Case Study: Peer to Peer

So most of us have heard of it and many of us utilise the capabilities afforded through file sharing, but how much of what we are doing is legal and how many of us feel guilty about downloading using Bit Torrents and then sharing our files with other users?


P2P as Software/technical network

• ‘How the old Napster worked’
• An Introduction to Peer-to-Peer Computing - David Barkai (Intel)
• Youtube version of "Piracy is Good?" by Mark Pesce

Piracy is Good?

Considering the illegality of peer to peer (P2P) when listening to the Mark Pesce's lecture on file sharing television programs is almost baffling. Here we have a system that will distribute your program faster and more efficiently than ever before and the reaction is to prevent it from happening. I understand the workings of media and I know the implications that this style of file sharing imposes, but would the producers of Dr Who or Battlestar Gallactica be celebrating such success if their programs had not been available for download prior to the actual release date.

I think of file sharing as cyber word of mouth. The ability to have your product widely distributed and appreciated is key when establishing a product. Some would argue that P2P is destroying the money making abilities of the artist in the case of music or producers for television programs, but that really isn't the case in my opinion. Yes, I am playing the Devils advocate and supporting the view that free downloads do not rob the creative industries.

Downloading songs and TV shows using Bit Torrents these days are common occurrences. Friends divulge their dirty secret not in hushed tones reserved for regular criminal activity but rather unabashedly. While I am not an advocate for piracy or theft of any kind and do not normally condone breaking the law, I do not think the example of downloading a song for personal use should be akin to a major DVD burning and bootlegging syndicate, and actually believe that the home user may be doing the artist a favour.

Many home users who do use Bit Torrents for downloading music, shows and movies have been to many live gigs and bought t-shirts, sought out TV box sets of favourite shows and purchased additional software to accompany what had been downloaded using P2P. All things that without having been exposed to them first using P2P maybe would not have been done. Monies generated by the add-on purchases by going to see live music or buying the box set for the extra features is substantial and artists and producers really have file sharing to thank for the extra marketing that the exposure is earning them. It makes music/shows/movies etc aimed at a small demographic more widely distributed and the likelihood of your work being seen is increased when released in this format.

Coldplay and Radiohead and two recent bands that released their new albums online. Radiohead launched a "pay what you think its worth" campaign that became widely accepted and people loved that, without fully realising it was in itself a marketing ploy to further expose the music. Coldplay launched their album Viva La Vida (Death and all of his friends) exclusively on iTunes for a similar reason. Both of these sat at the top of the charts for weeks and were talked about endlessly. When either band tours, the exposure will have done them a favour and their money will be awarded in merchandise and ticket sales.

I also think that the product has a bit of exclusivity about it and makes it more special because there is no hard copy. Many diehard music buffs will tell you that they buy the CD for the cover, when there isn't one it drives the fans to research the album more. Doing that is increasing awareness which is great for the band. It's really a very smart way to go.

Information Transfer and Community

• P2P Networking: An Information-Sharing Alternative Parameswaran, Susarla & Whinston
• Peer-to-Peer for Academia – Andy Oram

The use P2P is mostly famous for is the file sharing of music, TV programmes and DVDs. Although it is very easy to assume that all P2P files then are sleazy havens of copyright breech, that is not the case. "It is also a valuable means for distributing entirely legal material such as public domain books, legal music and audio files, videos, pornography, games and software." (Annette Devonshire 2004) First uses reveal that the application of sharing files was popular among business and community newsgroups.

Information transfer within this type of establishment was anything but the controversial topic it is today, and is in fact still used to transport information that is not copyright and therefore not illegal. P2P is an established way to communicate and as a decentralized network invites all to join in. It tends to be a collaborative exercise individuals want to be a part of.

‘Henry Jenkins, Playing Our Song? Henry Jenkins discusses the napster community.

