MDA20009 Learning Group 01 @michaelamarasingham-blog - Tumblr Blog

Politics and civic cultures

The 2010 Federal election has been described as the “The Twitter Election” due to the increased level of use of social media but, that it was not so much the use by politicians of social media in their individual campaigns that was of note but rather the higher level of engagement with political ideas and debate by the Australian people and the media that was significant. The 2010 election was notable more so for the way everyday Australians took up social media to become more politically involved than by the acceptance of social media by politicians.

Why Do Politicians Use Social Media?

Politicians can use social media and the audiences that social media sites provide to:

· gather support

· push policies

· create a personable image

· organize campaign

· attack opponents

· create personal connection with voters

· provide a real-time information

· show that politicians understand society

· Interact in online debate

· reach particular voter groups

· surveillance of citizens by government

A research report by Theresa Sauter and Axel Bruns about social media in the media reported that there was a shift towards real-time focus, interaction and online debate in 2010 and 2012 which may be because of the increased use of Twitter as a public real-time social media platform. They also found that the percentage of politicians incorrectly using social media was decreasing, which would indicate that politicians have become better at using social media and that there is less anxiety about how to use it properly. Social media is now integrated into our everyday lives and also into the professional practices of politicians.

When I think of politicians and social media I immediately recalled the story of Cathy McGowan and her stunning victory as an independent in the former liberal held safe seat on Indi. Indi had been held by the conservatives since 1931 and in 2012 a young group of former residents or “Indi expats” as they became to be known created the Voice for Indi, where they started to gather information about what was concerning people in the electorate. The indi expats were able to use their knowledge of social media use as Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness and crowdfunding software to raise money.

Cam Klose, Cathy’s media liaison reported that they maintained an active social media presence throughout the election campaign and states that part of the success of the campaign was their ability to convert social media followers into volunteers

“What was particularly important for me was the involvement of young people,” she said. “The work of the younger generation was critical to the success of the campaign and especially the vibrant online presence we were able to create.” Cathy McGowan (2010)

References

Evans, B, 2014, ‘The insurgent from Indi’, Inside Story, 30 April, viewed 22 April 2018, <http://insidestory.org.au/the-insurgent-from-indi/>

Cathy McGowan Independent Member for Indi, c 2018, The Story, Cathy McGowan, viewed 22 April 2018, <http://www.cathymcgowan.com.au/the_story>

Burgess, J, Bruns, A. (2012), ‘Not the Twitter Election: The Dynamics of the #ausvotes Conversation in Relation to the Australian Media Ecology’, Journalism Practice, Vol 6(3), pp. 384-402.

Bruns, A, Sauter T, 2013, ‘Social Media in the Media: How Australian Media Perceive Social Media as Political Tools’, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation.

michaelamarasingham-blog

Hi mo2scallywags

As you pointed out some politicians who have adopted social media for their political campaigns, don’t fully understand the implications of doing so, most of them don’t completely grasp the affordances of these platforms and rely on the younger generation like Barack Obama and Cathy McGowan. In contrast the recent ruling in New York which found that Donald Trump was contravening U.S 1st amendment law by blocking people on twitter (Wolfson, 2018), is an example of this nativity among some of the older politician. This ruling should also server as warning to all networked publics that believe the “Digital community” is an aberration and has no offline consequences.

I feel that as digital citizenship becomes ubiquitous the ability to hide lies and misstatements by the digital citizen will be increasingly harder. The attempt to jam the truth and facts with fear, lies and conspiracy theories will be increasing challenge in society of networked publics.

This transition reminds of other historic transitions such as that from dark age to the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery in Europe (Britannica, 2018). I believe, the fact that the Digital renaissance includes all of humanity, will make this period far more consequential in human history. Time will tell.

Bibliography

Britannica, T. E. o. E., 2018. Renaissance European history. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance

Wolfson, S., 2018. Donald Trump cannot block anyone on Twitter, court rules. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/23/trump-twitter-block-ruling-court-public-forum-account

frangolive

Standing out from the shadows...

MDA20009: Week 6: Digital Citizenship 2: activism and protest

Once a cause has got a networked individual or community’s attention via a social media platform, how are you going to frame your message to best support your cause? In the cases of Egypt, Spain and the US since 2009, you use the most powerful platforms of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to set dates, share logistics and show the world your agenda (Gerbaudo 2012, p.3). Growing the nodes of activist networks means getting your audiences to conquer the fear of putting their voices out there and increasing visibility of political alignment (Gerbaudo 2012, p.1).

15 Public art projects advocating social justice can be found at https://mashable.com/2016/09/24/public-art-social-good/

Privileged countries have the advantage of high levels of connectivity and access to digital platforms that disseminate protest and activist causes and afford societies a habituation of physical gatherings in public spaces (Gerbaudo 2012, p.2). But do we really capitalise on this liberty apart from evidence items of selfies or clicks to show ‘I was there’ (Gerbaudo 2012, p.3)?

With so many causes lined up on the platform of the social media train, it is possible to feel like you are getting overwhelmed from all the posts in your various inboxes soliciting financial and emotional support. With activist use of social media so prevalent, diverse and impactful, which journalist, citizen or professional do you engage with first (Gerbaudo 2012, p.3)?

The Sunday Age on the 22nd of April this year runs an article called ‘The Secrets of their success stories’. Straight away the headline is effective as it uses signifiers in the words ‘secrets, success, stories, and most humans from a sociological standpoint like all three of these elements, especially rolled into one semiotic bundle (Feldman & Hart 2015, p.101). The publication presents the situation of several African – Australians who work between their ethnic, cultural and wider communities to lobby society and government in support of integration strategies that enable increased opportunities for socioeconomic assimilation into their Australian life (The Sunday Age 2018, p.13). I found it an encouraging example of the three main message modalities that Lauren Feldman and P. Sol Hart describe in their study of ‘efficacy information’ that motivates activism (2015, p.100).

Ahmed Hassan, operations manager at Activating Youth based in the Brunswick.

