). I found this topic to be most interesting because I had never thought to ask where movie ratings come from and learning a little history on film has helped me to appreciate what we view today.

My presentation will start off with a little history about William Harrison Hays. I will then move on to tell you a little about his beliefs and his mission, or the reasoning behind the Hays Code. After explaining the creator of the Hays Code, I will move on to everything the code entailed. The restrictions of the code are lengthy and I will list and elaborate on all of them. Hays came in just in time to “save” the film industry, at the time in the 20’s the film industry was being greatly ridiculed for its “party hard” casts and other offensive behavior. The film’s audiences were greatly devastated and ready to give film up completely when Hays stepped in and created the Motion Picture Code of 1930. The Hays Code was strict in many ways; however, in the 1920’s the audiences vastly differed from that of today’s audiences. The Hays Code did serve its purpose for the time being and did a great job of doing so. The Hays Code was in effect for almost 40 years, when the MPAA came in with a ratings scale and put an end to the code and birthed the ratings similar to what we follow today.

The impact on the film industry was minimal; however, the film companies did greatly resent the Motion Picture Code of 1930 because of the many restrictions that the code placed on them. Hope you enjoy my presentation and look forward to your questions and comments.