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Global social media: case study China

Thinking about playing any type of game, whether online or in real life, people become competitive. The aim of any game is to be the best, to be the winner and be rewarded for your efforts. When you play a game of tennis for example, the game can become very heated, words will be said and at the end of the game there is a winner and this is where it usually ends. Looking at online gaming, so many of these games are revolving around killing and war, so the aim of the game is to kill the opponent, this type of violence and anger in the game can then spill into the real life arena. Not saying people will go out and kill another person because that is what they do in the game, but the violent thoughts can escalate and it can become personal. Looking at this in terms of online citizenship, Anita Sarkeesian, a woman who created quite a stir in the online gaming world speaking out about the depiction of females in pop culture and online gaming. This was not taken lightly by the online gaming community, there were rape and death threats made against her, which then resulted in her having to call the local police and staying overnight with family and friends to ensure her safety. This cross over between real life and online gaming is quite scary, but Anita Sarkeesian did not back down. She has since made many very public appearances to ensure her voice is heard and enforcing that women should not feel threatened or back down to being a damsel in distress. Anita is just one example of the online trolling of women, there are many reported cases where women feel victimised in online gaming platforms. According to an The Guardian, “Online trolling against women is linked to domestic violence and abuse, experts have warned, and should not be dismissed as "obnoxious but harmless" behaviour.” Showing that online trolling has now crossed over into the real life arena, according a Women’s Aid Survey of “307 domestic violence survivors showed 48% had been harassed or abused online by their ex-partner once they had left the relationship and 38% reported online stalking. A further 45% were abused online during their relationship.” These figures are really quite frightening for a woman in this new digital era, this clearly shows it is another platform in which to publicly abuse the emotions of their female partners. Comedy Central, (2014). The Colbert Report: Gamergate - Anita Sarkeesian. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L_Wmeg7OTU [Accessed 30 Jan. 2015]. Topping, A. (2013). Online trolling of women is linked to domestic violence, say campaigners.The Guardian. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/03/online-trolling-women-domestic-violence [Accessed 30 Jan. 2015].

Visual communities and social imaging

Think about your own experiences regarding the 'politics of tagging and being tagged' on Facebook. Why is there some tension and uncertainty there?

I have 2 main concerns about tagging, one being egotistical and the other more about my sense of safety.

We all have that one friend (sometimes that friend can be me) that will tag you in a photo that you look absolutely hideous in, a photo that no amount of filters can adjust your opinion of how you look in that photo. The main concerns surrounding this is attempting to maintain a certain image on social networking’s, especially when it comes to your professional networks on there. As we learnt at the start of the unit, sometimes certain images from social networking sites such as; Facebook and Instagram can generate across to Google, so the anxiety of that drunken selfie making it to Google only to haunt you again at later stages of your life.

(Profile Pic Vs. Tagged Pic, 2014)

The second concern is regarding safety and wellbeing. According to Information week, “Craigslist, simply post images "as is," meaning that people who post pictures of valuable for-sale items might be making themselves a target for crooks.” People are putting themselves at risk on certain websites for hackers that can access geotagging technology. Other concerns are tagging yourself on foursquare, Instagram and Facebook at certain events or even showing that you are out of the house, this also puts you at certain risks of your house being robbed while you aren’t home. For quite a while I was quite involved in Social Media and I even had my house as my own location and would tag myself there quite frequently until the reality of, what if someone I don’t want knowing ends up knowing where I live. Scary thoughts.

How do you make use of images and video in processes of digital communication and connecting with others?

My main two would be texting and Instagram (which I will then share over to Facebook). I love sending a meme or a great quote to friends to put a smile on their face. With Instagram, I love sharing my joyful moments with people, such as if I am the beach with the dog and the view is lovely, I will often throw a filter on it and share it on my social networking sites.

(Eddelbuttel, 2014)

How have visual media and social imaging practices featured in each of the different topics we've studied?

Visual media has been at the heart of majority topics covered so far in this unit, it seems to be that most if not all digital communities are surrounding imagery. I feel this is because of the age old saying of, a picture speaks one thousand words.

Reference:

Eddelbuttel, K. (2014). Off to the beach we go.... [image] Available at: http://instagram.com/p/ucVxYWDDCH/?modal=true [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015].

InformationWeek, (2015). Facebook Stalking Fears: 6 Geotagging Facts - InformationWeek. [online] Available at: http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/facebook-stalking-fears-6-geotagging-facts/d/d-id/1111161? [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015].

