Mr. T Blog

Final Project

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:10:42 +0000

My Research Question is:

How does downloading free music and movies, or watching illegal copies, affect the music and film industry?

A Website:

Is Piracy Really Killing the Music Industry? 17 May 2009 < http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/708F20CD-E67D-45C7-AF95-3E1A6AC07C37.htmlA >

Blog 10 – Evaluation

Tarek Hefni — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:21:29 +0000

So the semester is coming to an end! lots of things I have learned in my different courses, lots of projects I had to do, lots of challenge and lots of fun and boring tasks as well

One of the courses I had fun taking was LALT 101. I learned some concepts in the course. I learned to write blogs; this is the first time for me to write a blog. I also learned more about AUC library Databases. I usually only use lexisNexis and ACM and had no idea about the rest of the databases. I also learned how to find the different types of sources and how to retrieve them such as videos, newspapers and others.

I hoped we could spend more time in the main library itself looking for newspaper and/or books and articles in the main library

WordPress is one of the best things I learned and I loved writing using it. It is a good way to communicate and publish my thoughts. I even thought of having a blog and continue bloging for my Computer Science projects. Privacy is sure an issue with wordpress (I’d need to set some posts to private and others to public). However, the smart use of it and not publishing personal info can solve the problem

I really enjoyed the course, It would have been really helpful in my RHET 102 and RHET 103 (201). I believe seting the course a co-requirement with RHET 102 is necessary

Blog 9: What’s up!

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:22:02 +0000

our assignment today is to look for news about the topic we have chosen. I searched in google news and came up with the following article:

MCNARY, DAVE. “US adds Canada to Web piracy list.” 30 APR 2009 Web.3 May 2009. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003062.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

I also searched in LexisNexis and came up with the following article

Both articles talk about the top copyrights violators and the effect of that violation

Blog 7: Data, Data and more Data

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:23:00 +0000

Looking into two databases: Business Source Complete and Emerald Full Text, Business Source Somplete has information about business, economic and management. It covers material starting from 1886. It contains academic journals, periodicals, trade publication, books, Insustry profiles and country reports. It contains materials in English, French, Dutch, German, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Turkish. Although I could not find the frequency of updating, I found out that no material is posted past January 2009. The database is not available off-campus. The database contains full text for most of the material.

Emerald Full Text covers Management, Human Resources, Marketing, Library and Information Management, and Engineering (mechanical, electrical, and electronic). It covers dates from 1989 till present. However, full text journals is available from 1994 till present. It contains Journals, books, bibliograhpic Databases and Site Pages. The materials seems to be only in English. The database is very recent it contains journals in 2009. It is available off-campus and full text is available from 1994 till present.

Emerald Full Text is easier to use. Search is very simple. In addition you can specify in the advanced search not to match the key word exactly but to select words close to the keyword. Therefore, it is good to use for quick search. In addition to it recency, it contains journals and articles which is much better used for a quick search than other publications. Business Search Complete is better for in-depth search as it provides material more in depth in nature such as reports and books in addition to providing a much larger time span (from 1886 till now). Therefore, to do some initial search I would use Emerald Full Text. If I find out that I need more research back in time or more in depth I will look into Business Search Complete

Blog 6 – Thinking in depth…Categorizing the research

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:21:24 +0000

Just in case, this is a reminder of my research question:

How does downloading free music and movies, or watching illegal copies, affect the music and film industry?

There are three academic disciplines that are related to my research question; Performing Arts as it is the field that studies movie making, Mass-Communication as it is the field that studies production and Law as it would study the laws and regulations related to film and music piracy. Computer Science may also seem related as it would show how pirates steal those movies and music.

Looking into the list of majors and minors available in AUC I found the Journalism and Mass Communication Majors relevant to my research question as well as Music and Film minor

Oxford Journals Online contains full text of articles of law and articles in social science and humanities. I expect to be able to find some laws that talk about the issue in here as well some social aspects of the topic.

