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

Sat May 4 06:47:28 PDT 2019

Hey Dan,

a thousand thanks on all fronts.

FWIW: during a recent visit to the States (Minneapolis, to be precise) I 
was astonished to see the level of interest in / availability of vinyl, 
beginning with a warehouse-sized retail store dedicated to same.
I'm still working on trying to synthesize and summarize from the many 
terrific responses that have come this way - but so far, I can offer one 
broad point.

There is no question but that, as the reviewer noted, CDs and DVDs are 
largely no longer recognizable media for large swaths of students - but 
this is variable in at least two ways.  One, broadly in terms of 
national/cultural differences, as Jakob Jünger noted re. Germany; Sam 
Phiri re. Zambia; and Xanat Meza re. Latin America - these remain 
important media. Two - ditto for, e.g., those located in the more rural 
areas of Australia who have comparatively limited bandwidth access, etc.

(Similar comments hold, so far as I can tell, for the FLOSS discussion - 
though as others have also noted, while the debate in these terms is no 
longer so prominent - that's in part because of moderate successes in 
various forms that are now taken for granted.)

Speaking of bandwidth - since I've taken more than my share of it here 
of late, I'll save more specific responses to these and others kind 
enough to respond for offlist.  But again, a thousand thanks to one and 
all - most helpful and all will be gratefully acknowledged.

best,
- c.

On 04/05/2019 11:04, Dan L. Burk wrote:
> I understand the reviewer's point, but wouldn't get too confident about 
> what types of media are or are not relevant to the audience.
> 
> Vinyl records, for example, have made a surprising comeback and I think 
> all of my students understand what they are when they come up in 
> discussions.
> 
> On the other hand, I was floored two or three years ago to find that 
> none of the students had any idea what a player piano roll was.  (I 
> anticipated that none of them would know anything about punch cards, or 
> Jaquard looms, but the blank stares at player pianos was a surprise.)
> 
> But then this year, I didn't have to explain player pianos, because the 
> students were all familiar with the opening credits of "Westworld."
> 
> Next year, who knows?
> 
> So these things come and go.  Just add a footnote explaining CDs if you 
> are uncertain.
> 
> I also disagree pretty strongly about FLOSS.  It remains an enormous 
> headache for developers.
> 
> Cheers, DLB
> 
> 
> On 2019-05-03 00:26, 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
>> -- 
>> Professor in Media Studies
>> Department of Media and Communication
>> University of Oslo
>> <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
>>
>> Postboks 1093
>> Blindern 0317
>> Oslo, Norway
>> c.m.ess at media.uio.no <mailto:c.m.ess at media.uio.no>
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> 
> 
> -- 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Dan L. Burk
> Chancellor's Professor of Law
> University of California, Irvine
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 

-- 
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
University of Oslo
<http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>

Postboks 1093
Blindern 0317
Oslo, Norway
c.m.ess at media.uio.no