Digital Communities

Jackson Jones MDA20009

[sasha44-world-blog]

Crowdsourcing is the process of getting work or funding, usually online, from a crowd of people. The word is a combination of the words ‘crowd’ and ‘outsourcing’. The idea is to take work and outsource it to a crowd of workers.

Famous Example: Wikipedia. Instead of Wikipedia creating an...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Thanks for the post. I wonder how far crowdsourcing will develop into the future as technology moves forward. Will our jobs look the same as the do today or will we become roaming freelancers? :)

[katelynbarrydigitalcomms-blog]

TROLL DOLL

Source : FanPop, 2014, “Troll DOll”, Image, FanPop Inc 2006-2015. http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/troll-dolls/images/1353646/title/troll-doll-photo

When I think of Troll, this is exactly what imagine. And if you asked me five years ago, I would’ve said the same, however today I...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Bring back the days of the troll dolls. Internet trolls are far too ugly :) I wonder if any of them would look at the LOL checklist, by Griffiths, and change their ways.

[amcoady-blog]

The rise of the selfie!!

Selfie – a self-portrait photograph, usually taken with a hand held camera phone at an arms-length.

Source: A selfie – what represents this time period (Time Capsule 2015).

Selfies have been around since MySpace days; however they have become dramatically popular...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Interesting post (and interesting links too). Who would have thought that people could become addicted to taking photos of themselves?! I have seen selfies on Instagram of the same person, doing the same pose in slightly different locations. Snooze! Thanks for the post :)

[digcomstudies]

Digital activism reaches more people than any other form of activism. It is now possible to reach a huge audience without the help of the fourth estate and in countries where the fourth estate is limited or controlled by the government, the internet provides a medium for the community to...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Nice post :) I wonder if clicktivism does actually work when quite often a causes can be shared or liked via social networks without any real investment in or deeper knowledge of the cause, or the need to think about it ever again. On closer inspection, maybe we shouldn't be supporting some of these causes.  It was interesting to read your point of view. Thanks.

[kimmwoodland-blog]

As a product of digital technology, online gamingcommunities act like a microcosm of the larger virtual space in which it exists. Interestingly, they encapsulate many of the positive and negative aspects of society’s increasing reliance and preoccupation with the Internet and social media. It is...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Nice post. I love the title too :) I have never been into online gaming, but I can understand how it could be very addictive for some people. Thanks for posting!

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#8. "The Role I was Meant to Play": Online MMORPG Addiction

(China Internet Cafe 2010)

Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), as they have come to be known, have been in existence since 1995 when The Kingdom of the Winds was first launched in Korea. Within this game, players could choose to live in one of nine virtual villages within three kingdoms. Homes within these villages could be rented and modified for a fee. Individual players created communities within the virtual world and communicated with each other while carrying out specified tasks.

Since this time, the amount of online games and gamers has increased considerably (Kim, Namkoong, Ku & Kim 2008). Among the most popular of these games have been:

The Lord of the Rings Online

World of Warcraft

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

EverQuest 2

Age of Conan

Eve Online

Anarchy Online

Ryzom

Dark Age of Camelot

A Tale of the Desert

(Tingle n.d.)

(ScrewAttack! 2013)

In each of these games, players are cast into detailed worlds of varying environments (typically three dimensional) and have various roles to perform, depending on the game. Players can assume various roles, collaborate and team up with other online players to complete challenging assignments, which often require aggressive shot-em-up action (Kim, Namkoong, Ku & Kim 2008).

Players (the majority of which are aged between 21 and 35) (Statista 2014), have the ability to speak with each other directly or utilise text based chat, become friends (or foes) with other online gamers, and exchange real or virtual assets. Due to the heavily interactive nature of MMORPGs, the concern of addiction to these virtual worlds is mounting.

Clinical evidence shows the validity of online gaming addiction as a valid syndrome; however, researchers are still debating its legitimacy as a true mental disorder (Kim, Namkoong, Ku & Kim 2008). Research into this kind of addiction is only young in comparison to research on other addictions, such as gambling or exercise addiction; however, Mark Griffiths (2009) argued that the difference between healthy excessive enthusiasms and addictions are that are whether the gaming experience adds to an individual's life or, as with addictions, it takes away from it.

