Mini’s blog

Youtube Sued! Will Copyright Kill The Video Star?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr9SQ4qkMMk

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

由於費城的博物館、展覽及名勝古蹟實在太多，因此Mini一到假日就一定要去市區逛逛，而今天來到的是紀念班傑明、富蘭克林（Benjamin Franklin）的三百年冥誕特展：In Search Of A Better World，在國家憲法中心National Constitution Center展出四個半月。

很幸運今年來到費城這個古都，又剛好遇到三百歲生日，所以到處都有許多相關的展覽活動，而除了特別的展覽之外，還有富蘭克林博物館（Benjamin Franklin National Museum & The Franklin Institute Science Museum）及他所創辦的圖書館可以更瞭解他對於費城、甚至是人類的貢獻；當然最廣為人知的是1752年「利用風箏引電」的實驗，此時他四十七歲。所謂人生七十古來稀，富蘭克林在十八世紀的時代活到八十四歲，可謂極長壽，雖然忙碌，但他其實很有養身的概念，以下為大家簡介這個天才。

班傑明是他父親十七名子女中最小的兒子。只上過兩年小學，十二歲時在他哥哥的出版社當學徒，這段作學徒的期間，他常發現因為自己沒上過學校，所以寫信或寫文章時，詞彙貧乏、語法混亂，有一次他的父親比較了他和朋友的通信內容後，還指責他：條理不如別人清晰、措辭不如對方幽雅。這使得富蘭克林心裡很難過，但是他下定決心，一定要把文章寫好。後來他大量閱讀書籍及模仿報紙上寫作，接著用匿名的方式，投了許多篇文章到哥哥詹姆士的《新英格蘭》報。十七歲時離開波士頓（當時美國尚未獨立，是英國的殖民地）到費城，待了幾個月後再到倫敦，在一家印刷廠內工作。後來在一名商人幫助下回到費城，成立了他自己的印刷公司，出版報紙，並且發表自己的文章，在當地的社會中得到相當的尊重。之後出版的一本箴言書籍，令他大受歡迎。1731年，富蘭克林與其他人合力組建了費城的第一家公共圖書館The Liberty Library，圖書館中收藏的書籍包括神學、歷史、文學、科學等；之後北美各城市亦效法建立，對北美各地人民的啟蒙起了不少作用。1736年富蘭克林當選州議會秘書，正式踏入政壇，於是富蘭克林把工作的重心轉移到公共事務上：組織消防隊、成立火災保險公司、捐建孤兒院、成立賓州防務聯隊、創辦賓州大學、協助開辦醫院，並在1753年出任美洲郵政總長，總理美洲的郵務工作，這些建樹對整個美國的教育、文化、軍事、社會均產生重大的影響。

1754年北美各殖民地代表，在會議中通過由富蘭克林起草的聯盟方案，會中他提出「不團結則滅亡」的口號，號召殖民地人民團結為自由而奮鬥。1775年富蘭克林當選為第二屆大陸會議代表，參與起草、修改《獨立宣言》。1776年全權代表美國出使巴黎，完成一系列外交使命，成功的促使美、法兩國結盟。1785年富蘭克林出任賓州州長，由於全州人民的信任與愛戴，連任三任。1787年參與美國的制憲會議，為廢除黑奴制度而努力。1790年4月17日富蘭克林因患肌膜炎去世，享年八十四歲。

看了這麼多，是不是覺得他真的很全才呢！在這次的特展中，我最喜歡的作品是Glass harmonica（用一連串不同大小的玻璃杯子，利用摩擦迴響，做成像鋼琴的樂器），不知道大家有沒有在餐廳無聊等餐時玩玻璃杯的經驗呢？就是用手指沾一點點水沿著杯緣滑動，好像是類似的原理唷！是不是很有趣呢？

PODCAST TRANSSCRIPT- AMISH PEOPLE

在美國有一群人很特別，除了是虔誠的基督教徒，在歷史上，他們也從不加入戰爭、也不加入社會保險制度、不接受來自政府的協助，甚至避免使用現代科技，他們就這樣自給自足，不用汽機車、不使用電，你能想像他們的生活嗎？

