Reading From Course Content Session 1.3 - Response
"Studying Internet Studies Through the Ages"
This piece goes into the history of how people communicate online. If only the author knew then what he knew now. He would be leading the forbes list of the rich tech savvy folk. Social networks were not the money hungry power game that they are built up to today, spanning all corners of the world. They were seen more as an exciting new field where people would share ideas and write mainly stand alone applications for smaller groups. Nobody dared dream of revolutionising pop culture or making billions of dollars with their work. The internet allowed the world to communicate from the comfort of home. Some did not see this vision coming, but for those in the field that did, they made sure the world would never be the same. Through this new communication outlet multiple facets of society changed. The social network and business networks also gained huge strides. With this new era in internet technology, many fields must constantly change and adapt. Institutions such as schools and universities must move with the times and maintain the current fields of study, incorporating the latest technology and trends.
The Old Online Community of Napster
Napster is a music file sharing site. It allows people to freely share MP3 music files with each other. It was created by a University student as in the same vein as facebook. At its peak the site had 25 million users which at the time was an enormous following. A press release from: (http://web.archive.org/web/20080413104420/http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?id=249) states that Napster's file sharing application fell 65% among home users in 14 leading wired countries, from 6.3 billion minutes in Feb 2001 to 2.2 million in June 2001. The reason that the site faded away, although it still exists today was because the law came done on the site for copyright violations. This sent its reputation into disarray. Also the internet was bombarded with new file sharing alternatives such as Bodetella and Audiogalaxy. As we have seen with all great ideas on the internet. There will soon be copies. And in most cases, better copies so people wont take long to jump on the latest craze. There were no royalties being given to the people making and distributing the music and thus they sued Napster and won. From business weeks account of Napster's high and low notes (http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_33/b3694003.htm), the company was started and ended in the space of 1 and a half years. Although Napster was forced to shut down, it was allowed to remain in use as long as it was run in a legitimate sense. The site has never been the same since this occurred.
Napster is a music file sharing site. It allows people to freely share MP3 music files with each other. It was created by a University student as in the same vein as facebook. At its peak the site had 25 million users which at the time was an enormous following. A press release from: (http://web.archive.org/web/20080413104420/http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?id=249) states that Napster's file sharing application fell 65% among home users in 14 leading wired countries, from 6.3 billion minutes in Feb 2001 to 2.2 million in June 2001. The reason that the site faded away, although it still exists today was because the law came done on the site for copyright violations. This sent its reputation into disarray. Also the internet was bombarded with new file sharing alternatives such as Bodetella and Audiogalaxy. As we have seen with all great ideas on the internet. There will soon be copies. And in most cases, better copies so people wont take long to jump on the latest craze. There were no royalties being given to the people making and distributing the music and thus they sued Napster and won. From business weeks account of Napster's high and low notes (http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_33/b3694003.htm), the company was started and ended in the space of 1 and a half years. Although Napster was forced to shut down, it was allowed to remain in use as long as it was run in a legitimate sense. The site has never been the same since this occurred.
No comments:
Post a Comment