Profile Pic Vs. Tagged Pic. (2014). [image] Available at: http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/profile-pic-vs-tagged-pic.jpg [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015].

#kate eddelbuttel #instagram #facebook #geotagged

Crowd sourcing in a time of crisis

Currently in this day and age we can do many things via the internet, social media and phone apps to make our life more convenient, order a meal, book a taxi, connect with someone we haven’t spoken to in a long time. The one thing they don’t seem to have an app for at the moment is alerting police, fire or ambulance of an emergency.

This really made me think about why something so easy could be set up that could save many lives. From a personal experience when my grandma was sick, she lives alone and the only reason the emergency service was alerted was because her friend called her and she sounded very ill on the phone and called on her behalf. Had another way to reach the emergency services been available, this could have had a major impact on her healing process.

Reading over the readings this week, I feel that the government really should spend a lot more time and efforts in getting up to speed with the Internet and latest technologies. One service I found to be quite good while I was living overseas, I received a message alerting me not to leave the house due to the hurricane on its way this was because my phone was registered in New York state and they were alerting all residents. I would wonder if we have a similar system set up here for the bushfires and if so, would that help to save more lives.

Trolling and social media conflict

Introducing a governing body to the internet would take away from what the internet is, a place for freedom of expression. While expression can come in good forms and bad forms, the internet is there to use as a person so wishes.

While introducing cyber-safety programs into schools for younger people to teach them how to be safe on the internet is definitely something that should be continued, but blocking sites and programs or monitoring what citizens do online should not be something that is introduced.

Currently there is no real effective governing body, however what is effective is the police intercepting online conversations and using them to incriminate people such as a case where a teenage girl was arrested due to stalking and making death threats over the internet. (Lawstuff.org.au, 2015)

Do you think our online social forums can incorporate and adequately deal with these kinds of so-called misuse? Or do we need top down intervention?

Currently when a user in a social forum is misusing the service these users are usually flagged by other users to have the admin staff decide what consequences need to be enforced upon that user. Within a large social networking site organisation there are teams of staff members ensuring safety and that people are sticking to the guidelines. A great example would be when Rihanna was banned from Instagram for posting topless photos of a photo shoot she did with NSFW magazine, after 6 months they lifted the ban and opened her account again interrupted. (Mashable, 2015) This instance showed that the website were ensuring that even celebrities with over 13 million followers have to stick to the guidelines. However on the other hand, it is up to the users in most cases to ensure they alert the admin staff about the concerns otherwise there will be no action taken. I think this peer type governing is a great way to ensure safety and make sure that no one is misusing the services.

References:

Lawstuff.org.au, (2015). Lawstuff Australia - Know Your Rights - - Topics - Self-Incrimination & Social Media. [online] Available at: http://www.lawstuff.org.au/wa_law/topics/article21 [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015].

Mashable, (2014). She's back: Rihanna returns to Instagram after 6-month absence. [online] Available at: http://mashable.com/2014/11/02/rihanna-back-instagram/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015].

#Kate Eddelbuttel

Digital Activism

Looking at the recent racial uprising in the USA, people are now able to spread the message quite quickly without the government quickly sweeping it under the rug.

There have been a few cases as of late where there has been deaths caused by police racial profiling. When taken to the grand juries, the police have been let off and no one has been held responsible for these murders. The people of America are now taking a stand for such police brutality.

The biggest change with digital activism is that people have the power, the power over what message is sent is no longer in the hands of the media and the government who is mediating this.

People are using such hash tags #ICan’tBreathe and #CrimingWhileWhite to create a massive stir in the US, it has also recently gained more of a push when a few NBA players have worn clothing pre-game to also show the people of America that they are on their side. Could such a stir exist in the days of traditional and controlled media? Would the victims of these crimes have received such a voice?

For some further information on #crimingwhilewhite -http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/crimingwhilewhite-people-confess-to-crimes-theyve-gotten-awa

This is just one example how everyday citizens become activists for a cause in which they feel very strongly about. People have been getting involved across many platforms, events on Facebook inviting people to protests in their local neighbourhoods, Instagram photos with people setting up memes for people to send virally across all social media platforms, and people creating witty tweets on twitter using the hash tags, again sending the message virally.

