Digital Me

Would more people pop in and out of multiple virtual worlds if they had one fixed identity across cyberspace? The folks at Linden Labs think so.

Linden Labs is the company behind Second Life, the very successful virtual world where people can gather valuables, purchase property, make friends, attend lectures and so on. In Second Life, users create avatars that become their cyberskin, the face and body that represents them to the world. Linden Labs is betting that having one cyber-identity across virtual worlds will cause more people to spend more time in virtual worlds. We based our discussion on this Yahoo! News story.

MWF classes only

Reporting Live from My Bedroom...

These MC101s donned 3D glasses at the Alex Theater on Saturday as part of a screening of the 1954 classic, "Creature from the Black Lagoon."

These have been tense times in Southern California as drought, heat and wind have conspired to fan numerous, terribly destructive forest fires. On the media side of things, Citizen Journalists have done an excellent job at reporting everything from human drama to road closures. Mark Glazer, editor of the outstanding Mediashift blog, has noted that even some online sites that you wouldn't think of as news outlets, such as Craigslist, have been timely, informative and helpful--especially in the badly-burned San Diego area. And Wikipedia has a summary of the fires that is worthy of a major news organization.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #1

Dumbledore, Uncloseted

Only now, after completing her monumental series of Harry Potter books, has Author J.K. Rowling divulged a revealing tidbit about the personal life of revered Headmaster Aldus Dumbledore. He is gay. And while there are no mentions of his sexual preference in the books, this new information made this humble blogger wonder: Will it cause some to shun the Potter tales and others to gravitate toward them? Will Dumbledore become a gay icon? And does the sexual preference of a fictional character make any difference in the real world?

We discussed these questions and more after listening to a National Public Radio story on the topic.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #86

Off Script

Tense negotiations are going on between the producers of television shows and movies and the Writers' Guild. The collective bargaining contract between the two parties expires on Oct. 31, and the writers have voted to authorize a strike if differences aren't worked out in regard to pay for TV shows and movies that wind up on the Internet, cell phones and other New Media formats. For the producers, a strike would mean more reality shows on TV and delays in movie production. We started our discussion after listening to this National Public Radio story.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #85

Not a Live Performance

How long do a celebrity's heirs get to profit from star power from beyond the grave? Maybe forever, says a new California law, which allows those heirs to retain control over the star's image and marketing rights permanently. The law is particularly relevant in the digital age, says California State Senator Sheila Kuehl, who many years ago was a television actress. Today, it is possible for a departed star to be digitally stripped into an ad, a TV show, or even a movie. Here is a National Public Radio story about a controversy over photos of Marilyn Monroe that helped to inspire the new California law.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #84



It was pretty packed in AD217 as these MC101 students take Quiz #2 last Thursday.

Analog TV Fades to Black

Today's medianote was about Best Buy's decision to stop selling analog TV sets in anticipation of the end of analog broadcast signals on Feb. 17, 2009. On that date, analog (non-digital) televisions without a cable or satellite hookup will go dark. A converter box will be sold that will allow analog sets to pick up digital broadcast signals, but the picture and sound will not be of HDTV quality.

MWF classes only

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #83

Your Life, On Camera

Some years ago when Jennicam was popular, I remember thinking that eventually someone will turn his/her whole life into a reality show on the Internet. I imagined someone walking around with an enormous pile of fruit on her head, sort of like a digital Carmen Miranda, hiding a little camera that took live pictures of everything she encountered.

Well, it's happened, minus the pile of fruit. It's called lifecasting and the Los Angeles Times had an interesting article about it recently. Needless to say, people who put their entire lives online run to a particular personality type.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #82




***TEXTBOOK LEGISLATION SIGNED Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB1548 on Friday, one of two bills designed to rein in the high price of college textbooks. This and a competing piece of legislation were the subject of Friday's medianote. The new law, dubbed "The College Textbook Transparency Act," will let professors know, upon request, the wholesale price of a textbook (that is, the price that bookstores pay) and the changes made since the book's previous edition. Here's an article about it from the Daily Nexus of UC Santa Barbara.

Textbook Relief

A recent Los Angeles Times article outlined two bills currently on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk that seek to rein in runaway textbook prices. Generally speaking, both bills use disclosure of publisher information, rather than price controls, to attack the high cost of college textbooks.

MWF classes only

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #81

httv://IsTVGoingOnline?.com

Usually, MC101 field trips don't cause students to head for the bar. But in this case it was OK, since this 1800s bar was part of an exhibit at the Autry Museum of the American West. We had a great turnout on Tuesday afternoon for this field trip.

Today's medianote came from a National Public Radio story about the new television season. To varying degrees, the networks are rushing onto the Internet this fall, hoping to recapture the valuable eyeballs of younger views who have been lured onto the Internet. The networks seem to agree that part of TV's future is on the Internet, but there appears to be a difference of opinion over how to cash in on this trend. MC101 students generally felt that putting TV programming onto the Internet has great implications for scheduling, advertising, and ratings.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #80

Age of the Cyber-Busker

A busker is a street entertainer. He, she or they sing, play or mime while setting out a tip jar on the sidewalk. Radiohead, the Grammy-nominated British band, has taken busking into the online world. In an era where music is freely downloaded and recording companies are scorned by artists and music fans alike, Radiohead has used its website to tell fans, "It's up to you." Fans can pay as much or as little as they want for the new album "In Rainbows." Fans can make their payments online. Our discussion revolved around a recent article in the Los Angeles Times.

MWF and TTH 8:30 a.m. classes discussed this medianote

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #79



***MEDIANOTE REVISITED Here's an update to our Oct. 3 medianote. New York Times computer columnist David Pogue has spent some time with the super-cheap laptop computer recently introduced by the One Laptop per Child foundation. He gives it high marks in this recent National Public Radio story.

Must ... Have ... Internet

Today's medianote comes from a Yahoo! News story that makes it ever-so clear that people really, really like the Internet. According to a survey of 1,011 adults by the advertising agency JWT, the Internet and cell phones have become much more essential than TV in the lives of many Americans. According to the survey, avid web surfers are cutting back on traditional friendships and even sex to be online. The MC101s had a good time discussing this one.

MWF classes only

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #78

YouTube Videos for Everyone!

Among other things, the computer has a crank to generate power when electricity is not available.

Remember that proposal to bring Third World education into the digital age by developing a $100 laptop computer? Well, the computer has been designed, but it isn't being built in numbers large enough to push the price below $200. The answer, maybe, is to ask idealistic Americans to buy one for themselves and one that can be donated overseas, all for $399. Here's a National Public Radio story on the idea.

But even if this project works and schoolkids from Albania to Zimbabwe have laptops, is it going to really aid their understanding of the world, or are they simply going to learn that it's fun to put Mentos into big bottles of Diet Coke?

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #77