What's missing from Wikipedia?

V chip- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip

A main component missing from this wiki entry is the history of the technology. There is nothing describing the social, political, or economic context of the technology and why it was invented in the first place. This would be a very key concept to add to this page

More missing information includes detailed information about the controversy. There are many pros and cons listed, but it is not described in much depth.

There could also be much more information about the Vchip internationally. There is an external link to a site talking about it, but it is not included on wikipedia.

There were not many related sites that were relevant to the nature of this project so I focused more on this single article.

What is the controversy surrounding the V-chip?

Search tool:

-dogpile.com  and kosmix.com because they do a good job searching multiple search engines for me, therefore saving time and energy.

Search term:

“v chip controversy”

 

Site 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-chip

Who is responsible: this is a wiki article so many people have contributed to his article.  The mission is to provide encyclopedia style information to anyone who wants to know about it.

How is the site funded:  The Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit parent on wikipedia

How current: April 29, 2010

What’s missing:  This site is great for multiple sides of the v chip controversy.  They have more than enough arguments for both sides.  The only thing missing is an opinion.  Without passion or conviction behind the issues, it is just facts, no strong persuasion going on.

Site 2: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1930599,00.asp

Who is responsible:  The article is written by Bary Alyssa Johnson and Mark Hachman.  It is published in PCMag 

How is the site funded: PCMag is an online magazine funded by advertisements.

How current:  It was published in 2.23.2006

What’s missing:  This article is mainly about the new version of the v chip so it only addresses controversy over the issue of monopoly and not so much the controversy over the product itself, which was much more prevalent in 1995.

 

The main pros of the v chip discussed in these websites are it gives parents an easier option for monitoring their children’s TV watching more responsibly; it is inexpensive, around $10 if the TV does not already have it, and free since it is required in all TVs larger than 13 in; it is simple and acts as a secondary guide to direct parental involvement.  Some research done to support these proponents are, however, done by advocacy groups so the results may be biased.

The main cons are that most people do not use it, even though they have it; it is believed to be a violation of the 1^st amendment because the rating system is created by the government, so it is an indirect power given to the government to limit freedom of speech; the TV industry does not like having the government involved in its business; people believe there is a lack of unbiased research to support the positive effects of the v-chip.

 

 

How does the V-chip and TV Content Ratings Work

Site 1:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question167.htm

Search tool: I used google to do this search because it is my most comfortable search engine and I am used to figuring out efficient search terms with this search engine.  It took me straight to the perfect site for explaining how the v-chip’s technology worked.

Search term: “how the v-chip works”

Credibility:

            -This site was founded by North Carolina State University Professor Marshall Brain in 1998 and is owned by Discovery Communications.

            -the site is funded by advertisments and the owner company

            -There is no date saying how recent the information is.

            -This site is perfect for the question I was trying to answer.  I do however have to look to another site for the details of who rates the TV shows, and the social context of the Vchip.

Useful Information:

In 1996, congress passed a bill that required all television shows to be categorized by ratings that have criteria determining the age appropriate group for the show.  The V-chip is a chip that allows every television set to be able to detect the rating of television shows, and according to the settings that the owner of the television programs, it blocks shows corresponding to the blocked ratings.  In short, it helps parents block television shows that may have material that they do not want their children to see. 

            All shows have a code embedded in it that indicated what its rating is.  The V-chip reads this signal and sees if the rating is allowed on that television set.  The way the signal is embedded has to do with the line 21 data area.  “All sorts of things go inside this data area -- such as closed captioning information and the time of day -- as well as ratings information. The V-chip simply decodes the line 21 data, compares it with the parent's allowed rating and then either blocks the signal or lets it through.”

The ratings that the FCC has settled on look like this:

TV-Y - All children can watch; zero violence or sexual content

TV-Y7 - For children 7 and over

TV-G - For general audiences; no sex, violence or inappropriate language

TV-PG - Parental guidance suggested

TV-14 - Suitable only for people over 14; some sex or violence

    TV-MA - Suitable only for mature audiences; may contain graphic violence or sexual situations

 

Site 2:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/vchip.html
This website is run by the FCC, which is a beuracracy of the US government, so credibility is assured. 

Search term: “who assigns TV content ratings”
Search tool: google.com.  I tried a bunch of different ones and only Google turned out a useful result.
Missing info:  social context and how the technology actually works

Useful Information:
“In 1996 Congress asked the television industry to establish a voluntary rating system for TV programs. In response, the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association, and the Motion Picture Association of America created the rating system known as “TV Parental Guidelines. The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board reviews the ratings guidelines and their application to television programming. The Monitoring Board has a Chairman and six members each from the broadcast television industry, the cable industry, and the program production community. The Chairman of the FCC also selects five non-industry members from public interest groups, for a total of 24 members.” (http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/vchip.html )

Search words: origins of v-chip, history of the v-chip, why was the v-chip invented

Search engine: I used ask.com because in class I discovered how useful the side bar of suggested search terms was. It is organized and does the job of google and yahoo combined.

