wordwhacker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wordwhacker) wrote2008-12-02 08:33 pm
wordwhacker) wrote2008-12-02 08:33 pm
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Media Living: The Last Stand
Well, it looks like this is it for the Media Living journal. I have a few closing comments to make that have to do with the last reading for the course, and a few more media use-type things to mention, too. Then this journal goes back to being my writing journal, and none too soon - I've got to get a few submissions to Vox out by the end of the week, and now that NaNoWriMo is over for another year (and as you can tell by my icon, I am a WINNAH!), my creativity has been kicked into high gear.
Last week was basically paper-writing week, which means that my life has basically been cycles of MS Word usage and, briefly, Rock Band / The Bully playing as brain breaks. I've been downloading stuff a little more lately, too - found a Cat Stevens song that I wanted to learn on the guitar, and one of my study breaks on Saturday was my learning to play it. And does anybody else remember "Saga," the Canadian progressive rock group from the eighties? My folks liked their stuff a lot and, as much eighties music does, it inspires me with nostalgia. My dad was listening to the radio the other day and "Wind Him Up" came on, and I remembered how much I liked it, so I poked around online and found that album. It's decent, but I don't know if I would bother purchasing it - there are only two songs that interest me (the other being "On the Loose").
I found "Wind Him Up" on YouTube too, and the "more info" that accompanies it is interesting:
This is kind of cool because it shows that putting concert footage up on YouTube isn't usually about any kind of disrespect for the bands, or even for the companies that have the rights to the footage. Lots of info about the group and the concert, even where the concert was broadcast, is included there. But there's obviously some annoyance about the DVD not having this and lots of other songs - how are consumers supposed to have any iota of support for centralized production and distribution if they're going to omit desired material? I recently found some Utopia videos from a concert in 1982 which belong to a discontinued DVD, as well. Obviously lots of stuff that IS available is spread around, and that's the main concern that copyright holders have (I'd wager), but it isn't the ONLY thing going on. People will happily distribute things themselves if they aren't worth it for a company to do it, or if a company is slack about it (like with the Saga DVD above.) And it isn't all about simply sticking it to the man.
The reading this week ("United yet autonomous: Indymedia and the struggle to sustain a radical democratic network" by Victor W. Pickard) talks about networks and how "...unlike markets and hierarchies, network forms of organization are characterized by enduring relationships and exchanges based on trust, legitimacy and ethical behavior. These relationships are distinct in nature because there is no legitimate organizational authority reinforcing them." He goes on to say that they are less many-headed and more many-centered, and so less leader-focused.
I think this is true, at least generally - the qualification that they're "many-centered" might hit the nail on the head, because networks (in my experience, which I'll admit isn't particularly wide) seem to clump into smaller units, and sometimes do tend to have central figures. But they don't seem as likely to have a single person at the helm, or a single small group of people at one helm. Particularly I'm thinking about Anonymous, the group that is globally confronting the "church" of Scientology. The suggestion is that Anonymous is "legion," that they're an organization without leaders but with a common cause. In practice, of course, there ARE leaders - individuals who step up and perform leader-like functions, anyway, like speaking at rallies, coming up with march routes for protests and setting dates/times, etc. And in order for these protests to be coordinated across the world there needs to be some central guiding force. Actually, Anonymous could be an interesting group to compare to Indymedia, which is Pickard's area of interest. They have a much different agenda, but they seem to adhere to the same principles that he found in Indymedia: a delicate balance between a globally-focused group and many small, local and somewhat independent chapters. Anonymous might actually be MORE network-like, because (if I'm remembering correctly) there isn't really a "central" site, just lots of local group sites.
One more thing that I want to mention (briefly, because I think I'm going to be focusing on it in my paper and don't want to spend all of my good ideas here), is Rifftrax. I learned about these guys while I was in Australia and got a ridiculous amount of entertainment from them. Basically they are some of the main folks from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and they do that style of thing: make a running commentary of the movie which is making fun of every aspect of it from directorial choices to line delivery, and of course spending a lot of time speaking FOR the characters. The show used to air on TV but from what I understand copyright started to become an issue. The solution to this was to record the tracks (trax?) and sell them separately for download on the 'net, and let the user buy or rent the DVD (or download it, but they don't promote that - they actually use the site as an advertising vehicle for the films they're making fun of!) It's all pretty brilliant, as far as I'm concerned.
But what I love (and what I'm going to focus on in my paper) is the community aspect. Not only do they have buzzing forums with a space for FAN riffers (people who record their own), but they've recently allowed fan riffers to sell their own riffs on the site (splitting the profits, of course). Making a recording on a computer is SUPER easy and other folks would obviously be drawn to do it, so why fight it? Give them some storage space and promotion power and share in the profits!
Talk about a one-eighty turn from Anne Rice's tactics, eh?
Anyway, that's enough from me. I listened to the Jurassic Park rifftrax yesterday (which is why I started thinking about it) and I have a couple more to enjoy over the week while I finish up the school stuff and study for exams. With the writing bug biting me, I'm starting to think about writing and recording one of my own.
