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Kelly Burns

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl - 0 views

  • Beckett had met him through a friend and wanted to make sure Lonelygirl15 didn't get them sued for deceiving the public
    • dracmere
       
      This was a good idea on their part. It would be bad if they were successful and then got sued for something.
    • Jessica Bloom
       
      Is it even possible to get sued for deceiving the public? So many shows today are fake, do they have a problem as well?
  • But the series he created shows that Internet TV has arrived. The phenomenon is partly driven by technology – Lonelygirl15 wouldn't exist without the explosion of broadband and the advent of YouTube – and partly by the appeal of a hybrid form of storytelling.
    • sunflower123
       
      I just find this kind of sick and twisted. I remember hearing about this a few months ago but didn't think much of it. But this type of fake story telling only shows people how easy to is to be fake by using technology and that is not right. It is just scary to think that you never know who you are really talking to, taking advice from or if any facts are real, and Lonelygirl made that even more clear...lonelygirl would not exist either if someone didn't make her up.
    • kaeanne
       
      I hadn't heard about this until now, but I agree, it is VERY sick and twisted! It makes me sad to think it exists, because this happens, it's real life.
  • In the process, the series is helping to invent the rhythm, grammar, and style of online storytelling
    • sunflower123
       
      If they admitted from the beginning that they were just trying to make an non-fictional online story, then that would be one thing. But they lied so it makes it werid.
    • Gail Ramsey
       
      This is not really a new concept, just an old concept displayed in a new technology. Not that the stories were the same but there have been radio programs and movies that originally ran as real but were fake.
  • ...39 more annotations...
  • In short, they were planning to exploit the anonymity of the Internet to pull off a new kind of storytelling, and they worried they were on shaky legal ground.
    • sunflower123
       
      If they had any bad feeling about it at all, that should of told them right there not to do it.
    • haines64
       
      It may not be illegal, but it is unethical. Unlike a real movie or TV show, these men where purposefully exploiting viewers online. There would have been no reason for the viewers to think the videos were fake (unlike when we go to a movie and know the characters are played by paid actors). Since there is no universally accepted ethical guidelines for online postings to sites like YouTube, I guess the creators thought their actions could be justified. However, I still think that creating a massive plan to deceive countless viewers like they did is not a good way to represent YouTube and similar spaces.
  • Plastic surgery might be an essential part of the entertainment industry, but he wanted more. He wanted to direct.
    • goulds28 gould
       
      very strange switch in professional fields. Is plastic surgery that closely linked to the entertainment industry in the first place?
    • kaeanne
       
      i dont think they are THAT closely related to make such a drastic switch...kind of creepy in my opinion
    • anonymous
       
      Interesting switch in fields.
  • Now, as a result of Lonelygirl15, he's represented by a top-tier Hollywood talent agency and has been interviewed on MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.
    • willis02
       
      That is crazy. It's weird to think little ideas like this really could go a long way if you are talented enough. This "lie" changed his life. Good for him.
  • So today, two weeks after the revelation that the show is fictional, Flinders is filming the 45th two-minute installment of the series and pushing into new territory. What began as a quirky story about a religious girl fighting with her strict parents and her boyfriend is poised to break out of the bedroom and into a full-blown international thriller.
    • willis02
       
      It's amazing at how far this guy went to make this Lonlygirl15 happen.
    • anonymous
       
      Seems harmless enough.
  • Last week, he spotted his neighbors – two Playboy playmates – and invited them in. They glanced at his room, got suspicious, and quickly left.
    • kaeanne
       
      I completely agree. What would you think if you walked into a set like that?
  • It's all the more engrossing because viewers can correspond with the characters and even affect the plot.
    • Joan Vance
       
      Why wouldn't anyone like a show in which they can relate to? This is why I read certain books, because I can relate to the characters in some way. Reality TV has really became a hit in the US. I actually do enjoy some of these new shows.
    • Gail Ramsey
       
