EOTO #1

    

     The history of cassette tapes begins with the revolution that was magnetic tape created back in 1928 by the German innovator Franz Pfleumer. an immigrant to the US he originally experimented with putting metal stripes onto cigarette papers and magnetizing them in order to create different tones and sounds, he then concluded that he could coat an entire roll of tape with metallic substances, and then record sound onto it by using a device to magnetize it in a certain way that would then be able to be decoded by a specialized player. This innovation created the reel-to-reel recording system. It was mostly utilized within companies and wasn't really convenient for commercial use. People didn't have convenient ways of recording onto it and it certainly wasn't the easiest to set up when records were far more convenient for playing music.

    This all changed in 1962 when the Phillips Company debuted the compact tape at a German electronics festival. This tape was contained within a small plastic rectangle that had both reels inside and it was also fairly easy for consumers to record over which was something that was not possible on records. It took a little bit of time for them to catch on, these cassette tapes (as they came to be known) grew in popularity, simply due to convenience. It's no doubt that they sacrificed quality for this convenience; however. Vinyl records still hold the title for having a richer and fuller sound. However, the portability and ease of play of these tapes led to the rise of an industry that realized consumers were willing to sacrifice higher quality sound if it meant they could take their songs wherever they went. This led to players being built into cars and innovations like the Sony Walkman. The ability to record over these tapes also allowed people to create mixtapes which when it came to gift giving, personal playlists, and piracy. Ease recording also allowed anyone to easily make their own tape and even mass produce if they had the right materials. For the short time they were around, cassette tapes reigned supreme when the average consumer wanted to purchase music.

    When it comes to the impact cassette tapes have had on society as a whole, it's simple to see that they were the spark that led to the revolution of audio and media compression, further leading to the creation of many of the ways that we consume media today. Everything from streaming, to CD, to VHS, and even TikTok wouldn't be possible without the initial developments and further proven commercial viability of the compressed audio that cassettes had to offer. It knocked over the first domino. While it's easy to say, people will give up quality for convenience, I choose to think of it as accepting any quality for the benefit of accessibility. Nowadays information is so accessible to anyone through TikTok or Instagram because of how accessible it is. That is what cassette tapes taught to companies and that is the lasting impact that they will always have. Nowadays, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of vintage media however, cassette tapes haven't quite hit it as big as vinyl or CDs. This is because portability is not really a huge selling point anymore. Now that everyone has music on their phones, other forms of vintage media simply just have a higher quality. However, the legacy of cassette tapes will never be what was on them, but rather how they were stepping stone to the world of media we know today.

EOTO #2 What I Learnt

     

    The first thing I learned were the different types of misinformation, or rather the differences between misinformation disinformation, and malinformation. I was always aware that there were subtleties and nuances to incorrect news and information being spread in the world, but I was never sure what the names and differences were between each variation of this practice. I learned that Misinformation was the unintentional propagation of incorrect information. It's not inherently malicious, it is just the repetition of something that was incorrectly spread and magnified through echo chambers. That way it's much like gossip in personal life and how it can spread. Disinformation is the other side of the coin and usually the start point for the previous term. This form of incorrect information is malicious and started with the intent to harm or incorrectly inform. This can be picked up and spread by people unknowingly contributing to the harmful effects that it is causing, or intentionally using it to create a false narrative. The final term learned from this presentation was malinformation, which is unique from the other terms. Malinformation utilizes real facts that are cherry picked from real events in order to cry a specific narrative around real facts. This is the most difficult to par out because the things that it talks about are real yet intentionally leaving out the full picture. This narrative warping can occur a lot through news headlines that can point to only one part of an article and people make snap judgments based upon that rather than reading the whole article. More on this particular phenomenon can be found here.

Another thing I learned about through this exercise are false flag operations. I’m not ashamed to admit I had only heard about this term thanks to a lyric in a song by the band “Rare Americans”, but I had no idea the context or the devastating implications. False flag operations simply exist for the benefit of the government and how its public perception is. Simple self-justification of invasion for the benefit of the public in order to craft a narrative explaining something that has scummy motives. After seeing how much this happens, I am now very encouraged to think more critically of any conflict the US finds itself in and ensure that I am not being taken along with the wrong narrative.

