The Tragedy of the Digital Commons: A Napster’s Tale

I am back from my long hiatus in the woods, and thinking about my computer once again. I have been reading Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody, and it gave those rusty gears in my head at least a quarter turn.

I will probably write a review of the entire book later this week when I finish it, but for now his second chapter writings, about the tragedy of the commons and how it relates to the ever evolving use of the internet, got me thinking.

For those not familiar with the popular dilemma, it is often used when explaining things like publicly grazed land, and it can be explained in three easy steps:

1. There is something people share
2. It is free
3. People use it until it’s promptly ruined

Yeah, yeah, it can get a lot more complicated than that but that is the crux of it. Books like these often use it to explain why there is so much useless stuff and offensive conversations on the internet. That is all well and good when people are discussing average web browsing, but the internet is a far more versatile tool than that, so lets look at a slightly different example.

Napster, you might remember, was a file sharing software that allowed you to download music from other users. If you would like to marvel at what kind of tools the internet can provide, know that in 2001 Napster had 28 million registered users. To put it in context that same year about 85 million people watched the Super Bowl.

Because the music was free, and violated copyright laws, Napster went through a series of legal battles ending in them becoming a pay-for service, which they are today (thanks Metallica). That process has stripped them down to less than one million users today.

If you aren’t feeling playful, skip this next paragraph and go strait to the one after the picture.

What if Napster had not been a computer program made by some dudes and had instead been the Nordic god of music collecting all recorded music from all time and giving it to people for free at there request. Would you consider him A. A big jerk or B. A gift from Valhalla. Feel free to point out that this is a loaded question suggesting the use of mob rule to determine statutory law.

I am Thor, god of Thunder, and even I have no idea what he's talking about.

Moving on, time for some UNNECESSARY SCENARIO RUNNING

Possibility One

1. Napster is shared by the people
2. It is free
3. Napster is pretty much ruined

I like this one, but it is missing a huge link. Instead of the normal overuse killing Napster, external forces killed the fated program. Instead of farmers sharing and overgrazing a field (classic TOC example), the farmers are sharing a field and somebody comes over from across the country to burn it down. Of course it was a magic field that could never be over grazed, so naturally the people selling alfalfa seeds got upset. Because magic is a satanic use of witchcraft and thus against the laws of God and man, they were allowed pour on the kerosene.

This is much better than the other possible application

1. Music is shared by the people
2. It is free
3. Music is promptly destroyed

That makes no sense…

Right, moving on. We see this burn down tactic on a lot of online outlets. Kazaa after Napster stands out in my mind as one of the biggest, and more recently The Pirate Bay. Then there is Pandora, a music sight that acts as a radio station, which has come under legal fire in the past and has recently started including ads.

I am interested in the money making model for services like Twitter, will it eventually include an advertising element? Wouldn’t surprise me. The articles on how Twitter will find profitability are many and varied, and while it is at low risk for litigation, I doubt that it will continue in its current state indefinitely.

The point I am trying to make here is that the internet is indeed a magic field, it could be used to create some of the largest and furthest reaching libraries in the history of man, cataloging all video, audio, images, text, etc. The internet has come a long way but of its potential has yet to be seen. Or not.

So what is the Tragedy of the Digital Commons (TODC for short)? It is that the potential is to great for most industries to want to allow. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

This is also why you should care who the chairman of the FCC is…

Or not.

Podcasting Transcript #3

Audio

The questions as to why podcasting is worth learning, and what the future of information sharing will be are two questions that go hand and hand. I think that perhaps the best way to explain it is to start with some historical examples of the way communications have changed over time.

In a recent article, Clay Shirky explains that the advent of the internet is much like the advent of the Gutenberg printing press. Meaning that it will completely change the way that we exchange information.

There was a lot of time between Gutenberg’s first mass produced bible and the modern daily newspaper. At the time they probably never expected that one day an automatic press would be used to put words on unbound paper to be used and discarded on a daily basis, but eventually that became the norm.

The question now is, what will become the norm for the internet in the future? For my prediction I take a quick look into the past. When Radio was developing, famous journalist Edward R. Morrow had a radio program called “Hear it Now”. When TV was developed, he made the transition and his new show as called “See it Now”.

