Glens Blog

[cameronmda20009-blog]

Week 5 Digital citizenship 1 - Politics and civic cultures

Communicative capitalism is an interesting term and probably inaccurate unless one simply looks at the performance and interpellation of political campaigns. The introduction of this week’s reading makes the somewhat surprising assumption that everyone expected the internet to somehow promote democracy and what those who promote ‘democracy’ have decided is ‘civil society’. This is an inherently flawed ideal, democracy as it exists in Western States is more accurately described as a Capitalist Oligarchy, which is in fact reflected by the internet and supported in its operation by the very communicative capitalism being discussed. 

It is to me a strange thing for intelligent researchers to point at the internet and exclaim “It did not free us like you said it would!” The internet, like all other of humankind’s fabrications, is a tool, it will do what it is used to do, and those who already have power, such as capitalist and political elites, are of course going to attempt to utilise any and all mediums of control and power that come along.

Jodi Dean (DCU School of Communications 2013) makes an interesting comparison when down grading all offered opinions on social media from expression to a ‘like count’, however, this type of evaluation does not seem to add anything to the situation, nor does it acknowledge the freedom that people feel, regardless of true emancipation, when they get to express an opinion where previously they have felt isolated or silenced.

There will always be an unequal co-option of invention quite simply because existing elites already control the means with which to operate and control or co-opt. That said, the internet has provided an equalising platform for activist groups to start holding political parties to account (Young 2010, pp. 209 - 211) for example groups like GetUp set up sites to track and publish the platform promises of political parties, to expose lies.

I do not think the internet is a failed Utopia, I think that the internet is very, very young, and has, as is the human way, been misused. Our concepts of capitalism, news, advertising, entertainment and communication simply have not evolved, we have applied all the things we already had pre-internet, to the internet, and simply hit the accelerator. Demonstrative of the relative youth of the internet is reflected in the take up of the internet as a preferred source of news, in 2008 one of Australias premier news sites, ABC News, received approximately 1 million unique viewers per month (Young 2010, p. 212). The ABC’s news TV program had more viewers than this per night.

The history of the internet, which seems strangely absent in discussions about what it should or shouldn’t do, has been convoluted and advanced without the specific intent of ever allowing it to go public. When the ARPANET (the first internet) was first developed its purpose was to enable communication between and within aspects of the US military in the event of a nuclear war (Reed 2014, pp. 31-34). After expanding through the involvement of the universities, counter culture revolutionaries who protested the Vietnam War (political dissidents) took an interest in the internet and assisted in its development as a tool of mass communication and information access (Reed 2014, p. 34). It seems somewhat premature for us now to act or think that the internet as we use it is an end result, rather than just another transformative stage of development.

References

DCU School of Communication 2013, IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 - Jodi Dean, 3 July, viewed 30 November 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ABPuNQ6IU.

Reed, TV 2014, Digitized lives: culture, power and social change in the Internet era, Routledge, New York.

Young, S 2010, ‘News, political reporting and the internet’, in How Australia Decides, Cambridge University Press, Victoria, Australia.

[2xglenos-blog]

A really great in-depth read thanks

I really like this sentence, Its very true

“I do not think the internet is a failed Utopia, I think that the internet is very, very young, and has, as is the human way, been misused”

I think with most new thing in life, overtime it gets up graded, like the car, first off it was unsafe and heavy, now its developed into an amazing mechanic/technology piece of machinery. 

Thanks 

Glen

[newblogger42-blog]

Visual Communities

How you see myself

With the many different platforms of social media, we can now share so much of ourselves and our lives online with others.  Particularly with those that live some distance away.  But how much do people actually want to know?  I might think it’s important, but others not so much.  And then what do we do when we are confronted with a selfie of our best friend? Again!  We ask why do they feel the need to constantly upload photos of themselves?  Who knows!  Some may call it narcissism (Swinburne 2016).

Lange (2009) discusses the human need for attention and social media platforms certainly provide an avenue to fulfill this need.  Quite ironically, Dr Sylvia Gearing (2013) explains in her Youtube video that taking selfies and posting on social media doesn’t give the viewer a real sense of who you are and doesn’t replace genuine face-to-face communication.

So how do we move on from here?  What is an acceptable form of sharing information about ourselves, whether via text or photos, that will be free from criticism or judgement?  We all have the right to express ourselves the way we want and whilst we may not agree with the act and find it very aggravating to be constantly bombarded with the same face day in, day out, perhaps we need to think about what is motivating them to engage in this behaviour.

Having said that, celebrities, such as Justin Bieber (Huffington Post 2013), use selfies to enhance their public images and use sexuality to achieve this.  There are thousands of photos on the internet of celebrities that are barely clothed or posing as if they are blowing a kiss to fans.  Whilst it may gain negative publicity, it is still publicity and keeps the celebrity (and even Jo Blog) in the forefront of viewers minds.

With the many platforms available; Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, even Tumblr, no longer will we be free of the avid selfie taker.  However we do have the choice as to whether we choose to engage with it.  And as communicators we can learn what is important to people from these behaviours, but Dr Gearing is right; digital should never replace meaningful face-to-face conversations when the opportunity permits.

References

Gearing, S 2013, ‘Generation Me - The Downside of Taking Selfies’ [video], Youtube, viewed 18 January 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=was0EQ0R8Ek>

Huffington Post 2013, ‘Justin Bieber’ [image], Huffington Post, viewed 18 January 2016, <http://www.huffingtonpost.com>

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of Affinity on Youtube’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Week 9 Learning Materials on Blackboard, 18 January, viewed 18 January 2016.

Swinburne Online 2016, ‘Week 9 Visual Communities’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Swinburne University of Technology, Learning Materials on Blackboard, 18 January, viewed 18 January 2016.

[luanabickel-deactivated20160307]

Hello,

Great read here.

Definitely agree when you say how celebrities use the selfies and visual platforms to promote themselves. On this week’s presentation we have also discussed about self-made celebrities. All via visual platforms. How do you see this kind of celebrity and their use of selfies for personal marketing?

Cheers

Luana

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[narellemda20009-blog]

Celebrities use of selfies is all about exposure and “getting their image out there” - always being “in YOUR face”. I always wonder whether they get tired of having to be so public; I could think of nothing worse that not have a little private time to zone out and “just be yourself”. How much more stress do people put themselves under? It’s a sad reflection on society today when one feels that they must always be in the limelight - makes you wonder, what their “quality of life” really is.

[2xglenos-blog]

Im liking they way you put the Blog into your words,

 Well done, Maybe most Celbs share the narcissistic trait mmmm  or is it their “people” telling them what to do to get their name out. It does get annoying day in day out the same people posting selfies, bogging up your Facebook, I get embarrassed for the some times. hahah

Thanks

Glen

[narellemda20009-blog]

Visual social media

The way we communicate online with social media has drastically changed in recent times. Rather than reading lots of text, we are drawn and focus on VISUAL social media – it catches our eye and we can devour visual material much faster. What initially began with websites, blogs (with comments of up to 1000 words) and then Facebook, has now bought us to microblogs where we “tweet” up to 140 characters on Twitter. Now social networking sites use more images and multi-media microblogs such as YouTube and Tumblr have arrived. The dedicated image-based social networking sites Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat now allow us to post with no words – here a picture means a thousand words.

