Cover Letter

1. What is the purpose of your argument?

To illustrate the importance of open source culture in our society today

2. Who is your target audience?

 People who have not heard of Open Source Culture and who are not aware of the opportunities it presents.

3. What is your thesis statement?

 The rise of open source culture has created a novel way of expression though digital forms of media creating inspiration and innovation.

4. Did you learn/try anything new while growing this composition?

I learned what a wide variety of Open source cultures there are and that each one offers a different perspective and it attracts different types of people.

5. What do you like best about your composition? About your composition process? Here's where you talk about your best experiments (Did you mix genres? Where you able to integrate ideas from different sources with your own? etc)

I enjoyed the process of exploring and researching how the different open source cultures were started and how they developed. I also enjoy exploring them and using some of them that I hadn’t yet experimented with like Twitter, which I found to be very odd and comical.

6. Of the feedback you garnered in our workshop, what piece of information was most valuable/helpful?

7. Where would you like to see the most feedback/advice on your final draft?

 I would just like people to actually read and let me know if I have really grasped the concept  of open source culture.

Twitter in MySpace

MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter; these are just some of the latest forms of digital media that people of all ages are using as a form of expression as well as a way to stay connected to people. If you are not aware of these media forms, you might be living in a hole because they are everywhere and everyone is involving themselves trying to outreach to others through these connections. Great movements are taking place in waves through innovative new ideas connected to digital media. People are signing up to support everything from breast cancer awareness to presidential candidates. Musical artists and pop-culture celebrities are being discovered. This new culture is culture is known as an open source culture and it is a developing way for people to create new paths of each other and create opportunities to better communities. This may be a new concept for many people and youth today has been consumed by this new movement. The rise of open source culture has created a novel way of expression though digital forms of media creating inspiration and innovation.

Applications like Facebook and MySpace are open source communities that concentrate on staying connected with people you know or have met. It is entirely user based meaning that in order for the communities to work; members of these communities need to keep supporting the concept by writing blogs, creating groups, and updating statuses. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook created the site with the intentions of creating a networking community for, Harvard the college he was attending. Obviously the site exploded into a world wide phenomenon that almost everyone you know is involved in.  People from all over the world can stay connected with each other, or meet new people through these sites where one has the ability to completely display their life and character on one page. The pages are filled with pictures, thoughts, and personal interests opening up a new way of expressing ones self.

Mizuko Ito explores the concepts of open source culture in his report Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Ito explores the concept of MySpace as a way of expression for today’s youth. He touches on the fact that it creates a learning experience for young people to explore self expression through creating their own profiles (p.25). Everything from glitter graphics to YouTube videos can be posted on a profile; this pertains to a MySpace profile or a Facebook profile. What is it about self expression that is so needed in today’s world? People are constantly finding new was to express themselves, lets face it, we are not living in a world where a tattoo, piercing, or clothing choice is the only way to self-express. The internet makes it possible for innovation to take place and in a simpler way.

In open source culture, one does not need to dye their hair blue and get an awkward tattoo to be different. The ability to display small pieces of who you are and what you are doing has become a much more refined idea. A simple cut and paste of a favorite music video or the joining of a support group can give friends or browsing passer-byes an insight into who you are and what you represent. Through exploring interests of other, we find people to connect with who are most like us and relationships are formed between people that otherwise would never have met if not for open source culture.