      Most of the reality shows are extreme case setups. I wonder if that encourages people to react extreme in life. They put you on an emotional overcharge to keep you viewing. Reality is a very lose term for them and even with LonleyGirl they admitted they didn't get the big hits until they made it "emotional".
  • Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree is actually the Beverly Hills bedroom of Lonelygirl15's cocreator Mesh Flinders, an unshaven 27-year-old who is fighting the flu and running a fever of 101. He hasn't left this room for more than 24 hours. "I've got no reason to leave," Flinders says, rubbing his bloodshot eyes and then blowing his nose. The room smells like sweat. "I write the scripts here, we shoot them here, and I sleep here. Why leave?"
    • kaeanne
       
      He clearly has something wrong with him. This is not only unhealthy but a bit scary!
    • alieraisu1
       
      I agree with kaeanne... something's wrong... and creepy here
    • james caposele
       
      This guy is a mess...a smart mess though. Does he make a lot of money off this? It has always blown my mind that you can come up wiht such a simple idea and get all the media coverage for it. I'm still waiting for my big break.
  • A Hollywood movie is understood to be fictional. Vlogging on YouTube is not.
  • But this isn't what it appears to be: Almost everything in the room was bought from Target on the same day, and the price tags are still hanging from some of her stuff. The closet is filled with men's clothing, and in the corner two guys huddle around a laptop and stare at the webcam feed.
    • hawtho16
       
      This paragrapgh really got me thinking about the videos we watched on Lonely Girl. I didn't even seem to pick up on what was hanging in the closet or that things still had price tags on them. Can you see those details from the videos?
    • kimmerzx0 C
       
      It makes you think about the discussion we had in class the other day about people portraying themselves as whoever they want to be portrayed as. It is amazing that you could think something that seems so real, like an ordinary girl with boy problems, can actually be completely fake!
    • kaeanne
       
      It just proves that things aren't always what they seem to be. This is a huge problem with the freedom that the internet provides to those not mature enough to use it responsibly.
    • Kelly Burns
       
      I never knew that it was a fake scene! It reminds me of the discussion we had in class the other day about how people can fake their identies. Most the people in the class just kept using the words, "It's weird" and "Creepy", and that is the only way I know how to describe the crazy phenomon about how people can change who they are and portray themselves as completely different people on the Internet.
    • james caposele
       
      I spoke to soon in my previous sticky note. I didn't fully believe her when she said that she only had one friend. Does it say gullable on the wall? I think it does..
    • Jennifer Dougherty
       
      This doesn't actually bother me. I am a huge fan of reality TV, which we all know is HEAVILY staged and scripted. Who cares that this is too. It's entertainment. Remember how we are always taught not to believe everything we read? That we are to approach everything we read with a critical eye? The same goes for these videos. If we question what we see, the validity of it and the impact we as the viewer choose to assign it to our lives, it shouldn't matter if the video is real or fake.
  • When the show started in June with a two-minute YouTube posting by Bree – played by actress Jessica Rose – Flinders would rearrange his room after each shoot.
    • Melissa Foster
       
      I thought it was crazy how it was all shot inside of his own bedroom. What's more is that it seems to have made him a bit of a recluse.
  • When the show started in June with a two-minute YouTube posting by Bree – played by actress Jessica Rose – Flinders would rearrange his room after each shoot. >
    • hawtho16
       
      I cannot believe that someone would think of such a show. Who has that much time on their hands? Just to think a two-minute posting turned into something everyone talked about.
  • So today, two weeks after the revelation that the show is fictional, Flinders is filming the 45th two-minute installment of the series and pushing into new territory. What began as a quirky story about a religious girl fighting with her strict parents and her boyfriend is poised to break out of the bedroom and into a full-blown international thriller.
    • hawtho16
       
      It just boggles my mind how one video turned into 45. I wonder what made him do this, did he want the attention? Where did the story line come from?
    • jrae3388
       
      I heard of LonelyGirl before and saw some of her videos and it intrigued me because it was kind of Degrassi-esque, but I really wondered if it was true or not because it shows her being kidnapped and I was wondering why there wasn't an outcry because she was kidnapped, but I had a suspicion that this was all fake, just like all the other shows out there. One thing I have learned over the years is dont believe everything you say/hear.
  • He'd take down the pictures of Rose as a baby, stash the stuffed animals, and swap out the girly bedspread for his more masculine blue-and-white-striped blanket. Now, three months into the project and with hundreds of thousands of regular viewers, he doesn't bother
    • Elizabeth Somer
       