A Picture Really Does Paint 1000 Words.        Photo Courtesy istockphoto.com

With the development of more sophisticated smartphones, camera photography has evolved and has drastically reduced the time and difficulty required to capture and share images. Previously we used photos as a “memoir” – a history or memory-keeping. Now, photos are used as a message in the present, saying, “here I am and this is what I’m doing now”.  According to Harrison and Barthel (2009), affordances of smartphones are being used creatively, to share, store and save what would previously have been called ‘banal” everyday content. With the ever increasing number of images being taken, edited and shared, filters and photographic tricks are giving images a sense of poetry and uniqueness.  The sharing of images among physically absent but electronically co-present friends means that people are “connected” and visuality is entangled and relational when online and offline. Hjorth and Pink (2014) refer to the “digital wayfarer”, the person in perpetual oscillation between online and offline and co-present in spaces in everyday life.

There are generational gaps in photo taking. According to InfoTrends (2015), older millenials (23-34 years old) are the most prolific digital camera photo-takers while the younger millenials (15-22 years old) are most likely to use their smartphones for most of the photos they take.

Generation Xers and Baby Boomers don’t use social networks other than Facebook to post photos, and mobile photographers prefer posting from their phones to Instagram and Snapchat.

References

Baym, NK & boyd, d 2012, ‘Socially mediated publicness: an introduction’, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53:6, p. 320-329.

Hjorth, L & Gu, K 2012, ‘The place of emplaced visualities: a case study of smartphone visuality and location-based social media in Shanghai, China’, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 26:5, p699-713.

Hjorth, L & Pink, S 2014, ‘New visualities and the digital wayfarer: reconceptualizing camera phone photography and locative media’, Mobile Media & Communication 2:1, pp. 40-57.

Moritz, D n.d., ‘The shift to visual social media – 6 tips for business (infographic)’, viewed 26 December 2015, < http://sociallysorted.com.au/shift-to-visual-social-media-6-tips-for-business-infographic/>.

PMA Staff 2015, ‘Generational gaps in imaging, a view from InfoTrends’, viewed 26 December 2015, <http://pmanewsline.com/2015/09/21/generational-gaps-in-imaging-a-view-from-infotrends/#.Vn4CVTaWGc8>.

[2xglenos-blog]

Nice Blog Thanks.

“Memoir” Never heard of that term before. I like it. I have noticed the longer Facebook has been going the more photos with out or with very little words are posted. The photo is telling the story.

Thanks

Glen

[ljt245]

Week 6 - Civic participation and the internet.

Blog post 4

The events of the Arab Spring encouraged a new optimism, that social media could advance democracy to oppressed corners of the globe.  Regimes would be overturned, warlords apprehended and injustice confronted (Swinburne Online 2013).  Come 2015 and spring has passed, little has changed and Joseph Kony is still at large (Radcliffe 2015).  Optimism has given way as activism begins to look more like slacktivism and we realise we did not transcend the public sphere simply by moving it online (Gerbaudo 2012, pp. 7-8: Neal 2012).  

Slacktivism (Lanker 2014)

Activism is a form of democratic participation, however social media is fundamentally unsuited to the rounded establishment and strengthening of democracy that advocates hoped for.  Democracy requires deliberation, quality debate, between equal but diverse participants, to achieve rationally motivated consensus (Radcliffe 2015).  Social media however discourages this diversity of opinion, constraining and reinforcing the views of individuals (Siapera 2012, p. 198).  In activism it is used in adversarial contexts, to organise, fund raise, direct and disseminate (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 3).  It is a tactical weapon, favouring affinity, dogmatism and disdain over engagement, debate and respect (Radcliffe 2015).  Not deliberation, simply activation.

Habermas’ public sphere emerged from 18th century coffee houses where pennies accessed a world of real and complex discourse producing rapid political, business, and scientistic developments (Kosner 2013b).  However, he warned it did not sit well with modern industrialised economies, co-opted by the influence of organisations and institutions.  Our online sphere shares this problem. Activists, as they did in the Arab Spring, demonstrate that ideas can be introduced, but that these are mediated by the profit motives of platform owners and opposed by the state’s increasing desire to monitor and controlling discourse and participation (Youmans and York 2012, p. 315-318).

‘Social Media The New Coffe House’ (Kosner 2013a).

In hindsight, the optimism around social media as a democratising force is overstated. I see it, as an extension of our offline world, an effective creator of weak ties.  A fallible human creation, expressed through code, affordances and policy, but constrained by our imagination, motives and nature (van der Negal 2013, pp. 5-8).  We understand the imperfection of our political and civil systems in our real life constructs, we shouldn’t be surprised when they appear in our online ones either, as if activism isn’t subject to hegemony.  Social media is a useful tactical tool of activism, but not the overwhelming democratising force we hoped it would be.  

References

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Tweets and the Streets : Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto, London.

Kosner, AW 2013a, ‘Social media the new coffee house?’ [Image], in Why Social Media Isn’t Doing For Us What London’s Coffee Houses Did For 17th Century, Forbes, viewed 8 December 2015, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/06/24/why-social-media-isnt-doing-for-us-what-londons-coffee-houses-did-for-17th-century/>.

Kosner, AW 2013b, Why Social Media Isn’t Doing For Us What London’s Coffee Houses Did For 17th Century, Forbes, viewed 8 December 2015, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/06/24/why-social-media-isnt-doing-for-us-what-londons-coffee-houses-did-for-17th-century/>.

Lanker, C 2014, Ted Talk: Slacktivism, 1 May, viewed 8 December 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtjvAsppdLk>.

Neal, C 2012, The public sphere and the new media, Social Media Today, viewed 8 December 2015, <http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/public-sphere-and-new-media>.

Radcliffe, D 2015, ‘The Blog, Dashed Hopes: Why Aren’t Social Media Delivering Democracy?’, The Blog, 22 October, viewed 8 December 2015, < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-radcliffe/dashed-hopes-why-arent-so_b_8343082.html?ir=Australia>.

Siapera, E 2012, ‘Socialities and Social Media’, in Introduction to New Media, Sage, London, pp 191-208.

Swinburne Online 2015, ‘Week 6: Digital Citizenship 2: Activism and Protest’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 5 December 2015.

van der Negal 2013, ‘Faceless Bodies: Negotiating Technological and Cultural Codes on reddit gonewild’, Scan Journal of Media Arts Culture, vol. 10, no. 2, Macquarie University.

Youmans, W, & York, J 2012, ‘Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements’, Journal Of Communication, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 315-329.

[adigitalcitizen]

Enjoyed reading your blog post.

Great video clip. I found the presented history of origin and evolution of the public sphere and your observations insightful.

I wonder if the current wave of slacktivism will eventually make way for a renewed social activism, one in which social media has a more effective role?

