[ Her Judgement ] @herjudgement - Tumblr Blog

Goodbye Semester 1, 2015 <3

If You Are The One

One must wonder how many people were left scarred by Girl 20’s Australian studies!

Repeat, there is NO Australian campus of Hogwarts!

Many of the female contestants are active on Chinese social media (I’d link them but I’d have to learn to read Chinese chracters first!). This is off-topic but ‘If You Are The One’ or Fei Cheng Wu Rao is an interesting Chinese dating show, if you’re curious it’s on everyday on SBS 2 around 6-7pm ;)

brucesterling

*China seen by Chinese social media

The Great Firewall of China

China has the largest population on Earth with 1,393,783,836 people as of 2014 sharing 19.24% of the world’s population, compared to Australia’s 23.13 million people THAT’S A HUGE DIFFERENCE (Worldometers 2015)! But did you know that each and every one of those people in China do not have access to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Skype, Google or any Western social media website you can name? This is because they are blocked, banned and inaccessible within the country (Well they try their best to do this anyway). Many people would find this information unbelievable, or maybe even crazy but that’s just how things are over there.

Different culture. Different rules.

However, you may wonder why this is, what did Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook ever do to China for this extent of exclusion?

Put simply “Western culture is evil!”

The Chinese Government heavily controls the availability of global social networking websites due to them not following the law undermining Communist party rule and not being in the interest of the Chinese people (Tech 2 2011; Mathew 2014). Nevertheless this does not mean that social media does not exist in China with their home-grown equivalents to Western social media thriving on the mainland (Simcott 2014). Chinese social media equivalents include websites such as: RenRen, Tencent, Sina Weibo and much more!

Chiu, Lin and Silverman’s (2013, p. 1) claim to China leading the way for social media’s growing popularity worldwide is true. Without the availability of Western social media it has allowed for their Chinese equivalents to flourish and exceed their counterparts on various levels from usage and popularity. In terms of usage Twitter for example restricts users to 140-characters to Tweet which limits the amount of information you’re able to input, however, in the Chinese language each character represent a word which enables the user to post much more information compared to English. This makes Sina Weibo –China’s Twitter– a more content heavy website with posts having the ability to become microblogs (Crampton 2011). But just how popular is Chinese social media compared to Western social media? Statistics have shown that 91% of Chinese Internet users have a social media account, whereas the United States only have 67%. That’s 591 million internet users in China alone, which is more than Australia’s population doubled! There is also a stronger focus on social media used on mobile devices with 460 million mobile web users connecting with one another on the go.

Chinese people are not missing out on the social media experience just because they do not have access to Western social media websites, yes there are ways to surpass ‘The Great Firewall of China’ but with an almost 0% Chinese user-base on Facebook it only exemplifies how strong the user base is for Chinese social media (Bower 2014; Millward 2013).

Here’s a website which can tell you whether or not a website is block in China: http://www.blockedinchina.net/ Surprisingly Tumblr is still safe!

#mda20009 #The Great Firewall of China #China and Social Media #Social Media

allnightgamer

Playing outside

thatannoyinggamerguy-deactivate

A lot of people believe that girls who play games are attention seekers, I believe this is a stereotype drawn from the fact that there are girls on social media who take pictures of themselves with game controllers to *appear* that they are gamers.

Source: Jaltoid

Social Gaming

When it comes to gaming I would have to say that single-player Role Playing Games (RPGs) are my favourite. From the elaborated and constructed storylines of fictional characters, alternate worlds to the lore surrounding it, it’s like reading a book but having to physically contribute to the progression of the in-game storyline through playing it. Some of my personal favourite titles include anything from the ‘Tales of’ series, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. The reason I like these type of games is because you get to know the characters and feel emotionally connected to them on a personal level, this is similar to how we get attached to characters in television series like ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ and get irritated if two characters don’t get together.

Unlike single-player RPGs, social gaming and Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) users aren’t able to obtain that same level of intimacy you’re able to receive from playing games with a heavy storyline. With online gaming there is more focus on the interaction and connection between users themselves which enhances and contributes to the overall game play experience (Cole & Griffiths 2007, p.576). Social gaming (also referred to as casual gaming) is built around social networking websites, for example games such as Candy Crush, Farmville, and Words with Friends are free-to-play on PCs and hand-held devices. Through these games you’re able to connect your Facebook account to invite or join other friends who are playing the same game which creates an awareness and presence to one another within these spaces. These friends are essential for your ability to progress within the game, to receive rewards or meet goals which usually results into a plethora of pestering notifications on Facebook to “Help me progress further!” (Univerisity of Jyvaeskylae 2007 & Nettleton and Chong 2013). This sub-set of gaming has allowed for more people to become visibly involved with games as there is a low-learning curve due to the games being easy to understand and their repetitive nature (SkyBlue’s RPG n.d.), it has also seen the rise of female gamers with 52% of women being the main demographic of casual gaming (Stuart 2014).