Are you addicted to online gaming?

Mark Griffiths (2009) looks at six criteria to determine whether online gaming is a pleasurable pastime or a debilitating addiction. His criteria for online gaming addiction are:

Salience—Does it dominate your thinking?

Mood modification—Do you experience a “buzz” or “high” as a result of playing?

Tolerance—Are increased amounts of online gaming required to achieve the former mood modifying effects?

Withdrawal symptoms—Do depressive feelings result from not playing online?

Conflict—Do you experience conflict (online or offline) as a result of time spent gaming?

Relapse—Do you have a tendency to repeated earlier patterns of online gaming after periods of abstinence or control?

References

China Internet Cafe 2010, accessed February 5, 2015, from <http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/300912>.

Griffiths, M 2009, 'The Role of Context in Online Gaming Excess and Addiction: Some Case Study Evidence', Int J Ment Health Addiction, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 119-125.

Kim, E, Namkoong, K, Ku, T & Kim, S 2008, 'The relationship between online game addiction and aggression, self-control and narcissistic personality traits', European Psychiatry, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 212-218.

ScrewAttack!, 2013, Top 10 Multiplayer PC Games, accessed February 5, 2015, from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBQddGuu0Xg>.

Statista, 2014, 'Distribution of MMO players in the United States as of October 2014 by age group', accessed February 5, 2015, from <http://www.statista.com/statistics/346271/mmo-players-usa-age/>.

Tingle, A n.d., 'Top 10 MMORPGs of All Time', Rpgfan.com, accessed February 5, 2015, from <http://www.rpgfan.com/features/Top_10_MMORPGs/>.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#7. From Snapshot to Snapchat: Photography and the Emergence of Visual Communities

(Klett & Wolfe2008)

Since the late 1800's amateur photographers have been taking snapshots in an attempt to preserve memories and capture life events. This came about as cameras became less cumbersome, with flexible film negatives replacing glass plate negatives. Cameras became handheld, lighter and more portable than their predecessors. In addition, businesses were established whereby amateur photographers could take their negatives for development, rather than requiring expertise in darkroom development. This made photography more accessible to a wider market. Kodak estimated that by the 1950's approximately 2 billion snapshots were being captured annually in the United States alone (National Gallery of Art 2007).

Technological advancements continued to be made in the photography market. By the mid 1990's, the first digital cameras for the consumer-level market were being produced (The History of Digital Photography n.d.). This leap forward meant that producing images became more affordable and the production, duplication and sharing of images achievable by the end user.

This development was followed, in 2000, by the release of the world's first mobile phone in Japan, which featured an integrated digital camera. The camera had a resolution of just 0.11 mega pixels and a 256 colour display (The History of Digital Photography n.d.). In 2002 the number of digital cameras sold worldwide was 27.5 million. In 2011, that number had risen to 120 million (Hand 2012). In 2014 approximately 284 million smartphones were shipped worldwide, each with an in-built digital camera (IDC 2014); some with as many as 41 mega pixels.

In line with the growth of digital photography was the development of digital communities in which individual could post and share their digital images. Among these online visual communities are Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Flickr where over 500 million images are uploaded on a given day. Of these images, 350 million are uploaded to Facebook (Lang & Barton 2015). Images can be instantaneously shared with networks across the globe, copied, modified, and/or saved 24 hours a day.

Photography is now more accessible than ever before. And with the assistance of online visual communities an image has the potential to be captured, shared and viewed by thousands (if not millions) of people around the world in less time than a Polaroid photograph takes to self-develop. Some of the most popular images viewed in digital communities can be seen here.

 References

Hand, M 2012, Ubiquitous photography, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.

IDC, 2014, Worldwide Smartphone Shipments Top One Billion Units for the First Time, According to IDC, accessed February 4, 2015, from <http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24645514>.

Klett, M & Wolfe, B 2008, Rock formations on the road to Lee's Ferry, AZ, accessed February 4, 2015, from <http://www.klettandwolfe.com/2009/10/rock-formations-on-the-road-to-lees-ferry.html>.