[2xglenos-blog]

Really in-depth Blog this week, Thanks 

I wonder tho is something better then nothing, Their must be a better system, to keep the enthusiasm in people that sign up i.e to see Kony get caught. Somehow they need to make people care longer. Anyway I'm just blaring. Great post 

Glen 

[narellemda20009-blog]

Activism, protest and social media

There is no doubt that the use of social media is widespread.  We live in a society that regards technology and science so highly that it is almost “worshipped” as religion.

But there are different sides to social media that we need to consider. On the one hand, it provides a democratic, emancipatory and participatory means through which citizens can say what they want, whenever they want. New media is used to become informed, to inform and to construct social and political ties with others. 2011, the “year of the protester” saw activists use social media (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) in Cairo, Madrid, Barcelona and New York to create and exchange user-generated information using social networking sites, that led to the so-called “Twitter-” and “Facebook revolutions”.

On the other hand, the developers and owners of social media platforms are driven by commercial considerations – they want to make money, access new markets, increase users and avoiding negative publicity, which may be at odds with the way their sites are used. In short, these platforms are not designed for the activist - company policies limit users in terms of community policing practices, anonymity, offensive and violent content and intellectual property rights. Facebook, for example, doesn’t allow pseudonyms in accounts: anonymity, especially in socio-political actions, is vital for privacy, liberty and dignity. From a corporate point of view, real people are easier to target for online commerce and consumer data.

Activists utilise blogs, social media sites and mobile apps to promote their message, raise awareness and gain support.  How much of this, in reality, turns into action? It is a debate between true activism (changing the hearts and minds of the public to effect real change) and slacktivism (where people simply click a button and make only nominal supportive gestures rather than truly engaging in a cause). Gladwell maintains that social media activism relies on weak tie relationships – “followers” on Twitter or “friends” and “likes” on Facebook, and that these platforms are used mainly for entertainment purposes, whereas meaningful activism requires a strong robust organisational structure where people show up in person (McCafferty 2011).

Clay Shirky, a technological optimist says, “as the communication landscape gets denser, more complex and more participatory, the networked population is gaining greater access to information, more opportunities to engage in public speech and an enhanced ability to undertake collective action”.  Social media, them, is a tool of the activist, rather than being activism itself – it amplifies and enables people to gather together by eliciting an emotive response.

An interesting video clip on why social media isn’t good for charity (sorry, can’t figure out how to load it)

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/11/18/clicktivism-why-social-media-not-good-charity

References:

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Tweets and the Streets : Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto, London.

Iskander, E 2011, ‘Connecting the National and the Virtual:
Can Facebook Activism Remain Relevant After Egypt’s January 25 Uprising?’, International Journal of Communication 5 (2011), Feature 1225–1237.

Joseph, Sarah 2012, ‘Social Media, Political Change, and Human Rights’, Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 35(1), p145-188.

Kahn, Richard & Kellner, Douglas 2004, ‘New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging’, New Media Society 6; 87.

McCafferty, Dennis 2011, ‘Activism vs. Slacktivism’, Communications of the ACM 54(12), p17-19.

Valenzuela, S, Arrigada, A, & Scherman, A 2012, ‘The social media basis of youth protest behaviour: the case of Chile’, Journal of Communication 62: 299-314.

Valenzuela, Sebastián 2013, ‘Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion Expression, and Activism’, American Behavioral Scientist 57(7) 920–942.

Youmans, W, & York, J 2012, Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements’, Journal Of Communication, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 315-329.

[adigitalcitizen]

Great blog post!

I like how you highlighted the commercial motivations behind social media platforms and their implications on the activist. I have read about growing concerns over how data is being collected by platforms, such as Facebook (though something as simple as the who use the rainbow filter on their profile page) and used for political insight.

Adding the definitions to both activism and slacktivism gave a clear indication to how though social media the latter has deviated from the former.

[2xglenos-blog]

Really great bog, 

I like the first you tube clip, It makes sense, My wife works in hospitals and believes we do need to have an opt out strategy for organ donation, as it is true make it easy as possible for people. the world only seems interested about looking after them selves and less worried about the person next to them, its a shame really. Thanks for the great info

Glen

[tiarnasaur-deactivated20160706]

Week 5 – Digital Citizenship – Politics & Civics cultures

Politics and digital citizenship both now play a major interconnected role. With the digital world now helping communicate and campaign for these political parties and members.

The use of social media has been seen to have a great effect for the recognition of politics with voters of all ages alike (Young, 2010). It could be seen that social media has had a positive shift in connecting younger people with politics. It’s especially shown with the online creation of ‘young’ political parties which often communicate and organise events through social media. This presence also has a negative effect for those who do not want to participate in this active politics culture when it can sometimes be thrust in their face by enthusiastic friends inviting them to events that you may not possibly care about – (talking from firsthand experience here!). This enthusiasm often creates the opposite, with people unfriending those with political affiliations. Whether or not you see politics being on Facebook as a good thing it certainly has made an impact and has raised awareness.

The success of politics through exposure on social media is somewhat mixed. If you are already a publicly liked figure you will do well regardless but if you are disliked or unknown there will be a great struggle for them. This is increasingly the case with older political candidates who don’t quite know how to use the digital world to their advantage and often do themselves more harm than good. Comments made or posted on social media are often a sticking point for a lot of people and if there is a mistake made with one comment most people will remember the comment and scrutinise the person for making the comment even if the context was not present.

The way the world is evolving is requiring politicians and people of political backgrounds to become involved in social media to raise awareness of the cause. The less a politician uses social media the less they are recognised by tech savvy people whereas the more a politician uses social media the more they are recognised.

Take Nationals NSW leader Mike Baird’s Back to the Future day video for example.

By joining social media many users are leaving themselves open to criticism and scrutiny. There is no filter for people to not receive abusive posts so many politicians will have to face this if they join the social media revolution. This is an unfortunate aspect of politics and social media as many people will vent their frustrations through a computer screen with the politician being the target of the abuse.

Although social media has now been around for a while it can still provide a new way to conduct politics and possibly even elections!

References

Young, S 2010, ‘News, political reporting and the internet’, in How Australia Decides, Cambridge University Press, Victoria, Australia.

[newblogger42-blog]

I love the paragraph, “There is no filter for people to not receive abusive posts so many politicians will have to face this if they join the social media revolution. This is an unfortunate aspect of politics and social media as many people will vent their frustrations through a computer screen with the politician being the target of the abuse”. Social media has afforded an avenue perhaps where the digital citizen has gained so much confidence in themselves and the ability to be somewhat anonymous, that they feel it is acceptable to hurl abuse at someone and I agree that it is an unfortunate part of politics in today’s digital society, regardless of whether the politician is a failure or not.

[luanabickel-deactivated20160307]

The power of influence Social media has over people’s opinion has grown dramatically over the last years, also given amateur politicians space to express themselves.Social Media platforms give citizens the right to have an active voice and express their concerns and beliefs. It gives the public the opportunity to interact with them and know who they really are.

