Module 6: Storify

Hello everyone, this is my last post for the course. I choose this topic because it’s relevant to my topic area which is economy and labour. So the topic of my article is corporate tax rate and employment.

The corporate tax rate became a hot topic of discussion in the lead-up to the 2012 president election. It is something that most of us should care about since as a newly gradate student, finding a job is the first concern. However, the high corporate tax rate has certain affect on employment rate, which will be further explained in my article.

Here is the link to my storify article: Does lowering the federal corporation income tax rate create jobs?

Hope you enjoy reading it and have a good summer.

Module 6: Summary

As Hermida said, “truth and reality are what Zelier describes as the “god terms” in journalism.” Socialized or communalized media really has had a great impact on journalism today. The traditional print Newspaper Company such as The New York Times had experienced a tremendous affect on its operating model. With the dramatic decline of revenue, here comes with a problem: should these newspaper companies completely remove the print media aspect and then move completely into digital media or a hybrid of both. Another factor that we concern about is although social networking spread information faster than any other media; it still enables the spread of unreliable and false information. Like alenasaric commented, she also had read so many incorrect posts in social network tool, yet they were reposting many times.  This just explained why 49.1% of people have heard false news via social media. I agree with she said “this is quite alarming since a false message could spread like wildfire on the Internet”. Alenasaric also pointed out Twitter’s unbelievably rapid way of spreading news. I believe that is the positive side of the social network. In the rapid development of today’s society this technology is essential. If human can manage discipline of verification of posts on Twitter, it will be the loudest public voice.

On the other hand, I agree with ap09ti mentioned in her post, “the defining factors between citizen’s journalism and journalism is very important because there is a difference!” Social media empower individuals to participate in social change through sharing and commenting activities. However, after read kkuhl2013’s post I found out the huge difference between “how traditional and new media covered three nuclear accidents.” New social network provides readers links and updates from full angle, which is totally different experience compared with old school media. I also enjoyed reading kkuhl2013’s comment, like she said, “ it will be interesting to see how political figures, activists and governments utilize this form of communication.” Since social networking increase voter participate and facilitates political change.

Module 6: Initial Post

As the last topic of this course, we will discuss whether us would be encouraged to participate more directly in citizen journalism and/or social activism due to the emergence of those new opportunities? Nowadays, social media is impossible to ignore in our life. It is everywhere, from a piece of article to the election for a president of the nation. People’s future is in the hands of the president; the president’s future is in the hands of the social network. The article of The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy found people’s participate rate has significant rise because of the emergence of social network. Also the social network provides new channel to the candidate to communicate with their supporters and have better chance to present themselves to the voters. Its said that the “Cyberspace is unavoidable, and yet cyberspace is unregulatable. No nation can live without it, yet no nation can control behavior within it. Cyberspace is that space where individuals are, inherently, free from control by real space sovereigns.” (Jenkins, Thorburn, 2003).

“Twitter is affecting the way news is gathered, disseminated and consumed” (Hermida, 2012, p.660). I am not really using Twitter, but as a regular user of Weibo (Chinese Twitter) I fully understand what it feels like. Too many people will post every tiny piece of their daily life on Weibo. A picture of their meal, a picture of the tree they saw on the street, or repost a happening event from others. Given the speed of information is disseminated on Twitter and Weibo, we obtain tons of information every minute, and sometime we have to let ourselves pause for a minute to think about whether the news we just saw is true or not. “The development of Twitter as a channel for breaking news and the use of material from the public in professionally edited publications poses a dilemma for a profession based on a discipline of verification” (Hermida, 2012, p.663).

Social network has its positive side and negative side, and it’s our job to determine which side will stick with. I will participate in social activism due to the emergence of those new opportunities, but I will very careful about the information I post online. The reliability is the most important. And I would love to see how government use social network as a tool to communicate with people, to hear from people.

Reference

Hermida, A. (2012). TWEETS AND TRUTH: Journalism as a discipline of  collaborative verification. Journalism Practice. 6:5-6, p659-668.

Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn. Introduction: The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy. in Jenkins, H. & D. Thorburn eds. (2003). Democracy and New Media. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p1-17.

