Just me...

[itssuzblog-blog]

Social Gaming

A brief history

Social gaming has been around since the time of the Ancient Egyptians, over 5000 years! Back then, since they didn’t have computers, they played games like Senet, Chess, and the predecessor to Snakes and Ladders. These have even been found in tombs and coffins. Fast forward to the seventies. Every nerds favourite game (or so Hollywood would have you think), Dungeons and Dragons enters the scene in 1974. It combined tactical combat with inventive storytelling and took the world by storm.

The first real gaming machine was introduced in 1940 at the World Fair in New York, then we had Sega and Taito in the sixties. The biggest revolution came in the seventies again, with Atari and its Pong game. Restaurants began installing video games, and people bought the consoles for their televisions. Interconnecting consoles came out as early as the late eighties, and by 1993, the LAN party was born. The next big change came in 2001 with Runescape, a virtual world where you travel around and solve puzzles. Now, over 1.5 billion people regularly play social games, and mobile gaming is set to take over console games.

 Gaming Grannies: The new trend

According to a Neilson study, “nearly a quarter of online gamers are aged 55+, larger than any other age bracket. Of the 55+ age group, females dominate the number of players with a unique audience of 1.9 million in December 2017, versus 1.5 million males.” (Thomas, E 2018).  Playing social video games helps keep the mind active, keeps those social connections, reduces the feelings of isolation and may even help fight dementia.

There is not a lot of research yet into how the aging brain reacts to gaming, either positively or negatively, but as time goes on, neuroscientists will be able to gather enough data to accurately associate mental wellbeing with gaming.

References:

2015, ‘Sales, Demographic and Usage’, Entertainment Software Association

Brand, J 2015, ‘Gaming through the ages: older Australians are embracing video games’, The Conversation, viewed 30 May 2018, <https://theconversation.com/gaming-through-the-ages-older-australians-are-embracing-video-games-44899>

Hameed, B 2011, ‘5000 Years Of Social Gaming History’, Adweek, viewed 30 May 2018, <https://www.adweek.com/digital/5000-years-of-social-gaming-history-infographics/>

Thomas, E 2018, ‘Grow Your Brand Through Entertainment’, Neilson.com, viewed 30 May 2018, <http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/news/2018/grow-your-brand-through-entertainment.html>

 Images:

Malaryya, 2017, [Meme] ‘Dungeons & Dragons Then and Now’, imgflip.com, viewed 30 May 2018, <https://imgflip.com/i/1l1k5w>

Thomas, E 2018, [Chart] ‘Grow Your Brand Through Entertainment’, Neilson.com, viewed 30 May 2018, <http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/news/2018/grow-your-brand-through-entertainment.html>

[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.

[itssuzblog-blog]

In terms of escapism, I really enjoyed playing World of Warcraft. I loved being able to create a fantasy character and go on quests and basically be something else for a while. It’s this fascination with getting away from a mundane life that I think draws a lot of people to gaming. I stopped playing after about a year, it got boring and I would much rather focus on my real life.  But for someone whose life isn’t so easy, a game like ‘Secondlife’ is a welcome retreat.

[yespurplewizardbouquet]

1B.SOCIAL GAMING

D Price

The first time I ever heard of social gaming was when a guy at work explained to me that he spent most nights floating around a second reality game as a floating head. This was a man in his thirties married with kids. He was very happy with what he was achieving in his second life. Gaming is big business now and hugely popular and could be described as a cultural phenomenon. Another fella from work plays online war games with people across the globe. He noted that the Americans in particular that he played with where very blood thirsty putting more bullets into their opponents than needed and using aggressive language while killing.   

Eve Online has recently documented many of its greatest online battles and events. Eve Online is a space war game that has built a huge online gaming community. The game has conferences and launched books about its history documenting the great battles. Gaming has become cult status and built online loyal communities.  

Pokémon Go still may have been popular according to Cleanprincegaming (2018). Although due to the people behind the game being tech company Niantic   they were too concerned about the bottom dollar, wouldn’t address technical issues and wouldn’t listen to what the user/followers wanted. 

Social gaming has had a few issues with some users being racist to other players once they knew that the other player  was `of a certain race or had darker coloured skin. Hiding behind the blanket of anonymity players spew out racist comments or write out nasty text to either attack other players or just to put them down.

Social gaming has been said to be quite addictive and players can deprive themselves of living a healthy lifestyle void of proper diet and exercise and sleep. I guess it is a challenge to find a nice balance and limit oneself to playing for too long, missing out on other activities important to us such as spending time with family and friends, engaging in recreational physical activities and receiving an education.

Skarupova & Blinka (2016) present a study that explores the relationship between social motivations and addiction to online gaming and if that possible connection can be explained by the personality traits responsible for social functioning 

Using different concepts of interpersonal dependency to distinguish healthy dependency, dysfunctional detachment, and destructive overdependence. An online questionnaire was administered to a self-nominated sample of 4,074 online gamers. Two regression models were constructed to separately explain gaming addiction and high engagement using social motivations to play, while controlling for age, gender, and time spent online.

Results

High scores on subscales measuring dysfunctional detachment and destructive overdependence were positively associated with online gaming addiction, while healthy dependency was negatively correlated with addiction scores. 

It was found that people with healthy relationship profiles were less likely to develop problems with online gaming. However high in-game engagement although sharing some similar factors with addiction suggested a mutual exclusiveness of addiction and engagement.

Professional gamers

Professional gamers are the talented albeit lucky ones who make it a profession playing for money in elusive competitions around different parts of the globe. Some are well known by the gaming community and have status of being an example with the skills and reflexes required to be amongst the best. E-Sports Earnings ranks the top 100 players showing the games they have played and the years they made the most money and at what age they were when they did this (E-Sports 2018; Russel 2013).  

                                 Korea’s Kim Taek Yong , Business Insider 2013 

Gaming in a professional scene has been going for some time now. Hailing from the Netherlands, Sander Kaasjager made most of his money in 2004-2005 playing Painkiller as a 19 year old making $230,000 (E-Sports Earnings 2018). Players can earn substantial money from huge sponsorship endorsements from streaming live practice games on services like Twitch wearing the sponsors brand whilst playing (Russell 2013). 

Journaldugamer 2013

Tonight I watched New Zealand gamer Quin 69 play Bless Online streamed live on Twitch with 3,335 other viewers around the world. I read the comments and was entertained for a while as he gave a commentary about the game as he navigated his way with other players moving through the different sections. 

This is indeed a massive entertainment industry, now where I can wake up in the early hours of the morning and watch someone on Twitch in real time play games online with thousands of others watching as well. I swapped to see who else was playing other games and was surprised when a anti domestic violence ad from the Queensland Government suddenly intervene. It said that the ad supports this game which was Shiptur (Twitch 2018). So even the Government knows how popular Twitch is. I never even knew about these sorts of things before writing this!!

