Bullet in the Brian

  “The bullet is already in the brain; it won't be outrun forever, or charmed to a halt." T.W.  

[dotcomwriteon-blog]

I predict a riot! I predict a riot!

Activist social media use today is what newspapers, posters and leaflets were to the labour movement (Gerbaudo 2012, p. 4). A way of spreading a message and garnering support to affect change. By utilising Facebook groups, tweets, and even Instagram posts, activist leaders are able to easily create groups of likeminded individuals who can participate across geographical boundaries and coordinate them to undertake collective action (Shirky 2011). 

But is it actually achieving change?

The 2012 Kony movement certainly didn’t. It cleverly used a post akin to a music video to create a sense of social norming, and incite a call to action to have Kony captured and stop the Lord’s Resistance Army. Additionally, it placed deadlines on participation, fostering a culture to ‘act now or miss out’ (Burrowes 2012). This pressure resulted in both slacktivists liking or commenting to demonstrate support for the cause with minimal effort, and clicktivists who despite their supportive stance, could do little more than like and share the post. Neither party could contribute anything toward actually capturing Kony besides funding the movement through donations and purchasing merchandise. I myself fell into the clicktivist category. I experienced the intended shocked response. I did feel bad about Kony’s exploitation and endangering children. I wanted to help and make it all stop. But I didn’t see how giving money to an organisation I had never heard of just so I could wear a red t-shirt was going to help.

This was the central problem. Invisible Children had done a terrific job viralising the issue and gaining support, but they left supporters like myself with absolutely no practical avenue to effect change and facilitate Kony’s capture. Despite raising $28 million nothing was achieved and no progress was made as Kony remains at large and the LRA is still in operation (Taylor 2014). 

Unfortunately the failure of the movement was not enough to stop new slacktivist trends immerging. Plastering Facebook filters over profile pictures quickly became the next wave of slacktivist participation, with the practice going viral after many terrorist attacks like the 2015 Paris attacks. Whilst this did much to create a global sense of unity and afford bystanders the sense of having ‘done their bit’, it did nothing to change the victims’ reality. In fact, the filters recieved much backlash with many accusing Facebook of ranking human suffering as no filters were created for victims of the attacks in Lebanon and Syria (Bondarenko 2017).

This year, Greek activists successfully harnessed social media’s power to organise protests against compromising with Macedonia over naming rights. Whilst police officials and protest organisers disagree on attendance numbers, what stands out is organisers’ success in bringing citizens from all over Greece together in Athens to show their support. In response to the pressure from protesters, the government has remained strong and knocked back Macedonian proposals deemed to be appropriating Greek heritage (ABC News 2018). 

So, can social media activism achieve lasting change? I think so. But only if those truly motivated to effect change are given a viable avenue to do so.  

References

ABC News 2018, ‘Greek hold massive rally in Athens to protest over Macedonia name dispute’, ABC News, 5 February, viewed 18 May 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-05/greeks-rally-in-athens-to-protest-use-of-the-name-macedonia/9395502>.

Bondarenko, V 2017, ‘Facebook has quietly stopped offering flag profile picture filters after terrorist attacks’, Business Insider, 8 June, viewed 18 May 2018, <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/facebook-stops-offering-flag-profile-picture-filters-after-terrorist-attacks-2017-5?r=UK&IR=T>.

Burrowes, T 2012, ‘Kony 2012: The biggest social media experiment in history ends in failure - so why is no one talking about it?’, Mumbrella, 23 April, viewed 18 May 2018, <https://mumbrella.com.au/kony-2012-the-biggest-social-media-experiment-in-history-ends-in-failure-so-why-is-nobody-talking-about-it-86939>.

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

Taylor, A 2014, ‘Was #Kony2012 a failure?’, The Washington Post, 16 December, viewed 18 May 2018, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/16/was-kony2012-a-failure/?utm_term=.caf370d6127f>. 

[bulletinthebrian]

Hey dotcomwriteon,

nice blog! I have actually wrote about the french-flag filter in my week 6 post too. Anyway, I agree with you that activism is definitely getting amplified by social media, and it is pretty obvious, since we are constantly on our phones, especially on Facebook. It goes without saying that the more people you reach with a message, the stronger the response will be, that is why we are seeing more and more Facebook events that sensitize people about certain messages or topics. 

[thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2]

W6: Social Media & Modern Activism

It has been argued that new technologies in our modern world facilitate and encourage a freedoms agenda through the enhancement of one’s digital rights (Cammaerts, 2015). With the affordances of social media, it’s really no wonder these new technologies are being embraced by activists for protest movements. However, it begs the question; has social media empowered activism? Or, has activism been so heavily impacted by social media, that pre-digital activism methods are now ineffective?

Recent studies have revealed a positive link between social media and political participation (Valenzuela, 2013), which leads to the term ‘digital citizenship’; the benefits which are associated with the ability of social media tools to ‘facilitate the membership and participation of individuals within society’ (Mossberger et al. 2008, p. 1). Social media is no longer simply used as a promotional tool by activists. In fact, evidence suggests that social media has in fact revolutionisedactivism (Lafi Youmans & York, 2012), and in many cases, activism through social media has lead to local efforts evoking a powerful global influence (Bakardjieva 2009, pp.100- 101) where prior to social media, it may not have.

Let’s reflect on the powerful link between social media & modern activism

Ask yourself what information you are privy to on a Facebook event that influences your attendance. If a friend invited you to a protest via Facebook, where you can see information including the amount of people going, the organisational cause behind the movement, the impact the protest is due to have – and hey, it looks like you can even see images of a similar protest from last year, too.

Now, compare this to a time where 25 years ago, that friend may simply have asked you to attend the protest they heard about through another friend, however they’re unsure of the organisation behind it, the amount of people due to attend, or what kind of atmosphere the protest will present. How would this influence your decision on whether or not to attend – and would it inspire you to make change before you even turned up?

I know my answer; and it certainly proves social media has revolutionised events of this nature. In the context of activism, social media enables us to digitally connect with other passionate individuals, contribute with the click of a button, and become inspired through powerful content even prior to attending.

Share YOUR thoughts, including a recent example of modern activism you either involved yourself in, scrolled past, or simply heard about through social media. Most importantly, however - would you have heard about this if social media did not exist?

References

Bakardjieva, M 2009, ‘Subactivism: Lifeworld and politics in the Age of the internet,’ The Information Society, vol.25, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Cammaerts, B 2015, ‘Social Media and Activism’, The International Encyclopaedia of Digital Communication and Society 1, John Wiley & Sons

Lafi Youmans, W & York, J 2012, ‘Social Media and Activists Toolkit’, Journal of Communication, pp 315-329.

Mossberger, K, Tolbert, C, & McNeal, R 2008, Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Valenzuela, S 2013, ‘Unpacking the use of social media for protest behavior: The roles of information, opinion expression and activism’, American Behavioural Scientist, vol.57, no.7, Sage Publications

[dotcomwriteon-blog]

Hey Chanelle, interesting perspective on the role of social media and specific effects on participatory consideration. There’s no denying social media has completely revolutionised (pun intended) activism and protest, but what’s your response to individuals who believe social media networks should remain exactly that - social - and that activism and political issues should be kept off the space and on separate platforms? 

[bulletinthebrian]

Hi Chanelle, good points and great reading. 