Module 5 Podcast

Hi class,
Here is an article that I am willing to share with you. I found this article on The Daily Caller, it’s a news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C., US. The content of the article is about U.S. corporation tax.
The reason why I chose this passage is as a business student, I more or less have heard about the high corporate tax in U.S., and also this issue attracts a lot of controversy, especially its impact on the economy. I found this article just gave me a clear idea how high corporation tax affects the economy; it also provided a lot of facts to prove that high corporation tax can result in economy loss. Hope you could get more ideas about this after your listening 🙂

Fores, B. (2012, October 1). Study: High US corporate tax rate hinders growth, drives jobs overseas. The Daily Caller. Retrieved from http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/01/study-high-us-corporate-tax-rate-hinders-growth-drives-jobs-overseas/

Module 5: Summary

In summary, this week’s topic forces me to think about my mother country, China. I am not here for complain any thing just feel sad that China’s development has to base on break the copyright law. In the meantime, I really appreciate lifeofascanner’s comment “In this case I feel piracy was needed in order to be intuned with other countries. The part that can not really be defined is where the line between needed piracy and the because you don’t want to pay piracy. In some cases you gotta do what you gotta so.” And I feel grateful that all my group members understand my point of view and support me. Thank you!

Okay! Let’s back on track. Digital intellectual properties are so important to a country or a company even an individual’s future. There are many reasons motivate people engage piracy “1. To share culture/content, 2. Sample content before purchasing, 3. Inability to afford content, 4. Desire to undermine copyright law and the content industry.” (Steinmetz, Tunnell, 2013, p.56) I think the most of piracy is due to inability to afford content, which also the reason why piracy business is booming in China.

I couldn’t agree more on ap09ti’s comment. She states, “Being techniquely advanced is very important in this day and age and will be a great advantage to you.” Technology is key for tomorrow. A new technology can change everything of human life; can change the order of society, even change the law. Also as alenasaric said “I too agree with you that perhaps our ideas on copyright and piracy are a bit too strict and that we should loosen them to encourage creativity. Furthermore, with the Internet being so widespread, it is becoming increasingly difficult to police stricter rules.” In today’s world, we are nearly impossible to shut down all kinds of piracy actions. The best solution might be we accept it as part of our life and part of our culture. Before we strike the piracy we have to understand it, figure out the cause and effect, and know the importance to the society. Simply copy everything should be prohibits, but creativity should be supported. Loosen the copyright police might not be a bad thing. People have to open their mind and achieve a better future.

Reference

Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013). Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates. Deviant Behavior. 34 (1), pg. 53-67

Module 5: Copyright

Since copyright law about recorded music industry and the practices of consumers is the topic of this week, then we have to get China involve in this. As a Chinese, I am not proud of people call us “the master of copy industry”, unfortunately it is true. We are really good at it. However, we are not some troublemakers or just do this for fun. We were out of options in the first place. Take Microsoft Windows XP as an example here, it was released worldwide on October 25, 2001. The retail price of the Home Edition in North America market was $199.99 for full version and $99.99 for an upgrade. However, the price was over 3000 Chinese Yuan (nearly $352 us dollar) in China mainland, which is more than one-month salary to a middle class worker. Microsoft didn’t consider China’s national condition when they set up the price, which led 90% of consumers couldn’t afford the price (I was one of them). China’s piracy industry started booming since then. Microsoft not only “inspired and stimulated” Chinese devote to re-produce other’s work, but provided major motivation to such actions. Other countries’ government accused the Chinese government does not take any practical approach to manage the rampant piracy, but they never think about what will China looks like today, if there is no pirated Windows XP 12 years ago. Chinese government realized that they already behind Americans several decades on economic, military, technological and many other aspects. They want to catch up. Just like (Steinmetz, Tunnell, 2013, p.59) stated “One’s inability to consume media content at high levels translates into being left behind others who are hyper-consuming.” Every country needs to develop, and its people need job to feed their family. Sometimes they just have to let something go.