[2xglenos-blog]

Great blog this week, As a politician, your damed if you do, damed if you don't really, I understand in this day and age you needed to be on social media to your push your brand/polices.  

[stacienewbiggin-blog]

Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

In times of crisis the flow of communication is arguably more important than ever. Social media platforms provide a globalised way where, real time, on the ground, information is constantly updated into the flow of communication. This feed can be added to and viewed by anyone on the Internet and has now been labelled as a form of crowdsourcing, which is defined as ‘the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers’ (Merriam Webster Online 2014).

(Koekemoer, 2013)

Traditional media now looking to the general public

Traditional media outlets are now turning to social media to gauge the public’s response to a crisis. Emergency and government services are also using crowdsourcing as a way to receive updates and then provide appropriate information to assist. An example of this was the use of Twitter during the 2011 South East Queensland floods crisis. In particular, the Queensland police and emergency services found that worldwide users shared and retweeted flood related material and that users closer to the disaster shared first hand updates of their own experiences via the hashtag #qldfloods. Within the flow of communication found with this hashtag, emergency services and media updates were amongst the most visible (Posetti & Lo, 2012) making it a worthwhile and targeted way to reach the appropriate people.

Crowdsourcing, the negative side

This the heightened reliance on crowdsourcing in times of crisis while providing an incredible funnel of information, can also lead to misinformation and rumours. After the Boston bombings in April 2013, video evidence become ‘an incredibly valuable tool, but that investigators often run into trouble because they’ve “asked the public to decide what’s relevant."’ (Glynn 2013). This flow of public created information led to a subreddit named r/findbostonbombers, which faced extreme controversy after the online community named Sunil Tripathi as a suspect in the bombings (Shontell 2013). Although, not in any way related to the crimes his family’s ‘Find Sunil’ Facebook page was flooded with comments and accusations. This crowd-sourced campaign was also fuelled by media outlets who later apologised to the family of Sunil.

(Oremus 2013)

References

Bruns, A, Burgess, J, Crawford, K & Shaw, F 2012, #qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Arc Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, pp 7-10, viewed 17 January 2016, <http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>.

‘crowdsourcing entry’ 2014, Merriam Webster, viewed 17 January 2016 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing>.

Glynn, C 2013, 'Boston Marathon Bombing "Crowdsourcing:” How citizens are using the Internet to help solve crimes’, CBS News, 18 April, viewed 17 January 2016, <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/boston-marathon-bombing-crowdsourcing-how-citizens-are-using-the-internet-to-help-solve-crimes/>.

Koekemoer, A 2013, 'Social Media Ahead’ [image], 6 top tips for handling a social media crisis, Memeburn, viewed 17 January 2016, <http://memeburn.com/2013/01/6-top-tips-for-handling-a-social-media-crisis/>.

Oremus, W 2013, 'Reddit’s findbostonbombers page is no more.’ [image], Reddit Stands Down, Slate, viewed 17 January 2016, <http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/04/19/crowdsourced_boston_bombing_investigation_reddit_stands_down.html>.

Shontell, A 2013, 'What It’s Like When Reddit Wrongly Accuses Your Loved One Of Murder’, Business Insider Australia, 27 July, viewed 17 January 2016, <http://www.businessinsider.com.au/reddit-falsely-accuses-sunil-tripathi-of-boston-bombing-2013-7?r=US&IR=T>.

[2xglenos-blog]

Thanks for a interesting read Stacie, As i mentioned in my Blog i believe using social media as crowdsourcing to help solve problems in society is the best use of social media to date, given the advancements of technology imagine whats next 

Glen

[tiarnasaur-deactivated20160706]

Week 10 - Social Gaming

When I was a child I was born into the era of socially acceptable gaming. The Nintendo 64 had just been released and if you had one you were pretty important and luckily enough I was gifted one for Christmas one year. I still have mine today and it holds some pretty great memories of gaming with friends and even family.

Mind you this was long before the internet was accessible and affordable to many people in Australia. Today I would still call myself a gamer even though I don’t get to play as often as I would like but in saying that I can definitely say from personal experience that the dynamics of gaming have changed!

Today the gaming industry is worth billions of dollars not just from the buying of the games and the consoles themselves but from add-ons. Even free games suck you in with their highly needed add-ons. Many mobile apps need you to pay money to purchase in game items and I’m sure many parents would say a lot of their credit cards have become the unknowing victims of their children’s in app purchases. All of these games have some sort of addictive component that drives the need for these add-ons. Every few weeks you’ll see a story in the news about how some parent’s toddler has accessed their account and gone on a rampage buying in game items unbeknownst to the parent. This then ensues angry emails to the game provider asking for refunds (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2016).  

We are now far from the days where if you wanted play a game with someone you had to have them come over to your house. Now all you need to do is connect to a server and you can play with people from all over the world! With this connectivity comes socialisation. People all over the world are able to bond and share stories regarding a game that they play together which in turn forms a kind of mateship.

So many people have ‘online friends’. People they’ve met in an online space that they have never actually met in real life. This was once weird but has somewhat become the social norm now. How you socialise has forever changed and our need to socialise will always be there so having a different place to facilitate the socialisation helps those that may in real life be shy (Positivevideogaming.web.unc.edu, 2016).

It may sound funny but people are now actually paid to play games and there are even national and world championships. League of Legends (LoL) – An MMORPG - even has its own university units dedicated to it now. It may be weird but I would say gaming is here to stay!

References

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, (2016). In-app purchases. [online] Available at: https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/internet-phone/in-app-purchases [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].

Positivevideogaming.web.unc.edu, (2016). How Video Games Can Be Social | Positive Effects of Video Games on Society. [online] Available at: http://positivevideogaming.web.unc.edu/sample-page/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].

[2xglenos-blog]

Nice Blog, It's so funny, I just put on my blog about how i received the original Nintendo (the one prior to the 64) for christmas. Wow how far we have come from those days. Finishing this current TP means the finish to my degree so I'm  looking forward to understanding how to connect to a server on my ps3 and play multiplayer. At the present i haven no idea. Thanks for your blogs they have been a great and interesting read. all the best

Glen

[cameronmda20009-blog]

Week 10: Social gaming: playing the crowd

I play online games, mostly ddo (Dungeons & Dragons Online) although my connection speed makes it a painful experience on occasion.

I have also introduced the kids to a collaborative online came called Arcane Legends to try and get them used to the concept of working together instead of alone, so far so good, although they still prefer Minecraft (which is fine, it is a good platform for demonstrating expression through construction). They also think it is funny to say that their dad kicks ass on Lego Play Station games that I play with them.

One of the things that they are developing through their guided journey in a MMORPG with my assistance, is when to spot trolling and time wasters, and who to respond to and who to ignore. If anyone contacts the littlest one (who is 7) she gives me the ipad to read the comment and I decide if it needs blocking etc, and I explain what and why I have decided to either allow communication or block it. I hope that this is helping them to develop their own sense of how to navigate an online environment.