Photo: Chris Hopkins, courtesy of the Sunday Age

Firstly, it evidenced the ‘internal information’ of the self and the individual’s agency and steps they could take themselves, working over two years on a plan to present to government. Secondly, it showed the ‘external (systems) information’, explaining how the presentation of the plan to State Multicultural Affairs minister’s office outlined a 12 year plan of 5 essential goals that sought government and representative agency. Thirdly, it included ‘response efficacy information’ showing how implementing the activist policy would give young and disadvantaged people a voice and diminish citizens falling through the cracks in society and community (Feldman & Hart 2015, p.100).

A Somali-Australian who now lives in Footscray, Halima Mohamed, works to empower African women by helping them establish businesses.

Photo: Chris Hopkins, courtesy of the Sunday Age

The use of these three ‘efficacy messages’ had the effect of making me fearful for peeps who fall through the cracks, angry that in such a privileged country it should happen to anyone, but ultimately hopeful due the solutions enthusiasm of approach to protest, activism and networking (Feldman & Hart 2015, p.101).

I definitely will not be culture jamming this cause (Dery 2010)…

REFERENCES:

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

Feldman L, Hart P. Sol 2015, ‘Using Political Efficacy Messages to Increase Climate Activism: The Mediating Role of Emotions’, Science Communication, Vol 38, Issue 1, pp. 99-127, viewed 19.4.18 <https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/10.1177/1075547015617941>

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto, London

Hinchcliffe Joe 2018, ‘The Secrets of their success stories’, The Sunday Age, April 22, 2018, p. 13, viewed 22.4.18, < https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-african-australian-success-stories-you-ve-probably-never-heard-20180421-p4zay1.html>

The Art Assignment 2016, PBS ‘The Art of Complaining – The Guerilla Girls’, PBS Digital Studios [online], viewed 21.4.18, <https://youtu.be/5i5cEhd6Vt8?t=2s>

gem-vs-ba-mcmns-blog

Thank you for this insightful and powerful post.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the TED website this weekend, researching various assignments, and came across this - I thought it might interest you as it’s somewhat relevant to your post :)

https://www.ted.com/talks/siyanda_mohutsiwa_how_young_africans_found_a_voice_on_twitter

michaelamarasingham-blog

Hi Fran

When I arrived in Australia I found it extremely difficult to come to terms with the contemptuous nature some Australians showed me. Unlike most refuges I was born into a higher socioeconomic bracket and the predominate reason for my family leaving the country was threat to life. I was schooled in English and when I arrived in Australia the only difference between me and my new school mates was my accent and the colour of my skin. Yet just these two-difference made me the butt of one sided jokes and some forms of bulling by some in my new school. I naturally gravitated towards other students in a similar predicament as me.

In my working life I found the same narrative of tasteless comments which ended with “I am just joking mate” or “I don’t mean you, we are friends”. When I started traveling for work in 2001 it became even more obvious that the Australia was a white only country, where ever I went most people were surprised to learn I was Australian. In fact, I was told once Australians have blond hair and blue eyes, even worse in China most people did not know Australia had an indigenous population. I suppose you could not blame them as the only thing they knew of Australian came for the tourist boards advertising such as “throw a shrimp on the barbie”.

In 2010 I noticed a marked difference between the education of those I met for the first time as opposed to 2001 period. In ten years the development of networked public particularly among those aged 18 to 25 was evident no one was surprised by my story in fact many times I had fellow Australian ask me for help as they recognized my accent. I still encountered bigotry, but noticed it was predominantly by those in a higher age range or the uneducated.

In hindsight with reference to this unit it is evident to me that the true digital citizen is citizen of the world with no boundaries the true digital citizen is easily able to leverage the power of digital citizenship to affect change. Movements such as the “Arab Spring”, “Black Lives Matter”, “#me too” and even the “#RiceBunny” an attempt by Women in China to spotlight sexual harassment (Zeng, 2018) points to a future where facts will matter.

The outraged expressed by network publics to tweets from Donald trump and recently Roseanne Barr, which led to Barr losing her high rating TV show. The arrest of 2 black men in a Starbucks which led to the closure of all U.S stores for one day for ant-bias training suggest to me that the influence and the power of the digital citizen is only just beginning.

Bibliography

Zeng, M. J., 2018. From #MeToo to #RiceBunny: how social media users are campaigning in China. [Online] Available at: https://theconversation.com/from-metoo-to-ricebunny-how-social-media-users-are-campaigning-in-china-90860

gem-vs-ba-mcmns-blog

1B: Week 9 - Visual communities and social imaging

The selfie.

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

It’s certainly not a new concept.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WARNING – SEXUAL CONTENT

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

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

Listen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which raises questions.

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

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

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

Is the selfie culture to blame?

Let me know your thoughts…

References:

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

florenciablogs-blog

I quite enjoy how you erected (LEL) this discussion. This does seem to be a phenomena in modern culture as many of my single friends have often spoken of the evolution of the booty call text to a graphic ephemeral image. I do think there is something to be said of the social acceptance of a male doing so and it being brushed off lightly, compared to women who are often shamed. While I do not recommend either of the sexes partake, this boys will be boys excuse seems to reign.

This conversation about self-depiction is fascinating.

A photos intention is to replicate reality, a memory but we enhance these images so much with facetune, filters, etc that we end up with a product that looks nothing like reality- Do we not like what we see? Why are we constructing this lie? Whose approval do we seek? Why is there such a need for validation?

It becomes very difficult to approve of an image of oneself in a society that seems flawless. The unhealthy images that surround us are no longer necessarily about anorexic models (although this continues to be an issue) but of altered, exaggerated demonstrations of beautiful. If you look around, those who are most ‘followed’ much like this Kardashian family have fake hair, eyelash extensions, tattooed eyebrows, makeup, implants of all sorts- a complete buff and polish of the human form. So how did we go from Sophia Lauren and Audrey Hepburn to this distorted reality?