MMOGs, however, requires more strategy, skill and time to play compared to social gaming as a higher level of commitment and focus is necessary. This is includes games such as Call of Duty, League of Legends and DotA. Users of MMOGs have the tendency to be referred to as hard-core gamers with interactions between users being more in-depth. These interactions include the prevalence of gaming slang, which has become an accepted social norm among these platforms including jargon such as OP, n00b, PvP, PKK, NPC, Pwned and so on (Parrack 2013). The presence of in-game slang shows how an individual culture has been created from the online gaming community, but also the attitudes and stigma which form from this. Although there has been a rise of female gamers within MMOGs they are often male dominated, much of this is due to sexist and stereotyped forms present in-game which deter female players from this online space. Despite this fact, players are often judged by their skill level and how active they are in-game rather than their age, gender and race (University of Jyvaeskylae 2007).

For myself I think I prefer social gaming over MMOGs, as I just want to sit in comfort and mindlessly match the same coloured candy without having to strategize and collaborate with other users to win a game. I have tried MMOGs before, and have shamelessly been addicted to Gunbound during year 7 but I don’t think I’d ever go back…. Unless they make a game worth playing.

#mda20009 #social gaming #online gaming #mmog #week 10

about-social-media-deactivated2

Your Social Personality

We know how everything we post online can stay there for a long while and how it influences our public image.

Even though this video is a few months old, I came across this just now. I found it quite entertaining and would like to share it with you. Apparently, it is some kind of campaign of Microsoft and it comes with a quiz you can take here: www.microsoft.com/…

What is your “social personality”?

herjudgement

Catchy video!

Connecting Through the Visual of Social Media

In the chapter ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’ Patricia G. Lange quotes that “One of the greatest gifts you can give to another person is your attention” (2009, p. 70) and immediately I remembered an interesting YouTuber, under the username of ‘Magibon’. To be honest I wouldn’t call this YouTuber interesting in terms of the content she posts on her videos, they’re a waste of time and creepy to say the least (apologies to any fans out there, I’m just being truthful!). Magibon is interesting in the fact of how much attention she receives for her videos, and the comments which follow. Now let me waste 32 seconds of your life that you will never get back by providing you with an example of what she posts:

Very insightful, right? A majority of her videos (if not all) consist of her staring into the camera –blinking, staring, and blinking again– you get the idea. But how can someone who does virtually nothing, receive as much as 100,000 views per video? How did a video of her just wondering what she looked like on camera and posting it on YouTube go viral? It is because the audience is visually engaged. They’re curious. People wonder “What is this?” and contribute to the views of her clips, people who comment about how ridiculous or how genius the idea of what she does is. This is ignoring the fact that there are creeps and lurkers in the cyber world who ‘enjoy’ watching her videos for various other reasons (Filho 2009). The affordances to which Magibon uses YouTube is to entertain her viewers, earn money for the amount of views she receives through partnerships, and it is through her videos Magibon visually communicates to her audiences “This is me. This is my video. Watch me.”

Like Magibon, our social media practices with how we interact with friends, family and strangers is becoming more and more visual. This is especially true with websites such as Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and YouTube which thrive on social imaging to share content. Communication online now consists of a plethora of memes, selfies, pictures and videos compared to when social media first began even on sites like Facebook and Twitter (Herrman 2014). The way we speak to one another has evolved, and rather than sending someone a lengthy message we are now able to reply with a simple image. Images provide a universal tongue to which languages aren’t able to provide, as there are no barriers preventing us from interacting with one another (Bilton 2013). Rather than saying goodbye you can send a .gif of someone waving.

#mda20009 #Magibon #Social Imaging #Visal Communities #Social Imaging Platforms #YouTube

northgang

Buck Showalter, manager of the Baltimore Orioles, on race [x]

mediamattersforamerica

You need to watch this full video.

(Video originally by Benjamin Hancock)

Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

“It’s a crisis!” They screamed “What?” I asked “The new Justin Bieber album has SOLD OUT! We must work together to find out which stores have them in stock!”

