Copyright

Media products today will always be protected by being ‘copyrighted’. This means that anything within that product, it may be a sound, film, typographical publication, music, art or anything that person creates cannot be taken and used by a different author and used elsewhere without the creators permission. In basic terms it stops people stealing other peoples products, if they do this it is illegal and they will be open to prosecution. Media companies copyright their products so it is theirs, no one else can legally take any elements from it without consent.

For example if I were to create a website of which I copyrighted and then you came on to my site and chose to copy an image from it and use it for your own product, this would be breaching the copyright laws which state you cannot use my work until 70 years after I had passed away.

Today, much of the interactive media industry will actually use items from different projects and companies much of the time, this can be okay as long as they have consent or they do not breach copyright laws, if they do this they are open to having their company to be sued by the original owners of the items and prosecuted. If you are ever unsure of using objects from another person’s product it is advisable to ask for permission before proceeding to use their content.

Another issue surrounding copyright is websites which allow people to illegally pass on data to other users for free, being able to download games, music and film without the creators consent. These are sites such as ‘Utorrent’. They let you search for media products which are downloadable, people will upload items for many to download free of charge. In essence this deteriorates that company’s profit margin because if people support these sites, they are not paying for the media product. The sites themselves are breaking the law. This is a different type of copyright breach as it is not people taking items from another company to use for their own product, but to just use for free.

As copyright laws are so strict and can often be so difficult to bypass, companies can often become too cautious with what they use, even if they have created everything for their product themselves, it may be too similar to previous ones in the past created by different authors.

So to in some ways avoid this, the ‘creative commons’ act comes in. This basically encourages people to share their creativity and work so others can learn from them and then create their own work. Copyright was created before the internet existed and today there is so much content on the web, it can be difficult to create anything without using elements from different existing sources.

Creative commons creates a balance between the original copyright rules and the ability to share creativity, anyone from small, to the largest companies can have the creative commons act, there is no difference. Another reason for creating the creative commons act is that it helps to ‘realize the full potential of the internet.’ This means that by having a ‘some rights reserved’ approach to copyright rather than an ‘all rights reserved’ one that people can share ideas and promote creativity not just with each other, but inspire themselves to create a better product themselves.

Now this still by far does not mean if a company has the creative commons act that people can just take anything they wish from them without permission, it is more focused to collaboration of companies in order to create a better final product. But companies can create places of which they store all files of which they are happy to share with the online world, which is also inside the laws of copyright. This is important so people can’t just distribute products like they would do on illegal sites such as ‘Utorrent’.

In today’s world it is essential to find a balance between sharing content freely and have copyright laws put in place. Without these laws anything you potentially create, someone could steal and you may never be sure if a product you buy was put online by the original creator. The ideas behind copyright is to protect content, but those who also want to contribute to the industry and have creative commons may wish to share some of their work for others to learn off of, use and change for their own use or inspire for new projects.

Privacy and the internet

Privacy on the internet today has somewhat been reduced by the barrage of social media sites and other sites which demand our personal details and give us little in return. This is because we have come to place much more trust in the internet, and believe we are secure whilst giving much of our personal information away and sometimes, without even noticing. But should this really be happening? What are the consequences to just handing out our information for millions to see? A prime example of this would be to take a look at some social media sites.

For instance the popular site ‘Facebook’ has racked up over 500 million users in 2010 alone, it allows users to create their own profiles and asks them information about themselves which people can see. Although Facebook has privacy settings so you can choose to not let everyone see your page it has applications that suggest friends to you, based upon your interests and how many mutual friends you have in common. In fact, millions of people update their statuses regularly and even let people know their location. People trust sites like these without thinking of the dangers of publicly displaying much of their information. In some cases, you can learn a lot about a person, where they live, where they work etc. without even ever talking to them. Would you go out and tell random people all of your personal information? It can be somewhat dangerous as you can’t know who is viewing your profile. This can be commonly found on similar sites such as Myspace and Bebo (Although they are somewhat dated.). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygp9juWDIiI

