Tuesday, October 25, 2011

CYBER COMMUNITIES


Please click link to see presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dirkvginkel?feature=chclk


Presenter: Dirk van Ginkel (08030995)
Voice-over: Deren Kizilgoz (09045201)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cyberterrorism

Here's the link to my PP about cyberterrorism. I hope the sound works....
To view it, please go to http://bit.ly/vxL181 and click on "download" >> "open".

Arto Salojarvi
07047118 ICM3C

Friday, October 14, 2011

By:Ingrid Hodge 09067469 (ICM) & Kevin Whitfield 08043728 (ICM)

THE REMIX -“Understanding the making of digital music and its cyber society”

Throughout the world there are many varieties of culture. Throughout these cultures music has always played an important role in how these cultures express themselves and or use music as a functional element in their existence.
From the beginning of primitive cultures which had limited resources in which to make instruments, to now civilized cultures who also have limited resources to create music or a sound that can represent the essence of their culture.

From the day when music was a free commodity of cultural expression to today where music has now become a complicated multi-billion dollar industry ruled primarily by people who care less about the culture and more about the business. The internet is a key element which contributes to creating digital musictoday’ssociety.
Throughout the years of convergence and globalization of cultures, music has evolved and spawned many sub genres, that are lead by cultures pushing the boundaries using current day technology to mix and match different genres of cultural music and create a whole new sub culture for this sub genres.

Because this music culture we are about to discuss in this report has a variety of names, we will choose to use a term we find which describes this music based on how it is created which is, ‘online remixed music’.
There is no official date on which this musical form was created, but we can estimate that it was created immediately with the introduction of online music sharing in 1999.
Remixing however has been an art practiced since the early 70’s by hip hop dj’s using turntables to spin records and using a fader on their equalizer console to blend and mix two different types of pieces of music to create one new sound. This practice came about through individuals in this culture that saw a limitation in just spinning records with songs that did not belong to them. In addition, because some of them were not fortunate to learn how to play a traditional instrument, such as piano, trumpet, guitar and a variety of other instruments, they were forced to use other machines or technologies that permitted them to create sounds.
These limitations fueled by creativity lead to the invention of remixing, which some believe is theft and others believe as the way forward in music, luckily for remixing practitioners in the early 70’s to middle 80’s, there was no law enforcement to police or regulate this act. So even at the beginning stages of this type of sound, this new genre was being brought under scrutiny, and that remains until this day.
Soon after, record companies began to catch wind of this practice and developed organizations that targeted and sought out ‘dj’s’ and ‘remixers’ that used records which were owned by the record label and decided to sue people who practiced what they saw as plagiarism. This started in the 90’s, which gave the culture just enough time to develop and spread to other parts of the planet.

In the early nineties, there was a case about a producer of a hip hop group by the name of “Public Enemy” which was at that time one of the world’s famous hip hop group, facing plagiarism charges for the first time. In the early nineties, (circa 1983) the producer named ‘Hank Shocklee’, was praised by individuals that was brought together by this musical art-form, and was widely praised by record executives for his productions done on not only Public Enemy’s musical catalog, which is a political rap group based in New York, but also that of ‘Ice Cube’ a platinum selling artist based on the West Coast of the United States, and also the many other artists that he collaborated with.
This became the first case ever to be won, by an organization developed for monitoring plagiarized music, against a rap group. The CMO which stands for Copyright Monitoring Organization seeks out plagiarized work in every form of media. People from the Copyright monitoring Organization discovered that just one of Shocklee’s production, had at least 84 different songs blended together.

Therefore, creating 84 separate cases for just one song would result in a multi-million dollar law-suit. The lawyers of the prosecutors realized, of course that there was no way they would have gotten money from Shocklee, who indeed was not a wealthy individual, ended up settling out of court, and Shocklee learned a lesson that many other remixers (professional or as a hobby)would come across numerous times throughout their musical career.
Hank Shocklee eventually tried to create music without the use of sampling, but this didn’t last very long and he lacked the elements that made this genre of music attractive and expressing the emotion that it was intended to have.