Peer-to-peer excites people because they can participate and make a difference. Even something as impersonal as SETI@home, where users downloaded software that performed calculations in the background, attracted millions of volunteers. And many said they did it because they felt like they were part of something. Just think how much more sense of ownership and pride can evolve around systems where you share ideas and content that have personal meaning to you.
(Andy Oram, editor O'Reilly P2P. openp2p.com)


Security and Privacy


In the article titled "Is Your Computer Talking to Strangers?" by Gene and Katie Hamilton, we have a brief lesson in good versus evil. The MAD magazine analogy of Spy Vs Spy used to describe the dangers of file sharing because we do not know who we are dealing with was a great way to catch my attention at the perfect time. Nothing like a comic strip to get the message across after a day of reading and researching.

Basically, the dangers of other peers spreading adware and spyware is nothing new. We have all at some stage received spam emails or looked at dodgy sites. It's keeping your wits about you and having in place some good software to combat these nasties.

Spychecker is a link provided in the curriculum that provides information and lists on available downloads that will help with things like privacy and security associated with P2P.


Socio-political Considerations

We now know that the impact P2P has on creative industries is not good. I would like to explore the notion that it could be great but isn't because of narrow minded individuals in very high places who dislike change and are scared about the adaptation that will inevitably take place.

The evolution of the Internet pairing up the likes of P2P file sharing and Web 2.0 communities is slowly emerging properly. Coupling the best aspect of entertainment, that you can share it and love it and talk about it with your friends.

To discover a new band that isn't played on the radio or like a television program that isn't shown in prime time or worse yet has been pulled mid season is very frustrating. Not making these things available to people is ridiculous when the platform is there waiting to be exploited in the best possible way.

References

Devonshire, Annette. 27 Oct 2004 (EST) M/Cyclopedia: Peer-to-Peer - Other Uses
http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Peer-to-Peer_-_Other_Uses
Retrieved 19 July 2008

Information Ecologies

In learning about the Internet we realise that the tool for communicating is located within an information powerhouse. As an ecology, it is shaped by the way in which people (mis)use it. The Internet as a resource needs to be considered with much trepidation as its ability to mould society and indeed undergo transformation itself is an aspect that when explored can be frightening.


Rafael Capurro, Towards an Information Ecology. In: Irene Wormell (Ed.): Information and Quality. London: Taylor Graham 1990, 122-139.

Information Ecologies by Felix Stalder

These two readings were given to Net 11 students to use when thinking about the following questions. I related the readings to the questions asked, but more simply thought about the term "Information Ecology" and tried to determine what that meant for me and how it influenced my experience using the Internet. Also how I would describe the Internet in this way to a less advanced user. The readings helped to point out some areas for deeper discussion but for the purpose of this blog today, I will address the questions and maybe come back to the deeper issues at a later date.

This reading I love and wanted to add it here because I drew upon it when thinking about this topic. Net 12 students will recognise it as part of the required reading in that curriculum.

Neil Postman, 'Informing Ourselves To Death' (1990)


* How might the metaphor of an ‘ecology’ impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?

Ecology - the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.
Dictionary.com

Using metaphors to describe the Internet has an impact on the person you are describing it to and using "ecology" is leading one to believe that the system is reliant on all users to co-inhabit the space and indeed impact the way each user relates to one another. It is my understanding that in an ecology, if an organism was to stop participating/interacting with the environment, the environment will adapt to that change and growth is achieved. Likewise when an organism(s) are added.

The nature of the Internet is to adapt and change with its environment and when organisms (users) are added and subtracted this is invariably what happens. The new pages that spring up everyday and disappear, the programs that cease to become popular and the the ones that soar all contribute to the "ecology" of the Internet and the way the growth of it occurs organically.

My thoughts here are directed to Web 2.0 and how a new generation of younger more tech savvy people who are what has been reported as "digital natives" because of their never having been exposed to a world without the Internet are the ones who change and manipulate the online environment. Web 2.0 is borne organically from a need in this younger generation to utilise what they deem important and value most highly.


* How are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the
framework of an ‘information ecology’?


Where information is concerned I really am unsure as to whether or not the Internet is doing a (dis)service. The negatives have been discussed in the readings and the notion of knowledge as power seems to be diluted when the Internet makes information so readily available.

