Poll Results (Week 8)

Do you think rating service is worth being implemented?

62.5% of the respondents agreed that rating service should be implemented because it is very helpful for users to know the rating of the content before viewing it.
37.5% of the respondents agreed that rating service should be implemented because because the users do not really care about the rating and just view it.

From poll analysis, this can be concluded that the majority preferred the implementation of rating service. Rating service gives people a better insight of how appropriate content would be for them. Especially for the parents, rating service would guide the parents to allow their children to either view the movie or not. For instance, in Malaysia, the current rating system states that viewer below 18 are forbidden to watch films or online issues that content excessive violent and horrifying scenes; non-excessive sex scenes or drug use and religious , political or mature telematic elements.

A few of the respondents felt that the rating service should not be implemented because most of them pay no interest on rating systems. Some state that the rating system would hinder the students to learn new things. Teenagers should be exposed to the world to prepare them for the future. Well, in this point parents play an important role to explain the significance of the actions in the movie to avoid confusion.

For me, I'll definitely support rating system. My little cousin desperately wanted to watch the 18SG horror movie. From that day onwards, I had to accompany her especially going to the washroom. The mind of a child is too fragile to accept such horrifying violence and murder.

What is your opinion?

Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)

Hello friends, once again I’m back with another part of a content rating for the entertainment part. Earlier I discussed about the general rating service for the internet which is mostly used for publishing purpose. Where as for the entertainment part it differs a little.

As all of us know, entertainment is a part of our life. Right?

No entertainment! No life! =)

Entertainment are getting so involved into explicit elements like violence and some sex elements. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating is intended to provide concise and impartial information about the content in computer games so users can be informed on the rating before using it.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

When users mainly parents who want to be secure their childrens from being exposed to explicit elements, they should adapt the habit of verifying the rating before using it. Practicing this habit will help to reduce the risk of kids and teenagers to be influenced by immorality elements.

Hope my post on how the rating is done in the entertainment part is helpful. So, do you verify the rating of the content before using it? Do share with us your thoughts. Have a great day.

References:

Entertainment Software Rating Board official website,

[Online], Retrieved 11th March 2009

URL:http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

Rating Service << Internet >> Content Selection

The Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSACi) is the rating service for the internet. After the year of 1999, it is folded into Internet Council Rating Association (ICRA). This system is basically implemented for the use of parents to monitor their children’s activity online while practicing free speech online.

Wonder how does this rating works?

The ratings are a list of codes each with a letter and digit. Each letter initiates the type and the digit shows the ranking of how explicit the content is:

Letter = (l)anguage, (n)udity, (s)ex, (v)iolence
Digit = 4 (most), 1 (least), 0 (implying no content)

Example A,
1. Vulgar language – l4
2. Frontal nudity – n3

3. Passionate kissing – s1
4. Destruction of objects – v2

Table 1 - Level of explicit rating:

URL:http://256.com/gray/docs/pics/rsac.html

This is where PICS comes in work. PICS is a voluntary self rating specification recommended by W3C which is a Platform for Internet Content Selections which is a protocol that enables rating systems to be read and understood by browsers, web masters and search engines. It is the HTML code of rating systems. Example of the HTML tag for Example A would be:

URL:http://256.com/gray/docs/pics/rsac.html

Basically content rating for the internet is very helpful to aware the users' mainly parents to identify if that particular content is suitable for their children.

Well I hope I have given a short brief and inclusive of examples on how rating system and content selection are implemented. What do you think about this post, do feel free to share your thoughts with us. Have a great blast. =)

References:

Recreational Software Advisory Council official website
[Online], Retrieved 3rd March 2009.

URL:http://www.rsac.org/

Stephen Balkam, Content Rating for the Internet and Recreational Software, Recreational Software Advisory Council [Online], Retrieved 3rd March 2009.

URL:http://web.archive.org/web/19970414061624/www.rsac.org/talk/balkam1.html