What do you think about slacktivism? Everytime that i think about activism and social media, that is what i think of. Personally I am not really a fan of online activism, i fell like it is just a way to advertise “how much of a good person you are” but in reality it is just farce. One example is the so popular filter on your facebook profile picture after a terrorist attack or a tragedy. I am sure there are other ways, probably more useful and effective, than changing your profile picture...like donations for example. That is just what i think.

[thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2]

W5: Social Media in Politics: A help, or hindrance?

Statistically, social media has demonstrated some pretty phenomenal changes over the last few years. As of 2017, our average daily usage was calculated at 135 minutes per day, equating to a whopping 66.6% increase over the last 5 years (Statisa, 2017). That’s almost 35 days of our year spent scrolling through the trending reality TV recaps and videos of cute animals. Although, I’m not complaining #TeamDog #BachelourInParadiseAU.

Trending hashtags aside - social media has developed an incredible power over our political landscape over this time, by providing users with a barrier-free ability to interact, connect and communicate with political parties and influence an immediate nature of civic culture. However - does this help or hinder our political culture?

The ability for political parties to communicate with users and broadcast relative information on policies and campaigns while reaching new audiences such as millennials is certainly a benefit for our political society – I personally however, enjoy the sense of light-hearted familiarity this provides the audience. During the 2008 US election, Barack Obama ‘used the informality of social media’ (Katz, 2013, p. 12) to connect to wider audiences, potentially aiding his success to presidency through digital engagement. Similarly, Kevin Rudd (or #KRudd) utilised Instagram by portraying himself as the ‘average Joe’ through raw (and at times, unflattering) selfies to take the good ole’ Aussie ‘mickey’ out of himself. Relatable much?

Personally, I think its great content. However, there is a downside to this argument, too.

A rise in social media however means an increased level of citizen participation in the context of politics and civil culture (Young, 2010). Digital communication is a two-way medium, and social media acts as a platform for true ‘average Joe’s’ to express their unofficial, amateur and at times – uninformed view of political concepts with the potential for this to be misinterpreted as certified political content, or generally influential to other users which consequently, adds pressure for political parties to act with immediacy. The problem here? Social media users respond to content, not context. The same reason a cute animal video goes viral because it’s cute – no one’s asking why the slow-motioned dog missed the treat thrown at him…

Social Media Users VS Political Party

This was demonstrated when ABC’s Four Corners aired a segment with shocking claims that a detention centre in the NT were mistreating youth detainees (ABC, 2016). Naturally, social media users exploded with backlash against the Government, enabling users to ‘feed off’ each other’s outrage and opinion. This built enormous pressure for the party to act immediately via Royal Commission, only later to realise the sources of the Four Corner’s story were out of date and the content later labelled ‘misleading’ (ABC News, 2017), demonstrating social media users are quick to respond to content, not context and the pressure of immediacy can result in political misjudgements and –in this case – a large loss of tax payer’s funds.  

Political science professor Jodi Dean One is particular media scholar who believes social media may be a hindrance to our political landscape (DCU School of Communications 2013):

Now, over to you.

How do you think social media helps or hinders the political landscape, and why? Share your thoughts by reblogging below.

References

ABC, 2017, Australia’s Shame, ABC: Four Corners, viewed 20th April 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/australias-shame-promo/7649462>

DCU School of Communication 2013, IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 - Jodi Dean, 3 July, viewed 16th April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ABPuNQ6IU>.

Hitch, G, 2017, Don Dale Four Corners report ‘sensationalist, misleading’, NT royal commission hears, ABC News, viewed 20th April 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-27/don-dale-four-corners-report-sensationalist-commission-hears/8475738>

Katz, J Barris, M Jain, A 2013, The Social Media President: Barack Obama and the Politics of Digital Engagement, Palgrave Macmillan US, New York.

Statisa, 2017, Daily time spent on social networking by internet users worldwide from 2012 to 2017 (in minutes), Statisa: The Statistics Portal, viewed 16th April 2018, <https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/>

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

Images

Instagram, 2017, mrkrudd, viewed 20th April 2018, <https://www.instagram.com/mrkrudd/?hl=en>

News Corp, 2018, Bachelor in Paradise Australia Recap, viewed 20th April 2018, <http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/reality-tv/bachelor-in-paradise-contestant-explodes-a-fking-stitchup/news-story/a9e1e02849d8e6bd00b06b85be0f8905>

[dotcomwriteon-blog]

Another great post, Chanelle! Your concept of reacting to content and not context is very eloquently put. I agree. Sadly much like the media cycle online participation has become about reacting first and checking facts later. I try to be vigilant in this area but despite my best efforts even I have been guilty of reacting first only to find the information was outdated later. In my case it was Barilla pasta’s comments on homosexuals. Whoops! I agree social media has a lot of power to communicate with politicians and get constituent messages out there but I wonder how effective they are at achieving real and timely change given the recent Australian Equal Marriage rights debate? Support, campaigning and petitioning for equal rights was abundant on social media platforms and showcased the majority’s view in support of equality. Yet for years the government managed to evade implementing it despite direct online pressure to do so. What do you think? 

[bulletinthebrian]

I have recently commented on another post about the “social network / politics mix” and i found myself being pretty indecisive. I do think that it is probably an improvement, since more and more people are always connected on Facebook, it means the more and more people are also coming in contact with all the different political messages we see pretty much every day on social media. More political messages equals more people being aware of this or that candidate’s idea, so, hopefully, it means that people are more informed than they used to be when politics had no role in social media, or more precisely, when social networking was not as popular as it is today. On the other had, Facebook is a perfect platform to spread rumors and create scandals, it does not take much at all. And it is the same with false information and “fake news”, so I can’t really say that i am 100% sure that it represents a positive evolution for political campaigning. Any thoughts?

[frangolive]

A rose, a sign of standing …

 MDA20009 Digital Communities Blog: Week 5

How does social media hail younger demographics’ consumerism that shapes them into proper grownups, capable of handling first relationship responsibilities of public discourse and outcomes?  How do political agendas conscript youth, especially under 30’s, creating brand loyalty, inspiring activists for ideologies (Young 2010)?  With traditional news outlets no longer the head of the media rocket, social media as an increasingly UGC platform affords immediacy, increasing diversity and potentially mediating more genuinely as the people’s voice (Young 2010, p.205).  I get the obvious of why politics and social media are such great bedfellows with strong chemistry – social media is that volatile colourful dynamic ‘it girl’ or bachelor that will get a candidate noticed out in public(s) (Young 2010, p.205)!

http://www.outside-the-line.com/blog/kloppenburg-vs-prosser 20.4.18

Advantages of social media platforms pursuing social media channels of political comment is the scale of weak ties immediately created via engagement and energetic tracking of meta data the 25’s and under can bring to the party (Young 2010, p.207). But just how serious is this synergy between politics and social media? If traditional news websites and blogs from 2004 are anything to go by, will we soon be witnessing MalcomTurnbullshites.com and BillShortencomings.com blogs to rep for our upcoming elections discourse (Young 2010, p.209)?  Judging by the ABC’s political websites, the dashboards are distinctly orientated around which media celebrity and where to hook up rather than the content, with promotions about what packaging you want it in (Young 2010, p.210).  If Youdecide.com (2007) is an indicator, to attract networked individuals to a date with political destiny, the packaging better be framed in a disruptive, sexy and/or controversial manner to cut through all the other media product and intepellate (Young 2010).

https://youtu.be/VN1wFInea20

In fact, my Tumblr site could rep for a ‘wham bam, thankyou ma’am’ approach and host ‘Val Halarin, chief economist of Gogglebox’, who promises to give political facetime in under seventy seconds so you can headline check your updates at work while tapping the campaign trail (Young 2010, p.218).

