Final Blog

Throughout the course of this term my group and I created a highly effective informative tool to aid in teaching people about the issue of Net Neutrality and the effects it has on them. We did this by gathering interviews with a lot of very knowledgeable people on the topic along with a few who weren’t so knowledgeable but still willing to give it a stab and express what they thought the internet was. Though some of these interviews were highly entertaining because people say some pretty random stuff when talking about a subject that they have no clue about, they still gave some good insight as to what the internet was to them and why changes in it would affect them. Along with interviews we wrote essays, compiled art expressing the matter, researched and posted links to other sources with information on Net Neutrality, started a Facebook group that has 116 fans and counting, and even made an incredible website to compile all of our thoughts and findings on. The website NetScruple.com was highly effective in communicating to our followers all of our information in one simple yet very effective manner. NetScruple.com was very easy to navigate yet visually pleasing in order to keep people interested. Apart from all of our content (videos, interviews, definitions, sources, blogs, etc) the site also featured author biographies with each of our own pages that shared some information about us. I thought that was an awesome little finishing touch.
The experience I gained from this project was something you can’t just get in an average class room. I learned about working with others and how it can have its positive sides and that when a good group of people is put together great things can happen. Some of the more challenging things I had to overcome through this project were definitely the technical aspects of working with cameras and computers. For one the Sony PD150 cameras we were using were far more advanced than any little Handycam I had used prior. I soon realized that any little wrong setting could completely destroy hours of work or render it useless. Apart from the cameras, the computers and software were a huge challenge because I was previously not familiar with Mac computers or their editing programs. Hours were wasted just pressing random buttons hoping it would do something I wanted it too.
The effort I put into this project consisted of hours of filming, hours in the lab, and even more hours on my own computer writing blogs and making designs. How much does all this add up too? I have no idea but what I do know is that from out of it came a couple great videos that I am very satisfied with, some entertaining and informative blogs and some pretty cool logos (that are now on shirts) that I spent a week or so kicking around. Apart from all my personal projects I also aided others in the group when ever help was requested and was there to see the project through the whole time. Do I think I was the most important person in this project? Absolutely not, but I did my part and learned a lot along the way.

Coolest video on YouTube

Professional rally racer Ken Block shocked the YouTube world when he came out with the first Gymkhana video seen here:

But now Ken's back in the number 43 car with an even bigger and better video that is sure to absolutely blow your mind. whether your a fan of auto sports or not it is impossible to not respect what this man can do in a car.


Just a side note, If you have a fast enough connection to watch this in HD and have a stereo system hooked up to your computer be sure to turn the volume way, way up for full effect.

First YouTube Video

I've successfully completed and uploaded my first video onto the interenet via YouTube. This is a pretty exciting day in every mans life.......Anyways check it out. Another to come soon after.

Realizations

If there's one thing I've learned from this project it's that as much as we benefit from it, technology can really suck. I'm gonna take this time to go on a little rant about all the things that "suck" about the technology I encountered throughout the course of this term. For starters wireless mics. Those little buggers cost us the better majority of a very well put together and informative interview that would have highly benefited our cause. Second was the trouble with renting equipment. It can't just be me who finds it really obnoxious that Oregon State can only rent cameras and equipment out for 48 hour time periods. How useful is that to anyone who wants to film anything outside of Corvallis. I mean, Corvallis is nice and all but sometimes the little town just doesn't have all that much to offer. Thirdly, it is extremely obnoxious not having a video editing capable computer of my own (which is the first thing on my list of things to buy this summer). It's nice spending countless hours hanging out in the lab with a bunch of people I don't know and all but I just can't do this forever. the most annoying part about working from the lab is the fact that anytime you leave your computer for the day you have to drag and drop all your work back onto the server. If we were just dealing with a couple of photographs or some word documents this would be no big deal but when the content is hours of video footage we're talking about hours of my life that I'll never get back. Working off the server brings me back to the days of dial up internet and how badly I never want to go back.

New Interviews up soon!

