What user generated content is emphasised by 'Web 2.0'?

   To fully get into this weeks topic we need to explain what Web 2.0 is; this term has been looked at before in my Citizen Journalism post but now it will be magnified into much more detail.

   Web 2.0's definition from The Oxford Dictionaries is,

 "the second stage of development of the World Wide Web, characterized especially by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social networking."

  I think the 'user-generated content' is key in the Web 2.0's explanation although previously this was possible in 1.0 but now it is much easier to do as the Internet has become so user friendly your grandma could start having fun. In this weeks blog we we will look at Mashups and The Youtube Symphony both involved in user generated content and how they are shared amongst the Internet.

   Firstly Mashups, this technique of creativity usually involves putting two songs together to create an new sound or indeed 'mashing' them together. A vocal track is placed over the instrumental track of another to create a whole new version of the song or a completely new one, examples include:

"Tick-Toxic" - Mash Up Of Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani

Lady Gaga vs. Black Eyed Peas (Fergie) - Poker Hump Mashup

   

   As seen in the videos two tracks have been 'mashed' together creating a whole new sound. Both licensed songs are now together created by someone halfway across the world in Kentucky or something so who actually owns the newly created sound? Is it the random-er from Kentucky who just had a bit of fun trying out his new editing software? Or is it one of the record labels' property now as their song has been used in the 'mashup'? It is these questions that are raised when thinking about this sort of thing.

   An example revolving around the legal side to this can be seen in an interview with a mashup master, DJ Danger Mouse with his super smash hit album "Gray Album", a mashup of songs from The Beatles' White Album and J-Z's Black Album.

A song can be heard here.

DJ Dangermouse said, 

"A lot of people just assume I took some Beatles and, you know, threw some Jay-Z on top of it or mixed it up or looped it around, but it’s really a deconstruction. It’s not an easy thing to do. I was obsessed with the whole project, that’s all I was trying to do, see if I could do this. Once I got into it, I didn’t think about anything but finishing it. I stuck to those two because I thought it would be more challenging and more fun and more of a statement to what you could do with sample alone. It is an art form. It is music. You can do different things, it doesn’t have to be just what some people call stealing. It can be a lot more than that…This wasn’t supposed to happen… I just sent out a few tracks (and) now online stores are selling it and people are downloading it all over the place.” Burton denied being the agent provocateur, saying it “was not my intent to break copyright laws. It was my intent to make an art project."

DJ Dangermouse

After the albums release the EMI record company (Electric and Mucical Industries Ltd.) proposed against the album due to copyright but in the ideology of Web 2.0 everyone got 'involved' and an activist group protested against this and created a day called "Gray Tuesday" whereby copies of DJ Dangermouse's creation were posted online for the world to download via torrents. It seems that this independent DJ's little project was blown completely out of proportion emphasising today's battle between the creative commons and the copyright laws.  

   Another form of mashup is in games. This is typically when two popular games come together in a 'vs' style to recreate what was originally two completely different classics. This different approach to the musical mashup is still as creative and to an extent more skilled for the user to generate, see some examples below:

Any video game fan will have thought of questions like, "What if Sonic met Pac-Man?" or "What if GTA met Frogger?" These questions have been answered due to user generated contend through Web 2.0 and the support of Youtube as a platform to host them.

The Symphony contains clips of
the sheet music and is played
together

   Moving onto the Youtube Symphony, this ingenious idea grabs innovation and user generated content (although this content is set to a universal piece of sheet music) and edits it together in one 'symphony' as if in the same room but in actual fact they are from all around the world, the trumpet section for example, a bunch of people could be from France and another from Russia. The idea is that if you have musical talent you can be part of the symphony. This example is probably much too complicated so as in this day and age, I hand you over to a video to explain everything...click here!

This mass user created content event in my opinion is fantastic, much like the mashups it emphasises the idea of Web 2.0.