Bibliography

Cleanprincegaming 2018 ‘Pokemon Go didn’t just die : It was murdered - Youtube, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4odH8jDk-sg>.

E-sports Earnings 2018, ‘Highest overall earnings’, viewed 12 May 2018, <https://www.esportsearnings.com/players>.

Russell, K 2013, 'The highest paid professional video gamers in the world’, Business Insider Australia, viewed 28 May 2018, <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-highest-paid-professional-gamers-2013-7?r=US&IR=T#14-ilyes-stephano-satouri-22990230-from-58-tournaments-2>. 

Skaupova, K, & Blinka, L 2016, ‘Interpersonal dependency and online gaming addiction’. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, vol. 5, no.1, viewed 30 May 2018, < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322987/>.

Twitch 2018, ‘Live streaming’, viewed 28 May 2018, <https://www.twitch.tv/>.

Images

Tech Insider 2013, ‘Korea’s Kim Taek Yong’, [Image], Business Insider Australia, viewed 28 May 2018, < https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-highest-paid-professional-gamers-2013-7?r=US&IR=T#12-kim-bisu-taek-yong-25650713-from-34-tournaments-4>.

Journaldugamer 2015, ‘Twitch’ [Image] viewed 28 May 2018, <https://www.journaldugeek.com/2015/03/24/vol-de-donnees-personnelles-twitch/>.

[itssuzblog-blog]

I think racism and sexism in video games can be linked to our earlier discussion on trolling. They get to hide behind a computer screen and say things they wouldn’t have the confidence to say in real life.

[itssuzblog-blog]

The Rise of the YouTuber

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?

YouTube was invented in 2005 and sold to Google a year later. Fast forward 12 years and YouTube is the mega video powerhouse we know today. The site has over 30 million daily users, over 5 billion videos shared and over 50 million users creating content. While there are other video sharing platforms, for example, Vimeo, I have chosen to spotlight YouTube for the simple fact that, yes, it’s probably the biggest, but it has given its name to a brand-new noun, and career path, as a YouTuber.

YouTubers are essentially content creators. They make videos, put them up and get paid via ads on their channels, or by brand sponsorships. Many of these people make a decent living out of this and a lot catapult themselves to transmedia storytelling. If their ideas are good enough, and they have longevity, they can go into Television, Film, and other types of media production. The reason these people have become so popular, is that they create ‘videos of affinity’. In other words, the content they make creates feelings of membership into a group (LGBT community), or attraction to someone. This is especially helpful for isolated people to feel like they belong. Imagine you’re a 16-year-old boy, living in the middle of the bible belt in the US, and instead of dating girls, and playing football, you want to date boys and read books. YouTube is where you will find a community of like minded people with content created just for you. Maybe there is hope.

Todrick Hall was a contestant on Season 9 of American Idol. He was rejected and told by Simon Cowell, “you wouldn’t amount to anything beyond a Broadway actor” (Hall, 2016). Eight years later, and he’s had a starring role in Virgin America’s earwormy safety film, his own MTV docuseries, Todrick, and judging for RuPaul’s Drag Race, as well as, choreographing for Beyoncé’s “Blow”. After his TV rejection, he created a YouTube channel where he sings, dances and acts parodies of Disney songs. He’s incredibly smart and leverages his platform wisely. As he says, “Every time one of my videos goes viral, I don’t sit back and relax and wait for someone to start knocking on my door. I immediately start on the next project and think, ‘What am I going to do to be different?’ I think every artist has to do that.” (Hall, 2016).

While Buzzfeed isn’t necessarily a ‘YouTuber’, they should rate a mention in this article. They are the leading employer of content creators, and many of these people are among the most popular YouTubers. Buzzfeed Video, the flagship channel, has over 16 million subscribers. They create videos of affinity, by being diverse, comedic and watchable. They utilise their other platforms such as Instagram and Facebook and even have a website and app. Jonah Peretti started Buzzfeed in 2006, it was merely a ‘bored-at-work’ website. Now it is a global media company, incorporating articles, videos, TV shows, and, most recently, feature films. Peretti cites Paramount Pictures as one of his leading influences, the 100-year old company owns its own studio, talent and distribution channels. Buzzfeed is aiming to emulate this success.

https://www.youtube.com/user/BuzzFeedVideo/videos

Among the many Buzzfeed alumni’s that are now creators of their own channels, Girlship TV is one of the most successful. Run by Amanda Holland, it is a leading creator of queer women’s content. At over 89 thousand subscribers, it hosts shows such as ‘Drunk Lesbians Watch’, and their own web series, ‘Project Inferno’, and the to-be-released, ‘Carol is a Demon’.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TinyFrenzyTV/about

This follows from the success of other creators like Kinda TV, the company behind the hugely successful Carmilla series. Watch it if you haven’t already, it’s kinda a big deal (see what I did there…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4QzRfvkJZ4&list=PLbvYWjKFvS5rX2yv-k5AJ8oxPoZ9zHcpe

References:

Aslam, S 2018, ‘YouTube by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts’, Omnicore Agency, viewed 29 May 2018, <https://www.omnicoreagency.com/youtube-statistics/>

Hall, T 2016, ‘Todrick Hall Talks Turning His 15 Minutes of 'Idol' Fame Into a Career’, Billboard, viewed 29 May 2018, <https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7271849/todrick-hall-american-idol-fame-career>

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’, in P, Snickars & P, Vonderau (eds), The YouTube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88.

Osborne, T 2015, ‘Rise of the YouTuber: Next wave of creative content makers building online followings and getting paid’, ABC, viewed 29 May 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-23/jordan-sweeto-rise-of-the-youtuber/6717624>

Robischon, N 2016, ‘How BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti Is Building A 100-Year Media Company’, Forbes, viewed 29 May 2018, <https://www.fastcompany.com/3056057/how-buzzfeeds-jonah-peretti-is-building-a-100-year-media-company>

[florenciablogs-blog]

Show, don’t tell.

As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words.

And in a time where there is no time that could not prove truer.

As technology morphs we grow less impatient while our capacity to concentrate withers. Like children, we focus on the bright, bold and loud shifting to the new craze that will stimulate our senses.

Our forms of communication through technology have become so broad that we have replaced much of them with images in the form of selfies, gifs, memes, bitmojis and emojis. There is virtually nothing an image can’t express and if anything using them adds layering words cannot. This human expression or emotional depth an image can provide is the fuel that has propelled its everyday use. 

These visual references allow for common associations, ones that transpose geography, language and age groups to lace individuals together with affinities. An affinity is a point of interest where we find a common link, “network users that share an affinity with the ideas that are being visually projected" (Vivienne & Burgess 2013).