But if publics decide that dedicated newsites are no longer needed as a wingman, who will chaperone for quality and accuracy and will reckless decisions be made rushing to be the ‘produser’ with the scoop?  In the who does what and how of political mediations, trad platforms like dedicated newsites and psephology blogs fiercely protect the authority and expertise they invest in their media product (Biro 2016). They strive to show civic integrity from collective peeps who have a stream of media work in common, rather than common peeps who have a stream of media work (Biro 2016).

http://www.quotemaster.org/Counting+people

Personally, I would love to see my media product on a massive architectural site of hangers on and only if it reflected responsible communication standards underpinned by authenticity of content (Jericho 2013, p.254). But be warned, you may be meta dated as human capital by my host platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB8AW23GIoE

In the meantime, would you please accept this rose?…

REFERENCES:

Biro, A 2016, ‘Responsible journalism, democracy and the newspaper crisis’, CCPA Monitor, 23, 2, pp. 36-37, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 April 2018

Jericho, G 2012, ‘How many votes are there on Twitter?’, in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.

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

[kengalvin-blog]

Hi Fran,

I’m heading all the way back to week 5 here, social media and citizen journalists really have changed the face of politics, more importantly, the shift in content that we receive through networked public’s produced or spread by unauthenticated sources. You make a great point, what if the “public’s decide that dedicated new sites are no longer needed”. I think in a sense that is already happening, through user-created content, re-blogging and re-tweeting links to articles, digital networks can spread political information quicker then news outlets can authenticate or produce content themselves. Digital citizens are advertently or inadvertently persuade other citizens through mediated discourse bypassing traditional political and media gatekeepers (Penny 2016, p. 8).

Thanks for giving me something to think about and great work :)

Reference list Penney, J 2016, Motivations for participating in ‘viral politics’, Convergence, vol. 22, no. 1, pp.71-87.,

[bulletinthebrian]

Hello Frangolive,

good blog. Really made me think about how the political “propaganda” has changed throughout the years, especially recently, with the advent of social media. It is so easy to see “memes” about politicians, campaigns or elections. It is so true that dedicated websites are dying, and it is not surprising at all.All you need is Facebook, Instagram, Youtube etc, to spread your political views and for politicians to push their own agenda. Only thing, i cant really decide if it is a bad thing or a good thing, what are the pros and cons of politics being more and more present on the social networks we use ever day?

[kengalvin-blog]

Online gaming and the magic circle

When I think about online gaming I think about escape, I think about how players can be transported and exist in a world where gaming platforms are used to interact and fulfil their wildest fantasies of becoming a Starfleet captain, an outlaw in the wild west or tend to a herd of virtual animals on your own pixelated farm. Massive multiplayer online (MMO) games like as “Farmville” (Zynga 2018), and massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) such as “EVE Online” (Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 77) and the recently released “Wild West Online” (playwwo 2018) afford users the ability to interact with fellow users through networks exploring at times their own sense of self as much as the virtual world created for them.

EVE Online - Titan Kill (Everything EVE 2016)

In MMORPG’s such as EVE players are asked to participate in deceit, fraud, theft, and even murder, acts which go against the rules of society (Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 78), at times MMORPG’s asks participants to go outside the boundaries of acceptability of everyday standard, allowing players to interact in situations outside of the moral codes of real-world scenarios. So how do online players switch hats so to speak, how do they change from being a father, mother or office worker during the day to becoming a ruthless outlaw within online worlds antagonising fellow users?

Become an outlaw in the west (Wild West Online 2016)

Technological advances have allowed users an affordance to explore alter egos and escape reality through social networked interaction but how do users know where the borders and rules of the online world begin and end (Young & Whitty 2010, p. 1230). The magic circle theory developed by Johan Huizinga in 1939’s describes how a playing field is physically marked out “allows for the change of everyday rules and the transformation of acceptable behaviour rules” (Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 91), in traditional terms these are the white lines of a football pitch but online gaming networks like EVE are governed by terms and conditions which are designed to enforce the magic circle. However, participating in a game with other real-world users where the narrative explores  murder, deceit and provocation the digital lines of the magic circle can become extremely blurred at times.

Racist Trolls Online (Tech Insider 2018)

Gaming Technology affords connection and a majority of players verbal interact through headsets blending their real and gaming environment together. Above is a video narrated by Terrence Miller where he discusses his experiences as a black gamer and the abuse he’s been subjected to online. During the video, Miller talks to Kishonna Grey, a scholar from Arizona State University who discusses the normalisation of racism gamers of colour feel due to ongoing verbal assaults By other users (Tech Insider 2018). Network gaming affords escapism from reality but at times they raise moral questions about how far some players push its pixelated borders. I can only wonder as these online networks expand how far will technology and societies morals be pushed? Although seen as science fiction, Westworld (HBO 2018) which see’s networked cyborg experiences blended with reality have already begun through network gaming platforms.

Westworld (Lousolversons 2018)

Reference List

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.

HBO 2018, Westworld, HBO, 28 May 2018, <https://www.hbo.com/westworld>.

Lousolversons 2018, ‘These are all just roles’ [image], tumblr, 28 May 2018, <https://lousolversons.tumblr.com/post/174118225401/you-feel-free-to-command-everyone-else>.

Tech Insider, Racist Trolls Are Still Dominating Video Games, 11 April, viewed 23 May 2018, <https://youtu.be/vPspkEB6l18>.

Wild West Online 2017, Sneak peak on BIG upcoming, 17 May, viewed 27 May 2018, <https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdXL9PdVAAAwxUJ.jpg>.

Wild West Online 2018, Wild West Online, Wild West Online, viewed 26 May 2018, <https://www.playwwo.com>.

Young & Whitty, 2010, ‘An Exploratory Study of Trolling in Online Video Gaming’, International Journal of Cyber Behavior, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 17-33.

[bulletinthebrian]

Very, very, very good post. You have touched so many interesting points here. Great that you have considered racism as a form of bullying/trolling, i did not think about that one, and yet is probably one of the most common practices you 👀 online, when it comes to abusing others. Online gaming is unfortunately where you 👀 this phenomenon the most, along with Facebook of course. It is amazing to think that online gaming should be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, and it is unfortunate how many people use it to abuse others for no reason…great post Kengalvin!

[digitallyamelia]

Online Trolls

The Internet is a wondrous world in which all different types of people are able to come together and have the freedom to share all their ideas and opinions. This has enabled many content creators a platform to share their creativity, humour and/or ideas with an audience that will listen. Such an open forum for feedback allows audiences to respond to and critique these creators, however, negative feedback is not always constructive, and there are those on the internet that “deliberately try … to distress” others “online” (Nicol, 2012 p. 3), also known as the trolls of the internet.