See one of the final 2010 Youtube Symphony performances here! (The 2011 has not been preformed yet...obviously lol)

   Youtube is the most crucial web invention to come alive from Web 2.0 and is essential for any user created media to become seen, heard and noticed. Most of the content generated by random-ers ends up on Youtube racking up views daily and making the 'Most Viewed' list. Without this site a large section that Web 2.0 emphasizes would not be as apparent; it epitomises the social, interactive and usability that Web 2.0 means to.

Is Torrent Sharing Site, PirateBay heading to Davy Jones’ Locker?

 Getting your hands on the latest music releases or box office hits isn't that difficult if your savvy on a computer. Using such programs as LimeWire or UTorrent would seem essential for this but over the last few weeks both LimeWire and Pirate Bay (a site to get torrent files) are in trouble.

   Torrent Sharing sites like The Pirate Bay work on a user basis; the user uploads a file and another user downloads it often from multiple sources know as Peer-to-Peer or P2P using another program; basically you are grabbing different sections of a film or a song from multiple places (often in different countries) and sticking them all together creating the playable file. The same is for LimeWire except all the files are within the program itself whereas for The Pirate Bay the 'torrent' files would have to be downloaded in other programs such as UTorrent, BitTorrent or Bear Share.

   Using Limewire now is impossible because of its long running court battle in which until recently the court won and closed the site down; when trying to access the site a body of text appears:

"ATTENTION

LIMEWIRE IS UNDER A COURT ORDER DATED OCTOBER 26, 2010 TO STOP DISTRIBUTING THE LIMEWIRE SOFTWARE. A COPY OF THE INJUNCTION CAN BE FOUND HERE. LIMEWIRE LLC, ITS DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS, ARE TAKING ALL STEPS TO COMPLY WITH THE INJUNCTION. WE HAVE VERY RECENTLY BECOME AWARE OF UNAUTHORIZED APPLICATIONS ON THE INTERNET PURPORTING TO USE THE LIMEWIRE NAME. WE DEMAND THAT ALL PERSONS USING THE LIMEWIRE SOFTWARE, NAME, OR TRADEMARK IN ORDER TO UPLOAD OR DOWNLOAD COPYRIGHTED WORKS IN ANY MANNER CEASE AND DESIST FROM DOING SO. WE FURTHER REMIND YOU THAT THE UNAUTHORIZED UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING OF COPYRIGHTED WORKS IS ILLEGAL."

 A spokeswoman to the site said, "as a result of our current legal situation, we have no choice but to wind down LimeWire Store operations".

  It seems that online sharing sites are not having much luck recently as The Pirate Bay has struck a leak and is now slowly sinking with its skippers all recieving hefty fines and prison sentences. But "The Pirate Bay appears alive and well, with no word on when the site will disappear for good."

  I think downloading films does slowdown studio income but if I did download a film -not saying that I did or have lol- then if it was good I would buy it on dvd or defiantly BluRay which is what...£17-20? For music though it is a different story, you can download a good quality song meaning you don't need to fork out any money - and I'm not suggesting that I have...oh well I'll fess up I have downloaded a couple of songs; who hasn't? I have been converted to Spotify anyway - but some people love to have the psychical CD in their possession with the artwork and the case, something which downloading cant replicate. 

Identity: Should Facebook know everything about you?

   With Web 2.0 becoming increasingly popular and the amount of information we share and post online viewable by almost anyone we should stop and spare a thought: who can actually view this?

  Social sites like Facebook and Twitter are amazing and I think a crucial tool when using the internet but information that is posted online especially associated with our personal lives should not be made visible to the World Wide Web to view. Sensitive information such as our full name, home address and email address if posted without a thought of privacy can be a fatal error in your security and identity. Even Facebook's central function of 'status updates' could be jail-worthy or even fired-worthy! The thing about status updates is that its not hard to write "what is on your mind" in relation to a certain person, place, religion or sex. For example, this girl who lost her job due to her insensitive thinking of who could actually read this update:

A certain mistake!