      I think this is "genius." Who would think to create a mini, self-run almost TV like series?
    • kimmerzx0 C
       
      I wander how many times he actually retransformed his room, it seems way too tiring for me. I have a hard enough time cleaning my room and taking the stuff I need to take home for a weekend.
    • anonymous
       
      I think this is pretty creative.
  • He wrote short stories about her, and when he tried to make it as a writer in Hollywood, he put her in his screenplays.
    • Elizabeth Somer
       
      Some books today are written in the form of IM/Blog conversations. I think this is more personal way of writing and communicating
    • kaeanne
       
      Is he trying to compensate for his short comings now? Is Lonelygirl really a success for him? Well, I guess that's the way he sees it.
  • As a camp counselor, he told fireside tales about her experiences.
    • kimmerzx0 C
       
      So lonelygirl seems to not only be his story, but also his obsession. It is like the characters people create in MUDs and then they become obsessed with them.
  • Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree is actually the Beverly Hills bedroom of Lonelygirl15's cocreator Mesh Flinders, an unshaven 27-year-old who is fighting the flu and running a fever of 101.
    • mccrar25
       
      I have never heard of Lonelygirl before, but it is interesting to think about. Today's Internet capabilities allow people to portray themselves in a quite deceiving mannner. This is what's part of the dangers of the Internet. We believe that just because someone has a video or picture, what they post is automatically true. However, this can be quite far from the truth.
    • zimmer67
       
      It really makes me wonder what type of research if any he conducted to make it believeable to an audience that a 27 year old male knew the thoughts of a young teen girl? Its very weird and a little disconcerting.
  • He got picked on for being small, and there was no escape: The children attended classes taught by the adults of the commune, which was isolated in the windswept hills of western Sonoma County. When he turned 14, Flinders was sent to a Catholic high school, where he was regarded as a hippy devil worshipper, beaten up, and thrown into a dumpster.
    • mccrar25
       
      This is an example how the Internet allows people to create false identities and new "selves". In this case, an unpopular, awkward young man grows to be a "needed" and "wanted" person on the web. This show has given him tremendous opportunites, far from what he experienced growing up.
    • zimmer67
       
      This also relates to Sherry Turkle's article about creating characters on the internet. It becomes a fantasy world and a new way to explore life for some people
    • anonymous
       
      It seems like these types of people always come up with smart or creative ideas that somehow bring attention to themselves.
  • He thought that a dramatic story from the point of view of a video blogger would be more captivating. Flinders, it turned out, had the perfect character.
    • zimmer67
       
      I really don't think she was the "perfect character" by any means. The inticing aspect is that some can relate to her but her character is very plain and is seen all over the televsion. The reason this is such a hit is the new medium of tv online not because of the character herself.
    • kaeanne
       
      i agree, i don't find her amusing, i find her annoying. i don't get what all the fuss is about?!
  • Beckett ordered a pitcher of margaritas and explained that they wanted the vloggers of the YouTube community to believe that Bree was real.
    • Jen Fitzgerald
       
      I agree. I was watching and wondering if people really thought this girl was for real. I mean I know it's fake now, but I feel like I would have thought that had it not become public. I still haven't figured out how people can become obsessed with these bloggers or vloggers. Get up and do something!
  • When he got to college, Flinders dreamed up an alter ego – an awkward, geeky homeschooled girl.

