Saturday 5 December 2009

The Videogame Industry.

The Videogame Industry.

Video game! The couple of words that make every person crazy, playful and obviously cheerful. It’s one of the most wonderful and popular creation in the development of Media Industry. Video game is an electronic or computerized game played by manipulating images on a video display or TV screen that involves interaction with user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device.



  The current status of Video game has seen lots of dramatic changes and evolution since its invention in the 1950s. There are debates surrounding over the creation of first video game, as scholars consider the OXO/ Noughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe) invented in 1952 by Alexander S. Douglas as the first Video game in the industry. After 6 years in 1958, William Higinbotham created an interactive video game known as ‘Tennis for Two' from where the concept of Video game has changed with a status of Video game as a key player in the Media Industry.



During that period, several games like Space war, Corndog and Space travel were introduced which were not so effective in the market. After nearly a decade later in the 1970s, the status of video game was completely turnaround with the likes of the first console in the game ‘Pong’ by the Atari in 1972. It was the first arcade video game with huge widespread success all over. The year 1978 is considered as the ‘Golden Age’ as Midway released the Taito developed game 'Space Invaders' in America with an enormous success that still it is famous for causing shortage of 100 Yen coins in Japan.



 It helps to inspire other companies to invest more and enter the huge market of the industry. Atari (the pioneer of the Video game industry) alone worth 2 billion dollars in the year 1982 as it holds 80% of the market at that time. Pacman was a massive hit for Atari during that time but due to the production of too many badly created consoles caused the fall of the North American Industry and the rise of Japanese company like Nintendo with arrival of new hero ‘Mario’. Later in the year 1985, another hit for Nintendo ‘Tetris’ ruled the market especially for its portable system.

With the arrival of Sony in the industry in the late 80s, the industry saw a fierce rivalry and competition that it results a significant advancement with the arrival of 3D graphics networked multiplayer gaming ‘Doom’. From mid 90s to early 00s there was a battle between the likes of Sega, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo with Sony becoming the sole winner with the help of extremely hyped Play station.



The late 2000s saw playful well designed consoles with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony bringing ‘Wii’, ‘Xbox360’ and ‘Play Station 3’ respectively making billion of dollars to their pocket. In the year 2008 there was an approximate 11.7 billion dollars of business in the video game industry. Today the industry is enlarging day to day as the technological advancement further extends its reaches and is just no more a game but a huge commercially globalised industry with a long remarkable history.

References


Wolf Mark J.P. 2005. The Medium of the Video game. Austin: University of Texas Press
http://chud.com/articles/content_images/5/videogame.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRZB8RSU1evNhAv4vNiLblciyyKozAHKSB_d_Js3B1AWJmd7RAU2zyIQCuQknv1EHQvkjzoIZJIWhUn4BwfjWuOtZ44TUG9XcHAF2DFlEIKfco0pDbs4GsZvVeXiPNxusDwRDF_-wIAC4/s320/Tennis_for_Two_-_Screen.png
http://www.dmidesigns.com/dmidesigns/Inventions/images/White_Atari_logo_on_black.jpg
http://www.dvdexchange-online.co.uk/Game_News/Consoles/PlayStation_3/PlayStation_3_60GB_console.jpg

Saturday 28 November 2009

Internet as Medium of Narrative Art Creation.


Internet as Medium of Narrative Art Creation.
Internet today is not only the interconnection of worldwide computer networks but has also been a constructive format of fictional or nonfictional events summoned together. As the most powerful medium of this century, internet has created a degree of electronic and optical networking technologies with the theme of art and creation. The establishment of internet back to the 1960s has been one of the most creative inventions of the human civilization.





Internet today has been able to change the theory of marking the language and making its structure. The practice of hypertext and cybertext has made the user to access any information immediately within a couple of seconds. It has not only the group of texts but has different constructive format (pictures, songs, writing, theory, speech, poetry or may be videos) that makes a complete circle of entertainment for the users.

  

More and more, the characteristics of digital fiction in the internet have been changing continuously. All the basics form of Internet to the wonderland of Web 2.0, it is now more interactive, interpretive, multimodal, collective and playful that makes internet as the most effective medium. The narrative art form is evolving and merging in new exciting ways that surrounds us with the art of character perspective, visual and dramatic patterns. The path of reading, analysing and interpreting a text is accompanied by multisensory reading with effective semantic support in multiple modalities.



