Here is my podcast, interviewing historian, Mat Cain on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
Making the podcast was an interesting experience. I had recorded and edited both music and speaking before, but never for the web. when recording the interview, I simply said "Ramble on for as long as you want about Jefferson and Adams" (prompting him occasionally with specifics that I wanted to include). Afterwards I edited in myself asking questions, in the style of "This American Life." The interview ran between 15 and 20 minutes, and cut it down to 10. I then exported it as an aiff, and brought it into garage band to add the visuals, and export it as a Mpeg 4.
The most helpful part about this project was not the actual producing of the podcast, but learning how to distribute it. I had no idea how to access my server space and put things up to it, let alone how to link to it, and even embed that video into my blog. I'm fairly proficient at the production of various media, but when it came to distribution, I was lost. That's one of the aspects that I am really finding valuable about this class.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Internet Names the Wrong Killer
This is in response to an online article from Wired magazine about a 23 year old student who had been blamed early on for the recent Virginia Tech shootings. The student has a blog in which it is clear that he owns many fire-arms, and attends Virginia Tech. Recent posts had indicated him to be unhappy due to a recent break-up. Because of this circumstantial evidence, he was blamed by many people before the actual killer was found. Why were supposedly credible sources so quick to blame him, before they actually knew all the facts?
This is not uncommon. It seems the internet age has created competition among news organizations that value speed in delivery of the news over even the accuracy of the content. This was indicated in the 2000 elections where several news organizations called the election, then were forced to retract their claims, when it was still up in the air. With information traveling faster every day, the news organizations find that they need to stay just ahead of it, releasing news earlier and earlier, even though it can sometimes lead to mis-information.
This leads into another issue concerning the man's blog itself. Is that evidence enough to suspect someone? The fact that he shows he owns a lot of guns? Does a personal blog actually contain enough evidence to support some claim like this? Unfortunately, that may not matter. People look at blogs, or other websites such as Facebook or MySpace, to find out a lot about people. Potential employers look at these websites when considering candidates. It genuinely has an influence as to whether they get the impression that the applicant is of good moral character.
Honestly, I don't feel that there is anything wrong with this. Some people claim that what they do in their off time should not affect whether they get a job, but if that is an indication of how they will be performing at their work, then the employers have every right to judge based on this. Personally, I take the opposite approach. I try to use those to my advantage. Instead of posting pictures of me in a drunken stupor, or at wild parties, I put up examples of my work. I try to use these personal sites to make me look desirable.
Whether we like it or not, personal websites are going play a prominent figure in how people look at you. This can be good, or can be completely absurd like in the Virginia Tech incident. Either way, this is something we can at least try to understand. Maybe we should be careful how we portray ourselves online. After all, absolutely anybody can see it. Perhaps even more importantly, we should be skeptical of other information we see online. After all, we don't want to end up accusing the wrong person for murder again.
This is not uncommon. It seems the internet age has created competition among news organizations that value speed in delivery of the news over even the accuracy of the content. This was indicated in the 2000 elections where several news organizations called the election, then were forced to retract their claims, when it was still up in the air. With information traveling faster every day, the news organizations find that they need to stay just ahead of it, releasing news earlier and earlier, even though it can sometimes lead to mis-information.
This leads into another issue concerning the man's blog itself. Is that evidence enough to suspect someone? The fact that he shows he owns a lot of guns? Does a personal blog actually contain enough evidence to support some claim like this? Unfortunately, that may not matter. People look at blogs, or other websites such as Facebook or MySpace, to find out a lot about people. Potential employers look at these websites when considering candidates. It genuinely has an influence as to whether they get the impression that the applicant is of good moral character.
Honestly, I don't feel that there is anything wrong with this. Some people claim that what they do in their off time should not affect whether they get a job, but if that is an indication of how they will be performing at their work, then the employers have every right to judge based on this. Personally, I take the opposite approach. I try to use those to my advantage. Instead of posting pictures of me in a drunken stupor, or at wild parties, I put up examples of my work. I try to use these personal sites to make me look desirable.
Whether we like it or not, personal websites are going play a prominent figure in how people look at you. This can be good, or can be completely absurd like in the Virginia Tech incident. Either way, this is something we can at least try to understand. Maybe we should be careful how we portray ourselves online. After all, absolutely anybody can see it. Perhaps even more importantly, we should be skeptical of other information we see online. After all, we don't want to end up accusing the wrong person for murder again.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
podcast questions
For my podcast interview, I would actually like to stray from my own industry, and ask a friend of mine about his graduate thesis. He is a history masters student and is researching the relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Here is a sampling of my questions.
How much communication did the two of them have?
How did their relationship change over the years?
Why were they political rivals?
What were their political stances?
How did the communicate?
In the first elections, they took the second place candidate and made him vice-president, creating an office of political variety. At what point did this change?
This introduced me to an interesting political perk- what is a free frank?
What is the legend surrounding their deaths?
How much communication did the two of them have?
How did their relationship change over the years?
Why were they political rivals?
What were their political stances?
How did the communicate?
In the first elections, they took the second place candidate and made him vice-president, creating an office of political variety. At what point did this change?
This introduced me to an interesting political perk- what is a free frank?
What is the legend surrounding their deaths?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Legal Showdown in Search Fracas
Legal Showdown in Search Fracas
There were a lot of issues covered in the above article. Essentially, a Seach Engine Optimizer, Traffic-Power, was suing Aaron Wall for comments people made about the company on his blog. They were claiming defamation, and publishing of trade secrets. This raises issues of the freedom of speech on blogs, and even right to privacy of the users.