The term ‘crisis’ is often associated with events which are in the position of intense difficulty and danger (Oxford Dictionaries 2015). Recent disasters such as the Nepal earthquake and the Baltimore riots following the death of Freddie Gray, are large scale events which can be considered a crisis. However, crises can be smaller in scale depending on how an individual perceives the situation at hand – for example a die-hard Justin Bieber fan unable to get his new album will consider the situation a crisis.

What’s interesting though is the online community who come together when crises occur to provide “warnings, responses and relief efforts” to contribute to the commentary surrounding the issue (Starbird 2010). This is what experts call crowdsourcing as people are voluntarily offering information which may be inaccessible through traditional means, to form the collective intelligence of the public (Brabham 2008). After the Baltimore riots had occurred Twitter had erupted into a storm of updates from people involved, on lookers, and others not connected to the event. These people were reporting on what had happened, why it’s happening, how they feel about the situation, offering sympathies, opinions and so on contributing to the commentary surrounding the issue.

Through social media it has provided a stronger voice for the people who are often overlooked to express their concerns and the urges for change to be made (Hollon 2011), although the Baltimore riots were relevant to the people within that city it had extended to international news due to the power of the digital community (The New York Times 2015).

Other forms of crowdsourcing can be seen on websites such as GoFundMe, who host fundraising initiatives for a variety of causes/projects. One particular fundraiser which caught my eye was the ‘Tiny House Huge Purpose’ project created by Elvis Summers, which aims to highlight the growing issue of homelessness in the USA and the stigma surrounding it.

Currently 1,849 people have donated $58,813 USD of the 100k goal within 24 days (this number is continually growing!),

not only this but many have chimed into the conversation offering construction aid and perspective into living as a homeless person through a variety of social networks.

Crowdsourcing is a powerful tool when crises occur as there’s more manpower behind finding out information, providing aid where needed and creating a louder voice for the issue at hand.

#mda20009 #crowdsourcing in times of crisis #crowdsourcing #crisis

krxs10

herjudgement

krxs10:

“You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that? Fire is catching! and if we burn, you burn with is!” -MockingJay #BaltimoreUprising #BlackLivesMatter

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The Power of Online Activism and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Remember logging onto Facebook sometime in 2014 and seeing your newsfeed flooded with videos (either posted or shared) of friends, strangers and celebrities participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? Initially I thought it was another one of those viral challenges like the Cinnamon challenge or more recently the Kylie Jenner challenge, which encourages people to record themselves doing silly things and posting it online.

However, after watching several videos of people doing the ALS Ice Bucket challenge and doing further research of my own I learned that it was much more than a viral trend everyone was participating in. It was a cause looking to raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (also known as Motor Neuron Disease [MND] or Lou Gehrig’s disease) and to raise money towards research of the disease. This challenge was driven by the online community, beginning with Boston College Captain, Pete Frates, a man diagnosed with ALS who was the inspiration behind this online phenomenon.

But how did the Ice Bucket Challenge go viral?

The online environment is a difficult space to be heard amongst all the memes, dog videos and content posted daily. There is so much noise it’s difficult for any organisation, let alone a single man, become relevant amongst the digital masses. So what type of formula did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge encompass to make it so successful? As Forbes reported, it was ‘Big’, ‘Selfless’ and ‘Simple’ (Smith 2014). The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge could be seen everywhere on social media under the hashtag #ALSIceBucketChallenge, many people were becoming involved which included a number of celebrities, politicians, and notable figures who had posted their challenge online. These individuals are influential, have a huge global following, and are able to convince fans to follow suit.

But like every form of activism online there will always be critics who question and comment on the cause calling it another form of ‘slacktivism’. Slacktivism is defined as “Actions performed via the internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement e.g. signing an online petition or joining a campaign group on a social media website” (Oxford Dictionary 2015). Undoubtingly many people were participating in the cause because it was cool, trending and everyone else was doing it. To be involved in the ALS Ice Bucket challenge you only required a filming device, a bucket of ice water and needed to post the video online to show everyone else that you are involved (Nekvasil 2014). But what did all these videos do? Before the challenge if you had asked people if they knew what ALS not many people would be able to answer, through participating in the challenge the digital community have collectively raised awareness of a disease through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter but also raised over $3 million AUD for MND Australia, and over $100 million USD in the United States during this time. Although the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge holds many of the characteristics involved in slacktivism, it differs from most because of the level of engagement it held and the positive impact it had created towards research. Without social media this campaign would have never become a viral trend as this challenge was driven by the online community.