Research Journal Assignment #7

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools-

wikipedia.org

Generally when I begin doing any kind of internet research I start with wikipedia just to get an overall sense of the subject as well as any sub-topics contained within. I always keep in mind that the information on wikipedia is not necessarily accurate. you can usually tell if something is fairly biased. The nice thing about some wikipedia articles is that they will include sources at the bottom of the pages. This helps if you are having a hard time finding sources on your own. At least you can peruse the list and then look up a selection of them to see if they are worth using later.

http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en

Google scholar is also a good place to start as there are usually credible articles/blogs that can give you more ideas/viewpoints on your topic. For this reason I also like technorati (technorati.com)

Skyline, prospector, and (now) gale virtual reference library are helpful to me in regards to finding scholarly articles and essays.


RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test–

My internet research tool is Metacca
Keywords: internet piracy music industry torrents
strategies: under "advanced web search" I searched my keywords sorted by relevance with the maximum "results per page" displaying "sources" and with each source that metacca searches being used.
date of search: 10/17/09
# of hits: 195
Relevance: oddly enough the first few sites listed were pretty irrelevant but as i looked further through the list i found some decent sources hidden in there. I'd say the overall relevance is 3.


RJA #7c: Field Research Plan

I will be interviewing my uncle. He has extensive music industry experience including over 10 years working in A&R at a major record label and his current job working for iTunes. He will be an invaluable resource as he has not only experience at a record label who's mission is to sell physical music/video formats (records cds dvds etc) but also experience working with iTunes (5 years now) which sells digital/downloadable music/video formats. He has experience as a musician working with several bands (some with moderate success such as the Wallflowers) over the years as a producer/studio musician and as a solo artist currently. It is because he has such a well rounded background in the music industry that I think his insight will be quite relevant. Some questions I might ask are:

1.) Do you think internet piracy affects major lables or independent labels more?
2.) Does this piracy help some artists or does it tend to hurt most of them?
3.) In what ways does the record industry determine the impacts of this kind of behavior? How reliable are the figures?
4.) iTunes tends to sell mp3s at 128kbps resolution. People are able to illegally download mp3s by artists at much higher resolutions than that online. Why does iTunes choose to give illegal music sources this advantage?
5.) how effective do you think digital copyright protection is and how can it be improved?
6.) although larger artists might lose sales it seems that smaller artists gain more exposure through illegal file sharing. Do you think this helps or hurts the music industry?
7.) what incentives can the music industry provide to lure more buyers?

As he is my Uncle I will be able to interview him over the phone at any time.

Research Journal Assignment #8

RJA #8a: Websites

Search Engines: cloudlet
Key Words Used: music industry piracy
Strategies: I searched the tag cloud at the top looking mainly at the larger/bolder tags
Date of Search: 10/9/09
Hits: 374,717
Relevance: 4

Meta and Multi Search Engines: metacca
Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy
Strategies: I adjusted the timeout to 1 second and adjusted the "page modified" dropdown menu to show all pages modified in the last month. sorted by relevance
Hits: 105
Relevance: 2.5

Directories: Wow
Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy
Strategies: set it to only show resources. looked at some of them but they weren't that great
Hits: 1180
Relevance: 1

Invisible Engines: Deep Peep
Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy
Strategies: none
Date of Search: 10/10/09
Hits: 0
Relevance: 0


RJA #8b: Social Media
blogged.com
Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy
Strategies: look at blogs, not just posts
Date of Search: 10/10/09
Hits: 24863
Relevance: some were very relevant but some were totally off. 3

google blog search
Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy
Strategies: show past month
Date of Search: 10/10/09
Hits: 5509
Relevance: 3.5

RJA #8c: Multimedia

blinkx
Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy
Strategies: none, the first search brought up some interesting videos that were quite relevant
Date of Search: 10/11/09
Hits: 1251
Relevance: 4.5

Research Journal Assignment #6

RJA #6a: Periodical Articles:

RJA #6b: Search Strings: - i didn't receive any comments on that particular blog

RJA #6c: Protopage:

http://www.protopage.com/chrisgoodwin

Research Journal Assignment #5

RJA #5a:

Citizendium (09/17/09)

Keywords searched: internet downloading, music industry
Hits: 5
Hit relevance: 4

Article Found:
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Content_delivery_and_distributed_file_sharing_networks

In this online article I found information on the following subtopics within my topic:

1.) Legal, Ethical, and Business issues
2.) protocol architecture for peer to peer (p2p) websites; how they work.
3.) business models for p2p websites like bit torrents
_____________________________________

Debatepedia (09/17/09)