    • kaeanne
       
      This only proves many comments made earlier...CREEPER, disturbed, twisted, sick. This is bizzare.
  • commune
    • Jessica Bloom
       
      II wonder if where he came from really has anything to do with his werid idea to start this Lonelygirl15 internet explosion.
    • Gail Ramsey
       
      I am sure it had something to do with the individual he became. Maybe that was why he was more successful dealing in an online world where he could stay "behind the scenes".
  • Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree.
    • mccrar25
       
      This just seems so strange to me...I can't imagine hosting a fake show in my bedroom, and then responding to e-mails as this fictional person. This is, in fact, kind of creepy. I would feel wrong doing this and very uncomfortable.
  • Flinders rationalized the deception, noting that viewers wouldn't expect Mark Hamill to point out at the beginning of Star Wars that he wasn't Luke Skywalker.
    • Lauren Mecum
       
      I believe this is a good point but just put way out of context. The author didn't have to explain hidden ideas, because film is seen as an art form. People are used to having a suspension of disbelief when watching a film. Video blogging isn't an art form and people don't know the difference between real or not real yet. Others on the internet truly use blogging as a personal outlet. People may now find all blogs to be misleading, the writing space may lose its verisimilitude due to this controversy.
    • daydreamr97
       
      This is an interesting point about society and art. We place a lot of value on nonfiction now, much more than we used to. People are getting caught writing "fake" memiors and getting in a lot of trouble for it. We might not expect actors who play the parts to be the real characters, but we often do expect characters to be real.
  • Flinders shrugs it off; the room is an upgrade. Six months ago, he was living with his 96-year-old grandmother in rural Central California. Now, as a result of Lonelygirl15, he's represented by a top-tier Hollywood talent agency and has been interviewed on MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.
    • kaeanne
       
      Does this make it O.K.?
  • "It's the producers from Law and Order," she says. "Do you want me to answer it?" "Let it ring," Flinders tells her.
    • kaeanne
       
      They probably want to make an episode dealing with an issue similar to this because of how twisted it is!
  • Beckett says. After four years of medical school and a year of residency, the 27-year-old dropped out of the
    • richar19
       
      I think that this was a big risk he quit a job that he could have made a a lot of money for one were he could have failed.
    • kaeanne
       
      doesn't this tell us something?!
  • Lonelygirl15 is a mashup of homemade video diary, soap opera, and mysterious, hint-laden narrative like Lost
    • Jen Fitzgerald
       
      Many of the "reality" shows we watch today are scripted and not real at all. This makes the lonelygirl situation more understandable, but no less creepy just because it seems as if one guy decided upon this himself. I wonder how much input the actress had, since she is a girl and all.
    • haines64
       
      I can understand the appeal of the Loneygirl15 "show" in relation to it being Internet TV. But I still think it is a little creepy that we are willing to accept this guy's lie and justify it as TV itself, even going as far as to identify the genres it fits into.
    • Lauren Mecum
       
      I believe that the producers should have come forward and said that the blogs were a ficticious story. I don't feel it is right to use people as guinea pigs when they have no recollection of it. Stories like this make me personally not trust the internet.
  • it's a thrillingly uncharted creative landscape, and he has no interest in abandoning it for the tired conventions of film or television
    • Jessica Bloom
       
      Right now, I don't know how I feel about this online show, so to speak. I think it is extremely weird, since I have not had enough time to become accustomed to it. Hopefully, after I continue reading, I will understand where this man who created Lonelygirl15 is coming from.
  • Flinders himself is startlingly uninterested in traditional TV. He grew up without it and rarely watches it now.
    • Danielle Rabello
       
      I find it very interesting that he grew up without television and has sort of moved on to television on the internet. It depicts how technology has changed over time, and sort of hints that television on the internet could ultimately take over. In a way, it already has for Flinders.
    • Lauren Mecum
       
      The producer had never been exposed to much televisiona nd its amazing that that is all he is consumed in today. He doesn't like traditional television, but i feel there is something more honest about television. As viewers we have a suspension of disblief when we watch fictional stories on TV. The people watching lonelygirl blogs didn't know what to believe.
    • james caposele
       
      A lot of people don't have time to sit down and watch an hour show on television. With the expansion of computers and internet videos people can watch 15 two minute videos just on their lunch break.
  • Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree. In short, they were planning to exploit the anonymity of the Internet to pull off a new kind of storytelling, and they worried they were on shaky legal ground.
    • Joan Vance
       