Trolling is quite similar to cyberbullying, however, the cyberbully often knows the victim and has harmful intentions (Nicol 2012, p. 3). Online bullying is quite common in Australia, with ‘approximately one in five young people under 18 report[ing]’ (Bullying No Way! 2018) that they had experienced cyber bullying in any one year.

Keep reading

[bulletinthebrian]

Thanks Amelia for sharing this post. So much information about bullying and trolling...had no idea that it was such a popular practice. I have come across trolling many times, especially on Facebook, but I have never stopped to think about how much of a problem this is, and how many people can affect, It is crazy that, as humans, we always find the way to hurt others, and we are pretty ingenious at doing it. It is crazy that, in this era, where we have so so much, we still have this kind of problems...

[digitallyamelia]

Disasters, the Internet & Crowsourcing

Social media has led to huge developments in both the speed and way in which communities can respond to natural disasters. It is believed that official news has the ability to spread much faster and reach a greater audience on social media as compared to traditional media (Spiro et al. 2012, p. 275-276). Social media allows people facing similar situations to come together to offer advice and support in times of crisis. Communities have the ability to unite as active publics to inspire hope and support for those facing natural disasters, this is where crowdsourcing can come in.

Hammon and Hippner (2012) define crowdsourcing as:

‘the act of outsourcing tasks originally performed inside an organized, or assigned externally in form of a business relationship, to an undefinably large, heterogeneous mass of potential actors’. 

Keep reading

[bulletinthebrian]

Hello Amelia! Great blog right there. I agree with your points, especially when you say that crowdsourcing in times of a crisis can help spread misinformation and, even though it is a real precious resource, can have disastrous effects on the audience, by spreading false or not precise information, that can itself lead to more damages. Crowdsourcing is accessbile to everyone, it is its strength but also its weakness, because anyone, if willing to do it, can manipulate information and put more people in danger, Could it become, if it hasn’t already, a new way for terrorists to push their own agenda?

[jackdigitalcommunities-blog]

Crowdsourcing is awesome.

A bit late on this entry, but THE VLOG IS BACK!

Crowdsourcing is awesome. In so many ways, it is the realisation of what some of the earliest pioneers of the internet had envisioned - universal collaboration and access to knowledge.

Wikipedia is probably the gold-standard here. It is one of the most influential collections of knowledge in the world and has been compiled entirely by individuals who contribute and refine the content without the need for a central authority (Lee & Seo 2016, p.15).

“A feast to which many contribute is better than a dinner provided out of a single purse” - Aristotle (in Waldron 1995, p.564)

As early as Aristotle it seems that epistemological discourse has theorised ways that humans might be able to effectively share their collective intelligence, and Wikipedia (and the internet in general) seems to be the best solution to date of having the sum of human knowledge recorded and made available.

Crowdsourcing recognises that knowledge, when shared with the world, becomes a powerful tool for the greater good (Hess & Ostrom, 2007, p.8), and also that knowledge is cumulative and thus necessarily improved by having more people involved and adding to it.

It is generally at this point in the blog that I break out the “however” and go on to show the downsides to the technology and muddy the waters a bit on where I actually stand. I am going to say “however” because I want to present a balanced view, but I will come back to clarify my position with an important mention. However… There can be downsides to this kind of freely accessible commons. Wikipedia ‘vandalism’ is a humorous way of hijacking the system.. Many a teacher and professor has warned students to avoid wikipedia because “anyone can post anything”… Lee and Seo find that on Wikipedia, as the community of contributors has matured and the competition for revision has grown, dominant participants have emerged who may not necessarily have better information to contribute, but are just more assertive and active in their revisions and defense of their opinions (2016, p.19). In other words, when everyone is invited to contribute to a discussion, the ideas that are heard most are those that come from the individuals who speak loudest and most frequently.

Here’s where I want to clarify my position. Of course there are downsides to every innovation and technology. It is important to air these and debate them, but not use them as a way to dismiss or inhibit the progression of technology. I watched a great video recently by Alec Watson on his YouTube channel, Technology Connections. Through an analysis of the technological development of the LED traffic light, he illuminates what he calls the “but sometimes problem”. In his video he describes how LED traffic lights improved upon incandescent bulbs in almost every single measurable way, yet their one downside (vulnerability to snow) was used by critics to try and suppress the technology. The fallacy he describes, can be applied to many instances of how we as a society adopt new technology.

So please go ahead, contribute and be a part of building humankind’s collective knowledge.

References

Hess, C & Ostrom, E 2007, Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice, MIT Press, Massachusetts.

Lee, J & Seo, DB 2016, ‘Crowdsourcing not all sourced by the crowd: An observation on the behaviour of Wikipedia participants’, Technovation, vol. 55-56, pp.14-21.

Technology Connections 2018, The LED Traffic Light and the Danger of “But Sometimes!”, 14 May, viewed 19 May 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiYO1TObNz8>

[101661945-blog]

A well-balance post here @jackdigitalcommunities giving us a bit of insight into Crowdsourcing. I like that you brought up the dangers associated with sites like Wikipedia when “the individuals who speak loudest and most frequently” have dominance over the information on the site. 

Keep reading

[bulletinthebrian]

Wikipedia! I struggled so much to find an example of crowdsourcing and i didn’t even think about a resource I use on a daily basis! Well done @jackdigitalcommunities. Also, good job on focusing on the fact that since it is a ‘free encyclopedia’, and that everyone can contribute to it, it gets vandalised pretty often, and that is also why it cannot be considered a reliable information source, despite the hard work of moderators and editors, that work hard in order to keep up its credibility. Good read Jack!

[101661945-blog]

W9: Life through a lens

<Google Pixel XL Camera - https://www.androidcentral.com/google-pixel-lens-flare-what-it-and-how-avoid-it>

I grew up in the smartphone generation. I had the iPhone 4, then the 5, then the 6 and so on. Each time a new phone was released there was a long list of upgrades but the one feature that seemed to be of the utmost importance was the camera. Today I work in retail selling the smartphones that I grew up with, and still the number one request of shoppers is a “good camera”. The advances in smartphone camera technology have transformed a predominantly professional practice into an “unavoidable aspect of everyday life” (Hand, 2013, pp. 1-3). Of course, there is no use in taking these photos if no-one is going to see them which is why photo-sharing platforms like Flickr, Instagram and Snapchat have become part of people’s daily routine. 

Keep reading

[bulletinthebrian]

Hello and first of all, that is a great picture you took. I agree that moderation should be the key, but since its so easy to take pictures nowadays compared to how it was for my generation, i really don’t think that it’s something likely to happen at this stage.We carry our phones everywhere, and we have them constantly on us from the moment we wake up til falling asleep at night. We constantly wanna share with our friends what we see every day, and our friends do the same. It funny how we are always connected, and the rare times we are not, are probably those times when you are not allowed to use your phone at all, so we cant even say that it’s our choice not being connected. It is sad to think how taking a picture, when i was young, was such a big deal and you would only take it if you wanted to keep that memory forever, because the film for the camera was not unlimited, whereas now, people take pictures of the stupidest thing they see, and it is not something special anymore, it has become a gesture so common it is normal as blowing your nose…

[thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2]

W9: Social imaging and what strangers know about you

If you’re a 90’s kid, like me, you may remember trying all too aggressively to fit your large disposable or digital camera in your backpack ready for school camps and shopping trips. Trust me – the struggle was real. But oh, how times have changed.