In an interview with Jason Farman, Nathan Yugensou discusses the conceptual change of meaning behind a picture. Where before the photo would be the ends today the photo is the means to communicate a message. The photo itself often becomes secondary or unimportant, mere symbolism driving an idea further.

This ephemeral communication has allowed Instagram to grow to universal status and birthed snapchat.

The means of a picture is such that often we feel we need this image to validate our social encounters.

Remember the most beautiful place you last visited? When you arrived, did you have the urging desire to grab your phone and take a picture, video or story? A need to capture the moment, to share it with your friends? So then, why did this picture not simply stay in your camera roll, for you?

Why did you share this?

To some degree knowing/unknowingly we do this to cement social stance, to remind people that we’re out there living? Because fundamentally if this was not true, we wouldn’t share it on social media platforms. That is not to say this is good or bad- humans are social animals and as such we crave communication but when we are posting faster than we are thinking we need to pause and restart. 

Time to read more Dalai Lama quotes instead of posting them.

 References

Hjorth, L 2011, ‘Mobile spectres of intimacy: the gendered role of mobile technologies in love – past, present and future’, in R, Ling & S, Campbell (eds) The Mobile Communication Research Series: Volume II, Mobile Communication: Bringing Us Together or Tearing Us Apart? Transaction Books Edison, NJ , pp. 37-60.

Jason Farman 2014, Photography, Self Documentation, & Social Media: An Interview with Nathan Jurgenson, 16 June, viewed 14 May 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnPtZ5lKDHo>.

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of Affinity on YouTube’, in P, Snickars & P, Vonderau (eds), The YouTube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88.

Mizuko, I 2008 ‘Introduction’, in K, Vamelis, ed. Networked Publics, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 1-14.

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

[itssuzblog-blog]

Why do I share my travel photos? I guess I want my friends to be able to experience my trip with me. In some capacity at least. I don’t share a lot, and I’m bemused by people  that seem too think others care about what they had for breakfast or countless photos of them posing by a brick wall. I enjoy my friends pet photos, updates from content creators I like, occasionally food photos. But sometimes some photos feel kind of narcissistic.

[gem-vs-ba-mcmns-blog]

1B: Week 9 - Visual communities and social imaging

The selfie.

(Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/superbowl-commercials-2016-butterfinger-xT0BKmiSjvaBgCh13G)

It’s certainly not a new concept.

(Source: https://gifer.com/en/AA2L)

From carving our own likenesses into cave walls 20,000 years ago (Vallencourt & Poolos 2015, p. viii) to artists painting self-portraits over the centuries, we’ve been selfie…ing since long before photography was invented in 1839 (Vallencourt & Poolos 2015, p. x).

That same year, the first recorded photographic selfie was taken (Dinius 2015, p. 446).

(Source: http://roonby.com/2016/03/16/robert-cornelius-the-first-person-that-perform-selfie-photo/)

It’s only since the advent of the internet and the subsequent ease with which images can be posted and shared via social media, that the selfie has become the epidemic it is today (Dinius 2015, p. 448).

Now it’s 2018 and there’s no escaping the selfie.

Five years ago, ‘selfie’ was even the Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year (Dinius 2015, p. 445) and we’re now all used to posting our (very carefully constructed) photos without even giving it a second thought.

But should we think twice? After all, not everyone limits their selfie-taking to photos of their face.

WARNING – SEXUAL CONTENT 

We all know what a dick pic is. Some of you will have sent them with the receiver’s consent. Some of you will have asked for them. More often than not, the (dreaded) dick pic is unsolicited and unwelcome.

(Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/tipsyelves-halloween-text-l1J9LpewY0ZzIt692)

Listen.

As a general rule, if someone wants to see it, they’ll ask.

Otherwise what you’re doing is known as a little thing called SEXUAL HARASSMENT (Waling & Pym 2017, p. 2). A far too common form of harassment now synonymous with dick pics, as Whitney Bell discovered when putting together her exhibition “I Didn’t Ask For This: A Lifetime of Dick Pics” (Stevenson 2016).

(Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ppxjem/this-woman-turned-her-collection-of-unsolicited-dick-pics-into-an-art-show)

So…what happens when the protest against dick pics gets (*cough*) out of hand?

In 2013, feminist artist collective Future Femme (O’Connor 2013), staged a similar exhibition to Bell’s. On the surface, “Show Me More: A Collection of DickPix” seemed like a warranted expose of online harassment.

There was just one catch – none of the images in Future Femme’s exhibition was unsolicited. In fact, members of the collective set out to collect dick pics, openly asking men on online forums and dating sites to send them (Knibbs 2013).

These were then exhibited publicly without the senders’ consent or knowledge.

Which raises questions.

If the tables were turned and this was a non-consensual exhibition of female genitalia or revenge porn, would there have been more outrage?

Have men brought this upon themselves by engaging in this unwanted behaviour at other times?

Was Future Femme’s approach actually detrimental to their cause and protest?

Is the selfie culture to blame?

Let me know your thoughts…

References:

Dinius, M 2015, ‘The Long History of the “Selfie”’, Technologies of the Visible World, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 441-451, 454, viewed 16 May 2018, <https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/docview/1716697848/fulltextPDF/F15418B08E1442E3PQ/1?accountid=14205>. Knibbs, K 2013, This intimate picture exhibition isn’t art or a statement, it’s exploitation, Digital Trends, viewed 16 May 2018, <https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/dick-pic-art-show/>. O’Connor, M 2013, Art Gallery to Show Unknowing Men’s Dick Pics, The Cut, viewed 16 May 2018, <https://www.thecut.com/2013/08/art-gallery-to-show-unknowing-mens-dick-pics.html>. Stevenson, A 2016, This Woman Turned Her Collection of Unsolicited Dick Pics into an Art Show, VICE, viewed 16 May 2018, <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ppxjem/this-woman-turned-her-collection-of-unsolicited-dick-pics-into-an-art-show>. Vallencourt, M & Poolos, C 2015, History of Photography, Britannica Educational Publishing, New York, viewed 16 May 2018, <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/swin/reader.action?docID=2101666&query=>. Waling, A & Pym, T 2017, ‘‘C’mon, No One Wants a Dick Pic’: exploring the cultural framings of the ‘Dick Pic’ in contemporary online publics’, Journal of Gender Studies, viewed 16 May 2018, <https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/citedby/10.1080/09589236.2017.1394821?scroll=top&needAccess=true>.

[itssuzblog-blog]

First of all, do women really want these? As a gay woman, I’m actually really curious  as to whether there are some women out there that enjoy receiving these pics. But on to the questions at hand.This is an interesting dilemma. If I was a man and my private photos were being shared without my consent, I would be outraged. As women, we get (rightly) outraged over things like revenge porn. Isn’t this the same thing? It all boils down to consent and intent.