For this post several questions were posed. Most prevalent in the article is the question whether people should be held accountable for those who post on their blog. They are not the ones creating the content, they are only creating the topic. Still, though, do they have an obligation to monitor this, and make sure it's all accurate and of good character? There are some sites that certainly do this. IMDB is notorious for patrolling their message boards and deleting any posts they deem unfit. This is complete gray area. I feel that moderators have a certain responsibility to keep their blogs in good character, but also to not restrict their posters. There is a distinct difference, however, between having a less than reputable blog, and being worthy of being sued. It's absurd that anyone would be sued over comments made by others.
If the moderator should not be held responsible, should the people commenting? This raises the question of whether Internet Service Providers should be required to divulge information about their users. This is essentially no different that phone wire-tapping (which unfortunately in recent years has become much more widespread- thank you, Patriot Act). Both of these are wrong without a proper warrant. Like phone tapping, getting information from ISPs about clients should be done on a case by case basis, and only with proper evidence. There's a reason we have these privacy laws.
All of these issues, at least in the case of Traffic-Power, stem from one more fundamental issue. Why are they suing in the first place- because of comments made on a blog. It seems they might be taking the defamation a little too seriously from some opinionated bloggers. If trade secrets were indeed being published (but from the article it does not seem like it), then they might have a case. Blogs inherently are opinions. They could be equated to editorials. Does anyone read editorials just to get the facts? I hope not. Blogs are in existence to give a perspective on issues, not just objectively tell about them- that's what news stories are for.
There were a lot of issues covered in the above article. Essentially, a Seach Engine Optimizer, Traffic-Power, was suing Aaron Wall for comments people made about the company on his blog. They were claiming defamation, and publishing of trade secrets. This raises issues of the freedom of speech on blogs, and even right to privacy of the users.
For this post several questions were posed. Most prevalent in the article is the question whether people should be held accountable for those who post on their blog. They are not the ones creating the content, they are only creating the topic. Still, though, do they have an obligation to monitor this, and make sure it's all accurate and of good character? There are some sites that certainly do this. IMDB is notorious for patrolling their message boards and deleting any posts they deem unfit. This is complete gray area. I feel that moderators have a certain responsibility to keep their blogs in good character, but also to not restrict their posters. There is a distinct difference, however, between having a less than reputable blog, and being worthy of being sued. It's absurd that anyone would be sued over comments made by others.
If the moderator should not be held responsible, should the people commenting? This raises the question of whether Internet Service Providers should be required to divulge information about their users. This is essentially no different that phone wire-tapping (which unfortunately in recent years has become much more widespread- thank you, Patriot Act). Both of these are wrong without a proper warrant. Like phone tapping, getting information from ISPs about clients should be done on a case by case basis, and only with proper evidence. There's a reason we have these privacy laws.
All of these issues, at least in the case of Traffic-Power, stem from one more fundamental issue. Why are they suing in the first place- because of comments made on a blog. It seems they might be taking the defamation a little too seriously from some opinionated bloggers. If trade secrets were indeed being published (but from the article it does not seem like it), then they might have a case. Blogs inherently are opinions. They could be equated to editorials. Does anyone read editorials just to get the facts? I hope not. Blogs are in existence to give a perspective on issues, not just objectively tell about them- that's what news stories are for.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Wallace & Gromit makers reel in Sony Pictures deal
Wallace & Gromit makers reel in Sony Pictures deal
According to this April 2nd article I found on Yahoo News, Aardman Entertainment (the studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Flushed Away) is signing a three year contract with Sony Entertainment. This is coming three months after Aardman separated from Dreamworks.
Personally, I find this news to be quite exciting. For quite some time I have been a fan of the Wallace and Gromit shorts. I loved Chicken Run, and Flushed Away (being very disappointed that it was not nominated for best animated feature). After their seven year partnership with Dreamworks, I'm glad to see that the company will still be represented in the American market. They provide a truly unique style, and an enjoyably oddball sense of humor. They produce films that are completely different than anything you see coming out of American animation studios.
Perhaps the most exciting part about this deal, is the amount of funding and freedom they will be getting. Aardman is getting paid a certain amount of money each year for development, then once a movie is approved, Sony will be covering production, marketing, and distribution. According to the article this will enable the company to produce a movie almost every year. Hopefully this will mean a steady stream of quality animated films from one of my favorite studios.
According to this April 2nd article I found on Yahoo News, Aardman Entertainment (the studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Flushed Away) is signing a three year contract with Sony Entertainment. This is coming three months after Aardman separated from Dreamworks.
Personally, I find this news to be quite exciting. For quite some time I have been a fan of the Wallace and Gromit shorts. I loved Chicken Run, and Flushed Away (being very disappointed that it was not nominated for best animated feature). After their seven year partnership with Dreamworks, I'm glad to see that the company will still be represented in the American market. They provide a truly unique style, and an enjoyably oddball sense of humor. They produce films that are completely different than anything you see coming out of American animation studios.
Perhaps the most exciting part about this deal, is the amount of funding and freedom they will be getting. Aardman is getting paid a certain amount of money each year for development, then once a movie is approved, Sony will be covering production, marketing, and distribution. According to the article this will enable the company to produce a movie almost every year. Hopefully this will mean a steady stream of quality animated films from one of my favorite studios.
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