Digital Communities @madimda20009-blog - Tumblr Blog

Week 10: Social gaming

In week 10 we looked at social gaming, this is a topic that I found very interesting as I do not have a lot of exposure to gaming. I find it interesting that there can be both positive and negative interactions within social interaction on a gaming interface. The example used in the presentation for this week was World of Warcraft, I am not familiar with gaming but have heard of this game and have heard it is very violent. It was interesting to then learn that there can be quiet a toxic culture within interactions of players of the game and that measures have been taken to prevent and stop this anti-social behaviour. World of Warcraft has implemented player reporting tools and specific regulations to hold players accountable for their actions and behaviours whilst in the game (De Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 80). It was then interesting to find that this had not solved all problems as it is hard to deem what is acceptable behaviour as the line between virtual and real world is blurred within the gaming industry.

Personally, not having any involvement within the gaming industry has made me very curious on this topic and I have asked people about their experiences with gaming and their social interactions. I have a friend who finds gaming therapeutic and has only praise for the interaction he has on the games he plays, as an introvert some social interactions can be very daunting and 'sparking up' conversation can be terrifying, but interacting with fellow like-minded gamers comes seamlessly as he knows that he is interacting with similar people, and there is the added bonus of not having to have conversations face-to-face but rather digitally.

I believe that this positive example of social interaction within gaming is shown through the players maturity. The question "What onus is there on the games creators to intervene and manage player behaviour online?" was asked during this teaching week and it got me thinking; I believe that developers are there to create a fun addictive game but, it is at the maturity of the gamers using the game to interact with fellow gamers in a mature fashion. Within young children I believe the interaction should be monitored by their parents, but developers can develop basic rules and outlines for their game, but they are not the law, and I don't believe they should be reinforcing it through their games when people are misusing it. Does anyone else have this same view or something different? Would love to hear.

Reference:

De Zwart, M 2010, 'Contractual Communities: Effective Governance of Virtual Worlds', University of New South Wales Law Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 605-627, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 January 2019, <https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/fullText;dn=20111239;res=AGISPT>.

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Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

In week 9 we looked at visual communities and social imaging a topic within this I found very interesting was the selfie culture. It is interesting to consider when I first got a mobile phone in my teens (it was a nokia with no camera #oldschool) to teens now who have mobile phones and are caught up in this selfie culture. Applications that are enforcing the selfie culture are applications such as Snapchat and Instagram, Snapchat sends a selfie photo or video to who the sender wants to receive this and then the receiver can only view this once and then it is instantaneously lost. I believe there are major issue with this selfie culture as both of these applications offer filters for your selfie essentially enhancing or changing the way you look to make your selfie cooler or more interesting, this not being properly managed can lead to self-esteem issues I believe. If you are constantly sending photos to others looking 'cooler or more interesting' this make open issues of young children wanting to wear make-up or change their appearance when they are actually seeing people in public. It also means that teenagers and young children are documenting their lives and uploading them onto their social channels, if their parents are not managing or monitoring their activity this information might end up in the wrong hands.

The selfie culture I believe started as a fun light-hearted way for people to express them self and in some cases, help people who are self-conscious feel more comfortable in front of the camera (Swinburne Online 2019). But has turned into something that like many other things on the internet, needs to be monitored.

Looking into videos of affinity, this being videos that aim to transmit feelings of sharing a particular moment (Lange 2009, p. 74). I found myself guilty of indulging in these styles of videos quiet frequently, I believe influencers do this to be relatable with their audience, keep up with creating current content and convince their audience that they are just your average individuals who do normal everyday activities. Just to try it with friends I have tried to create videos displaying normal everyday life activities but in fact for me, it feels very unauthentic. I enjoy watching videos of affinity but I do not enjoying filming or taking part in these styles of videos. Has anyone else ever tried this?

References:

Lange, P 2009, 'Videos of affinity', in Snickars, P, The Youtube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88

Swinburne Online 2019, 9.3 Networked visuality, [online] available at: <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/9-dot-3-networked-visuality?module_item_id=60109> Accessed January 31 2019

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Week 8: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

In week 8 we looked at crowdsourcing in times of crisis, this topic I find very relevant for the reality we currently live in. Often when you are flicking through the news and a natural disaster is being shown such as a hurricane, strong winds, high tides or even flash flooding a lot of the imagery being shown is from everyday citizens. The modern smart phone has given individuals the opportunity to become photographers in their own right, as these individuals are involved in the incident they have the best view and opportunity to get quality footage. News agencies can then use this real time footage to show the public the extent of damage or severity of the disaster, and not footage when a camera crew has finally got to the event as the footage may not be as good.

Working in a tech company we often talk about wonder if 'they are listening', who are 'they' well who knows, essentially we are referring to your phone or any of your technology that might be 'listening' or storing information without you knowing. It is very common to search something and then find advertisements plastered all through your own social media accounts due to cookies and cache, this kind of activity can make people very uneasy and cautious with the information they have stored within their technological devices, myself included. I often walk around the office and spot many employees with the small cover up sticker on their webcam, I have always wondered what 'they' could take from this? How could 'they' take it? Again, who are 'they' well again, I don't know, people, hackers, data collection companies somehow accessing data you do not want accessed. This being the side often not talked about when looking into the topic crowdsourcing, if they can access this information in times of crisis, what is stopping them accessing the information whenever they want. What are your views on this?