References:


Landow, George P. 1997. Hypertext 2.0. London: Johns Hopkins University Press


















Sunday 22 November 2009

Commercialization and the Network:

IPR, Crowd sourcing, Free Labour and the Californian Ideology.

After the introduction of Internet and Web 2.0 in the networking arena, the concept of commercialization has been initiated. Today, due to the globalisation of networks and the common cultural bonding between the users, the concept of the commerce and business has been laid in the networking sector. More and more financial accounts have been running through the networking business nowadays.


 


At the initiation of internet and networking in our society, it was said to be non-commercial because its main aim used to inform the public and helps to share their common values, beliefs and ideas. But after the drastic development in the technology and its modern practices by the users, the importance of information economy, the rise of network enterprise and the application of ‘Network society’ has been created.




The thought of Intellectual Property Rights arrived after the vision of the knowledge based economy that helps both the original creation and the author’s copyright which gives him/her some accounts of transactions. The doctrine of commercial networking has been flourished so rapidly after the 90’s because of the competition and liquidity in the market. The networking business today is now more focused on the theme of e-commerce that open-sourcing and crowd-sourcing has become the main forces of surging the development.




People are now more related and public participation is in high today towards the e-commerce. Crowd-sourcing is more concern towards the public interest with countless users engaging with the networking business. Regardless of that, the subject of free labour arises with the problems of copyright and selection going through it. Due to the effect of globalisation people from India works for the company of America through networking that accounts in billion dollars. The culture of Silicon Valley and the domination of IT industry will be more effective in upcoming days which beholds the truth that today’s networking are more diverted towards commercialization.

References.

Cawsey, Alison and Dewar Rick. 2004. Internet Technology and e-commerce. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
http://www.precarn.ca/ProgramsFunding/Projects/imgPYjpHAkTTp.jpg
http://www.netr.nl/wp-content/themes/mimbo2/images//crowdsourcing.jpg
http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=free+labour&sa=N&start=21&ndsp=21

Sunday 15 November 2009

Web 2.0: Architectures of Participation:


Web 2.0: Architectures of Participation:
Web 2.0 is a platform of social and cultural interaction in the advanced technologies where users are more interlinked with the internet globally. It is linked with the web applications that feature interactive information sharing, user – centred design, user interface, continuous update, data consumption and the architecture of public participation.



Web applications, social networking sites, video sharing sites, blogs, wikis, portals, web based communities etc are some of the classic examples of Web 2.0. The core concept of Web 2.0 is a whole new generation of ideas and makes internet a platform to mediate the network effect to make up the collective intelligence in an effective manner. The crucial element is the public participation in the management of Web 2.0 whereas; in Web 1.0 the users are connected to the internet but with a limited interaction and engagement with the content.



The word ‘YOU’ has been a vital core here to generate the sense that public are the main instrument in creating market value in the billions. The social networking sites like youtube, facebook, myspace, twitter etc are now worth billions just because by the word ‘YOU’ in it. It is all about customization and socialization that without ‘YOU’ they all are worthless. Today facebook accounts about 100 billion dollars just because of the people’s participation in it. It has been always us that make the value of creating and changing the Web 2.0 from Web 1.0. 


Comments and community are the very big parts of Web 2.0. With these concepts, the issues of crowd sourcing, trust, privacy, prosumers, free labour etc has been raised around us. It’s cool to have Web 2.0 around us with lots of perspectives and the notion of Cyberspace within it. But also due to its flexible nature, there arise a lot of questions which are certainly tough to go through it. 

References:
http://www.billionswithzeroknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/web20people.jpg
http://www.labnol.org/wp/images/2007/06/web-2.0-concept.jpg

http://www.bestfreeicons.com/smimages/a9a1d5317a33ae8cef33961c34144f84-web2_icons.jpg




Saturday 7 November 2009

We the media?: The Emergence of News into the Age of Computers


What is News??????
 

