emilia fuller

tumblr providing a platform for digital communities to join and converse...

[meanplastic]

[serious]

[peashooter85]

“When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”

-Nikola Tesla, 1926

[emiliafuller]

Global social media - China

I work in retail so this ‘Chinese Social Media Boom’ is no great revelation to me. China’s social media boom is evident in the plethora of Chinese customers I serve daily. Dedicated apps to help them shop better, wiser, smarter through community interaction are ubiquitous with the savvy Chinese consumer. It is also extremely common to have a visiting customer say hey have to “ask a friend” before buying something before talking quickly into their phone and just as quickly turning around to say, “I’ll have it!”. The truest form that I see these digital communities that is ingrained in Chinese culture now is, ironically through the face-to-face interactions I encounter. One most telling social media interaction we have in my store is that every Sunday we have two Chinese customers that bring two phones and a basket and they go ‘live’ to allow customers tuning in in China to buy brands, products, sold out items that you can’t get in China- through them. Genius, right?

The statistics only back up my observations on the very social tuned Chinese market. A McKinsey survey states “Chinese consumers say they are more likely to consider buying a product if they see it mentioned on a social-media site and more likely to purchase a product or service if a friend or acquaintance recommends it on a social-media site.” Going onto to state the cultural difference in Chinese consumers placing the most value in peer feedback and their distrust in advertising and institutions- so I’m redundant, right? (McKinsey, 2014)

So, is this the future for all? Are we bound to the digital communities we create?

[barkoxe-deactivated20140905]

[bloodbending]

the most painful social interactions are when you miscalculate someone’s meme literacy and reference something and the person/group doesn’t get it and u have to half-heartedly explain it knowing FULL well it’s 0% funny if people don’t have the full convoluted context of the joke and u feel the flames of hell start to lick at ur feet as they all give u a pity laugh 

[justbrosthings]

when you see a big spider on your desk 

[emiliafuller]

Social Gaming

Not something I’m entirely familiar with personally, to be honest I couldn’t tell you the last time I played any video games BUT my boyfriend does and he let’s me put on the headphones and talk to our friends as he plays- and let me tell you I enjoy this; thoroughly. From an outsiders point of view I think what makes this particularly interesting is the balance of team work and sociality. 

It does begin to worry me though, when, like discussed on my trolling post- there can be no censorship or regulation, particularly over microphones and even furthermore when when the games are quite violent and can cause you to be hyperaroused- even to the point you might even be in a real life scenario. To exacerbate the situation further a lot of the video games that you play in massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) actually reward you for ‘unethical’ behaviour. This goes beyond just what someone might say to you over a headset (although this isn’t something to entirely throw away and forget about). One game, EVE’s producers specifically say that it’s ‘a tough galaxy out there, and anyone could betray you’ (De Zwart & Humphries, 2014).

As someone on the outside looking in this seriously worries me, it makes me think of kids playing video games and turning into crazed, psychopathic monsters that have no codes, ethics or morals BUT I think I may have hit a hyperbole and am surely speaking incredibly naively. 

Particularly, when I think of my boyfriend and his friends playing and I occasionally hear them say “here you take this gun, I’ve got enough”, or “come help me, I need health...oh thanks man, you’re the best”. 

It can’t be all doom and gloom, surely video games stand to teach more...

About sociality and beyond.

[digitalcommunities2018-blog]

[meanplastic]

[the-kawaii-safari]

[emiliafuller]

Public Health: Campaign and Communities

An interesting and very effective way of to implement and ultimately roll out information or a strategy for public health. 

One example that I personally remember is when Susan from the Australian soap, Neighbours (a character that has been on the show since 1994) got Multiple Sclerosis (MS). They outlined what MS actually entailed and furthermore said so much for invisible illnesses, as well. This is a poignant moment for a ‘soap-style’ show with such a large reach. By getting audiences to relate, care and develop relationships with characters it makes these public health campaigns particularly effective.

Another way to spread this public health campaign in a more personal way, using this same structure as this one, is through blogs. Using the same form as a diary, the reader can understand the very intimacies of the person and the illness, disease or ailment. (McCosker & Darcy 2013) On this platform I think the most illuminating public health campaign has been on mental health. Allowing a reframing of what comprises mental illness, and what people go through day to day with it means readers can understand as if they were a friend or they were reading their diary. McCosker said in 2016 that “blogs have been successful as a tool for ‘emotion management’ and ‘information sharing’ (Chung & Kim, 2008: 303; McCosker, 2008).”

[deishu-deactivated20120812]

[queeranne]

Remember when Netflix and Tumblr didn’t exist and you read like 10 books a week? Good times.

[emiliafuller]

Crowdsourcing- in times of crisis

Crowd sourcing in times of crisis is one of the seemingly, visible positive things you can give in such a time; something you can do as a society and an individual to directly help someone in need out.

One way of crowdsourcing that I, have taken part in and continue to, is giving blood. The Australian Red Cross allows people to give blood, plasma and platelets by simply booking an appointment- educated medical professionals are there to interview and take your blood and take care of you. This is a way of crowdsourcing that makes it easy for people to give in a less traditional way than money- I think if you can, this is one of the easiest and most effective way of giving to those in need. It does not discriminate to a specific socio-economic group therefore allowing a plethora and varied group of people to give. The way social media plays into this more is how The Red Cross can market to an array of persons that they perhaps couldn’t have reached before. ‘Crowdsourcing blood’ has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it?

Another way of crowdsourcing that I think is particularly pertinent to this platform and time is how people are using social media to crowdsource. Twitter and Facebook, namely. Arc Centre for Excellence for Creative Industry’s and Innovation wrote about the Queensland floods and the role Twitter played- “As the most visible account on #qldfloods, the Queensland Police Service Media Unit account (@QPSMedia) played a leading role in disseminating timely and relevant information to the public, and in coordinating and guiding the wider discussion.” (Bruns, Burgess, Crawford and Shaw, 2012).

Another example of social media crowdsourcing is how Facebook introduced ‘Safety Check’ as a response to crisis. This response allows people to let their friends and family know they’re safe as the news starts travelling around the world. This blanket way of letting people know you’re safe in troubled times in a fantastic way of crowdsourcing information but there is some strength’s and weaknesses to it. The strength in particular is the speed and efficiency it can spread news, it takes the burden off of governments and individuals. It does have a weakness though, it can give information to a large group of people on your friends list. The other critic the feature has recieved which I think is interesting to consider is when Facebook actually activate it, when is the situation reaching crisis level enough to activate and who gets to decide this?

[teenscoolest]

[emiliafuller]

Prezi, Trolling and Social Media Conflict

https://prezi.com/view/nnrgRbXCmo488vLdln6x/