Crowdsourcing can be used in multiple types of crisis, a company that is facilitating this is Go Fund Me. Go Fund Me helps start campaigns aimed at raising funds for people in need such as medical costs, education, funerals or volunteer mission programs and any other campaign one wants to raise money for (Go Fund Me, 2019). I witnessed this style of crowdsourcing on my own Instagram recently, a young Byron Bay surfer was injured in a near fatal car accident and needed funds for all the extensive surgeries, rehab, doctor's appointments etc. The community rallied together started a Go Fund Me page and started posting this on all their own social media accounts and raised thousands of dollars to help the surfer and her family with all the medical costs. This is an incredible way people are utilising digital communities to help others that are in need.

Reference:

Go Fund Me, 2019, Common Questions, viewed 4 January 2019 <https://www.gofundme.com/questions>

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Week 7: Trolling and social media conflict

In week 7 we looked at trolling and social media conflict. This was a week I found very insightful and interesting and was lucky enough to be in the group presenting in this week. The first topic we looked at was trolling, trolling or a troll can be seen as a person who deliberately starts arguments on the internet with the aim of provoking an individual or group into a reaction (The Sun 2019). Looking into this topic for me personally, showed how social media applications should be reviewing and preventing online trolling and social media bullying from happening.

As explained in our presentation this week with the data through ReachOut Australia In December 2016, ReachOut Australia conducted an online survey of 1000 young people aged 14-25 years from across Australia. Out of the 229 young people who experienced bullying, over half (52%) indicated that they experienced bullying at school, followed by the workplace (25.3%) and online (25.3%) (ReachOut Australia 2017). These numbers are incredibly high and I don't believe applications such as Instagram have the correct ways to deal with this issue. For example, if somebody is being 'trolled' by a cyber bully on Instagram all they can do is report and block the user, this doesn't stop the user creating a new account and doing the same thing or, rallying other users to also bully the same victim. I understand this is a complex issue but with young children using the app this issue needs to be dealt with in a more substantial and long-term manner, and have policies and repercussions involved for the perpetrators.

A view that I agree on from one of readings this week was from Antony McCosker. He encourages people to look further into online 'trolling' or 'hating' on social spaces, as he thinks it is good that parts of society are contested sometimes. He argues that conflict will always be apparent and can prove beneficial and productive to society, the connectedness of social media platforms facilitate a place where people can share passions and also receive contested interaction (McCosker A 2014). I agree with McCosker to some extent, I agree that people have the ability to share their passions and write relatively freely on topics they are interested and being on a public space, they can then receive positive or negative criticism. I feel this is good at light level when people are questioning the topic they are talking on or have alternative views, but when the issue starts to become personal and personal attacks that effective another person I believe there should be restrictions to limit bullying activity. What are your thoughts on this?

References:

McCosker, A 2014, 'YouTrolling as provocation: YouTube's agonistics publics', Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies , vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217, viewed 31 January 2019, < https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856513501413?rss=1 >.

ReachOut Australia 2017, Research Summary - Bullying and young Australians, viewed 20 November 2018 <https://about.au.reachout.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Bullying-Research-Summary_FINAL.pdf>.

The Sun 2019, What is an internet troll, what is trolling, which celebrities have been victims and what's the UK law?. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3169348/internet-troll-twitter-online-celebrities-uk-nicola-roberts/. [Accessed 30 January 2019].

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Week 6: Activism and protest

In week 6 we looked at activism and protest, a sub category of this being Culture jamming. Culture jamming is something I found very interesting, a topic I found myself wanting to look into further. Culture jamming can be seen as the act of using existing media to comment on those very media themselves, and on political and social conditions more broadly (Swinburne Online 2019). A popular way that culture jamming is filling up our screens at the moment is Memes, "Memes are condensed images that stimulate visual, verbal, musical, or behavioural associations that people can easily imitate and transmit to others" (Culture Jamming 2019).

A great example of Culture jamming is the work of Banksy a famous street artist, he often creates incredible street art that is very thought provoking. He has chosen to stay out of the lime light, his last interview was 2003 and is essentially faceless often wears a paper bag and his thought provoking artwork seems to pop up overnight. His work is done via stencil and is often work you need to read into, people are often surprised as to how the intriguing and provocative images end up where they do, but they always require the viewer to think, a great example of Culture jamming (Smithsonian 2019).

An area of activism we looked into in week 6 was The Kony campaign, it is an example of an activist campaign that had a very successful advertising material. The campaign was run by the Invisible Childrens inc and had a very powerful, uniting advertising video. I personally remember watching this video and feeling heart-broken for the children going through this, then I wanted to contribute to this campaign and see action be taken in order to stop Kony. The company gained around $20 million with its campaign but never actually caught Kony (news.com.au). The video went viral and they gained a lot of money, but this goes to show that even with a great viral campaign, this does not ensure you are going to gain the desired outcome.

The Kony campaign showed that digital activism is real and can be very influential but is not something that should be relied on and other measures need to be taken if you want to execute a successful activist campaign.

References:

Culture Jamming. 2019. Culture Jamming. [ONLINE] Available at: https://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm. [Accessed 29 January 2019].

news.com.au. 2019. Remember Kony 2012? Well, it's 2013. What happened?. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.news.com.au/world/remember-kony-2012-well-its-2013-what-happened/news-story/a5de07eca7c15e69ff216b096b13d079. [Accessed 29 January 2019].