Moreover, new social technology builds an expressway for sharing media content. According to (Bradley, 2006) “As a combined P2P/IRC network, Napster is a means to circulate content rather than being, itself, some form content.” Internet has brought about the revival of a read-write creative culture. With the advance of digital technology, media creation has been democratized, and suddenly, the tools of creation are readily accessible to anyone who has access to a computer. I fully agreed with Larry Lessig’s point in his TED Talk video. I am not defending piracy here, but we have to stop choking creativities when media creation has been democratized. I am not supporting the action of piracy, but I support those creativities based on other’s creations, not stealing. We have to find a balance point for media creation. A point can satisfy both the owners of recording business and the new media culture creators.

Reference:

Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013). Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates. Deviant Behavior. 34 (1), pg. 53-67

Bradley, D. (2006) Scenes of Transmission: Youth Culture, MP3 File Sharing, and Transferable Strategies of Cultural Practice. M/C Journal. 9(1).

Module 4 : Video

Hello everyone, here is my first little video. It tells how excessive corporation tax could affect our world. The main source that I used was from Youtube and the video is made by Mozilla Popcorn. I used exaggerated expression to demonstrate those “disasters effects”. Hope you enjoy it!

http://popcorn.webmadecontent.org/15pt

Module 4：Summary

After read all the comments from this week’s post I found one thing in common, which is we all need to remix others’ ideas in order to obtain our own. Because of new technology provide us easy access to others’ works. We apply internet as a tool to “create” our “new ideas”. Like kkuhl2013 said “I cannot think of very many times I go to a park or my desk just to think and create an essay all on my own. I use the tools around me to search for ideas before putting the proverbial pen to paper.” This doesn’t just happen on one person. It is a popular phenomenon in today’s world. Students search ideas on internet for their essays, directors get inspiration from classic scenes for their block buster, and musicians get enlightened by old fashion for their master piece. Now we have enough evidence to question ourselves “Is there any brand new ideas exist?” Further more, I found one interesting theory from adanc2013’s post, which might changes my thought a little bite. “Remixing other forms of media, and how creative you can be with it is a very valid way of showing your own originality.” I didn’t see this idea been represented by other people, but it is true and brave. I am not encouraging people to copy or reproduce other’s work; I am saying sometime we have to accept what we are and what we capable of. Some of those music and movies are classic. They deserve to be remembered and known for later generations. Maybe remix is a new way to create. People are more care about the piece of work after been create rather than how it was created. Maybe remix is the best way to produce in today’s world and how those artists show their respect to the others. And accept remix is how we respect them. Let me use a not very appropriate metaphor ask ourselves. We can cycle our garbage, why can’t we recycle our movie and music? Are they harmful than garbage?

No Absolute New Idea?

Henry Jenkins (2004) states “Media convergence is more than simply a technological shift. Convergence alters the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres and audiences.” Decades ago, radio and newspaper is the only channel that people able to access the information about outside world. Today, all we need to do is touch on a 3.5 inches screen then we know everything. I mean everything! The new technology totally changes the way we live, changes the way we consume, and changes the way we produce.

However, develop on technology derives a question about how can online communities of “producer-consumers” literate in new media work toward building a robust and freely accessible cultural commons in the face of restrictive copyright laws? According to the four videos of “Everything is a remix”, we are surrounding by culture combos and remixes. Pretty much every works in our life has traces from the past and from other artists. Manovich (2008) points, “most of objects we use are mass produced goods, and they are the expressions of strategies of designers, producer and marketers.” Nine corporations dominate the world’s cultural structures; most of them are media-related company such as NBC, Time Warner, etc (Miller, 2004). In the communities of  “producer and consumers”, it does not mean that every social media user has become a producer. According to Manovich (2008), “only between 0.5% – 1.5% users of most popular social media sites contributed their own content. In 2007 only 2 blogs made into the list of 100 most read new source.” Even AMVs maker think that their job is to re-edit the original material, rather than filmmakers or animators (Manovich, 2008).

Since media tools let information disseminate and replicate easily, people become inert and we are more depend on someone else’s creation. In my experience, I use search engine to find academic articles to support my paper, some ideas are generated by reading from others, which can stimulate my own inspiration. I cannot imagine what if I write without these references. Although copyrights give creators exclusive rights to control their intellectual property, some “creators” still find a hole in law and produce content based on old ideas. I doubt about whether there is any absolute new idea?

