Andrea+Adachi_Portfolio

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 * Questions for Analyzing Social Issues**

1. What are the social issues associated with a particular IT development? By watching television online, the larger economy is being affected because more people are turning their TVs off and turning to their computers, which have more show options and less commercials. Instead of going out to the video store, people now have broader choices. ( References should be with this and you should use numbers if available)

2. How did the IT development emerge? This IT development came around in the late 90s/early 2000s. Hulu, which was mentioned in the article, was released to the public in fall of 2008.

Hendrickson, Mark. "Hulu Launches Private Beta, Makes Very Good First Impression." //TechCrunch//. 28 Oct. 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. [].

3. Who are the stakeholders--individuals, institutions, societies who initiate and control the IT developments and are affected by them? The stakeholders include cable companies, websites such as Hulu, advertisers (for both the cable companies and websites), and users of websites that stream TV.

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages for the stakeholders? For the common user of websites that stream TV, they are able to watch the shows of their choice with fewer commercials with the convenience watching from the computer. As websites that have TV capabilities gain users, they gain popularity which can potentially earn them more money. A disadvantage can be the legality of the site, for both the website and the users. If the site is illegally displaying shows, both the website and the users could be in a lot of legal trouble. Cable companies stand to lose business when people stop paying for cable and watch TV online for free. Advertisers for both the websites and the cable companies are huge stakeholders in this IT development. The more people who switch to online television watching, the less their advertisements are viewed on the TV.

5. What feasible solutions can be applied to overcome problems? For cable companies, they can offer more show options and lower the prices of bills in order to attract more costumers. As for websites such as Hulu, they can sort out technical problems that they have with their sites and keep their sites free to keep the users coming. 

6. What is the social impact of the IT development on human life? This may include some or all of the following areas: economic, political, cultural, legal, environmental, ergonomic, health and psychological. This IT development has impacted society economically, culturally, and psychologically. 15% of viewers have decided to discontinue paying for cable and could potentially be followed by more, which will have a profound affect on cable companies. Websites like Hulu are planning on charging users to watch shows, which will also affect them economically. Culturally it watching TV online changes social habits because now users don't have to wait for a certain time that they have to watch TV, but now they can watch it whenever they want. Psychologically, users are affected the large amount of choices they are given with the power of almost unlimited show choice. (( This number should be included in the section above)

7. What are the social impacts on local and global communities? The choice of watching TV online gives people the opportunity to be more or less social; users could either become more wrapped up in the vast array of choices, or with this new found power they can choose to get other things done instead of waiting for their favorite show. 


 * Questions for Analyzing Ethical Issues**

1. What are the ethical issues associated with a particular IT developments? Some websites that allow users to watch shows may be illegally streaming the video. Being illegal doesn't necessarily make it unethical. What makes illegal streaming unethical? Advertisers are also in a sense "stolen" from, as the show isn't being watched with the ads they paid for.

2. Who is responsible? The user as well as the websites controlling the user's options. Are there any ways in which the content creators/producers are responsible? Also, don't forget the person who obtained and uploaded the content to the website.

3. Who is accountable? The users and the websites should be held accountable. Users have the choice to avoid illegal websites and the websites have the option in choosing what is legal to post. How much responsibility and/or accountability should large websites like youtube have for policing the legality of all their content? How much responsibility should the gov have for this, how much should the owners of the content have, etc?

4. What policies, rules or laws apply to this situation? When websites illegally display shows, they are stealing the content of other companies or websites.

Zorz, Zeljka. "UK's own "three-strikes" anti-piracy law announced." //Help Net Security//. 29 Oct. 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2009. [].

5. What are the alternative ethical decisions? People can choose to either watch their favorite shows on the television or they can go rent them.

6. What are the consequences of these decisions? Websites like Hulu could lose business. I believe Hulu is a legal, ethical option though, isn't it? Shouldn't it, along with the producer's websites, places like itunes, etc, be alternative ethical locations to get the content? Also, wouldn't users of these sites also be affected? As well as society. People would be watching more ads. It would be harder for people to watch on their own schedule's. When people watch on a televion they watch for longer and are less discerning.

__**IB Portfolio**__ Ms. R, I'm having trouble finding sources about the negative impacts of online television, and I would love it if you were also able to find some sources stating legal impacts of my IT issue. I feel like there are definitely some out there, but I was unsuccessful finding any articles about them. Here is one. Do not sign up for the "free" report http://www.mywebtvexperience.com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-online-tv/ more: I did a google search on "future of web tv" or try "advantages and disadvantages of web tv" http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/01/tv.future/index.html http://mashable.com/2008/10/31/web-tv/ http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2219083,00.asp http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530221391976425.html

For section D - you should look at some issues related to the IT that have not been solved yet. There are many issues that have not yet been addressed, like bandwith issues if everyone goes from cable to TV.