Throughout the 90’s, it was then very difficult for remixers and also regular dj’s  to use patented music to create the sounds that spoke to a sub-culture that lived and breathe the concept of remixing, which they not only expressed in music but in speech and clothing and in every aspect of their life. This was the foundation for what later would evolve into an online remix society.
But as any movement that is strong in numbers and through perseverance, a solution was then found but it would also have to call for a sacrifice to individuals who survived off of this genre of music. This type of REMIXED MUSIC would eventually be used as a form of promotion and communication, then be given away for free if it was to last. Remixers relied on their showcases and concerts to receive any monetary residuals in order to survive and create at the same time as regular musicians and artist do in their respected (sub) culture. The significant of being a part of this music culture is that everyone is an artist and audience.
This culture and its music go hand in hand with technology, because without the technology the creation of this music for this culture would not be possible. Since the beginning of this remix culture, technology has given every opportunity it has to expand and to attract more and more followers. In the early years of this culture there was a major distance between the technology and creators and also between the creators and the audience. This divide was throughout the years made smaller and smaller through technological advances. In the early ages of this remix culture, technology to create this music was scarce and was only to a few. On another hand, the reach from artist to audience was very limited. In the early years of this culture most of the communication was done through radio or word of mouth. When the culture began to become more accepted, television channels also slowly brought the culture to masse audiences, which before could only get the culture through radio or events.

PBS online (1999) describes that the internet was first allowed for commercial uses in 1991, and then became a self-supporting industry by 1995. With the birth of the internet age and advancement in technology, software was created and developed which allowed the audience to not only be a spectator and a consumer, but it allowed the consumer to become an artist themselves, and share their creation with an online audience which stretches all over the globe. Thanks to the Internet, so many creativity, possibilities, and innovation to music could be made. To name a few of these innovations: the internet gives the possibility to find any music of the world thanks to downloading, it helps find software and new technologies to help create a new form of music as well as creating a new online culture in music (cyber culture), and it also helps the music industry to become much smaller and more transparent with the help of social media. In other words, everybody has access to any type of music and can create and share all genres and style of music without anybody physically travelling around the world to spread the music. The internet gives the opportunity for people to broaden their horizon and evolve in the world of music.
Music downloading
The internet permitted many possibilities where downloading was a major impact for this new society and all music of the world could be found in specific music libraries.
With technology driving to this cyber culture, one of the major contributors to this culture is peer to peer downloading software such as Napster (1999), Kazaa (2002), Limewire (2000). These softwares allowed users to share ripped music amongst each other for free. With newly downloaded music acquired, these individuals then turned to other software in order to create the ‘mash ups’ and mixes which will then eventually be shared for free on these platforms and which is considered to be called ‘the remix’. This cyber society became artist thanks to downloading off of the internet for free and resend to the world through the internet for free.
Of course record companies and artists were not too excited about the idea of people taking their work without payment, through many legal battles between record companies, artists, and consumers, the law could not stop the spread of free music to households around the world. The internet is unstoppable, uncontrollable, and it created this new cyber society to share and exchange music easily across the globe. Downloading made the world of music smaller because everybody has access and free will to share music.

Creation
This technological advanced music genre is considered digital music. This type of music really became globalized by the early 2000, it consisted of software programs that allowed the user to rip music from a cd, and add effects or, loop areas of the music so that the user can create almost a new piece of work that they can be proud of. A few examples of these software’s are ‘Magix music maker’ series, ‘Fruity Loops’ series, and ‘Mad tracker’ series. Every year since the launch of these softwares, there were not only upgrades available but there were also other software’s created in order to remix/ recreate the music to the music industry standards and quality. This technology allows individuals of this culture to sample and use music for composing a new type of music which transcend through different cultures around the world. With the creation and recreation of music, a limitless creative realm is formed.
Online culture
Thanks to the internet and online platforms, this culture and the individuals herein has had a major boost in members and audiences of the music which is inspired by the remix culture; by which, since the internet and social media platform age, these individuals in this culture connected and supported one another and expanded. It has now grained the ranks of being an online culture or cyber society. With the new generation being born and having the privileges of technology and automatically choosing this online culture above their traditional geographically accepted culture, this culture will continue to grow and evolve and is now being respected by the world and the people who once were against the musical practices that it has, as long as there is internet.
Even though this culture has been globalized its music is still seen as illegal, and a threat to the music business, leaving the music business and its artists to suffer authenticity. During this period, most celebrities/ artists searched for ways to stop people from downloading or digging into their business, but the internet is uncontrollable. Artists then learn to adapt to this new cyber culture and started giving their fans more information about them and revealing details about their personal life thanks to ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ platforms. This led this cyber society and fans to feel closer, and have more knowledge on the particular celebrity to an extent where these individuals would want to become a celebrity, live like a celebrity and especially produce their own music.