Reference

Jenkins, H. (2004) The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence International Journal of Cultural Studies March 2004 7: 33-43

Miller, T. (2004) A view from a fossil. International Journal Of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 55-65.

Manovich, l. (2008) The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural Production?

Module 3 Op-Ed Piece on Wiki

“If anyone can edit entries, how do users know if Wikipedia is as accurate as established sources such as Encyclopaedia Britanncia” (Giles, 2005, p. 900)? Let’s just talk about Wikipedia and put Encyclopaedia Britanncia aside for now. How to identify a reliable source on Wikipedia is something we care about, since it has one of the largest numbers of visitors in the world. “If someone uses Google to search for information, most likely the first choice will be relevant Wikipedia article” (Jensen, 2012, p. 1166). Due to Wikipedia allows everyone write and edit articles without any formal training, an existing article could become unreliable after someone’s editing.

The article I found on Wikipedia is Corporate Tax in Unite States. Generally, this article is informative and detailed; it presents particular contents of different aspects of corporation tax. Under the “talk” tab I also found there are many participants provide more information when they are having discussion about several issues. However, there are few issues attracted all my attention.

First issue is about New York Times article’s reliability on certain topic areas. One of the active participant mentioned that he found a NYT article, which has been used as a resource to this article contain incorrect information. “The NYT article quotes its source wrong on a material item, and assumes another material item that may be wrong. It is unreliable.” Meanwhile, he used a most recent study by the Congressional Budget Office to proof why NYT is wrong and what is correct. His statement is persuasive as it stands. In the conclusion, he stated, “even sources that are normally reliable in reporting events may be completely unreliable when reporting technical topics. Reporters are human, and will use convenient materials to demonstrate their points. However, they may not fully understand the technical aspects of what they report.” Honestly speaking, I totally agree on this point. No one is perfect in this world; we make mistakes, because we are human.

Second, there is a huge part of discussion about which source is or not a reliable source that could be use in this article. For instance, one participant does not agree Fortune magazine is a reliable source because it is not a noted scholarly source. Another participant responds that Fortune magazine can bring the article some credits, according to “Wikipedia: Identifying reliable sources” since the magazine is a respected mainstream publication sources and it need not be scholarly. It is good to see bunch of people “fighting” for this question, at least there are some one worry about this for us.

Lastly, I am no expert on this topic but I can smile some of viewers are not happy about a chart has been used in this article that been misleading by New York Times. This article is about corporate tax in United States. Someone think this chart is inaccurate for this article because this chart is for worldwide tax data not just for United States. A wrong chart will lead to wrong interpretations, which would cause the whole article not reliable.

Overall, the participants construct a harmonious academic atmosphere in the “talk” page. They are respect each other even when they are holding opposite opinions. When someone discovered mistakes in the article they are not only point them out, but also inform the author they will wait for explanations and suggestions until an exactly time before they make changes on the article.

After a close observation on the article and the “talk” page, I found the information provided in this article is reliable. According to Royal and Kapila (2009), “Information on Wikipedia is extremely volatile and dynamic. Articles can change dramatically over time.” There are many people out there trying to adjust the accuracy of the article and update the information on Wikipedia, they are keeping the article on the right track. We know very well, this is not one-man job. No one can solo this without any help. It is impossible to write an article without any bias also covers in all aspects. However, the easy access offered by Wikipedia let more people have the chance to show their perspective and improve the completeness of articles.

Reference

Jensen, R. (2012). Military History on the Electronic Frontier: Wikipedia Fights the

War of 1812. Journal of Military History. 76, 1. pp 1165-1182.

Royal, C. & Kapila, D. (2009). What’s on Wikipedia, and What’s Not . . .?: Assessing

Completeness of Information. Social Science Computer Review. 27, 1, pp 138-148.

Giles. J. (2005). Special Report: Internet encyclopaedias go head to head. Nature. 438, pp 900-901.