New Era of Online TV

While searching for something to blog about this week I came across an interesting article on CNN.com about a new technology that is going to change the way we watch television programs.  Joost is an online site where you can watch videos and it has just been relaunched last week to make watching TV online a more interactive experience.  Joost will enable people to watch their favorite television shows online in full length.  The Chief Executive of Joost, Mike Volpi said that the site's social features have also been improved.  “People can see what their friends are watching on Joost and create groups around TV shows, characters or artists. Users will also be able to post a news feed of their and their friends' activities on Joost to other Web sites, such as social networks like Facebook.”  He goes on to say that the Internet is about community building.  It is going to take the site awhile to get all of their videos uploaded.

YouTube is also doing something very similar to Joost.  They are also adding full-length shows to their site, which is something that couldn’t be done before on YouTube; you could only upload a maximum time of 10 minutes for a video.  Jordan Hoffner who is director of content partnerships for YouTube said, “The market for long format videos on the Web is growing.”  If YouTube is able to show full-length episodes it will also help the company to attract advertisers.  The article also said that by the end of the year, about 45-50% of the 117 million people who watch videos online will watch full length episodes versus the 25% who watched shows online at the beginning of the year.  The article also points out that its important to keep the adds “shorter and more interactive” so the viewers don’t get fed up with all the advertisements.

I think this is a very interesting concept, however, I do think it could have a negative affect on the Television industry as a whole.  When people watch shows online versus watching them live it causes the shows ratings to go down.  And when ratings go down, shows get cancelled.  It would be interesting to know if there is a way in which they could monitor the amount of viewers who watch the shows online and include them in the show’s weekly ratings because otherwise a lot of shows could get cancelled from the invention of this new technology and I know I would personally hate it if my favorite TV show Grey’s Anatomy got cancelled!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/13/online.tv.joost.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

Woman Kills Her Virtual Husband?

Over the last few days in class we have been discussing online communities and in specific an online virtual community called Second Life.  Every time I’m online I’m always looking for interesting things to blog about.  Today I was checking my email on America Online and one of the news headlines from the welcome screen stood out to me, it was titled, “Woman Jailed for 'Killing' Virtual Spouse.” (http://news.aol.com/article/woman-jailed-for-killing-virtual-spouse/223052).  This headline seemed so strange to me so of course I had to find out what the article was about.  A woman in Tokyo was part of a virtual world with an interactive game called “Maple Story.”  According to the police, “A 43-year-old player in a virtual game world became so angry about her sudden divorce from her online husband that she logged on with his password and killed his digital persona.”  She could face up to five years in prison and fines up to $5,000 for suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data.  She used his user ID and password to log into the game and “murder” his avatar. 

 

When people become participants in these online worlds they tend to use anonymity to fulfill their fantasy identity.  “In virtual worlds, players often abandon their inhibitions, engaging in activity online that they would never do in the real world.”  People talk with complete strangers and disclose private information and participate activities they would never participate in real life such as emailing provocative photos to someone.  These virtual lives can have negative consequences in real life.  “In August, a woman was charged in Delaware with plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through the virtual reality Web site "Second Life."  People can indeed use these sites for negative actions.  They are just as dangerous as any other online type of communication.

 

I personally think it is healthier for a person to develop relationships in real life rather than a virtual world.  There are so many positive things that come from new technologies, but it is also important that people don’t let themselves get so caught up in a virtual world whether its online or even just with video games.  All of these technologies suck people in and hold them back from developing healthy relationships in real world settings.  It gives a person the ability to lie about who they really are.  They can like about their personality, their looks, and whatever else they want to exaggerate about themselves.  Be yourself.  It’s just like the famous saying, "Its better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you're not."