An alarming trend is brewing much to the concern of American cable companies. Yet for many television viewers, they describe this trend as a way to express personal choice, save money, and rebel against service providers. More American television viewers find themselves turning off their TVs and switching to free, more convenient ways to watch their favorite shows by viewing them online.
 * Section A: Presentation of the issue**

Online access to TV shows and movies has the potential to fundamentally change the cable industry. Millions of people and the service providers themselves could be affected by this. Time Warner Cable alone has 14.6 million subscribers nationwide. [cs] Hulu, a company that provides free online viewing of shows and movies, was launched in March 2008. In December 2008 alone, there were more than 24 million viewings. [cs] It is clear that availability, price, and convenience are all appealing factors to consumers and threatens the cable industry.

Although online television and movies are a relatively new concept, it is rapidly on the rise. This way of watching potentially represents the future of TV.


 * Section B: The IT background of the issue**

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Online television is essentially streaming video on the internet. The technology behind viewing online television and movies did not emerge until the late 90s and early 2000s. Up until then, problems with low CPU power and bandwidth hindered the technology from being developed. CPU stands for central processing system, and it is essentially the computer's brain. It processes information, performs calculations, and makes basic decisions by comparing information values. Bandwidth "is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bit/s or multiples of it (kbit/s, Mbit/s etc)."======

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When the computer’s CPU and bandwidth increased, more options opened up. With more CPU and bandwidth power, files were now able to be compressed extremely small packages, which made transferring information a lot more efficient. Being able to transfer information at a faster speed allowed streaming video to be introduced to the internet. There are also many protocols that are followed in order to keep streaming video running. They include the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), the Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The UDP is the protocol that is used to send the packages of information around, the RTSP is used to send the small packages of data to many different networks, and the TCP is used to verify that the correct packages were sent.======

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Online television has been a fast developing piece of technology. It is available on sites like Hulu.com, Fancast.com, Joost.com, official websites for channels such as CWTV.com, and there are also websites such as Megavideo.com, which is a legal website used for sharing files (such as video). Using websites like these are straight forward and simple. After choosing a preferred show or movie, the video needs to load (this is when the small packages of information are being transferred through the protocols). Once all the information is transferred, the video is able to play.======

The growing impact of online TV is spreading to diverse segments of the population, from corporate America to everyday consumers. Online user Jaxon Lee saw the economic benefit of dropping his cable service and switching to online television viewing. “For $100 a month we got like a billion channels. I asked my wife, ‘How many of these shows are we actually watching?’” [cs] With the increasing popularity of online television, cable companies are keenly aware of the importance of staying relevant to avoid crises like the one the newspaper industry is experiencing. [cs] Cable companies are currently investing billions of dollars to be able to compete in a changing marketplace. [CNN, 2009]
 * Section C: The impact of the issue**

In this burgeoning competitive environment, motivation for profit is giving rise to free-market results in American society. Recognizing the ever changing market, Comcast released a website called Fancast.com in January 2008, which enables users to have free access to TV shows, video clips, etc. [Cable Digital News, 2008] Powerhouse channels NBC, FOX, and ABC followed suit and in March 2008, Hulu.com was released to the general public. Societal and cultural norms are changing for some as a result. Karan Lyons spends less time mindlessly and endlessly watching TV. Now that he is a Hulu user, Lyons claims, “I think it's better than when I watch actual TV. When I do that, and a show ends, it's so easy to sit there and keep watching the next show that comes on." [LA Times, 2009]

The psychological impact, although subtle, has given users a sense of empowerment and more freedom to control their time. "I really like the concept of having something in your mind that you want to watch," said online user Chris Codding, "and then going to the computer and watching it." [cs] (add more, weak paragraph]

Watching TV online can potentially create benefits as well as negative outcomes. Frustrating technology glitches have affected a consumer's usage. Depending on a user's location, certain websites cannot be accessed. For example, BBC video is not available to Americans while Hulu is only open to those located in the United States. Slow/bad connections to the internet have also hindered usage. When there is bad connection, bandwidth cannot move through as fast.


 * Section D: A solution to the problem arising from the issue**

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Watching online movies and television is a fairly new but rapidly growing development. Cable companies have already started adapting to the change by setting websites like Fancast.com up. While these free websites are beneficial to its users, the companies that own them do not earn much money off of them. In order for cable companies to make a profit off of the websites, an IT solution could be monitoring the amount of bandwidth used when a movie or television show is downloaded. By starting to charge a user by the amount of bandwidth used, the cable companies would reap greater benefits.====== [NEED MORE] I was wondering if there were more articles that could better explain bandwidth to me

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=170036 http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cable_companies_want_to_control_online_tv.php http://hothardware.com/News/Watch-Out-Broadcast-TV-Here-Comes-Online-TV/ http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=142622&site=cdn http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/06/internet.tv/index.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jarvis-coffin/can-hulu-rescue-tv-for-no_b_345133.html http://www.scribd.com/doc/20553800/Cable-TV-Companies-Mull-Impact-of-Online-Video-Cbs11tv [] []
 * Sources: (must organize into biblio)**