It is quite sad that natural beauty is rarely genuinely celebrated and we see a generation of women who now cannot take a self portrait without correcting every blemish. Is also makes me question who it is exactly we are trying to convince? When people see us in real life there will be no filter to cover the imperfections. We are a society who claims to ‘celebrate’ the imperfections while editing our own reflections. I often hear friends discussing how ‘disappointed’ they were when their tinder date was not who they appeared to be- the #filterfail

As a society we need to sit with ourselves, in front of a mirror and understand this is who we are and what we look like. We need acceptance that this constructed notion of beauty does not include the wonderful differences that make each of our traits unique. Until then, society will continue to succumb to the plastic fantastic.

We came into this world with nothing and will leave with nothing- embrace what you are and what you are comprised of.

As the Pulitzer winning Kung Fu Kenny states “show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretchmarks”

Love yourSELFIE

gem-vs-ba-mcmns-blog

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response! I had the same musings about there being a greater level of acceptance when men are sending nudes than women. Most stories you read about revenge porn are against women - women who sent nudes to someone they once trusted who then used these images maliciously later on. Do you think if the non-consenting exhibition I mentioned had been filled with female nudes there would have been more outrage? I feel like the media barely gave this exhibition any attention but there would have been an uprising had women been the subject. Is this down to the general belief that men have this coming due to their propensity for sending unsolicited pics? This came up in my Facebook feed yesterday and I thought you might find it interesting: https://jezebel.com/gq-proves-women-really-can-have-it-all-a-thriving-come-1826103696 Female comedians fighting back against the ludicrous amount of PhotoShop going on with magazine cover shoots. Thanks again, I always love reading your posts and your replies!

michaelamarasingham-blog

HI Gem

After reading your post I was intrigued to find out why predominately men sent unsolicited sexual content to “Others”. I found this kind of harassment is classified as exhibitionism a mental disorder predominantly found in men (Psychology Today, 2018). This disorder stems from a number of causes including “antisocial personality disorder, alcohol abuse, and an interest in paedophilia” in extreme cases (Psychology Today, 2018).

It was interesting to note the attribution of this as a disorder predominantly in men, was because it was only men who were arrested for exhibitionism behaviour. Exhibitionism is defined as a “derivation of sexual gratification through compulsive display of one’s genitals and may obtain gratification from the reaction of disgust or fear on the part of his victim. (Britannica, 1998). Is it because men wouldn’t consider themselves a victim exhibitionism disorder in women, is not a crime? I receive plenty of unsolicited friend request with picture from women on Facebook including yesterday on Tumber. In the time before the internet (BI) this type of behaviour was conducted out in the street. In seems in the age of the networked publics and the digital citizen all aspect of the human condition has become digitized.

Bibliography

Britannica, T. E. o. E., 1998. Encyclopaedia Britannica. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/exhibitionism

Psychology Today, 2018. Exhibitionism. [Online] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/conditions/exhibitionism

frangolive

Standing out from the shadows...

MDA20009: Week 6: Digital Citizenship 2: activism and protest

15 Public art projects advocating social justice can be found at https://mashable.com/2016/09/24/public-art-social-good/

Ahmed Hassan, operations manager at Activating Youth based in the Brunswick.

Photo: Chris Hopkins, courtesy of the Sunday Age

A Somali-Australian who now lives in Footscray, Halima Mohamed, works to empower African women by helping them establish businesses.

Photo: Chris Hopkins, courtesy of the Sunday Age

I definitely will not be culture jamming this cause (Dery 2010)…

REFERENCES:

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

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto, London

The Art Assignment 2016, PBS ‘The Art of Complaining – The Guerilla Girls’, PBS Digital Studios [online], viewed 21.4.18, <https://youtu.be/5i5cEhd6Vt8?t=2s>

gem-vs-ba-mcmns-blog

Thank you for this insightful and powerful post.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the TED website this weekend, researching various assignments, and came across this - I thought it might interest you as it’s somewhat relevant to your post :)

https://www.ted.com/talks/siyanda_mohutsiwa_how_young_africans_found_a_voice_on_twitter

Online Feudalism

Online gaming resurrected the feudal systems governance and gameplay in games such as Warcraft, Clash of Clans and Eve where player communities form to battle each other . The Feudal system saw the creation of alliances due to threat of “invasion and the need for skilled soldiers during the ninth and tenth century” in medieval Europe (McGill, 2017). First developed by the Frankish ruler Charles Martel the feudal system was a combination of the Germanic comitatus, where warriors swore fealty to the chieftain and the Roman patron-client relationship, where a weaker person offered service for protection (McGill, 2017). The transition from a feudal system to capitalism and the rise of western world (Wallerstein, 1976) was partly due to the discontent by those at the bottom of feudalism hierarchy and the rise of capitalist trade practices due to entrepreneurial spirit (Wallerstein, 1976). Similarly, the online gaming community have organised within the gaming environment through the creation of forums and have started to dictate what practices and changes they are willing to accept from the company’s that created the game. A good example of this is the Council of Stellar Management a player-elected council created to represent the views of the Eve online players to CCP (the creator of the game) in a “deliberative democracy” (Óskarsson, 2005). Eve online success can be attributed to the fundamental social nature of the game as PCGamer’s Steven Messner points out “In most MMO’s, playing by yourself is pretty easy, but taking that same approach in EVE Online is a shortcut to boredom and self-loathing, nothing will help you grasp the game faster than flying alongside real players” (Messner, 2016).

As in the feudal system when the king tries to raise taxes or dictate laws that benefit one group over another conflict ensues. Similarly, the introduction of vanity items at dramatically increased costs and microtransaction where players can pay a premium to buy advantages in the game (De Zwart, 2014) created immense uproar and discontent. This forced CCP to summon the CSM to the Iceland, headquarters of CCP to help resolve the issue and quell the anger. In addition, this raises the issue of governance. The game is a product that is consumed by the networked public for a subscription fee and governed by consumer laws for conflict resolution between provider and player only (De Zwart, 2014), player to player conflict leads to war between corporations in the game which is part of the game play. These conflicts can and have spilled over into offline world where laws that govern citizen are being applied to the digital citizen. Laws such as harassment, sexual and racial vilification are some of the issue that have attempted to have been enforced (De Zwart, 2014). However, as the game is played cross jurisdiction the implementation of these laws becomes complex even impossible (De Zwart, 2014). Therefore, the world of the MMO will remain a feudal kingdom with the corporations as its ruler..