Smithsonian. 2019. The Story Behind Banksy | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-story-behind-banksy-4310304/. [Accessed 29 January 2019].

Swinburne Online. 2019. 6.3 Culture Jamming. [ONLINE] Available at: https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/6-dot-3-culture-jamming?module_item_id=60065 [Accessed 29 January 2019].

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Week 5: Politics and cultures

In week 5 we looked at politics and cultures and how these are currently being used through political campaigns. Many politicians are currently using social media platforms to connect with their audience digitally, and more so connect with the younger audience that can be hard to relate with. I believe that currently it is not being used very well in Australia and there is a lot of work to be done before this becomes a way for politicians to gain a large vote from, or even win an election.

If we look at our current prime minister Scott Morrison and his latest news story that caught headlines goes to show there is room for him to really understand the whole social media 'thing'. There is current a photo going around the internet of Morrison and his family where the stripes from his sneakers have been photo shopped out of, why? Who knows. But it just shows that social media has not yet be grasped as an influential tool for politicians here in Australia and I believe this could be if it was used on a way to educate, rather than slam people with political information.

A way that America has utilised social media and political campaigns is advertising. Instead of paying for advertising on television and radio many political campaigns are being recorded then added to places such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter this ensuring their message reaches thousands of people and without the astronomical price associated to it (Thoughtco 2019).

A great example outlined in this week's presentation by group B of where an Australian political got the social media 'thing' right, was Former New South Wales Premier Mike Baird. He became relatable through his social media presence to a younger audience by live-tweeting the Bachelor and posting a Jimmy Kimmel Mean Tweets style video on YouTube (Butler J 2017). This is creating relatable content that is similar to what millennials already consume through influencers or people they actively follow, into politically informative information that can educate the viewer on up-coming elections. Primarily this is done to gain respect and acknowledgement through millennials, but I believe when this becomes poll influencing, is when politicians use social media to educate and drive campaigns through social media and not use it to just create a following but create an educated following.

Reference:

Butler J. 2017. Mike Baird Used To Be A Social Media Wizard | HuffPost Australia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/01/18/mike-baird-used-to-be-a-social-media-wizard_a_21657962/. [Accessed 29 January 2019].

ThoughtCo. 2019. How Social Media Has Changed Politics. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534. [Accessed 29 January 2019].

Imagery:

Theaustralian.com.au. 2019. Nocookies | The Australian. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/scott-morrison-wades-into-shoegate-to-defend-his-footwear/news-story/31d11a3f8f498b5252c9197b447cce3a. [Accessed 29 January 2019].

ellenaarvaniuni

Visual Communities and Social Imaging - WEEK 9

Personal photography was once oriented around the experiences of close networks, and around the family album, which worked as a tool for achieving ‘social cohesion’—representing and assembling togetherness—in the process of being there together for the photo. (Swinburne 2019)

This has now completely changed. Today technology provides everyone with a digital camera or mobile phone to capture moments anywhere at any time and then share those moments with friends and social groups instantly (Burgess & Vivienne 2013).

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat provide us the platform to share snapshots with our friends and family 24/7 our culture has completely changed from this.

Many platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook have embraced the new hybrid practices of personal image-sharing and networked publics (Vivienne & Burgess 2013 p. 6) Snapchat is what I observe most of my friends and myself using for selfies as Snapchat filters have become one of the most popular features on the APP. Often these filters make your skin smoother, eyes brighter and sometimes even change your whole face. Recently there was a filter that changed your hair color… this platform has taken the selfie to the next level constantly encouraging people to take images based on the release of these filters which only encourages use from the consumer.

The rise of the selfie—usually defined as an arms-length mobile phone camera self-portrait shared via social media—is a prominent part of the rise of ubiquitous photography and social imaging. It involves a number of factors, including new forms of visual communication and public intimacy, the presentation of the self and of place and location, and also new interactions with the cult of celebrity. (Swinburne 2019) I am 20 years of age and I am living among this selfie culture amerced in it. Every-time I open my instagram feed I’m flooded with many images from celebrities and influencers which has not stopped or become less popular.

These selfies are often unrealistic and many of them have been ‘face-tuned or photoshopped’ which makes others feel insecure because they can’t achieve the same look. Sometimes I think traditional photography would be better for our mental health as a young society. But then I remember how lucky we are to have this type of technology. It’s hard to say if its good or bad, overall our visual communities and social imaging will create the path for our next generations.

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

Swinburne Online 2018, Lecture ‘9.3 Networked visuality’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 22nd January 2019, <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/9-dot-3-networked-visuality?module_item_id=60109

madimda20009-blog

Hi Ellena great post and loved you have touched on Snapchat, such a great example for this weeks topic. I found it interesting that snapchat is so popular with the younger generation using iPhones as this application is hard to manage from a parents perspective as the instantaneous image is seen then deleted. The filters pose an issue with me as I believe they are creating a false sense of security and also are very unrealistic, they are very fun don’t get me wrong, but for young children using the app they many only communication to their friends through filters, which can influence their self-esteem as in reality or the ‘real world’ they don’t look like that. What are your thoughts on this?

summerchlo-blog

Activism and Protest

The exponential growth of social media over recent times is proving to be the way of sharing expressions of dissent and building collective action against a particular issue across the globe. It is through the social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, whereby individuals are able to collaboratively voice their opinions and desire for change and action.