News is something happening new. It denotes the four direction (north,east,west and south) as it reports the recent previously unknown information to the public. It is the report of new information, events or stories that is presented by different medium (print, broadcast, internet etc) and has a public interest in it. Timeliness, impact, proximity, controversy, prominence, war, religion, fashion, sports, business and oddity are some of the main features of News. 





Within the periphery of News, it bounds many more things from a story of an event that is picked up by the professional News correspondent and later broadcasted from various stations around. News has been one of the most prominent and powerful tool of the Media from the medieval age to this digitized century.


Its strength and value has surged tremendously that it has been the key element of our daily life. With the development of technology, the transmission of News also has been changed and been affected. Both the way of transmitting, gathering and the way of manufacturing the News has been changed since and now.





The changing structure, idea and concept of News has been the huge matter of interest to the public as the bond and the interlink with the human is getting stronger day to day that a huge public participation can be seen through.
The practices of Churnalism, Mobile Journalism, Citizen Journalism and Network Journalism are some of the features of public participation and their progressive involvement in making the News possible. Today everyone can report and is reporting from anywhere as the trend is increasing in a high pace. The notion of ‘Global village’ leads to the pervasive journalism that the News is everywhere omnipresent. We all are interconnected today with more common News around us from the deserts of Africa to the Mountains of Himalayas.






The concept of Vortextuality (Whannel, 2009: vol.6, No.1) has been created around us because of the globalization of the Media that creates a ‘vortex’ effect where a single title is centralized and numbers of media institutions just revolve around making the same story. The Iraq war, sudden death of Michael Jackson, 9/11, World Cup Football has been some of the major events of Vortextuality.
Reference:

Garry Whannel, (2009) ‘News, Celebrity and Vortextuality : A study of the media coverage of the Michael Jackson verdict’, UK: vol.6, No.1.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_04/news24DM2104_468x382.jpg
http://www.garzattrading.pl/images/news.png
http://www.ushanka.us/blog/images/9.11.09.jpg




Saturday 31 October 2009

Information and the Organism: (Cybernetics, Cyborgs, Alife , AI)

Interaction between Human and Machines.

Today the trend has been changed; we the human are signified particularly not only by the systems of our body parts but by different means and the sense of thinking. Now, human becomes human because of his/her ability and the consciousness. Body parts doesn’t makes us human anymore nowadays because we have been interrelated with different phenomena (machines) and has created a cordial relationship between each others.



The feeling of being only ‘ME’ is senseless today because there is only ‘US’ that exists in our surroundings. We are so inter- related with each other these days that the metaphysical and physical attachments have made us the replication of Cyborgs. The innovative creation in science and technology has changed the perception to define the belief of our life.

The successful medical transplantation such as of heart, lungs kidney etc. , the patient of diabetes given the insulin pump or the human fitted with heart pacemaker are considered as the cyborg because of the interaction between human and machines. The concept of artificial life has been stated due to the evolution through the simulations using robots, computer networks, computer models and biochemistry. And the idea of who controls the body or the human system arises periodically at the moment.


Generally, ‘cybernetic organism’ is here used largely by the influence of artificial intelligence. It is more related to the control theory and the system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chance of success. The philosophical issues of the state of mind and its control mechanism have taken a core status in the development of mankind. The way of survival and the relation between blood and the machine has been taken a serious granted because of the question mark in the existence of human relationship.


References.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaC1mZViTjA63AJjdMlMxcNZyPNUwiEpa2tIZU1ACN1yI5jIBfJNoPKNNf1l66TZn6W8DNgS44CcZnS8GrFVlVPFA3cQJCb1MhV2X1PmVeoiPwpCdAa-yhflQ1ti1HToF1JhmTFbCuOoL/s1600-h/seg-cyborgs-term.gif
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEt8AbtArMLKWLXcqeJ5aThUwFJqoB8hTSm5KEpKiXeqYUBCrwwS1jcEKgy235bKfXWf1OQsZp_-pbZ_xZLiLPgPJiUlLs9N3e_wDhlDR5Ycbsn33bUkAVrKU6fLG9EOyOGpy-BmRDIY2w/s1600-h/bot_small_4.gif

Saturday 24 October 2009

Beyond New: Thinking about Media Change.