Bibliography

De Zwart, M. a. H. S., 2014. The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space code is Law Eveonline. Cultural Studies Review, 20(1), pp. 77-99.

McGill, S. A., 2017. The Feudal System. s.l.:Great Neck Publishing.

Messner, S., 2016. How to get into EVE Online, gaming's most savage and rewarding MMO. [Online] Available at: https://www.pcgamer.com/eve-beginners-guide/

Óskarsson, P. J., 2005. Council of Stellar Management. [Online] Available at: https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Council_of_Stellar_Management

Wallerstein, I., 1976. From Feudalism to Capitalism: Transition or Transitions?. Social Forces., Vol. 55 ( Issue 2, ), pp. p273-283. 11p..

Activism

The affordance of social media for social justice issue may be surprising to the creators of the platform as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg protested during the Arab spring “It would be extremely arrogant for any specific technology company to claim credit” (Zuckerberg 2011, cited in Smith 2011). It is unquestionable that social medias affordance was leverage by the digital citizen to communicate to networked publics. The Arab spring may have had its roots in discontentment in the offline citizen however, it was the digital citizen that gave it voice and enable action. For there to be physical action there first must be thought and conversation, that leads to the formulation of ideas and methods. The fact that social media platforms and the internet as a whole is designed for the sharing of ideas and knowledge, makes it the perfect forum for activism. As in the offline world for the ideas to find traction they need to resonate with a core constituent that is outraged enough to peruse and persevere to a conclusion. Unlike the Arab spring which resulted in the overthrow of governments and revolution, the Kony campaign to bring to justice Joseph Kony a Ugandan warlord for war crimes pitted outed. An analysis of the campaign suggested that slacktivism was to blame for the failure of Kony 2012. This is not a fair comparison as the Arab spring was a revolution conducted by those directly affected by the injustice and the Kony 2012 campaign was not. However. With regards to the digital citizen both campaigns were a success as the documentary to highlight the atrocities in Uganda achieved a 100 million view in 6 days and was claimed as the most rapidly spreading video ever (Aguilar, 2012). The Arab spring utilized tweeter and Facebook to coordinate the first ever revolution organized by the digital citizen through networked publics. These case highlight that networked publics have the power to affect change but they must also have the will to pursuer and persevere with the activism to its final conclusion. This is only possible as Kony 2012 highlighted, if the conclusion has a direct impact on the daily lives of the digital citizen.

Bibliography

Aguilar, M., 2012. KONY 2012 Is The 'Most Viral' Video Of All Time. [Online] Available at: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/03/kony-2012-is-the-most-viral-video-of-all-time/

Khalil, J 2017, ‘Change and Continuity in Arab Media’, in M Zayani & S Mirgani (eds), Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings, Oxford University Press, Oxford Scholarship Online-Ebook,viewed 31 March 2018, <http://bit.ly/2JCg6fj>.

Kony 2012, effective or just ‘slacktivism’?” Philadelphia Inquirer [Philadelphia, PA], 14 Mar. 2012. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A282920781/ITOF? u=swinburne1&sid=ITOF&xid=154345f2. Accessed 8 Apr. 2018.

McCafferty D (2011) Activism vs. slacktivism. Communications of

florenciablogs-blog

Show, don’t tell.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why did you share this?

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

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

References

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

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

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

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

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

michaelamarasingham-blog

Hi Flo

I agree that people tend to look at life more from what will look good on social media and how to make themselves fit into that ideal. As picture forms the way we think and process information and sound is the fast way for us to express the result of a thought it is inevitable, the easiest way to communicate a complex idea is with sound and pictures. Platforms such as snap-chat and Instagram’s have capitalized on these human traits to profit from the social capitol generated by our interactions. I think snap chat in particular, has leveraged these trait to their advantage by offering the ephemeral option that allow us to be impetuous without (hopefully) any long lasting damage.

bulletinthebrian

YOU ARE A SLACKER!

Yeah Mr. Strickland (finally I found a way to quote again Back to The Future!) we all are slackers, and all this social networking and technology may be the cause! Since their early days, technology and social media have generated the hope that they might gain an important role in the reinvigoration of democracy, and more broadly, a role in activism, politics and change (Bakarijeva, 2009). Very often, while being on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking platform, we come across NGOs, political party’s pages, or invitations to demonstrations or sensitisation campaigns about this or that. No matter what the cause is, you can easily share it and get people involved, and they all are just a quick click away (McCafferty, 2011). But even though politics and activism are kinda everywhere and omnipresent, and it is so easy to share idea(l)s, compared to 100 years ago, when the biggest revolutions were taking place and they could not use this powerful means we have today called ‘Internet’, is social media really making a difference (McCafferty, 2011)? Is it contributing to change the world for the better? Or are we all just ready to support with a click but not really doing anything else about it (McCafferty, 2011)? The term slacktivism has been created to describe this absurd condition, more and more people live in. Most people are happy to show off that they “””care”””, but are not as happy to actually leave everything and go strike, for example, or go demonstrate, or start a revolution!

A very good example of slacktivism, which I have personally always found irritating, is applying filters to your profile picture on Facebook, to show your friends, and friends of friends, that you actually give a damn. Or is it just because its cool? Do you remember? It was the French flag filter in support of the attack at that club in Paris, a heart with the Union Jack for the Manchester attack, the “Je Suis Charlie” slogan in support of that French magazine or the “We Stand With London” frame following the London attacks.

ATTENTION! I am not saying that these people actually did not care of, or were not sad for, what had happened, but I’m saying that there might be other forms of internet activism we could move on to, that could actually do way better than applying a filter to your profile picture. Donations, for example, which thanks to platforms like PayPal and similar websites, are getting easier and easier to give, and also, pardon my criticism, do not involve any sort of self-advertisement. Just a thought.

