BCM112

Promotions that fans love.. Transmedia Stories

~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

Transmedia is a principle involved with books and movies, basically anything that has a narrative. Henry Jenkins explains that “Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” Henry Jenkins (2007). Transmedia creates synergy across different platforms to work together and provide the audience with a good story, you can’t just “copy and paste” (Jezam Interactive) the content across platforms. But how does this concept work through The Pirate Bay?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll be aware that The Pirate Bay is a torrenting website, and it’s through this torrenting that transmedia takes place. People can upload and download whatever media they want, which can expand their potential audience, and it’s this factor that makes The Pirate Bay so amazing. If enough people seed a particular torrent, people will notice and think “What’s all this fuss about?” and they may or may not be urged by their curiosity to download and watch it. Seeding not only allows for it’s potential audience to grow, but it gives access to those that want it. It can also be seen as “…basically a new promotional strategy” (Jenkins Henry 2010) . If people want the media for a potential narrative, whether it be the original content, or fan-made content expanding on the particular show’s ‘universe’.

Jezam Interactive explains how transmedia creates synergy across platforms

The Pirate Bay’s search feature allows you to find more stories, some you may not even be aware of, and allow you to access and download it. Webisodes are a great example, they’re an extension of a tv show, usually about a topic that’s interesting to the big fans, but not as important or relevant enough to fit into a normal episode, or maybe they just explain a story behind a particular character. As a big fan of ‘The Office’ (US version, because let’s face it, the UK just doesn’t cut it), I was trying to download a copy of the latest episode, and found all these Webisodes! I could not be happier. Here’s my favourite Webisode from The Office, if you’re not a fan of the show, it probably won’t make much sense. All you need to know, is that Kevin has a relatively low IQ and likes to eat.

The Pirate Bay creates these databases for each story, and allows people to access whatever part of the story they desire, and they’ll always be there, unless of course the website eventually get’s taken down. This principle of accessibility is one of the many reasons why The Pirate Bay is so popular, you can get what you want, when you want. You can go on the website for one thing, and leave with something completely different. It creates fanbases for every type of media, and can be arguably one of the reasons why some tv shows have so many fans internationally.

Sources:

Jenkins Henry, 2011, Seven Myths About Transmedia Storytelling Debunked, Fast Company, Weblog, 8th April, Viewed 21/4/2014, <http://www.fastcompany.com/1745746/seven-myths-about-transmedia-storytelling-debunked >

Jenkins Henry, 2007, Transmedia Storytelling 101, The Confessions of an Aca-fan, Weblog,  22nd March, Viewed 20/4/2014, <http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html >

No Name, No Year, What is Transmedia?, Jezam Interactive, Weblog, No Date, Viewed 20/4/2014 <http://jezaminteractive.com/what-is-transmedia/ >

Friend-Zoned With The Pirate Bay

~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

You are in a constant friend-zone with The Pirate Bay. You just are. No matter how many gifts it gives you, or how many gifts you give other people through them. That’s how The Pirate Bay rolls, and it’s totally fine with it. For those of you that don’t understand my poor analogue, the way The Pirate Bay works, is that it works like a search engine. You find torrents that other people are seeding, and it allows you to download from them. The Pirate Bay just direct internet traffic to where it needs to be. And when you seed, it allows other people to download from you. And because of this, the audience, you, not only control The Pirate Bay, but provide the content and functionality behind the website. It would be nothing without you. And I think this is the very concept of Prosumption, being an active user and creating content. Unfortunately a lot of people have the mentality of an actual pirate when it comes to seeding.

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The audience is crucial to The Pirate Bay’s success, and it’s downfall. It’s popularity around the internet has made it VERY popular world wide. Alexa, a web information company, ranked the website at 92nd world wide, and 80th just in America. That’s pretty amazing considering participating on this website makes you a criminal. The Pirate Bay relies on dialogic media, meaning that it facilities a two-way conversation for each torrent, and this is commonly known as a ‘comment section’. This allows the audience to talk about the material, give information and reviews. “You participate to contribute information” (Christopher Moore 2014)

“Building a tool that allows an ads-based business to get in front of more eyeballs is not politically relevant by itself, but it can contribute to a larger conversation about censorship, free speech, and Internet freedom.” (Nathaniel Mott 2013)

One of the main cultures that is associated with The Pirate Bay is the issue of copyright. Nathaniel Mott from Pando Daily points out that within the culture of censorship and internet freedom, it can be used as a “political tool” within context. And it’s interesting to know that on a deeper level, just by torrenting movies and tv shows, you’re fighting censorship and copyright laws. You may only be a speck of dust in a massive sand storm, but it all adds up. You can do so much by seeding. So start seeding!