Lang, C & Barton, H 2015, 'Just untag it: Exploring the management of undesirable Facebook photos', Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 43, pp. 147-155.

National Gallery of Art, 2007, 'The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson', Nga.gov, accessed February 3, 2015, from <http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2007/snapshot/>.

The History of Digital Photography n.d., 1st edn, accessed February 4, 2015, from <http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/userfiles/file/digital_imaging_1990-2010.pdf>.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#6. Crowdsourcing in Times of Crisis

(Crowdsourcing 2013)

Crowdsourcing isn't a new concept. It has been used throughout history for a variety of reasons. In 1714 crowdsourcing was used by the British Government to find a suitable way of determining a ship's longitude. Around 800 volunteers were crowdsourced in 1884 to catalogue words for the Oxford English Dictionary. In 1981 Lonely Planet sourced travel information,direct from travellers, for their third publication of the Lonely Planet Travel Guide (Dawson & Bynghall 2011). Even the design of Australia's capital city was crowdsourced in 1911 (Australia.gov.au 2010).

With the emergence of the internet, ideas and information became less scarce and resources became plentiful. And with such an abundant supply, organisations no longer needed to outsource their work to selected individuals: they could now crowdsource to the world. Freelancers and individuals could also begin crowdsourcing and amateurs could begin competing on an equal ground with professionals (Howe 2006).

There is no limit to the capabilities of crowdsourcing, as problems continue to be solved by leveraging new technologies. It has been used for such things as fundraising, sourcing labour, civic engagement and community building to name only some. Perhaps none of these developments in crowdsourcing have been so important as crowdsourcing in times of crisis (TEDx Talks 2012).

On 12 January 2010 a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, the second largest island in the Caribbean, killing up to 316,000 people and injuring up to 300,000. The earthquake was more than twice as lethal as any previous magnitude 7.0 event (Bankston 2012). There was an immediate need for maps, following the event, in order to locate people in need of assistance and to learn how to get assistance and relief to them.

Ushahidi used crowdsourcing to develop crowdmaps by utilising individuals in affected areas. These individuals could send SMS messages with reports of trapped persons, medical events, needs of shelter and food and so on. Volunteers then processed these SMS, verified the information and plotted it onto their publicly available crowdmap. OpenSteetMap also crowdsourced using global volunteers to develop an accurate map of Haiti, while many other crowdsourcing projects were utilised during the disaster including CrisisCommons, WeHaveWeNeed and SwiftRiver, to source volunteers of various skills to assist in aid relief efforts (Starbird 2011).

The ways in which crowdsourcing has been utilised in times of crisis are many and varied, and they continue to grow. While nothing can replace the physical need for on-the-ground support such as digging people out of the rubble, bringing in food, water, and shelter, crowdsourcing in times of crisis has proved to play a key role in logistics of evaluating and planning (Zook, Graham, Shelton & Gorman 2010).

References

Australia.gov.au, 2010, 'canberra-australias-capital-city', accessed January 24, 2015, from <http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/canberra-australias-capital-city>.

Bankston, L 2012, All About 2010 Haiti Earthquake, World Technologies, New Delhi.

Crowdsourcing 2013, accessed January 24, 2015, from <http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/03/crowdsourcing-golden-rules/>.

Dawson, R & Bynghall, S 2011, Getting results from crowds, Advanced Human Technologies, Sydney.

Howe, J 2006, 'The Rise of Crowdsourcing', Wired.com, accessed January 24, 2015, from <http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html>.

Starbird, K 2011, Digital Volunteerism During Disaster: Crowdsourcing Information Processing, 1st edn, Vancouver, accessed February 3, 2015, from <http://crowdresearch.org/chi2011-workshop/papers/starbird.pdf>.

TEDx Talks, 2012, Leveraging the chaos of crowdsourcing: Peter Davison at TEDxMongKok, accessed January 24, 2015, from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bm5QIiIGp4>.

