Are you Sharing or Stealing files online?

Is today's technology fueled world making it OK for people to steal? Certainly not! Today Peter Sunde, co-founder of file sharing giant Pirate Bay, was arrested in Sweden after being on the run for 2 years following his sentencing for copyright violations.

Australian history tells us that we have attended plays until there was drive ins, watched black and white TV until there was colour, hired movies from the video shop until there were DVDs, burnt DVDs for friends to save money to downloading movies online when people started stealing files online.

... and shamelessly, Australia leads the way in illegal downloads for shows such as Game of Thrones and other popular series.

How can organisations reshape world of online entertainment?

One company in Australia making a change to the way we receive entertainment in our lounge rooms is Presto. Presto is the new age movie rental company that has partnerships and licences to serve a large database of movies online for personal use in exchange for monthly fees from subscribers.

In order to protect the copyright of owners of the content, Presto has effectively communicated its Terms of Use online, and published the following statement

"Content owners (including Foxtel) use encryption technology (which may include Microsoft PlayReady™ content access technology) to protect their intellectual property, including copyrighted content".

By offering consumers a paid service to consumers, Presto is providing an ethical solution to watch movies online for a very small fee of $19.95 per month. To do this Presto pays owners of the content a fee for use of their content for this purpose, and protects the content owners intellectual property by use of encryption technology. 

Changing the way consumers think about stealing online?

Imagine you're a proud home owner with a family of 4. You've just returned home from a hard days work to discover the front door ajar. You think 'did I leave this door unlocked or open when I left?' - I doubt it. When you walk inside your TV, DVD player, Mac Laptop, most of your electrical goods are all gone. When you walk upstairs to check whether your grandmother's jewellery is still there it's gone! 

Someone has been in your home and stolen your most prized possessions! Sure insurance will cover your electrical goods, though nothing is bringing back your grandmother's jewellery...

This is what it's like for a content creator, artist and movie director that's spent thousands of dollars in education and years to master a skill or to create a movie. Baz Luhrmann's house in Sydney was on the line when he filmed The Great Gatsby and cost millions of dollars to film, and people were sitting on their computers at home downloading it from free file-sharing websites!

Is file-sharing legal? no. Is it morally right? no. Should you stop now? yes!

Often being a good person isn't just being kind to others, it's about doing what's right and ethical - so stop illegal downloading today and others will follow!

Germans, hard or direct communicators?

Non verbal communication can almost always be misinterpreted and misunderstood, even when communication with your best friend who knows you inside and out. Even more complicated is non verbal communication with someone of a different culture. 

Let's discover what culture means, and uncover why vast differences exist between cultures.

Culture is a word used to describe a persons’ values in life, how that person conducts themselves, habits and beliefs. Culture is not habitual until adulthood, it is shaped by a number of influential factors during a persons' childhood, such as:

• The environment
• Country 
• Local customs 
• Religion
• Family heritage
• Behaviours of others

The German culture is to communicate in a very direct manner, getting to the point before discussing the details or social details. Japanese people however tend to spend a significant amount of time building relationships before getting down to business. 

So far my experience with Germans is yes, they like to get to the point - which was confirmed when I read the "ITC105 Communication and Information Management" text book. The book describes the communicators in Germany (and other countries) as low-context cultures. 

When communicating, people from low-context cultures will assume the other person knows next to nothing, so communication will be very thorough and to the point. This is opposite to high-context cultures where environmental and other cues would be used in communicating a message.

My experience communicating with low-context cultures has become apparent in my work as an Account Manager, communicating with my German client Karl via email. When I acquired the account I received no handover, the client was not happy with my predecessor and a lot of issues were encountered with reporting.

Each Monday Karl receives a report that outlines the status of his account. The first report that I had ever sent to Karl was incorrect, and his repose to my email containing the report was:

"I just don't get it - who & why was the report changed."

Although his anger and frustration was valid, I was shocked by his response and direct approach to communicate that the report was incorrect. After receiving this reply I immediately contacted Karl via telephone to discuss, and effectively communicated the requirements for the report. Over the phone Karl did not seem as displeased with me, as he did in the way I had decoded his email.

Since working with Karl I have learnt that the culture in Germany is to communicate in a very direct manner and I have adapted the way I communicate with Karl to accommodate his communication style. 

No matter whether news is bad or good, Germans tend to prefer a deductive style of communication. Deductive communicators get to the key message first, followed by the details and reasons for the message.

All in all, it is important to learn and appreciate the culture of others in order to understand and effectively communicate. 

Flight of the Essay Challenge! Who will win?

I recently read two essays on two seemingly similar topics; ‘The Challenges of Flight Attendant Rosters’ by Jane Citizen; and ‘The Challenges of the Airline Industry’ by John Doe.

Between the two essays, Jane Citizen’s essay is the better essay out of the two. Why?

Opinion or Fact?

I’ve always been taught that essays should be written in the third person. John has written his essay in the third person; so lots of I’s, Me’s and We’s e.g. ‘I have experienced every major airline’. It appears that John’s “essay” is more of an opinion piece than an essay. Jane’s essay on the other hand, was written in the third person.

e.g. 

Third person: ‘Airlines depend on automation’.

First person: ‘I discovered airlines depend on automation’.

What’s the Issue?

When reading an essay, I always keep the first paragraph in mind. This usually guides me through the document and keeps my mind attuned to the first statement, setting my expectations for the rest of the essay.

Jane’s essay introduces a specific issue airlines experience, followed by what I should expect the body to address i.e. a solution to the issue. I’ve pasted the first two sentences of Jane’s introduction below, highlighting the words that indicate the issue and what I can expect from the essay.

“Airlines depend on automation just as much as any other modern industrial organisation – from scheduling and rostering to engineering operations. This paper highlights one of the most important human aspect of its service: the rostering of flight attendants.”

John’s essay opens with a strong statement that reads ‘Airlines are under pressure these days to make money’, followed by ‘They are introducing new aircraft types…’ which immediately grabbed my attention. Though unfortunately further sentences let me down. The first paragraph made up 3/4 of John’s entire essay that details his experience with airline crews and his cousin’s experiences working in the airline industry.

Where’s the facts?

Following Jane’s Introduction is 2 paragraphs that clearly discusses:

·       The Problem of ‘rosters, for aircraft and crew’,  

·       Research into “bidlines” like “Carmen Crew Rostering System”, which are autonomous crew pairings systems, and

·       Comparisons between American and European Airlines.

Whist reading through John’s essay I expected to be reading about the reasons that airlines experience financial challenges, instead John’s essay told me about his own experiences.

What about John’s conclusion?

It was interesting! John’s conclusion addressed the first statement by stating ‘Airlines have to save money in the current climate of competitive fares, cheaper low-cost carrier alternatives and also the ever increasing cost of fuel (Wikipedia)’, followed by some of his own experiences once again.

I found the last 2 sentences of Jane’s essay clearly provided an effective solution to the problem, which is to ‘employ state of the art systems….’ which ‘reduces the risk of flights being cancelled…’.

Credibility is key!

Lastly, Jane’s essay is credible. It’s written around 3 research articles and an additional piece by SITA, who is the ‘world’s leading specialist in air transport communications and information technology’.

John’s essay references three articles in the Bibliography, to which only one is referenced in the essay. His essay he makes reference to Wikipedia, which is not a credible resource absent from the Bibliography.

All in all, Jane’s essay is the better of the two because it sets clear expectations in the introduction, followed by research and concluded with a possible solution backed by credible research that has been referenced.

Welcome!

Good morning and welcome to my blog!