      It didnt even cross my mind at first that this may not be legal. If the men were so worried that it would be illegal, maybe it should be. I mean they were trying to pretend to be a 15 yr old girl and talk to people. Not only are Hollywood movies known to be fictional, none of the characters hold conversations or email its viewers. I think that underneath the video it should have stated this is not a true person, everything you have seen is fictional, or something of that nature.
    • Lauren Mecum
       
      It is alittle upsetting that these producers where making money and fame off of something so misleading. Many people invested they time and feelings into lonelygirl and never knew that she was fake. They would give advice and truly felt for her. I don't know if it's right to make money off of a lie.
  • But nobody bought his scripts: Agents and producers didn't think much of the character he had created.
    • Lauren Mecum
       
      I find it interesting that agents and producers didn't find much in his stories or scripts, but so many people tuned in all the time to see lonelygirl's blogs. You never know what the public will see as entertainment.
    • Bianca Pieloch
       
      Viewers love being in control of the plot. We love to see things go our way, the way we want it. It is so frustrating when you have to go along with the way the editors want the show to go.
    • Melissa Foster
       
      I have trouble deciding whether I would feel betrayed or not had I caught onto the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon earlier. I think the craziest part is the elaborate set up of her e-mail responses and so on.
  • The room behind her could be anywhere in America – there's a pink floral-print bedspread, a half-dozen stuffed animals, and a framed picture of a rose on the wall.
    • james caposele
       
      I think this is what makes lonelygirl15 so interesting. I see her as represent all of teenage amercian boredoom. Small town, one friend and a stuffed animal. When I feel lonely, I write. When she feels lonely, she blogs.
  • It's too much work, even though it has blown some great opportunities for him.
    • james caposele
       
      Too much work? Is this guy serious? He never leaves the room, it is not that much work to make a bed and hang a few pictures. I think the success is going to this guy's head.
  • After working a few years as an assistant to an independent director
  • After working a few years as an assistant to an independent director
    • Jennifer Dougherty
       
      This is exactly the point I was trying to make about YouTube-that it turns the average person, in this case he struggles to become a director, into just that, a director. He created this set and these characters and put them out there. Millions of people followed. Isn't this his dream?
  •  
    information about lonelygirl, youtube
mccrar25

Writing Arts: Core Values - 0 views

  •  
    This webpages lists the Department of Writing Arts' Core Values.
meyerb15

FREELANCE WRITING JOBS - 0 views

  •  
    This site is a great place to see what kind of writing jobs are out there and what positions are available.  This site would be a major resource for Writing Arts majors.

mccrar25

Exciting Writing - 0 views

  • Pi day
    • alieraisu1
       
      Pi day... hahaha... (I'm just showing my sister how this works)
  •  
    This blog discusses education and writing. It covers many topics as you will see.
  • ...1 more comment...
  •  
    A blog with information regarding writing, reading strategies, advice for teachers and much more.
  •  
    This is our blog page.
  •  
    This is the collection of blogs that my group created.
jc ice

Composing Spaces » tfw readings spring 2008 - 0 views

    • anonymous
       
      It is important for students, especially wiriting arts majors, to know that writing is a technology. Writing starte dout as a form of math and a way to kee track of trading goods. This system was th number system that evolved into pictures and then into words. As far as the physical aspects of writing being a technology, we have to look at how technologyis notsomething thats instilled in us; its not something we have an erge to; its something that is dependent on something else, in order to work. Sort of like a remote controll, it depends on batteries to work.
    • jc ice
       
      I can't get this to open in Firefox. If anyone has a tip, please let me know.
  •  
    This article is on why people blog and the effects of blogs. What I got from this article is that people who blog are actually just community builders. Now blogs may not be your traditional communities where there are a group of diverse people thrown together, and are forced to cope with one another. Blogs are more of a community that is built off of common interest, and the only people who blog this blog are people wh share those interest.
Gail Ramsey

Wired 14.12: YouTube vs. Boob Tube - 0 views

  • Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen.
    • dracmere
       
      Just by looking at this quote we can see why Youtube is a success. It is true that most people want to be a star and to give them a chance is going to be a hit. Unfortantly, if you watch Youtube you can see that some people should not ever be stars.
    • zimmer67
       