Beyond New: Thinking about Media Change.

Media has been one of the most integral part since the evolution of human civilization. Media as the medium to communicate the information and message from one to another has always been a primary force in the process of socialization of the human era. The role of Media in every social, political and economical aspect has undermined a huge influence and had accredited a super power in the development of mankind. Media always has been credited to be the ‘Master’ that controls our systems whatever it can be. As being the ‘Voice of Voiceless’ Media has been one of the most powerful tool since and is till today everywhere omnipresent.



Media has seen a drastic development during its formation from the beginning of cave paintings, drawn maps, stone scripting, ancient writings to the digitized computer technology of 21st century where the concept of ‘ Global Village’ is already scripted. Due to this rapid development in the form of Media, the two words ‘New Media’ and ‘Old Media’ has been created for its broad understanding. It has been hard for the scholars to determine the characteristics and place the different forms of Media within it.

 Newspapers, Television, Telephone, Radio etc that has been surviving since its invention and are even becoming stronger day to day, so are they really the old media?

OR

 Computer, Mobile Phones, Internet, Web 2.0 etc those created later, do they really mean the new media?


These questions always strike the mind of everyone because it’s tough to answer it with in a period of time. Regarding the concept of New Media it has been said that the latest developments in media technologies are termed as the ‘New Media’ but it is not always ideal to say because due to the rapid development in digital technology, the media that we used to say ‘New’ will be outdated and turns to ‘Old’ within no time. The growth in digital technology has been so fast and furious and will be more in upcoming days so I feel the ‘ New Media’ never exists permanently and we can define the Old Media in terms of its period of invention but not by its features. It is because Books has been one of the oldest form of Media but till today the power and strength of Books has never been decreased instead it’s production is in high. So, it is here to understand the sense and the way of evaluating the Media in terms of Old and New.

The concept and notion of New Media is totally bound up with the outcome of Internet and the World Wide Web. After the introduction of internet, there has certainly been a profound change in the Media formation and its processes. The ‘Newness’ given by the internet has been a matter of attraction and interest in the human civilization too which causes the formation of the term New Media. Perhaps there can only be a term to distinguish the old and new form of media i.e. the “interactive media”. It refers to the active participation of the user in it. Every New Media is controlled by the user. This distinguishes that in the new media such as mobile phones and computers the user can control its application and use it by their own understandings whereas in the old media like radio and TV, user cannot change its contents as it is already scripted in it.

Within this development of Media in our surroundings we have seen many changes around. The digitization has been as effective in its process as the concept of New Media has come out through it. The another Convergence has been a major changes in the Media industry which have been a topic to be discussed in the recent years. It is because the convergence leads to the extinction of other forms of Media that may results later the imbalance and a one to one monopoly of a particular media. The remediation strategies (Immediacy and Hypermediacy) have also been the major tools in the process of media changes and the establishment of New Media. Its application and its presentation have always make viewer and audience feel the great deal of understanding and has able to claim the attention as pure experience.

References. 
Hasan, Robert and Thomas, Julian. 2006. The New Media Theory Reader, Open University Press:Maidenhead.
http://mitocw.vocw.edu.vn/NR/rdonlyres/F598EB27-0ACB-43ED-8BC4-4B0AB633CE66/0/Course_CMS_image.jpg
http://richardwilsonauthor.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/radio-image.jpg
http://doctor2008.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/newmedia.jpg

Sunday 18 October 2009

The Birth (and death) of Cyberspace.

The Birth (and death) of Cyberspace.

             There is a space above and within everything everywhere. As the uses of computer technology and its systems have been a crucial part of our daily life, there is a myth and a belief that there is certainly a space or a different community when using computers to communicate. It can be said that ‘cyberspace’ is a virtual digitized space created by the advanced information technology during the time of using computer networks that we enter into a different arena with the artifacts, practices and relationships revolving around the computing. It is a non physical terrain created by the application of computer networks where we tend to fall and create a ‘second world’ with familiar spatial images and encourages the sense of identification and symmetry among individuals.




