Just a few things I wanted to ask/mention...
-Do you think that in some sense users of the content on websites where the content is user generated but who contribute nothing themselves should be allowed to freely roam such sites? This kind of relates back to the lurkers question in online community last week but I think it’s more relevant here...with the freedom of software etc, should these people benefit? I’ve watched thousands of videos on youtube, but have never posted anything. Am I a YouTube lurker?! Should all user generated websites have some sort of point system like Yahoo! Answers does (where you cannot ask endless questions, you must contribute to gain points to ask questions with)? Or would this negatively impact the quality of the content of such websites?
Secondly, I particularly like Chomsky’s notion that traditional media is monopolised by its’ capitalist ownership. That media is structured in such a way that it works to support these capital owners and dismiss any opposing views. Any ‘others’ begin with a disadvantage in such structure having to explain the very basics of their point.
I think it’s particularly important to consider how we may assume the interactivity online counters this, but also the possibility of the internet transforming into something which actually echoes chomsky’s view of trad media (I refer to this a bit more in my ‘Bruns C’ post)
I really have nothing critical to add to this at the moment as it’s a point I strongly agree with, but I thought it was a point worth re-mentioning.
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hi kay!
ReplyDeletei had the same issue with the 'lurkers'. Fair enough on sites such as forums and chatroom, which are designed for interaction, i can understand why lurkers are a waste of space. but on youtube etc, i don't see why people should have to contibute....after all, us just watching the videos, and not posting any ourselves, have helped some people get famous (rude tube etc), so i don't see what the problem is!
do u think the "point" system would be useful? because i think it would be. but this raises the questions of what percentage of people actually contribute to the net, rather than simply taking information from it? if we all had to "give something" to the internet to gain from it...would you?
ReplyDeleteI used to be a member of a forum which worked on a point system. It was for a band I liked and in order to view any new pictures or download any new videos or performances you'd have to have a certain amount of posts in order to "unlock" the relevant thread, and you'd have to post on that thread in order to view the file as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen they first introduced that system I was a bit annoyed, because it was just so much effort to get to a video, I was just a big a fan as anyone else so why wasn't I allowed to view the content straight away?
I think one of the reasons it was introduced was because people were generously giving up their time to upload videos but weren't getting so much as a thank you, which seems fair enough but at the same time, it did seem a bit like they were trying to gain more members for their site because they were unwilling to share media with people who used a rival site.
Lurking is something which emerged in the early days of MOOs and IRC. There was a certain amount of suspicion of people who'd been seen to log on (this was publicly viewable) but then 'watched' as characters maimed each other or 'frollicked' with sweaty humpings.
ReplyDeleteIn IRC, it was frequently the case that couples forgot that someone had been logged on for ages without typing anything. So they were very annoyed when their 'very private' conversations turned out to be someone-else's entertainment.
So lurkers were seen as online voyeurs. In forums, this negative attitude was taken to those who failed to help build and maintain the sense of community by not contributing.
Sites such as YouTube and Myspace aren't communities, rather they are more like networked marketplaces -more Ebay than the Well. This is why consuming on sites dedicated to consumption and publicising content isn't lurking. The sites rely on 'eyeballs' not fingers.