References:

McCafferty, D 2011, Activism vs. Slacktivism, Communications of the ACM,Vol. 54, no. 12, viewed 5 May 2018 at <http://dl.acm.org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/citation.cfm?id=2043182>

Bakardjieva, M 2009, ‘Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet’, Information Society, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 91-104 viewed 5 May 2018 at <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=96077bf0-c13b-4dc6-9786-c3ee12dab4ac%40sessionmgr104>

michaelamarasingham-blog

Hi Brian

I agree that we should be more involved and passionate about how we express our outrage on social justice issues. In my life so far as a citizen only one issue got me on the streets to protest and I believe the only reason that happened was it was an issue that my entire family was motivated by. I believe that Digital citizen can affect change by liking, sharing and commenting. It might be early days yet to understand the effectiveness of slacktivism but based on the effectiveness of social media advertising in the last 10 years I think a correlation can be drawn between rise of online marketing and slacktivism. There are a number of studies as well as reports on the decline of offline marketing in favour of on line marketing. The efforts companies go to these days to maintain a positive social image is in a large part due to slacktivism. It has always been understood that good news travels slow but bad news travels fast and I feel the slacktivist show of support is similar to a voice on the street. Having a business background, I think the privet sector have head the message loud and clear and understand the perils of ignoring the slacktivist but the public sector is only just starting to understand the power of slacktivism.

kengalvin-blog

Online gaming and the magic circle

When I think about online gaming I think about escape, I think about how players can be transported and exist in a world where gaming platforms are used to interact and fulfil their wildest fantasies of becoming a Starfleet captain, an outlaw in the wild west or tend to a herd of virtual animals on your own pixelated farm. Massive multiplayer online (MMO) games like as “Farmville” (Zynga 2018), and massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) such as “EVE Online” (Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 77) and the recently released “Wild West Online” (playwwo 2018) afford users the ability to interact with fellow users through networks exploring at times their own sense of self as much as the virtual world created for them.

EVE Online - Titan Kill (Everything EVE 2016)

In MMORPG’s such as EVE players are asked to participate in deceit, fraud, theft, and even murder, acts which go against the rules of society (Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 78), at times MMORPG’s asks participants to go outside the boundaries of acceptability of everyday standard, allowing players to interact in situations outside of the moral codes of real-world scenarios. So how do online players switch hats so to speak, how do they change from being a father, mother or office worker during the day to becoming a ruthless outlaw within online worlds antagonising fellow users?

Become an outlaw in the west (Wild West Online 2016)

Technological advances have allowed users an affordance to explore alter egos and escape reality through social networked interaction but how do users know where the borders and rules of the online world begin and end (Young & Whitty 2010, p. 1230). The magic circle theory developed by Johan Huizinga in 1939’s describes how a playing field is physically marked out “allows for the change of everyday rules and the transformation of acceptable behaviour rules” (Zwart & Humphreys 2014, p. 91), in traditional terms these are the white lines of a football pitch but online gaming networks like EVE are governed by terms and conditions which are designed to enforce the magic circle. However, participating in a game with other real-world users where the narrative explores murder, deceit and provocation the digital lines of the magic circle can become extremely blurred at times.

Racist Trolls Online (Tech Insider 2018)

Gaming Technology affords connection and a majority of players verbal interact through headsets blending their real and gaming environment together. Above is a video narrated by Terrence Miller where he discusses his experiences as a black gamer and the abuse he’s been subjected to online. During the video, Miller talks to Kishonna Grey, a scholar from Arizona State University who discusses the normalisation of racism gamers of colour feel due to ongoing verbal assaults By other users (Tech Insider 2018). Network gaming affords escapism from reality but at times they raise moral questions about how far some players push its pixelated borders. I can only wonder as these online networks expand how far will technology and societies morals be pushed? Although seen as science fiction, Westworld (HBO 2018) which see’s networked cyborg experiences blended with reality have already begun through network gaming platforms.

Westworld (Lousolversons 2018)

Reference List

De Zwart, M & Humphreys, S 2014,’ The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online’, Cultural Studies Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 77-99.

HBO 2018, Westworld, HBO, 28 May 2018, <https://www.hbo.com/westworld>.

Lousolversons 2018, ‘These are all just roles’ [image], tumblr, 28 May 2018, <https://lousolversons.tumblr.com/post/174118225401/you-feel-free-to-command-everyone-else>.

Tech Insider, Racist Trolls Are Still Dominating Video Games, 11 April, viewed 23 May 2018, <https://youtu.be/vPspkEB6l18>.

Wild West Online 2017, Sneak peak on BIG upcoming, 17 May, viewed 27 May 2018, <https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdXL9PdVAAAwxUJ.jpg>.

Wild West Online 2018, Wild West Online, Wild West Online, viewed 26 May 2018, <https://www.playwwo.com>.

Young & Whitty, 2010, ‘An Exploratory Study of Trolling in Online Video Gaming’, International Journal of Cyber Behavior, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 17-33.

thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the insightful blog this week.

I particularly liked your comments on racism being experiences by ethnic users in these online environments. You then mentioned: ‘Network gaming affords escapism from reality but at times they raise moral questions about how far some players push its pixelated borders. I can only wonder as these online networks expand how far will technology and societies morals be pushed?’

This is a hard-hitting question, and truly makes me think about the direction online gaming will take the notion of escapism. Users take for granted the anonymity behind these games, as well as the circumstantial control they have at times they wouldn’t usually have it in real life. Power is a huge concern with these games, from my perspectives, as it gives those who don’t typically feel as though they have it - an unlimited virtually reality based around it. If you think about it, they can live out their wildest dreams and begin to immerse themselves in their own fabricated life.

