Response from Cambodia!

Hello Emelie,

How are you today?And me not so well.What about your study,it is good? I am very great and happy to know you.And so thanks that you had read my zine,Oh i am sorry that i reply you late.This zine is my first draw, I never draw before.I just finish my final exam in my law school today so I can reply you.You know!when Anne teach me how to draw the zine,at first I think it is difficull to draw but at second time I change my idea cos when I make and draw it my feel so happier.Why I change my mine very fast?I do not know why like this?Could you answer me?cos are studying art,right?

I do not have anything to say just the word very great to know you and very happy you send mail to me.Wish you have good luck good feel and your study better and better.Bye..........

Best wish,

DN

------------------------------------------
I just woke up to this nice email this morning from a girl who I had written in Cambodia. She had made our class a zine and we all got a chance to read them. She's studying to become a lawyer and she's about my age. I will email her back to answer her questions.

-Emelie

Myspace Reading

I forgot to post a response on this reading despite talking about it in class, so here's a few of my thoughts.

The article was presented really well and I liked the way she opened and concluded because it felt much more like a lecture (which I think it was taken from). She brought up a ton of great points about Myspace like the pro's and con's. As always, people focus on the con's the most like the dangers of Myspace and how children are meeting rapists and whatnot. Yes, that's bad, of course. Where are the parents? I was raised not to trust people on the internet, though I realize not all kids will listen. There are a lot of pro's to having Myspace, especially for musicians or for finding new music. It can be inspiration to artwork. It can be a way to keep up with old friends especially if they have moved away. It's not the only social networking site out there, so it's not like you can only point your finger at Myspace.

From my experience, Myspace is kind of over. I check it to maintain my friend requests or messages and even to stay in contact with my brother (he checks myspace but not his email). To me Myspace is an inside joke with most people my age. Mention it and most people will roll their eyes. I still use the music aspect of it though. It's the most reliable way to find a band and preview a few of their songs without popups or spam. I can look at a few of their pictures and maybe see what their style is (it helps in identifying what kind of band it is...).

Kids just want that space to get away from parents. It's their own world that most parents don't know enough about to interact. As long as they know enough to stay away from the bad stuff, they'll be fine.

And that's my two cents.

February 21st

1. Network Publics Reading

• I found a few key points that are mentioned in this reading to interest me. The first being that over the time that the internet has been released and devoloped, we're become so connected that we've become disconnected. By this I mean we're always on cell phones. When we go to a cafe, we bring out best friend the laptop. When we need to spread an idea or concept or though, we email someone. All of this has distanced ourselves from the reality of living with one another on the same planet. (RPI is a great example of this - there are people that won't look you in the eye, but they'll be your best 'clan' friend.)
• Going along with the first point it just reminds me that everything has its pros and its cons. It's just the balance of life and the world around us. Nothing can ever be completely perfect and so the internet brings us great stuff but also brings us illegal usage, file sharing and other negative things.
• Lastly the downfall of newspapers and print has become an issue lately as huge corporations have been laying people off. (Los Angeles Times) The internet is killing print work, yet saving trees. Again, I'm not sure if there is a good answer for this. Maybe just the balance between them.

2. For my paper I'd like to research Google. From where they've come from to where they're going. I have a contact within Google who I plan to use as a reference.

3. I feel like I've expressed my thoughts on the map project. I think we should each take our own pictures of things we like downtown and around Troy. Then I think the map should be hotspotted or have rollovers to pop up our pictures. (Like Google Maps of entertainment)

-Emelie

Podcast Two | Electronic Music

Podcast for the week of February 11, 2008

-Emelie

Free-culture.org

A response to free-culture.org

After reading this chapter from free culture, I still feel the same way I've always felt about copyright. It's there for a reason. In some cases, the copyright rules aren't that great. Take the example given about the music played on the radio. Only the person who composed the song gets a cut of the pay. I do agree that this could be solved if people actually wrote their own songs. However this is not the case. There are people out there who still deserve some part of the money. I think a composer and the person singing it (or playing it) both deserve a cut of the pay because without the other person, they wouldn't be played on the radio to start with. Now I do feel that the composer deserves more of the cut. Anybody can sing the song with a little know how and engineering.

One question I have is what happens once the composer has died? Does the money go to the descendants of that person? Or do they stop paying?

I just found both the lecture and the text to state the obvious a bit. Maybe that's because I have a knowledge of the FCC already from radio. Maybe not. Either way I understand both sides of the story (FCC and artists and radio/tv/etc). If people want things to be free, they'll do it. (Radiohead, In Rainbows) But we've all got to get by somehow.

-Emelie

Podcast One | Electronic Music

Video Post

I'm having the hardest time uploading my video, I think it's too big.