Anti-WAR and why its not profitable

    Before this blog post, I had not heard of any of these anti-war news sites. Which I found concerning because I lean in a pretty centrist and pacifist manner, yet algorithms in social media sites have still not recommended any articles, posts, or anything else associated with them. These sites are squarely independent media and clearly do not have the financial ability to advertise themselves. Neither advertisers nor parent companies that would purchase and run these sites would benefit from their anti-conflict stance. War and outrage generates clicks which generates advertising revenue which allows the news to grow as a company rather than as a platform that stands for anything aside from profit. When there is conflict it causes people to check back into these sites daily for updates, whether to keep updated on world events or to stay safe.

Despite having a similar, anti-war message, there is a clear deviation between the political beliefs in each site provided. That first website (https://www.antiwar.com) seemed to be centrist while the second one (https://www.theamericanconservative.com)  leaned very republican. This dichotomy shows that there is a universal truth to anti-war and people on all sides of the political spectrum can fight for and want peace. No one wants to go fight in a war, but the mainstream media wouldn't have you believe that. When there is an enemy there is a reason for the  consumer to consume more news so they can stay ahead of the other side and be able to argue their talking points. This gives the sites loyal customers because this is their news, the one that lets them know what they need to in order to be on the “right” side of the conflict. A good article I found delving deeper into all of this can be found here. I think that it is the job of the individual to continue sharing anti-war articles and doing what we can to stand up to the system and make our want for peace known.

Independent Media EOTO #2

     

    Alternative media (or independent media) is a term given to any source of news media that has no external influence either by government or by commercial funding. These sources are nonprofit and typically funded through donations. This funding structure gives the sources significantly more freedom to report on the stories that they truly believe in. Essentially, alternative media is in it for the love of the game, rather than to turn a profit. Because they are not beholden to any sponsors they are not afraid of reporting on any topic.

                                                       

    This freedom also means that they don't have an agenda for the most part. They will do what they can to treat the news as objectively as possible because they don't benefit financially from skewing it one way or another. Mainstream media news sites will almost always choose to lean in a certain direction due to its funding policies. They won't report on anything that could shed a negative light on their sources of income. With nonprofit, reporters don't need to worry about writing anything that will tick off potential advertisers, or even any political leaders because they have nothing to lose or gain by doing so. Nowadays, even if you take a look at the difference in advertising between mainstream media, it has created a sort of ecosystem within itself where the products being pushed are typically consumed by people who hold political views, bolstered by the news site and vice versa. Independent news doesn't have that luxury because it's meant to be for everyone; advertisements can't cater to specific people; certain people won't be pulled to it due to advertising. Despite the fact that personal ideologies will inevitably seep through, it is less frequent and not quite as icky. I mean, I know I’d rather read an opinionated article from someone based on what they believe in rather than what corporate believes in.

You can take a look at which corporations own which sites HERE

    At the dawn of widespread news, (thanks to the printing press) it was always a business to either gain funding from advertisers or from the government. When printing presses were first coming out, they were not cheap and to be blunt newspapers needed the money in order to keep their businesses running. While there was a certain integrity to the news as there always is, as the world kept growing, news distribution became more complex and expensive, leading independent publishing into a rapid decline.. until recently when the age of the Internet began. Multiple sites have been able to reinvigorate the field independently run media. Thanks to the advent of things like social media, blogs (like this one!), and other online self-publishing sites, people are able to host and share their news that they want to report without having to spend hardly any money. Funds are the source of funds needed in this age to host a website, the main and pay reporters to do research and write insightful articles. However, this doesn't stop anyone who has a firsthand counter experience from just sharing their real life online so thanks for the Internet. Independent media has seen a massive resurgence and it's hopeful that it can continue to rise and become more popular than mainstream media because of its strength, integrity, and impartiality.