Zook, M, Graham, M, Shelton, T & Gorman, S 2010, 'Volunteered Geographic Information and Crowdsourcing Disaster Relief: A Case Study of the Haitian Earthquake', World Medical & Health Policy, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 7-33.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#5. Being a Troll

(Wilson 2010)

When I was a young boy, one of my favourite stories was Three Billy Goats Gruff. This is the story of an ugly troll who lived under a bridge, making life difficult for anyone who wanted to cross the bridge and get on with their lives (in this case it was three billy goats). I had no idea that when I grew up I could actually be a troll. But instead of hiding under a bridge I could hide behind my anonymity. While I don’t have to show my face, I could be as ugly as the troll from the storybook. And just like the storybook, I could make life difficult for anyone online who crossed my path. A quick scan of the Internet gives me plenty of ideas of how to be a troll.

(How to identify an internet troll 2012)

OK, so the first thing I need to do in build a virtual bridge, as I'm going to need a good place to hide where I won't be discovered. I do this by blending in to my environment: the key to not getting reported. Having plenty of disguises is a plus (one email address and account per community just won't do). Each of these disguises will need to be completely different and using a virtual private network (VPN) will mean that the community won't know what bridge I am under. The next thing I need to do it to undergo some basic training by studying how they greats do it. This includes shock value trolling, snipe hunting and advice trolling, bait and switch and trolling for group memberships (wikiHow n.d.).

But wait, I'm innocent!

In the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, the troll was eventually killed (or at least swept downstream, depending on which version you read) due to his actions, but what if he wasn't a troll after all? Hardaker (2010) proposes that someone whose actions are deemed to be trolling in one forum may be seen as a good debate in another. How comments are viewed may come down to the vulnerability or points of view of a particular group.

The line between being and not being a troll is not always apparent. Someone who displays non-malicious impoliteness (or failed politeness) may appear trollish, but it may just be an incompatibility of self-expression at play (Hardaker 2010). In either case, the best way to avoid being caught in a trap is to avoid the bait all together.

Beware next time you go trip-trapping across your next cyber bridge, for there may be a troll lurking there!

References

Hardaker, C 2010, 'Trolling in asynchronous computer-mediated communication: From user discussions to academic definitions', Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture, vol. 6, no. 2.

How to identify an internet troll 2012, accessed January 24, 2015, from <http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/blog/social-media/infographics-etiquette/>.

wikiHow, n.d., 'How to Be a Troll', accessed January 24, 2015, from <http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Troll>.

Wilson, K 2010, Troll Under Bridge (Three Billy Goats Gruff), accessed January 24, 2015, from <https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenwilsondesign/4318433413/>.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#4. The New Activist

(Invisible Children 2014)

In 2012 the world watched as filmmaker Jason Russell—on behalf of the Invisible Children organisation—called us to action to help stop a war in Uganda. His aim was to ‘make famous’ the child-abducting warlord responsible for atrocities against Ugandan citizens by the so named Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The objective was to make the world aware of Jacob Kony and his actions, which would in turn cause action to be taken by world governments to stop Kony. The message was spread by way of social media, and in particular, a controversial documentary video that reached 100 million people in less than one week. The video was Kony 2012 (Corazzelli 2012). But why were there so many activists for this cause?

With the popularity and ease of use of the Internet, all users can become armchair activists, as by using the Internet we are not required to physically participate in protests, sit-ins, strikes, door-to-door canvassing, public meetings, rallies, or fasting. In fact, Tatarchevskiy (2010) suggests that merely discussing important issues online can raise awareness among the general public. Internet users are able to join an online group or forum concerning a particular topic, and from there, information, comments and media can be shared or 'liked' in just a few clicks of a mouse (Harsin 2013), but how effective is online activism really?

Sure, the Kony 2012 video campaign was highly successful in being seen, 'liked' and shared. The campaign raised money for the Invisible Children organisation (though it is uncertain how much of this money went directly to the cause) and it was even successful in gaining some US government support, in terms of action in Uganda (McConnell 2012). But in terms of actual buy-in that that people needed to have as armchair activists was minimal.