Humphries and de Zwart cite an argument of Pargman and Jakobsson (2014 p. 5) where gamers move between frames while communicating, from an individual player, to an embodied person (that has physical needs) to being ‘in character’ as a role playing toon or avatar. This is the case, however, the individuals doing so are not born knowing how to socialise through these scenarios, they are socialised into an online gaming paradigm, through learning and experience, different and separate from face to face physical reality.

This is an argument that I have made pretty much the entire unit duration (sorry if I am boring my public!), that socialisation, dealing with trolls and bullies online, crowdsourcing information and participation in providing data are learned social activities that require guidance and experience to navigate, not government regulation or protection. 

A reinforcing point that seems to be lacking in discourse surrounding other online behaviour is the identification of the fact that individuals bring their own ethnocentric ideals and behaviour to the games and online interaction as well as “their cultural background, their education levels, their gender, their age and their own individual moral compass.” (de Zwart & Humphries 2014, p. 17).

Here is an interesting twist on RPG that has, I believe, just been released.

Online games provide a brilliant resource for other online fields to study established communities that have already experienced the problems that mainstream networked communities are only just starting to experience. Funnily though, up until recently gamers were ignored or thought of as aberrant due to their commitment to the gaming worlds.

References de Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014,’ The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online’, Cultural Studies Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 77-99.

Suzor, N & Woodford, D 2013, ‘Evaluating consent and legitimacy amongst shifting community norms: An EVE Online case study’, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 1-14.

[tiarnasaur-deactivated20160706]

I think no matter which way you put it behavior in an online environment will always be the defining factor for things like this

[2xglenos-blog]

Really interesting you have got your children involved with online gaming at a young age, Over the course of this subject i have started to change my opinion with kids online. I can see the positives of introducing them to online environment now as see this is a kind of education for the technology world that lies ahead. Great read and thanks for an inside to your life  

[2xglenos-blog]

Blog ocho (8) Week 10: Social gaming: playing the crowd

It was the Christmas 1992 when I first lost my mind,  unwrapping my first Nintendo game console along with games Super Mario and Duck Hunt, what more could a 7 year old want in life.

It's amazing to see how far gaming technology has come in 23 years. Now a 25 billion dollar industry games like War of war craft, Candy crush and Call of duty are all popular trending games available through consoles and digital communities (Lee-Halts 2012).

Still trying to master Fifa soccer 2014 on my PlayStation, I’m classes as a casual gamer, and actually get lost when people start taking about gaming acronyms MM, MUS’s and MMORPG (massively multiple online role-playing games) aaaaahhhhh help. (O’Neill 2008)

It is easy to see how gaming has taken off with the social media boom, with gaming companies cashing in by coinciding with media giants like Facebook to leverage members off each other to create social gaming.  At present Social gaming is the latest trend that requires the individual to be involved in a multiplayer situation, that is based on a social platform and provides uses with an identity. (O’Neille 2008)

 Social gamers can easily turn into hardcore gamers with people immersing themselves in roleplaying fantasy games, spending up to 18 hours a week on games such as World of War craft. According to research the benefits of people who play such games are 25% faster at decision-making, creative and better at multi tasking then people that don’t play online games. With the downs side, people can become depressed, violent and prone to obesity (Lee-Hotz, 2003).

 To conclude my blog for the last time, you may remember I asked these questions from my first blog: Has society forgone its identity through technology?  Have we sold our soles to social media? Or has creating hubs off digital communities enhances our lives for the better? These questions are what I find myself asking, and after this 12-week journey of Digital Communities I feel I will have an answer. So...

Through the vast use of social media and technology, we now can create our own circle of digital communities where we can collaborate, innovate and interact like never before. We have been gifted a platform to voice our opinions and protest against what we find socially unacceptable. Through the multiple uses of our social media society has been able to innovate technology to improve lives like never before. Yes, there are Trolls that try to disrupt and create unrest, but history has shown us unsocial and unacceptable behaviour has effected society pre-technology advances, and through development of government polices and punishment hopefully situations can be mitigated. No matter if we like it or not Technology will continue to advance and I now feel that creating a hub of digital communities have enhanced our lives for the better.

 Glen    

References:

Lee Hotz, R 2013, When gaming is good for you: Hours of intense play change the Adult Brain; Better Multitasking, Decision making and even creativity, The wall street Journal, viewed 26 January 2016.<http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203458604577263273943183932>

O’Neill, N 2008, What Exactly are Social Games, Social Times, viewed 26 January 2016. < http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-games/1695>

 Images:

Lepeitit, J and Bridgman A 2013, Gaming, then and now[image], Gaming, Then and Now (Part 3), Dorkly, viewed 26 January 2016.

< https://www.dorkly.com/post/56415/gaming-then-now-part-3>

 Lee Hotz, R 2013, When gaming is good for you [image], When gaming is good for you, The wall street journal, viewed 26 January 2016.<http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203458604577263273943183932>

 Performance measurement in the social gaming industry – KPIs for online games 2010, Social gaming info-graphic [image], Performance measurement in the social gaming industry – KPIs for online games, Game spectrum, viewed 26 January 2016. < http://www.gamespectrum.bg/?page=home&cat=hot-topics&id=417>

[2xglenos-blog]

Blog Siete (7) Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

The evolution of digital cameras has coincided with the rapid development of social media platforms i.e Instagram, Snap chat, Facebook and YouTube to orchestrate a new era of visual communication and digital communities. Its now common practice to take a photo, upload it to your digital communities tag your location and with in minutes have your friends and foes comment or like.

 It’s not hard to imagine that the most popular form of visual communication in this day and age is a Selfie, Author Saltz (2014) describe a selfie as ‘A fast self-portrait, made with a smart phone, immediately distributed into a network, is an instant visual communication of where we are, what we are doing, who we think we are, and who we think is watching’.

Many people have opinions on why we take selfies with half believing we are in a narcissistic age of self-gratification while others portray it as a communication tool and it’s more about being your own digital avatar. (Saltz 2014)

 Now we understand a selfie is a form of digital communication, what do you believe Mr. Rudd was trying to convey when he took this selfie getting cut while shaving, then posting this on social media? What I see is a Prime minister trying to show he is a normal Australian Citizen that also gets cut while shaving. Did this really happen, who knows? Did he get massive media attention? Yes, Did he get more votes? Possibly. Collaborating though this new kind of imaging communities allows people into your virtual space to develop a personalised media.(Hjorth, 2009 p.1)  

Thanks to the new age of digital communication artist like Justin Bieber can be discovered through YouTube. These types of videos of affinity helped Justin to share his sing and song writing talents to a large audience, eventually making him one of the biggest names in the world. With over a billions uses You Tube is seen a popular tool for not only social homemade videos but ideal for communication and advertising.  

 Thanks to social media such as you tube, snap chat face book even reddit gone wild, society has an opportunity to bare all, make money and express themselves like never before, reaching an audience beyond there closed digital communities.

Glen

References:

Hjorth, L 2009, 'Imaging communities: gendered mobile media in the Asia-Pacific', Asia - Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, vol. 90309, pp. 1-31.