Open source culture is bringing people all over the world together. On April 15, 2009 a historical even took place thanks to one of the most popular and world wide used forms of digital media, YouTube. According to YouTube.com, which is an internet site that allows people all over the world to post videos of pretty much anything, called for professionals and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun. The finalists were then selected by a judging panel comprised of the world's most renowned orchestras. Then the YouTube community, which would be comprised of people all over the world, voted for their favorite instrumentalists. Winners traveled to New York to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra summit, and performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. This was a monumental event and the people involved are supporting open source culture and the right for people to expand knowledge and experiences without some company or law sucking the money out your wallet. The symphony was also an innovative way to raise awareness for classical musicians which is a genre of music that is becoming increasingly less popular. Music is one of the most beautiful forms of expression and it should be something that is shared with everyone. The idea of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra was ground-breaking because it was the first time an event of such magnitude was carried out through digital media. Though it took many people to come together and pull off the event, it illustrates the possibilities for future generations to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueJcRmfweSM

YouTube allows for people to search thousands of videos of interests, and in doing so people are able to find new areas of interest. It is also a learning tool in which people can learn to play the guitar, speak different languages and learn to dance all in one day for free. Free learning tools? The idea seems almost comedic but the internet has made it possible for people to expand their knowledge through digital media tools such as YouTube where people are offering vast amounts of free knowledge. No, it does not provide you with a four year degree but there are things to learn and explore that are new. People express themselves in all sorts of different ways on YouTube and this form of digital media is an outlet for this expression to take place. At the very least some of these videos are often hilarious and generate attention in the news media. For example there is always the classic presidential candidate song that some young girl is singing that makes top headlines in newspapers. Barack Obama campaigned on YouTube, MySpace and Facebok, and he was able to capture the popularity of most of the nation.

There are movements that are sweeping the nation due to open source culture. Facebook and MySpace create communities of people that support a cause and the people who are involved in the communities pass invitations to support the cause to all of their friends. It is easy to see how easily a support group can grow into thousands of people very quickly. Musician who are trying to break into the industry create MySpace pages and post YouTube videos in order to market themselves and build a fan base. Colbie Caillat, who is a famous break through artist, first came from MySpace. She created her own page and marketed herself and she is now signed to Universal Public. The popularity of Caillat's MySpace profile led her to become the number-one unsigned singer in her genre for four months. Open source culture is opening doors and creating paths for people that might not have had the same opportunities without being involved in a community where self-expression can come at the click of a mouse. Tila Nguyen, also known as Tila Tequila, is another famous pop-celebrity who broke into the reality television scene through MySpace solely because she had the most friends out of anybody else on MySpace. She hosted her own reality televisions show, “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” and she also wrote a self help book called Hooking Up with Tila Tequila: A Guide to Love, Fame, Happiness, Success, and Being the Life of the Party. Open source culture is galaxy of opportunity just waiting for people to explore new ways to putting themselves out there and getting discovered. 

Twitter, the latest and fastest growing phenomenon of internet open source culture is a “Short Message Service” (SMS) that allows friends to communicate thoughts and exact activities. This basically means that is a text messaging system for the internet and anyone who is linked to your Twitter profile is aware of what you are doing at all times. According to news.com.au, Ashton Kutcher, a popular actor, challenged CNN to a contest in obtaining the most friends on Twitter. Kutcher beat CNN with one million followers and later wrote on Twitter the following response "We have shown the world that the new wave is here, it is present and it is ready to explode…You guys are all of it because I can’t follow me, so I don’t even count…We can and will create our media. We can will and edit our media. We can and will broadcast our media. We will censor our own media ourselves.” Though this may seem like a simple concept, it is one more way for people to communicate with each other and express their thoughts and feelings. Twitter is a simpler concept than Facebook or MySpace because it is not as involved graphically, but nonetheless it all the rage with youth right now.

Open source culture is not a concept that people are aware of. They practice the ideology of the concept but are unaware of the true powers that it holds. People are creating opportunities for themselves and others, expressing how they feel about movements, politics, world issues, etc. through digital media. This creates a web of universal interconnectivity where people are free to be who they are and find people who accept them. We can use these concepts to create better communities locally and globally, and to reach out to people and create reason. The internet has given us a great opportunity to close gaps between communities of people whether is be across the country or on the other side of the globe. Open source culture is constantly growing and people are coming up with new software and programs for people to create communities with purpose. What an interesting concept and a great thing to be a part of.

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