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References:

1. No Author 2014, thepiratebay.se, Alexa, Viewed 3rd April 2014 <http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/thepiratebay.se >

2. Moore Christopher 2014, ‘Audiences: Power, Access, and Participation’, Lecture Week 5, UOW, 1/04/2014

3. Mott Nathaniel 2013, ‘Is the Pirate Bay a bastion of internet freedom or just an illegal downloads site?’, Pando Daily, Viewed 3rd April 2014, <http://pando.com/2013/08/12/is-the-pirate-bay-a-bastion-of-internet-freedom-or-just-an-illegal-downloads-site/ >

You Wouldn’t Download A Car.. Or Would You?

~ jakepascoe ~ 4 Comments

In today’s modernised world, copyright is all around us, and dictates what we can, and cannot do every day. It’s like a bad smell. No one wants it, but even with all it’s negative attributes, it plays an intricate role in life. Christopher Moore put it well, “Intellectual property has changed how we share material” (2014). The rights people have claimed on certain works have made people rich, and people poor. It’s changed the economic and artistic world, and affected the creativity of almost everyone on the Earth. The concept of copyright began to spread around with the first copyright law in 1709. It established the legal right to copy texts, creating an enforceable monopoly, but limited copyright duration to a maximum term of 28 years. Then as the years rolled on, copyright laws swayed in the favour of the creators, more than doubling the copyright duration, even CRIMINALISING the distribution of copyrighted works, which again limited the creative minds of millions.

There’s the famous (and very old) advertisement on almost all produced movie DVD’s these days with a copyright ad and warning, which attempts to compare downloading a movie illegally through the analogies of “You wouldn’t steal a handbag” and “You wouldn’t download a car”. Ironically, and rather hilariously, this advertisement, itself uses copyrighted material illegally. I’m bringing this up to try and highlight the complexity and backwards nature of copyright at this point in time. It illustrates how copyright GIANTS break copyright law themselves without realising it. Also rather hilariously, you CAN download a car. The comedians down at Honda are making the concepts for several of their cars available for free while Hollywood is surely furiously looking for a new ad campaign. “The company is offering 3D printing data for five of its concept cars for free” (Luke Vandezande 2014).. ‘FOR FREE’. I’ll take three thanks.

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Source: http://www.meh.ro/

In terms of The Pirate Bay, copyright is a HUGE issue. It would take someone years to to find out how many copyright infringements have been made because of TPB.

“All of us who run the TPB are against the copyright laws and want them to change, We see it as our duty to spread culture and media. Technology is just a means to doing that.” said a Pirate Bay operator.

The website can be seen as a symbol of rebellion against copyright law, an active defiance and protest showing that they don’t believe in the current state of copyright laws. The ‘Terms and Conditions’ of using The Pirate Bay is rather small compared to most organisations and websites. ‘Digital Trends‘ writes a nice ‘play by play’ of the whole document, and summarising what parts are important, and what everything means. Plus it’s a lot easier to read.

But to put it simply, they’re being the ‘safety’ police, allowing you to downloading anything for personal use, and protecting the users from virus’ by threatening dangerous file uploaders with a fine. They protect your privacy, and allow themselves to post personal emails involving copyright claims.

Fun Fact: You can download a back-up of The Pirate Bay that’s only 75mb.