I'm really excited about all the interviews we're getting but now the hard part begins. The sorting and editing of all this footage is going to be insane but I think the end results are going to be pretty awesome. Tracking down people to get interviewed was a huge quest in itself. Turns out not that many people care to be in front of the camera. Luckily, however, we got some pretty cool people to share there thoughts and even a bit of there humor. Stay tuned cause there is big things to come.

Twitter Reaction

So I'm not going to lie and say that I'm a huge fan of Twitter. However, I do see potential and it comes from an angle I previously had not put much thought into. This aspect of Twitter might actually get me signing on more than once every two weeks and it is the following of people rather than sharing my own thoughts.

To clarify things, when I say the following of people I don't just mean your average Joe (not that they're not interesting) but the following of people you do not personally know but admire, like athletes and stars. Though I've known for a while that many famous people use Twitter to reach out to their fan base I honestly did not care what any of them had to say until I found some one that I actually find interesting enough to tune into. His name is James Stewart and he is commonly known as the fastest man on two wheels. He is likely one of the most under appreciated athletes in one of the most under appreciated sports in the world. His sport is motocross, and he is simply amazing at it. Every time this man throws a leg over a bike he truly blows minds with what he can do. Whether your a fan of the sport or not, one glimpse of what this guy can do on a bike and you have to stop and wonder how it's possible. And if you don't believe me then just check out the video below.


Hate to give credit to Twitter because in all honesty I have given it my fair share of slack but it does allow you to keep track of some pretty cool people who you would otherwise be missing out on.

Interviews

I'm really excited about all the interviews we've had and still have to come. Interviewing someone is something that I've never really done before and I am learning a lot about. I've learned a lot about all the struggles regarding the interviewee, like contacting these people and setting up a time when it's best for everyone too meet in order to record the interview. Also, on a subject that I personally find more interesting, is the technical side of the interviews. There is so much at stake when filming interviews and so many little details that one must pay attention too like proper lighting, white balance, aperture, shutter speed and so on. Then on top of all these setting adjustments, there is the huge challenge of getting all theses settings synced between all of the cameras. It's going to be great seeing all our hard work and countless hours of filming, capturing and editing pay off when this project comes to a close.

Pros and Cons

After reading more and more on the topic of Net Neutrality, I am beginning to notice that it's the private parties, in general, who's primary concern is to keep the internet free. On the other hand, big corporations are the primary publishers of tightening up on the free web. Personally I'm starting to fall more between the lines of a free net, however I do see the benefits in controlling it. For example, a controlled web might make the internet faster along with making it a safer place to be, especially for children. A tighter internet could drastically decrease the amount of mature content that minors are exposed too. Though all of this security sounds appealing, I am having a hard time with the idea that large corporations and for that matter the government can control what we can and can't post and receive. How long would it take until they go too far and began robing us of our right to Freedom of Speech.

TV on Demand and on the Computer

Yesterday I was watching TV when a show came on that I haven't seen in a long time. The show was "Home Improvement." I made a comment to my roommate about how it was a shame that they don't show as many reruns of it anymore and he quickly responded that he in fact watches it daily at noon on cable. I paused for a second to think why I had not seen in in so long yet it's on so frequently. Then it hit me. I do not watch TV anymore. The fact that I can just go to my computer and on demand have all the new episodes of my favorite shows along with reruns and now even movies, has rendered the television and cable for that matter, completely useless. Why I still pay to have cable TV, I have no idea.

This revolutionary thought that sprung on me got me thinking, how many people nation wide have zero desire to pay for TV anymore and simply get their fill on shows Via the web. Cable Networks must be starting to feel the effects of web sites like Hulu and Fancast. This thinking inspired me to do a little research. Turns out that cable channels are obviously aware of the threat and are trying to keep cable from becoming obsolete and loosing millions of dollars thanks to the internet. This is much like how the web hurt the music and the newspaper industries. Musics problem was the sharing of music through special web pages and networking sites, while the newspaper industry was hit hard when they began offering their stories online for free. Cable companies are now devising ways to give just enough online access to shows without giving up too much. It's a fine line that they must balance on so it will be very interesting to see how this story plays out over the next few years. Here's to hoping that it stays for a while longer though because being able to eliminate that cable bill would put some much needed extra cash in my wallet.

