Enter World: exploring mediated cultures

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I just completed the Media Bloggers Association course on Online Media Law offered by NewsU.

It was a great refresher course on defamation, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement. The use of recent court cases gave it a timeliness and tie to current events that is missing if you try to simply read about these topics in books or on sites. Of course this is also a brief online class, estimated to take one to two hours, and as such is an overview.

One issue of interest to me is that the course states the Communications Decency Act, Section 230, protects bloggers from being held responsible for comments made on their sites even if they are edited for length or decency so long as the original meaning is not changed. This legislation is from 1996, and what confuses me is that earlier this month the Poynter Institute’s Feedback Guidelines had information about courts deciding that site publishers were responsible for feedback if it was approved rather than automatically submitted. Poynter and NewsU are affiliated and that information is no longer on the guidelines page. However the Wikipedia entry on Section 230 does not list any new relevant cases.

This is interesting to me, because a couple weeks ago I disabled comments after reading the information at Poynter. With over 50 spam comments coming in per day, there was no option other than manually filtering comments. This may change things ...

Friday, September 19, 2008

We hear about issues of cellphone overuse: poor driving, lack of etiquette, interruption of co-present interactions, cellphone addiction. But what about the low level of service that is available in the United States? Before SMS was even available through my carrier I was using websites to send text messages to friends in Europe. They received the messages without a charge. Yet even now that SMS is popular in the States, we pay for incoming texts. With AT&T I even pay for the minutes used to listen to my own voicemail.

This fee-based receipt of messages creates another level of etiquette. Is it more polite to call someone, subjecting those around you to your conversation, or to send a text that will automatically force the receiver into paying for it?

Alternative media outlets and public information networks in developing nations use SMS to send out news to people who don’t have computer or email access but have a high level of mobile phone ownership. There are many areas in the States where local media could use such a service. However, with carriers charging for incoming texts the potential for this method of communication becomes limited. 

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I’ve been noticing commercials lately that promote products that are under attack by health and environmental trends. It’s interesting to see what angle the ads take to promote the products.

Examples:

Dixie paper plates

Overt message: Paper plates are good for your kids because you get to spend more time with them instead of washing dishes. The product makes life easier.
Indirect message: Washing dishes, teaching kids to clean up after themselves, and using more economical reusable plates are not family-oriented things.

Corn Refiners Association

Overt message: HFCS is natural. Cool moms serve HFCS.
Indirect message: The people complaining about HFCS are just parroting what “they” say and are not informed.

Although the debate about corn syrup rages at a different level, connected to public health issues such as obesity and diabetes, it seems like commercials are being targeted against the healthy eating and sustainable living trend on multiple levels. Advertising urging families to stick with simplicity and give up arguing against potentially unhealthy, unsustainable living practices gives me the impression that this change in public attitude is hurting businesses...some businesses.