In week 6, we looked at culture jamming and how it is contributing to social change and disrupting social norms. Through the use of powerful questioning of the certain values and image of corporate brands, culture jamming cleverly aims to shock, shame and anger their target audience, with action to change as the ultimate outcome.

A form of culture jamming is hacktivism, which can be defined as when activists use hack into computer systems of institutions and organisations in an attempt to intervene and disrupt their daily operations and flow of information (Gunkel 2005, p. 5; Sorell 2015, p. 391).

A perfect example of hacktivism is the group Anonymous, who demonstrates hacktivism by being an internet-based vague international network comprising of a plethora of activists who strive to expose all the nitty-gritty stories and information that get left out of mainstream media such as institutional or corporate wrongdoings (Dery 2010).

The notorious group have an incredible ability to hack governments and corporations, sourcing their associations and promoting their opinions on social media forums, like Facebook and Twitter. They also had a huge impact on preventing terrorism after the Paris terror attacks in 2015 and declared war against ISIS with various hacks and attacks (Shammas 2015).

“If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” - Alyssa Milano

Another really powerful act of online activism is the #metoo movement. Starting with the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, searching through the hashtag on Twitter appears endless stories and recounts of sexual harassment and assault. Essentially, this pivotal movement advocates for those with first-hand experiences and brings light to those that are unaware (Bremke, 2018).

I use the word ‘powerful’ to describe this campaign as it had a huge impact on not only women in Hollywood and the entertainment industry, but the everyday women who have been accustomed to sexual harassment and assault.

I use the word movement as this campaign gave woman the opportunity to stand up against the power of men and their demands. It essentially created a voice for women to know that they are not alone and that they can speak up against their attackers. This movement caused women to come together and unite.

References

Bremke, J. (2018). The #MeToo Movement. Period, viewed 3 January 2019 <https://medium.com/periodmovement/the-metoo-movement-a03b3150a79>

Dery, M 2010,Culturejamming:hacking,slashing, andsniping in theempire ofsigns,Shovelware, viewed 6 December 2018, <http://markdery.com/?page_id=154>.

Gunkel, DJ 2005, ‘Editorial: Introduction to hacking and hacktivism’, New media & society, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 595-597.

Shammas, J 2015, ‘Anonymous accuses firm of protecting ISIS from cyber-attacks as hackers struggle in their war on Islamicextremists; The hacktivists named and shamedthe firm asCloudFlare, dubbing them “shameful” on Twitter’,Daily Mirror, 28 December.

madimda20009-blog

Hey Chloe great post! I love you have used the #metoo movement as an example. I personally found this movement very powerful and uniting for women, it may have started in Hollywood but went viral and global very quickly. Lots of women felt united and strong to share their own struggles with this issue. Such a great movement and shows how some digital communities that are created help people open up and speak on topics they often don’t feel comfortable enough to do so. Thanks!

digitalcomms2018-blog

Politics and Civic Cultures

Social media and digital communities play an important role in the way politics and civic cultures are changing. Gone are the days of social media being purely social, rather your feed now consists of the few updates your friends make scattered among an array of advertising, junk, and political campaigning.

Politicians and parties alike are using social media to gain a wider reach, as opposed to using traditional media channels. According to Tom Murse from Thought Co social media allows politicians and parties to advertise without paying for advertising while having direct contact to potential voters of all generations. Murse goes on to say that social media can keep people more accountable and accessible to voters.

Many things on this world have two sides, two viewpoints, but social media allows millions of people to shares their millions of individual opinions, and though this does give the people power and allows them to communicate directly with their member of parliament, it also caused friction between people in the community.

2017 in Australia saw much political debate online surround same-sex marriage. Multiple online platforms (such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), were used as a way for people to express a point of view and argue their point with others. Unfortunately, this led to trolling and misuse of social media. This did, however, encourage people to do research, or have conversations and get informed so that they could form their own opinion, rather than just let it be another political issue that goes by.

What do you think of politicians using social media to deliver their message?

Have you ever commented on a politicians post?

Do you think social media helps keep politicians accountable?

madimda20009-blog

Hey there great post! I believe politicians using social media to deliver a message is not very effect for a campaign as the demographic using social media to become educated on topics such as politics is not very large or expansive. A lot of people use social media but do not know how to consume some of the information that they are given. I believe in the future social media could be great for politics but right now it is to hazy and unclear to give a solid message where someone is expected to make an important informed decision. Thanks!

the-digital-communique-blog

Politicians on Social Media: Savvy or Suicide?

Week 5 focused heavily on how politicians use (or fail to use) social media as part of their campaigns. The first thing that comes to mind when I think politics and social media is the difficulties that digital natives will face due to a lifetime online. After the well-worn path has been trod, politicians tend to be 40-50 years old before they gain prominence. When I think back to what I was like as a teenager (thankfully just before the social media whirlwind, MySpace was mildly popular but I didn’t have an account) I couldn’t imagine trying to explain the photos and videos that would’ve been taken during that time if people had smart phones. These dangers were recognised by President Obama who advised extreme caution when posting on social media (Jericho 2013, p. 254). It can be difficult to escape the follies of youth as 19-year-old ALP candidate Peter Watson discovered when homophobic comments he made as a 15-year-old were unearthed (Jericho 2013, p. 254). These comments included naming homosexuals as “social degenerates” and also linked homosexuality to paedophilia (Wordsworth, Binnie, Burgess & Barry 2012, n.p.). The full extent of Mr Watson’s foolish comments can be seen in this article.