Or perhaps this, a call centre worker who posted his 'sickie' plan on Facebook for all his so-called 'friends' could see.

   It is this exact reason why things like social updates should be thought through as all of your connected people may be able to access your information without actually knowing you. Your friends on Facebook can reach to a high number, such  numbers as 600 or 900 :O wow popular person eh? well, yea on the screen yes but a person with that amount will not know every singe person they have added or  had a 'friend request' from. It seems to have become a social race and popularity contest to see who has the most friends and is more socially active.  But in an article by the Daily Mail as human beings' we only have the capability of  "managing a maximum of just 150 friendships" and that "people obviously like the kudos of having hundreds of friends but the reality is that they’re unlikely to be bigger than anyone else’s." The reason for this is because we actually look at only a handful of peoples' profiles and that some of the other friends may not even be a person you know, trust or would even talk to in the real world. It is here where the Internet can become dark as recent stories have circulated of abductions as the person has changed their identity even as far as sex and age to get on 'the good side' of their targets. Once trust has been gained on both sides of the screen a meeting place is then arranged and horrific terms often end up on the news and in the papers. 

    

Augmented Reality - What do they really offer to the 'Real World'?

   The advance in computer graphics is ever increasing, I mean looking back in 1970 to when Pong was first introduced and then to now, 2010 the journey has been massive.

Wow! They're having a blast!
Pong 1970

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Too Human - Xbox 360 today! Wowza!

 As the technology has advanced the line between the game world and the real world has blurred together and researchers and tech boffins are now "pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments" (howstuffworks.com).

 This new technology is named Augmented Reality and is quite something I have to admit!

So, what are the uses and potential of this new technology? you might ask, well my friend, keep reading and all your questions will be answered.

  At the moment Augmented Reality (AR) is still in its infancy but to be honest some of the things achieved at this stage is amazing. Take a look at how AR could change how we interact with the world.

  In that video notice how all the AR elements were triggered by a 'marker'. This uniquely designed image is programmed into the software meaning that at this stage, unfortunately they can only be used with that specific camera but the glasses that people were wearing allowed the AR to be that more portable like the children's book. The book had the specific markers on the page and when the child looked through the glasses the images were created. But do people want to walk around with large glasses? This debate is very similar to the new 3D technology where allot of people negate the possibility of buying a 3D tv because of the glasses. As tv culture is very much social and communal; wearing 'geeky' glasses is barrier. 

But has this been over come with the introduction of designer glasses? 

Not just any 3D glasses. These are premium Armani
3D glasses! Would you wear them?

  I wonder if the 3D glasses from Armani would improve the progression of AR, just imagine walking down the street with those snazzy shades and getting information all around you: hmm very tempting in my opinion!

  

  AR offers the real world more, in the area of advertising. In the future if you are wearing your designer glasses and glance over at a store such as HMV then there could be a list that appears giving sale information, new releases and special offers. But at this time, in its infancy the methods are still developing but there are some that look pretty cool. 

  Using the unique printed markers companies can print them in a magazine and instruct the customer view them through their web-cam through their site. An example is with cars, a customer can see a digital 3D projection of the model: A Mini Augmented Reality. 

AR is used to show what you would look like if you were wearing a particular item of clothing, a shade of makeup or even watches which is what customers experienced at Selfridges, London. The markers are still used here but the technology and the concept is still amazing, in the future the markers may not be there and the software knows where to place the 3D image. 

Another example is to advertise tv programs. The Vampire Diaries has become a hit in the US and the UK and this AR demo was set up in New York and Loas Angeles with the slogan "Vampires cant see their reflection...can you?". In the video one of the ladies experiancing it says, "I would look at this [the AR advert] than the sign up there2, I think that encapsulates the who idea of the new advertising technology that is named as 'storescapes'. 

This next one is amazing in my opinion: Avatar Storescape. The idea of emailing the pictures to the customer adds another dimension making that targeted link between film and audience. 