             The term ‘cyberspace’ was created by the acclaimed cyberpunk science fiction author and novelist William Gibson. Cyberspace according to him, is a ‘consensual hallucination’. It gives a sense that a numbers of computer operators operates through the way in which the data from the computers is abstracted into their human system that creates a different world an illusion in the form of matrix with the bodiless consciousness living in it. The feeling and application of mind is more viable in the cyberspace than the presence of body. Nicole Stenger (1991:53, 58) tells us that ‘cyberspace is like Oz- it is, we get there, but it has no location’; it ‘opens up a space for collective restoration and for peace....our future can only take on a luminous dimension!’.

              Internet system, for instance is one of the most prolific term to describe the existence of cyberspace. Online networks in the internet form a cyberspace where operators can operate and communicate with one another (via email, texts, networking channels and sites) with the presence of imagination, emotions, feelings, mind and a cultural approach created in that community.



            Like physical space, the cyberspace do have objects like files, mail, messages, graphics, images, videos etc with various modes of inward and outward that plays a vital role to form a ‘consensual hallucination’. Barrie Sherman and Phil Judkins (1992:126-7) illustrate cyberspace as ‘truly the technology of miracles and dreams’.

            We can change water into solid, solids to fluid and can create inanimate objects with an own existence of their own. In reality, in the cyberspace we people move in another world where we can invent anything through the significance of our mind. But still it is tough to react on some questions that, does cyberspace exist? If it exists then when and where do we go there? What is our identity in that community and who is the master of it? I feel cyberspace do exist around us where we move in it during the use of computers (for e.g. when we play a video game in a computer, without the notion of cyberspace no one can go through it.




There should be a virtual community alive to go through the process of playing so, that a player can feel the real appearance of a world that mesmerizes him/her. As internet being one of the basic tools it is hard to acknowledge who governs and has the power to control it because the application of internet is so broad and free that may result later the ‘ de-massification’ of the other media.

With its technology, we are now more socially and culturally bounded together initiating to foster a new kind of community with the direction paving towards a new political era of computer-controlled democracy.
As we knew about the ideal presence of cyberspace around us, it is also required to understand the end and its death.



 The spaces there created are in the forms of software as its furniture, the graphic and visual presentation, the net, the system control networks and embedded processors that helps to create a social experience, interaction between one another, social support, run business, play games, disseminate information, social learning, participating in discussions and so on. During these days, the significance of reality have been more influenced in the cyberspace as there have been more chambers of its application in the cyberspace. The space created is being folded by another one transparently which results its end. The new technological innovation by the mankind is also one of the reason behind it. With the emergence of real world in the virtual mechanism of cyberspace, there has been more and more existence in it.

References:
Hakken, David. 1999. Cyborgs @ Cyberspace. An Ethnographer Looks to the Future. New York: Routledge.
Smith, Marc A and Kollock, Peter. 2001. Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge
Featherstone, Mike and Burrows, Roger.1996. Cyberspace, Cyberbodies, Cyberpunk. London: Sage.

Saturday 17 October 2009

What is Cyberculture?


Cyberculture The word cyberculture comprises of two different words, ‘cyber’ and ‘culture’ which both have different connotation. Cyber is a word that is totally connected with the information technology, electronic communication or says the word i.e. the synonym to computing. It is a word that deals with the computers and is co- related to the term internet. The word cyber was derived from the Greek word kubernetes meaning steersman which is used nowadays everywhere in the terms like cyberculture, cyberspace, cyberpunk etc.
Whereas the word Culture refers to the way of living anywhere you are. It is the art of characterizing the person’s nature, beliefs, values, norms, behaviour and habit whatever he/she does in a society. It is the pattern, trait and products regarded as the expression of a particular class or community may be as a whole. The word culture was derived from the Latin word cultura which means to cultivate. According to Wikipedia, ‘Culture is an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and learning’. Oxford dictionary defines culture as, ‘The set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group’. 





