Community presentation

Almost done, only the home page left to edit...here's what i've got so far:

Myspace Music Community Study

Wikipedia Tightening rules

Carrying on from Karen’s post earlier in the week, after discovering some libelous and false information posted on the site, Wikipedia has decided to tighten its rules for posting. It’s interesting especially considering Jimmy Wale’s discussion with us earlier this semester and his view that loose posting guidelines were beneficial to community building.

-dan

Star Wars

For all you dorks out there...Wookiepedia

RSS Hacking

I've never heard of this before. Apparently, hackers are hijacking podcasters RSS feeds and then holding a podcaster hostage, threatening to divert the podcast elsewhere unless the podcaster pays money. I think this newfangled mode of extortion will continue to increase due to the ease and profitability of doing so. Obviously, some sort of extra protection needs to be developed for RSS feeds if this is possible.

Myspace Records

Well Myspace Records, an offshoot of the incredibly popular Myspace is fixing to release its first record on the label - a compilation of previous released tracks. Similarly, Pure Volume's successful record label has released a few compilations featuring artists popular on the website. This trend of online music communities branching out and releasing physical, real world CDs shows great strides in the role of online communities and the music business. We'll see if they get corrupted as much as major labels are.

AOL and Blog Ads

Looks like AOL is going to face some difficult decisions.

With their user base falling due to cheaper, faster service providers, it seems that AOL has turned to advertising to boost revenue. This means ads on AOL hosted blogs and online journals.

Sounds like a good idea?

Problem is, AOL's devoted base that remains doesn't like these ads, saying it infringes on their desire for privacy and personalization of their home pages.

This leaves AOL in a sticky situation. They have to make money, but they don't want to alienate their customers even more than they already have. But it seems like they don't want to listen. Their response?

"The decision to implement banner advertising on AOL Journals is consistent with our business and advertising practices," AOL spokeswoman Kathie Brockman said in an e-mail.

AOL better work to find a way to reach a common middle ground acceptable to both parties. Their business plan is failing as it is.

I wonder if Europe and Asia have these sorts of problems

We covered the prevelence of text messaging in Europe and Asia as compared with America. We know that because of the infrastructure overseas, coupled with the pricing system (it's actually cheaper to send texts), Europe and Asia experience much higher levels of texting. America, as a nation, lags behind due to unfair pricing and unreliable delivery systems.

And yet teenagers here still manage to fuck it up.

I reckon this is due to the intrinsic irresponsibility of young people over here. But texting while driving? It just seems stupid to me. I wonder if Europe and Asia experience similar problems. I wonder just how many text messaging-driving related deaths per year there are. Whatever the number, it's kind of rediculous that ANYONE would think this is a good idea.

Good Job DTH

I think it's a great idea that the Daily Tar Heel decided to profile blogs on the front page of Wednesdays paper. (Although it was quite possibly the least read paper of the year due to the break) Pointing out that UNC gives every student free webspace is a great idea since so few students I've talked to even know this existed. Best thing was, they even quoted our own Professor Jones:

“Blogs are their own steroids, they can be just as good or bad as anything.” — Journalism professor Paul Jones (I also direct ibiblio.org, a digital archive run jointly by UNC-CH and the Center for the Public Domain.)

However, it needs to be pointed out that they really didn't go indepth on anything and the story was kind of a filler. But they tried. A for effort.

Recovering from the flu = tons of free time.

Well, I’ve been sick a lot this semester as you guys have inevitably noticed, butlying in bed all day has its advantages: it gives me a chance to surf the internet and find random things.

Take for instance this software that allows me to add RSS feeds to my iPod, and then automatically syncs every single one of them. I was amazed by this as I was searching Wired News, but then I read the last line.

Like everything cool, it only works with a Mac.