  This sets a new era for advertising and makes the audience involved, something that didn't happen when watching them on tv or in the movies.

  One other AR I came across from Youtube is building projections. The whole building is mapped by cameras allowing powerful and precise projections to be emitted onto the surface with realistic effects. This magnifies the idea that the boundary between real life and the digital life is dissolving. Check out these amazing videos:

Ukraine Independence Building
Realistic Building Projection
Other Amazing Building Projections

  AR has some commercial products too. Restaurants are taking use to this new tech making the customer experience that much better now that it is part digital, the iBar is revolutionary although not holding any purpose but to entertain it is a great addition the the AR family: The iBar. Another example is the Microsoft Surface shown at CES 2008, this table allows users to interact digitally with their surroundings such as bar cups etc or even in shops like the man described using product tags. It becomes an interactive tool that draws the digital reality and the real life together.  

  I thnik that at the moment the main area that is homing in on AR is advertising companies, in the future it could expand further to the general public but people do not want to pay large amounts of money for new tech that is still in infancy. But the direction that AR is going is very promising and extremely exciting indeed. 

Interfaces - Making using a computer that much easier

So your using a computer and you are looking at the screen and suddenly wonder how you are navigating through the system; well, that my friend is the Interface.

  A UI (User Interface) can be seen everywhere, to you getting money out of a cash machine, calling someone on your new iPhone or Android phone or sending an email on you computer. It is these interfaces on your phones and computers that will be placed under the spotlight today.

  Beginning with a GUI: This interface allows the communication between computer and user via graphical means i.e. Windows 7's icons and windows. The GUI was a revolution in computer history as it allowed everybody access to a computer despite their computer skills which is what was need beforehand i.e MS-DOS was an  early operating system that was used on many personal computers and required text commands to be entered to give the computer commands. These text commands were often long and were not very user friendly to use for example, to copy a file to another location the user could not simply click-and-drag back then they had to type in:

"copy from [source\filename] to [destination\folder]"

Only until upgrade to MS-DOS 5 was a very limited GUI introduced including mouse operation instead of using solely the keyboard. Check out the promo vid of MS-DOS 5.

  Without the help of Ivan Sutherland and Doug Englebart the GUI would not be possible. Ivan invented the Sketchpad which was the first move toward the interfaces we use today. It allowed the user to create shapes on a screen by using a light pen and was a massive leap to how we interact with computers today.

The system still had a size problem to hurdle

The revolutionary user interaction tool

  Doug Englebart was the person responsible for allowing you to move that little mouse around the screen although back then they were massive, imagine dragging a large brick across that lovely new varnished table.

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  With technology booming in the 21st century new ways of interacting with a computer are always arising whether it being speech or now even movement (i.e. Xbox Kinect, Nintendo Wii or Playstation Move) but here I will be focusing on how websites are viewed and present on GUI's on computers and compare them to GUI's on mobile phones.

Facebook (Computer)

  This site is becoming massively popular and it is now essential to have constant access to this is you are out of the house or office away from your computer.

  On the computer everything looks simple with the 1. logo and the navigation sections along the top of the page and down the left side, tools such as your profile, photos and Fb games are located here. All your friends can be seen here too 2. Down the centre of  the page is your main personalised information appropriately named by Facebook as your 'news feed'. 3. Along the right side of the page is adverts, your events and some information about how to use the site.

Click for full size!!

The website is very easy to use and the same is for its mobile page.

Facebook (Mobile)

  When wanting to use Fb on the move there is either the application of the specifically designed mobile site. The mobile site automatically detects it being accessed by a mobile device and so links it to that format. The mobile site is very easy to use and much like it application sister condensed to the most important information. Although the facebook games cant be accessed from the mobile device that is not much of a problem because while moving around you just want to update you status once in a while.