This new kind of activist doesn’t need to know anything about the cause, the history behind the issue, what action will be taken to deal with the issue, what their contribution (e.g. 'like', share, donation) will achieve or what outcome is required. And in terms of sustainability, the online activist's role is generally fleeting as there is no obligation to continue once they have been seen to be taking action among their online community. Harsin (2013) describes this as a bandwagon effect: the psychological desire to imitate so as to avoid feeling left out. Harsin builds on this by suggesting that people may not have looked into the credibility of the Kony 2012 source or even watched the entire documentary (if at all), before sharing, 'liking' or donating. He labels this as a feel-good clicktivist choice.

It is not to say that donating to a cause or gaining acknowledgment from your online community is a bad thing; however, becoming truly involved in and advocating for a cause is not about gaining ‘likes’ or doing what is popular: it goes beyond that. Care should be taken by the armchair activist and time should be given to active research and consideration. While activism has played a major role in world history including ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, preventing worker exploitation, protecting the environment, promoting equality for women and opposing racism, activism can also be used for aims such as attacking minorities or promoting war (Martin 2007).

(Crisisrelief.org 2014a)

(Crisisrelief.org 2014b)

References Corazzelli, M 2012, 'The “KONY 2012” Campaign', The Kingsman, accessed December 21, 2014, from <http://thekingsmanpaper.com/2012/03/the-kony-2012-campaign/>. Harsin, J 2013, 'WTF was Kony 2012? Considerations for Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies (CCCS)', Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, vol. 10, no. 2-03, pp. 265-272.

Martin, B 2014, 'Activism, social and political', in G Anderson & K Herr (ed), Encyclopedia of activism and social justice, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks.

McConnell, R 2012, 'The Harvard Crimson', Thecrimson.com, accessed December 20, 2014, from <http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/5/4/harvard-archair-activism/>. Tatarchevskiy, T 2010, 'The 'popular' culture of internet activism', New Media & Society, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 297-313.

Images

Crisisrelief.org, 2014a, Liking isn't Helping 01, accessed December 22, 2014, from <http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/>.

Crisisrelief.org, 2014b, Liking isn't Helping 02, accessed December 22, 2014, from <http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/>.

Invisible Children, 2014, Kony 2012, accessed December 22, 2014, from <http://blog.abelreverter.com/2012_03_01_archive.html>.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#3. Politics and the Twittersphere

Image: (91.7 WVXU 2013)

In October 2014, Twitter had almost 2.8 million unique visitors in Australia alone (Cowling 2014), so why wouldn’t Australian politicians want to tap into this growing social resource? They are. In fact, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull have been tweeting since 2008 (Jericho 2013). But how effectively are Australian politicians utilising the access to such a diverse and growing audience?

Twitter is a social network that allows individuals to keep track of family, friends, organisations, or anyone else on the network, via posts of no more than 140 characters. It is an online media platform that is relatively new to the world, and consequently, it is new as a political publicity option as well, with the evolving platform only being released to the general public in 2007 (Fitton, Gruen & Poston 2009).

Politicians who choose to use Twitter can circumvent traditional media of the fourth estate (such as television, radio and newspaper) when they need to convey messages to their constituents. A practicality of this direct communication is control over the context, editing and timing of someone's message. This option was only possible previously for politicians via such means as paid advertising and personal appearances: both options proving costly both in monetary terms and of time (Lassen & Brown 2010).

The free and instant messages sent via Twitter may only be read by those who already have an interest in politics (Vergeer 2012); however, Barack Obama overcame that barrier and utilised the platform in his 2008 electoral campaign with great success. He acquired over 100,000 followers while indirectly soliciting donations, raising awareness and calling people to action by including links to his sophisticated campaign website (Fitton, Gruen & Poston 2009). This was despite only 3.5 million people worldwide having registered on the new platform at the time. His total number of tweets came to 262 over the 18 month election period and primarily focused on his location and links to his website where followers were encouraged to interact, develop their own supporter blogs and donate: a strategy that prove an unqualified success (Hendricks & Denton 2010).

