A few class periods ago we watched a video about the way that music has been classically marketed to us. It has also brought me to think about evolution of the way that music is given to us once is it marketed.
For example, last weekend I sat around with a group of my friends in their apartment and we decided to listen to records. We listened to the best of Elton John until it ran out and then we flipped it over. After the second side we switched modes of play to Windows Media Player to fill some of my friends in on some of the other finer songs of Sir Elton. All of a sudden we were listening to Billy Joel and I was struck with the thought of “How did we get here?” Of course, my mind followed it perfectly: Elton John is really good, but we’ve been listening to him for a while and it’s time for a change.
But that was just it. When we were listening to the record we listened to the entirety of both sides, and then when we turned to the computer for our media we switched songs and artists and genres mid-song. Technological determinism had made its mark not only on us, but was differentiated in our group by the type of media that we decided to use. The bounds of the theory were endless, and, for the time being, I set it aside and continued listening to the classics.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Woot: One Day, One Deal
The internet is a wonderful place. As I was reviewing all of my friends’ status updates a few days ago, one of my friends had posted “…just successfully completed an order for 3 Bags O' Crap from Woot.com! $1 a "bag", 3 random items per bag. Could be anything from a glitter pen to an X-Box360!” Well of course I had to figure out what this “Bag O’ Crap” was – bags of stuff in general are pretty great. I headed over to Woot.com and read the forum pages, slowly learning what a Bog O’ Crap was and exactly how excited all of the buyers on Woot.com were about them. (By the by: they were all very excited) They were, in fact, exactly what they proposed: bags of random, mostly useless stuff that no one really needs. But there is a slim chance that your "bag" might contain a useful - and in fact, really nice - electronic device or other item.
Woot.com is a retailing site that sells only one product a day. They are a jumping-off site for many new, cutting edge products, especially electronics. They sell that one product until it sells out or midnight rolls around. Midnight brings about the next product, whether the last one sold out or not, and the cycle begins anew. All of the commentary by the site maintainers is really funny and a nice break from the straightforward “Size/Color/Quantity” fields that most sites offer.
My new favorite site is Shirt Woot. It is one of two off-shoot sites of Woot, the other one with wine (and sometimes cheese) deals. It has the same set-up, but there is a second site that gets their left-over shirts until they sell out. Shirt Woot often has “derbies” where loyal site goers design shirts. Seeing the wide range of ideas that designers have is very interesting. Some of them are interesting ways of merging current ideology and historical events. One of the most interesting/“controversial” shirts that I found: Roe V Wade
There are also a plethora of shirts parodying styles of shirts that many people are used to. There are also parodies of artists (musical and painting) and video games. One that nicely combines a couple of these is:
Ahh, sweet Escher Tetris. It is only the combination of two of my favorite things. And all this from keeping up with my friends' statuses.
Woot.com and shirt.woot.com are diffinately worth checking out, especially if you're in a bad mood and need a bit of cheering up... or if you need a shirt.
Woot.com is a retailing site that sells only one product a day. They are a jumping-off site for many new, cutting edge products, especially electronics. They sell that one product until it sells out or midnight rolls around. Midnight brings about the next product, whether the last one sold out or not, and the cycle begins anew. All of the commentary by the site maintainers is really funny and a nice break from the straightforward “Size/Color/Quantity” fields that most sites offer.
My new favorite site is Shirt Woot. It is one of two off-shoot sites of Woot, the other one with wine (and sometimes cheese) deals. It has the same set-up, but there is a second site that gets their left-over shirts until they sell out. Shirt Woot often has “derbies” where loyal site goers design shirts. Seeing the wide range of ideas that designers have is very interesting. Some of them are interesting ways of merging current ideology and historical events. One of the most interesting/“controversial” shirts that I found: Roe V Wade
There are also a plethora of shirts parodying styles of shirts that many people are used to. There are also parodies of artists (musical and painting) and video games. One that nicely combines a couple of these is:
Ahh, sweet Escher Tetris. It is only the combination of two of my favorite things. And all this from keeping up with my friends' statuses.
Woot.com and shirt.woot.com are diffinately worth checking out, especially if you're in a bad mood and need a bit of cheering up... or if you need a shirt.
The Internet and Reality: lacking safeguards and security
We recently watched a movie in Mass Comm called Growing up Online. This video was especially salient for me because it relates so closely to the different ways that my sister and I use the internet. The video focused a lot on how the parent’s view of the internet and its consequences differed from the teens’ views. Parents can more clearly see the full range of scenarios that can arise in the online world. Teens, in the movie at least, are a bit more short-sighted and see the online world as a place of freedom and anonymity.
My sister and I have always used the internet in drastically different ways, the media’s strong point. I usually use it for school work and surveillance; she has always used it for socializing and acquiring music and other pop culture icons of status. She has always been more at risk for “backlash” on the internet, something that she – and her teen counterparts in the film - didn’t understand, until recently. A wave of car break-in recently started happening in her college-town neighborhood. She and her friends have has their windows smashed in several times, with nothing stolen. It is likely that this is retaliation or reaction from something that was said online, and this is an admittance by my sister.
So what happens now? She has revamped the access to her profile information and gotten rid of a large portion of her online “friends” lists, but what course of action is she allowed to take to feel less like a victim? Rules are lax, if not non-existent, in the online arena. How can we feel safe, anonymous and yet vulnerable at the same time? What happens when the virtual and real world overlap?
