The plagiarised playlist.

“All someone needs to do is scroll through your library on that click wheel, and, musically speaking, you’re naked” (Levy 2006).

The glass bedroom metaphor as mentioned in last weeks blog interrelates with defining character and identity based on a music playlist. Levy (2006) explains that a music playlist shows character however one is able to “plagiarize personality from an undeservedly spicy playlist” (Levy 2006). With online music outlets such as last fm enabling people to be able to share their music tastes with the world the notion of musical exhibitionism is seen. Do people actually like and listen to the music that is displayed on their last fm profile or they ‘like’ on facebook? Or do they simply want others to perceive them differently by their displayed musical tastes?

With the development of new media, no longer do we need to go to our local record store to pick up the latest album. We can access all the latest music in the comfort of our own home, without even leaving the computer screen that so many are glued to. But when downloading music for free is so accessible yet illegal many are tempted by online download sites such as pirate bay and Utorrent.

Singh (2008) explains how the bollywood film industry has overcome piracy and illegal downloads leading to loss of profit. So should the music industry be following suit?

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Reference List

Levy, S. 2006. The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness, New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 21-41.

Singh, M. (2008).  Bollywood's Viral Video in Time International (Canada Edition), Vol. 171, Issue 14. Accessed March 19, 2011. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1713342,00.html 

Privacy is a Privilege

Social networking is becoming increasingly popular however what impact is it having on our privacy?

Leong (2011) explored the many criticisms in her lecture ‘Performing Me: Maintaining Visibility on the Social Stage’. Leong (2011) attributed manipulation, herd-like mentality, trivialising friendships and the addictive and time-wasting nature as some of the many criticisms of social networking websites.

These criticisms are further explored through the glass bedroom metaphor in which a person using social networking sites lets “private conversations and intimate exchanges occur, each with varying awareness of distant friends and strangers” (Pearson 2009). Further explanation of the glass bedroom metaphor can be viewed here.

One social networking website that emulates this metaphor is Facebook. Facebook inhibits many tools that allow people to view personal information, conversations, photos, videos and friendships among other things.

Not only can this affect one’s reputation but it creates the risk of online identity theft. For example, Facebook has a tool where someone can ‘check in’ to a location. Many people use this tool when they are at home, therefore allowing people to see where they live.

(Facebook Places Screenshot, www.facebook.com)

With photos, full names, birth dates, addresses and other personal information readily available on Facebook it is no surprise that "Identity thieves who use emerging technology to perpetrate fraud are responsible for a crime wave that is costing Australians approximately $1 billion a year” (Hildebrand 2009).

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Reference List

Hildebrand, Joe. 2009. “Facebook identity theft enough for jail.” News.com.au, July 11. Accessed March 13^th, 2011. http://www.news.com.au/facebook-identity-theft-enough-for-jail/story-0-1225748436706

Leong, Susan. “KCB206 performing me: Week 2 lecture slides.” Accessed March 12, 2011. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/.

Pearson, Erika. 2009. “All the World Wide Web’s a stage: The performance of identity in online social networks” First Monday (14). Accessed March 12, 2011. http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2162/2127