One of the big debates going on at the moment is the subject of illegal downloading. The latest suggestion which has come out of the houses of parliament is that anyone in the UK caught downloading illegal music, films etc will have their internet limited and even banned.
However, I dont think this is right. First of all I believe that singers and bands do not lose out as much as music labels and the individuals lead us to think they are. This is because, in my opinion (and the opinion of many others I have spoken to) if I hear a song I like and if I were to download other songs by the same singer and like it, then I would go out and buy the album. So, by having the facility to download the songs for free you are encouraging listeners to find out more about the singer/band, thus making it more likely for them to go out and buy the cd!
Also, with software like Limewire, can you technically class it as illegally downloading? The reason I say this is because what the users are merely doing is file sharing. If file sharing is classed at illegal than surely sites such as Facebook and Myspace are illegal, as on these sites you can share pictures and videos, which is exactly what you do on Limewire.
I can kind of see their point of view, but why spend all that money on tracking illegal downloaders just so rich celebrities can get some more money? Wouldn't the money spent tracking downloads be more suitably used to track paedophiles online more, or simply to the emergency services or the nhs?
Haven't the government got better things to do with their time than making sure celebrities and music labels get more money? Obviously not!
Thursday, 21 February 2008
My Review!
Ok, so the Youtube video I have decided to review is one of Perez Hilton's blog entries. Perez Hilton is an American celebrity who is well known for uncovering who is gay in the world of celebs! He is also a source of much celebrity gossip from Britney Spears being in rehab to the latest news from award ceremonies.
The entry I picked was the new year video in which he predicts what will happen in 2008! This is a very simplistic video blog as all that was needed was; himself, a computer and a webcam with a microphone. Yet his name has become infamous among celebrities and the public alike!
But what is so attractive about Perez Hilton? Well, apart from his ever changing hairstyle and colour, he is not afraid to say what he thinks. He has his own website which is http://www.perezhilton.com/ which is where he has his own blog with all the latest celeb gossip, along with his video blog!
The entry I picked was the new year video in which he predicts what will happen in 2008! This is a very simplistic video blog as all that was needed was; himself, a computer and a webcam with a microphone. Yet his name has become infamous among celebrities and the public alike!
But what is so attractive about Perez Hilton? Well, apart from his ever changing hairstyle and colour, he is not afraid to say what he thinks. He has his own website which is http://www.perezhilton.com/ which is where he has his own blog with all the latest celeb gossip, along with his video blog!
Saturday, 2 February 2008
The history of blogs and bloggers!
The history of blogs (or weblogs) go back as far as the early nineties. But as to who the first blogger was, this is unclear as the definition of blog has evolved during this time and different people added to this evolution of the word thus making it difficult to pin point the blog to be created!!!
The beginning of the blog era started in 1983 when a man called Brian E Redman set up a webiste within a forum. On the site he posted summaries of any interesting threads or posts he found. However, this was using a service called Usernet, as the idea of html and the internet had not yet been invented! This was ran from 1983-84 and was called mod.ber.
In 1992, Tim Berners Lee posted the first ever webpage on the internet which contained links to new websites as they came online.
One of the first known bloggers on the internet, was a university student called Justin Hall who reported on his life whilst attending Swarthmore college in America. This was one of the first bloggers who wrote what we would now call a blog. However, there were several people who helped blogs evolve into what they are today!
One of these people is a guy called Jorn Barger who was the editor for a website called Robot Wisdom, in which he posted entries, containing comments and links! His contribution to the history of blogging is that he changed the definition of a weblog into what it means today!
This was in December 1997!
November 1998 Cameron Barrett releases the first list of blog sites on Camworld.
Early 1999- Peter Merholz anounces that he will pronounce weblog as we blog thus the word was then shortened to blog.
July 1999- A site called Pitas appears, becoming the first free build your own blog tool on the web.
August 1999- Pyra release Blogger (the site you are on now) which has become the most popular blogging tool based on the net, thus also making blogging more popular among many internet users.
By the end of 2000 there are thousands of blogs based on many topics, some full of news and articles, others more of a personal account.
By 2001, blogging had become such a phenomenon that how to manuals appeared. These mainly focusing on writing technique. As well as this schools of Journalism satrted to analyse blogs, comparing blogging to journalism.
From 2002 blogs were and are still known for their ability to break, spin and shape the latest news and as time has passed these sites have had more coverage as more people have noticed blogs such as Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, a blog set up in 2000 focusing on news items and Rebecca Blood's blog, Rebecca's notebook about other bloggers and journalism, which lead her to write the book 'the weblog handbook'.
In 2004 blogs had become mainstream and were often used to air opinions on political issues. This lead to the release of Global voices online, which "aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore". This meant that bloggers from around the world were becoming more known. This site is now linked with Reuters and is often responsible for breaking news stories from around the globe.