Qld Labor candidate expelled after homophobic rant

There is also the question of how well current politicians, who for the most part are at a generational disadvantage when it comes to social media, use these platforms to communicate with their voter base. According to Jericho (2013, p. 260), savvy political parties should harness and direct public emotion rather than simply using social media as a platform for political messaging. It seems that Australian politicians tend to do the latter, with Young (2010, p. 204) viewing internet campaigning or even general news as simply different mechanism to access the same information. It is also difficult to prove what, if any, correlation exists between social media followers and measurable results. Tudehope (cited in Jericho 2013, p. 273) for example argues that having a large number of Twitter followers can be misleading, and has no genuine effect as there are limited tangible interactions between the politician and their followers. Cultivating and maintaining a multi-platform social media presence can be hugely beneficial but ultimately requires a commitment by the politician who needs to be engaging and real rather than trumpeting policies at the public (Jericho 2013, p. 266).

The long running twitter handle, #auspol, has allowed every day Australian’s to discuss the trials and tribulations of Australian politics. This generic hashtag has allowed members of the public to debate issues but as with all online interactions can lead to abuse (Bogle 2016, n.p.).

The most recent use of the hashtag discusses Fraser Anning’s attendance at the St. Kilda Rally, a far right rally that he billed the tax payer $2800 to attend.

Between February 21 and March 21 there were 760,000 tweets using #auspol

While these numbers certainly show an interest by the Australian public in couch based political commentary, I tend to agree with Jericho (2013, p. 263) who believes that political use of social media remains a largely untapped resource, indicating that it hasn’t yet reached a stage that would be influential in the elections. When this will change I’m not sure, especially as the consequences of making a mistake online can be rather grim.

References

Bogle, A 2016, ‘#auspol: The Twitter hastag Australia can’t live without’, Mashable, March 21, viewed 09 January 2019, https://mashable.com/2016/03/21/twitter-australia-auspol/#EhsPu_.OMEqg

Highfield, T & Bruns, A 2016, Compulsory Voting, Encouraged Tweeting? Australian Elections and Social Media, viewed 07 January 2019, http://snurb.info/files/2016/Compulsory%20Voting,%20Encouraged%20Tweeting.pdf

Jericho, G 2013, ‘Rise of the Fifth Estate: Social Media and Blogging in Australian Politics, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd., Carlton North.

Wordsworth, M, Binnie, K, Burgess, S & Barry, S 2012, ‘Qld Labor candidate expelled after homophobic’, ABC News, 21 February, viewed 09 January 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-20/queensland-labor-candidate-peter-watson-quits/3841192

Young, S 2010, How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the Media, Cambridge University Press.

madimda20009-blog

Hey there, great post on week 5′s topic. I do agree with you that political use of social media is largely untaped and hasn’t reached a stage that would be influential in our elections. If Scott Morrison’s photoshop shoe fail recently is anything to go on, for our current political social media scene in Australia, it goes to show there is still a lot for them to learn.

bridiedigitalcommunites-blog

Culture Jamming

Through digital citizenship and civic participation, activist groups are able to digitally protest their opinion and spread their message. Adbusting is a form of culture jamming whereby activists challenge the common opinions within a culture. The group Adbusters (www.adbusters.org) have effectively challenged cultural beliefs such as American Thanksgiving, by ways of an ad that displayed a pig snorting in the background while a strong voice spoke about how Americans consume more than any other country, the campaign was called “Buy Nothing Day”.

Adbusters - USA (2007) <http://bit.ly/1q908LP>

With the proliferation of new technologies comes the increase of activist groups being able to voice their opinions and make noise within digital communities and in a digital space such as social media. This accessibility that many of us have to protest and participate in civic communities, means that there is more ‘slacktivism’ and ‘clicktivism’ (Bakardjieva 2009, p. 103). These terms refer to the easy actions of digitally participating activists that have no real impact or lasting result for the cause.

A campaign in 2012 called “KONY” by Invisible Children Inc is an example of activism that has been widespread through the help of digital communities by minor efforts of a large group of people. The campaign was shared across various social media sites and participants were made to feel empowered as they got behind a cause for justice. The aim of the campaign was for a Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony to be arrested for his crimes of mass indoctrination of child soldiers and other offenses including rape and murder. The campaign managed to raise 20 million dollars towards the cause, however, one year on there was no change and Kony was still free. The activism portrayed in the Kony campaign backfired on the Invisible Children Inc organisation as supporters were left feeling disappointed as their efforts had not translated into results. Some said that the campaign did not display the correct information as some footage was a decade old, as well as simplified the issue when it was far more complex than the campaign portrayed it to be (Truthloader 2013).

