Leona Henryson

Stories By Leona Henryson

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  Streaming

  Streaming By Leona Henryson

  Do content streamers count as creators?

  Content streaming is certainly disrupting the way in which consumers receive entertainment, news, information, and more. Periscope and Meerkat now allow regular people to live stream events and broadcast them over the entire web. Of course, this has brought a great deal of controversy and legal issues to the forefront too. When someone can live stream a major sporting event that is only otherwise available at a cost to the viewer, then people lose money, and they are not happy. Now the question is this: Are content streamers the same as content creators who produce original written and visual content for businesses, organizations and consumers, often called copywriting, and who get paid for their content creation? Should content streamers be paid for what they produce even though they are not really "producing" anything in the strictest sense of the term? Does writers on any essay website write better than copywriters? Content Streaming – a Little Background The use of video content is certainly not new to the web. After all, YouTube has been around since 2005. And video content is now the norm all over social media, all over news websites, all over web-based advertising – it is literally everywhere and the most popular form of content today. But all of this video content is in the form of files are uploaded – they were produced first and then published. Content streaming is far newer and involves producing multimedia that is constantly in production as the end-user is actually viewing it. Consumers can now livestream their favorite TV shows; news is brought to web viewers as it is occurring; events are streamed. And those who film and stream these things are now called content streamers. Live streaming requires three things – a source (e.g. a video camera), an encoder, and some form of delivery network to deliver and distribute that content. Enter Networks Once live streaming became rather mainstream on the web, it was only natural that companies would pop up to carry live streaming and to sell that livestreaming to consumers. It first became common with TV shows but now individual streamers are entering the venue and looking for networks to which they can stream any number of things. For example, Twitch has become the leading video platform for gamers who gather to stream their gaming and chat with one another in real time. It was only a matter of time before streaming platforms would see the money to be made – through ad revenue, through subscription fees, through syndicating videos for future sales, and, if they became popular enough, through sales of products and merchandise that also serve as advertising. And the really good and prolific contributing streamers get paid to do what they do. So, Are Content Streamers Artists or Entertainers? If you ask them, they of course would say "yes" and that they deserve to be paid for their services, much like a TV cameraman is paid. But that TV cameraman is a technician, s/he is not an artist or an entertainer. In the "arts" community, the answer would be "no." This demographic has a much tighter definition of what constitutes arts and entertainment. Thus, a journalist who provides commentary while he is live streaming a news event can be considered an "artist" of sorts. He creates verbal content along with his streaming. And an entertainer creates his own content as well. So does a film maker and a photographer, or a videographer who shoots commercials. The idea behind art and entertainment is that some new is created by the individual him/herself. A content streamer creates nothing new – s/he is simply making money from what already exists. And the Fine Line Becomes Blurred There is often a fine line between what is truly created and what is not. During the Vietnam War, Americans were able for the first time to see what war was really like in real time. Videographers were on the ground live streaming the action as it occurred and transmitting it straight back to their TV networks for immediate viewing as things occurred. And photographers tried to capture the war with their still shots which they sold to magazines. One photographer happened to be in the "right" spot to take a photo of a young child running and screaming in pain from napalm that had been dropped on her. That photo eventually won a Pulitzer Prize. Was this photographer an artist? The lines, we have to admit, are often blurred. And Does It Really Matter? In a free market economy, there is the law of supply and demand. We all understand this concept from a basic economics course. If something is in high demand, then people will pay for it, and the sellers of that product or service will make money. When something is not valued, there is little demand and the price is low or, in some instances, the product or service ceases to exist at all. Smart entrepreneurs figure out what people are willing to pay for (i.e., what they want and/or need) how much they are willing to pay for it, produce it, price it accordingly, and then sell it. Content streamers are not really artists in the strictest sense of the word and therefore should probably not be considered content creators unless they add something to the stream – a narration perhaps. They are, however, entrepreneurs, just as any freelance writer or videographer is. In the end, they have discovered a product that many find valuable enough to pay for, they now have the platforms to deliver that content to paying customers, and they are making money doing it. Long live the free enterprise system.