Now, new innovations have enabled these cameras to be integrated into our beloved smartphones to a point where at times, they can be considered an extension of our limbs – always within an arm’s ready and ready for any moment to be captured.  Where we would usually only share with close friends weeks later, we now share instantly with the world. Whoever is interested can view these photographs just by searching your name if they so desire. We are now visual beings, and quite frankly; no longer make our first impressions in person. I know, it’s scary.

The way that we capture – or remember – the moments in our lives, how we share these and who we share these to has been revolutionised. Personal photography is now a part of our culture. But, how does this influences our digital footprint, or change what strangers can know about us before they even know our name? Turns out – a lot.

Being ‘tagged’ in a photograph is an ubiquitous affordance of social media, and one which has enabled connectivity and interaction among users – we tag businesses, locations, other users, and can check into locations, events, and even our own home with a detailed map given to anybody who wishes to view it. Clearly, it’s a crafty innovation, however it also makes us scarily searchable via images – which is particularly problematic when tagging is made publicly visible through social media channels without ones consent, with young people reportedly expressing concern and degrees of anxiety when considering their own visual landscapes among social media channels (Hand, 2012, p. 175).

‘Tagging is thus both a way of finding and being found’ – Swinburne Online, 2018.

Network visuality is a term used to describe the way images have become vital to the formation and maintenance of our digital communication (Swinburne, 2018), and selfie culture is a term used to describe the notion of self-portraits typically taken in a fashion which plays on particular representational desires (not that I really need to explain that one). Both are prominent concepts in the rise of social imaging, and something I touch on in an earlier blog post here.

Ever wondered how easy it is for strangers to know more about you, based solely on the information and images you post on social media? Take a look at this confronting social experiment:

Clearly, social imaging leaves little privacy. 

How would you feel if you were approached by a stranger who knew your dog’s name, the colour of your bedroom walls, or even the type of TV you purchased over the weekend? Would you reconsider the images you post online after watching this?

References

Hand, M 2012, Ubiquitous Photography, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Swinburne Online, 2018, ‘9.2 Ubiquitous photography’, MDA20009: Digital Communities, Swinburne Online, viewed 16 May 2018, Link 

Vale, J, 2013, Social Media Experiment (online video), YouTube, November 2018, viewed 16 May 2018, Link

[dotcomwriteon-blog]

Hey Chanelle, I really enjoyed reading your blog this week. I was born in ‘89 but still consider myself a child of the 90s and boy do I remember the camera struggle. Honestly though, my struggle was less about trying to fit it into my backpack and more about trying to figure out how many rolls of film I would need or worse, trying to sort through the hundreds of photos I had developed and what to do with them! You made some really interesting points about ubiquitous photographic affordances, privacy and the control or lack there of over our digital foot prints. I wanted to explore this, this week but didn’t have the word count. I’m someone that likes to take photos, post them on my Facebook or Insta but within reason. I’m also someone who likes my privacy and doesn’t want my whole life online. It can be really difficult to control your digital footprint when even interactions like finding a job are increasingly linked to platforms like LinkedIn. I resisted making a LinkedIn account until a few months ago when, despite already knowing it, a HR friend of mine drummed in just how many job opportunities I was missing by not having an account. It seems these days if you want to get most things done you have to have a digital account. Heck, even to complete this assignment we HAD to create Tumblr accounts further increasing our digital footprints. Given we know that even with the highest account privacy settings anything that ends up online can be accessed in some form. Do you think it’s ethical for practices like finding work and even completing assignments to be forced online? Is forcing some of us to increase our digital footprint thereby obstructing our privacy?       

[bulletinthebrian]

Hi Chanelle, great post. Being born in 1990 i remember with joy the cameras that were the size of a brick and how a big deal it was to take a picture of something, it meant that you really wanted to remember that moment. Nowadays we take picture even of the most useless and meaningless thing, just because it is easy and we can afford to do that. In regards of your question, i never understood those people that complain about other knowing too much about them. I don understand it, because if you publish something on the internet, you should not be so naive to think that it’s only gonna be for the eyes of the people that you want your stuff to be seen by. Even on Facebook, i never post anything im not ready the whole world to see or know about, or comment.So i would not have to reconsider the way i pick what to share and what to keep private. You and only you are responsible of your own privacy.

[thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2]

W10: The culture of social gaming

Social gaming is a term many people may feel familiar with.

Me? Not so much. In fact, there is zero familiarity here - so I’m going to start with a light refresher on what this term actually encompasses:

Social gaming; game applications integrated into social networking platforms (Hou, 2011).

This term still isn’t overly familiar to me. The most ‘social’ we got with our gaming as children was discussing how healthy our Tamogotchi’s were in the school playground. If you’re also over 25 - you might recall how hard it was to keep yourself healthy as a child let alone remember to feel a fictional pet. The struggle was real.

While I appreciate the definition above is relatively broad, I want to explore the reality behind the social gamers that choose to play in their spare time over actual non-digital human interaction – because I have heard there are millions around our globe that live for this lifestyle.

One question that pops into my mind – and again, I reiterate: I have no personal interest in social gaming, probably due to my childhood spent without hundreds of social platforms available to me, so this is only my opinion – is what are the health or social benefits these gamers are missing out on?

Facebook opened its platform to developers over 10 years ago, allowing gaming developers to jump onboard the social revolution (Swinburne Online, 2018) and subsequently, the trend has reached new heights. However, what about the facts surrounding the antisocial aspect or inactivity of online gaming culture?

Obesity rates in children have tripled in the last 30 years, with research concluding a strong link to sedentary lifestyles such as those devoted to online gaming (Bond, Calvert, and Staiano, 2013). Studies have also recently found that children aged between 8-18 years typically expose themselves to online gaming for 90 minutes per day (Rideout, Foehr & Roberts, 2010), exposing them to a MUCH higher risk of adolescent obesity and a decreased quality of life. Furthermore, researches have confirmed that those heavily associated with online gaming communities experience negative impacts to social engagements and at times may ‘withdraw’ in social circumstances which do not allow the anonymity or circumstantial control that online gaming typically affords them (Hou, 2011).

For me, this begs the question: how will future innovations and technologies positively or negatively impact this gaming culture – will it be enhanced, or redirected to encourage physically activity? Will societies value wellbeing one day influence, or eventually change the notion of gaming?

I guess only time will tell.

Share your thoughts on social gaming, and how you see this evolving in our future.

References

Rideout V, Foehr U, Roberts D, 2010, Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-18 year olds. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, viewed 28 May 2018, Link 

Bond, B, Calvert, S, and Staiano, A, 2013, Electronic Gaming and the Obesity Crisis, New Dir Child Adolesc Delv: 2013 Spring, vol. 139, pp. 51-57, Link 

Swinburne Online, 2018, ’10.2 Social Gaming: Playing the crowd’, Swinburne Online: MDA20009, viewed 28 May 2018, Link 

Hou, J, 2011, ‘Uses and gratifications of social games: Blending social networking and game play’, First Monday Journal, vol. 16, no. 7, viewed 28 May 2018, Link 

[kengalvin-blog]

Hi Chanelle,As someone over 25 actually even Tamagotchi was after my time (dear god I’m old!) I think this is a really good question, it is suggested that by 2022 there will be 661.6 million active gamer’s worldwide (Statistica 2018), that’s a lot of time spent in front of screens. It makes me wonder how the health and fitness industry can take advantage of the gaming sector? A few years ago ‘Wii fit’ was a massive craze that took advantage of physical activity and gaming networks, though it seems the ‘Wii fit’ craze is long gone. While searching I found the website fitness-gaming.com which is dedicated to the development of fitness gaming/technology I’ll be interested to see if any of these ideas take off. Reference listFitness gaming 2018, Fitness Gaming News, Fitness gaming, viewed 29 May 2018, <https://www.statista.com/outlook/212/100/online-games/worldwide#market-revenue>.