      I wonder if youtube will soon be a new recruitment tool for talent agencies. It is afterall a compilation of many different people exhibiting different talents in some aspects.
  • Fragmentation has decimated audiences, viewers who do watch are skipping commercials,
    • goulds28 gould
       
      This is due to programs like TiVo.
    • coffma46
       
      YouTube very much is like this. People make the weirdest videoes for people just to watch them. I have seen some videos where people were just singing or dancing around in their bedroom.
    • hughes27
       
      This is what makes Youtube so interesting, alot of it is real stuff with no acting or script involved with the added bonus that others can view your work
  • ...35 more annotations...
  • Lots of people can now watch themselves on sort-of TV, which is pretty fun in itself. The bonus is that others want to watch them, too.
    • haines64
       
      The question is if there is a danger in this. One of the kids I nanny for is fascinated with The Wiggles. When looking for a Wiggles video for him on YouTube, I cam across a family video of two little kids getting Wiggles toys for Christmas. It may be cute to send this video to the family's friends and relatives, but should the whole world have access to it, too? Everyone tells young people to protect their identity on the Internet, but then YouTube provides unlimited access to so many otherwise-personal videos.
  • NBC used Yahoo to premiere Heroes and AOL to offer sneak previews of its Twenty Good Years and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. And the brand-new CW Network celebrated its debut by posting for free Runaway and Everybody Hates Chris on MSN. Counting cable, dozens of networks are now making programs available online.
    • coffma46
       
      This is a nice way for people to learn another technology, rather than doing the same thing all of the time, which is just watching the television. Maybe adults of an older generation would like to learn this technology.
  • He insists he can't quite recall, you know, the $1.65 billion moment.
    • sunflower123
       
      Yea, you would think that would be the first thing that the founder of U-tube would know. What started your bussiness off is usally an important detail to remember
    • vanamb16
       
      it is easy to see how something like this could happen- you start posting funny videos of your friends, they post of theirs, you open it up, and you have a movement...
  • "#2 Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen. "
    • willis02
       
      We discussed in class why people would want to be on Youtube. This quote here is a great example. People want their five minutes of fame. They think that because other people are watching their videos they are star because they are entertaining them.
  • Third-millennium humanity has demonstrated an interest in sifting through millions of pieces of crap produced by total strangers to discover a few gems – some accidentally entertaining ("Boom Goes the Dynamite"), some breakout performances from the previously obscure ("Treadmill Dance"), and some explorations of a new art form crackling with genius (Ze Frank, Ask a Ninja, and the guys behind Loneygirl15.)
    • maureen
       
      Sifting through the millions of piences of crap enables us to accidentally come upon such gems as "Boom Goes the Dynamite", "Treadmill Dane", and Lonelygirl15. Users could possibly feel a sense of discovery when finding such unique entertainment. It's like being on your own personal entertainment expedition.
  • And what if, as a bonus, the medium were able not merely to command eyeballs for marketers but to target content especially relevant to what the marketer is selling?
    • maureen
       
      When discussing target content relevant to what the marketer is selling, personal information is getting collected and data possibly being manipulated. Nonopticon surrounds us.
  • Until now, advertisers have underwritten mass media to reach mass audiences. Indeed, they've paid increasing premiums for the opportunity as audiences have shrunk, because even in a fragmented media world, the largest fragment – network TV – is the most valuable. But now they realize that they are losing not only mass but critical mass.
    • Elizabeth Somer
       
      I think more money is now put into online advertisements than TV advertisement. Is it fair to say that the computer is almost (that is in popularity and phenomenon (sp?)) as big of a pop culture invention as the TV was in the 50s?
  • Altogether, this stuff constitutes a bottomless reservoir of short-form video content for others to siphon off if they choose
    • Elizabeth Somer
       
      What about copy right laws?
  • "Broadcast Yourself."
  • . #7 Fragmentation has decimated audiences, viewers who do watch are skipping commercials, advertisers are therefore fleeing, the revenue for underwriting new content is therefore flatlining, program quality is therefore suffering (Dancing With the Stars. QED), which will lead to ever more viewer defection, which will lead to ever more advertiser defection, and so on.
    • mccrar25
       