This culture has also affected the products of corporations, leading them to adapt to a remix culture trait. As an example: Nike and Reebok have invested in many product changes and major campaigns that are primarily geared at this online remix culture, and also to stimulate their core consumer to adopt this way of life in some form or the other. This way of life, is ‘The Remix’ “Nicekicks” (2011), so the abovementioned brands are investing in promotion and adapting to the remix by letting their consumer customize their purchased products.
This culture has come a long way since the beginning of its existence to where they had no geographical location to communicate, but now use online platforms and social media to meet and interact with each other. The music of course which played a huge role in the development of this cyber society is the glue that keeps this culture together.

This online society has always had a threat to its existence, same as for many traditional cultures that have had threats throughout their existence. The arch enemy of this online music culture is till this day, the law and lawyers of the record companies and artists that are not happy about their music being used to create and shared. Unlike Nike and Reebok, the music business is finding difficulties to adapt on how they can still reach their annual quota, if online pirating continues to plunder their music. Some artists and record executives has used this strategy to their way of life as an advantage, and see the marketing capabilities that these online platforms provide and show respect at the amount of users, viewers and audiences that this music reaches.
The fact that music is now consumer driven, meaning that the consumer is the organization making the music and distributing it to themselves, leave the record companies without a real purpose in the music business. Online society has now taken over and gained total control over the content of the music, and can give their favorite artists direct feedback using platforms such as Myspace, Soundclick, Soundcloud, and other social media sites such as twiter and facebook.

In conclusion, Cyber society has come a long way from its existence which is due to technology. With the controversial practices of the online remixed culture in music, where lawyers of record companies sued individuals for practicing customs of this new culture. Whether right or wrong, this culture is still evolving, and the creativity and technology of how music is being made will keep advancing alongside while this culture fights for its survival. This digital music has brought forth this new cyber society which led the world’s music to become one. The music industry and the overall sphere of music is small and will keep getting smaller thanks to the internet. Celebrities, artists, and producers have learned to adapt to the digital music and its cyber society. Therefore, the internet created many opportunities to the music industry which has society sharing, communicating, and re-inventing/ remixing music and making this world even more creative and united.






SOURCE:

PBS online (1999), ‘Birth of the internet’. Sciencentral and the American Institute of physics - USA. retrieved on 12/10/11 http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/arpanet.html

Gearlog (2010), Limewire, Napster, the pirate bay: a brief history of file sharing. Geek.com. USA. Retrieved on 12/10/11 http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/limewire-napster-the-pirate-bay-a-brief-history-of-file-sharing-20101027/

Nicekicks (2011), Reebok remix collection. USA. Retrieved on 12/10/11 http://www.nicekicks.com/2009/02/reebok-classic-remix-collection/

Motion picture:
Franzen, B (director, producer, editor, & cinematography). McLoed, K (producer, film writer, & music consultant). (2009). “Copyright Criminals”. United States: PBS.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/copyright-criminals/artists.html

Cross, D (producer), Gaylor, B (director & writer). (2008). “RIP: A remix manifesto” (documentary). Canada: B-side entertainment & Canal D. http://motionempire.com/Watch_RiP_A_Remix_Manifesto_-2009-_Documentary_Online_for_Free_83380.html
(The above mentioned link is the main source for this report)

Website:
OECD Organization, (28th, July 2009). “Online music distribution providing both opportunities and challenges according to OECD report”. International commissioned web site. Retrieved on 11/10/11 http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,2340,en_2649_201185_34995480_1_1_1_1,00.html

Book:
Toynbee, Jason (2003). ‘Music, culture and creativity’. In: Clayton, Martin, Middleton, Richard and Herbert, Trevor eds. The cultural study of music. New York, USA: Routledge, pp. 102-112.


