This is my final project for Engl1B at SJSU. As always, read this as an inflammatory op-ed. It’s only factual enough for a lower division writing class. 
Newsprint is dying. The writing is on the proverbial wall, and somebody somewhere is blogging about it on the Internet. Whenever there is a paradigm shift in any industry, it inevitable that there are casualties. Companies cannot cope with new business models; individuals lose their jobs, displaced by new techniques and smarter processes. But many times there are survivors, veterans in the displaced industry who adapt and fill a new niche in the new paradigm (Babu). However, in the current shift from hardcopy press to Internet news publication, there is no newsroom and there are no survivors. There is no giant, breathing, churning news company. On the Internet, the information already flows and aggregates itself. So where will the newspapers go? Internet pioneers have already defined how news is found and consumed. The Long Tail out performs the army of payroll journalists. And, at this point in history, newspaper publishers have already missed their opportunity to jump into the new paradigm and be leaders. Consequently, they will struggle, they will try to adapt, and they will be out competed in their current form. Regardless of how they try to adapt, publishers of traditional hardcopy press will not survive the paradigm shift to Internet news publication.
Continue reading ‘Late to the Party: Newsprint on the Internet’
Another essay for my Engl1B class at SJSU. The topic for this one is current events related to my SE. Since it’s an english class and most SE current events are boring, this essay loosely addresses DRM (somewhat more interesting) instead. Same audience disclaimer.
The following opinions may not be indicative of my (or anyone’s) personal views on the topic.
Stealing isn’t what it used to be. As words often do, “stealing” is taking on a new meaning. “Stealing” used to mean the act of taking another person’s property without legal permission; by stealing what is yours, I deprive you of your possession of it. The concept of material deprivation was invented long before the digital age. In a world where ideas are free, “stealing” is no longer what it was. Record Labels are businesses whose business model is based on the control and restriction of music, of ideas, a business model that is threatened by the new paradigm of free information. The Record Labels try to maintain control with copyright and try to restrict ideas with Digital Rights Management; they throw obstacles between musicians and audiences like boulders into a river. And when the music eventually gets to the ears of their customers, despite their best efforts, they call this “stealing.”
Continue reading ‘Stealing Progress: Copyright In the Digital Age’
I wrote this essay for my Engl1B class at SJSU. My opinions and statements here are somewhat inflammatory, dumbed down, and more or less targeted toward a newspaper audience. Given that, I’d like some feedback and appreciate critiques.
The following opinions may not be indicative of my (or anyone’s) personal views on the topic.
You open your web browser and log onto Facebook. You’re online. You check your email and IM your friends. You’re connected. You do a Google search. You’re on the Internet. It’s a vast social experience that you share with countless other people across the globe. It’s a democratic shouting contest of fingertips and eyeballs. The architects of this global super network might say that it belongs to the users, that the Internet is the perfect socialist democracy. But increasingly, this is not the case. The infrastructure, the economy, and the voice of the democratic Internet is controlled by a small proportion of its constituents.
Continue reading ‘You Don’t Control the Internet’
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