[ourdigitalcommunities-blog]

CrowdSurfing

9Whenever I think of crowdsourcing I immediately think of the feature on Facebook that allows you to say “I’m okay” in a time of a crisis. This feature is smart but makes me think does this lend us to becoming lazier when it comes to a natural disaster and other unforeseen events.

But first what is crowdsourcing??

Crowdsourcing can be defined as a type of online participation in which individuals, groups, institutions and organisations come together to complete a task, in which the volunteers undertaking the task bring with them their money, knowledge and experience which entails a mutual benefit (Brabham, p. 2).

So basically, like charity.

When we look at past events, take for instance the November 2015 Paris attacks, social media did what it always does when there is a disaster like this one, it reacted. The hashtag #Prayers4Paris started trending on Twitter and Facebook released the option to add the French flag overlay on top of your profile picture, with more than 120 million people used this feature in the first 3 days (Bondarenko, 2017). These sorts of features aren’t exactly the most effective during a time of a crisis, we need to get back to our roots and get our hands dirty and lend a hand.

Some other examples of crowdsourcing, which in the case of a disaster are more effective, are sites including GoFundMe, a crowdfunding platform that allows people to create a page that permits their friends, family members and complete strangers to donate to their event, and Ushahidi a site that allows individuals to submit reports using their mobile phone or the Internet, which create a geospatial archive of events. These two platforms are ingenious ways to individuals being able to either give back to those who have been affected by the disaster and can’t be there to lend a helping hand or pinpoint exactly where individuals are in terms of a disaster and where the disaster is taking place.

Here is a TEDx Talk (2015) that explains more about crowdsourcing and “changing the world one idea at a time”.

References:

Brabham, DC 2013, Crowdsourcing, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bondarenko, V 2017, ‘Facebook has quietly stopped offering flag profile picture filters after terrorist attacks’, Business Insider Australia, 8th June, viewed 14th May 2018, <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/facebook-stops-offering-flag-profile-picture-filters-after-terrorist-attacks-2017-5?r=US&IR=T>.

Tedx Talks 2015, Crowdsourcing Innovation: Changing the world one idea at a time | Rob Wilmot | TEDxKraków, 6th August, viewed 14th May 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1GZoamtgHQ>.

[itssuzblog-blog]

I like that platforms like Facebook are actively trying to help out humanity. Being able to share your knowledge to help someone out is amazing. But,while these features are handy, they definitely need to go hand in hand with people actually doing something. How much better would this world be if everyone that liked or shared a post just did one thing for someone else each week? I admit that I am guilty of this. But I feel like it doesn’t have to be on a large scale, love travels, eventually the people in power will feel it and help out others, right?

[thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2]

W8: Crowdsourcing & the notion of ‘reliability’

How many of us recall the typical nature of fundraising? Or picking up an encyclopedia to find information on or advice about something you knew nothing about? How about those times we needed to get somewhere and the only option was to conform to an inconveniently timed bus schedule and a route, which somehow still had you walking a third of the distance?

If any of those memories has you cringing at your computer – first of all, you’re not alone. Secondly, I’ve got good news for you: thanks to our modern internet, things like this have been dramatically transformed.

Our digital sphere has progressed to such an extent that it’s effectively reached new, revolutionary heights for the benefit of its users – we’ve been able to create new services, generate new sources of information, and even develop new modes of transport. Yep, transport.  

Fundraising for a project close to your heart can now reach new international audiences at the click of a button, from the comfort of your own loungeroom – think GoFundMe. Individuals can now seek specific and even localized advice or information from friends and strangers by typing a few words on their keyboard – think advice-oriented Facebook groups. And lastly, we as commuters can now contribute to the convenience of a direct travel route for other commutes in exchange for cash, based on the concept of carpooling - think Uber.

Crowdsourcing

These new innovations describe the concept of crowdsourcing, made possible by our digital sphere. On a broader level, ‘crowdsourcing’ is described as an idea, task or concept that exists only by through the contribution and participation of others through offering work, skill, money or experience (Brabham, 2013, p. 3). When combined with the participatory nature of social media, it’s no wonder this is the newest revolution. This can allow users to gauge the real-life and real-time impacts in the wake of a disaster or crisis – in fact, journalists frequently now rely on twitter feeds and trending hashtags to generate accurate coverage on a breaking story. Risky, I know. You can read more about this in John Jewell’s analysis here.

It begs the question: with so many active participants on social media – how can we verify the information that is shared? 

Studies reveal the public will rely on social media to find and share information in a crisis (Dailey and Starbird, 2014, p. 447), but it’s also no secret the internet is riddled with false or exaggerated claims. Heather Ford explores this common concern, and has revealed an effective method to ensure reliability is an established verification process of journalists, which includes; speaking to those on the ground via phone, investigating their identies and social accounts for evidence of locations, and sourcing (and citing) information from other journalists (Ford, 2012, p. 37).

However, in a time of crisis, how willing are journalists to adhere to these; and how much can we ever truly rely on the claims we see online?

Share your thoughts: Are you aware of an example where falsified information via crowdsourcing has sparked fake news to surface?

References

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

Dailey, D, Starbird, K, 2014, ‘Journalists as crowdsourcerers: responding to crisis by reporting with a crowd’, Computer

Supported Cooperative Work, vol 23, no 4, pp. 445-481

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd Wisdom’, Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Jewell, J, 2013, ‘How Twitter has helped the emergence of a new journalism’, The Conversation, viewed 8 May 2018, available via The Conversation

[itssuzblog-blog]

I’m not sure if this was crowd sourced exactly, or how they go this information, but they took it, ran with it and other outlets picked it up. I read the the other day how Sunrise made claims in a segment that Melbourne councils will be banning books like Thomas  and Barbie to be more politically correct. The president of the Municipal association had to step in and correct these ‘news’ outlets. It does show how fast news can spread via the crowd.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/victorian-councils-auditing-childrens-books-on-gender-grounds/news-story/ffeeb0c76090f2461e9babc895e7da61

http://discriminationclaims.com.au/thomas-the-tank-engine-gender-ban-is-fake-news-discrimination-claims-4/

[nathanielsamuels-blog]

Week 7 - Trolling & Cyber bullying

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface-coolface-problem

Cyber bullying and trolling have become well known in society these days especially with such severe punishments being enforced in Australia and around the world when an indivudial is found guilty of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying and trolling, though have separate aims I feel they both go hand in hand.

Cyber bulling is the intentional act of using social media against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself. Its main purpose is to either get revenge, to humiliate, intimidate or upset the victim while trolling is internet slang for individual who intentionally start an argument or upset others by posting inflammatory remarks for the sole purpose of angering people. Their purpose is a source of entertainment, to get attention and to upset the victim.

