copy cats, week 5

So from what I have gathered from the lecture and tute this week is that the topic of copyright and patents to protect an original idea is a very blurry topic with plenty of grey area.

I find it hard to believe that people have come up with an original idea, completed the final product under the presumption that they would be under some sort of protection from plagiarism and copy cats to then find that the some one has foxed the idea from them. I believe that we if there is an original idea that could really benefit society it could be presented to a sort of judicial council who could determine how much compensation its worth and then pass it on to the general population who could adapt the idea and better it. This is hard though, because who is going to be on this council for starters, how can they decide if an idea is worth $10 or $10 million, and if they get paid for the idea and then someone only uses a small part of the idea and makes a fortune out of it then the person with the original idea will be pretty annoyed.

So you can see that the topic is very hard to find a solution to, and as money is a pretty powerful agent in corrupting peoples moral compass it will always be hard to find a balance of protecting innovative ideas and letting others build upon basic concepts.

When we think about it we all are copy cats, and thats how society has progressed so far. If Einstein didn’t let any one use his life’s scientific work where would we be now. I think it really comes down to morals and ethics to give those who deserve recognition and proper financial gains for their ideas. 

A funny vid about piracy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg

week 4: money and internet!

What changes can we identify as a result of the internet's impact on our economy. Simply we have gained employment opportunity and at the same time lost some to. Im pretty sure since the introduction of some thing called email, some of our postmen flying around the country on their red bikes may have been out of a job. But on the flip side, if these posties enrolled in a computer course or two they could have possibly found themselves involved in managing a network, being a computer technician or one of the million other jobs that the internet has provided.

I think that with the introduction of the internet, many things are still in its developing stages. Now with out even leaving the comfort of your home you can easily purchase one of the trillion products advertised on the internet. Online shopping has been a big success in the last few year with companies who are worth multiple millions not even owning a shop front. The traditional method walking in to a shop and trying what you like and then buying it is slowing being won over to the internet. I personally like the satisfaction of handing my money in return for something straight away, although the joy of opening the door to the delivery guy and unrapping your brand new toy from ebay is pretty good also.  Who knows what the future has in store for us in regard to the internet and its development, but im pretty sure it will be a big one, and for those who have the foresight to predict what is coming will have the potential to make some big money.

Week 3: Second life

The internet has allways been a place where information can be shared and viewed for all. In recent times a new term has been dubbed for all this information sharing. Web 2.0, is a site, not unlike this blogger that allows the user to create the data for viewer. This is where we can all publish and share ideas for others to comment and critec. This idea is very utopian where we all get along nicely but some where along the line we need to not loose track of reality. 

What im talking about is the website called secondlife.com. This is basicly a online dream world, which is modelled off our own, that allows users to create a character and function in this cyber world. This is a WEB2.0 page due to the fact that you create and exchange information with other users of the service. I just find it hard to believe that people out there can sit wasting time, (because you have to invest lots of time in these games) when if they had a look outside the window, the real world is awaiting them. I found out about people who became addicted when we where joking about one of my mates playing to much xbox then i researched and found this blog which gives an account of a game addict. http://imthevilprincess.hubpages.com/hub/SecondLife-addiction You can see that the internet has amazing possibilities, but also other elements that can produce a warped sense of reality for some of these people who are addicted to sites like secondlife. I can see that this second life has a attraction when you can meet and greet people all over the world with out even taking your bum off the chair. It has allowed for yet another method of global communication, but at what cost.

The internet is a bit of all right!

 So i was wondering how to go about attacking the challenge of writing a blog that checks the boxes of the subject outline "engaging the lecture, weekly readings, seminar discussions, and sources relevant to your research project." for week two when i missed the whole lot. After a few hours of procrastination and scratching my head I found out that it was much more simpler than i originally thought. 

All i have to do is emerge my self in the internet, this not so new tool seems to have all the answers all i have to do is set out the time and know how to seek them. So i started off by trawling through some other people blogs and realised its not that hard to write a blog. All i have to do is empty what is on my mind onto the white space in front of me and watch the characters and words pile up. So basicly after a few hours of readying (which im not very good at) i went to one of my favourite procrastination sites Youtube and started looking up the history of the internet videos. One of the funnier, but less informative videos was this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbMHY8I_kQ8) 

Never would have i thought i would be so interested. Never would have i thought that the internet was a result of potential war acts. Any way i then realised what the development of this tool has led to. Our research project is on fan fiction, the internet is simply a really complex way to connect people, in fanfiction's case, people that are totally into movie plots and want other fans share their passion with. Pretty neat hey.

My name is Duncan McGeoch

Hi,

My name is Duncan and im very new to blogging. A little about me is that im from a farm in wagga, I came to wollongong uni in 2009 and started a Physical education degree and last session thought that I wanted to try some thing else at uni. I went and spoke to the Sub Dean of Arts and he told me that this subject would be a good subject to start off with. Today i have created a few accounts and adding people from class. It is interesting as i have never had any of these accounts and find it weird that people out there would be spending their own time to read what i have to say. Over the next few weeks i aim to get pretty good at these different networking options.