[Air-L] CDs and DVDs? + potentially inappropriate query

[Deen Freelon]

I'd like to add to the voices defending the relevance of F/LOSS--the 
cutting edge of quantitative research in the social sciences depends on 
it, but there are more familiar examples (Wordpress, Firefox, 
Thunderbird, Linux, OpenOffice, VLC, etc.) You might also point out that 
many services we all know and love incorporate FLOSS, such as the PHP in 
Facebook and the Python in Dropbox to note just two of the many examples.

The notion that FLOSS "is / no longer of any significance" is not true 
as a general claim, though it might not be as relevant to digital media 
ethics as it used to be. If that's the case, a clarification regarding 
what is meant by "significance" would be greatly appreciated.

As for media consumption, I'm pretty sure my students are more or less 
done with physical media. But if you want to talk piracy, you might look 
at services like BitTorrent, Popcorn Time and its many derivatives, and 
the many piracy streaming sites out there. These are often accessed via 
VPNs to keep consumers' identities out of the hands of litigious 
rights-holders. Finally, the practice of sharing Netflix/Hulu/Amazon 
Prime/etc. passwords might be useful as a borderline example?

Best, /DEEN

On 5/3/2019 3:26 AM, Charles M. Ess wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I am revising my _Digital Media Ethics_ for a 3rd edition (!!), due 
> out early next year.
>
> A first query: an important criticism raised by an astute and most 
> helpful reviewer has to do with (a) using an example of stealing a CD 
> and (b) a larger discussion of FLOSS and copyleft schemes such as 
> Creative Commons licensing, etc.  The reviewer observes that (a) 
> his/her students simply will not recognize or relate to the example 
> involving a CD as, briefly, streaming services have largely taken over 
> music consumption practices and very few, if any, students still 
> purchase CDs.  Similarly (b) FLOSS is more or less no longer a 
> relevant topic; rather discussion of copyright / copyleft is now much 
> more focused on remix practices.
>
> Based on what I know of the US/UK contexts, the reviewer is clearly 
> spot on, and I'm genuinely very grateful for the insightful critiques 
> and constructive suggestions, and will do my best to pursue these.
>
> At the same time, however - and this, at last, leads to the query - 
> I'm wondering how culturally/nationally variable these points may be?
> That is: (a) I know that in this here Scandinavia, despite the 
> overwhelming predominance of consumption via streaming services, CDs 
> (and DVDs) are still prominently on offer, not only in 
> brick-and-mortar and online stores: they are also _de rigueur_ at 
> every concert I've attended, i.e., for sale at the end thereof. There 
> is no doubt that their sales numbers have plummeted - now outdone by 
> vinyl in some cases - but here, I have the impression, they remain 
> familiar artifacts?
> Similarly (b) I think I know that interest in FLOSS production and 
> distribution remains strong in Latin America and at least some parts 
> of Asia?
>
> So: only for the sake of having a better global sense of these points 
> - if AoIR-ists can offer culturally-/nationally-specific quick 
> characterizations of how far
> (a) physical media such as CDs do / not remain relevant in especially 
> student music consumption, and/or
> (b) FLOSS - including ongoing development and distribution of software 
> (beyond the usual suspects of Mozilla products, wikipedia, etc.) is / 
> no longer of any significance?
>
> I hope this query might be of general interest as it would give us at 
> least a quick and dirty snapshot of all of this.
> Again, the point is not to somehow counter an important critique and 
> helpful suggestion.  On the contrary, I gratefully take the points and 
> suggestions - but want / need to know how far these may hold globally 
> as the book is aimed towards a global audience.
>
> Second - potentially inappropriate - query.  In conjunction with this 
> revision, the publisher (Polity Press) has asked me to develop a list 
> of colleagues who may be interested in receiving a review copy of the 
> book when it is published - along with a list of journals that might 
> likewise be interested in reviewing it.
>
> If you are so interested and/or have a suggestion for a journal / 
> reviewer, I'd be very grateful if you would contact me offlist with 
> your contact details and/or journal suggestions.
>
> As usual, a thousand thanks and all best in the meantime,
> - charles

-- 
Deen Freelon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
School of Media and Journalism, UNC-Chapel Hill
http://dfreelon.org | @dfreelon <https://twitter.com/dfreelon> | 
https://github.com/dfreelon