The revolution is in the palm of you hand

The long tail does not just apply to media outlets; it is also becoming one of the most popular outlets for political expression and democracy. The access and flow of information has never been more critical, and in governments where censorship is encouraged, crucial information is being blocked from the public. In China the government put blocks and censorships and search engines and in Iran the government drastically reduces the speed of the internet and interrupts the cell phone signal-different approaches but the same result, limits, limits, limits. These governments are trying to chop off the long tail right were a free flow of information occurs. The problem is that the internet, despite government regulations has a way of pushing the long tail further and further away from the central message.

The video link below provides a summary of the situation in China with Google.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m27RITODCj0

Google has done it all it can do to stand up for freedom of speech in China. It is now up to technologists and policymakers to build the tools and to apply the political, economic and cultural pressure to allow citizens in repressive regimes to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through an uncensored Net and maintain their access to the collective knowledge of humanity that it makes possible.

But is that really possilbe? The thing that China, and all other repressive coutnries have in their favor is the universality and unity of the internet. John Zittleman, a professor at Harvard Law School, explains that language is not longer a barrier of communication. “When the world’s peoples can speak fluently with one another, whether in blog comments, Wikipedia entries, tweets or instant messages, regardless of their native languages, that will be a quantum advance in the circulation of ideas.” Sorry China, good luck stopping the long tail of ideas that you didn’t even know existed.

The people of Iran also have a powerful fight against governmental restrains. According to a status report just updated by the OpenNet Initiative, the Internet censorship system in Iran has become one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated in the world.
As the public uprising over politcal leadership has intensified, so has the government's attempt to control the flow of information. Internet speed is reduced and cellphone service interrupted. Despite their best efforts some Internet users in Iran report having found ways to post to services such as Twitter via proxy servers. California-based Twitter postponed Monday maintenance until Tuesday so it wouldn't disrupt Iranian Twitter users who have managed to bypass blocks. The democracy of tweets has had a world-wide response.


It is not only tweets that are having an impact on the Iranians but also blogs.
The Persian blogosphere has been heralded as one of the largest and most active in the world. The number of active Persian blogs is estimated to be approximately 60,000—a formidable number of independent voices for a country accustomed to tightly controlling the press.
The picture below is a visual representation of the power of blogs in Iran.



Evan Williams from Twitter said boldly, “We are partially blocked in China and other places and we were in Iran as well. The most productive way to fight that is not by trying to engage China and other governments whose very being is against what we are about.’ Williams said Twitter had an advantage in evading government censors over a singular website as its streams are distributed through a number of outlets, including syndicating sites and mobile applications.”

It that true? What does Twitter have to loose by making statements like that? What can the United States learn from countries like China and Iran about democracy and the sharing of ideas using the internet?



Follow the links I used on in my blog for more information:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/uncensoring-china-bravo-google
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090619_iran_internet_censorship_sophisticated/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124519888117821213.html
http://opennet.net/research/profiles/iran#footnote8_1ye2ygo#footnote8_1ye2ygo
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/vlad/2010/01/29/twitter-aims-to-evade-censorship-what-does-this-mean-for-china-and-iran/

Follow the links below for further information:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/uncensoring-china-bravo-google
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090619_iran_internet_censorship_sophisticated/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124519888117821213.html
http://opennet.net/research/profiles/iran#footnote8_1ye2ygo#footnote8_1ye2ygo
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/vlad/2010/01/29/twitter-aims-to-evade-censorship-what-does-this-mean-for-china-and-iran/

pictures from:
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/vlad/2010/01/29/twitter-aims-to-evade-censorship-what-does-this-mean-for-china-and-iran/
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediarepublic/files/2008/04/iran_blogosphere_map.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/y/m/2/stop-or-tweet.gif&imgrefurl=http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Iran-Twitter-Revolution.htm&usg=__3xWDb41Hk7dW4pXvonp5rwAZ_dw=&h=327&w=500&sz=65&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=3WQVkJoVkvfBFM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstop%2Bor%2Bi%2527ll%2Btweet%26hl%3Den%26um%3D1

Thanks for reading..

Life of the Long Tail

I choose to name my blog after a concept that struck me while reading the Long Tail article. The idea is hard to grasp…unlimited. I have an infinite amount of choices when it comes to television, music, news, shopping, etc. and the more staggering idea is that if, for some reason, it doesn’t exist, I have the power and means to create it! How is that possible? How can a 22 year-old college senior have that type of access? It’s all about the avenue of distribution that is now available. The Internet.

Christ Anderson, author and researcher of “The Long Tail” struck gold when he realized that the physical world puts dramatic limitations on our entertainment in its need to find local audiences and its physical space capabilities. There can only be so many movies shown in a local theater, so many albums sold as a local store and so many TV shows on a local network. Until recently, American only knew what they could see, buy, or watch from their local options. With the introduction of Internet and sites like Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes they do not have to function under any physical constrains so their options are…unlimited.

Away from the world of best sellers, hit songs, and box office booms are unlimited amounts of other options. Anderson explains, “What’s really amazing about the Long Tail is the sheer size of it. Combine enough non-hits on the Long Tail and you’ve got a market bigger than the hits.” The 80-20 rule (where 20 percent of products account for 80 percent of sales) is seen in the media outlets we are accustomed to but an amazing 98 percent rule (98 percent of the available content had at least one item that sold) in online markets. The charts below show the Long Tail curve and how it is utilized by both the physical markets and online markets.




Anderson writes, “The era of one-size-fits-all is ending, and in its place is something new, a market of multitudes.” I love that quote. I can relate to the frustrations of the one-size-fits-all mentality. I am a smaller person, so when it says “one size fits all” I say, “not very well.” The size and the structure does not fit to my needs, I would much rather buy and use something that fits my specific needs. The idea of a one-size-fits-all mentally that has formed our thoughts and actions for so long is now changing and the availability of a product that meets your exact need has arrived!

I liked Leah's cartoon and I searched for some myself. The one I found relates to one of my personal interests, church and the reality of it is comical.



Until next time,
Khan (It has been my nick name for almost 10 years now. I even won "Best Nickname" in High School).


I used information from The Long Tail article and book. Click to learn more.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
Chris Anderson. "The Long Tail." 2006.
Picture from - http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/images/internet-songs-cartoon.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/2006/07/12/songs-on-the-internet/&usg=__a102IdlitpjulPKalXz2zdMV4hs=&h=431&w=398&sz=17&hl=en&start=6&itbs=1&tbnid=0mX6d9cfFEPqTM:&tbnh=126&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcartoon%2Binternet%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den