Social-networking sites viewed by admissions officers

            Have you ever had your parent or teacher tell you, “Hey be careful what you post on the Internet because it’s there for the whole world to see.”?  Well we should all listen to them, especially today when potential employers and schools are searching our names online when reviewing our applications.  I’m sure we have all heard this before that you need to be weary of what you post online, whether it comes from friends, teachers, or even Dr. Phil.  I recently read an article about how social networking sites are being viewed by admissions officers (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-facebook-college-20-sep20,0,2460681.story).  The article by Emma Graves Fitzsimmons and Bonnie Miller Rubin, “Social-networking sites viewed by admissions officers. Survey shows some use Facebook, MySpace as another aspect to college application,” tells the reader that a lot of schools today are using these sites to check up on potential incoming students.  Some admissions officers took a new survey about whether or not they visit these social networking sites.  Fitzsimmons and Rubin point out, “High schoolers say getting into college is no longer only about sky-high test scores and impressive extracurricular activities. Now it means being smart about their online personas as well.”

            A new survey was conducted by Kaplan Inc., an education services company which showed that 10% of admissions officers from prestigious schools admitted to searching sites like Facebook and Myspace to evaluate their potential incoming freshman class.  Of the people who participated in the survey, 38% said the sites had a “negative impact” on the applicant.  Some said they went as far as to repeal an offer because of what they saw on the applicant’s page.  Many schools such as Notre Dame state that they don’t go out of there way to use these sites as resources but if something comes there way they can’t ignore it.  On the other hand there are other schools such as Northwestern, which state that what these kids do in their personal life is up to them.  They feel searching them online is an invasion of their privacy. 

            Even though some employers and schools may choose not to “invade your privacy,” I still feel like it’s a good idea, just to be on the safe side, to keep your social networking site as appropriate as possible.  You never know who is looking at your site, and you don’t want someone to think less of you because of something they read or saw on your site; which may have nothing to do with the person you really are.  Computer Mediated Communication has really taken off over the past few years and I am positive that it will continue to grow but it is very important that we use our best judgment with what we put out into the World Wide Web about ourselves.  Just as Jeff Olson suggests, who heads research for Kaplan's test preparation division, “Today's application is not just what you send . . . but whatever they can Google about you."

Myspace for babies?

While recently searching the web for stories relating to computer mediated communication, I came across an article from a local TV News program in Pittsburgh, KDKA.com about a new type of social networking sites for babies. (http://kdka.com/consumer/tot.spot.com.2.818725.html)  They are calling the new site “Myspace for babies.” Michael Broukhim and Adam Katz launched what they call “Tot Spot” last June. Its main function is that it gives parents the ability to create online baby books and share them with their friends and family.  Angie Kanter, a mother of two, is obsessed with the new site. She uses the site on a daily basis to upload all of her daughter’s first moments.  "Her first smiles, all her pictures, they're on there," she said about her little girl Abagail. "It's a really good way for me not to sit down with a pen and a baby book to keep track off."  Michael Broukhim and Adam Katz were inspired to create the site from their own personal experiences with their own children.

 

The creators of the site, Broukhim, and Katz claim that the site is very safe to use and it is very private. "Unless the parent invites someone to the site, no one can get access to the content that the parents put up there," said Broukhim.  Although I think this could be a very useful tool in showing pictures to relatives on a daily basis without having to keep up with mailing them family updates, I think there is also some danger involved.  Most of these social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook also claim that they are completely private but are they really?  Hackers have ways of hacking into anything.  I will not post anything on my Facebook page that I would not want my parents to see or information that I would not want strangers to see.  I think the same thing goes with posting pictures of your children up on this “Tot Spot” page.  There are a lot of strange people out there who have fascinations with young children.  It is a scary thought but it is a reality.  If I ever have my own children someday I will stick to putting their pictures in photo albums and just show them to family when they visit!

 

Another thing to consider about relying on a site like “Tot Spot” as your baby book is that site’s can crash or close.  If a person posts every memory about their child and the site closes because of lack of participation or for other reasons you will lose your entire baby book.  Most sites close without warning, you just log in one day and all you will see is that the webpage has been removed.  That would be very upsetting if you were counting on a site for all of your information and then you log in one day and it’s no longer available to you.  If a person is going to use a site like this I suggest that they also use a real baby book too.  Those moments like your baby’s first step only happen once after all.