Information and communication work as a team to ensure that the availability of resources on the Internet is accessible to most. Unfortunately with all new developments there are instances where the technology is not available to some, and that creates a hole in the society. As that particular section of society is not represented online, their presence cannot be felt and the ecology is unchanged because of a lack of contribution on their part.

This isn't an isolated case that only targets the Internet and printing suffered the same ridicule many years ago when it became popular. New media as it is called is exactly that and will therefore undergo much scrutiny before it is embraced as a powerful tool.

A large aspect to new media is communication and the ability to take advantage of that. The influx of new users because of the ability to communicate via the Internet really is its strong point and the reason why most cannot imagine life without the personal computer.

Within the framework of the information ecology, information and communication often intersect and are equally as important to each other as they are individually. The nature of the Internet is to inform ourselves and pass on that knowledge. We send links to friends, and share experiences had on the Internet all the time, passing on information to each other in a fashion that is reliable and instantaneous which in today's fast paced society is of paramount importance not only for business but also socially.

* Why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?

Communication ecology would take on the assumption that all forms of communication are ecological in nature and so are environmentally changed when contributed to or left stagnant. Not only is this not the case in most forms of communication as the nature of the relationship normally stays solid even without regular imput from parties concerned but when applied to the Internet the ability to communicate asynchronously and synchronously changes the ability to communicate and the rules of etiquette.

Module 4: Evaluating the Web

For this task I chose to concentrate on Lee Ratzan's paper on the Internet as a metaphor. I found it to be of some use when trying to wrap my head around the idea of the metaphorical concept of the Internet.

• URL http://informationr.net/ir/6-1/paper85.html
• AUTHOR Lee Ratzan
• INSTITUTION Making Sense of the Web: A Metaphorical Approach
  
• This paper is dedicated to the Internet Metaphor Project. A research into using metaphors to describe the Internet and how it affects us as users. It is focused on the way in which we find out how, what advanced and basic Internet users describe the Internet as. The real information is in the last section of the paper where Lee Ratzan concludes his findings and opens them up for discussion. The content overall is informative and useful. A clinical and fact driven paper for the Rutger's University that is more for those who like a numbers based survey type reference.

I thought that this source was reliable in that Lee Ratzan is represented by the School of Communication, Information and Library studies which is part of Rutger's University, New Brunswick. Jersey, USA. You can click on his name on the site and it allows you to send him a personal email. The article looks to be part of a series with the Information Research, Vol. 6 No. 1. October 2000 stated at the top of the page.

The main ideas and subjects discussed in the article are quoted below. The Internet Metaphor Project presents specific results within this article. Statistics and graphs feature heavily and the article is result based.

The nature of the World Wide Web is unfamiliar to most people. In order to make sense of this foreign environment people describe the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. Metaphors are often used for this purpose. Since it is important to use the Web effectively it is important to acquire insight on user perceptions. Preliminary results of the Internet Metaphor Project are presented.

The article was written for the purpose of the Internet Metaphor Project. A project that focuses on Internet metaphors, what metaphors are most common for what level of Internet user and whether the gender of that user comes into play. Does the use of a metaphor contribute to confusing people about what it is the Internet actually does. Lee Ratzans interest in this topic is purely for research purposes within the university.


My annotated, analytical description of the site as written above would be beneficial to many. The information is a thorough and concise overview of what is contained in the site and states the general content matter and the credibility of the source.

All I really want to know when accessing a site however is whether the author is credible and the content useful. This would be obvious to me with just the blurb I wrote on the site in the previous post (re-posted at the top for easy access) however maybe that is because I wrote it. If I were to visit a site that I was unfamiliar with and got a small blurb on the content and a brief outline of the author, I would be prompted to further investigate the site.

Module 4: Organising Search Information

Being a Virgo, I am a fairly organised person. Something that has been bugging me over the past few weeks is not knowing what to do with all of the web pages I had found that were useful to me. My bookmark list was as long as my arm, I had hand written annotations on some of them that I hadn't labelled properly so were useless, basically, I was all over the place. I did sign up to Connotea when I saw that somebody else had in the discussion forum at the beginning of this course. At the time I had nothing to put in it, but I was very glad that I had it there for when something came up.