Personally, one of the issues that I felt quite strongly about and also helped to spread the word for was recently when Israel was bombing Gaza. There was a lot of social media hype around this, as for the first time the war reporting was not biased news reporting, it was coming from the people. This also meant for the first time more people were taking Palestine’s side of what was going on. For many years, the Jewish run media have instilled in the minds of many that all Muslims are terrorists however there was never a second side to the story. With the recent social media movements of what was going on, people were starting to see that this was not necessarily the case, and the Muslim people of the world started to spread their side of the story.

A case of cultural jamming was when green peace were pushing Nestle to stop using palm oil to create their products. Rather than negotiating or sitting down with green peace, nestle was slapping them with copyright infringement for using their logo for this campaign. This in itself created a lot more negative hype for Nestle, they later announced that it was no longer about broadcasting, it was about interacting via social media. (Washington, 2010) Showing that this viral campaign was something out of their control and to ensure that they were able to remain reputable as a brand, they needed to stop what they were doing as the Green Peace campaign was a global campaign that they were not able to complete with. Which leads to cultural jamming to be successful when it comes to activism in the new era of digital activism.

References:

Fiammetta, M. (2014). Bulls’ Derrick Rose Wears ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Shirt During Warmups. [image] Available at: http://time.com/3622365/derrick-rose-cant-breathe-eric-garner-shirt-warmups-chicago-bulls/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

Washington, S. (2010). Greenpeace claims sweet victory over Nestle. Sydney Morning Herald. [online] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/greenpeace-claims-sweet-victory-over-nestle-20100517-v8i1.html [Accessed 9 Dec. 2014].

The Future Of Politicking (Place, 2012)

If social media is the way of the future for politics, then what sort of candidates will "perform" well and attract the increasingly important younger vote?

Obama’s 2008 election is a perfect example of the type of person who will perform well using social media as a tool for a successful political campaign.

If you have a look at Obama compared to someone like Tony Abbott, Obama is a likeable guy, he seems to be your everyday type guy, someone that you can relate to and someone you could have a cool and calm conversation with. Whereas you look at someone like Tony Abbott, he looks like a person who fake smiles because he needs to and seems that any conversation you would have with him would be rather awkward. Who would you rather interact with on social media?

Someone like Obama who you can hold a conversation with about a basketball game or about how his family is doing. Someone that at any age you can relate to.

Does a candidate have to look good via YouTube to succeed?

As with all form of entertainment, it is more interesting looking at someone who it more aesthetically appealing on the eye. However I don’t believe that with YouTube and politics its about looking pretty, but more about how interesting the content is.

I will sit through a funny video or something that interests me, rather than something boring and dull. Again going back to Obama vs. Abbott, you wouldn’t see a video like Crush on Obama made about someone like Abbott. I think its more about the candidate being more charismatic and personable rather than being appealing to look at on YouTube.

Is there an increasing need by politicians and political parties to provide entertainment as well as credibility? How does an older candidate cope with the intense scrutiny via the online screen?

I believe keeping people entertained and on the top of the chatter is what is important when it comes to campaigning. There are only so many times you can watch in the news that this politician visited this school or that hospital, unless it directly affects you and your immediate environment people start to lose interest. I feel that is where this new form of political entertainment comes into play, people will watch a funny SNL parody, or a funny crush on you style video and it will make you feel some sort of way about that politician.

Future gaze: How might electioneering change in future, with new social media platforms and technologies?

Something I found with this current election was that people have an easier way now to be informed about the policies that interest them the more. Usually I would have voted for a particular party due to my family upbringing and my societal status, however this election I was able to go to a handy website created by ABC and number off the values that were important to me and I was quite surprised with the answer of who I should vote for. I think this type of technology will allow people to be much more informed when it comes to voting.

Image Reference:

Wikipedia, (2014). Fist Bump. [image] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_bump [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014].

Reference:

Place, F. (2012). Politicking. In: Urban Dictionary, 1st ed. [online] Available at: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Politicking&defid=6360978 [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014].

Oversharing Society

As a society why are we becoming so addicted to sharing our personal information?

Thinking back to my grandma’s generation, family matters were private, personal photos were hung in lounge rooms and mantles. Over the last few years photos have become something that we want as many people to like as possible, but why?