[florenciablogs-blog]

Hi Chanelle & Ken

Great points made here and got me thinking about a recent experience I had at a friends house who has a (pretty advanced) VR setup. He is an engineer and self labeled cyber-geek. I found QuiVR archery game very intense and was actually puffed out after the excessive movement. This year most of the headsets released will not only be the highest definition yet but also the cheapest to hit the consumer market. Additionally, most are now wireless so one is free to walk around unbound. My friend pointed out he is waiting until the end of the year where he will buy two so he “can hang out with friends and play all these games with them in virtual reality”. The pace of this makes me envision the use of parks in the future where kids are playing virtual soccer, potentially on the fields of brazil against children from all over the world, each with a headset, locking them in for an amazing game. The opportunities this kind of technology presents are so vast that I think we cannot even begin to imagine its capabilities, particularly for physical activity. 

Our desire to move and exercise is largely motivated by out surroundings so imagine one could run on Venice Beach or go with a friend who lives in Italy at Lake Como? 

*cancels Fitness First membership* 

[bulletinthebrian]

Interesting points there Chanelle, and thanks for reminding me of Tamagotchi’s, I had completely forgotten about them! If you look at the evolution of games and gaming throughout the years, I think that is very unlikely that we are gonna experience a decrease in popularity of online games, also because of the improvement of internet connection and its speed. Whether we like it or not, online multiplayer gaming is another way to connect people and unite them through the things that they have in common, in this case the passion for a particular video-game. This is the perk that I see when i think about online gaming, so basically a different way to be social. Health-wise, I completely agree with Frangolive and her thoughts about the application of VR to get people to exercise. It has been done already, and many gym, even if this is not VR, have treadmills with big screens that make you feel like you are running in the forest, or stationary bicycles with which you can simulate a motorbike race. I think that these make a pretty good use of this technology, and make training even more fun!

[frangolive]

Visions of the future past out in the ether …

MDA:20009 DIGITAL COMMUNITIES

Week 10: Playing the Crowd

In socially populated online gaming worlds, where overlapping rule sets, both strange and familiar are agreed to contractually and negotiated evolutionally, it is no surprise to find the attractions of escapism, accelerated ideal self-expression and intersection of political goals and societal communion (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014).

Out amongst the ethereal interstellar particles of hydrogen and helium that make up deep space, the MMORG (massive online roleplay game) of EVE, is combining all these attractions with the tiers of Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs along its historical narrative thread, to see how humans react to contexts of what would seem to be the opposite of first world laws and governments (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p.78, Piech 2016).

Current percentage of gamers will be shipshape ready for interstellar war if and when it is declared thanks to the huge platforms of online gaming that involve conflict and military strategies, brutality and hegemony, elitism and bigotry that will shape the ‘Goffman frame’ of their social mores in a galaxy far far away where lack of a moral compass or sense of humanity may be deemed an asset, not a crime (de Zwart & Humphries 2014)

Away from the passivity of watching networked texts in a broadcast form, digitally networked nationstates are forming and storming and deciding who to cast their votes and video modes of affinity with, via their heavily invested online actions, environmental controls and intensive iterations of war and peace, crime and punishment and digitally networked socionomics (Taylor 1997).

THOUSANDS of Eve Online players just got SCREWED OVER by ONE GUY!  (Pretty Good Gaming, Published on Sep 15, 2017)

Sounds like Trump and the Nth/Sth Korea dynamic …

However, we don’t have to prostitute the fear factor of stranger danger and ‘others’ trauma online, to bulldoze policy, codes of practice and create a reactionary result of deeply centralized government controls with unprecedented power and no courts’ supervision back out into our offline communities (The Guardian 2017).

The high adrenalin addictive nature of affordance in some games is not the social norm for all and the crowdsourced networked communities of more listening and learning games can provide meta data for advocative socially inspiring activist and artistic causes (Taylor 1997, p.174).

 Its largely a matter of choice about which platforms of social gaming make your heart sing, whether it be a kickstarter game that calls for strategies that include both cruelty and sympathy or a Biogame, that harvests the networked pattern recognition of players to identify pathology strains!

http://biogames.ee.ucla.edu/

You could explore the great affinity online peeps have for cats and put your allegiance in the way of the HK Project, a truly cosmopolitan platform for aesthetics that do not include hegemony but instead encompass and welcome respect and diversity.

“ Although the team has worked hard so far on HK, it’s still pretty early in its development cycle. The developer doesn’t expect a release for several more years, especially considering that the team only consists of two humans and two cats (the blog also admits that the cat in charge of communication isn’t doing its job very well).”

You could just as easily combine ground breaking codes of practice and aesthetic engagement by immersing yourself in a platform by one of your favourite media stars …

 At the end of 1999, the singer also became involved in video games, when he appeared in Quantic Dream’s Omikron.  He played a character named Boz, a hunted revolutionary.  "It was relatively unprecedented to have such a big star embody a character within a game and not just appear as a thinly veiled version of themselves,“ says Thomas McMullan, a tech journalist at Alphr who played Omikron as a teenager.  "And Bowie engaged to a level that went beyond just lending his face. He worked on it from a musical point-of-view as well.  A bit that really sticks in my memory is a secret concert that you could discover if you uncovered some clues, and it showed you a clip of him playing in a fictional band. It felt like sneaking into an underground concert.”

(Entertainment Infinity 2017)

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/01/the-video-game-that-changed-how-i-saw-david-bowie/

One of the most powerful aspects of online gaming is the ability to self-express and experiment the many facets that we may be too ‘gun shy’ to take out in our offline publics for whatever reason.

Many gamers play and are played by expressions of a fluid self that Nathan Jurgenson claims is the norm for social interactions in a world where an ephemeral death can be replaced with a Goffman like reframed silhouette of ideals and aesthetics (de Zwarth & Humphries 2014).

While Omikron: The Nomad Soul is Bowie’s most direct interaction with the gaming industry, his influence on creators and players alike is impossible to miss.

The most obvious evidence of Bowie’s influence comes from Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series. First came numerous references to “Major Tom” in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, referencing Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to Ashes”. According to the Metal Gear Wiki, both songs were considered for ending songs for the game, only to be replaced as the game’s space themes became less pronounced during development.

Then there's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a game featuring the private military company Diamond Dogs, a name derived partially from the Bowie album of the same name. Indeed the game opens with a cover of Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” by Midge Ure.

And let’s not forget this image, which made the rounds a couple of years back

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/03/david-bowie-is-every-metal-gear-solid-character-ever/

So, in our digitally networked communities of online games that have remained one of the few platforms (apart from porn, ironically) that have hung on and ridden the roller coaster of internet economics and socionomics, don’t let the hours spent engaged as a digital layer of yourself endanger or harm the offline layers of your person or others (Castronova 2004, p. 173).