I do wonder where this will go - and here’s hoping that somehow, somewhere, there will be a progression with online gaming that doesn’t have such attributes attached to it!

michaelamarasingham-blog

Hi Ken, I feel the current environment of networked public is comparable to the wild west” where the absence of strict enforcement of law and order give rise to a disregard to social norms and accepted behavior. The adage “All is fair in love and war” is certainly applicable in the world of online gaming as wining by any means is reward. The use of psychological warfare to throw off-your opponent has been a tactic used in conflict and competition. However, in the physical world as we have moved away from large scale warfare like that of the conflicts of world war two in 1940’s, the acceptance of this type of behavior began to be governed by political correctness. The emotions that drove this behavior I believe is still apparent in human society and is prevalent in online gaming more broadly in the digital realm. Being a person of color I don’t understand how white people can just hate any one that does not look like them, that the behavior is learned one and could be as easily unlearned, considering it is taking place on the internet (the single greatest source of knowledge in human history) is a conundrum.

Audience of One

Early cave paintings in the prehistory of human evolution suggest complex cognitive evolution necessary for the formation of human social interaction (Mithen, 1996). The high level of planning, preparation and time required to accomplish these painting imply a complex interconnectedness between individuals and community (GRAY, 2010). “The 'pedagogy' hypothesis” theorizes that human learning and teaching is an innate human function that is intrinsically linked to our sociality (Gergely, 2006). The obvious goal for the creation of these paintings apart from depicting the artist perception of their environment was to communicate, educate and entertain an audience. Paintings found in deep caves in western Europe suggest they were possibly created during the winter months (GRAY, 2010). It is possible to propose during winter the artist spent more time in shelter and based on lighting conditions the paintings may have been used as part of storytelling and teaching. This form of community interaction created affinity between the artist and audience. At a time when a key human social affinity was achieved by providing women with meat and the most successful hunter had the highest reproductive rate (Mithen, 1996). It is then possible to draw parallels between early social interaction and modern social interaction the desire to impress (be noticed in the community) is a fundamental instinct for survival and quality of life.

Social media platforms are now the modern cave wall that distinguish us as human beings and our innate pedagogic nature for all manner of subjects is enabled in a way never before possible in human evolution to this point. The use of videos of affinity, in particular, stem from a desire to inform and educate with underlying intent to “capture attention in a competitive mediated field” (Lange, 2009). It is possible to infer that the dominance of the human species is linked to evolutionary cognition (Mithen, 1996) and corporation. Cooperation, in particular, requires a high degree of managed social interaction and complex communications and processing of information to determine the next action as a function (R Axelrod, 1981). The use of the complex form of communication is clearly illustrated in Lange and Patricia G in their analysis of the Youtube videos. "I'm Not Dead;' a roughly five-minute video which was posted on March 2, 2008” and "Just an update guys" posted on April 4, 2008 (Lange, 2009). Lange and Patricia G point out the use of these videos to reach multiple types of audiences. Like with the painting on the cave the creator is attempting to educate entertain and inform. In the case of the women in the “I am not dead” she informs her audience about her current as well as past experience and inviting affinity by detailing her intentions for the future. Similarly, in the video “Just an updated guy” the presenter attempts to garner affinity by entertaining, singing parts of a song and informing his audience of his current predicament with computer issue, ending with and attempt to coerce cooperation for a future event. To participate successfully in complex human social interaction is an innate desire and is the foundation of our success as a species. It is possible to conclude that this innate desire is the force that drives innovation and social media platform is only the modern canvas for us to fulfill this most primal of human functions.

Bibliography

Gergely, G. C. G., 2006. Social learning and social cognition: The case for pedagogy, Oxford : Oxford University Press,.

GRAY, M. P., 2010. CAVE ART AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN MIND, Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington.

Lange, P. G., 2009. Videos of affinity on Youtube. In: The Youtube Reader. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden, pp. 70-88.

Mithen, S., 1996. The Early prehistoy of humnan social behaviour Issues of Archaeoloigcal inferenc and cognitavei evolution, Reading: The British Academy.

R Axelrod, W. H., 1981. The evolution of cooperation. Science , 27 March, pp. 1390-1396.

@QPSMedia

John Howe coined the term “Crowdsourcing” in his article in Wired magazine in 2006 to define the phenomenon of outsourcing by companies for all manner of tasks taking place on the internet (Rouse, 2010, p. 1). In an attempt to reduce wages costs, companies were leveraging the networked publics to benefit their profitability, “it doesn't matter where the labourers are - they might be down the block, they might be in Indonesia - as long as they are connected to the network” (Rouse, 2010, p. 2). As you would expect, this form of crowdsourcing has its advocates and detractors depending on if they are the employee or employer.

As the term “crowdsourcing” has now been used to label all activities on the internet which encourage networked public participation, to achieve an aim, crowdsourcing in times of crisis has proven to be extremely beneficial to the digital citizen. The development of the Ushahidi platform in response to Ory Okolloh’s plea for her blog followers to document the violence following the 2007 Kenyan general election (Ford, 2012, p. 34), resulted in the creation of a platform where user data was employed to geographically map incidents. The benefits of this type of crowdsourcing became demonstratively clear with the use of the #qldfloods and @QPSMedia during the 2011 Queensland floods (Axel Bruns, 2011). In particular, the use of @QPSMedia by the

Queensland Police Service Media Unit highlighted the ability for target response and information affordance of the Twitter platform in realtime.“The Queensland Police Service was able to ‘cut through’ effectively: to reach its immediate audience as well as be passed along and thus amplified many times over, with the help of other Twitter users acting as further information disseminators, especially at the height of the crisis” (Axel Bruns, 2011). The finding of the report recommended in conclusion that all emergency agencies should seek to employ coordinated media units for agency and interagency communication for times of crisis (Axel Bruns, 2011, p. 9).

The affordance that networked publics in times of crisis offer to employ crowdsourcing as a form of information coordination and distribution for the benefit of the wider society is apparent however as all affordance the technology is vulnerable to misuse. I feel it is incumbent on governments to ensure that these affordances are regulated with penalties for misuse. It is possible to infer that the success of the @QPSMedia account is in part to the originating agency as participants would have taken extra care to verify information before posting to this account.

Bibliography

Axel Bruns, J. B. K. C. a. F. S., 2011. #qldfloods and @QPSMedia:Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Brisbane: ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, 2012..

Ford, H., 2012. CROWD WISDOM, s.l.: s.n.

Rouse, A. C., 2010. A Preliminary Taxonomy of Crowdsourcing, Brisbane: 21st Australasian Conference on Information Systems.