The mobile site

The app look

   The application as you can see uses a basic GUI to make its use easier. The news feed icon looks like a folded paper and the chat looks like dialogue bubbles.

HMV (Computer)

  This site is very popular for buying games, music, films and electronics; but how does it fair on both a computer and a mobile?

  

Click to view full size

  This site is very visual and hold lots of graphics meaning that its load time is considerably longer than say, Facebook's simple design.

  The design here looks very appealing with the negative space emphasising the main information and the large icons and promo adverts. But on this site there is one element that struggles to cross platform to the mobile world and that is - flash.

  Flash can't be used on any old generation mobile device nor can it on an apple, but recently with Android's firmware update of 2.2 Froyo for its devices flash 10 is supported. But for the majority flash is a large hurdle that cant be overcome easily.

Who Are Journalists These Days??

  Journalism 2.0 is an extension to Web 2.0 (blogging, visual, audio and social networking) where by news can be covered in numerous different ways. Within this evolution of the media comes 'Citizen Journalism' (CJ) or 'Street Journalism'. This term is used to describe members of the public filming specific events with mobile phones, cameras or small hand-held shooters. The events are are usually filmed before a professional news team can get to location meaning that the video or audio captured is in its unedited state or raw footage.

  The evolution of mobile phone technology has provided  anyone becoming involved in CJ.

The Citizen Journalist Technology - quick and easy

Phone video cameras over the last few years has evolved to HD meaning that captured footage is of a higher quality making much more of an impact.

This quick and easy to use piece of hardware was vital in the 9/11 New York Bombings, without the public there would be no way of capturing the devastation that was caused.

Rooftop view of 2nd plane hitting tower  (Source: Youtube // CameraPlannetArchive)

The same is with the London Bombings, without amateur footage through CJ we would have never understood what the situation was like in the stations themselves as large news groups like the BBC or ITV were denied access by the authorities.

  The idea of Citizen Journalism has become under a large amount of scrutiny primarily from the more 'professional' individuals in the profession. For example, a letter from a photojournalist Pete Jenkins states, "This is presumably to reward people who were lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been caught up in one disaster or another, and happen to own a mobile cameraphone".

The idea that CJ has gone too far!

 Me personally can see where he is coming from (sort of), he has probably spent years and years training and learning how to provide the best story via the best photographs and to be overtaken by a random citizen capturing a 30sec clip on their phone, posting it on Youtube and a few days later have it shown on all major news networks. (An example is the notorious Cat Lady who purposely chucked a cat in a dustbin by its neck: See the video here)

  Youtube, as mentioned above, has become a world wide success fetching a mere 2billion hits per day according to newsintech.com and provides a platform where videos such as the Cat Lady can become news worthy. In a video from, yes, Youtube, respected American journalist Katie Couric explains this site and how       simple videos can become 'viral': Katie Couric explaining Youtube with Video Examples

This platform of video publishing allows the world to view, comment and discuss the content as if it was shown on TV on the 6'o Clock news. With Journalism 2.0 blog sites are becoming a very popular location for CJ set up to essentially collect this amateur footage for the world to view. Although some large news networks look away at this others embrace it and see its potential. For example, America's CNN has its own dedicated Citizen Journalism site: http://cj.ibnlive.in.com/. On its site it states, "A pioneer in participatory journalism, CNN-IBN offers the common man a platform to tell his story. Log in to join the army of Citizen Journalists and make yourself heard". The sites caption, "Be the Change" I think is a great example to use to describe this broad type of journalism, it is changing, and rapidly at that.