Using the title formula for his shows we can logically assume that if he had lived long enough to make the transition to internet his show would have been titled “Hear, See, or Read Practically Anything Anytime Day or Night”.

With the recent popularity of Amazons Kindle I have started to wonder which national newspaper will be the first to have a Kindle ready print edition each morning for download. Although it might take a while, because I doubt that a profitable business model for the Kindle daily newspaper even exists yet, which only means non ad-based journalism outlets are going to have a distinct and lasting advantage in that area.

So you might be thinking, All right, lay it on us, what it your 1984 style prediction for the future of news?

Well, in the future I wouldn’t be surprised to see online news pages with several smaller blurbs with icons that will allow them to add it to mp3 or kindle export list which will catch all that persons selections much like a the shopping cart on retail sites. When the consumer is done the “cart page” will either export their selections so an mp3/kindle device, stream the video or audio like a personally constructed TV or radio station, or aggregate their selected stories into a simple printable file.

My reasoning behind this has to do with it being the most consumer convenient way of distributing information that I can think of,  and on a long enough time line, someone will figure out how to provide consumers with something like it.

With the increasing capability of mobile devices, and the potential for universal wireless internet the possibilities for the future could be vastly different than what most people might think.

Of course, that is just the stuff that I like to daydream about, the way I have been making those interests practical has been studying podcasting. Go figure.

Podcasting Transcript #2

Audio

Because both my knowledge and recordings are somewhat basic, I can tell you that the only two things you need to record audio are some sort of microphone and recording software.

While there are several different kinds of audio software that are generally designed for users of different skill levels ranging from beginner to professional, we are going to be using Audacity for now because it is free, it is open source, and it allows for some pretty cool plug-ins. While I will eventually upgrade to better software like Fruity Loops, Sonar, or Pro-Tools, Audacity will do for now and provide some free linear editing experience.

As for microphones, I have to good fortune of being able to use a couple different kinds. My brother has two dynamic microphones, a condenser microphone, and I have a Plantronics 650 USB Multimedia Stereo Headset that I also use for Skype conversations.

The microphone I am using for these podcasts is my brother’s MXL 990 Condensor Microphone with a Shockmount, which, for the purposes of podcasting is like using a violin to hammer in a nail.

Now you might be thinking, Kevin, using a condenser microphone for this kind of work is only going to increase the interference, you would probably be better off using one of the dynamic mics instead. Well, to that I can only say, it is my show and my opportunity to use a cool toy so lay off. In the future, the microphone I use will vary.

Because I am writing these episodes out before hand in my normal blog style, I can do three or four takes of each paragraph and sew the best sounding ones together, or I can do a couple of complete takes and edit out my mistakes and long pauses to make the whole thing flow better and go faster.

While these episodes are centered on podcasting, it is important not to  pigeon hole your audio as one specific thing. The more ways you put it out there, the more likely a viewer is going to come in and snag it in the way that suits them best.

To podcast, you first have to find somewhere to host your audio, and make sure that your RSS feed is working properly before you can submit it to iTunes for syndication.

In addition, it might be a good idea to stream it onto your blog. While I would love to do that here, I have not come up with a good enough way to do so that I also feel is cost efficient. Because I am using the free version of WordPress, I can’t add audio in. But if I had downloaded WordPress and hired a different host for my blog, I could use plugins like Podpress or Powerpress to stream that audio into the top of the transcribed blog post.

What I might have done, because I do have some limited Michigan State server space available, is create an external web page that just streams this audio, which is somewhat similar to the way that the BBC streams its audio. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the audio on the servers, but eventually this audio will be available on iTunes for your listening pleasure.

Now you might be wondering to yourself, If you are embedding the audio why would you provid a written transcript on your blog? Well, I am glad you asked that. The reason is that unlike audio I can cram my text full of pictures and hyperlinks for more information. That way if someone downloads this podcast and wants more information on something like the 990 MXL Condenser mic, or how to download the Podpress or Powerpress plug-ins, they can check out the text and get the links.