Indoctrination by social media

Dana Boyd concludes in her study of “is social media amplifying meanness and cruelty? “Social media has not radically altered the dynamics of bullying, but it has made these dynamics more visible to more people.” (Boyd, 2015). In the aftermath 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign the use of social media by alt right supports question this assertion. In a special report by CNN Spreading hate: The dark side of the web. (Spreading Hate: The Dark Side of the Internet, 2018). The reports highlight the use of social media by white nationalist to organize a coordinated trolling and bullying campaign against Tanya Gersh and Pizzagate spread by Alex Jones (Spreading Hate: The Dark Side of the Internet, 2018).The campaign against Tanya Gersh began due to blog post by Sherry Spencer mother of Rischard Spencer (who found fame by his infamous hail trump speech) ('Hail Trump!': Richard Spencer Speech Excerpts, 2016) “accusing Gersh of threatening her and trying to extort her” (Jarvie, 2017). Andrew Anglin owner of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer after reading the blog post researched Gersh and finding out she was Jewish organized his followers and subscriber to coordinate a campaign of hate on Mrs Gersh.

Edgar Maddison a father of 2 daughters is currently serving 4 years in prison for caring a firearm across stateliness and Assault (Spreading Hate: The Dark Side of the Internet, 2018). Maddison after watching a false report by Andrew Anglin accusing Hilary Clinton of running a child sex ring from Ping Pong pizza in Washington decide to go and rescue the children. In a video recording Maddison made for his two-young daughter as a final farewell, he states he is reason for attacking Ping Pong Pizza was he was doing it for them (Spreading Hate: The Dark Side of the Internet, 2018). The misinformation propagated by Anglin and spread through the insular networked public of the alt right social media resulted in the Maddison’s incarceration. If Bullying is defined as those in place of power subjecting someone to repeated psychological, physical or social aggression (Boyd, 2015), in the case of tanya Gersh and Edgar Maddison social media was central to the grooming organizing and implementation of the repeat psychological, physical and social aggression, resulting in the case of Gersh as a law suit against Andrew Anglin, and Maddison incarceration. In the case of Gersh there is a clear link between aggressor and victim. However, in the case of Maddison it is not so unequivocal. I believe Maddison’s case can be classed as psychological indoctrination a far more insidious form of bullying being shared and liked ubiquitously on all social media platforms today.

Bibliography

Boyd, D., 2015. Bullying : is social media amplifying meanness. In: It's complicated : the social lives of networked. s.l.:Yale University Press, pp. 128-152.

'Hail Trump!': Richard Spencer Speech Excerpts. 2016. [Film] Directed by Richard Spencer. s.l.: s.n.

Jarvie, J. K. a. J., 2017. Neo-Nazi website unleashed Internet trolls against a Jewish woman, lawsuit says. [Online] Available at: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-neonazi-website-lawsuit-20170418-story.html

Spreading Hate: The Dark Side of the Internet. 2018. [Film] Directed by Kyra Phillips. USA: CNN.

#tanya gersh

Consequences of Citizenship

The term “citizenship” is defined by the Australian government as a set of rules and responsibilities. “The privileges, freedoms and benefits of living in Australia are balanced by responsibilities. All Australians are responsible for respecting and protecting our country and ensuring that our commitment to a decent society embraces all Australians” (Australian Goverment, n.d.).

Core Australian values include:

· Constitutional government;

· respect for the freedom and dignity of the individual;

· freedom of speech and religion;

· commitment to the rule of law and allegiance to Australia;

· parliamentary democracy;

· a spirit of egalitarianism that embraces mutual respect, tolerance, fair play; compassion for those in need and pursuit of the public good; and equal rights before the law and equality of opportunity for all.

(Australian Goverment, n.d.)

The above rules and responsibilities are enforced and protected by institutions that govern our physical reality. Should not digital citizenship of our virtual reality also offer the same protection with equally robust intuition and consequence for crimes? Currently the office of Esafety Commissions responses to any complaints is to serve a takedown notice to the social media site which takes 48hrs to 12 months to respond, apart from serious crimes such as terrorism and child sexual material which is part of the portfolio but is also actively policed by the Australian police force.

The inability of law makers to understand the consequences of networked public, has resulted in the exploitation of these networks by the unscrupulous like Mark Zuckerberg. To an individual of Zuckerberg’s intellect, it would have become obvious the power of networked publics with his first iteration of social media Facemash in 2003. A site designed for “pranking”. Harvard’s student newspaper, the Crimson, reported that Zuckerberg was accused of “breaching security, violating copyrights and violating individual privacy by creating the website, www.facemash.com, The charges were based on a complaint from the computer services department over his unauthorized use of on-line Facebook photographs” (Kaplan, 2003 ). On the 11th of April 2018 on Capitol hill Zuckerberg faced the same accusations from law makers about the unauthorised use of Facebook user data. On the 2nd of May 2018 Mark launched the Facebook dating app, saying that there were two hundred and fifty million Facebook users with ‘single’ as part of their profiles so it was the only logical next step for Facebook (Lam, 2018). It seems that we are so addicted to Facebook we don’t seem to care what Zuckerberg does with all our private information.

If our use of social media is “Communicative capitalism” (Dean, 2013) then our Digital citizenship in the virtual world is begin exploited and abused and is in desperate need of governance. The digital divide (Caruso, 2014) and the fact that the crimes committed online may not seem to have offline implications may be part of the reasons that lawmakers struggle equating the offline and the online. The current system of Self-regulation by internet companies is like asking the bank robber to guard the bank. In addition, like in the physical world, laws that govern our behaviour and interactions with each other need to apply in the virtual world too. All forms of harassment and criminal behaviour need to have equal punishment no matter the sphere the crime is committed in.