  One interesting type of video capture is CCTV. Over the last decade the number of cameras watching us has grown exponentially but are these cameras part of CJ? I mean, a CCTV camera in a train or on a high street is all integrated into the countries police and therefore part of the government making a massive network of cameras. But this is similar to a large news network in my opinion and therefore not a CJ device or method. On the other hand I suppose CCTV footage can be seen as part of CJ as it is there and captures a rare event as it happens. Its not  there to capture devastating events but to record small scale things such as mugings or desruptions. The CCTV cameras are available 24/7 much like a citizen and captures the event that a news network will not be able to capture. An example would be the London Bombings or the station floodings in Madrid 2007: Station Flooding Footage

This surreal footage shows the whole floor expand as it fills with what looks like water. No news teams would be able to get that footage as it has happened right-there-right-then. For citizens the chance of some filming that particular footage is slim as people were seen fleeing the station. So CCTV can both be seen as a metaphorical CJ or just an addition to the large network linked into the government.

  So who are journalists these days? My answer is that anyone can but in respect to those in the professional trade, it takes skill to set up the footage, prepare and deliver a report on TV or in the paper.

ILOVEBEES: A new way to game?

  With the release of the highly anticipated 2004 Halo 2 game there was something new that had never been tried before. An Alternative Reality Game (ARG) acting as a world wide interactive treasure hunt that was used to promote and advertise the Bungie release.

  For the hunt to begin small hints were needed to be planted for this revolutionary game to proceed. There were two main hints used. Firstly, through the game's trailers. As they were released  something was discovered that left fans and the gaming community baffled. At the end of the advert was a message or indeed a web link, www.ilovebees.com was shown that flashed over Mircrosoft's own resulting in thousands of fans rushing to their computers to divulge into this mysterious website.

  Secondly, a handful of ARG gamers were secretly selected to receive small jars of honey in the post. Suspended within this honey was a letter and all together spelt 'ILOVEBEES'. With the advert and secret honey pots used; the online community flooded with activity in an attempt to understand what this was all about. The ilovebees website seemed a normal site about a person's avid (but strange) love for bees but later looked as if it were under attack from hackers as messages and codes appeared. Again as time progressed the internet forums erupted into cracking these codes and satellite images until collective knowledge revealed that they were coordinates for specific phone boxes around the US.

A phone box sat image 

A woman answers a designated payphone as
crowding fans show the Master Chief Salute

 These phones rang at stated times releasing a certain part of spoken dialogue. Once all the extracts were put together a story into Halo 2's history was created involving all of the loved characters and those who took part were able to join an exclusive screening and online play of the game before its initial release under a condition that they could recite a codeword released over the payphones.

For a video explanation of the ARG: The ILOVEBEES Phenomenon

  This had never been attempted before, an ARG within another game. It re-mediated not only advertising; but gaming as a whole. In terms of advertising, typically the audience is being bombarded on TV, on computers or even now on mobile phones but with ILOVEBEES the audience were actually chasing after the advertiser and because they want to, not like an unknown number beginning with '02...' ringing you up and leaving a message saying that there have been some 'financial issues' with your bank in which you ring up to question this only to find its an advert for another bank that could offer you better interest - this specific example has happened to me! In terms of  re-mediating gaming it changed the way people interacted with games and the idea of games as a whole. Normally with a new game's release the gamer travels to the store to buy the game and then spends the next few weeks chained to the screen in isolation forgetting the key elements of time, sleep and the natural impulse of hunger. An ARG pulls in all players from around the world to communicate and get on one specific goal together which is similar you may think to how Xbox Live or PSN (Playstation Network) works today but it is not. With the online community on consoles it's more about your personal gain, you 'killing' and American kid named 'XboxAddict' gets you 50XP and a new gun or you reaching a specific point gets you this unlocked. In an ARG it uses the same idea of involving countries together and solving a problem i.e. in ILOVEBEES forums were flooded with comments from all around the world that used information from another forum-er, or forum poster? or is it user? I'm not sure what the term is but you get the idea - I hope. This information sparks another idea and so on and so on until the final objective is achieved, in this case: co-ordinates to a phone box or a piece of audio.

   On the other hand you could argue that ARG's are moving away from the idea of what games are. Games allow you to take control of a character, usually much more powerful and capable of completing tasks than yourself, and wander in an alternative world where you can create the rules and control how the game unfolds. In an ARG you are the character and your not in another world fighting monsters and gaining x amount of gold, credits, chips whatever, you're just you.