There are also the people who just don’t listen to podcasts, and in the long run you are going to want them to have access to the audio too. More still, some people will always prefer text to audio and you’ll want to cater to those people as well.

Also, for the most intrigued audience member, there are going to be slight differences between the text and the audio, and as a writer you can even spend some time making these differences somewhat meaningful to reward the manically astute audience member.

These ways to get your content out there are only the first part of what I expect will be an ongoing revolution in the way we communicate over the internet.

Podcasting Transcript #1

Audio

Are you tired of the voices in your head driving you crazy? Well, lucky for you, podcast makes it possible for you to have other people’s voices driving you crazy.

Podcasting is something that has been keeping my attention lately. Not because I think that podcasting is the future of communications, but because I think that what it represents in a niche that can be transformed into something much more marketable.

With the growth of youtube, video is a good place to look for guidance when it comes to the future of audio. And while some people may instinctively think that video is just better audio, I would have to disagree.  Of the video bloggers that I keep up with, they generally fall into two catagories, those whose video enhance their content and those whose video doesn’t.

Here are a few example of what I mean. If you have never heard about or seen Phil Defranco’s show on youtube, it is a great example of video aided blogging.   Like most vlogs, Phil is just a talking head who puts out short episodes of things that he has been thinking about lately

While that may sound like any other vlog, one of the things that makes him different is the way he edits out most of his pauses and mistakes, which make it faster and often times helps with his comedic timing.   The jumps in the video let the viewer know whats going on instead giving them the sinking suspision that he never takes breaths, much like this podcast, which has less to do with my editing and more to do with the fact that I never breath.

Phil also keeps his show funny, and while he talks about whatever he wants, it is almost always has something to do with other people. Because of this he has developed quite a following. The video he posted yesterday already has well over 100,000 views.

Contrast this with people who post unedited videos of themselves with all there pauses and mistakes, talking about things that nobody cares about, well it is not a pretty picture. I often have a hard time sitting though talking head videos like that to begin with, and when the content gives me no reason to keep watching it becomes nearly impossible.

It is like watching a TV anchor read the news vs. listing to the news on the radio, often the anchor doesn’t ad very much to the broadcast, and the writing is not intended on providing the viewer with a good visual. This is becoming more and more problematic as the amount on scene reporting continues to dwindle with budget constraints.

Often times I feel like I could be doing more important things with my eyes, like eating breakfast, or driving.  Or potentially eating breakfast while driving.

The emphasis here is not so much on podcasting, but the way that audio can and should be incorporated into the ways that we communicate.   Specifically, finding audios place in different platform niches including those people who listen to podcasts, those who don’t subscribe to podcasts but would prefer audio anyway, those who want video or graphic to go with there audio or print, and those people who prefer good-old-fashion reading.

In the next two episodes I will explore ways to cater to all these audiences.

Presentation Zen, The Perfect Gift for the Cool Prof.

Recently, I had the pleasure of being assigned Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. My first thought after reading it, “This book should be required reading for college professors.”

It is my fourth year at Michigan State University, and while that in no way makes me an expert on teaching, it does mean that I have sat through a lifetimes worth of terrible slide shows. Making matters worse, many professors have boiled their classes down in such an extreme way that the slides are the only thing given to the students.

In his book Mr. Reynolds talks about the three parts of a presentation: Slides, Notes, and Handouts. My experience in the world of academia would have led me to believe that it is more like the slides (mono-color boxes filled with text and chalk full of unordered lists), the prof reading the slides (some profs have premeditated digressions, fewer still have actual notes differing from the slides show), and the web content (prof puts slides on line for student to study from, effectively killing the student’s motivation to attend class.)

Presentation Zen presents a hopeful new perspective on what a presentation can be, entertaining, thought provoking, engaging, inventive. While I don’t expect every professor to have all those qualities, it would be nice if they at least had one or two.

Am I, the lowly student, asking too much when I suggest that it might be better for a prof spend time on a presentation, and a completely separate document outlining things that students should know? If that is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. I have even thought up some really catchy names for said document, maybe “notes” or “study guides.”