With these various illustrations of cyber and culture, now everybody can determine what a Cyberculture really is? Simply in a sense, it is a culture related or determined by the term cyber. The mode of living and the characterization of an individual are fully influenced by the computer and its allies. Basically the internet, computer networks, multimedia and IT are the major sources to cultivate the nature of a culture which we consider it later as a cyberculture. In this culture, humans are more technically bound that affects directly or indirectly in the process of living. It does not have customs, arts, tradition or language as other culture do, but has the significant amount of attitudes and behaviour connected to cyber and multimedia which really affects the phenomena of our daily life.
Cyberculture is a cultural phenomenon usually being experienced and imagined around us. The World Wide Web, internet, email, bulletin boards or BBS, chat rooms, multi-user domains alongside a pool of related technological systems, including virtual reality, digital imaging systems, new biomedical technologies, artificial life and interactive digital entertainment systems are the basic features of cyberculture. It all has the imagination and representation of cultural uses and value to focus our attention most importantly on human interactions between one another. It can be said that the culture evolved from the use of computer networks for different purpose of communication is purely linked with cyberculture. The term cyberspace, cyborg, online communities, online multiplayer gaming, email usage etc are the derived terms of cyberculture.





Some definition on cyberculture are:
Oxford dictionary defines cyberculture as, “the social conditions brought about by automation and computerization.”
The American heritage dictionary defines it as, “the culture arising from the use of computer networks, as for communication, entertainment, work and business.”
So, it clearly means that cyberculture is a pure culture motivated and mediated by the use of computer networks. The year of 1960-1990 is totally devoted to the emergence and establishment of the culture in our society. And the 90’s decade have been the limelight for the cyberculture. 

References:
Bell, David. 2004. Cyberculture, The key concepts. Routledge: London.
http://api.ning.com/files/gqu4d90Oen-8ADSjXQc5dli8*iwMUrSw-7bTeyx7I8W5C0daPRsMqfe7eaKL*XNldx-BqoNMN248ByyVoVrGtZnZYjYJ324T/RickLanger_HighTechChild_Madison_Wisconsin_USA_14032005_001.jpg
http://cryoflesh.com/images/Events/CYBER%20Culture.jpg



 






Tuesday 13 October 2009

Media and Cyberculture.


What is Media and Cyberculture?
Media  -    Media as a whole is a plural form of ‘Medium’. Medium is a way or means of transferring information, data, knowledge and ideas in the form of communication. Medium in a sense is a bridge between sources through which they can communicate to be informed for any purpose. It is often consider as the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information between one another.
As the Media is term as plural form of Medium, it does have significant meaning related to different forms of medium. It comprises different form such as electronic, print, film, art and internet which are now considered as the lifeline of our society. Media is now an integral part of our life with which we cannot continue the process of socializing. The credit somehow being human as one of the most civilized animal in the 21st century goes to the Media which always plays a crucial role to lead the process of living smoothly. Media is the mirror of an individual, his/her family, society, community, country and the whole world where he/she exists. 








Media are the technological way that eases communication between the sender of a message and the receiver of that message. It communicates information to an individual, small group, large audiences, huge masses and globally throughout the world. Exposure to media by every person is a right and a fundamental part of contemporary life. It is regarded as the socializing agent of modern society and can generate popular interest and debate about any social issues that consists around us.
From different perspectives, the role of media from the micro level of our daily lives to the macro level of economy, politics, religion and technological development is always unimaginable. I do consider media as the ‘NEXT GOD’ that supposedly has the possibility to control the sense from an individual to the state. It has the authority to handle the major issues happening around us. Often many scholars consider media has the power to control the government. They agree that media is getting stronger and politician depends upon the media in order to cherish their public relations to establish their presence in the people’s mind. 





Media leads the process of developing a sense of self connected to a larger social world through learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, norms and culture of one to another. The impact of media is not only limited to the content of media messages but also teaches to learn about the world and interact within various methods. Literally, it mediates our relationship with social institutions and is part our routine relations with family and friends. It defines our interaction with other people on a daily basis as a diversion, sources of conflict or a unifying force. We understand and are motivated through different debates followed by instant analysis and commentary by ‘EXPERTS’. These dynamics are seen in various events such as televised sports, live programmes and reality shows which influences us in a certain level of expectations. 

References: 
Curran, James and Michael Gurevitch. 2005. Mass Media and Society. Hodder Arnold: London. 

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media/images/logos/01_tr_media_col/01_tr_media_col_gif.gif

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/PageMill_Images/media_monkeys.jpg