A good example of how cyber bullying effects people in society is the story of Ghyslain Raza, aka the Star wars kid who became an internet sensation through a video he made of himself school. Gyslain recently opened up about his life after his supposed fame and how he had to deal and how it made him suicidal. He luckily got through this dark time  and went on to complete university with a law degree and is now an advocate against cyber bulling.

Cyber bullying is very real in this day and age and I for one believe that stricter punishments should be in place. Long gone are the days where bullying was only limited to the school area, with social media and its place in society victims do not have a means to get away.

Have a read of this article which goes into more detail about Gyslains Raza and his fight against cyber bullying.

http://gawker.com/star-wars-kid-breaks-silence-says-online-fame-made-h-499800192

[itssuzblog-blog]

Cyber bullying is a very real problem leading to many victims attempting suicide. It’s very easy for someone to get behind a computer screen and say things to someone else that they would never say to their face. Or, get behind a computer screen and continue to say things they have been saying to their face. There’s a great teen movie called “Cyberbully”. While it’s fictional, it does accurately depict what’s going on in our teens lives.

[frangolive]

Shadows of irony under the bridge …

MDA20009: WEEK 7: Digital Citizenship 3: Trolling and media conflict

Wilson et al (2013) talks about the dark arts of flaming, hating and trolling as techniques using digital platforms to gamify social media spheres, eliciting attention, performing one-upmanship, setting up unsuspecting networked passers-by for negative experiences.  They frame trolls as knowing, deliberate, calculated and manipulative in their end game of hijacking market segments of digital attention, with an intricacy based on cues and clues (Wilson et al 2013).  But it is important to note they also advise that distinguishing trolling can be a matter of aesthetics and can lead to problematic judgement of ways to generalise an individual and their emotional identity – one person’s trolling is another’s healthy political debate (Wilson et al 2013). 

It also begs the question that in the well structured, plotted and developed detective game of trolling’s dynamic between identity and intent, how do we protect the most vulnerable (Wilson et al 2013).  It’s clear that the speed of technological changes to our digital communities in turn changes society as we engage platforms of social media networks (Fuller 2014).  But as a species, if children still mimic adults, could some of their social media behaviours be attributed to ‘copied modalities’ rather than openness of tech usage – are kids simply copying the communications ‘burn outs’ of their elders on a digital highway (Fuller 2014)?

For digital minors, social media platforms are just as much a space where kids should feel safe and confident in their networked relations as schools, playgrounds and homes. This is somewhat ironic considering the empirical vulnerability in their real life community spaces.  With this in mind, we have censorship and societal protection systems for broadcast commons of radio, television and cinema.  So are we on track with governance of ‘third screen communities’ or do we trust that even though it is driven by peeps with all their collective acts of controlled folly, it will all work out in the end?

To capitalise on broader community understandings of cyber misuse and abuse, we need to bridge the gap between generational concepts of what was pre digital bullying and socially ‘gone too far’ and what is now deemed to be digitally supported extensions of antisocial behaviours (Fuller 2014).  To truly manage and/or govern a platform, it’s prudent to use socially intelligent knowledge that genuinely and discretely recognizes its signs and cues for what they actually are, rather than lump it in with generalities because it is foreign or confusing (Fuller 2014).

https://workingsmartercafe.files.wordpress.com/2014/03

The quest for experimenting with a developing identity and trying it out for prominence and/or acceptance is still motivating social behaviours of digital citizens, and importantly our reactions (boyd 2014).  Our digital citizenship presence on social media has made those behavioural elements more visible and traceable, if not always the results (boyd 2014, p.152).  It is this very visibility that can be operationalised to guide impressionable identities away from embedding toxic social traits into the psyche of community and personal networked relations (boyd 2014).

20 years of study and research show negative behaviours can drive away digital citizens who ironically need online community spaces more than others and miss out on opportunities to send and receive messages of advocacy, activism and positive resistance (McCosker 2014, p.201).  What digital citizens can consider is that online passions, contests, conflicts and vitriols all spring from real life human emotions (McCosker 2014, p.206).  In the social relations remediated and reflected from our digital platforms, we can operationalise the techniques and digital tools of how trolling uses network structures to inject intelligent, provocative debate that attracts rather than repels visitors to the bridging platform (McCosker 2014).

Well, at least I flaming hope so …

REFERENCES:

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

Fuller, G 2014, 'Cyber-safety’: What are we actually talking about?’, The Conversation, viewed 30.4.18, <http://theconversation.com/cyber-safety-what-are-we-actually-talking-about-23505>.

  McCosker, A 2014, ‘Trolling as provocation: YouTube’s agonistics publics’, Convergence, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217, viewed 1.5.18

Wilson J, Fuller G, McCrea C, 2013, ‘Troll Theory?, The Fibreculture Journal: 22, viewed 30.4.18, <http://twentytwo.fibreculturejournal.org/issue-22-trolls-and-the-negative-space-of-the-internet/>

[itssuzblog-blog]

All we have to do is look at the twitter posts from “adults” and “politicians” during the March for our Lives, to know that adults are bullying/trolling minors online. There were horrible things leveled at these children. But they took the high road. Also going back to what you said about children mimicking adults, it’s so true. Children aren’t born with hatred, they’re blank slates. They learn these behaviours. As a society, we need to set a better example for them.

[allthingsgeshblog]

Just JAM it!

I would like to take you through Culture Jamming.

Culture Jamming put simply is the act of altering existing advertising campaigns to subvert the originally intended mega corporate message within the marketplace as explained by stormileemcleavy in her video (stormileemcleavy, 2013).

The resulting images can elicit a humorous response from the receiver, or challenge the receivers pre-conceived values towards a corporation or product with the intent to raise awareness and or social and political commentary (stormieemcleavy, 2013).

Let’s take a look at a subverted McDonalds ad…

The subverted message created is quite clear isn’t it.

By consuming “Maccas” you’re waistline among other areas of your body too will expand immensely.

In a nutshell, activism through Culture Jamming is achieved creatively. One can subvert the message without holding placards or forming a sit-ins or marches like the old days. With the expansion of social media, Culture Jamming has a plethora of channels through which to get the message out. 

 Apple.

This subverted message is quite powerful I think. The conglomerate Apple has certainly a following. With any new release there are hundreds of people with deck chairs lined up out the front of Chadstone 24 hours beforehand just to be in the doors as fast as possible! It goes further to reflect “Connected, but alone?” that was discussed by Sherry Turkle <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0g8TsnA6c&feature=youtu.be>

Pepsi.

On the face, this subverted message is quite comical, however the underlying message challenges obesity and society’s sugar level consumption, much like the McDonalds ad.

Esso…

A powerful subverted message I think, don’t you? By adding red vertical bars through the original logo, Esso is now portrayed as a money hungry conglomerate, and by association, all oil/petrol companies are perceived to be tarred in similar fashion.

