Baby TV toddles to Taiwan

Baby TV, the channel for tots under three that is now owned by Fox International Channels, has sprouted up in Asia, landing two commercial-free branded blocks on a Taiwanese kids channel. Starting December 17, the new blocks, jointly branded YoYo Baby TV, will broadcast from 9.00 to 9.30 and 13.30 to 14.00 every weekday on YoYo TV for the next two years. They will carry over 30 preschool series, all provided by Baby TV.

YoYo Baby TV will offer babies content that is designed to suit their natural intelligence and instincts and it will offer parents and caregivers a service they can choose with confidence for their youngest child, said the channel. "This is a TV channel for parents to have the fun, parent-child interaction and feel more assured as their kids are watching shows on a safe and educational channel that contributes to the positive development of a child," said Joanne Tsai, VP of Fox International Channels Asia and general manager of Taiwan.

Fox International Channels, with 18 channel brands and over 58 television services in 29 languages, is represented by NGC Network Asia. Launched in Europe in 2005, baby TV is currently aired on major platforms in over 75 countries worldwide, according to the channel.

Missouri Town Makes Online Harassment a Crime After Megan Meier's Suicide

From David Ardia of the Citizen Media Law Project, 11/28/2007 9:21 am

City officials in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri unanimously passed a measure on November 21 making online harassment a crime, punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail. The city's six-member Board of Aldermen passed the ordinance in response to 13-year-old Megan Meier's suicide. Meier committed suicide after a "boy" she met on MySpace abruptly turned on her and ended their relationship. It turned out that the boy was actually Lori Drew, a neighbor who had pretended to be 16-year-old "Josh Evans" to gain the trust of Megan, who had been fighting with Drew's daughter, according to the Los Angeles Times. (In an interesting side note, the local media refused to identify the neighbor involved, so several blogs such as RottenNeighbor.com and hitsusa.com did some investigating and identified Drew and posted the Drews' home address, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and photographs.) When it looked like local and federal prosecutors could not find a way to charge anyone for Meier's death, city officials stepped in and made online harassment a crime. As the Associated Press reports:

Mayor Pam Fogarty said the city had proposed the measure after learning about Megan Meier's death. "It is our hope that by supporting one of our own in Dardenne Prairie, we can do our part to ensure this type of harassing behavior never happens again, anywhere," Fogarty said, adding, "after all, harassment is harassment regardless of the mechanism or tool."

While Meier's suicide is a tragedy and it is laudable that city officials want to reduce online harassment, criminalizing such conduct raises important First Amendment concerns. I should point out, however, that I've been unable to review the actual language of the ordinance, and have had to rely on the following press reports.

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For more on the regulation of citizen journalism, visit the Citizen Media Law Project blog.

Kindle: not your parents’ eBook

On November 19, Amazon.com announced its first foray into hardware: a portable eBook reader called the Kindle. Amazon hopes the Kindle will become the iPod of books - a portable personal library you can take anywhere. That same day, the National Endowment for the Arts announced the results of a new study: young Americans are reading less. So it makes sense that despite obvious similarities, the Kindle and the iPod target very different markets. Whereas Apple turned the iPod into an icon of digital native culture, Amazon is aiming the Kindle squarely at digital immigrants.

Look at the features Amazon is touting. A display that mimics the look of ink on paper. A built in wireless book store so you never have to touch a computer. The ability to change text size. In short, it’s designed for people who hate using computers and have bad eyesight. Meanwhile, with a screen saver featuring the likes of Jane Austen and the Gutenberg printing press, along with what the popular technology blog Engadget calls “a big ol’ dose of the ugly,” the Kindle is almost aggressively unhip. As one analyst told the Wall Street Journal, “No one is going to buy Kindle for its sex appeal.”

Moreover, digital natives tend to be more comfortable reading from traditional LCD screens than their parents are. Indeed, some of us, myself included, actually prefer reading from a screen. I’d much rather read a book on, say, an iPhone, than have to carry a separate device. But as the NEA study makes clear, most readers aren’t digital natives. If older consumers take to the Kindle in droves, perhaps they could become the digital natives of literature, defining the new paradigm for how we read digital books. In a sense then, whether knowingly or not, Amazon is performing a large-scale social experiment. We can’t wait to see the results.

by Jesse Baer http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/digitalnatives/

Media Studies For Positive Change?

Can Media Studies have a positive effect? I'd like to think that it can - and does.

With this blog we will be attempting to clarify many of the issues confronting Media Studies Teachers and Students. From lack of technical know-how to being overwhelmed by the incredible amount of resources available; from the problem of lack of time to adequately research (or even comprehend) rapid changes in technology, and it's ethical uses to the fact that many students naturally understand how these technologies work and how they are used and yet seem to have no understanding of the implications of their use.

MSTFPC hope to remove the fear of technology inherent within many experienced Media Studies Teachers and provide a forum for discussion with peers and Media Professionals.

Welcome to MSTFPC

Thanks for joining MSTFPC! Our intention is to form a community of practice between media professionals, Media Studies teachers and students, concerned parents and high school students. In particular we are focusing on how online media (especially social networks) have become something to be feared among parents and teachers. The "MySpace generation" and the "dangerous internet" have become catch phrases and we wish to de-mystify the unknown and encourage responsible social networking.

This group is all about breaking down the barriers of conventions with teaching Media Studies. It's time to embrace new technologies and revolutionise how we engage kids with society issues!

Please feel free to contribute to discussions and we would appreciate any advice which from time to time our members may ask!