These are a lot of questions that have come to my mind lately and I’m not sure we’re at a place where we can answer them yet. A lot of people know that they want the internet to be “safer,” but what does that mean and how do we achieve it? In class we’ve been talking a lot about technology growing faster than the society can change the content it presents, and I feel that this is another arena in which society is falling behind. It’s not for lack of trying, but technological steps forward like set time limitations on an internet provider and a clear record of sites visited by minors in a session don’t seem to be helping the parents help their kids understand the dangers and realities of this, the internet, our newest media.
My sister and I have always used the internet in drastically different ways, the media’s strong point. I usually use it for school work and surveillance; she has always used it for socializing and acquiring music and other pop culture icons of status. She has always been more at risk for “backlash” on the internet, something that she – and her teen counterparts in the film - didn’t understand, until recently. A wave of car break-in recently started happening in her college-town neighborhood. She and her friends have has their windows smashed in several times, with nothing stolen. It is likely that this is retaliation or reaction from something that was said online, and this is an admittance by my sister.
So what happens now? She has revamped the access to her profile information and gotten rid of a large portion of her online “friends” lists, but what course of action is she allowed to take to feel less like a victim? Rules are lax, if not non-existent, in the online arena. How can we feel safe, anonymous and yet vulnerable at the same time? What happens when the virtual and real world overlap?
These are a lot of questions that have come to my mind lately and I’m not sure we’re at a place where we can answer them yet. A lot of people know that they want the internet to be “safer,” but what does that mean and how do we achieve it? In class we’ve been talking a lot about technology growing faster than the society can change the content it presents, and I feel that this is another arena in which society is falling behind. It’s not for lack of trying, but technological steps forward like set time limitations on an internet provider and a clear record of sites visited by minors in a session don’t seem to be helping the parents help their kids understand the dangers and realities of this, the internet, our newest media.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Mojave "Experiment"
Windows has recently put out a string of ads regarding their new operating system: Vista. These ads have involved an “experiment” that was conducted by Microsoft dubbed “The Mojave Experiment.” This is an upsetting use of a one-sided argument aimed at a group of people that should be smarter than that. Many bloggers have already been discussing their disgust, and now I join their ranks.
The Mojave Experiment was a poor excuse for a study posing as market research. Microsoft gave surveys to participants asking how much they liked Vista (which they had never interacted with). They then had salespeople demo various aspects of Vista (cleverly disguised as “Mojave”) to the participants and had them then answer a survey on how much they liked Mojave. Surprise! Everyone we are told about raves about the new Mojave, even after saying they didn’t like Vista.
So what are we missing? Everyone likes it, right, so what’s the problem? The problem is that Microsoft thinks that a one-sided argument is enough to quiet everyone’s nerves about the problems that have been reported about Vista. No participant actually got to use Vista, so of course no problems arose. Two of the main criticisms about the Vista system are installation of Vista and the interaction with older software (or lack thereof) – neither of which were demoed in the “lab” setting.
Long story short, Microsoft is going to have to actually address problems in their systems before the product is going to sell in any meaningful way. Those of us who would actually consider trying out Vista aren’t going to buy it based on a group of non-users saying its great.
More information can be found at the following sites:
http://www.mojaveexperiment.com
Microsoft’s site on the Mojave Experiment
Learn more about Vista and the experiment
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/04/business/vista.php
The International Herald Tribune – an article on blogger’s responses to the experiment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mojave_Experiment
A summary of the experiment and criticisms
The Mojave Experiment was a poor excuse for a study posing as market research. Microsoft gave surveys to participants asking how much they liked Vista (which they had never interacted with). They then had salespeople demo various aspects of Vista (cleverly disguised as “Mojave”) to the participants and had them then answer a survey on how much they liked Mojave. Surprise! Everyone we are told about raves about the new Mojave, even after saying they didn’t like Vista.
So what are we missing? Everyone likes it, right, so what’s the problem? The problem is that Microsoft thinks that a one-sided argument is enough to quiet everyone’s nerves about the problems that have been reported about Vista. No participant actually got to use Vista, so of course no problems arose. Two of the main criticisms about the Vista system are installation of Vista and the interaction with older software (or lack thereof) – neither of which were demoed in the “lab” setting.
Long story short, Microsoft is going to have to actually address problems in their systems before the product is going to sell in any meaningful way. Those of us who would actually consider trying out Vista aren’t going to buy it based on a group of non-users saying its great.
More information can be found at the following sites:
http://www.mojaveexperiment.com
Microsoft’s site on the Mojave Experiment
Learn more about Vista and the experiment
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/04/business/vista.php
The International Herald Tribune – an article on blogger’s responses to the experiment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mojave_Experiment
A summary of the experiment and criticisms
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Commercials - Microsoft fights back
Lately I've become interested in commercials on television. There are some that are unimaginative and repetitive. However, there are a few in particular that I find very resonant and intriguing in the sea of sameness.
One such ad has been recently put out by Microsoft. It can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi1se9rH7S8
There are now a couple versions of this commercial. They are in response to the Mac vs. PC ads that Apple has been putting out lately. I thought that there were an interesting way of combating the image of PCs that are presented in Mac's ads. I thought it was interesting, however, that if I hadn't been exposed to the Mac commercials I probably wouldn't have been as interested as I am in the style of the Microsoft commercials. Both sets of commercials break through the noise for me.
One such ad has been recently put out by Microsoft. It can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi1se9rH7S8
There are now a couple versions of this commercial. They are in response to the Mac vs. PC ads that Apple has been putting out lately. I thought that there were an interesting way of combating the image of PCs that are presented in Mac's ads. I thought it was interesting, however, that if I hadn't been exposed to the Mac commercials I probably wouldn't have been as interested as I am in the style of the Microsoft commercials. Both sets of commercials break through the noise for me.
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