Here's a few links to web articles that might offer a little bit more insight into the topic:
http://www.physorg.com/news157829495.html

http://steadfastfinances.com/blog/2009/01/24/cable-bills-too-high-disconnect-renegotiate-better-rate-or-watch-tv-online/

My Intro to Net-Neutrality

Network Neutrality is a matter which I have absolutely zero experience in, yet some how I have been thrown head first into a group project based solely on why our country should be shifting towards it. My hope is that by the end of this project, through research, I can make the decision for my self, based on an unbiased opinion, whether or not this is good for the internet. As of now I understand the basis for the complaint, or in other words the definition which I found to be: in it's simplest, the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Cut and dry it's hard to see why freedom of the web could be a bad thing but there is always catches and that's what I want to find. Why would it be bad? what effects could this have on businesses both large and small? How does this effect me and why do I care? Questions like these are undoubtedly going to be answered through the research I will do and the experience I will gain within the remaining weeks of this course.

Damn you Smokey the Bear

I was watching the news tonight when I saw a rather disturbing Smokey the Bear commercial. In this commercial a girl on a mountain bike rides up on two quad riders and warns them not to start their bikes do to them possibly starting a forest fire. The add basically implies that ATV's (all terrain vehicles) and forest fires are directly related. This is an absolutely ridiculous claim. For starters I would like to take some time to break down the facts of ATV's and forest fires. To be ridden on public land as in parks like in the commercial, ATV's must be equipped with a forestry service approved spark arrestor. Spark arrestors are designed to capture sparks from exiting the exhaust which could possibly ignite a fire and are proven to do just that. The first issue with the commercial is that unless the quads have after market or tampered exhaust that are not forestry approved, they are both equipped with proper spark arrestor systems from the factory, thus making them every bit as legal to be ridden in the park as the girls bike.

One thing this add did get me thinking about was how many fires have ever actually been caused by ATV's because I certainly have never hear of any. Through a brief Google News search I could find only two stories directly relating a forest fire to an ATV. One of these was about a farmer leaving his utility quad running next to a pile of brush on a hot and dry day(on private property). There is no saving stupid, nor is there any evidence that this quad had a properly maintained exhaust system with a forestry approved spark arrestor. This fire claimed 216 acres. The second case occurred in Manitoba Canada after an ATV rally and was much more devastating as 7400 acres were burnt. Officials say ATV's may have been the cause of the fire, though this cannot be proven. Statistically speaking it is more likely that a careless camper within the group of riders failed to properly maintain a safe campfire or did not properly dispose of a cigarette than the fire actually being caused by sparks from the exhaust of the vehicles.

The Fact of the matter is the promoters of this add are trying to categorize ATV's with the common fire starters like cigarettes, campfires and careless campers, hikers and picnickers. This is completely unfair to all ATV riders alike and is another example of bad P.R. towards the off road industry which is already hurting from every other environmental lie directed towards them. Its becoming more and more apparent that the anti-ATV population doesn't care whether or not they have lie. They will do whatever it takes to put an end to this highly misunderstood form of recreation and it's going to require all different kinds of off road riders coming together to fight back and save this incredible sport.

video link to the advertisement: http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-jul2308-smokey_bear_ads.834f8711.html

Here It Is

So here it is, the beginning of my career as a blogger. Since this is my first official blog post I thought I would take this time to tell a bit about why I'm here. For starters I've been recently reading more and more blogs and had been kinda fumbling the idea of starting my own but never really got to it. So what was the decision maker? My NMC 301 course here at the amazing school that is Oregon State University. One of the coolest parts about this course is the interaction that is involved in the assignments. Unbelievably this includes starting our own blog and even Twittering. So in a nutshell, that's why this blog came to be, but, that is by no means all that it will become. I plan on keeping up on this blog well after this course closes so keep up with me and maybe you can learn something or atleast get a little insight into my world.