Creating a normal word document for notes would spare students who foolishly like print the things they study from the agonizing choice between using a bunch of paper or needing a magnifying glass to read the 12-Slide-Per-Page font.

This suggestion supposes that profs wouldn’t mind creating three things instead of one, which would indeed take up some of there time. Mr. Reynolds does give some examples of spending large amounts of time on a single presentation in his book, and I understand that for someone teaching multiple classes it does get time consuming, but honestly, even making some small changes to the way you use your current prep time based on his suggestion would probably increase everyone’s enjoyment of the class.

I know many professors believe that their class attendance says more about their students than their teaching, and I am inclined to agree. But speaking for those like myself, who try not to miss class, even if it is Reading the Dictionary with Ben Stine 101, a little presentation is much appreciated.

To those of you thinking, Man you are really being hard on the profs. I will point out that I have also sat through my fair share of excruciating painful group presentation composed entirely by students, so Freshmen might want to snag a copy too.

As for how I felt about the book, I thought it was well written, entertaining, and useful (includes places to get free stock photos, great design pointers, and an example of a professor who uses similar principles to make sweet presentations).

My copy is now dogeared, and I am not going to pawn it back to the bookstore at the end of the semester, which is the equivalent of a college student seal of approval. Bravo Mr. Reynolds, keep up the good work.

Final Project

I would like to give my last presentation on multi-platform information delivery, specifically audio. Of the things that I have looked at since joining this class, the thing I have been most interested in putting audio into my blog posts, obviously, this is something that I am still working on.

The idea behind a podcast is that it basically the equivalent of an audio blog, because of the constraints of Itunes on the podcast it is important to think about how to get audio product to people who are not well versed in Podcasting.

My outline:

• Podcasting
• Brief how to
• Brief history
• Plugging you Podcast into WordPress
• In class demo
• Advantages over vlogging
• The next step for audio
• How this changes your blog
• Why this is important

The way I am going to make the presentation interesting? Well I am going to try to add audio to one of my posts in class during my presentation. I will come in having a blog post written, and plug in prerecorded audio that goes with the text.

Podcamp Toronto

So, I went to Podcamp Toronto on a whim with fellow mad scientist and younger brother Austin St. George. It was a conference at Ryerson University about podcasting and new media. Best part, it was free.

I was planning on writing a full review of the conference in a post, but as time has gone on, I have decided to stick with what I am interested in the most, Journalism.

There were a two sessions on journalism, one dealing with video game coverage which I did not attend because I try and limit my video game playing to Halo 3, and another on how new media is changing journalism, which I went to.

The session was called Journalism & New Media Communications by Dawn Boshcoff. Immediately after the session I to wanted to write a post lambasting her session for talking addition to people already doing quantum physics. However, I am not going to harp on that because she had the courage to present, and of course the price was right, free. (Still, I can’t resist telling you that at one point she explained that LOL means laughing out loud.)

What I will say is that I was unsurprised and dismayed that those who identify themselves as journalists are the furthest behind when it comes to new media. It is astounding because I think that whether “podcasting is dead” or not, most journalism outlets are still a day late and several dollars short when it comes to new media, and multi-platform.

Well, far be it for me to point out the problems with someone’s presentation without stepping up to the plate. I am attending another podcamp, Podcamp London (ON) and I am going to try to give a session on journalism that the techies won’t run out of because they are board.

Now I know what you are thinking, I am a new media junkie I wish I could have gone to Podcamp Toronto. Lucky for you the guys, the tech guys are ahead of there time, and you can catch the video for each session on there wiki page. I am currently using it to catch up on some of the sessions I missed.

Man, those guys think of everything… Anyway, by the end of April, hopefully I will be able to hang with the best of them, or at least give a presentation that won’t send them running.

Reasons to Watch the FCC

This post is centered around three good reasons to watch the FCC that only a few people actually talk about, and one terrible reason that no one will shut up about. I won’t be mad if you stop reading now.

Reason one, cross ownership laws.

With newspapers tanking like The Exxon-Valdese many people think that perhaps it is time to let tv stations buy up daily newspapers.

The two questions you got to ask yourself on this one. First, just how few news sources you are actually comfortable with? Second, do you feel lucky punk? Well, do you?