 Saltz, J 20014, Art at Arms length: A History of the selfie, viewed 19 January 2016 <http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/history-of-the-selfie.html >

Image:

News.com.au 2013,Kenin Rudd cutting himself shaving [image], Kevin Rudd cuts himself shaving, then shares it on Twitter,news.com.au, viewed 19 January 2016.                                                           <http://www.news.com.au/national/kevin-rudd-cuts-himself-shaving-then-shares-it-on-twitter/story-fnho52ip-1226676991326> 

Criticsofmusic.com 2013, Justin Bieber [image], Vocal range and profile: Justin Bieber post puberty, viewed 19 January 2016 <http://www.criticofmusic.com/2013/04/vocal-profile-justin-bieber-post-puberty.html>

Video:

The Chainsmokers 2014,#Salfie, January 29, viewed 19 January 2016.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdemFfbS5H0>

[tiarnasaur-deactivated20160706]

Trolling and Social Media Conflict

Along with the positives of social media and the internet also follows with a long list of negatives. A couple of these major negatives are trolling and social media conflict. With the ability for every single person to be able to express their opinion often comes conflict between these opinions, it can be in the form of arguments or even cyber bullying. In recent times it has come to light how common this is and ultimately the damning effects it has on those that are exposed to it. Unfortunately it seems to be an aspect of the internet and a reality for some that may never change. Trolling can be seen to be many things but often results in one online user harassing, manipulating or bullying another. As petty as this may seem it is a crude reality to life on the internet. Over half of all teenagers in Australia have been bullied online and almost the same numbers of them have in some way or another engaged in cyber bullying (bullyingstatistics.org, n.d). I’m not sure about you but that’s especially worrying to know that the entire teen population has someway either been victimised or involved in cyber bullying. Many of these trolling activities seem to be an active culture of many online groups especially those who hide behind an alias on online discussion boards such as Reddit and 4chan. These discussion boards in some ways are policed, this is especially indicative of Reddit. Reddit has a set of rules and guidelines each user must adhere to when posting to a thread. Failure to do this will result in the post or comment being deleted, your account being suspended or even your account being forcefully deleted by administrators. Although this is always enforced it still begs the question as to why these things still happen when the consequences are openly known… In Australia there has been a recent crusade on those so called ‘Trolls’ and cyber bullies. With police enacting task forces and contact lines for those that feel that they have been a victim of these continuous acts. Although this has happened the trolling has not stopped even though there are now severe consequences to a person’s actions online. It may seem to be that the authority and risk presence makes people want to offend by trolling even more to test the authority of the claims. No matter how many times you may say to someone not to do something they will still do it, many of these times to spite you. For those that are growing up with this behaviour it may seem that it’s just what everybody does and is comparatively normal but those looking from the outside from older generations, this behaviour is deplorable. Social media has also seemed not to change the way others bully or harass each other but has provided a new avenue in which to do it (Boyd, 2014). The facelessness of the internet will always be a cause for concern especially those who are skilled enough to hide tracing factors of their online identity. Ultimately to change the attitude on trolling and cyber bullying a cultural change altogether needs to happen but it may seem that another avenue may be adopted rather than the behaviour changing.

References Boyd, D 2014, ‘Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp 128-52.

Bullying Statistics, (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html [Accessed 7 Jan. 2016].

[2xglenos-blog]

Thanks for an insightful post, Your correct it is a worry that so many people out their have been bullied. Im not sure if other people think of this but what is going to happen in the generations to come. At present the internet and social media is relatively young, I get a little concerned for my children (when I have them haha) and what they have to go through.  

[ljt245]

Week 7 -  Bullying and harassment online.

Blog post 5

What is bullying?  The collapsing of contexts.

“There’s no bullying at my school, everyone’s much too chill.” – Luke, age 16, Sydney.

With a third of all teenagers having experienced annoying or menacing behaviour online, communities are rightly concerned about the issue of bullying and the safety of children (Lenhart 2007).  However, the term has become a one size fits all description of harassing behaviour in online spaces that has confused the issue (boyd 2014, p. 131).  Olweus (cited in boyd 2014, p. 131) says bullying is defined by power distance, repetition and aggression, very different from the forwarding of an unflattering pic on Instagram for a laugh, or malicious gossip that often goes by the same name.  This blurring from a generational misunderstanding between those experiencing the behaviour and those in a position to report them, is damaging because the behaviours and the technologies that conduct them are all different, and so require different interventions to address them (Fuller 2014).

How does cyberbullying affect you? (MySecureCyberspace 2010).

Why do kids do all this stuff?

“Adults just don’t get social media.  Like if I put a status up and it doesn’t get 50 likes I delete it, you guys don’t know what that’s about.” – Owen, age 16, Sydney.

More often, aggressive online behaviours between teens fit Boyd’s (2014, p. 138) definition of drama: performative, interpersonal conflict in front of an engaged audience.  While teens have more autonomy than children, they still lack agency in much of their lives, and they know it.  Identity creation and evaluation of others falls within their zone of influence and social media gives them the opportunity to exercise it (Boyd 2014, p. 142).  Screens put distance between actions and consequences in ways that developing minds don’t always appreciate, resulting in issues that get out of hand before the participants realise (Kids Health 2015).

Cyberbullying: what it is (O’Brien 2014).

Do kids need protecting?

“It happens all the time, a girl will dis someone on their social media and like 15 girls get involved and the person comes back and says why didn’t you tag my so I could hear your lies straight away, and it’s on.” – Terry, age 16, Sydney.

In his discussion of agonism, McCosker (2014, p. 215) suggests the value of adversarial interaction online for productive impact.  In other words, that aggressive exchanges online can be a good thing.  For me though, the safety of teens in online spaces it too big a price to pay for the tempering of adolescent character.  Bullying may be more common offline than on, but we do not ignore it in the real world and have a moral duty to apply the same standards to our online spaces (Queensland Government 2015).  They may have different norms but at their heart remain just places for the interaction of people.  Lacking the structural defences and resources of adults, our adolescents need our protection (Boyd 2014, p. 150).  The efforts to combat bullying and other harassing behaviour that teens can be subject to are worthwhile.

To This Day (To This Day 2013).

References.

Boyd, D 2014, ‘Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp 128-52.

Fuller, G 2014, ‘Cyber-safety’: What are we actually talking about?, The Conversation, 27 February, viewed 22 September 2015, <http://theconversation.com/cyber-safety-what-are-we-actually-talking-about-23505>.

Kids Health 2015, Cyberbullying – bullying from a distance, Kids Health, viewed 19 December 2015, < http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=288&id=2704>.

Lenhart, A 2007, Cyberbullying, Pew Research Centre, viewed 19 December 2015, < http://www.pewinternet.org/2007/06/27/cyberbullying/>.

McCosker, A 2014, YouTrolling as provocation: Tube’s agonistic publics, Convergence, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217.

MySecureCyberspace 2010, Think Time: How Does Cyberbullying Affect You?, 30 November, viewed 20 December 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oGFh0mwrjM>.