THE REMIX -“Understanding the making of digital music and its cyber society”

By:Ingrid Hodge 09067469 (ICM) & Kevin Whitfield 08043728 (ICM)

THE REMIX -“Understanding the making of digital music and its cyber society”

Throughout the world there are many varieties of culture. Throughout these cultures music has always played an important role in how these cultures express themselves and or use music as a functional element in their existence.
From the beginning of primitive cultures which had limited resources in which to make instruments, to now civilized cultures who also have limited resources to create music or a sound that can represent the essence of their culture.
From the day when music was a free commodity of cultural expression to today where music has now become a complicated multi-billion dollar industry ruled primarily by people who care less about the culture and more about the business. The internet is a key element which contributes to creating digital music in today’s society.  
Throughout the years of convergence and globalization of cultures, music has evolved and spawned many sub genres, that are lead by cultures pushing the boundaries using current day technology to mix and match different genres of cultural music and create a whole new sub culture for this sub genres.

Because this music culture we are about to discuss in this report has a variety of names, we will choose to use a term we find which describes this music based on how it is created which is, ‘online remixed music’.
There is no official date on which this musical form was created, but we can estimate that it was created immediately with the introduction of online music sharing in 1999.
Remixing however has been an art practiced since the early 70’s by hip hop dj’s using turntables to spin records and using a fader on their equalizer console to blend and mix two different types of pieces of music to create one new sound. This practice came about through individuals in this culture that saw a limitation in just spinning records with songs that did not belong to them. In addition, because some of them were not fortunate to learn how to play a traditional instrument, such as piano, trumpet, guitar and a variety of other instruments, they were forced to use other machines or technologies that permitted them to create sounds.
These limitations fueled by creativity lead to the invention of remixing, which some believe is theft and others believe as the way forward in music, luckily for remixing practitioners in the early 70’s to middle 80’s, there was no law enforcement to police or regulate this act. So even at the beginning stages of this type of sound, this new genre was being brought under scrutiny, and that remains until this day.
Soon after, record companies began to catch wind of this practice and developed organizations that targeted and sought out ‘dj’s’ and ‘remixers’ that used records which were owned by the record label and decided to sue people who practiced what they saw as plagiarism. This started in the 90’s, which gave the culture just enough time to develop and spread to other parts of the planet.

In the early nineties, there was a case about a producer of a hip hop group by the name of “Public Enemy” which was at that time one of the world’s famous hip hop group, facing plagiarism charges for the first time. In the early nineties, (circa 1983) the producer named ‘Hank Shocklee’, was praised by individuals that was brought together by this musical art-form, and was widely praised by record executives for his productions done on not only Public Enemy’s musical catalog, which is a political rap group based in New York, but also that of ‘Ice Cube’ a platinum selling artist based on the West Coast of the United States, and also the many other artists that he collaborated with.
This became the first case ever to be won, by an organization developed for monitoring plagiarized music, against a rap group. The CMO which stands for Copyright Monitoring Organization seeks out plagiarized work in every form of media. People from the Copyright monitoring Organization discovered that just one of Shocklee’s production, had at least 84 different songs blended together.
 
Therefore, creating 84 separate cases for just one song would result in a multi-million dollar law-suit. The lawyers of the prosecutors realized, of course that there was no way they would have gotten money from Shocklee, who indeed was not a wealthy individual, ended up settling out of court, and Shocklee learned a lesson that many other remixers (professional or as a hobby) would come across numerous times throughout their musical career.
Hank Shocklee eventually tried to create music without the use of sampling, but this didn’t last very long and he lacked the elements that made this genre of music attractive and expressing the emotion that it was intended to have.