Marlboro cigarettes.

Ouch! Just one word, changes the whole message doesn’t it. The logo is easily recognisable, coupled with the word “breathe”, forever links Marlboro, cigarettes and a lack of breathing together.

I’d even hazard a guess here, to say the stand looks very much like one you would expect to see at a funeral introducing the deceased or am I delving too deep here?

Starbucks.

I had a chuckle when I first saw this one. The clear link between Starbucks and overpriced coffee is quite prominent in this subverted message.

Dig a little deeper though, the fact remains that Starbucks’ success is driven by its ability to make $6 coffees cool!

Sad, but true, there is always the consumer that will be prepared to pay an exorbitant amount of money for something that is essentially hot water and flavouring…. a little harsh, I know.

I currently buy my coffee at the local cafe near work, refusing to “enjoy instant”, but I do draw the line at $4.50!

Calvin Klein.

This one plays isn’t so funny, yet it is very thought provoking and plays into the body image space. So many of the ads produced by Calvin Klein have the young strapping young man with a 6 pack - the ideal man! This subverted message shows reality, and challenges the conceived idea of the perfect man beautifully. I love this one!

Obsession.

Finally, Obsession. Very very powerful. The word Obsession would normally reflect the perfume, however, in this case, the word represents the battle of Bulimia / Anorexia and raises awareness of the overwhelming part that media and the larger corporate face chooses to reflect the “perfect woman”. Like the Calvin Klein one above, this subverted ad has “an sharp edge”. Through Social Media, this could be quite effective no?

As discussed by Chung and Kirby, the use of media technologies allows one to use Social Media as instruments of creative expression and social activism (Chung S & Kirby M, 2015). Furthermore Chung & Kirby discuss the importance of understanding the domination that corporate has over the media, how that domination influences consumer buying behaviour, one can reject this influence by raising awareness through creativity, distributing it through Social Media in order to gain as much traction as possible.

Furthermore, as discussed by Chung & Kirby, Culture Jamming provides an opportunity for open dialogue which is fantastic for building awareness, and the basis for change (Chung S & Kirby M, 2015).

It’s certainly a form of activism I could get involved in. Couldn’t you?

References:

Chung S & Kirby M, 2015, Media Literacy Art Education: Logos, Culture Jamming, and Activism, Art Education, 62:1, p. 34-39

stormileemcleavy 2013, Culture Jamming, 11 April, viewed 24 April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZaK4q4UTJc>

‘548584_508789855815669_1417389212_n’ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://sites.psu.edu/comm411spring2015/2015/02/17/culture-jamming-an-eye-opening-form-of-advertisment/>

‘culture-jamming-the-esso-logo12′ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://blog.tickyes.com/a-brief-history-of-culture-jamming/>

‘iaddict’ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <http://wpmu.mah.se/nmict151group2/2015/03/14/culture-jamming-cure-or-curse/>

‘fe89ce5451b24c01b8f9166b2d5b030c’ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/518899188297580112/>

‘7efff583cf6b257511ffb0928976de05′ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/165859198750496058/>

‘starbucks-coffee-culture-jamming-copy‘ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <https://sites.psu.edu/comm411spring2015/2015/02/17/culture-jamming/>

‘bbc39f87b5b038c74bc100645741e60f’ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/572168327634695219/>

‘adbusters_reality_for_men’ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/fashion-slashin/attachment/adbusters_reality_for_men/>

[itssuzblog-blog]

As a creator, I think these are genius! While I do like some brands, they must make good products, be friendly and give back to society. I think that culture jamming as a form of activism is incredibly smart and a fun way to educate the world about some of the not so great parts of these brands.

[kengalvin-blog]

An Activists Holiday in Cambodia

While reading Mark Dery’s infamous essay “Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs” I came across a quote by Jello Biafra, this quote directly related to Derbys ideas of culture jamming and how mass media can be manipulated by activists to visually challenging the effects of consumer culture (Dery 2010).

Culture jamming - Enjoy Capitalism (Skrbec, J 2014)

After reading the quote by Jello Biafra my thought pattern started to segue, I began to think about the lyrics to the Dead Kennedys song  “Holiday in Cambodia” (Dexbom 2015). The late 70’s and early 80’s were a hotbed of political and social activism in America spreadhead by the sounds of punk rock music and Jello’s band Dead Kennedys. The Lyrics to Holiday in Cambodia called into question America’s consumer culture and the ethnic class divides within the US while Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime lead a communist revolution that would see millions of Cambodians persecuted and murdered from 1975 till the regime’s demise in 1979 (Chandler 2009, p. 257).

Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia (Dexbom 2015)

When Pol Pot’s regime came to an end the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) seized control and have governed Cambodia for more than 30 years. The CPP has strictly controlled the countries broadcast media over its reign, but in the lead up to the 2013 national elections something interesting happened, the opposing Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) used social networks to address and cultivate voter participation. The CNRP did not have access to Cambodia’s broadcast media and turned their attention to Facebook, which did not fall under the control of the CPP. The CNRP saw how the spread of the internet and use of networked publics like Facebook throughout the country were allowing citizens to become involved in social issues and practices online, invoking their “digital citizenship” (Mossberger 2007, p. 1). By 2012 Cambodia’s Internet penetration rate was at an all-time high with 18.5% of the population connected to the Internet, this gave the CNRP access to over 2,716,305 million Internet subscribers (Kimseng 2014, p. 107).

Over a third of registered voters in Cambodia were between the ages of 18 and 30 and the CNRP’s ability to use Facebook helped engage the countries youth in political activity. Cambodia’s youth are by no means digital natives but they began to adopt digital platforms and immobilised civic activism, which quickly transcended from computer screens to the countries streets. A 24-year-old CNRP supporter Kimsour Lim told the ABC “I use Facebook to coordinate with the youth to inform them when we are marching for the National Rescue Party,” (ABC 2014).

Digitial activist Kimsour Lim uses Facebook to coordinate CNRP marches (Oaten, J 2014)

Ultimately the CPP won the 2013 Cambodian election but the CNRP’s use of Facebook helped win them the digital vote and generated peaceful political activism by citizens never seen before in Cambodia. Cambodia is a country where democratic freedom has not always been a right, but the growth of networked publics gives Cambodian’s further avenues for digital democracy and the ability for its citizens to critically question Cambodian society and national political practices much like Jello did.

A political rally organised by the CNRP (Oaten, J 2014)

Reference List

Chandler, D 2009, A History of Cambodia, Westview Press, Ebook Central (ProQuest).

Dery, M 2010, Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs, Shovelware, viewed 27 April 2018, <http://markdery.com/?page_id=154>.

Dexbom 2015, The Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia, VIDEO HD, 10 August, viewed 29 April 2018, <https://youtu.be/5IuJ5fUwywU>.