O’Brien, J 2014, ‘Cyberbullying: what it is’ [image], Jean O’Brien, viewed 20 December 2015, < http://www.jeanobrien.com/2014/01/29/cyberbullying-advice-infographic-for-barnardos/>.

Queensland Government 2015, Bullying and Cyberbullying facts, QLD Gov, viewed 1 January 2016, <https://www.qld.gov.au/disability/children-young-people/bullying/facts.html>.

To This Day 2013, To this day, 18 February, viewed 20 December 2015, <https://vimeo.com/59956490>.

[luanabickel-deactivated20160307]

Definitely bulling and trolling have always been an issue in society however, it is now more visible than ever. I believe bids need to be educated about the issue not protected, they will eventually need to learn how to deal with the problem themselves, and it would prepare them for life later on. Very informative post though.

[2xglenos-blog]

Well said mate, you have deliver some really interesting facts. Unfortunately education for the Troll and education on how to deal with Trolls seems to be the answer along with harder penalties. If teenaged were taught the why trolls and bullies act this way may soften the blow to the unwilling victim. 

[narellemda20009-blog]

Crowdsourcing

In times of crisis or emergencies, social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook provide an innovative means of improving the flow of real time information, enabling appropriate action to be taken. As well as mainstream news media, people affected by events can share information, experiences, photos and videos that can be crucial to public knowledge, response and recovery efforts. This is the basis of crowdsourcing – obtaining information, services and ideas from a large group of people, including the online community.

The best known example of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, the extensive, up-to-date online encyclopaedia. Tools are available that make crowdsourced information and images available to the public on maps, so-called social mapping. Ushahidi is probably the most well known of these tools, developed originally to monitor civil conflict during the Kenyan elections of 2007. Using SMS, social media platforms and the web, an event could be depicted on a map as it unfolded over time. One issue that needs to be addressed in any  crowdsourced content is the authenticity and accuracy of the information.

In his blog on iRevolution, Patrick Meier  (2015) describes how he used UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles or drones) and Pix4D drone mapping software to produce a detailed map of the village of Panga, Nepal which was devastated by the “Ghorka” earthquake on 25 April 2015.

3D images of Panga created using Pix4D software

Bringing technology, humanitarian and local community partners together, they were able to produce a 3D map from thousands of images captured by the drones. This indicated the damaged areas, buildings that had been destroyed and those that were structurally unsafe. The maps were printed on huge banners, and then crowdsourced: locals added their knowledge by identifying such things as the location of debris, temporary shelters and drinking water. This added a rich, contextual social layer to the map, which added to further discussions, strategies and priorities for the recovery and rebuilding the Panga.

Compare the quality of the maps: satellite imagery and digital images from the drones -

This story really resonated with me because I own and fly a quadcopter, similar to those used in Nepal by Meier. They are amazing gadgets and their applications are endless – I use mine to find the wild pigs hiding and destroying the sugar cane on the farm where I live (do you know how to tell the difference between wild bush pigs and wild pigs that live in sugar cane? Bush pigs have razor-sharp teeth; pigs living in sugar cane have rotten, sugar-decayed teeth). Flying drones are great fun and a great way to spend one’s free time.

Meier, P 2015, ‘Introducing WeRobotics’, viewed 23 December 2015, < http://irevolution.net>.

Meier, P 2015, ‘Aerial Robotics in the Land of Buddha’, viewed 23 December 2015, <http://irevolution.net/2015/09/28/aerial-robotics-in-the-land-of-buddha/>.

Pix4D 2015, ‘Mapping Nepal: Drones and the future of disaster response’, viewed 23 December 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOXmju2bCpQ>.

DJI 2015, ‘DJI Stories – Crisis mapping in Nepal’, viewed 23 December 2015, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXkcvzxBsrY>.

[2xglenos-blog]

Thank you narellemda20009 for such a great and insightful blog on crowdsourcing.It was really interesting and I learned a lot.

I really enjoyed the clip on Nepal, this earthquake highly resinates with me as my wife and I were suppose to be trekking there when the tragedy happened, Lucky but unlucky my wife could not get insurance due to her heart problem. 

I believe crowd mapping is one of the best innovations that can help the whole of society.

I also loved your experience using drones in the sugar cane.

Top effort 

Regards

Glen 

[2xglenos-blog]

Blog Seis (6) Week 8: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

Bush fires, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and terrorism seem to be an unfortunate reality on our ever-changing world leaving long term devastating effect. For so long we have relied on outdated bias media outlets to report and advise on times of crisis. Thankfully entrepreneurs have been proactive to help mitigate the disaster affects to society using social media and other key innovative media tools to distribute information and co-ordinate help instantly using crowdsourcing.

So what is Crowdsourcing?  Howe (2006) describes crowdsourcing is taking a challenge faced by an organisation or society then instead of relying on internal R&D departments to develop a solution, they invite outside expertise and the general public to be involved to help solve the problem.

This is not a new technique; as for years Business has taken to our digital communities to encourage the crowd interaction as way to generate innovative ideas to develop competitive advantage.

This is a great youtube clip on the founder of Ushahid an innovative crowsourcing tool to help society in times of crisis.

 Recently in a time of crisis crowdsourcing has been most effective with society using their digital communities i.e Facebook and Twitter to communicate. These sources give individuals and communities fast up-to-date information from authorities or people in similar catastrophic situations to help report from ground zero.

 Where pictures speak louder then words crowdmapping is now more popular then ever. Similar to crowdsourcing however crowdmapping is highly effective in may other ways, from giving society a visual of crisis as they unfold, can be useful in catching wanted persons, it also gives local citizens a visual voice to map local issues from pot holes to signage. (Crowdmapping 2015)

In Australia bushfire has become an unfortunate way of life. And with the use of both crowdmapping and crowdsourcing application the recent fires in Adelaide were made easier to manage.  Fire fighters were able to pinpoint the exact spots on where the fires were, predict soon to be affected town , locate distress residence and then priorities to where the crews should be deployed (Williamson 2015). 

This new way of using technology is effective in many ways, it easily saves lives giving residents in affected area all the information needed by fellow citizens and authorities to implement their fire plan and helps locate priority citizens in distress. 

Having information communicated so freely over the Internet can raise the question of authenticity of the information provided. Previously learning about personality traits of trolls on the Internet, its inevitable and unfortunate that trolls will some how corrupt the information.  This can leave authorities and society in limbo of the authenticity of the information provided.

 With this in mind I still believe that both crowdsourcing and crowdmapping in a time of crisis has been the most effective and positive use of our digital communities to date. What are your thoughts?  

 Glen

References:

Crowdmapping 2015, A single map is worth a thousand words, Nesta, viewed 6 January 2015.

< http://www.nesta.org.uk/digital-social-innovation/crowdmapping>

 Howe, J 2006, The rise of crowdsourcing,wired.com, viewed 6 January 2016,

< http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds_pr.html>

 Williamson, B 2015, Crowd sourcing and satellites help identify Adelaide bushfire destruction, ABC News, viewed 12 January 2016.