 

References:

Moore Christopher , 2014, ‘The Stationers Company’, Lecture Week 3, UOW, 18/03/2014

Whitehouse Alex 2012, Piracy Advert Used Stolen Music, PC & Tech Authority, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/309432,piracy-advert-used-stolen-music.aspx >

Vandezande Luke 2014, Make Your Own Acura NSX With a 3d Printer, AutoGuide.com, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2014/01/honda-releases-concept-car-3d-printing-data.html >

Couts Andrew 2013, Terms & Conditions: The Pirate Bay’s fine print is still punk rock, Digital Trends, Viewed 29th March 2014, <http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/terms-and-conditions-the-pirate-bay/#!B2Up7 >

Ernesto 2013, Download A Fresh Copy Of The Pirate Bay, With Permission, Torrent Freaks, Viewed 30th March 2014, <http://torrentfreak.com/download-copy-of-the-pirate-bay-with-permission-130220/ >

 

The What Bay?

~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

For my media technology, I have chosen The Pirate Bay, and the torrenting technology behind it. I’ve personally always been interested with The Pirate Bay, and I’ve followed most of the history and drama behind the website for the past few years, being a user myself. The moral and ethical implications involved with the website and the social impacts it has is interesting if you really consider the whole picture.

The way The Pirate Bay works is similar to Google. It acts as a search engine for people to find and download torrents. The Pirate Bay shouldn’t legally be held liable for the torrents on the website, the uploaders should. This is like trying to hold Google liable for porn illegal websites.

The documentary ‘The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard’ highlights these points very well from the perspective of the developers and owners of the website, and the issues involved both from a legal and moral perspective, as well as from a technological perspective. It’s an hour and a half film, but it’s definitely worth a watch. I’d recommend watching it at home after Uni or work, because it needs full attention in order to understand everything that’s being said.

Having said this though, The Pirate Bay is under constant threat from media companies of all sizes concerning the torrents available on their website. The Pirate Bay holds a consistent view on these threats which is evident in their statement’s on their legal page, “0 torrents have been removed, 0 torrents will be removed” (Legal Threats Against The Pirate Bay 2005). The constant threat from legal companies are always going to be a major problem for The Pirate Bay, but another major concern that it faces, is the constant upgrades and maintenance it requires. To run the Pirate Bay, it requires immense hardware to be running in the background, and a lot of money to continuously update it all.

There’s a large moral issue to using The Pirate Bay, the main one being that you’re not ‘supporting the creators’. But in today’s society, supporting the creators isn’t a priority. The priority is ‘I want this content now!’ and this in turn has affected the industry. Especially when content isn’t available to certain demographics! Back in the last decade, people were proud to own an entire series on DVD or VHS, but these days, no one really cares because of how easily accessible everything is online. There are a lot more issues I wanted to include in my first post, but I really couldn’t fit it all in, so stay tuned!

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References:

1. No Author, 2005, Legal Threats Against The Pirate Bay, The Pirate Bay, Viewed 24th March 2014 <http://thepiratebay.se/legal>

2. Ann Harrison, 2006, The Pirate Bay: Here To Stay?, Wired, Viewed 24th March 2014 <http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/03/70358>

3. Klose 2013, TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard, online Video, 8 February, The Pirate Bay, Viewed 25th March 2014, <http://watch.tpbafk.tv/>

Welcome New Readers!

~ jakepascoe ~ Leave a comment

For my BCM110 and BCM112 classes at Uni, we’re required to use wordpress to blog about everything we do. So I’ve decided to just use my current blog, and just add my uni posts to it as well. That’s why I have a lot more posts than most people would at this stage 😛

To any new readers, all my BCM posts can be found through the headers up the top. This main feed shows everything I post, and I tend to post about a range of subjects and topics, as you can probably tell by the headers. If you’re interested to know a little more about me, you can read my ABOUT page, but I’ll mention some of the highlights.

So my names Jake Pascoe. I live in Gymea, Sydney, Australia. I love Football (or soccer, whatever you prefer to call it), I love taking photos and videos, and I hope to become a director one day. Im a big fan on indie music, but I like a whole range of music really. My current music obsession is Keaton Henson, and you can expect a blog post about him soon when I have some free time. Im a huge Manchester United Supporter, and I’ve seen every home Australia game since 2010.

I love to laugh and make friends, I make bad jokes, and i’m looking forward to meeting a lot of new people. If anyone has any questions about wordpress, i’ve had this domain for 2 years, so feel free to shoot me any questions in the comments, my twitter or even my email jake.pascoe@hotmail.com

Anyway, great start to #UniLyf, I hope you enjoy reading my blog