Tweets by Australian politicians, on the other hand, have largely consisted of media releases, party information, scheduled debates or have otherwise been broadcasts that straddle the line of becoming spam. While some politician have embraced the media better than others, perhaps (in a general sense) politicians in Australia are being too risk-averse and are taking a broad 'please everyone' approach, rather than conversing directly with voters and constituents, in a global forum, for fear of a miscommunicated tweet or gaffe. Whatever the case, Australian politicians need to embrace social media, and the Twittersphere, to engage with their audience lest they be left behind at the polls (Jericho 2013).

References

Cowling, D 2014, 'Social Media Statistics Australia – October 2014', Socialmedianews.com.au, accessed December 7, 2014, from <http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-october-2014/>.

Fitton, L, Gruen, M & Poston, L 2009, Twitter for dummies, 2nd edn, Wiley Pub., Hoboken, NJ.

Hendricks, J & Denton, R 2010, Communicator-in-chief, Lexington Books, Lanham.

Jericho, G 2013, The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd., Chicago.

Lassen, D & Brown, A 2010, 'Twitter: The Electoral Connection?', Social Science Computer Review, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 419-436.

Vergeer, M 2012, 'Politics, elections and online campaigning: Past, present . . . and a peek into the future', New Media & Society, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 9-17.

Image

91.7 WVXU, 2013, Election Badge - Twitter, accessed December 7, 2014, from <http://wvxu.org/post/live-election-coverage>.

[deepesttyrantpieface-blog-blog]

Interacting with strangers in a digital community can be a liberating experience.

You can be completely anonymous, a bit cheeky, more wild or bold than your professional and personal persona. Potentially an escape from reality? Or interacting with others that are outside your normal community?

You control how you want to interact – be it ‘lurking’ at other people’s posts and their displays of exhibitionism, or you can contribute your own exhibitionist behaviours within a technological world.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Nice post :) Regarding the the online user's ability to be 'anonymous, a bit cheeky, more wild or bold than your professional and personal persona', have you heard of the Online Disinhibition Effect (by John Suler)? It explains why people might act differently online. Here's a link; you may find it interesting:

http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html.

[thesocialworldthrougmyeyes-deac]

You can call me a digital, social media, technology guru. I was born into the world when Internet was becoming big, when we still had dial up Internet but we were becoming addicted to the Internet. I remember my father getting one of the first cell phones, I remember our family having one of...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Agreed! It is certainly a different world we are living in now compared to the mid nineties. Thanks for the post. Is an 'I love you' text or Instagram the equivalent of a hand written note someone may have received prior to the popularisation of the Internet, or is it a 'cheaper alternative'?

[kimberljsal]

When thinking about social media platforms, popular social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest come to mind. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter are now on the rise, encouraging growing communication amongst new online connections, both professionally and...

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

Thanks for the post. It was a really interesting read. You mentioned the importance of comparing platforms, which reminded me of a YouTube video I came across while researching a similar topic. I thought I'd share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjV83CLYTI0

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#2. Social Identity and Perceived Online Anonymity

According to Dr John Suler (2004), most internet users go about their business assuming relative anonymity despite the fact that their usernames or email addresses may be visible. This may be due to the assumption that these details do little to identify them (especially if they are not the users usual identifying username or email address). As users feel more inconspicuous, they may begin to act in ways that may not otherwise act in real life situations. They may feel a sense of freedom, unlike that felt in their offline world, brought on by this perceived anonymity—otherwise known as the 'online disinhibition effect'.

The online disinhibition effect can have neutral to positive effects (benign disinhibition), such as greater self-disclosure, sharing of deep feelings or altruistic behaviour; however, the opposite can also be true (toxic inhibition). Under the cloak of perceived anonymity people may criticise, provoke and ridicule. They may also associate themselves with activities they may not otherwise be involved in offline, such as pornography, love affairs, crime or violence (Suler 2004).