Joseph Kony 2012: What happened to invisible children? – Truthloader (2013)<http://bit.ly/1pk3M06>

adbusters.org, 2019, Adbusters Media Foundation | Journal of the Mental Environment. https://www.adbusters.org/ viewed 28.01.19

Bakardjieva, M. (2009). Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet. The Information Society, p.103.

madimda20009-blog

Hey Bridie, great post and how interesting is the Kony campaign. Great points in regards to the old information such as videos and images shown on the campaign, even though it was such a well thought out video campaign it seemed that a lot of the other areas of the campaign were missed, that is why he was not caught and the Invisible Children Inc sort of disappeared along with this campaign. Thanks for sharing, great post! Madi

sageseulgilee-blog

Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

We live in a time when we can take photos and share media online immediately. Unlike times that people relied on professional photographers, arrange a special day to take a photo, and print out, share physically with family and friends. Development of internet reshaped our lifestyle. Moreover, we do not need a photographer to take a photo, instead, a handy camera on the mobile phone made the ‘selfie culture’. This new culture is lead by the ‘millennial’ generation whose are children of the baby boomer generation (Stein, J 2013).

They were raised to improve self-esteem which could improve narcissism as well. Selfie shows where they have taken the photo, how their feelings were at the time that was taken. Instead of posting a planned, well organised photography, selfie shows personality. Selfie culture is not only the one ubiquitous photography has developed, but videos also developed as we now are able to make videos easily just like taking a selfie. Videos do not need to be professionally taken just like selfies are taken instantly.

Creators make videos with a lot of different subjects such as ordinary days, something that they are interested. We call the famous creators as ‘influencers’ and usually they just expose themselves as they are. It is not like acting in the movie, but showing their life and character as is. Viewers react on the ‘unplanned, unexpected’ theme that they never encountered through traditional media. In the online world, they can communicate, give feedback to the creator and the feedback would be considered for future works. This personal interaction is an important factor of affinity. We can see the majority of youtube influencers answer to the question from the previous video to communicate with their subscribers. Like Lange (2009, p74) said, “Internet and youtube have fundamentally changed distribution options from that of small-scale home mode viewing to global sharing and exchange”

Another good example of ubiquitous photography is Snapchat. This application takes a unique concept that messages are deleted once receive reads from both send and receiver as well as from snapchat server. It was popular among teenagers due to the ephemeral nature of application so they can communicate without parents censorship. To summarise, technology development enabled us to communicate with each other with images not only text. This made a new culture such as selfie culture, and influencers, especially on social media. The new culture shows the different model to the traditional media like movie or broadcast, as viewers and creators communicate each other and have an affinity.

References

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of affinity’, in Snickars, P, The Youtube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88

Stein, J 2013 ‘Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation’ Time 21 May, viewed 2 January 2019 <http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/>

madimda20009-blog

Hey there, great post and I love the example of snapchat, I never really thought in depth why young teens loved this app so much, but I now understand as it is such a hard application to manage as a parent with the instantaneous deletion of the sent picture. Great point shown, thank you! Madi

heidijanedesigns

Blog 8: Social Gaming

Taking a step down into the dark world of online gaming we look at how gaming is closely linked with social media interactions in the modern world. Gaming is a activity that has been around for a while now. It started in the beginning where young tweens would have to play in arcades on ancient yet modern at the time machines which held top player scoreboards.

However as we transitioned into the digital world an explosion of online games became available on the market on personal consoles available in your own living room. We saw a frenzy take over the internet most recently with the drop of new battle and survival game Fortnite, which has now become one of the most polar games online games with over 40 million players logging in each month.

It is basically a 100 player game which sees your character jump out of a flying bus to decent onto earth. The game is simple, find resources and weapons to protect yourself as the surrounding around you become smaller and forcing your opponents closer and closer until there is only one left standing. AKA the winner. Players can play with friends and communicate via headset, making one feel connected and part of a community.

This game, among thousands is a game of shooting. However with the user interface appealing at the younger audience with bring colours and comical cartoon characters, it is being argued that because it does not depict the blood and gore like games such as World of Warcraft, it therefore places the user in a non threatening, non realistic world. But does that mean just because its all fun colours and blue skies that the behaviours aren’t teaching users that violence is okay.

A fine line between the gaming and real world has been a cause for concern within the worldwide gaming community. Without specific rules and behaviours, users are seen to be undertaking actions that in the real world that would not be tolerated. The construct of the magic circle was a major failure at an attempt to control online gaming behaviours as it became apparent that it was truely impossible to disconnect from reality that the magic circle suggests. With online chats and constant communication through the game, social interaction is the backbone of many online games success. Mixing the real world with the gaming world is increasingly blurring the lines between reality and interface.

Does gaming impact ones ability to differentiate between right and wrong? Does it desensitise us to violence that would otherwise be shocking? I think the gaming industry is so successful because it buys into a sense of adventure that cannot be achieved in the real world. This sense of human hunting and shooting is repulsive to me as someone that has never played video games. Yet to an avid gamer, the game is so much more. It is a game of tactics and skill, where deep thinking and decision making is imperative. However this vortex of virtual reality draws us further and further away from normality. Is the real time chat feature the only thing keeping gamers from tipping over the edge? If so, thank god for social media.

References:

De Zwart, Melissa and Humphreys, Sal. The lawless frontier of deep space: Code as law in EVE online [online]. Cultural Studies Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, Mar 2014: 77-99. Availability: <https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=225934593111540;res=IELLCC> ISSN: 1837-8692. [cited 24 Jan 19].

Office of the eSafety Commissioner. (2019). Online gaming. [online] Available at: https://www.esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/esafety-issues/online-gaming [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].

Stuart, K. (2018). Fortnite: a parents’ guide to the most popular video game in schools. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/mar/07/fortnite-battle-royale-parents-guide-video-game-multiplayer-shooter [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].

