Longtail - Information, Demands, Statistics

Ever wonder? where is it possible for each of us to get the item we want but not in the local context, but can only get the items outstations. Thus the platform we use to gain our particular items will be of course the internet. One major factor of relation in Internet with the Longtail theory is that, Internet is the best platform that particularly describe the concept of the Longtail theory because firstly internet provides an abundance amount of information, second it has an unlimited amount of storage space and these particular information can be accessed at anytime and anyplace as long internet connection is provided. As explain'd internet is a great example of the Longtail concept, and here's a situation, Looking into the internet there are many information as mentioned, but all this information are not necessary important or useful to us, but only certain information or data, take an example of journals compared Facebook, the demand for Facebook information is definitely way much higher compared to those searching for a particular Journal. Thus this gives a great view on the demands or distribution of information showing that information on Facebook is at highest peak or rather one can say that the more popular a brand or product is the higher it will be in the position of the Longtail theory. Here is a view on the Longtail concept as the following image shows it;

Figure 1.0: The Longtail Concept

Information is always there, just it depends whether people wants the particular information or not. A hypothesis can be derived saying the higher the popularity of certain product, name, information or anything, the higher it will be placed in the concept positioning of the Longtail theory. 

A reading based on Kevin Kelly's article on "Better Than Free" talks more on the concept of Longtail in a particular way which emphasizes on making the digital materials valuable, the more valuable it is the higher also it will be placed in the Longtail concept. Thus there are eight criteria as mentioned by Kelly on making the digital materials valuable;

Immediacy

When something is new, obviously one would prefer to know more out of it so that one wouldn't get left behind the trend, an example will be the emergence of  the Apple Ipad2 launch in the market, everyone would like to have an Ipad 2, first day itself its sold out. People were practically camping outside the Apple merchandise store before the launch of the Ipad 2 in the market. Thus, at the heat of the moment Ipad 2 can be considered as one of the highest talk about topic by everyone during the moment of launching of Ipad 2 even if is just a sentece such as "What is this nonsense? everyone so crazy about Ipad 2", thus even if is a sentence, people still talks about it and thus sometimes search more information relating to this particular heat up topic.  

Personalization

Personalizing things online such as blogs, websites will definitely make things more interesting and unique to look at as well which usually gives a break through of clutter with the abundance of information online, personalizing would definite make one possible break through of clutter among the similar information. 

Intepretation

As understood, gaining a particular data from the internet sometimes can be a little messy especially if its a new software application. Having to understand the functionality of the software may require users to read through a series of instructions or manuals to enable the users to understand the software or usually people will tend to self-learn the program rather than referring to a long guided words of instructions. Making a particular product, service, brand or anything easier will tend to make people happier and attracted to the particular thing making it more popular. 

Authenticity

Anywhere, anything people want in value have to be firstly original in the sense it comes from a recognizable credible distributor. Anyone can have handphones, DVD's, Games and any other many things but when it comes down to authenticity, the products or things people have may be fakes and have lost in value. Authentic materials will have a definite more higher appreciation because it usually are hard to get the product thus making one of value become higher and much more valuable compared to the fakes. An example of authenticity issue would be such as in China having their very own imitation of any other product or services served internationally around the world. 

Acessibility

Having the internet have given much comfort for us to access information easily today 24 hours a day & 7 days a week anytime and any place as long there is internet connection. Thus gaining accessibility to certain materials unable to be found in one's own country can be found all on the internet which just a few clicks away, thus accessibility as well has to be easy for users especially in having to move around the particular website page in allowing these users to have a liking towards the website in order to have further more people to come and join in the particular website as well. This accessibility shouldn't be too complicated until the fact users had to go through manuals in order to learn them, ocasionally interactivity can be inserted to help on the accessibility such as mouse over then having a blurb to pop out giving instructions but then again a better website would be of course, after navigating around the website awhile, users will automatically tend to understand the interface provided by the website without the need of having to go through a manual which could be very dry at times especially to people who aren't into reading as much to bookworms.  

Embodiment
At times when we want to listen to music, not necessary we will have the particular music perhaps on our laptop which is why the radio station come in handy by requesting the songs one wants through the radio station websites or by calling the deejay in that particular radio station. However sometimes one requested the song already is unable to hear it and is a real waste of time having to stay in the car just to listen to one particular song one has requested. I would prefer to have that certain flexibility in another media thus Internet is the option one would prefer at times because today there is also Internet radio to enable one listen to a particular radio station to hear the requested song as one's computer might not have the particular song.

Patronage
To retain ones personal brand or product quality, is always good to have a great service provided to the consumers. One could imagine a platform such as the internet would be one of the best ways to answer questions by the consumers on the product quality services. Thus, a forum could be one of the ways for the creator and the consumer to have an interpersonal communication at different time period. This allows the consumer and creator to be able to stay connected to each other and this allow them to have a strong bond of connection between the company and the consumers. Thus, Internet does provide this particular platform for these communication

Findability
Most people especially when finding a certain particular information today, internet would be the first option one would think of in order to gain certain information, perhaps such as a product or service example Air Asia. Entering the word 'Air Asia' in the Google search engine would definitely show the Air Asia Airlines service at top of the search list which most people will definitely click on because the search engine put that as the first priority in the search list. But lets say one would like to find on the types of imitation products on the net such as those in China with product or services have the similar brand name but finding this China products will be a definite hassle as the search engine will come out the original company's name rather than the imitation even if one typed in the imitation name into the search engine. As the theory suggested the long tail, search engine will definitely have the most popular or famous search at the top of the search engine list, giving lots of clutter to one particular search having lots of irrelevant information coming out into the search engine list, even by using the advanced search function, the search information comes out on the search engine platform gives lots of unnecessary irrelevant information. The internet has an abundance of information, the information is there but is hard to get to the particular information especially searching for imitation products for education, entertainment, business or any purposes. Due to the abundance amount of information on the internet, the particular information at times can be cluttered by other information.  