Ask yourself, will it harm or will it help this one life I have to live – until the next one? …..

REFERENCES:

AskaScientist 2018, ‘What space is made of”, viewed 26 May 2018, <askascientist.co.uk/space/what-is-space-made-of/>

Castronova E 2004, ‘The Price of Bodies: A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthetic World’, KYKLOS, Vol.57, pp.173196

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.

Entertainment Infinity 2017, ‘Omikron: The Nomad Soul – David Bowie Interactions/Music’, [online], viewed 24 May 2018, <https://youtu.be/-eOulnVZv0o>

EVE Online, 2014, Home: EVE online, viewed 3 August 2016, <www.eveonline.com>.

Piech K 2016, ‘Political Economy, An Introduction to the Theory of Economic Policy’, viewed 25.5.18, <https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Diagram-of-Maslows-hierarchy-of-needs_fig15_308530946>

PrettyGoodGamers 2017, ‘

THOUSANDS of Eve Online players just got SCREWED OVER by ONE GUY!

’, [online] viewed 26 May 2018, <

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEO-Gc-VKV4

>

 The Guardian 2017, ‘Gillian Triggs Australian Government ideologically opposed to human rights’, [online], viewed 20 May 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/26/gillian-triggs-australian-government-ideologically-opposed-to-human-rights>

Thornhill, T, 2014, ‘The online videogame battle that cost $300,000: Gamers see hundreds of costly spaceships destroyed after user forgot to pay bill to defend their base’, The Daily Mail, 29 January, viewed 3 August 2016, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547908/EVE-online-sees-biggest-battle.html>.

IMAGES:

Hk Project 2017, [image],https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CdcBpUmUkAEOJh4.jpg

[bulletinthebrian]

Hi Frangolive,

I really appreciated the post and the many info you have provided. The most interesting part was that Bowie reference you have found Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid. I love this kind of stuff! I am a big fan of the Call of Duty series, and not long ago I saw that they were going to create a character that would resemble Conor McGregor, the MMA fighter. 

Also, if you have ever played GTA Vice City, it is undeniable that Tommy Vercetti is a tribute to Tony Montana. Many are the references to the movie Scarface that you can find in Vice City, like the following:

Hope you are gonna appreciate! Again really interesting reading :) 

Brian 

[bulletinthebrian]

“Change the scheme, alter the mood. Electrify the boys and girls if you’d be so kind”

(Tron Legacy, 2010).

There is no way I was going to talk about video-games and social gaming communities without quoting one of the best movies about digital worlds and realities, Tron Legacy.

Why is online gaming so appealing? There are many aspects that make online gaming communities so popular. They let you live an existence with rules that are different of the ones that we abide by in real life, or better yet, you can enter a lawless space, like for example the platform EVE, which is deliberately designed to be without rules (De Zwart & Humphreys, 2014).

In this digital frontier, you can be ruthless, you can murder other digital people, sabotage and piracy are permitted, and misconduct is openly encouraged and excused (De Zwart & Humphreys, 2014). EVE online is a space-based futuristic multiplayer online game, in which each player can participate in a range of different activities, such as mining, exploration, combat and so on (De Zwart & Humphreys, 2014). I have personally never played EVE, but I am very familiar with online multiplayer videogames. The first one I have ever played online was the unforgettable Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which was also my first GTA.

The aspect that attracted me the most is that, basically, Grand Theft Auto is a virtual reality, and you can do whatever you want, you can follow the story but also, and it’s probably what I would do more often, it allows you to roam around, steal cars, kill people, buy houses and guns. Now, this was good enough already for a 12-year-old boy, but what made it even better is that, by downloading some specific programs, you could also play real people online. That was a game changer. Since then, I started appreciating online multiplayer games more and more, and really got into stuff like Call of Duty, to satisfy my blood thirst but also more innocent games like NBA 2k. 

I guess I look at online multiplayer games as the closest you can get to do stuff you could never do in real life, in a safe a fun way, comfortably sitting at home, through your PC or console. I guess this is the magic that the digital frontier has to offer.

Reference

Tron Legacy 2010 [DVD] Walt Disney Pictures, USA. Distributed in Australia by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

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.

[bulletinthebrian]

“No one takes photographs of things they want to forget”

(One Hour Photo, 2002)

  “When people's houses are on fire, what's the first thing they save after their pets and loved ones are safe? The family photos” (One Hour Photo, 2002)

Hope you enjoyed these two quotes from the movie One Hour Photo, I thought they were perfect as the heading of this post. Anyway.

Photography has been a growing business since its dawn, especially thanks to the improvement of its technology (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). It is actually a quite fascinating practice. Don Draper (If you don’t know who he is I am sorry for you…) said it best, when he stated that “it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It lets us travel the way a child travels - around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved” (Mad Men, 2007).

Unfortunately, with photography going digital, and with the advent of social media and apps like, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, that perception has changed a little. If back in the day, taking a picture of something was kind of a big deal, nowadays, it’s probably one of the things that we do every day and without thinking too much about it (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). There is no film, all is digital, autofocus, easy to store and view, and cameras are not as big as two-seater couch anymore. This practice has been completely transformed (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). Anyone can take a photograph now, cameras on our smartphones are getting more and more advanced in quality (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013), and there is no need to “attend a two-day seminar to master the art” (One Hour Photo, 2002) (thanks for the input Sy Parrish a.k.a Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, excellent movie about photography) of taking pictures. Another aspect of photography, strictly connected to self-representation, is the importance that sharing photographs has acquired (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). And all the aforementioned apps are responsible for this. The importance of getting likes on our pictures on Facebook and the eternal pursuit of insta-famousness, makes photo-sharing one of the most popular activities in the digital era (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013).

What do you think about this “evolution”? Personally, I have always been a Golden-Age Syndrome kind of person (If you have seen Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen, another great movie, you’d know what I am talking about), the past has always fascinated me a lot, how people used to live back in the day, all the changes we have gone through and so on. But when I think about it, I can’t help but think that it is just getting worse and worse, as life is getting more and more complicated, we are losing sight of real values, and I find myself missing the simple life we had, and that I have experienced for a little while when I was younger, before digital communities, selfies and omnipresent technology.

                                                    Reference

 Vivienne, S & Burgess, J 2013, ‘The Remediation of the Personal Photograph’, Journal of Material Culture, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 279-98

One Hour Photo 2002 [DVD], Catch 23 Entertainment, Killer Films, John Wells Productions, USA. Distributed in Australia by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Midnight in Paris 2011 [DVD], Gravier Productions, Mediapro Televisió de Catalunya (TV3), Versátil Cinema, USA & Spain. Distributed in Australia by Sony Pictures Classic

Mad Men (2007), The Wheel, AMC.

[bulletinthebrian]

Unity Makes Strength

Among all the uses that social media has, crowdsourcing is perhaps one of the most fascinating and useful. No idea what crowdsourcing is? I am pretty sure that you know what I’m talking about, but maybe you are not familiar with that big word. It is an online activity that has the power to bring people together, present new ideas, and more generally, develop a sense of collectiveness (Brabham, 2013)! 