Another danger of sites like these, are the sites themselves. Upon signing up to sites like Facebook, Twitter or other sites which includes online shopping there are pages and pages of terms and conditions that would take hours to read so many of us choose the easy option and immediately press the ‘agree’ button. This means we could be signing up for anything, people have tried to sue companies like Facebook for using their personal information for advertisement schemes although they state it is included in the terms and conditions. This is just scratching the surface, Facebook keeps every single bit of user information that is updated including status updates and photos, being able to use these how they see fit. It is not just other users of the site people must be cautious; it may also be the site itself. At one time or another we have all heard of online shopping transactions going wrong and the company taking all of the consumers money, this can still happen today but many people seem ignorant to the matter and will easily hand out personal information as well as their bank details.

A common argument for those against such sites is that it is a breach of our basic human rights, our right to privacy and in breach of the online data protection act. Although these arguments can be quickly overlooked as they still agree to the sites’ terms and conditions. The best way to be sure your information is not being stolen would be to just not sign up to websites who ask for your information but today it is sites like these are the most popular and are ruling the online world.

Another common but dated issue with privacy are online scams such as emails naming you the ‘winner’ of an unknown competition, they may ask you to give out your information such as your address and bank details so they can steal your money. These are much easier to spot mainly as they can be so obvious and have been around for a while. But this can also happen in online shopping; unaware a customer can order items and give out personal bank details in return. Usually sites will have a secure log in system in which you have a safe account to shop with; this will be on official shopping sites.  

It seems that today we give out much more personal information than ever before online; our online privacy is becoming more of an issue. Many of us have the mindset that online scams, fraud or robbery won’t happen to us. But even if we only use secure sites we still have to be careful who we give out our information to, and if we really need to give out this information. Also if people only post on social media sites pictures and statuses they wouldn’t mind anyone seeing this wouldn’t stop breaches of our privacy, but if it ever did 

happen then it would not be such problem to us.

In conclusion privacy on the internet today is an issue, we all seem to agree to terms and conditions before reading them, and we are using more recent sites that can breach our privacy. It is our right to have our own privacy and should be entitled to it online. However, it is our choice to sign up to sites such as Facebook and our choice whether or not to read the terms and conditions, although if there are sites that pass on our information for others to see, it seems to be in direct violation of our human rights and the data protection act.

               

The Simpsons - A critical response

The Simpsons is a popular family-based situation comedy which touches on some major issues that we see in the world today or even issues within the family itself as it represents the typical American family. This in turn makes the show more relatable to its target audience; the show is family based so can still relate to an audience of a wide age range.

As an audience we expect family orientated sitcoms to be appropriate for persons of all ages to watch and have relevant issues within its storyline. Obviously the show should be more relaxed and not some sort of thriller action epic as this would lessen its appeal to us as an audience. Also we expect its humour to be more of a light humour and for it to be relatively easy to understand. The Simpsons is mostly what we come to expect of the ‘sitcom’ genre and has an element to it that is easy to understand for younger people watching the show, as well as deeper meaning behind the jokes and storyline which the more mature audience may understand about more serious issues within the world at the current time. The Simpsons does in a way differ from what we expect of a sitcom as it is firstly an animated show and some of the adventures and antics the main characters get up to can be quite extreme.

The Simpsons has been released on some other platforms other than just TV. ‘The Simpsons Movie’ being much like the popular television show, but the adventure and storyline is set on a greater scale obviously. The genre slightly shifts from a family orientated one to more of an adventure type story. In terms of other platforms the Simpsons has been featured in console and PC games. For some of these the genre has competed changed to become more objective based obviously as it is a game. In others the genre is quite similar to the TV show and keeps a comic element to it although does slightly change to make it fit more of a comedic type game.

