Exercise 2.1: Finding the Questions




In the space below, write the title of your tentative topic (e.g.
Internet addiction)

1. File Sharing, and its effects on the independant music industry




Briefly state why you chose this topic.

2. I origionally wanted to research some aspect of the independant music industry. WHile brainstorming my initial questions, I asked, "how does file sharing effect the Independant music industry differently than the Mainstream?". This topic is more controversial, and more interesting than anything else I came up with...and, therefore, I decided to make it the topic of my paper.




Spend about five minutes listing what you already know (if
anything) about your topic. For example, are you aware of any
interesting facts, common misconceptions, your own
assumptions, important people or institutions involved, key
schools of thought, the extent of the problem, current trends,
etc.?



3. Independant musicians, in general, are more supportive of file sharing.

File sharing provides more access to bands that do not get mainstream radio or television promotion.

Burned CDs deteriorate faster than professionally pressed ones, and are not universally readable.

IT is impossible to regulate file sharing on the interenet.

Currently, there are many different sites superior to Napster that have not been shut down.




Now spend at least fifteen minutes brainstorming a list of
questions about your topic you’d love to learn the answers to.
Make this list as long as you can, and don’t worry whether every
question is a good one.



4. How have CD sales changed for Independent artists since the introduction of file sharing?

What artists support it?

What mainstream artists support file sharing?

What other ethical problems exist related to file sharing?

What actions can be taken to prevent musical piracy?

How much of an impact has file sharing had on the mainstream industrys sales?

Do people more commonly use file sharing to discover new artists, or to pirate CDs?



If you’re working in a computer lab (or generating hard copies of
the exercise), your instructor may ask you to comment on other
students’ responses to Steps 1-4. Focus particularly on what
your classmates did in the fourth step. For each you view, do two
things: add a question you would like answered about the
student’s topic, and mark the question you find most intriguing.

5.


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