Democracy's Long Tail

Where would we be without the internet? Places where access to the internet and news is limited, people have found their own ways of reaching out. Digital distribution is meant to help people gain as much information as possible and to do it quickly. In China, Google launched Google.cn, to give the citizens more access to the internet (Google Blog). However the Chinese government wants even more limited access to citizens and less capabilities to give them free speech. Without free speech and the access to the internet how are citizens going to be able to keep up with online news and information. Google is even trying to work with the Chinese government and if nothing good comes from this meeting between the two, Google will be forced to shut down Google.cn. Which I think could be harmful to the Chinese people.

It seems odd that the Chinese government wants to limit it's people to strict use of the internet, when China is a very technologically advanced country. We shall wait and see, but hopefully China realizes what they will be loosing. To learn more about whats happening with China and Google go to the official Google Blog...http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html

In countries where there is no free speech and cameras are prohibited, people are finding ways to get their message out. They are using cell phones!! Cell phones equipped with the internet and cameras are a great source of information sharing when the government prohibits what you can and cannot say. For example in a video from Myanmar, released by "ABC", they show footage of people fighting. The reporter was not allowed in the country with his camera so he used his cell phone and was able to report that way. So people will find ways of getting around limited use of the internet and cameras. If they want their message heard bad enough they will find different ways of getting it out.
Here is a link to that video.... Myanmar Cell Phone Journalism: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3666307.

The internet is helping people make change by allowing them to post their own videos and share their version of stories. It is also helping by allowing citizen journalists to post their videos of whats happening in countries where cameras are not allowed. For example "YouTube", they have what is called "YouTube Direct", this allows citizen journalist to upload photos and videos to news websites. Although its probably not going to get them famous, it does make them feel like that are doing their part and sharing with the world what is going on in other countries around the world where journalists are not allowed. Here is a link to YouTube Directs website if you want more information on how to use it...http://www.youtube.com/direct

All in all, people are wanting exposure and connection with other people around the world, less government interference and more internet and news. Stopping the information is going to make people want it even more. Google I hope will beat China! And true to this website, people are going to work around government filters.
To read more about the competition against Google and China visit...http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/can-google-beat-china/

RESOURCES

http://www.pcworld.com/article/182362/youtube_direct_why_citizen_journalists_shouldnt_care.html

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html


(Picture from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/china-google-negotiate-to_n_436494.html)

How Media Operates

Digital distribution will eventually, I believe, take over television, music and radio. In "The Long Tail" article by Chris Anderson, he is wanting to get the message out about digital distribution and the effect it is going to have on us. He talks about hit-driven economics, which is a period where we lack shelf space, dvd's and cd's are being produced at a fast pace and we have no space for them (Anderson,2004). When Chris Anderson talks about shelf space in "The Long Tail" video, he is talking about the fact that television and stores only have so much space to place their inventory. But when you think about Netflix or other online dvd rental sites, they almost have infinite "shelf space". They have the capacity to store thousands upon thousands of dvd's that normally are not going to be available to people walking into dvd rental stores. So when your looking for an almost obsolete dvd that has not been found anywhere you turn to the internet, because the internet has almost anything and everything and it is at the click of a button. Chris Anderson also talks about in his video of "The Long Tail", the powerlaw, which relies on the 80/20 rule, for example, he states that 20% of the population had 80% of the land (Anderson, 2006). So it means that there is alot of land that is divided up between that 20% and that there is only so much land and only so many people. This falls back to having enough shelf space, there is only so much space and alot of dvd's. It is amazing to me that Netflix, as Chris Anderson mentions in his video of "The Long Tail", carries more movies than Blockbuster (Anderson, 2006). To me it seems that since blockbuster has been around for so long that it would ultimately have more titles that Netflix. But again this probably relates again to shelf space.
In the article "The Long Tail", also by Chris Anderson, he writes that you need at least 1500 people to come see a movie in the theatre in order to pay for the rent for that screen, or you need to sell at least two cd's per year for that artist in order to make it worth carrying in the store (Anderson, 2004) This is in the favor of online companies because if the movie theatre or music store can't stay open, it means more business for them!! They now have more people visiting their sites to purchase from them. Also it is becoming more convenient to purchase online and at home instead of having to drive somewhere to get the same thing you can purchase online and for possibly cheaper than in the store.
If you are wondering what "The Long Tail" is, it is a way of telling you that there is far more inventory being sold online than in stores (See attached Graph).
One big downfall to digital distribution is the fact that there are probably going to be more lawsuits, due to the copyright agreements. In an article I read on the website "CNET", it states that Grooveshark, an online record company is being sued by Universal Music Group because Universal Music Group is saying that Grooveshark has illegal copies of songs (Rosoff, 2010). This it seems is going to be the biggest problem. Companies out there are going to get a hold of legal and illegal copies of movies and music so that they can go back and sell them and in return make money. There will have to be closer monitoring if possible on digital distribution. Also I think that having enough shelf space could hurt current businesses. They are competing with online businesses that have an infinite amount of it. There is really no way of a music store today to be able to hold as many music cd's that an online store can, their store would be huge and hard to manage. Although it may not be impossible, but it would be hard to accomplish.

The Long Tail

Here is a link if you would like more information on Digital Distribution.....
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-9887085-27.html

References

Anderson, Chris. (2004). "The Long Tail". WIRED Magazine, Issue 12.10. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html?pg=2&topic=tail&topic_set=.

Anderson, Chris. (2006). "Identifying The Long Tail". [Video File]. Video Posted to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yku0GTrcuw&feature=fvw.

Rosoff, M. (2010). "Grooveshark Sued by Another Record Company". CNET News. Retrieved from
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10432132-27.html?tag=mncol;posts

"The Long Tail". (2004) [Graphical illustration]. Retrieved from
http://www.wired.com/wired/images.html?issue=12.10&topic=tail&img=2.