Sublette, V. and Mullan, B. (2010). Consequences of Play: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Online Gaming. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, [online] 10(1), pp.3-23. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-010-9304-3 [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].

madimda20009-blog

Hey Heidi what a great post! This has given me insight into a game I have heard so much about, but as I am not a gamer had no idea what the game actually was. Interesting that is is using what we would call an ‘old school’ style interface with lots of colour and less realistic shooting scenes etc. I do so some of the issues where users aren’t able to ‘disconnect’ even my own siblings get obsessed and stay up to all hours of the morning just to keep playing their games. I love your point “is real time chat something that is keeping people from tipping over the edge?” I agree with you, if it is then praise social media! Great post! Thanks for sharing. Madi

georxgina

Digital Citizenship 2: Activism and protest

In week six we continued to discuss digital citizenship in relation to activism and protest through social media platforms. We aim to identify some of the global contexts in which social media has come to support activism, protest and revolution (Swinburne Online 2018). Local activist groups use social media platforms to post their campaigns in the hope of spreading the message and raising funds for their cause.

Digital activism is the notion of activist groups using social media tools campaigns as part of their campaigns. Digital citizenship “refers to the potential benefit for society as a whole that comes from new digital and social media tools and their ability to ‘facilitate the membership and participation of individuals within society.” (Mossberger et al. 2008, p. 1).

Youtube Case Study:

As discussed by Youmans & York social media and technology have “served as venues for the shared expression of dissent, dissemination of information, and collective action.” (Youmans & York 2012 p. 315) In their article, they discussed how social media platforms such as Youtube could be utilised by activists in a range of political systems.

Case study 2, focused on the banning of offensive content from Syria on Youtube and discussed how most platforms use community policing in order to monitor content. As many videos from Syria are incredibly graphic in content, capturing the violent protests, Youtube took the initiative to take down popular videos. These videos were removed as it violated Youtube’s policies and terms of service. Youtube sets out specific standards through the use of “Community Guidelines”, in which users may report others for violating the terms of service, including content that may be offensive or unwanted contact known as “spam” (Youmans & York 2012 p. 321). As there are significant amounts of data posted to Youtube every day, the company uses additional steps to control content including the removal or prevention of posting “certain words, phrases or links" (Youmans & York 2012 p. 321). These automated protocols stop “spammers” working against activist to stop them from censoring the views they oppose.

Culture Jamming:

Culture jamming through graffiti, satire or some other reappropriation of the original medium’s iconography has the effect of subverting mainstream culture for independent communication or to disrupt mainstream communication (Bainbridge, Goc,& Tynan 2015, p. 511)

Cultural jamming has been brought back to life through the use of digital tools. “It is the act of using existing media to comment on those very media themselves, and on political and social conditions more broadly” (Swinburne Online 2018)

One of the most controversial cultural jamming artists is Banksy. His identity remains unknown as he refuses to be interviewed after 20 years being involved in street graffiti. Banksy creates his art using silkscreen prints and stencil painting. He is promoting powerful messages through questionable images combined with slogans. Most recently Banksy attracted headlines after he sent one of his paintings through a shredder moments after it had been auctioned.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Banksy (@banksy) on Oct 6, 2018 at 10:09am PDT

References:

Bainbridge, J, Goc, N & Tynan, L 2015, Media and journalism: new approaches to theory and practice, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.

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

Swinburne Online 2018, Lecture ‘6.1 This week’s focus’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 11 December 2018, <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/6-dot-1-this-weeks-focus?module_item_id=60060>.

Swinburne Online 2018, Lecture '6.3 Culture jamming’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 11 December 2018, <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/6-dot-3-culture-jamming?module_item_id=60065>.

Youmans, W, & York, J 2012, 'Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements’, Journal Of Communication, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 315-329.

madimda20009-blog

Hey Georgia, love your post and great example of culture jamming with the use of Banksy, how great is he! Banksy is a great example with his incredible style and graffiti style artwork. The shredding of his own artwork after it has been sold at auction is just genius! He disrupts mainstream communication in so many different ways. Thanks for the great example! Madi

kastojan-blog

Trolling and Social Media Conflict

Trolling has been my favourite topic so far this teaching period. I was lucky enough to have Trolling and Social Media Conflict as a topic for our group presentation assessment. Throughout the research process I learnt a surprising amount of information and found the specific case studies particularly interesting. Cyber bullying is defined as, “performative, interpersonal conflict that takes place in front of an active, engaged audience, often on social media" (Boyd 2014, p. 138).

After reading the set readings and researching trolling it brought back memories of bullying in the school yard. What I thought was acceptable in my school years I would not tolerate now.

Research shows that trolling can create serious harm to individuals mental state. In 2016, Reach Out Australia conducted a online survey of 1000 Australians aged 14–25 years old. 22.9% of these people experienced bullying, 52% indicated that they experienced bullying at school, followed by 25.3% in the workplace and 25.3% on online platforms (Reach Out Australia 2017).

After conducting research for the group presentation, I found multiple case studies relevant to trolling on Facebook. Facebook is a platform that individuals can use to stalk others, create fake accounts and inflict political, sexual and racial antagonism. Facebook is a place that shares provocation and has been named a new home for bullying (Boyd 2014, p 132).