< http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-21/crowd-sourcing-helps-to-find-fire-destroyed-adelaide-hills-homes/6028208>

 Youtube:

CBS news.com, 2010, Crowdsourcing crisis information, 21 April, viewed 6 January 2016

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8SNmum1oe4>

 Images:

[2xglenos-blog]

Blog Cico (5) Week 7 :Digital citizenship: Trolling and social media conflict.

To date we have learned being a digital citizen within our digital communities can hold great power to help benefit society through freedom of speech, to protest and persuade.

Unfortunately a minority of digital citizens use this forum in an unsocial way to manipulate, agitate, bully and attack innocent uses to gain a reaction or purposely harm. This is also know a trolling, Bishop (p. xiii) simply defines trolling as “the posting of provocative or offensive messages on the internet for humorous effect”

(Take a brief moment to skip through this brilliant Insight report on all things trolling )

Hardly a day goes by with out news of trolling or trolls that have affected an individual or a family forever. Trolling has become a 21st century issue that only seems to be getting bigger every year. So why do trolls feel they need to put down, manipulate and purposely harm innocent bystanders? According to researcher Golbeck (2014) trolls all have similar narcissistic, psychopathic, and sadists personality traits that will lie, exaggerate and offend to get a response. This research also concluded that trolls get enjoyment making other people feel bad, distresses and treat the Internet as playground to destruct the peace.

 It would be easy to blame trolling on the introduction of the Internet and the advances of collaborating technology.  Bishops (2014) research reveals that the youth of today believe this is an easy excuse to give an understanding of their unsocial behaviour and a platform to unleash their dark personality on society with anonymity.

 Munson (2014) has estimated at present Facebook have up to 67 million fake accounts with majority being trolls. In our own backyard Australian government seem to be reactive and not proactive on the laws to control and prosecute trolls and the use of fake accounts. It takes an attempted suicide by the late celebrity Charlotte Dawson who was directly affected by tolls with many death threats from social media for the government to stand up and listen (Obrien et al 2013). With lawyer Greg Walsh stating our laws are still inadequate to protect our society. (Trolling Laws inadequate layers say, 2013)

 Good can come amongst the dark side of our digital communities to help bring justice and light of unsocial, racist’s behaviour. With the development of mobile phones and Social media innocent bystanders can capture the minority of society’s scum of bullying, taunting, attacking individuals on the grounds of their race and beliefs.

This is a great topic with many different opinions, What are your thoughts,  has social media worked out better or worse for society?

Glen

 References:

Bishop, J 2013, Examining the Concepts, Issues, and Implications of Internet Trolling, Information Science Reference, America

Bishop, J 2014, Digital Teens and the ‘Antisocial Network’: Prevalence of Troublesome Online Youth Groups and Internet Trolling in Great Britain, IGI Global publishing, America  

Golbreck, J 2014, Internet Trolls are Narcissists, psychopaths, and Sadists, Phychology today, viewed 6 January 2016.  

< https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists>

 Munson, L 2014, Facebook. At least 67million fake accounts, naked security, viewed 7 January 2016.

< https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/02/10/facebook-at-least-67-million-accounts-are-fake/>

Obrien, N & Ralston, N 2014, Charlotte Dawson found dead, The Sydney morning herald, viewed 7 January 2016.

< http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/charlotte-dawson-found-dead-20140222-338j6.html>

You tube Clips:

Insight SBS 2012, Trolls,16 October, Viewed 6 January 2016.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoniS-S6KCc&feature=youtu.be&list=PLs348akkootx0S5I-k0UZ2Isp288dGCVX>

Insight SBS 2012, Stephen on the effects of trolling, 11th October, Viewed 6 January 2016.                                                       <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKH6snBFRI&index=3&list=PLs348akkootx0S5I-k0UZ2Isp288dGCVX>

[2xglenos-blog]

Blog Cuatro (4) Week6: Digital Citizenship 2: Activism and protest.

Will the next generation feel that active protesting is simply, blogging, liking, posting, tweeting and snap chatting your support?

Standing as one and being passionate is our write to freedom of speech, even if that is through a computer ?  As an active digital citizen It would be inaccurate for me to suggest how signing up to protest online and standing up for what one believes is a careless form of protest. As I’m guilty as charged, its true I’m a convicted “slacktivism” or as Barber Ellen call it clicktivism  “joining internet petitions to achieve socio-political aims” (Ellen 2015)

 As an avid believer in sustainable living by mitigating our reliance on natural recourses and animal welfare, I actively sign up to local activist groups i.e climatechange.org and palmoilinvestigations.org through social media petitions to stop deforestation to save the orangutans, and protesting to the government to be an active member to mitigate climate change.

With out the social media who knows if you or  I would have joined such organisation to protested. The array of information on the Internet has given the digital citizen a voice and allowed them to form their own opinions.

 Spanish designers have taken being a “slacktivism” to a new whole new level. Know as the Freedom of speech kit citizen,  Solon (2013) reports that an active digital citizen that cant make it to the physical protest can still march and have their say by sending messages through Wi-Fi to an electronic banner displayed amongst the protesters.

It’s hard to ague against that advertising has successfully rewired society to consume more, with some successful marketing actually brainwashing people to believe their item can fix all your desired needs. This form of consumerism has been around pre television and has been only heightened with the creation of the Internet. Culture Jamming is a form re-advertising political protest against organisations untactful values or wrong doings in society. Culture jamming takes in the form of refigures logos, brand names, quotes and saying to portray the views of the protester ( Culture Jamming and Meme-based Communication 2015) *refer to picture below

 One popular organisation known for culture jamming is adbusters.com. This organisation protests the big issues and helps exploit corrupt, unethical and unsocial organisations and individuals. Founder of ad buster Kalle Lasn believes that this is dark age for humanity and the ”killing capitalism” is happening. (Schwartz 2011).

References:

Barbara Ellen 2015, Protest online for sure, but real action still counts, The Guardian, viewed 12 December 2015

<http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/30/change-dot-org-clicktivism-online-petitions>

Culture Jamming and Meme-based Communication 2015, Centre for communication & civic engagement, viewed 12 December 2015.

https://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm

Solon, O 2013, Digital placard lets digital citizens participate in protests from afar,Wired.com, viewed 12 December 2015

<http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-05/17/freedom-of-expression-kit>

 Schwartz, M 2011, Pre-Occupied,: The origins and future of Occupy Wall Street, The New Yorker, viewed 12 December 2012.<http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/11/28/pre-occupied>

 You Tube:

Stafford B 2011, Ad Busters-Culture Jamming ( Sparked the Movement), 1st November, Viewed 13 December 2015

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR76Iqh1a1A>

Pictures: 

 Chepp, V 2007, Mc Donalds Culture Jam and the Sociology of Health, culture jam of McDonalds, The Sociological Cinema, viewed 13 December 2015

< http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/mcdonalds-culture-jam-and-the-sociology-of-health>