# IN 1! (Worship at the Altar of Convergence)

Today's technology has given us the opportunity to lead a better and more comfortable life. Comparing to the past, everything was different as each object has its own specific purpose but not today. According to this week's article on convergence, among the issues discuss was on cell phones becoming a multi-functional tool than just simply being the normal usual phones. In relation to the issue of convergence, the cell phone or hand phone is one of the major tool which has evolved to further delight the lives of people for example, reading news, social networking, instant messaging, text messaging, e-mailing, calling, taking a picture, capturing a video footage, all could be done through one device which is the cell phone, hand phone or mobile phone. One of the many reasons for convergence to take place is due to the fact of the fast phase of working life in each and every individual today in the society. Work has to be done efficiently, and a need for people is to have all the functions a computer has, and could slip into the pockets of individuals. Thus, the cell phone industry such as Sony, Nokia, Apple, Samsung, and many others has given the platform for the people to have access to such variables using their mobile phone services platform. 

The problem arises, when the term of a particular tool becomes non specific anymore. According to the readings on Worship at the Altar of Convergence, it mentions on the particular specific products such as Hand Phone. Example, I want to buy a phone which only has the function to call and nothing else such as the classical old house telephone, but most stores today are not selling a single function mobile phone which sorts of distort the usage term of telephones. It has become multi-functional, even looking at the computers or laptops today, the internet service has provided the laptops or computers to work the same as the modern mobile phone today in society. A computer can now call, draw, take pictures, video conference and many more similarly to the hand phone. This could make life convenient but the fact remains that objects are becoming less specific but in a more broader sense of view of perspective. One major reason is as stated in the above, this can be an issue to consumers in the future, if everything starts to become multi-functional and these multi-function tools are as good as any others multi-functional tool out in the market, for example, imagine you are buying a camera, but the camera also comes with other functions such as calling, internet surfing and other multi functional tools. Thus walking into the store asking the store manager, 'Hey, I want to buy that camera' but it turns out actually to be a gaming console, with camera and many other functionality. It would come to distort the meaning of phone, camera, computer, or any other apparatus.   

Certain tools, should remain specifically for specific purpose I believe, if not every meaning to the word will become a clouded term looking into that sense, though it may make living life more comfortable where everything is in one, the specific usage of certain tools may lose appreciation perhaps one day camera, phones, laptops might just be a single word known as 'caonetops' (combination of words camera, phone, & laptop), which definitely would be weird.  

Copycat

Copying is right or Copying is Wrong? An ambiguous title indeed. It can be right or wrong depending on the situation. Different people have different opinions regarding copying. Looking into a reading written & researched by author John W. Snapper on the topic of "On the Web, Plagiarism Matters More Than Copyright Policy" has stated his opinions regarding copying or one can say that Snapper has identified and break down copying in two simpler forms known today very well Piracy and Plagiarism. 

In this particular reading, Snapper has reviewed over the past and compared to today's modern technology which had made copying easier. In fact with this particular media today, the 'Internet' which is heavily used by millions of people around the world could just copy anything of the information provided in the world wide web. As discussed in class on last Wednesday's DIGC202 lecture, apart of the information shared in this particular lecture, there are a group of people find that copying is an acceptable behavior. This can be seen as a huge market in this particular country China, which imitate the product designs of other established companies such as Apple, Crocs, Motorola, Adidas and many more then selling it as their own with few minor twigs to the particular product.

 Recognize The Brands?

With technology today, is so easy to copy as mention earlier. Above images are example of product imitations from China with minor twigs as stated earlier. According to Snapper, The above following will considered as piracy, because as explained by Snapper, this particular creators of this products wouldn't have permission from the Original companies to edit or change the product and even if they did, the proper logo or brand is not there or there is no recognition towards the original brands. However, Piracy isn't still as bad compared to one who plagiarize another person's work and claiming it as their own personal work. This is the point which I believe to be an inhumane act or something which is immoral of value. Definitely is wrong to just take other's work and claiming it as one's own personally. Because, the effort of others which they work so hard to get the idea and research done, then coming up with all the detail is then stolen by another person who just uses a typical method of copying and with internet today the function button is just two buttons away and two step away, CTRL + C & CTRL+V. Then VOILA! the work of one is complete, without effort, without hardships.

To an extent copying doesn't necessary is all wrong, but can be right as well. Relating to a topic that is about to be discussed in the next class which is Convergence. It talks of the idea of people tend to accept things to be right, if everyone is doing it. In relation to this point of copying, meaning copying could be a right thing to do? Such as the way things are happening in China now that they are imitating products all over the world and eventually more companies in China are opening that does this particular product imitations. In relation to the overall view, is really hard to say that copying can be wrong thing to do because there are already people whom are into the copying business such as the ones in China. Thus, if everyone slowly starts to copy one another, it will become an acceptable thing in society in fact when we look at China today in our own set mind of views, we do know that China is copying products from all over the world. However, how come they are allowing this particular group of people to do so? Is it because of is China? or is it because of the establishment stereotypical mindset that only China can copy other people's work because they have been doing it for over a long period of years.