My Study and Diversity

Diversity and My Study
By: Johnathan Sellers
5/3/2009

The topic of my thesis is about iTunes and the effects of some of the features of the software on the consumers. It is also about if iTunes customers are aware of some of the privacy issues that are involved while using these features and the possible implications. This research will then look into if users feel connected to other users or to Apple. It will then also look to see if users wish to feel more connected with other users or to Apple through additional features to the software.

The idea of diversity really is not a major factor in my study. Up to this point, I have not been able to find any information on demographics of who uses iTunes except for some numbers on podcasting use which are included in this article. Apple though sells and distributes much more media than just podcasts, so those numbers only tell a small bit of information about the people who use iTunes and do not give enough demographic information about all of the people who use the software.

So it was very difficult to come up with a topic regarding iTunes and diversity. What I have settled on and would like to discuss in regards to iTunes and diversity is niche media. Basically, iTunes is making it much easier and accessible for people to download and access all the media that falls in line with their views. They stick with one source which leads to them hearing news that is less diverse in story selection and commentary. They are only consuming one view and never challenging it.

Depending on your preferences for news or media, a person can sign up their computer or iPod to receive audio or video podcasts from numerous news organizations, but for example CNN.com, Foxnews.com, or MSNBC.com are some of the more popular podcasters from major news organizations. By subscribing to those podcasts, every time the customer links their device or opens up their computer, they automatically download the latest podcasts from that particular network or news organization for that day.

That means that a person has the ability to completely immerse themselves in one network’s news, stories or commentary and that’s it. That content stays on your device or computers for as long as you want it to, waiting for you to access it whenever you have time. But a person never, ever has to search for news stories or content. The most major possible implication for consuming news this way is that if consumers only listen or watch programming from the same news organization over and over, there is no rebuttal or insight other than what that particular news organization decides to report. This could be detrimental society at large. Then, by using features from iTunes that explore their library, the software will only recommend other news sources that provide stories and commentary that are similar to that customer’s interests.

Let’s face it, a lot of people are getting their news this way. They do not have time to access other media resources. They just get their news from their favorite network, shows, or commentators. A lot of people are arguing that niche media is killing mass media like in this article and in this article. We are in an interesting time where the media world is changing and we need to evaluate whether or not these changes are for the better or for the worse.

Image provided by biojobblog.com.

Ethics and My Study

Ethics and My Study

By: Johnathan Sellers

5/2/2009

Distribution of media programming including music, movies and television has been revolutionized by the iTunes software in recent years. As illegal downloading of copyrighted material including all of these media grew more popular, Apple’s iTunes software was the one of the first to provide a legal alternative to purchase high quality versions of all of these media types digitally and is now considered the largest digital media distributor (Apple's numbers).

The iTunes software has completely changed the media distribution business, changing how people are able to purchase and consume their media. It has also changed how people find out about media they are interested in, as Apple has developed ways to provide users with information on media content that they may be interested in. These features include Apple taking information from users’ iTunes media libraries so that they can make recommendations for media that they feel that particular iTunes user would like and be willing to purchase. Apple has also provided ways for users who are connected to a large network to view other iTunes users content libraries and even enjoy their media.

These features have lead to debates on the web over whether or not it is ethical for Apple to take your personal iTunes library content information and use it to try and sell the consumer more content. It has also led to different discussions of whether further social networking features should be implemented into the software to increase connectivity which will raise additional privacy concerns.

These three links discuss the ethical issues of Apple using customer’s information from an iTunes user’s media library in order to sell more media content to that specific customer. The first is a news article (iTunes news article on privacy concerns) that describes the possible privacy concerns when the new technology was released. The other two articles debate on whether or not the feature is good or bad for iTunes users.

These next two links discuss the further implementation of adding additional social networking features to the software. Some argue for the additional implementation like in this article but others are a little wearier as seen in this article.

The purpose of my study is to examine iTunes consumers to see how they feel about being connected to other users and how they feel about their own privacy using this software. These ethical issues are important and will help shape further media distribution as digital distribution continues to grow both thru the use of iTunes as well as other possible digital distributors in the future.

Image provided by Appleinsider.com