      I agree that advertisers are having trouble with televison. With TiVo and DVRs becoming more affordable, there is almost no need to watch commercials. They make it so easy to skip through a commercial while watching a program. I have recently noticed that advertisers are responding to this by creating more comical and appealing commercials. There are some commercials that I actually like viewing now.
  • Because, at least until recently, the Internet has lacked both the riveting content and ad space inventory to absorb it.
    • mccrar25
       
      Yes...until recently. Now, there is limitless space on the Internet. Highly viewed websites such as MySpace, Facebook, and You Tube have provide great outlets for companies to advertise. These sites are often viewed more frequently than most television shows, and they are often unavoidable. You can get up, get a snack, or use the restroom during a commercial break on television, but you can't click off an advertisement or an icon while its on a webpage.
  • #4 Lots of people can now watch themselves on sort-of TV, which is pretty fun in itself. The bonus is that others want to watch them, too
    • butler09
       
      This seems to be reflective of everyone's desire for "15 minutes of fame." The internet is making that a reality. The question is whether or not this is a good thing. Yes, it is easy and possible. It is revolutionizing our culture, and people constantly want to search and discover interesting morsels of entertainment. But is it becoming an obsession, especially with some people? With the huge number of broadcasts daily, it makes you think so.
    • Jessica Bloom
       
      I would personally never put a video on Youtube. However, I have to admit that some of them are extremely funny. This also makes me think, though, of our discussion in class how some jobs look at internet sites and if they see you on them, they are less likely to hire you. So, it just goes to show that we have to be careful with how we portray ourselves.
  • The networks say these are measures to promote the broadcast versions of their shows. The overwhelming probability is that the opposite is true, which bodes poorly for those invested in the status quo. One victim is local affiliates, which get a big chunk of their revenue from selling commercial space within network programs. The Internet, needless to say, bypasses them.
    • butler09
       
      We are in an age of technological advancement. The culture is saturated with it. If networks want to appeal to the generations that have grown up using this technology and prefer it as a mode of entertainment and communicaiton, then the smart business action to take is to begin expanding toward internet broadcasting. The standard television is no longer the central figure in the entertainment and news world, and in order to keep up with it, the networks have to "go with the flow."
    • Jen Fitzgerald
       
      I completely agree with this statement. I personally watch alot of shows on DVR, especially American Idol because I can't stand how they draw out the show with commercials every five minutes. Advertisers have to adapt to the changing marketplaces or else their products will suffer.
  • a spiraling vortex of ruin.
    • Jen Fitzgerald
       
      I completely agree with this statement. I watch most shows on DVR, especially American Idol and fast forward through the commercials. They draw out these shows and make the commercial breaks longer and longer.
  • NBC used Yahoo to premiere > Heroes > and AOL to offer sneak previews of its > Twenty Good Years > and > Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip > . > >
    • Gail Ramsey
       
      Eventually the technologies will merge fully. You won't have a television and a separate computer. You will have everything all in one. Comcast digital cable has numerous music stations. Look at On Demand, you get to pick and choose when and what you watch. It will all meld together. Instead of previews to programs, it will be whatever you want to see whenever you want to see it. Your TV/Computer will do everything.
  • put fall premieres of shows like Smith and The New Adventures of Old Christine on Google Video
    • Jen Fitzgerald
       
      This is what motivated much of the Writer's Guild strike. The writers wanted to have a share of online revenue when their shows are downloaded, like royalties.
  • #14 Fragmentation has decimated audiences, viewers who do watch are skipping commercials, advertisers are therefore fleeing, the revenue for underwriting new content is therefore flatlining, program quality is therefore suffering
    • daydreamr97
       
      Fragmentation has decimated the audiences of the big networks, but it's also been the reason so many new channels have been created: Animal Planet, the cooking channel, the sci-fi channel. And viewers watching these channels have special interest in the subject, so they are more likely to actually watch the commercials. So it's mostly the bigger networks that are suffering, which explains why there are so many reality TV shows on the major channels now. While they aren't "reality," they don't need a script so much as a situation.
  • dozens of networks are now making programs available online
    • daydreamr97
       