Useful site 1: http://library.thinkquest.org/5676/home.html

· The creators of this site appears to be a group of students who had to put together a website project about television violence prevention.

· Funding is unstated, but I am assuming since it was a class project, not much funding was or will be needed.

· There are also no dates. It sounds non-credible from this description so far, but there are great facts and all the research is listed. There are also interviews, including and interview from the creator of the v-chip, Tim Collings.

· The problem with this site is that only one side to the controversy is portrayed. The site is an advocacy site for the monitoring of television violence. The missing portion is regarding the protection of freedom of speech/freedom of the press. The other side of the controversy focuses on why v-chips may not be necessary.

· Typically .org sites are strongly rooted in opinion and are advocating a particular side to a controversy, so an objective site, maybe government rooted, or even another .org site focusing on the negative side to the v-chip would be useful to get a complete picture of the issue.

There is a lot of information about the origins of the v-chip on this site. It takes the reader through a timeline of the history of the TV, which inevitably is a crucial part to the creation of the v-chip. Televisions were initially created for educational purposes, and it was a technological break through that not many people had in their houses. In the 60’s, however, television became very common, and with the Vietnam War in full effect, it was brought straight to the living room of millions of Americans. Violence and killing in the war was the start to desensitization of Americans. The days of “Father Knows Best” and similar cheeky family sitcoms were over. Good no longer always prevailed over evil on television, and content drifted from being suitable for all ages. Here lies the basis for such a devices as the V-chip and a television rating system. The inventor of the chip originally meant for it to be a simple tool that parents could use if they felt strongly about monitoring their children’s television viewing. He had no idea it would soon be involved with very important legislations.

Useful site 2: http://www.fcc.gov/vchip/

· The Federal Communications Commission is the founder of this site.

· The FCC is an independent government bureaucracy so the funding comes from the government.

· The site is regularly updated when necessary and the most recent update is stamped at 4/9/2010.

· The site is purely objective, therefore it is missing a lot of the social background of the topic. There is no talk of what inspired the creation of the chip or what people think about it. The site focuses more on the legislative journey of the v-chip and TV rating system.

Some of the useful information includes a timeline of legislation passed to make a standardized TV rating system uniform and mandatory for all shows to be rated on. It also focuses on the original legislation passed, along with all the revisions and add-ons up until the most recent one. The main act is called the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Over time, TV manufacturers became required to include a V-chip in every television set along with other new requirments.

What is the historical context of the v-chip? Why was it invented?

Search words: origins of v-chip, history of the v-chip, why was the v-chip invented

Search engine: I used ask.com because in class I discovered how useful the side bar of suggested search terms was. It is organized and does the job of google and yahoo combined.

Useful site 1: http://library.thinkquest.org/5676/home.html

The creators of this site appears to be a group of students who had to put together a website project about television violence prevention.

Funding is unstated, but I am assuming since it was a class project, not much funding was or will be needed.

There are also no dates. It sounds non-credible from this description so far, but there are great facts and all the research is listed. There are also interviews, including and interview from the creator of the v-chip, Tim Collings.

The problem with this site is that only one side to the controversy is portrayed. The site is an advocacy site for the monitoring of television violence. The missing portion is regarding the protection of freedom of speech/freedom of the press. The other side of the controversy focuses on why v-chips may not be necessary.

Typically .org sites are strongly rooted in opinion and are advocating a particular side to a controversy, so an objective site, maybe government rooted, or even another .org site focusing on the negative side to the v-chip would be useful to get a complete picture of the issue.

There is a lot of information about the origins of the v-chip on this site. It takes the reader through a timeline of the history of the TV, which inevitably is a crucial part to the creation of the v-chip. Televisions were initially created for educational purposes, and it was a technological break through that not many people had in their houses. In the 60’s, however, television became very common, and with the Vietnam War in full effect, it was brought straight to the living room of millions of Americans. Violence and killing in the war was the start to desensitization of Americans. The days of “Father Knows Best” and similar cheeky family sitcoms were over. Good no longer always prevailed over evil on television, and content drifted from being suitable for all ages. Here lies the basis for such a devices as the V-chip and a television rating system. The inventor of the chip originally meant for it to be a simple tool that parents could use if they felt strongly about monitoring their children’s television viewing. He had no idea it would soon be involved with very important legislations.

Useful site 2: http://www.fcc.gov/vchip/

The Federal Communications Commission is the founder of this site.

The FCC is an independent government bureaucracy so the funding comes from the government.

The site is regularly updated when necessary and the most recent update is stamped at 4/9/2010.

The site is purely objective, therefore it is missing a lot of the social background of the topic. There is no talk of what inspired the creation of the chip or what people think about it. The site focuses more on the legislative journey of the v-chip and TV rating system.

Some of the useful information includes a timeline of legislation passed to make a standardized TV rating system uniform and mandatory for all shows to be rated on. It also focuses on the original legislation passed, along with all the revisions and add-ons up until the most recent one. The main act is called the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Over time, TV manufacturers became required to include a V-chip in every television set along with other new requirments.