Isn’t it great? Oh, you want to know how the heck it works? Well it is actually pretty simple. Say that you want to know what people think about an idea or a project you have developed, instead of knocking at all your neighbours’ doors, you can just post it online, and let the crowd tell you what they think, or give you suggestions (Brabham, 2013) Its advantages are many. It’s cheap, anyone can do it, it is very quick and super effective (Sutherlin, 2013)! Now, think again of your own experience: ever answered to a poll online? Got an email asking you to take a survey? Or even news, or discount about those Air Jordan’s you were looking for? Well, all that is crowdsourcing. 

This topic makes me think of a funny episode I’d like to share here. My brother Erik is a graphic designer, and back in 2009 he entered a competition to design the NBL All-Star Game uniforms. His work got into the finals. The only thing that separated him from winning the competition was the number of votes that his design would have gotten. Anyone could vote, you only needed a valid email address and a name and last name, stuff that almost anyone has got LOL. So, we thought, what could work any better than asking for people on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to vote for his design? We started a massive “advertising campaign” straight away. We would ask all our contacts to vote for his design, and ask them to ask their contacts themselves to do the same, so to get votes from people we didn’t even know! If that’s not the quintessence of crowdsourcing I don’t know what it is! We did that for a week or so, until the deadline, stuck at the computer night and day to get more votes. We got sooooo many votes, you wouldn’t imagine. But in the end, the competitors were too good, and unfortunately his designed did not get picked. Maybe they did the same thing? Oh well, too bad, but what can you do. At least it gave me a story that is related to crowdsourcing I can put on here!

References

Brabham, Daren C, 2013, Crowdsourcing, The MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts; London, England

Sutherlin, G, 2013, ‘A voice in the crowd: Broader implications for crowdsourcing translation during crisis’, Journal of Information Science, vol 39, no 3, pp. 397-409

[bulletinthebrian]

What are you looking at, butthead?

This time, I want to write this post in a more serious tone, since this is a topic that I think deserves attention, and a good degree of empathy. Also, it is a practice that I find despicable and coward, since it is always target those individuals, that are not strong enough to defend themselves, or are alone. 

“Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert).” (Bullying Go Away, 2018)

Online bullying, or cyberbullying, is a matter of which research, has increased drastically lately, and it is due to the increasing use of electronic devices (Bayraktar, 2014) . Electronic devices and social media offer an effective way to harass the others without having to be physically there (Bayraktar et al., 2014) . As if it wasn’t an enough coward practice already. A substantial difference with traditional bullying is that cyberbullying’s use of physical force is minimum. But even if this may sound more harmless, the psychological damages produced by this practice can even exceed traditional bullying’s (Bauman et al., 2013) . The ongoing agony that the victims of cyberbullying have to endure, many times bring them to harm themselves or commit suicide, as it really affects their self-esteem and self-control (Bauman, et al., 2013). 

How many times we hear about troubled teenagers that end up committing suicide, because they had been pushed to do so? Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth, and suicide is often caused by the lack or deterioration of social ties to the collective system (Durkheim, 1897) , which can be cause by bullying (Bauman et al., 2013). With the always increasing use of social media and electronic devices, it is not surprising that cyberbullying is also a practice of which popularity, especially amongst adolescents, keeps raising. It is such a broad topic, and there is a lot of stuff to say about it, so I am going to post some links on here about some episodes that I have found being particularly relevant to cyberbullying. Read the story of Daniel, 17 years-old, who took his own life after being blackmailed (Harrison, 2013). Or Conrad, 18 years-old, whose “girlfriend” lead him to suicide (LeBlanc, 2017). Or watch the ‘Black Mirror’ episode ‘Shut up and Dance’, that shows exactly the kinds of actions that people are ready to perform, when they are psychologically controlled.

 References

Bauman, S., Toomey, R. B. & Walker, J. L. (2013) Associations among bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide in high school students, Journal of Adolescence, Vol. 36 (2), pp. 341-350 viewed 16 May 2018 at <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.12.001>

Bayraktar, F., Machackova, H., Dedkova, L., Cerna, A. & Ševčíková, A. (2014) Cyberbullying The Discriminant Factors Among Cyberbullies, Cybervictims, and Cyberbully-Victims in a Czech Adolescent Sample, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 30(18), viewed 16 May 2018 at <http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260514555006#articleCitationDownloadContainer>

Black Mirror (2016) Shut Up and Dance, Endemol UK.

Bullying Go Away (2018) Definition of Bullying, viewed 16 May 2018 at <https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/WhatIsBullying/DefinitionOfBullying>

Durkheim, E. (1897). Le Suicide. Paris, France: Alcan

Harrison, A. (2013) Cyber-bullying: Horror in the home, BBC News, viewed 16 May 2018 at <http://www.bbc.com/news/education-23727673>

LeBlanc, P. (2017) The text messages that led up to teen's suicide, CNN viewed 16 May 2018 at < https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/08/us/text-message-suicide-michelle-carter-conrad-roy/index.html>

[bulletinthebrian]

YOU ARE A SLACKER!

Yeah Mr. Strickland (finally I found a way to quote again Back to The Future!) we all are slackers, and all this social networking and technology may be the cause! Since their early days, technology and social media have generated the hope that they might gain an important role in the reinvigoration of democracy, and more broadly, a role in activism, politics and change (Bakarijeva, 2009). Very often, while being on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking platform, we come across NGOs, political party’s pages, or invitations to demonstrations or sensitisation campaigns about this or that. No matter what the cause is, you can easily share it and get people involved, and they all are just a quick click away (McCafferty, 2011). But even though politics and activism are kinda everywhere and omnipresent, and it is so easy to share idea(l)s, compared to 100 years ago, when the biggest revolutions were taking place and they could not use this powerful means we have today called ‘Internet’, is social media really making a difference (McCafferty, 2011)? Is it contributing to change the world for the better? Or are we all just ready to support with a click but not really doing anything else about it (McCafferty, 2011)? The term slacktivism has been created to describe this absurd condition, more and more people live in. Most people are happy to show off that they “””care”””, but are not as happy to actually leave everything and go strike, for example, or go demonstrate, or start a revolution!

A very good example of slacktivism, which I have personally always found irritating, is applying filters to your profile picture on Facebook, to show your friends, and friends of friends, that you actually give a damn. Or is it just because its cool? Do you remember? It was the French flag filter in support of the attack at that club in Paris, a heart with the Union Jack for the Manchester attack, the “Je Suis Charlie” slogan in support of that French magazine or the “We Stand With London” frame following the London attacks. 

ATTENTION! I am not saying that these people actually did not care of, or were not sad for, what had happened, but I’m saying that there might be other forms of internet activism we could move on to, that could actually do way better than applying a filter to your profile picture. Donations, for example, which thanks to platforms like PayPal and similar websites, are getting easier and easier to give, and also, pardon my criticism, do not involve any sort of self-advertisement. Just a thought.

References:

McCafferty, D 2011, Activism vs. Slacktivism, Communications of the ACM,Vol. 54, no. 12, viewed 5 May 2018 at <http://dl.acm.org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/citation.cfm?id=2043182>  

Bakardjieva, M 2009, 'Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet', Information Society, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 91-104 viewed 5 May 2018 at <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=96077bf0-c13b-4dc6-9786-c3ee12dab4ac%40sessionmgr104>