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  News

  News By Leona Henryson

  Employee Tracking Tech

  Today, your employer likely uses at least one method of tracking your movements and your behavior while you are on the clock. If you have internet service at work, chances are your employer is using software to check up on the sites that you visit and how much time you are spending online. Do you have one of those little magnetic access badges or swipe cards to get in and out of your building or in and out of certain departments? You can bet money that your boss can go online and track your movements. If you work in a retail environment, all you have to do is look up at the nearest security camera for a reminder that you are constantly under somebody's watchful eye. Don't think things are much different if you are a field worker or traveling sales person. If you are in a company car, there is probably a device installed tracking your driving behavior and where you going. In fact, you boss may have asked you to install a messaging app such as FreshTeam. It can be as a way to keep in touch with employees out in the field, but it also acts as a tracking device that lets your employer know where you are and a host of other information. While employers do have the right to be ensured that their employees are actually working when they are supposed to be, and that they are not wasting or abusing company resources, there is real danger that these technologies go too far. There is a difference between keeping an eye on employees when there are performance or loss concerns, and treating each employee as a potential time waster or thief. Good employers will balance use of technology with honesty and common sense policies. They can begin by writing out an employee technology bill of rights like the one below. All Employees Have The Right to Know What Tracking Technologies Are in Use No individual should be expected to install an app, tool, or utility on a device that they own without receiving full disclosure. This includes the name of the app, the software company that manufactures it, and its intended use. When tracking technology is used in employee devices or vehicles, the employer is obligated to let the employee know. There Should be an Appeal Process For Employees Accused of Wrong Doing No worker should be fired, suspended, laid off, docked, demoted, or otherwise disciplined simply based upon evidence provided by technology. Employees who are accused of wrong doing must be allowed to speak on their own behalf, be allowed to review the evidence against them, and ask for proof that the tracking technology is working as designed. Employers Must Cover All Expenses Related to Apps Installed on Employee Devices If there is a monthly subscription fee, data usage, or other costs associated with installing and using a tracking app or software package on an employee's personal device or computer, that cost should be fully covered by the employer. If additional storage is required or a device upgraded is needed, the employer must also cover this cost as well. Tracking Apps Must Not Negatively Impact Device Performance No tracking technology should be used if it degrades a device's performance in any way. This includes but is not limited to: Slow network performance Interference with other apps Dropped Calls Employees Must be Able to Disable Tracking Apps When They Are Not on The Clock Employees will be given passwords and any other information that they need to disable tracking software when they are not on the clock. Employers must agree in writing that they will not activate tracking software when employees are not at work, and will disclose any events where this policy is violated. Employees Will Have Access to Any Tracking Logs or Reports About Themselves As long as they are being tracked in any way, employees will have the right to request and receive access to any data that is collected about their movements. When a request is made, it is the employers obligation to provide the information as quickly as reasonably possible. No information shall be redacted except for information that would violate the privacy of other individuals. Employers Will Pay For Any Loss Associated With Hacking or Privacy Violations Because tracking employees often includes collecting and storing personal information about these policies, privacy concerns are very real. It is the responsibility of employers to ensure that all information is kept secure. In the event that personal information is stolen or improperly disseminated, employers are liable for any embarrassment, loss, or other damage caused. Employees Will be Informed if Their Employer Subjects Them to Additional Tracking There may be times when an employer opts to put an individual or group of employees under more scrutiny. This may happen when there are losses or discrepancies or there are concerns about performance issues. If an employer decides to track any employee more than others, they are obligated to inform that employee and let them know the reason behind the enhanced tracking. Employees Have The Right to Know The Goals Behind Tracking Policies No employee should be subjected to tracking or monitoring without fully understanding why. When employers opt to use this technology, it should be considered best practice to let employees understand the goals behind the decision that was made. These reasons might be loss prevention, identifying training issues, reducing customer complaints, or lowering expenses. Conclusion Most employees understand the need for some level of tracking and monitoring. However, they also have the right to be treated with dignity, honesty, and respect. When employers use this technology in ways that are respectful and with full disclosure, they will find that they are able to keep tabs on employees while still maintaining high levels of morale. Creating an employee bill of technology rights and placing it in the company's employee/policy manual will go a long way towards accomplishing this goal.