Kimseng, M 2-14, ‘Shaping Political Change: The Role of Social Media in Cambodia’s 2013 Elections’, Asia Pacific Media Educator, vol. 24, no. 1, pp.107-116.

Mossberger, K, Tolbert, C & McNeal, 2007, Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, MIT Press, Ebook Central (ProQuest).

Oaten, J 2014, ‘Kimsour Lim utilises social media’ [image], ABC, viewed 29 April 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4834694-3x2-940x627.jpg>.

Oaten, J 2014, ‘Sam Rainsy meets supporters at Freedom Park’ [image], ABC, viewed 29 April 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4834830-3x2-940x627.jpg>.

Oaten, J 2014, Young activists take to the streets ahead of the Cambodian elections, ABC, viewed 29 April 2018, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-22/an-cambodian-spring-feature/4834450>.

[itssuzblog-blog]

I have heard of The Dead Kennedys, but have never listened to any of thei songs. Art has always been used to help with activism. Luckily, in this new age, artists can use social media to spread their message. And with countries like Cambodia being able to access the internet, the whole world can see what really goes on there. It’s a shame that some governments (looking at you China, and North Korea) control what their citizens are allowed access to, just in case they lose their power. Hopefully someday, citizens of these countries will have the freedom that we in Australia are afforded.

[itssuzblog-blog]

Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

With all the negativity surrounding social media now, I think we forget how, in times of crisis, society can come together and help fellow human beings. From earthquakes, to floods, to war ravaged countries like Syria. Social media allows people around the globe to be able to donate funds and goods, to check that friends and family are safe and to keep up with the latest news out of an area that would otherwise be silent.

 Ushahidi:

Born out of an idea by software developer, David Kobi, in 2007. It garnered international attention and around 20 developers joined together to help code. The necessity for a large-scale crowd mapping site like this came from a government media ban in Kenya during their elections. They were declared as rigged by the Kenyans and violent protests followed. As these protests were often happening in rural and remote areas, the media could not get access to what was happening on the ground. Ushahidi had people texting and emailing their stories and then uploading them to a Google map to keep everyone informed of what was happening and where. It was able to compile a complete picture of the crisis, the only organisation to be able to do this.

But this was just the beginning. Because they used open source coding, anyone could use it to create crowd maps. “It was Ushahidi's use in a fast-moving crisis situation, mapping what journalists call hard news, provided inspiration to many others.” (Jeffery, 2011). In fact, it has been used many times since from a wildlife charity using it to map animals, to Al-Jazeera using it during the 2009 Gaza war, in Haiti in 2010, to map the BP oil spill, during the Nigerian elections, during the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and as recently as the 2016 US presidential elections. These, of course, are just a few of the higher profile examples of crowd maps that were created.

But it drew some criticism, the site needed to be updated to make it more user friendly. It was deemed to be hard to use and too techy. In 2010, it was, and it is now super easy to create a map and get real time updates to it.

Christchurch Earthquake:

New Zealand is directly on a fault line. Growing up in Auckland, we had regular earthquake drills and were used to the tremors. However, in February 2011, still reeling from another major earthquake, the country watched as Christchurch was all but razed to the ground. My family, like many others, had family and friends down there and could not contact them. We were glued to social media, to find out live updates from the area. Finally, we got messages that everyone we knew, at least, was safe. With the internet, as soon as there was a signal, they could update their profiles to let their loved ones know they were safe. People were saved through crowd mapping. “With institutionalization, information from crowdsourcing could conceivably be available within hours after imagery is acquired, making it a feasible resource for response teams.” (Barrington et all, 2011) Disaster relief teams were able to use these sites to find out where to look for buried victims.

It’s also being used in the rebuilding efforts. Users can upload locations and pictures of collapsed and damaged buildings, and Disaster Mapper allows people to annotate maps of disaster areas. With new technology, we can use drones etc to map out the safe and unsafe places, so lives are not needed to be put at risk.

These are a couple of positives to come out of our new, technology obsessed, world.

 References:

Barrington, L, Ghosh, S, Greene, M, Har-Noy, S, Berger, J, Gill, S, Lin, AYM, and Huyck, C 2011, ‘Crowdsourcing earthquake damage assessment using remote sensing imagery’, Annals of Geophysics, viewed 21 May 2018, <https://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/5324>

 Ford, H 2012, 'Crowd Wisdom', Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Halliday, J 2010, ‘Ushahidi launches simplified crisis-mapping service’, The Guardian, viewed 21 May 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/11/ushahidi-crowdmap-crisis-mapping>

Jeffery, S 2011, ‘Ushahidi: crowd mapping collective that exposed Kenyan election killings’, The Guardian, viewed 21 May 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2011/apr/07/ushahidi-crowdmap-kenya-violence-hague>

Kuo, L 2016, ‘A Kenyan crisis-tracking team has deployed to monitor US election violence and voter suppression’, Quartz media, viewed 21 May 2018, <https://qz.com/825442/kenyas-crisis-mapping-startup-ushahidi-will-monitor-the-us-presidential-election/>

 Images:

‘Oil spill crisis map’ 2010 [image], viewed 21 May 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/11/ushahidi-crowdmap-crisis-mapping>

[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>

[itssuzblog-blog]

Great post! I think that politicians have used social media effectively to reach a younger demographic, and I think it does show in the increased number of millenials that turn out to vote. However, there will always be the ones that mis-use the platforms. Without sounding too Donald Trumpian, I do believe that there are a lot of instances these days where ‘respected’ news outlets spout ‘fake news’. Either on purpose, or just laziness on their part.

[itssuzblog-blog]

Don’t feed the trolls; Trolling and Conflict on social media

Trolls. Not the ugly little Scandinavian creature that lives in a dark cave, but the ugly creature that lives in dark cave and hides behind a computer screen.

They delight in posting nasty comments on blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, etc. They find pleasure in starting fights on the internet. They usually act anonymously, by making fake profiles and using cartoon images as their avatars. The way to deal with these trolls is to not ‘feed the trolls’. That’s what they want, the attention.

According to Time.com, “A Pew Research Center survey published two years ago found that 70% of 18-to-24-year-olds who use the Internet had experienced harassment, and 26% of women that age said they'd been stalked online.”

But is it a crime? In Australia, you can be prosecuted if you are accused of “using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause an offence to the reasonable person as stated in Part 10.6, Division 474.17” (Findlaw). In England and Wales, there are several pieces of legislation that cover comments that cause distress and anxiety, as well as protecting victims of online harassment and stalking. There are also more amendments on the way. In the United States, harassment, stalking and bullying are all state crimes but can turn into federal crimes if they cross state borders.

How does trolling affect people? I have found a couple of case studies of people that were subjected to horrific trolling.