以上所描述的就是亞美須人Amish。亞美須人最早在美國及加拿大被發現，以美國境內來說，他們人口最多在俄亥俄州Ohio，賓州Pennsylvania次之，而在賓州的Amish大部分居住在蘭徹司特Lancaster County，為什麼會提到他們呢？因為每個星期三和星期四總會在市區的閱讀車站市場Reading Terminal Market看到幾輛馬車載著水果或其他農作物來賣，這樣的景觀在古老的費城還是蠻奇特的，不僅如此，他們賣的東西非常天然，不使用人工添加物，所以還有蠻多有機的擁護者，基於他們的神秘，因此我決定親自去看看Amish到底是什麼樣的生活方式。

祖先是瑞士德國籍的他們，說的是德語，當然住在美國也是會說英文，而為什麼會叫Amish？這個名字來自於一位瑞士的Monnonite基督教徒Jacob Amman（西元1656到1730年），因此宗教及道德與他們之間的關係環環相扣，不用鈕釦拉鍊的服裝，因為要儉樸，頭髮盤起來盤在一個小頭套中，那是Mennonite的重要特徵，他們把自己幾乎孤立於社會上不同族群的人，鮮少與非亞美須人往來或通婚，反對個人主義的他們，把整個社群放在最重要的排序上，所以不使用可以減少人力的機器，舉例來說他們不使用任何機械去收割，因為這樣會讓他們與其他人之間的依賴關係降低，一切依照自然；然而多年以來，他們也面臨一些挑戰，最明顯的例子就是因為他們是近親之間結婚，所以生出有問題的小朋友機率非常的高，而為了克服這個問題，他們有開始鼓勵去與在其他州的亞美須人結婚，希望可以避免這樣的機會。

西元1517年，德國人修道士馬丁路德Martin Luther，也是神學士及教授，因為不滿鼓吹宗教改革，基督教因而分為新舊兩派），產生了再洗禮教派（Anabaptists：再洗禮派反對嬰兒受洗，他們認為嬰兒時期所受的洗禮意義不大，而是要等到長大成人，受過教育懂得分辨是非，具有判斷力的時候才能選擇受洗）。因為教義的岐異，再洗禮派被當時的天主教和新教徒視為異端並受到迫害，很多人逃到瑞士的山區以及德國南部。他們便是Amish人的根源，他們在這些地方開始了Amish務農為生，以及在家裡而非在教會舉行禮拜的傳統。

1536年，一位天主教的神父Menno Simons加入了再洗禮教派，他所帶領的一支被稱為孟諾派教徒（Mennonite）。而在1693年，一位瑞士人Jacob Ammann又從孟諾派分出，他所帶領的教徒就是Amish人。雖然兩派分分合合多次，他們的穿著，使用的語言，做禮拜的模式，以及對聖經的解讀或許有所不同，但Amish和Mennonite都一直有相同的信仰，也都恪守聖經的基本教義。

1690年代，因為Jacob對權威的天主教會提出質疑，認為宗教與統治之間應該劃分清楚。而且教會不應該用階級組織把個人與上帝分開，這使得人缺乏直接面對上帝的經驗與機會，這就不是上帝跟人之間的直接關係，也使得這個信仰失去了意義。當然，這樣的主張可是大大的得罪當時的宗教與政治的當權者，他們就宣布Amish人不得擁有土地或住在團結的社區，直到一位也是賓州開拓者之一的教友威廉‧潘恩William Penn允諾將美國賓州的土地送給他們，於是他們於1720年代遠渡重洋來到美國追求宗教自由。

▼Amish居住的社區

    ▲Amish自己醃的水果及蔬菜   ▲婦女傳統服飾及自己縫製的床被

從費城開車到蘭徹司特Lancaster，大概需要兩個小時，沿途的景色真的跟大自然越來越融入，路上也不時的會看到穿著傳統服飾的亞美須婦女駕著馬車在路上行駛，這樣的感覺有點難形容，因為在美國這塊土地上，人民的「自由」是真的被尊重的，每個族群都有自己的文化意義與價值，這樣的堅持或文化的延續在全球化中（或許某一部份可以說是同質化）是彌足珍貴的。不僅如此，他們互相之間的牽制力是很驚人的，因為一般認為，他們的小孩會不喜歡這樣的生活方式而選擇離開，然而根據統計，大約有九成以上的人都仍然持續原來的生活方式，即不使用現代科技、順應自然；還有一點在教育上，我認為非常特別的，亞美須人只讀書讀到四年級（十歲），父母並不會希望孩子念到什麼碩士或作醫生那一類的，或許是假如念太多書就會想看看外面的世界吧！當然最可能的原因是家裡的農地需要人手，所以只需要懂得如何當個農夫就可以了，跟東方的是『士』農工商觀念有相當的出入，換個角度看，我常常覺得托儒家思想教育的福，只要小孩願意唸書，父母都願意繼續栽培，沒有太大就業的壓力，不像美國的大學生確實有很多人是半工半讀，不可諱言，因為少子化的關係，各地的父母對於小孩的包容力又更大了，我相信這也是我們這一代未來所要面對的挑戰之一。