When I was in year 12, I started to wear red lipstick on the weekends. I kept the rest of my make up light. No one else wore red lipstick so this became my trademark look. Girls at school who were meant to be my best friends mocked me and uploaded a folder of pictures on Facebook of themselves at a gathering with red lipstick smudged all over their lips and faces. I knew they uploaded these pictures to embarrass me. At the time the Facebook post didn’t upset me. I didn’t call them out on their behaviour as I felt their actions were childish and others would think the same. I feel sorry for the children who experience trolling or social media abuse and don’t have anyone to speak to.

Its so important for parents and siblings to speak to children and ensure their emotional state is OK. To ensure that bullying is not effecting their lives, and if it is, how to deal with bullies in an appropriate manner.

Find 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.

ReachOut Australia 2017, Research Summary - Bullying and young Australians, viewed 20 November 2018<https://about.au.reachout.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Bullying-Research-Summary_FINAL.pdf>.

Image:

Kotaku, (2015), Trolling [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/08/10-former-internet-trolls-explain-why-they-quit-being-jerks/ [Accessed 12 January 2019].

madimda20009-blog

Hey Kristina, how good was this weeks readings and content. I was also lucky enough to be in this group with you. I am so sorry you were a victim of bullying at school but are able to speak up about it now. I believe it is such a large issue that social media platforms are only lightly addressing and not focusing on the harm that is taking place mentally for the victims of the bullying. Thanks for sharing, great post!

annagpellegrino

Online Activism

in week 6 we looked at digital citizenship in regard to activism and protests on social media. Since the emergence of social media more activists have looked to these platforms to spread their message and protest for causes and to raise funds for these causes. Digital citizenship can refer to the benefits for society that comes from new digital and social media tools and its ability to allow participation from each individual within society (Mossberger et al. 2008).

An example of online activism is the Facebook group ‘Anonymous For the Voiceless’ which is an organisation for animal rights that specialises in street activism. their online group and numerous pages help bring people together to discuss and debate over vegan matters. The organisation is all about protecting and saving animals thus use facebook and other social media as a platform for their arguments.

Their mission is simply “Through the use of local standard-practice footage, we expose the public to what they are intentionally hidden from when it comes to animal exploitation. Combining this with a value-based sales approach and resource literature, we fully equip the public with everything they need in switching to a vegan lifestyle. We hold an abolitionist stance on animal exploitation.” (AV: Melbourne 2016).

This organisation relies on the use of social media to get their message across and to organise events such as protests around Melbourne CBD.

In week 6 we also looked at Cultural Jamming. This concept refers to when individuals or groups use current media and appropriate it in a way that delivers opposing views to that of what was initially intended (Carducci 2011, p. 406). Cultural jamming comes in different forms including graffiti/street art, performance art, modifying billboards, mocking advertisements, hacktivism, subvertising, and adbusting (Carducci 2011, p. 406). An example of cultural jamming is below where a coca cola advertisement has been altered to send across a message about consumerism and profit within the industry. The individual or group that created this has mocked the coca cola advert and opposed its views entirely through its creative way of activism; this is cultural jamming.

References

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

AV: Melbourne 2016, 3 July, Viewed on 22 January, <https://www.facebook.com/groups/1044615718919738/about/>

Calducci, V 2011, ‘Culture jamming’, in D Southerton (ed), Encyclopedia of consumer culture, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp. 406- 407.

madimda20009-blog

Hey Anna, awesome post and awesome blog! I love your example of online activism through the Facebook group ‘Anonymous for the voiceless’ what a great movement. I believe that Facebook and online social media services are a great way to unite people who have the same beliefs, as they may not have meet if it wasn’t for the internet, and its ‘digital communities’ it creates.

Twitter as a celebrity platform

Twitter is a household name media platform that has been operating since 2006 and has revolutionised how news and information is delivered to its readers.

I can remember when I was younger to find out all the hot gossip and information on my favourite celebrities I would go buy a magazine and source all my information there. Now with twitter individuals can get the hit of celebrity gossip and news right here and not have to read through multiple magazines to find anything interesting, or even need to spend any money to do so.

Twitter is a marketing gold mine for celebrities, they can post tweets about brands they love or use and secure sponsorship and branding deals, they can promote up and coming movies or modelling photoshoots or whatever their profession might be, to the thousands if not millions of people that follow them. With this large following comes the scrutinise public eye and people just waiting for them to trip up.

For example, Kim Kardashian tweeted "EWW Im at lunch, the women at the table next 2 me is breast feeding her baby w no coverup then puts the baby on the table and changes her diaper" (Business Insider Australia), this caused quite the uproar with some of Kim's followers as they expressed how the TV Celebrity was rude to call the women out like she did, and she should be more understanding as a mother herself.

This goes to show that twitter can be a great place for celebrities but only if they are very careful on what they put out to the public. Twitter can be used by celebrities in whatever manner they prefer, some use it just to share their opinions on issues and use it as a platform for change, some use it to promote themselves to their fans in order to grow more of a following, some use it just like any none celebrity user and just respond and look at tweets or see what is trending. Twitter has many different uses for celebrities and is a great way for fans to keep up with their movements and find information on their favourite celebrities.

Reference:

Business Insider Australia. 2018. 28 Times Brands And Celebrities Completely Failed On Twitter | Business Insider. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/epic-celebrity-twitter-fails-2015-1?r=US&IR=T#kim-kardashian-expressed-disgust-when-she-saw-a-woman-breastfeed-her-child-in-public-16. [Accessed 05 December 2018].

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