1.       Anita Sarkeesian

Anita is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She was targeted by online harassment after she launched a kick-starter campaign to fund her Tropes vs Women in Video Games series. “Sarkeesian is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a not-for-profit educational organisation “that analyses modern media’s relationship to societal issues such as gender, race and sexuality”.” (The Guardian).  She received rape and death threats, bomb scares, and a promise of a mass shooting at one of her events. All from strangers. This story has a, somewhat, happy ending. Her Kickstarter campaign ended up raising $160K instead of its $6K goal. She is cautious but continues her work to create gender-equality in the media.

https://www.youtube.com/user/feministfrequency

2.    Jessica Valenti

Jessica is a feminist author and journalist with The Guardian. She writes about feminism and how women are treated by men, often using her own experiences. She, like most feminists, has been targeted by online trolls, one who even made a rape threat against her 5 year old daughter, this is being investigated by the FBI. After this, she took a self-imposed social media hiatus for several months. She returned to Twitter during the 2016 US presidential election, because, as she says, “The idea of having to sit through that horror show without Twitter felt like a lot.” (Valenti).

  References:

Moreau, E  2018, ‘Internet Trolling: How Do You Spot a Real Troll?’, Lifewire.com, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-internet-trolling-3485891>

Stein, J 2016, ‘How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet’, Time.com, viewed 17 May 2018, <http://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/>

‘Anatomy of an Internet Troll’ [infograph], Woodensnail Wordpress, viewed 17 May 2018,  <https://thewoodensnail.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/subculture-trolling/>

‘Internet Troll’ [image], Sinensis, viewed 17 May 2018, <http://www.blogworld.com/2012/10/02/online-trolls-toxic-disinhibition-and-how-we-can-change-the-internet/>

‘Internet Trolls can be Prosecuted Under Australian Law’, Findlaw.com.au, viewed 17 May 2018, <http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/4259/internet-trolls-can-be-prosecuted-under-australian.aspx>

Rankin, M, ‘Law Guides: Internet Trolling and Cyberbullying Law’, Lawyerportal.com, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.thelawyerportal.com/2017/04/20/law-guides-internet-trolling-cyberbullying-law/>

Wilson, M 2014, ‘Are You an Internet 'Troll'? Legal Consequences to Consider’, Findlaw.com, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2014/10/are-you-an-internet-troll-legal-consequences-to-consider.html>

Webber, J E 2017, ‘Anita Sarkeesian: ‘It’s frustrating to be known as the woman who survived #Gamergate’’, The Guardian, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/16/anita-sarkeesian-its-frustrating-to-be-known-as-the-woman-who-survived-gamergate>

TEDx Women, 2012, The Mirror­- Anita Sarkeesian, 4 December 2012, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZAxwsg9J9Q>

Tovey, J 2016, ‘Jessica Valenti on Donald Trump, quitting Twitter and harassment’, The Guardian, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/i-think-we-underestimate-how-much-people-hate-women-jessica-valenti-on-donald-trump-quitting-twitter-and-harassment-20160929-grqxeu.html>

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How Gen Z is changing the world, one hashtag at a time

As a quick introduction to the concept of digital citizenship, let’s unpack the term. A digital citizen is someone who uses IT to engage in society, politics, and government. ‘‘Digital citizenship’’ is the ability to participate in society online (Mossberger, K et al.). It is the duty of citizens to be informed in democracy. The higher percentage of young people online means that the information on the internet has the greatest impact on Gen Z and Millenials.

When Gen Z aren’t eating tide pods on the internet for fame and glory, they are spending their time fighting the establishment. Activism among the youth is not a new thing. In the 1910’s we had the Suffragettes, the 1960’s brought us Civil Rights and the Vietnam war protests, by the 1970’s it was abortion rights, and, in the present day, we have the Women’s March and the March For Our Lives. The last one was started by the students at Marjory Stoneman in Florida.

A Gallup poll states that the preference for stricter gun control is the highest since 1993, and CNBC notes that “more than any activists in a generation, they have managed to take over the conversation around gun control and American safety.” (Mejia, Z)

They’ve taken activism and protest online, raising awareness using hashtags. They’re still using traditional protest methods such as marches, rallies, and walkouts, but they’re shunning traditional media to get the word out about these events. They have more progressive views than previous generations. These ‘kids’ are out to change the world. They are the next generation of voters and, by the next United States elections, they will be old enough and angry enough to vote.

Let’s take a closer look at the activists behind March for our Lives. As I mentioned above, these young people attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, USA.  On February 14th, 2018, a gunman entered their school and killed 17 people. Their grief was compounded with their outrage that this person was able to purchase a semi-automatic weapon in a local gun shop. Instead of wallowing in their grief, they decided to do something about it. This began the online protests using the hashtag #neveragain. They used Twitter to tweet directly to their senators and to the president himself. Their tweets went viral as more and more people picked up the hashtag. Using the impetus from the media coverage of the shooting and their social media notoriety, they quickly organised a rally called, March for our Lives. It took hold around the world and became a global event.

They are our future and social media is the future of protest and activism.

References:

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

Mejia, Z 2018, 3 reasons Gen Z activists have changed the gun control conversation when no one else could, CNBC.com, viewed 8 May 2018, <https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/how-gen-z-activists-have-changed-the-conversation-around-guns.html>

Jones, J 2018, U.S. Preference for Stricter Gun Laws Highest Since 1993, Gallup.com, viewed 8 May 2018, <http://news.gallup.com/poll/229562/preference-stricter-gun-laws-highest-1993.aspx>

[nathanielsamuels-blog]

Politics and Social Media, are they doing it right?

This week we talked about Politics and the role social media has in this day and age.

Social media can be a very powerful tool for politicians and groups trying to get their views across. It however is like a double edged sword, it can help get your view across very effectively or can also be your downfall.

Some examples can be seen with Oscar Morales facebook page that he created to show his disgust with the military arm of the Columbian communist party, also Wael Ghonim is another example of how a facebook page showing the abuse and death of a young boy by the hands of police, caused mass protests and in the end led to the president Mubrak stepping down from power.

Barak Obama is another great example of how politicians can use social media to influence people. Not only was he backed by some influential people such as Operah Winfrey he was able to use social media to engage with and bring to light issues that Americans were able to relate to and cared about. Obama was the first president to have his own twitter account and through this was able to use social media is a way that was never done before by politicians, through engaging and interaction with the American people. This is something that I feel most politicians should strive to achieve, instead of one way communication between people and government opening channels of communication through social media will not only be insightful for the citizens in issues that are currently being looked into but they are able to share with the politicians there concerns.

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I’m so glad that Obama was the first president to have twitter. He is an elegant speaker and a kind human. I do agree that this should be the way of the future of politics, where we are able to communicate with the people that lead us. But until the people in power actually care more about the people they’re sworn to serve, this is a dream rather than a reality.