Mod 1 The Spider and the Starfish

Module 1 Overview

Module 1 encompassed our study of HTML and CSS. Understanding HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language, is important for our course objectives, because it contains all of the content of a webpage by "marking-up" elements of text with tags. CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a language used to describe how these HTML elements are stylized. Understanding CSS is important for our class because we can describe how elements of a certain type are stylized each time throughout a webpage or even multiple webpages, rather than format each individual element every time.

Because I already had some previous knowledge of HTML and CSS, I found the Codecademy and W3Schools tutorials to be repetitive and not especially useful for me. For that reason, I have chosen to highlight a different assignment, The Spider and the Starfish. For this assignment, I read a story about the Spanish's failed attempts at conquering the Apaches. The Spanish were successful in conquering the Aztecs by attacking their capital, Tenochtitlan and capturing their leader; however, because the Apaches were decentrallized, those strategies did not carry over, and the Apaches were able to adapt and thwart the Spanish.

These events were repeated - nearly 500 years later, by MGM and other entertainment industries in their attempts to shut down popular P2P file-sharing companies Napster, and Kazaa. Because Napster was a centrallized company, MGM knew where to issue lawsuits and shut down Napster. Kazaa, on the otherhand, became even more decentrallized, with the original owner selling the company and having it relocated to Vanuatu - outside the legal jurisdiction of the United States. This decentrallization made it much more difficult for MGM to attack Kazaa and shut them down.

I enjoyed this story a lot, because it brought interesting historical insight into a modern internet issues. From examining the events of the Apaches and MGM today, it becomes clear to see the advantages of a decentrallized organization over the internet. After reading the entire chapter, I answered several questions regarding the reading below, which you can reach by scrolling down below the artifacts bar, or clicking any of the appropriate links in the navigation bar or title.

Selected Artifacts

The Spider and the Starfish

1. In the seventeenth century, why were the Spaniards unable to defeat the Apaches? What implications does this have concerning current, or future organizational competition?
The Spaniards were unable to defeat the Apaches because the Apaches were decentralized. The Spaniards’ strategy was to kill the main leader of their enemies, but the Apaches did not have one. The implication for organizations is that decentralized organizations will be difficult to beat because their competitors will have difficulties targeting their weaknesses.
2. Briefly compare and contrast centralized and decentralized organizations.
Centralized organizations have a clear hierarchy and a set management group. Centralized organizations usually have a main leader and location where their efforts are focused. Decentralized organizations on the other hand are often run by a group of people that share the same common goals.
3. List a few of the traits of a decentralized organization.
A decentralized organization has no leader, with a small span of control. The main goal for the leadership in a decentralized organization is to steer the organization in the right direction, rather than give orders that must be obeyed.
4. From a technical perspective, what is the primary difference between Napster and Kazaa?
The primary difference between Napster and Kazaa is that Napster was centralized on a central server while Kazaa was decentralized with many different users sharing their files and music. This allowed MGM to focus their legal efforts on Shawn Fanning, the developer of Napster and ultimately succeed in taking the service down. Kazaa, on the other hand, became further decentrallized once they were sold to a company that moved them to Vanuatu. This made it difficult for MGM to prosecute Kazaa.
5. Is this reading relevant to the current competition between new organizations such as Uber and Lyft and existing taxi companies? Why or why not?
The reading is relevant to the current competition between Uber, Lyft, and existing taxi companies in that Uber and Lyft are decentralized while taxi services are centralized. The drivers for the new organizations own and operate their own vehicles, using the company for their app. Taxi services are centralized since the companies own the vehicles and control the drivers. This makes it extremely difficult for taxi companies to compete, because each Uber/Lyft driver is their own independent contractor utilizing the app's services.