Throughout the 90’s, it was then very difficult for remixers and also regular dj’s  to use patented music to create the sounds that spoke to a sub-culture that lived and breathe the concept of remixing, which they not only expressed in music but in speech and clothing and in every aspect of their life. This was the foundation for what later would evolve into an online remix society.
But as any movement that is strong in numbers and through perseverance, a solution was then found but it would also have to call for a sacrifice to individuals who survived off of this genre of music. This type of REMIXED MUSIC would eventually be used as a form of promotion and communication, then be given away for free if it was to last. Remixers relied on their showcases and concerts to receive any monetary residuals in order to survive and create at the same time as regular musicians and artist do in their respected (sub) culture. The significant of being a part of this music culture is that everyone is an artist and audience.
This culture and its music go hand in hand with technology, because without the technology the creation of this music for this culture would not be possible. Since the beginning of this remix culture, technology has given every opportunity it has to expand and to attract more and more followers. In the early years of this culture there was a major distance between the technology and creators and also between the creators and the audience. This divide was throughout the years made smaller and smaller through technological advances. In the early ages of this remix culture, technology to create this music was scarce and was only to a few. On another hand, the reach from artist to audience was very limited. In the early years of this culture most of the communication was done through radio or word of mouth. When the culture began to become more accepted, television channels also slowly brought the culture to masse audiences, which before could only get the culture through radio or events.

PBS online (1999) describes that the internet was first allowed for commercial uses in 1991, and then became a self-supporting industry by 1995. With the birth of the internet age and advancement in technology, software was created and developed which allowed the audience to not only be a spectator and a consumer, but it allowed the consumer to become an artist themselves, and share their creation with an online audience which stretches all over the globe. Thanks to the Internet, so many creativity, possibilities, and innovation to music could be made. To name a few of these innovations: the internet gives the possibility to find any music of the world thanks to downloading, it helps find software and new technologies to help create a new form of music as well as creating a new online culture in music (cyber culture), and it also helps the music industry to become much smaller and more transparent with the help of social media. In other words, everybody has access to any type of music and can create and share all genres and style of music without anybody physically travelling around the world to spread the music. The internet gives the opportunity for people to broaden their horizon and evolve in the world of music.
Music downloading
The internet permitted many possibilities where downloading was a major impact for this new society and all music of the world could be found in specific music libraries.
With technology driving to this cyber culture, one of the major contributors to this culture is peer to peer downloading software such as Napster (1999), Kazaa (2002), Limewire (2000). These softwares allowed users to share ripped music amongst each other for free. With newly downloaded music acquired, these individuals then turned to other software in order to create the ‘mash ups’ and mixes which will then eventually be shared for free on these platforms and which is considered to be called ‘the remix’. This cyber society became artist thanks to downloading off of the internet for free and resend to the world through the internet for free.
Of course record companies and artists were not too excited about the idea of people taking their work without payment, through many legal battles between record companies, artists, and consumers, the law could not stop the spread of free music to households around the world. The internet is unstoppable, uncontrollable, and it created this new cyber society to share and exchange music easily across the globe. Downloading made the world of music smaller because everybody has access and free will to share music.

Creation
This technological advanced music genre is considered digital music. This type of music really became globalized by the early 2000, it consisted of software programs that allowed the user to rip music from a cd, and add effects or, loop areas of the music so that the user can create almost a new piece of work that they can be proud of. A few examples of these software’s are ‘Magix music maker’ series, ‘Fruity Loops’ series, and ‘Mad tracker’ series. Every year since the launch of these softwares, there were not only upgrades available but there were also other software’s created in order to remix/ recreate the music to the music industry standards and quality. This technology allows individuals of this culture to sample and use music for composing a new type of music which transcend through different cultures around the world. With the creation and recreation of music, a limitless creative realm is formed.
Online culture
Thanks to the internet and online platforms, this culture and the individuals herein has had a major boost in members and audiences of the music which is inspired by the remix culture; by which, since the internet and social media platform age, these individuals in this culture connected and supported one another and expanded. It has now grained the ranks of being an online culture or cyber society. With the new generation being born and having the privileges of technology and automatically choosing this online culture above their traditional geographically accepted culture, this culture will continue to grow and evolve and is now being respected by the world and the people who once were against the musical practices that it has, as long as there is internet.
Even though this culture has been globalized its music is still seen as illegal, and a threat to the music business, leaving the music business and its artists to suffer authenticity. During this period, most celebrities/ artists searched for ways to stop people from downloading or digging into their business, but the internet is uncontrollable. Artists then learn to adapt to this new cyber culture and started giving their fans more information about them and revealing details about their personal life thanks to ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ platforms. This led this cyber society and fans to feel closer, and have more knowledge on the particular celebrity to an extent where these individuals would want to become a celebrity, live like a celebrity and especially produce their own music.