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT- RODIN MUSEUM

今天的目的地羅丹美術館(Rodin Museum)，這裡是除了法國巴黎之外，收藏最齊全的博物館，十九世紀的雕塑家羅丹、奧古斯特，假如你要我分享他是個什麼樣的人？我會先跟你說，或許會聽到許多評論家，對於他的創作的相關看法，如跳脫世俗、善用裸體、當中富含對於生命不確定的概念、企圖勾勒出人生的輪廓等等，或是他跟小他十幾歲的學生卡密兒（同時也是他的人體模特兒）的一段纏綿十五年的愛情：

羅丹：『如今，妳真的成為我最大的敵人了』

卡蜜兒：『不過你把他們都偷走了，我的青春、我的作品、我的一切，真後悔認識你。』

在愛的激烈時，羅丹甚至簽下了一紙有名的愛情契約，保證他不會再找其他女模特兒、以後會固定到卡密兒的工作室等等，非常浪漫，只不過他們最後還是分手了，而這只契約也就沒有了靈魂，成為一封過時的情書，你覺得呢？

    首先介紹一下羅丹的背景，Auguste Rodin出生在1840年代的巴黎，家中不富裕，靠著全家人的支持才有辦法去美術學校，當時古典主義已發展到後期，而羅丹正是結合結合古典與現代主義的先驅，他的不受束縛的風格，讓他不只成為一位卓越的藝術家，更是一位偉大的老師，因為他的兩位學生馬約爾及布德爾在之後的作品都承繼羅丹的創作精神，也就是不約束傳統，難怪歐洲雕塑的三大支柱就是他和他的兩位學生。其實想一想，羅丹的不受束縛是很全面的，不管在愛情上、在藝術上，也無非那只愛情契約的轟動性。

各種評論都好，但我今天準備以什麼樣的角度去欣賞他的作品，或如何去體會這位開啟現實主義的一代巨匠呢？因為我不是專業的欣賞藝術專家，因此我試圖體會他當初雕塑的心情，於是我拿出Home媽送我的生日禮物素描本，從三種角度素描他的作品『沈思者The Thinker』，從人體線條的流暢到沈思者的動作，在畫的同時，我也在想著羅丹為什麼要是選這個動作？他的創作心境是什麼？

這次的素描有幾個所得，因為採取素描的方式，所以會細細的觀察他的線條，真的很流暢又自然，除此之外，發現沈思者的身體比例有點特殊，身體比例占很大，也就是頭很小，但假如只有經過看到的話，因為是由下往上看，並不覺得奇怪，然而畫出來就會發現這個有趣的現象。而在晚餐時，我將這個發現分享寄宿家庭，他們也覺得很有趣，於是我們就開始動動腦時間，Home爸首先說或許是因為他雕塑的對象是運動員，所以肌肉比較大，但他說的同時，我就回他：「是運動員比較沒時間動腦嗎？所以可能頭比較小，因為不常用。」此話一出，大家都笑翻了！

而沈思者其實是在地獄之門上的一小部分，也就是說羅丹在1880年受法國政府之邀所創作的地獄之門，六公尺高、186個人及十七組作品，其實也就是他許多重要創作的縮影；「地獄之門」的構思來自但丁神曲中的地獄篇，表現出人的希望及絕望、欲求及恐懼。

如同地獄篇中所說，進入此門前，必須先摒棄一切希望。

Through me the way into the doleful city,

　　Through me the way into eternal grief,

　　Through me the way among a race forsaken.

　　Justice moved my heavenly constructor;

　　Divine omnipotence created me,

　　And highest wisdom joined with primal love.

　　Before me nothing but eternal things were made,

　　And I shall last eternally,

　　Abandon hope, forever, you who enter.