  This whole ARG idea has re-mediated gaming, changed how we interact with games and has also converged different media types together. Gaming, email, telephones and the internet are all used to portray the game onto the game-field - the world. by providing hints, obstacles and sometimes other players that have to be overcome by the community.

  So there you have it - ARG's. Are they a new way to game? They are growing in popularity as they provide a different perspective on traditional gaming of just sitting in front of a tv and are more communal. But with the release of the Playstation Move and soon Xbox Kinect will it stay or just become lost in its own alternative reality when technology leaves it behind?

A Networked Society: Good or Evil?

  If you have managed to get onto the computer and navigated to this exact post then you are part of a networked society - congratulations! 

  Its all good, you are reading this informative blog post without leaving the comfort of your room, great isn't it? But as this blog title suggests there are some bad sides to having a networked society and here at The Digital Bucket they will be explored and magnified against the positive elements of being connected. 

   Being part of a networked society is great for making communication easy, I bet that most of you reading this will have a profile on Facebook. This social networking site allows just that, easy communication. In a blog post last year by its creator Mark Zuckerberg, "Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start..." All of these people will be connected to their friends and family's profiles allowing them to share information in seconds without even leaving the house or even the country. As Zuckerberg's creation grows its networked society becomes more and more inter-linked with all members.

  With this in mind some would argue that this is the sort of thing that is destroying 'proper' social interaction most importantly in the younger generation. No face-to-face communication is necessary when social networks such as Facebook, MSN, Skype and MySpace exist and allow anyone to simply connect and see what their friends were doing 14 minutes ago. Two famous features of Facebook is the 'Relationship Status' and the 'Interested In'. This can be seen as a controversial tag that displays sensitive information about individuals' private life. Take a look at this video from Youtube concentrating on these items:

 With the social integrity under fire it is a necessity in some global organisations where video conferencing would not be possible without being constantly in a networked society. In a past blog post by Skype itself, "Business users have always been part of the Skype family and make up 30% of Skype's global community now number at 171 million". Notice the use of the word 'community'; all these businesses conferencing together are all part of a networked society. Another advantage with businesses inter-linked together is that money is saved; in the same blog post by Skype they state, "95% [of bussinesses] claimed to have saved money and 80% claimed that using Skype increased employee productivity." So looking at this point and linking back to the title, this side of a networked society is a good and advantageous thing.

   Moving onto the more dark or 'evil' (in this case) side of the internet and indeed the networked society. Cases of people being befriended by someone on Facebook who say they are who they are actually not can have horrific consequences and that is the most popular topic to refer to. Other 'internet evils' include theft of personal details on sites such as Ebay or Amazon. Sensitive information that you enter such as email address and credit card details can be picked up by someone targeting you. Email phishing and key loggers are a few types and you'll will have had hundreds of spam emails, you know the ones, right? The iconic and world famous Viagra pills spam? Or perhaps the fact that you have just won the Nigerian Lottery?! Yes, these contribute to the bad side of being in a networked society.

  Another, bullying.This has been a constant area within school life and often leaves the target helpless and isolated. With a networked society basically involved in almost every young person's life such as Facebook or even now Youtube bullying has evolved to the World Wide Web. The thing about Youtube is that people leave comments to videos posted by others, comments that can be hurtful to different cultures around the world and because they are sitting in their small room and most probably in another country they feel it acceptable. This is why the idea of a networked society is under allot of scrutiny at the moment.

   These have been just a few insights into the good sides of some networked societies and also their contradictory bad sides. But with progression these negative elements should be ironed out for example, Facebook again have undergone heavy scrutiny by the users themselves to improve the security issues as reports of hackers and false accounts were discovered. Numerous updates have been implemented meaning that it is becoming increasingly strong; this will be similar to other networked societies where security is an issue.