There has been a mass introduction to photo sharing websites and photo sharing apps; twitter, twitpic, Instagram, photoshop express, all these apps allow us to be portrayed as we wish to be portrayed. Got a pimple, that’s fine blur it out, don’t like your complexion, throw a filter on yourself. Gen Y & Gen X have been raised in a magazine era, where females are made to look beautiful for a profession which is something we have always viewed as beautiful. However with this new generation, people can make themselves as beautiful as they choose in their own digital worlds. With years to come, how will this effect their self image when in person they look completely different?

According to a study done by Ferguson et al. (2013) there is no direct correlation between self image and social media. The studies showed that there is a link to increased peer pressure through social media which is turn can lead to body image issues, however no direct link.

The results of this study surprised me quite a lot, as every tween I meet these days seem to be obsessed with taking duck mouth selfies and how many likes there can get for it, whether organic (through friends) or paid for (follow me apps).

The poster child for oversharing and selfies, and the role model for these girls, "Woman Of The Year" Kim K.

On the flip side, all this over sharing is helping to also enable a new way of crime fighting, police are using societies over sharing in their favor. According to a Fox 19 article, “Information from social media is gathered at the police department's Real Time Crime Center and Specialist Dawn Keating says sometimes criminals reveal a lot of personal information.” Bad guys are being caught due to geotagging and witnesses being found to testify through check in’s, it leads you to think about the new digital era of over sharing we are entering.

References

Ferguson, C., Muñoz, M., Garza, A. and Galindo, M. (2013). Concurrent and Prospective Analyses of Peer, Television and Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(1), pp.1-14.

Graham, G. (2012). Police use social media to catch criminals. Fox 19. [online] Available at: http://www.fox19.com/story/19454817/cincinnati-police-using-social-media-to-catch-criminals [Accessed 19 Nov. 2014].

Heaf, J. (2014). Woman of the Year: Kim Kardashian West. [image] Available at: http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/men-of-the-year/home/moty-2014/kim-kardashian-woman-gq-men-of-the-year-awards-2014 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2014].

How social media REALLY affects us.

Online interaction has always been something that has sparked my interest.

Since a young age in school I was always interested in chat rooms, social media and online connection. At a younger age, this was all purely based on socialising and meeting new people.

Over the years I am starting to understand some of the social implications and becoming quite enlightened in how the online world works.

Some very interesting videos I have watched are the Sherry Turkle – Connected but alone (and I know you guys have watched this one also so I won’t post a link), where she presents the case that, “We get to present the self as we want to be, we get to edit, that means we get to delete.” How over time this changes who we are as people and changes the way we respond and react to every aspect in our lives.

Another very interesting video, Can we auto-correct humanity? Written and spoken by Prince Ea (you can find him on youtube or in the links below). He presents his case in spoken word format that “Cause while it claims to connect us, connection has gotten no better. And let me must express first, Mr Zuckerberg, not to be rude but you should re-classify Facebook to what it is: An anti-social network”. This video is there to encourage us to find the connections we used to have with our loved ones and disconnect from these “anti” - social sites.

While to a mind that is not open to what social media can do to communities and friendships, social media is a great way to connect with old friends, new friends and meet some people whom share the same interests. There are many ways to do this, instagram, facebook, pinterest ect. However with further learning and becoming conscious of how too much digital connection can take people away from real life connection.

We have all done it one time or another, used our smart phone to avoid starting up a conversation with someone we don’t know. Or perhaps sat at a dinner with a group of friends who either only talk about what they are seeing on their social media or in some extreme cases have limited conversations or distracted conversation due to having their eyes on their phone for almost the whole dinner. Do you ever think about how over such a short span of time we have nearly evolved into digital beings, slowly but surely disconnecting from the real world. Imagine in another 10 years from now, this thought is really quite crazy.

References

DJSNeverEndingStory, (2014). Can We Auto-Correct Humanity? Prince Ea. [Blog] Rap Genius. Available at: http://rap.genius.com/Prince-ea-can-we-auto-correct-humanity-lyrics [Accessed 14 Nov. 2014].

Prince Ea, (2014). Can We Auto Correct Humanity?. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ [Accessed 14 Nov. 2014].

TED Talks, (2012). Connected, but alone? Sherry Turkle. [video] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together?language=en [Accessed 14 Nov. 2014].

Kate Eddelbuttel

#social media #kate eddelbuttel

Prince Ea - Can we auto-correct humanity?

Kate Eddelbuttel

#can we auto correct humanity #prince ea #kate eddelbuttel

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