有趣的是，基督信仰中也是如同但丁神曲三個篇幅（煉獄、天堂、地獄）：人死之後，會先到煉獄，而在煉獄中被審判，義者上天堂、不義者下地獄，不過但丁的神曲是從他的角度出發，並非從聖經的角度看。不僅如此，不同的信仰對於地獄的詮釋也不同，不過絕大部分都會直接把地獄和痛苦及罪聯想在一起；羅丹的門飾作品「地獄之門」也是相對應Lorenzo Ghiberti在十五世紀中為義大利佛羅倫斯聖母百花大教堂側的洗禮堂東邊的「天堂之門」（The Gates of Paradise），天堂之門上的十張圖樣都來自舊約聖經中的故事，例如亞當跟夏娃。

聽完今天的介紹，是不是想去巴黎的羅丹美術館欣賞真跡呢？別忘了下次在收聽跟著Mini去費城唷！

Project Statement

Since I learned the podcasting concept and other practical skills in class, the idea came to me. My dream is to be a tour guide because I love to travel and to sense the pulse of every place I go. As a result, taking advantage of new technologies like podcasting is a good way to introduce and share my thoughts and feelings with others. In other words, to do podcasts with regard to Phladelphia and American culture for Mandarin speaking travelers who do not know English so well will be my idea.

Project Details

3 Episodes: Rodin Museum, Amish, Benjamin Franklin

Length: 10 minutes per episode

Format: WMP, wav

Using podango as the platform for distribution

http://www.podango.com/podcast/894/Go_Philadelphia_with_Mini

Google search, Google news, Google talk, Google map, Google pack/chat/Video/AKW, Google Destop...

OMG--GOOGLE CHECKOUT!!!!!

Google checkout

From the perspective of consumers, I should definitely give sincere appreciation to Google. But there is always something worried me. Is that because of convenience? Absolutely not. Or is that because monopoly? Hmm.. sort of. Or am I an anti-globalization person? Maybe since I like diverse products from mom-and-pop stories. Just dislike something or some private frims intrude my life.

Today I found Google checkout, a new platform like Ebay but more focus on payment system. If you buy with Google checkout, Google will give you 10 dollars off your first purchase on that seller. Interesting enough, it is only beta version right now. I believe Google wants to strench out to wherever they can in Internet-related industry. Therefore, E-bay, Yahoo and other protocol sites should definitely be their competitors. If not now, then future competitors anyway.

Furthermore, Google lists three reasons to use Google checkout.

Stop creating multiple accounts and passwords. With Google Checkout™ you can quickly and easily buy from stores across the web and track all your orders and shipping in one place.
	Shop with confidence. Our fraud protection policy covers you against unauthorized purchases made through Google Checkout, and we don't share your purchase history or full credit card number with sellers.
	Control commercial spam. You can keep your email address confidential, and easily turn off unwanted emails from stores where you use Google Checkout

In my opinion, shop with confidence doesn't make sense. As a matter of fact, I would rather have lots of accounts than a very intergrating account including my address, bill details, email box and so forth. But frankly speaking, it's a good idea.

The topic of this week is very interesting because I found MediaPost.com, the website that I usually checked out adopts Brightcove's technology. Let me give a brief introduction of Brightcove. It is an Internet TV service that empowers video producers and programmers to build broadband businesses while giving viewers more choices and control over their use of video and television. They have partnership with British Sky Broadcasting (Sky), Discovery Communications Inc., Dow Jones & Company, Inc., MTV Networks, The New York Times Company, Reuters, Sony BMG, Time Life, Warner Music Group, and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive for international news and entertainment businesses.

Different from Youtube, Brightcove use two business models for existing TV channels and for content owners.  If existing TV channels want to publish their programs in this platform and draw the traffic back to their own website. They need to pay an amount of fee. I called it "slotting fee" instead of usage fee. On the other hand, for content owners, it's free for them to publish and possible to sell the video downloads. The combination of these two strategis is very smart. In other words, Brightcove can make itself more valuable and lower its risks since it is only a platform. On account of diverse video contents either from exisitng TV channels or from independent content owners. To sum up, it is new way to do online video advertising other than traditional ad-sponsored programs airing on TV.

Brightcove

Back to the Mediapost.com I mentioned earlier, it is a Brightcove's player which target audience of it is media professionals. I have not figured out why Mediapost chose Brightcove as its partner. Maybe Drew can give me some feedbacks about that.