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  Tomorrow

  Tomorrow By Leona Henryson

  Most imaginative uses of VR

  VR offers so many more opportunities than letting people think they're on a rollercoaster, showing off an unfinished house or gaming. In a way it's almost insulting that that's how people are using it. It's like taking the Holy Grail and using it as a soup bowl. VR can change the world. What a shame that so far really it's only being used to escape it. For example, do you know how much pollution transportation is currently adding to the globe? Airplanes alone are adding about 4% of the CO2 that humanity is spewing out and that's increasing at an astounding 5.2% per year, despite efforts to make airplanes more efficient. With VR that can be reduced dramatically. It can reduce the need to travel Now you've probably already heard of this idea. Why would people need to travel if there is a VR alternative to let them see faraway places without needing to spend 13 hours cooped up in a little metal tube? If VR can do what it's supposed to – allowing us not just to see another place, but also to be in that place through projection, then there is a smaller need for people to travel long distances for business meetings. Similarly, it could be a cheaper alternative to taking the family out to Giza to see the pyramids – especially if they are virtually projected there and can take that selfie, talk to the locals and decide to see what's down that side road. After all, as VR improves it will be possible to capture an actual location in real time, giving you the possibility to travel with your friends without actually going there and giving a far more immersive experience besides. But it can do more than that. It can reduce travel needs All over the world airlines are struggling to push more people into less space. After all, the more space people take up, the more planes need to fly the same route. VR can revolutionize that entire problem. Why would you need to fold people into tiny spaces where they're hugely uncomfortable, when instead you can offer them the opportunity to dwell in other spaces while they fly? In that case all people would need is a comfortable bed and some VR glasses. It doesn't matter that you then stack these beds on top of each other – they're not seeing the roof ten inches above their faces, they're seeing fantasy worlds, their work stations, or the large virtual lounge that accompanies every airplane as it hurtles through the sky. And the more people you can put into those planes, the less CO2 each person that flies a route is producing. And that's not even mentioning how much better flights would be if you could alleviate the boredom! Now you could, seeing as people would be able to range the stars even as their bodies were carried across the ocean. And if some poor writer is desperately trying to meet a deadline but doesn't have the money to pay for a better seat they don't have to try to type hunched up over their keyboard with their elbows in their neighbors faces. Instead, they can work stretched out, with as many screens in front of them as they need and the keyboard at their outstretched fingertips. Waiting times would be less important Similarly, it would revolutionize waiting times. No longer would we be forced to sit around waiting for our bus, our train, or our planes to arrive. Instead we could simply take off into these virtual worlds, where we could stay productive, watch their television programs, play their games or truly talk to their friends half a world away. All that would be possible because VR doesn't have the same problem that mobile telephony does. It doesn't have a tiny screen that simply does not cut it in relation to the big plasma hanging on the wall at home. VR has the incredible capacity to create the sensation of any sized space you could possibly imagine, all with a pair of glasses and a computer in your pocket. That will completely change computing on the go and make it even easier for all of us to access whatever we may need, wherever we are. It can disconnect us from consumption And the more used to that we become, the less we would feel the need to own physical things. Don't believe me? It's already happening. Millennials are far less interested in owning physical stuff. That trend will only accelerate as people are able to immerse themselves deeper into worlds where they can theoretically own anything at the click of a mouse (or whatever we'll be using then to click). Why go through the trouble of owning a mansion when you can simulate one and actually feel like you're inside it? And that in turn will affect travel further. As we become ever more used to enjoying things virtually, the need to travel to places physically will change. Yes, we'll still want to say we've actually gone somewhere, but it won't be quite as pressing as it is today. Some people might fly to Paris. Others might simulate a trip to Mars. And you know what? That second group will use far less resources to do so. In other words, VR will (hopefully) finally sever the strange obsessions we have with believing that having lots of stuff leads to happiness. Hopefully that will mean we'll have more of our beautiful planet left over to give back to the plants and animals that we're currently threatening with extinction. To save this world we need to colonize others Stephen Hawking famously said that we need to colonize other planets to save ourselves. He's right, but possibly not in the way he imagines. Virtual reality will open up a range of worlds and planets only limited by our imagination (and imagine what all those VR worlds would do for our creativity). The result will be that we'll need to burn through less of the one that is actually limited in order to satisfy our needs and desires. VR, in other words, offers us the opportunity to have our cake (unlimited consumption) and eat it to (keep our planet from kicking the bucket) now if that isn't an imaginative use of VR I don't know what is.

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  Social Media

  Social Media By Leona Henryson

  Logging in ... Your first screen name

  Spice_Loni: My Summer of Fierceness You could say I was a nineties kid. After all, that is the decade of my adolescence and young adulthood. In reality, however, I never was the typical nineties kid. I didn't know what grunge music until years after it had become a thing of the past. In fact, I was largely unaware of pop culture as a teenager. My parents were both fine artists, and they wanted me to follow in their footsteps. So, while my friends were going to concerts, shopping, and spending their summers in Miami Beach, I was following my family around Europe to various gallery openings. When they were reading teen magazines, I was taking painting lessons and helping my further sand and finish the furniture he sold in our family's showroom. All of this changed, albeit temporarily when I went to stay with an older cousin in London. I had become interested in fashion and journalism, and my cousin agreed to let me live with her so that I could intern at a small fashion magazine just outside of London. I arrived from London from Paris ready to begin working. My cousin had other ideas. "You work and study all of the time," she told me. "It's time you learned to have fun." So, that's what we did. I never told my parents, but I ditched the internship. Instead, we went to night clubs, drank, danced, and ate disgustingly rich fried foods and curries in the middle of the night. I nursed a lot of hangovers during that time, and I went on my first date. About a week before I was due to fly back home to France, I heard my cousin on the phone with my mother. It was my cousin concocting some story about how the fashion magazine absolutely loved me and needed for me to stay on for two more weeks. It turned out that my cousin had landed two tickets to see the Spice Girls performing in Barcelona. So, that was my last summer hurrah, partying in Barcelona, and seeing the Spice Girls in concert. To this day, when a Spice Girls' song comes on the radio, I can't resist turning up the volume. My internet handle Spice_Loni is a tribute to that summer when I finally learned to come out of my shell.

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