LexisNexis Academic Universe contains articles about international news , government & political news, and legal news. It would cover new articles that are talking about this issue from legal and social view

Global Newsbank contains articles cover politics, economics, culture, business, science, technology. These articles will give a broader view of the issue and will allow me to study it from the different aspects; legal, social and business

Blog 5: Sources Hunt in the American University in Cairo Library

Tarek Hefni — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:50:59 +0000

1. Framing piracy : globalization and film distribution in greater China writen by Wang Shujen published by Rowman & Littlefield in Lanham, Md in 2003. the call number is “PN1993.5.C4 W268 2003″

2. Promises to keep : technology, law, and the future of entertainment written by Fisher, William W. it was published by Stanford Law and Politics, 2004 in Stanford, California in 2004. The call number is “KF3035 .F57 2004″

3. May justice be done [videorecording] Presented by TVPI and Zarafa Films by Pascal de Rauglaudre

Blog 4 – Working on my topic

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 07:37:14 +0000

My LALT 101 class requires me to search for my topic in a different way. I have to search for articles published in 2004 only! and search for another article that is not related to this topic… Unless you think divorce is related somehow to Film and music industry . Still, it is fun to learn and try new things.

My research question is “How does downloading free music and movies, or watching illegal copies, affect the music and film industry?”

I followed the class instructions and searched for articles posted in year 2004 and I found only 1 result!

McBride, S. (2004, November 5). Film Industry Vows Crackdown on Online Movie Thieves. Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition, 244(90), B1-B3. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

I limited my search to articles from peer-reviwed sources. There were 40 results, one of them is:

I also found that article by Lucy Jones taking that mentioned divorce in Egypt and here it is:

Jones, Lucy. “Clinton’s Last Push for Peace.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 20.2 (Mar. 2001): 33. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. American University in Cairo Library, Cairo. 15 Mar. 2009 .

Blog 4: A question in mind

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:25:16 +0000

I have been asking my self a question: How does downloading free movies, or watching illegal copies, affect the film industry?

interesting topic, isn’t it. I decided to look up academic search complete using “Illegal Copies AND film” and found the following two exciting articles:

STELTER, BRIAN, and BRAD STONE.. “Digital Pirates Winning Battle With Major Hollywood Studios.” New York Times (05 Feb. 2009): 1. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. American University in Cairo Library. 22 Feb. 2009 .

Kelly, Kate, Ethan Smith, and Peter Wonacott. “Movie, Music Giants Try New Weapon Against Pirates: Price.” Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition 245.45 (07 Mar. 2005): B1-B3. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. American University in Cairo Library. 1 Mar. 2009 .

Blog 2 – “Hands in the air – that’s an e-robbary!” – Amazing Articles

Tarek Hefni — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:56:17 +0000

I have found two really exciting articles. Enjoy them. They both are about legal software and software piracy. As computer science majot I find this area of most interest to me.

S.O.S. (save our software).

Authors: Guth, Rob Uimonen, Terho
Source: Computerworld
Publication Date: 7/31/95
Volume and Issue: Vol. 29 Issue 31
Pages: p87, 2p, 1 color
Document Type: Article
Abstract: Reports on the prevalence of software piracy in Asia and in the United States. Widespread piracy in the People’s Republic of China; United States and China’s signing of an agreement against computer piracy; Impact of computer piracy on the computer industry.
ISSN: 00104841
Permenant Link

Bits & Bytes.

Author: MITNICK, Kevin
Source: Community College Week
Date of Publishing: 08/23/99
Volume and Issue: Vol. 12 Issue 1
Page Number: p26, 2/5p, 1 bw
Document Type: Article
Abstract: Presents news on computer crimes in the United States in August 1999. Computer piracy charges against a former University of Oklahoma computer network administrator; Court sentence to computer hacker Kevin Mitnick.
ISSN: 10415726
Perminant Link

Blog 1 – Who is Tarek Hefni?

Tarek Hefni — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:11:04 +0000

Welcome to my blog. My name is Tarek Hefni. I am a computer science senior in the American University in Cairo.
Favourite Websites? yes I have some: I like Google, ACM, Game Revolution, TopCoder
As for the purpose of this blog, it is a blog for my course LALT 101