You wouldn't lie to me would you?

No of course not...

But seriously, for those of you who do not study journalism, on a scale from one to ten, how freaked out would you be if your newscaster in the morning was just reading the headlines? (Comment below.)

The second reason to watch the FCC, net neutrality. If an internet service provider is collecting data about your internet habits, they are breaking the law. The FCC has defended neutrality so far, but the corporate hounds are at the door howling about the lack copyright protection.

What will happen? I have no idea. But it is going to take some real hardball lobbying to change the tide on this one. Not to say that it won’t happen, there is a lot of money at stake, and whenever a lot of money is at stake, strange things have a way of happening.

The third reason to watch the FCC, wavers. The FCC has a whole bunch of regulations that are not followed by giant media corporations. For instance, if you haven’t heard the people screaming for some New York Post blood after an extremely distasteful a cartoon they ran, then you should probably Google it.

This cartoon was so offensive that a group of people now want the FCC to pull their waiver, which would mean they are no longer allowed to own a TV station and daily newspaper in the same city. I am not a business major, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that it would be, you know, terrible for them.

I don’t think that the FCC has commented on the issue, but I hope that they do. Even if it is to say that they will not be pulling the wavier. It would be nice for them to recognize that stuff like this is why they get their paychecks.

One terrible reason to be interested in the FCC that people won’t stop yacking about, going digital. I am so sick of hearing about the whole voucher thing that my head might explode. I don’t even want to get into the amount of money they spent on the whole thing. Lets just day, it was more than $5 and less than $5 billion.

Oh yeah, and Obama has to appoint two new commissioners. One of them has to be a Republican too, should be fun.

Staying Up to Speed With The New Media Drivers License

A question that people are constantly asking themselves is, am I still cool? How do I tell if I am lagging behind the social media times, and online know how in general? Do the acid wash jeans and flock of seagulls haircut I have been sporting lately make me look ‘hip’?

One word... Timeless.

There was a time not so long ago that I thought that all the social networking tools that have cropped up lately were just for crazy people who are always chained to their computers. But at the time, I was also severely underusing my computer and the internet in general. So, I have compiled this quick survey to help you see if you are up to speed.

1. Do you know what RSS is and how to use it?
2. Do you follow any podcasts?
3. Do you use any social networking other than Facebook?
4. Do you follow blogs of things that you were interested in, and leave comments?

If you answered no to any of these questions then you should probably consider taking The New Media Drivers License class.

1. Did you just recently master IBM punch cards?
2. Have you thought about strategies for hiding from employers on Facebook?
3. Do you have trouble sleeping because you can’t stop thinking about the ways social media can be used?
4. Do you still listen to Divo?

If you said yes to all of these question, then you have probably been trapped in block of ice since the 80s.

Seriously though, in my opinion this class should not be restricted to Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations and the occasional Journalism Major. The topics covered in this class will end up changing every industry, not just Marketing and PR. This class would make just as much sense as an Integrated Social Science Class entitled: Modern Internet Practices and How They Can Help You.

Now, I know what you are thinking, I am already pretty agile when it comes to swinging the vines of the vast internet jungle. Why would I want to take this class? Nice metaphor, and good question. Of course I could rephrase that question by asking you, why wouldn’t you want an opportunity to get credit for a class that lets you exercise your own voice, and sharpen skills you already?

If you are tired of being left out of discussions around the water cooler over whether podpress or powerpress is a better plugin for putting audio on your wordpress, or you have no idea what any of that means, then look into signing up for the class. Ask your councilor about ADV 492.

If you are a Professor or Administrator in the Comm Arts school, know that expanding and even requiring this class for students is probably a smart move. (Also, thanks for reading my blog.)

A Difference of Prediction

Don’t you hate when you are in a class discussion, and you try to provide some relevant insightful analysis on a topic, and then somebody totally pigeon holes you and tries to make it seem like you have a bias opinion one way or another?

No? What do you mean you don’t speak in class? Well I hate it, and it happened to me earlier this week.

