Creativity

New Media has given people a chance to bring out their creativity and post it on the internet. An example would be youtube users creating “mash-ups” and posting it so other people around the world can watch it. Mash-ups are made by editing cartoon shows to make it seem like the cartoon characters are the ones singing and dancing. An example would be in the article Disney Tolerates a Rap Parody of its Critters. But Why? by Brooks Barnes and it says that users created a Winnie the Pooh mash-up of “Crank That” by Soulja Boy. A lot of these videos are meant to be funny because it’s supposed to be a parody. However, some companies view it as humor and some companies view it as copyright. Nickelodeon is one company that doesn’t mind users doing mash-ups using their characters but Disney does. They believe that “any unauthorized use of Disney property is stealing”. Even though they think that, many users still use their characters so they can entertain others. 

Community or Bazaar?

eBay has been an American multinational online auction since 1995 in which consumers and businesses buy and sell a variety of goods worldwide. It has become a multi-billion dollar business where over 30 countries are able to access to this online auction. With this being said, eBay is a community because consumers sell their goods to seek and gain a profit. Yes, eBay allows sellers to donate a portion of their auction to charity but it isn’t mandatory, thus majority of the sellers use this website to have an interest to gain a profit. Consumers can communicate and leave comments over the web on the product they want to buy or sell which allows people from different locations to interact with each other. This can all be done at home, at work, or any places that has a computer.