      Yes, a lot of shows are available online anytime, and also on Comcast. So, the big corporations are tryng to deal with the fragmentation. The problem with that is that it's still not exactly interactive, which is the thing people love about YouTube. This still doesn't address the issue that everyone wants to be a star.
    • haines64
       
      I think the fact that many TV shows are now available online is a good sign. The greater U.S. population has been using the Internet for awhile. By putting TV shows online, it shows a good meshing of the two media outlets.
    • haines64
       
      A recurring theme we've talked about in ITW is how some people are hesitant toward change. The want to keep the status quo shows this hesitantion, despite the overwhelming popularity of YouTube.
  • advertisers have been broadcasting themselves for decades and would very much prefer the status quo. The good news is that the status quo isn't long for this world.
    • jc ice
       
      I agree this content is funny and entertaining, but there is social relevance. What do you think will be our legacy when all this is found 50 or 100 years in the future?
  • Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen. "
  • He insists he can't quite recall, you know, the $1.65 billion moment.
  • He's turning right around in a few hours; he's stuck in yet one more conference room, and his eyes
  • stuck in yet one more conference room, and his eyes have the vacant look of someone whose body ha
  • he's stuck in yet one more conference room, and his eyes
  • CHAD HURLEY SAYS HE DOESN'T REMEMBER. It's two weeks before the announcement of the Google acquisition, and he has just flown the red
  • Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen. "
    • Joan Vance
       
      I find it amusing that Hurley mentions this. We actually discussed this in Creative Writing on Monday. The teacher asked who in the classroom wants to be famous. To my surprise there were only a few of us who raised our hands. As much as I want to be a star though, I wouldnt find posting a video on youtube very successful.
  • But what if there were a means to approximate the reach and mesmerizing power of television online?
    • anita sipala
       
      The way technology is quickly growing and moving I don't see anything getting in its way. I see the computer replacing other medias.
  • Third-millennium humanity has demonstrated an interest in sifting through millions of pieces of crap produced by total strangers to discover a few gems – some accidentally entertaining ("Boom Goes the Dynamite"), some breakout performances from the previously obscure ("Treadmill Dance"), and some explorations of a new art form crackling with genius (Ze Frank, Ask a Ninja, and the guys behind Loneygirl15.)
    • anita sipala
       
      If so many people view "You Tube" it must say something about its entertaining value. I am one of those people who shifts through "You Tube" and I have come across many interesting ones.
  • connection to his nervous system. In a word, the dude is fried. Never mind that he's the cofounder of the Next Big Thing and poised to be a total
    • Jennifer Dougherty
       
      I think the advertisers do that. Look at the sig-in page for myspace. It is a virtual billboard. Any given day the entire sign-in page is a new advertisement. Sometimes it is a movie. The other day it was an entire page devoted to crest toothpaste. Once you are on the site, the sidebars are bombarded with schanging advertisements. Vans shoes one minute then after refreshing the page, it is some other product. Maybe we don't pay that much attention or ever click on the link. I know I never do. But clearly the advertisers have achieved at least some of their purpose because I remember seeing thier ad.
Lauren Mecum

Hannah Couzens :: Professional Freelance Photographer - 0 views

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    One of my favorite photographers and a friend. She is a freelance photographer who enjoys all types and styles of work. She grew using a manual camera and now she has gone to digital. She knows a great deal about corporate pressure and staying on top of technology.
  •  
    When i think of technology advances I think of people like hannah who make a living trying to stay ontop of all the advances. Her art depends on a tool and writing space. Photography has been remediated over and over again, it just must be tough to rememeber the difference between making a living and doing something you truly enjoy.
Danielle Rabello

Learning Literacy - 0 views

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    Our group's blog
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    Learning Literacy Blog
tangoa24

Books - The New York Times Book Review - 0 views

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    I think this is a good site for those looking for new books to read.  I'm assuming most people in the writing arts major are interested in reading, and I know personally I'm always trying to find new books.
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