And a special "thank you!" shout-out to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eternalism and banana_ellana for commenting and encouraing me to think more deeply about some of the things I've been talking about. That IS what the course is all about, after all.
Last week was basically paper-writing week, which means that my life has basically been cycles of MS Word usage and, briefly, Rock Band / The Bully playing as brain breaks. I've been downloading stuff a little more lately, too - found a Cat Stevens song that I wanted to learn on the guitar, and one of my study breaks on Saturday was my learning to play it. And does anybody else remember "Saga," the Canadian progressive rock group from the eighties? My folks liked their stuff a lot and, as much eighties music does, it inspires me with nostalgia. My dad was listening to the radio the other day and "Wind Him Up" came on, and I remembered how much I liked it, so I poked around online and found that album. It's decent, but I don't know if I would bother purchasing it - there are only two songs that interest me (the other being "On the Loose").
I found "Wind Him Up" on YouTube too, and the "more info" that accompanies it is interesting:
Saga - Legendary Canadian Progrock
Live at the Metropolis - Montreal 1984
Rock Etc Canadian TV Broadcast
www.saga-world.com
Over half the songs from the show including this one, DID NOT make it to the Silhouette official DVD.
Here it is for your enjoyment.
This is kind of cool because it shows that putting concert footage up on YouTube isn't usually about any kind of disrespect for the bands, or even for the companies that have the rights to the footage. Lots of info about the group and the concert, even where the concert was broadcast, is included there. But there's obviously some annoyance about the DVD not having this and lots of other songs - how are consumers supposed to have any iota of support for centralized production and distribution if they're going to omit desired material? I recently found some Utopia videos from a concert in 1982 which belong to a discontinued DVD, as well. Obviously lots of stuff that IS available is spread around, and that's the main concern that copyright holders have (I'd wager), but it isn't the ONLY thing going on. People will happily distribute things themselves if they aren't worth it for a company to do it, or if a company is slack about it (like with the Saga DVD above.) And it isn't all about simply sticking it to the man.
The reading this week ("United yet autonomous: Indymedia and the struggle to sustain a radical democratic network" by Victor W. Pickard) talks about networks and how "...unlike markets and hierarchies, network forms of organization are characterized by enduring relationships and exchanges based on trust, legitimacy and ethical behavior. These relationships are distinct in nature because there is no legitimate organizational authority reinforcing them." He goes on to say that they are less many-headed and more many-centered, and so less leader-focused.
I think this is true, at least generally - the qualification that they're "many-centered" might hit the nail on the head, because networks (in my experience, which I'll admit isn't particularly wide) seem to clump into smaller units, and sometimes do tend to have central figures. But they don't seem as likely to have a single person at the helm, or a single small group of people at one helm. Particularly I'm thinking about Anonymous, the group that is globally confronting the "church" of Scientology. The suggestion is that Anonymous is "legion," that they're an organization without leaders but with a common cause. In practice, of course, there ARE leaders - individuals who step up and perform leader-like functions, anyway, like speaking at rallies, coming up with march routes for protests and setting dates/times, etc. And in order for these protests to be coordinated across the world there needs to be some central guiding force. Actually, Anonymous could be an interesting group to compare to Indymedia, which is Pickard's area of interest. They have a much different agenda, but they seem to adhere to the same principles that he found in Indymedia: a delicate balance between a globally-focused group and many small, local and somewhat independent chapters. Anonymous might actually be MORE network-like, because (if I'm remembering correctly) there isn't really a "central" site, just lots of local group sites.
One more thing that I want to mention (briefly, because I think I'm going to be focusing on it in my paper and don't want to spend all of my good ideas here), is Rifftrax. I learned about these guys while I was in Australia and got a ridiculous amount of entertainment from them. Basically they are some of the main folks from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and they do that style of thing: make a running commentary of the movie which is making fun of every aspect of it from directorial choices to line delivery, and of course spending a lot of time speaking FOR the characters. The show used to air on TV but from what I understand copyright started to become an issue. The solution to this was to record the tracks (trax?) and sell them separately for download on the 'net, and let the user buy or rent the DVD (or download it, but they don't promote that - they actually use the site as an advertising vehicle for the films they're making fun of!) It's all pretty brilliant, as far as I'm concerned.
But what I love (and what I'm going to focus on in my paper) is the community aspect. Not only do they have buzzing forums with a space for FAN riffers (people who record their own), but they've recently allowed fan riffers to sell their own riffs on the site (splitting the profits, of course). Making a recording on a computer is SUPER easy and other folks would obviously be drawn to do it, so why fight it? Give them some storage space and promotion power and share in the profits!
Talk about a one-eighty turn from Anne Rice's tactics, eh?
Anyway, that's enough from me. I listened to the Jurassic Park rifftrax yesterday (which is why I started thinking about it) and I have a couple more to enjoy over the week while I finish up the school stuff and study for exams. With the writing bug biting me, I'm starting to think about writing and recording one of my own.
And a special "thank you!" shout-out to
eternalism and banana_ellana for commenting and encouraing me to think more deeply about some of the things I've been talking about. That IS what the course is all about, after all.