In January 2006 Fortune magazine announced eight business bloggers who were not to be ignored; these were: Peter Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Ben Trott, Mena Trott, Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman, Robert Scoble and Jason Calacanis.
and finally, in 2007, Tim O'Reilly proposed a Blogger's Code of Conduct.
The beginning of the blog era started in 1983 when a man called Brian E Redman set up a webiste within a forum. On the site he posted summaries of any interesting threads or posts he found. However, this was using a service called Usernet, as the idea of html and the internet had not yet been invented! This was ran from 1983-84 and was called mod.ber.
In 1992, Tim Berners Lee posted the first ever webpage on the internet which contained links to new websites as they came online.
One of the first known bloggers on the internet, was a university student called Justin Hall who reported on his life whilst attending Swarthmore college in America. This was one of the first bloggers who wrote what we would now call a blog. However, there were several people who helped blogs evolve into what they are today!
One of these people is a guy called Jorn Barger who was the editor for a website called Robot Wisdom, in which he posted entries, containing comments and links! His contribution to the history of blogging is that he changed the definition of a weblog into what it means today!
This was in December 1997!
November 1998 Cameron Barrett releases the first list of blog sites on Camworld.
Early 1999- Peter Merholz anounces that he will pronounce weblog as we blog thus the word was then shortened to blog.
July 1999- A site called Pitas appears, becoming the first free build your own blog tool on the web.
August 1999- Pyra release Blogger (the site you are on now) which has become the most popular blogging tool based on the net, thus also making blogging more popular among many internet users.
By the end of 2000 there are thousands of blogs based on many topics, some full of news and articles, others more of a personal account.
By 2001, blogging had become such a phenomenon that how to manuals appeared. These mainly focusing on writing technique. As well as this schools of Journalism satrted to analyse blogs, comparing blogging to journalism.
From 2002 blogs were and are still known for their ability to break, spin and shape the latest news and as time has passed these sites have had more coverage as more people have noticed blogs such as Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, a blog set up in 2000 focusing on news items and Rebecca Blood's blog, Rebecca's notebook about other bloggers and journalism, which lead her to write the book 'the weblog handbook'.
In 2004 blogs had become mainstream and were often used to air opinions on political issues. This lead to the release of Global voices online, which "aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore". This meant that bloggers from around the world were becoming more known. This site is now linked with Reuters and is often responsible for breaking news stories from around the globe.
In January 2006 Fortune magazine announced eight business bloggers who were not to be ignored; these were: Peter Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Ben Trott, Mena Trott, Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman, Robert Scoble and Jason Calacanis.
and finally, in 2007, Tim O'Reilly proposed a Blogger's Code of Conduct.
Friday, 1 February 2008
How popular is the internet???
Since the invention of the internet in the early nineties there has definitely been an increase in the percentage of the population of the UK that use the net!
Back in 2000, 15,400,000 people in the UK accessed the internet, which is, 26.2% of the total population of Britain. Since then, figures have soared to 38,512,837 internet users, which means 63.8% of the population now have access to the world wide web.
Out of these figures I have found that according to the National Statistics website (pdf download link) more men have accessed the internet in the last three months prior to the survey, than women, with 71% of men and 62% of women!
But, although this is the case more 25-34 year old women use the internet compared to men of the same age group.
Back in 2000, 15,400,000 people in the UK accessed the internet, which is, 26.2% of the total population of Britain. Since then, figures have soared to 38,512,837 internet users, which means 63.8% of the population now have access to the world wide web.
Out of these figures I have found that according to the National Statistics website (pdf download link) more men have accessed the internet in the last three months prior to the survey, than women, with 71% of men and 62% of women!
But, although this is the case more 25-34 year old women use the internet compared to men of the same age group.
Of course the question is, what is the internet used for most?
The answer to this is...searching for goods and services.
This can be a wide range of things from finding out information on a band or program to searching for a certain product to buy. But, either way 86% of internet users use the web for this followed closely by sending and receiving emails at 85% of internet users!
The answer to this is...searching for goods and services.
This can be a wide range of things from finding out information on a band or program to searching for a certain product to buy. But, either way 86% of internet users use the web for this followed closely by sending and receiving emails at 85% of internet users!
However, as well as adults, children are also becoming included more when it comes to technology. This is shown by ofcom's latest survey on technology which shows that 15% of 13 to 15 year olds own a web cam and a surprising 7% of 10 year olds own one!
So, according to previous surveys there has been a significant increase in the amount of people accessing the internet in the UK. These numbers are continually growing as the years pass, and the internet develops further, as more and more people discover the advantages, and benefits of the world wide web!!!
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