This culture has also affected the products of corporations, leading them to adapt to a remix culture trait. As an example: Nike and Reebok have invested in many product changes and major campaigns that are primarily geared at this online remix culture, and also to stimulate their core consumer to adopt this way of life in some form or the other. This way of life, is ‘The Remix’ “Nicekicks” (2011), so the abovementioned brands are investing in promotion and adapting to the remix by letting their consumer customize their purchased products.
This culture has come a long way since the beginning of its existence to where they had no geographical location to communicate, but now use online platforms and social media to meet and interact with each other. The music of course which played a huge role in the development of this cyber society is the glue that keeps this culture together.

This online society has always had a threat to its existence, same as for many traditional cultures that have had threats throughout their existence. The arch enemy of this online music culture is till this day, the law and lawyers of the record companies and artists that are not happy about their music being used to create and shared. Unlike Nike and Reebok, the music business is finding difficulties to adapt on how they can still reach their annual quota, if online pirating continues to plunder their music. Some artists and record executives has used this strategy to their way of life as an advantage, and see the marketing capabilities that these online platforms provide and show respect at the amount of users, viewers and audiences that this music reaches.
The fact that music is now consumer driven, meaning that the consumer is the organization making the music and distributing it to themselves, leave the record companies without a real purpose in the music business. Online society has now taken over and gained total control over the content of the music, and can give their favorite artists direct feedback using platforms such as Myspace, Soundclick, Soundcloud, and other social media sites such as twiter and facebook.

In conclusion, Cyber society has come a long way from its existence which is due to technology. With the controversial practices of the online remixed culture in music, where lawyers of record companies sued individuals for practicing customs of this new culture. Whether right or wrong, this culture is still evolving, and the creativity and technology of how music is being made will keep advancing alongside while this culture fights for its survival. This digital music has brought forth this new cyber society which led the world’s music to become one. The music industry and the overall sphere of music is small and will keep getting smaller thanks to the internet. Celebrities, artists, and producers have learned to adapt to the digital music and its cyber society. Therefore, the internet created many opportunities to the music industry which has society sharing, communicating, and re-inventing/ remixing music and making this world even more creative and united.








SOURCE:

PBS online (1999), ‘Birth of the internet’. Sciencentral and the American Institute of physics - USA. retrieved on 12/10/11 http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/arpanet.html

Gearlog (2010), Limewire, Napster, the pirate bay: a brief history of file sharing. Geek.com. USA. Retrieved on 12/10/11 http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/limewire-napster-the-pirate-bay-a-brief-history-of-file-sharing-20101027/

Nicekicks (2011), Reebok remix collection. USA. Retrieved on 12/10/11 http://www.nicekicks.com/2009/02/reebok-classic-remix-collection/

Motion picture:
Franzen, B (director, producer, editor, & cinematography). McLoed, K (producer, film writer, & music consultant). (2009). “Copyright Criminals”. United States: PBS.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/copyright-criminals/artists.html

Cross, D (producer), Gaylor, B (director & writer). (2008). “RIP: A remix manifesto” (documentary). Canada: B-side entertainment & Canal D. http://motionempire.com/Watch_RiP_A_Remix_Manifesto_-2009-_Documentary_Online_for_Free_83380.html
(The above mentioned link is the main source for this report)

Website:
OECD Organization, (28th, July 2009). “Online music distribution providing both opportunities and challenges according to OECD report”. International commissioned web site. Retrieved on 11/10/11 http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,2340,en_2649_201185_34995480_1_1_1_1,00.html

Book:
Toynbee, Jason (2003). ‘Music, culture and creativity’. In: Clayton, Martin, Middleton, Richard and Herbert, Trevor eds. The cultural study of music. New York, USA: Routledge, pp. 102-112.