Keywords searched: music downloading, file sharing
Hits: 2 article title matches and tons of page text matches
Hit relevance: 5 (this website seems to be a very good resource for finding out what kind of arguments are already out there on my topic)

Article Found:
http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debate:_File-sharing

In this online article I found the following information on my topic:

1.) Arguments regarding the listener's benefits of file sharing
2.) Arguments as to whether file sharing is copyright infringement
3.) The artistic aspect of music; Is music art or a business?
4.) Do artists benefit from file sharing? What kind of artists (major label or independent) are affected most?
_____________________________________

Scholarpedia (09/17/09)

Keywords searched: music downloading, file sharing, music industry
Hits: 0

*not sure if I am doing something wrong but each phrase/keyword search I input comes up empty handed.
_____________________________________

Gale Virtual Reference Library (09/17/09)

Keywords searched: file sharing
Hits: 23
Hit relevance: 4.5

http://0-go.galegroup.com.skyline.cudenver.edu/ps/basicSearch.do?inputFieldValue(0)=file+sharing&inputFieldName(0)=KE&searchType=BasicSearchForm&sgHitCountType=None&userGroupName=auraria_main&nwf=y&prodId=GVRL&method=doSearch

In my search results I found the following information on my topic:

1.) Piracy and sharing
2.) articles on specific p2p sites such as Napster/Kazaa
3.) The artistic aspect of music; Is music art or a business?
4.) Is free and unlimited file sharing good for society?
_____________________________________
RJA #5b:

Keywords searched: internet piracy music
Hits: 950
Hit relevance: all over the board...some were completely unrelevant

• By M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel, John M. Gross
• This Business of Music: The Definitive Guide to the Music Industry
• 9th Edition
  
• New York, NY
  
• Billboard Books
  
• 2003

• By M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel, John M. Gross
• The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and Piracy
  
• 9th Edition
  
• New York, NY
  
• Billboard Books
  
• 2003

RJA #5c: Search String Check

http://meganwallace1020blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-4a-generating-keywords.html

http://seansschoolblog1.blogspot.com/2009/09/rja-4a.html

#3a: Exploring Research Topic

Where I've been and what I've found:

This is an article/paper I discovered on Google: Scholar which sets up different mathematical models to describe the music market when downloading is possible and when it is not.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V8P-4HSXYD7-1&_user=914312&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=999947640&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000047910&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=914312&md5=de3ec73b48b36d46fca125fcbe8e3fb4

This is a paper that was written by an economics student at the University of Chicago; also found on Google: Scholar. In it he looks at the roots of the internet piracy phenomenon of the late 90s- early 2000s with sites such as Napster and KaZaa.

http://economics.uchicago.edu/download/musicindustryoct12.pdf


This blog includes information about a study where 204 college students were monitored to better understand their illegal downloading activities. Students where also given an anonymous survey to answer.

http://www.scitechbits.com/2009/08/26/to-buy-or-to-pirate-get-a-clue-riaa/

Research Journal Assignment #2

#2A: Has the development of digital music formats helped or hurt the music industry; specifically the recording artists.

#2B: I am interested in researching a topic that seems to have many contrasting points of view among the music community: whether or not digital music formats have hurt or helped the industry. As a former music major, focusing on the recording arts, and having worked in the music industry as a director of radio promotion at Warner Brothers Records and as a manager for a music software company this topic has come up in conversation many times. I would enjoy researching this topic properly so the next time it comes up I will have a more informed reply!

As I mentioned earlier, I already have a background in the music industry. I also have several family members that currently work in the industry as well, including one who works for the iTunes store. I am quite familiar with the general pros and cons surrounding digital music formats. For instance, MP3s have made aquiring music extremely easy; both legally and illegally. While illegal downloads hurt the industry they may also help unknown artists get their name out and build a fan base.

I am hoping that this research project will help me understand the intricacies of this issue so that I can argue my point more effectively. Although I know that easily downloadable mp3s can help "underground" artists break through make themselves known I am curious to find out the statistics showing how this activity affects record sales and/or ticket sales. Some artists, such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, have actually posted free, downloadable albums on their own websites. It would be interesting to find out how that benefits them. Perhaps it doesn't?

There are so many facets to this issue and I suppose what I am hoping to gain from this project is a better understanding of what they are and how they affect the artists as well as the industry as a whole.

#2C: http://delicious.com/chrisgoodwin

Research Journal Assignment #1: Areas of Academic Interest

*industrial design: which frame building material is the best: steel, aluminum, titanium, or carbon fiber.

*has the development of compressed, digital music helped or hurt recording artists