The underlying structure of the Simpsons is one of a typical American family, it shows how the typical or ‘nuclear’ family have struggles and how they deal with their problems;  a lazy, irresponsible father figure who sets off most of the wacky adventures and has a wife who plays more of a passive position in the family. The family has three children, the eldest of which is a troublemaker like his father, the next eldest being nearly the opposite with honestly and trustworthiness and then the youngest whom is the baby of the family. This clear not only in the TV show, but the Movie also. 

The Simpsons Movie has parts within it of which can link in with the structure of the ‘hero’s journey.’ For example, in the area of which the Simpsons live in called ‘Springfield’ The father of the family (Homer) manages to cause much trouble in the town, meaning that a higher power now seizes the place and places a large glass dome around it. Managing to escape the family then move away and refuse to help the town. But after more events later in the film they then decide to help and succeed and triumph for the town, this also ties in with the ‘Hero’s return’ part of the Hero’s journey.

Within the characters of the Simpsons there are some role models. Although nearly all of the characters have mistakes sometimes there are few who serve as more of a role model type figure. In essence, Homer (The father of the family.) is a sort of role model to the children of which his son follows mostly. Although Homer is by far not the ideal role model, as a father it is part of his duty in being part of the family. In a way, Marge (The mother of the family.) is a much more beneficial role model as she plays a much more mature and wise character compared to Homer, although she is usually a passive character because Homer seems to be the centre of attention. Other than these characters there are various role models placed throughout the TV series such as well known celebrities playing the voice of reason within the storylines.

These pivotal roles can also have an effect on the audience who view the show, the audience can gain knowledge of what is right and what is wrong as well as other life lessons that could be relevant to our everyday lives. It seems that no matter how odd or unbelievable the adventures are that happen in the shows, they always end up as they did at the start, back to normal. This is usually because something happens which shows them what they should do to get things back to the usual again.

The main characters of the Simpsons consist of the family; they can represent different types of groups. For example, the parents represent a middle aged, working class group of average people and the children represent average children or teenagers and their struggles. Also, combined, the whole family represents the average American family with some somewhat dysfunctional relationships within the family of which is relatively common in reality. They encourage us to sympathise with these types of people, in some episodes it seems to try and make us sympathise with the parents feelings, or one of the parents’ feelings about an issue, and in others they try and make you sympathise for the children, the teenager generation. This all depends on what happens during the episode and as this is so different from each episode they can make us as an audience sympathise with nearly all the main characters at one point or another.

In the Simpsons minority groups are represented by characters that are not usually in the main line up of characters, there are often not in multiple episodes. Groups in the minority within the Simpsons consist of characters such as ‘Apu’, an Indian man who owns the local convenience store and ‘Carl’ who is Homers friend an African-American. There are not many characters in the Simpsons of different nationalities or races. In essence, the Simpsons can poke fun at the idealism of racism and such topics not because the show itself is racist, but as this is a relevant issue today is shows awareness of the problems. The minority groups in the Simpsons are rarely featured but in a way are good representations of how the world see’s these groups in America today.

The main family consists of two males and three females although the rest of the characters are predominately male, so the balance of males to females is more towards the male side. Although there is no discrimination in terms of the storylines, the females can have leading roles in episodes as well as the males. The female characters in the Simpsons are often the more mature people, although can also be more passive in terms of their personality, Marge is a prime example of this. In comparison to the male characters who are usually the cause of the adventures and most wrong things that happen in the show.

In terms of social groups, the Simpsons has covered many groups over their episodes but this is usually in a brief way and will not go in to much depth within many social groups as the main focus of the show is towards the family itself.

We are live.

Our interactive video project has taken off and is now live on youtube here - http://youtu.be/ZvN-dq97_zc . After a few small hiccups in the editing process we have managed to upload the entire adventure. We have decided to make only the start video public, this way people can only begin at the start and not at a random point within the story, giving it away. The rest of the videos are via private link and only accessible when you click on one of the choice sections within the video.

You ultimately decide the outcome of the storyline, but you can choose to go back and decide a different choice.