When there is a new medium introducing to us, the traditional media always take 3 steps for reacting. That is boycott-lawsuit-new business model if they can figure out a way to prevent the new medium from cannibalizing the profit. As a matter of fact, the problem is all about "distribution."

The business models of music, tv and film industries are almost the same. Traditionally, it is retailing of CD and VCD. Nevertheless, under digitalization, it becomes more efficient in spreading and less difficult to reproduce. As a result, that results in a big problem of pirate and copyright infringement. Without a healthy system, it is impossible to protect the intellectual property and rights of people who devote time and money in producing the contents. In other words, it is such a dilamma from downstream to upstream in meda industry.

In my opinion, I will take more optimistic attitude in digitalization. Since technologies are continuously evolving, I would rather enlarge the market than put more restrictions. Meanwhile, depending on the different providers, they all have distinguished strategies. Accordingly, what is the most profitable model is still under observation. And there is one thing I want to point out: information flow is hard to resist even though some illegal issues are still discussed.

The three articles for this week's reading are of commerce. On the contrary, as the audience of public broadcasting, it is the fast way to reach more people through different formats like streaming, video on demand and downloads. As long as public broadcasting uses the right approach to access to younger people, its influence will be expanded and catered to one of the mission statement: education. More channels do not represent less rating point. Instead of threats, to enact some strategies to recognize digital era has come is much productive.

Last, I do believe the movie industry is not looming but turning out into underground economy. Indeed, we need time to slove it. Hopefully, it can be solved by the collision and cooperation of content and infrustration providers.

TV.com

This webstie is very useful for people who are addictive to tv programs and provides your tv viewing schedule.

Tv.com

Through this website, you can know how to access the programs you like. Like what's on TV tonight? What's there to watch? Fall video preview and so forth.

The best function I like is that it offers most of the tv clips. You can either know the stories in text or watch it. Compared to Youtube or iFilm, it is not a webstie for users to upload their oriented content. Nevertheless, it helps collect different programs from various channels. It is more inclined to an integrated site. In terms of other functions like social networking, it is also shown on the site. For example, there are two seperate spaces for users to discuss or make their comments. Those are "blog" and "forum." From the ranking board, you can also see other users' comments or know how they evaluate this program.

So far, it is kind of commerical free. In other words, you won't see the website too lousy. This website is based run by CNET Networks , which company operates other three similar websites for game called Gamespot.com, for movie called Filmspot.com and for music called MP3.com. One of them "Filmspot" is still the beta version. 

The other interesting point is you can download the programs from this website. It makes me a little bit confusing and wonder whether or not they will have the infringement concern. In addition, there is a small photo gallery in this website. It looks pretty wired because of no logical order.

Last but the least, this site also provides related news with regard to the topics of tv programs such as "Sex and the City." I have not found a clear position for this webstie even I knew it is all about tv.

One recommendation from my understanding is that it can do some video podcastings.  I do think it can reach more audiences although you will say I do not want to watch tv via my iPhone or Video iPod.

Headlines on tv.com

One of my favorite sites is KCTS.org. Several reasons are as followed.

KCTS Channel 9

Firstable, in term of the concept of watching television online, they provide two approaches: streaming and on-demand videos. Then the audiences can access the archives anytime, anywhere. In addition, if I am a new audience of KCTS, I can also take advantage of that to know more about their productions.

However, in this part you will probably face a question of the video format since PBS and KCTS use different format and it needs audiences to have both quicktime and windows media player to watch. From the audience's perspective, it will be easy to research which format is more accessible. I believe the technicians of KCTS can help solve this problem.

KCTS

Secondly, if I do not go to KCTS's website, what esle can I know about or receive their news? Take me as an example, I only have internet access in my house. Therefore, I use podcasting and suscribe their email. Throgh RSS feed, text and audio can be automatically sent to my computer or mp3 player.

Next, they offer today's program schedule on left-hand side of the homepage and printable pdf schedule as well for those who are not familier with the Internet.

To sum up, this site has most of the basic functions for audiences. I think that is enough and looking simple to use is also an important thing for users. I would say this webstie is a good example of local public television stations for people who is not used to the internet. Nevertheless, if KCTS really wants to reach the younger audience, they should definitely add more fancy looks like banners and interesting titles. Last point I want to mention is that there are too much information on the homepage.