Hollywood at Home: Applying Federal Child Labor Laws to Traditional and Modern Child Performers

In the past few years there has been a rise in online influencers who gain money and fame from their online content, and in many cases these influencers are children. Although this can be seen as a “job,” federal child labor laws exempt all child performers from protections. This means traditional child actors and children who create online content must rely on state laws regarding child labor. While some states have protections for child performers, several states have no such laws in place. In addition, the current protections are not available to children who take part in online content. Without such protection, children could be exploited by the adults around them for monetary gain and face the psychological harms that can result from fame and prolonged access to social media. While parents have a right to raise their children, when they are effectively acting as their child’s employer there should be safeguards put in place to ensure the safety of the child. This Note examines the laws currently in place for child performers and the harms that can befall children in the entertainment industry. As a solution, this Note proposes a model of new federal legislation that could be enacted to protect all children in the entertainment industry, balancing the rights of parents with the state interest in the wellbeing of the children involved

The Meeting of Two Cultures: Public Broadcasting on the Threshold of the Digital Age

Provides a summary of discussions held in November 2007 on "Public Broadcasting: The Digital Challenge" among representatives of foundations, public broadcasting corporations and academia. Includes essays on visions for the future of public media

Engagement and willingness to pay for short form animation content online

An understanding of engagement and value based on insight from the uses and gratifications framework shows that individual consumers have very different reasons for consuming the same media. As such each consumer will receive different meanings, consequences and levels of value from its consumption. Based on this perspective it is argued that different individuals will display a varied willingness to pay based on their level of engagement and value sought from consuming the content in question. Through the use of an online survey this study explores the differences between individuals who work or have a valued interest within animation (Insiders) and those who do not (Outsiders). The study focuses on respondents reasons and motives for consuming short form animation content to understand their level of engagement and subsequent willingness to pay. The results indicate that Insiders display a wider range of motives and gain greater value from the consumption of short form animation. Insiders also display a greater willingness to pay and willingness to pay more for such content. Therefore, results lend support to dynamic pricing models for creative works distributed online, which can capture the different levels of engagement and value perceptions of consumers. These dynamic pricing models may then go some way towards catering for both sides of what has previously been described as a "Fame vs. Fortune dilemma" and provide creators with a revenue stream that can aid future content production

Encoding chance: a technocultural analysis of digital gambling

This thesis explores how gambling and gambling-like practices are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Digital gambling brings gambling closer to the practices and features of videogames, as audiovisual simulations structure users’ experiences. New forms of digital gambling have clear political implications and institute new economic dynamics, as operators increasingly rely on the exploitation of constant interaction, as well as fostering compulsive play. By studying digital gambling from media studies, videogame and cultural studies approaches, this thesis offers a new critical perspective on the issues raised by computer-mediated gambling, while expanding our perspective on what media and gambling are. Current research on gambling practices and markets in disciplines such as psychology, sociology and law has positioned wagering as an exceptional activity because of its association with problem gambling, taxation and financial loss. The increasingly malleable nature of digital gambling media complicates these understandings. Digital gambling and play take a number of shapes: state-of-the-art slot machines, desktop platforms and mobile apps for smartphones and tablets. These cultural forms involve both gambling companies such as Aristocrat and IGT, and videogame companies such as Atari and Zynga. Digital gambling products are consumed by millions of users, primarily in Australia, Europe and North America. In contemporary forms of digital gambling, many users have a gambling or gambling-like experience with or without real money involved. Consumers pay with money and/or labour and/or time and/or access to their digital social networks and contacts. These dynamics represent a significant departure from previous gambling studies, which only consider gambling as those games that involve real money and are demarcated from everyday life. The development of digital gambling sees new cultural forms, including gamble-play media (gambling and gambling-like platforms constructed as videogames), the procedure-image (images that articulate interactive rhetoric), mobile social gambling (the practice carried out through social casino apps) and gambling-machines (an iteration of Deleuze and Guattari’s desiring-machines). Digital gambling operates through assemblages that are materially heterogeneous and increasingly deterritorialised. Through a selection of case studies – including the 3D online casino PKR, the mobile apps Slotomania and Slots Journey, the Electronic Gaming Machine market in New South Wales, Australia, and the online casinos PokerStars and 888 – this thesis analyses the interplay between various digital gambling assemblages and their relations to other media such as videogames and social networking sites

Vol. 25 Number 2, Newhouse Network, Spring 2013

Dean;s Column -- Dick Clark Studios -- Mirror Award winners -- Harnessing big data -- Students win at Telly awards -- Student film project partnership -- Toner Prize -- Bright future for journalists -- Acclaimed photographer joins faculty -- Finding Entrepreneurship success -- Student App looks at CNY Winters -- Student Startup madness -- Parade of speakers -- Interning with Charles Barkley -- Alexia Awards -- Class notes -- Report of donorshttps://surface.syr.edu/newhouse_news/1008/thumbnail.jp