While we may believe we can choose to act anonymously online, and therefore manage our desired persona, this may not be the case. The ways in which we can be identified online are many and are not necessarily hi-tech. These identifiers can include a combination of our likes/dislikes, comments, location sharing, interest group affiliation, friends, people we 'follow', things we share, posts we are 'tagged' in and/or content we produce, such as photos or videos (Wilkensen & McCoster 2014). The Seven Dimensions of Identity Knowledge developed by Gary Marx (2001) include legal name, locatability, linkable pseudonyms, non-linkable pseudonyms, pattern knowledge, social categorisation and symbols of eligibility/non-eligibility. Being unnamed is not to be unknown, notes Marx. Although it may be easy to maintain appearances in offline interactions, a lot more care and consideration should be given to our online selves if we are to maintain and protect our desired persona.

(Rumpelstiltskin - Online Anonymity 2011)

References

Holtgraves, T, Eck, J & Lasky, B 1997, 'Face Management, Question Wording, and Social Desirability1', J Appl Social Pyschol, vol. 27, no. 18, pp. 1650-1671.

Marx, G 2014, 'Identity and Anonymity: Some Conceptual Distinctions and Issues for Research', in J Caplan & J Torpey (ed), Documenting Individual Identity, Princeton University Press, accessed November 29, 2014, from <http://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/identity.html>.

Suler, J 2004, 'The Online Disinhibition Effect', CyberPsychology & Behavior, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 321-326.

Wilken, R & McCosker, A 2014, 'Social Selves', in S Cunningham & S Turnbull (ed), The Media & Communication in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 291-295.

Image

Rumpelstiltskin - Online Anonymity 2011, accessed December 2, 2014, from <http://www.robcottingham.ca/cartoon/archive/anonymously-ever-after/>.

[jacksonjonesuniverse]

#1. Networked Individualism

In 2014 a social media campaign was developed in the United States to raise money for those living with motor neurone disease (MND). The campaign required participants, like myself, to fill a bucket with water and ice, tip it over their heads and then challenge three other people (which was done predominantly via social media) to take the Ice Bucket Challenge within 48 hours. If nominees didn't take the challenge in this time they were to make a donation to an MND charity (of course those taking the challenge were also welcome to donate). The initiative raised over $2,500,000 for MND research in Australia alone (MND Australia 2014). This accomplishment may not have been possible without the existence of networked individualism.

Image 1: Nelu Handa at work at Ezra’s Pound Café, Toronto, May 2009 (Rainie & Wellman 2012, p. 105)

Networked individualism is 'me' centred. The individual no longer relies on physical social groups, organisations or institutions to approve and disperse a message. They are empowered to communicate selectively (Frizzo-Barker & Chow-White 2012). With the aid of online communication they are no longer confined to small, densely knit groups such as their family, work unit, neighborhood, or social group, but instead have access to a multitude of near and far-reaching online networks (Rainie & Wellman 2012). By accessing people in these vast networks people can tap into communities that may have been otherwise unavailable (or unknown) to them.

Waite (2013) maintains that while it is human nature to develop social bonds with others in our communities, the way in which we do that has evolved. In addition to this evolution, our experience of community has also changed. Where once a request for donations, for instance, may have been confined to a local organisation, workplace or local event, global social networks have broken these confines. Where a small local community may be restricted by local norms and beliefs, global social networks offer a wide range of forums where networked individuals can find an audience for their cause.

As mobile phones and internet allow participants to act more independently, individuals are moving (or have already moved) away from a focus on physical communities in favour of online interest-based communities. With the onset of networked individualism came choice and greater opportunities to learn, to grow and to be a part of the ever-expanding array of global communities. But with that power comes the encumbrance of maintaining these newfound loosely-knit networks (Rainie & Wellman 2012).

References

Frizzo-Barker, J & Chow-White, P 2012, '"There's an App for That" Mediating mobile moms and connected careerists through smartphones and networked individualism', Feminist Media Studies, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 580-589.

MND Australia, 2014, 'MND Australia - Ice Bucket Challenge', accessed November 23, 2014, from <http://www.mndaust.asn.au/Get-involved/Ice-Bucket-Challenge.aspx>.

Rainie, H & Wellman, B 2012, Networked, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Waite, C 2013, The digital evolution of an American identity, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, New York.

Images

Rainie, H & Wellman, B 2012, Networked, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.