In the last week it has been used and abused by me. I have stored a whole lot of information like a chipmunk stores nuts--frantically. For some reason I have become obsessed that the information will dry up and I will never be able to access it again. Connotea is my friend, but before that I tried Diigo. In fact, I still have the little guy sitting at the top of my browser and I can't get rid of him.. Diigo was very bloated with profile photos, friends lists and personal information, the ability to highlight a page and put a sticky note on it. The list was endless and way too much for me. All I wanted was somewhere to store all of my info for the concepts assignment and the essay I am doing for Net12. Connotea was perfect and I deleted my account with Diigo.

Now I have the URL, the author, the institution, and a brief description of the site in my library on Connotea. When I need to retrieve the information required for referencing it will all be ready for me. I'm very excited by this.

It is two days after I started this post and I am now back to it to add the following information on the three sites I found most useful when searching.

• URL http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6545435.html
• AUTHOR Anna Adam and Helen Mowers
• INSTITUTION School Library Journal
• This site is the web version of the magazine that is circulated for schools, students and librarians. This particular article is of an instructional and educational variety about the use of search engines and provides links to several different ones. They favour Google, and explain how to search effectively using it but also include positives of Ask, Yahoo etc. The importance of the search engine is talked about and how it can be utilised to your best advantage. Heavily focused on kids and search engines that are most beneficial for them.

• URL http://informationr.net/ir/6-1/paper85.html
  
• AUTHOR Lee Ratzan
• INSTITUTION Making Sense of the Web: A Metaphorical Approach
  
• This paper is dedicated to the Internet Metaphor Project. A research into using metaphors to describe the Internet and how it affects us as users. It is focused on the way in which we find out how, what advanced and basic Internet users describe the Internet as. The real information is in the last section of the paper where Lee Ratzan concludes his findings and opens them up for discussion. The content overall is informative and useful. A clinical and fact driven paper for the Rutger's University that is more for those who like a numbers based survey type reference.

• URL http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/BeingReal/BeingReal.html
• AUTHOR Judith S. Donith
• INSTITUTION Being Real MIT Media Lab
• An article written by Judith S. Donith that has been published. The title of the journal is "The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet". This is all about our identity on the Internet and how we chose to represent ourselves. Who we trust online and why, why and how can we believe what we are seeing and who we are talking to and what motivates individuals to create an identity different to their own. It also delves into AI and the ability for us as users to be fooled by programs posing as people. The author prompts us to consider if machines can think and impersonate human behaviours and even wonders if it matters whether they do or not. The social aspect of communication and the structure of the developing relationships between users is the conclusion and the paper.
  

Module 4: Boolean Search Task

My goal here is to search for Internet Communication again using Boolean methods to get results for the following three things as stated by the Net 11, module 4 task page.

• the biggest number of hits relating to these key words
• information most relevant to what you ACTUALLY wanted to look for!
• information coming only from university sources

I'm going to use Google Advanced Search for this task because it is a broad range search engine, I think Boolean will work well and I will hopefully get the answers required. Here goes...

Internet	2,540,000,000
Communication	425,000,000
Internet OR communication	3,320,000,000
Internet AND communication	51,800,000
Internet NOT communication	249,000,000

Well, there you have it. The biggest listing was for internet OR communication, but does it give me anything that will help me on my quest for concept information.... ahh no. I will have to be more specific I'm afraid. I'm wanting to research Human Computer Interfaces for concept 23 so I will try to narrow it down.

Human Computer Interface typed into the search bar led me very simply to what I was looking for and I found some quality references that will help me, but I hit the motherload when I searched in Google Scholar and Universities. Most books and citations here are from university sources, theses etc and are exactly what I am looking for. I think that searching this way sifts out a lot of the rubbish, using Google Scholar/universities means that I will find (hopefully) reputable websites and book excerpts that are reliable sources of information for the concepts assignment. A slight problem has been that in many of the sites you have to pay to view the PDF. There is a way around this and in most cases and you can find the content without logging in and supplying your credit card details.