The subject, the impending copyright infringement cases taking place over the Obama HOPE poster made by street artist Shepard Fairey. If you are not sure what I am talking about, type Shepard Fairey, HOPE into Google Images. Yep, that’s the one.

Anyway, it turns out that the poster is based on an picture that the AP believes it owns the copyright to, they of course didn’t know this until an interested third part dug up the information after Mr. Fairey stated that he based it on an AP photo.

Naturally, the AP decided that it wants its cut of the action, so Mr. Fairey and his lawyers started negotiating a settlement. The whole thing was brought up in class to show the dangers of using copyrighted material, but it spawned a conversation, which I was a major part of, that went something like this.

The Professor’s Prediction: It is going to get settled out of court and Mr. Fairey is going to have to pay the AP. The AP has a whole team of lawyers that are dedicated to the issue and they are going to take this street artist to task.

Student A’s Opinion: Mr. Fairey owes the AP a whole lot of money, anyone could do what he did in Photoshop, and she hopes the judge slaps him with huge punitive damages. (Keep in mind Mr. Fairey allowed people to reproduce his version of the image for free, so while his version of the image probably made him some money, I doubt it is millions.)

Rest of The Class: Mouths slacked open like uninterested zombies.

My Prediction: If the AP follows through with this suit they are not going to get any money, and they run the risk of having to pay Mr. Fairey’s lawyers fees.

Suddenly, I am the equivalent of a journalism evildoer.

Professor’s Response: A long complex hypothetical comparison between this instance and a Harry Potter ripoff which has no relevant to this case. Thus Mr. Fairey will settle.

Student A’s Response: She is a photography student, which makes her an expert, (her supposition not mine) and she would be pissed if somebody did the same thing with one of her photo’s. (A valid point but something I doubt the judge will take into consideration.)

My Defense of My Prediction: None of these arguments take into account parody, emulation, or fair use. In this instance fair use laws, which ALLOWS LIMITED USE OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FOR CRITICISM OR COMMENT, will probably the deciding argument. In addition, if the AP wins damages won’t be that big. Because much of the distribution of the image was done by third parties who were not charged by Mr. Fairey, the argument could be made that those parties are more financially culpable to the AP than Mr. Fairey.

(A side note, I disagree with the argument that anyone with Photoshop could do the same thing, if you don’t believe me, then take a look a people’s Facebook photo’s who have tried to emulate the poster with a picture of themselves. What do they have in common? They all suck when compared to the Mr. Fairey’s poster, I decided against bringing this up in class.)

Profs Final Word: Continued the inapplicable hypothetical comparison, said that the AP’s lawyers are going to intimidate Mr. Fairey into a huge settlement, and he will end up homeless if he isn’t already. I am stupid for not agreeing.

Student A’s Final Word: Mr. Fairy stole the hard work of the photographer, who deserves to be compensated. I am a jerk for not agreeing.

My Final Word: I have reason to think that this will not be settled out of court, I don’t really care what happens, I am trying to present a prediction not an opinion, but I am going to look into it some more just because you people pissed me off. I then added that this lawsuit could develop into a public relations nightmare for the AP in a time where they really don’t need it. (Some people in the class agreed with this point.)

So later that day I am reading a The New York Times article about the whole thing. Not only had the settlement already failed, but now Mr. Fairey has lawyers from Stanford to help him with the fair-use argument.

On top of that, the part of the photo he took, which looks significant in most of the side by sides that I have seen, is actually a small portion of a much larger photograph that shows Barack Obama and George Clooney sitting next to each other. (And yes, I am also hoping they make Clooney either the Secretary of Hansom or Ambassador to Sudan.)

Try and carry out your inhuman genocide now... JERKFACES!

On top of that, the man who took the original photo, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Mannie Garcia, claims that under the terms of his freelance contract with the AP at the time the photo was taken, (2006) he actually owns the copyright to the photo.

One thing that I learned from playing chess, the more you want a move to be the right move, the more surprised you are going to be when your opponent mates you. Am I crazy? Does it make me a journalistic villain to even insinuate that we can’t stem the flow of free information transfer, or even harness it using old paradigms?

Well, it isn’t the first time I have been called a lunatic. With any luck, it won’t be the last.