Module 4: Searching the Web

After reading Using Web Search Tools and Specialised Databases and doing the pop quiz at the end of each page, I was wanting to put searching into practise. I knew of advanced search options, but wasn't sure how they operated. Time and again in the past, I would either use too many words or have to change the order they came in to see different results. Now I'm a little more informed as to how I get my answers when using a search engine, I want to see the difference in using the new areas.

Figure 1 Figure 2

The two search trees above were such a simple way to think about search engines, I had to add them. That way, I didn't need to keep referring to the tutorial. The first one is an outline of search engines, the second is for specialised databases.

As instructed, I used my normal search engine (Google) to look for "Internet Communication", a broad topic that I need extra information on anyway, and then search for the same words in a variety of engines using Copernic. These were the first five of 89,100,000 results for internet communication through Google.




A massive amount of hits using Google didn't surprise me. Using these very common words to search for through Google basically leaves you with a lot of sifting to do before you would get to any information that is specific to your need. However, lots of information relating to a topic that I want to know more about can be beneficial. I have the ability here to broaden my thinking as there is more to browse, I may stumble across something that is relevant unintentionally. Google takes a very generalised approach when searching the web and grabs anything with the keywords in the title and the content.

Next I used Copernic to search for the same words. To do this, I clicked on the world icon which linked up to the web and a new search page appeared not unlike the Google page. I was wondering how to change the settings to make the program search three different engines, but realised on getting my results that it searches a broad range of engines anyway.

I also became aware that Copernic is a meta search engine. The top five of 93 hits were:



Ok, so obviously we are a lot lower on the hit rate for the words internet communication using Copernic. What did come up was of no use to me really and I found that more words were needed to specify what I was looking for. In the column on the right in the picture you can see that Copernic prompts you to help minimise the search. I opted for internet and social effect which gave me some useful sites to visit. This was a much better way of searching for a specific topic.


Interestingly, to me, were the results I found searching the database at the Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC). The same two words I had used previously internet communication
gave me a list of 3195 results. I felt like I had hit information jackpot! Here were some journalistic excerpts that focused on the Internet. Most were recent and relevant to my purpose. I now have some journals that I can reference for my concepts assignment and I am very pleased with the way all of this searching has turned out.



I searched deep web search engine Complete Planet and got 586 hits for Internet communication. The first 5 hits were of no use to me but more research into what the best way to appoach that style of search engine is necessary. I will definitely be using my new found searching skills from now on. Previously, I had felt frustrated by my inability to find any relevant information that I could use to reference my concepts assignment, now not only have I done that, but I have blogged the search task! This task was a very efficient use of my morning, and couldn't have come at a better time.

Module 4: Tools for Using the Web

1. Adobe's pdf reader

I already have Adobe reader 8 installed, so I didn't have to download this. It is useful to have, but I am only just beginning to understand why.

2. Flash/Shockwave Players

No Flash or Shockwave for me...what a sad existence. I now have both thanks to the people at Adobe. My Internet experience made that much more enjoyable now.

3. Media Players

I have both Quicktime and Windows media player installed, so I downloaded the one I didn't have, Real Networks Real One (Real Player) I'm keen to see what the difference is to the other two. As it is, I prefer Quicktime to Windows and use it often for mp4 videos. I like it so far, if Real Player works as good as it looks this could be interesting.

4. Search Manager/Combiners

As a Windows user, I took the option of downloading Copernic Meta for PC. I wasn't aware of this tool before downloading, and will take some time figuring it all out. At first glance it appears a helpful tool. A one stop shop for all search queries, history search is always interesting and I will keep on eye on that too.

5. Bookmark Manager

Bookmark Buddy for Windows was an option here, but I have used Diigo and Connotea and I'm deciding which to go with out of those two so didn't want to confuse things further by downloading Bookmark Buddy.

6. Offline Browser/Copier

I decided to go for Webcopier over Pagesucker despite its cool name. I opted for the 15 day free trial and I will use this time to see what it is all about. It sounds like a good tool to have. To be able to copy websites and store them locally on my computer for viewing anytime sounds like something I would use.