I believe there should be no distinction between online and offline communities. If the origins of social media (facemash) had its roots in a site designed to vilify and degrade individuals for the amusement of few, and bullying is defined as victimization of another from a position power (Boyd, 2015). It could be argued that Facebook was designed by a bully to feed the worst impulses of our nature and Mark Zuckerberg has no empathy for the victims of bullies and has understood all along the affordance of his platforms to enable these behaviours. The fact that Zuckerberg distanced his product from the affordance that have been beneficial to communities like the use of Facebook for the Arab Spring revolution further reinforces this idea.

It is possible that majority of teenagers may not be hurt by pranks and drama on their social media feeds (Boyd, 2015) and to many the use of social media to act out, relive boredom, or seek celebrity may seem a harmless pursuit. It is however the unforeseen consequences that need to be more strictly regulated to give pause to an individual to consider all possible consequences before acting. We need to hold people to account for the adverse consequence of their action. The penalty for graphite in the real world is $38000 fine or Two years in prison in Victoria (Department of Justice and Regulation, 2007). The penalty for a cyberbully is to “compel a perpetrator to take serious cyberbullying down and apologise to the target (Julie Inman Grant, 2018)

The responsibility of all citizen of Australia is to defend our values and community and live by the rule of law. Shouldn’t citizens of the digital community be required to do the same if we see any form of victimization or vilification? Should we not call it out or report it? Should not governments have in all institutions that govern and protect our democracy, have equally competent offline and online service? Shouldn’t “a spirit of egalitarianism that embraces mutual respect, tolerance, fair play, compassion for those in need and pursuit of the public good” that apply in the offline world apply in the online too? Should not corporations be held liable for the application and affordance of their product they offer in the online world as they are in offline world?

Bibliography

Australian Goverment, n.d. Homeaffairs. [Online] Available at: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Citizenship/Documents/your-right-your-responsibility-citizenship.pdf

Boyd, D., 2015. Bullying : is social media amplifying meanness. In: It's complicated : the social lives of networked. s.l.:Yale University Press, pp. 128-152.

Caruso, S., 2014. NTRODUCTION What Is Digital Inclusion, and Why Does It Matter?. In: Creating Digital Communities : A Resource to Digital Inclusion. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc,.

Dean, P. J., 2013. Crisis, Creative Destruction and the Afforfance of Digital moment and Social Media. New York, IAMCR 2013 Plenary No 3.

Horton, A., 2018. The Washington Post. [Online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/11/channeling-the-social-network-lawmaker-grills-zuckerberg-on-his-notorious-beginnings/?utm_term=.640e5bfdd704

Kaplan, K. A., 2003 . Facemash Creator Survives Ad Board. [Online] Available at: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/19/facemash-creator-survives-ad-board-the/

Lam, S., 2018. Facebook dating: Tinder shares crash after Mark Zuckerberg announces service for singles. [Online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-02/facebook-to-offer-dating-service-zuckerberg-says/9717956

Prince Harry interviews Barack Obama for BBC Radio 4 [27/12/2017]

. "One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases,"

florenciablogs-blog

"Trust, but verify"

In this time of Communicative Capitalism (Dean 2013) we possess the civic responsibility of elections but the networks in which they are advertised to the voter have starkly changed. The mass segment of energized young voters now desire more from their candidate. They demand a constant and intimate relationship with their politician- the forging of a bond.

This transition towards further accountability, categorized by Dean as a change in the form of utterances, means our messages are now contributions. Using platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat we can follow the individual in their daily tasks in order to have further insight on their policies and beliefs. This provides a personalised connection and cements the journey between candidate and constituent. Previously, this could only be accomplished through door knocking and the sending of physical letters. Sites now provide the means on which any politician is accessible through Twitter replies, Facebook comments, live feeds and YouTube comments. A clear advantage of this evolution is the transparency it’s created, ensuring the true nature of the individual is seen (sooner or later). The immediacy that characterises these networks make rehearsed speech a seemingly impossible task.

Contrarily, this stark exposure makes the candidate a target. The candidate creates an ego identity, prompting themselves to what a politician ‘should’ be based on voter ideals and advisor recommendations.

As citizens we must understand that our digital footprint directly affects the function of the algorithm. Basically, every search on google, like on Facebook or follow on Instagram means your actions are saved within metadata which paves the way for how information is then provided to you. Your searches on Google will then be a reflection of what you have previously searched or links you have clicked on. Facebook will recommend pages or friends who align to your beliefs or interests. This distortion of reality also presents a huge fundamental issue in politics. Traditional platforms like Newspapers or televised News has shown an array of opinions which one could not ‘filter’.

“Following audience preferences may sound democratic but it has some worrying implications. In particular, it can become a reinforcing, - rather than a challenging – of popular prejudices” (Young 2010).

Although some traditional channels or editorials could be swayed to a certain extent they could not be ignored. Today “time spent on online sites is only about 70 seconds per day, compared to 25 minutes spent reading a print edition” (Young 2010).

The immediacy of digital news has also become a problematic for the fact checking component of journalism. Information is so quickly released and replicated by thousands of aggregators (Young 2010) that many can propel erroneous claims or figures.

A single article can be a detrimental trigger to the reputation of an upcoming candidate or erode that of a recognized politician. The anonymity of the web has also birthed citizen journalists or produsers, those who consume and create content.

Similar to a live social experiment this will, as the years pass, differentiate the contenders from the true leaders. Nonetheless, it will be our obligation as citizens to demand journalistic integrity and fact checking to ensure the decisions we make are based on accurate evidence.

References:

Anon, (n.d.), Obama warns teens of perils of Facebook, [online] Available at: <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-facebook/obama-warns-teens-of-perils-of-facebook-idUSTRE58762P20090908>

Cain Miller, C (2008) How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics, [online] Bits Blog, Available at: https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2018]

CSPAN (2009), President Obama and Secretary Duncan Discussion with Students, [video] Available at: https://www.c-span.org/video/?288771-1/president-obama-secretary-duncan-discussion-students&start=378 [Accessed 13 Apr. 2018]

DCU School of Communication 2013, IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 - Jodi Dean, 3 July, viewed 9 April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ABPuNQ6IU>

MIT Technology Review Editors (2017), A report card on @POTUS’s record on technology, [online] MIT Technology Review, Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603316/obamas-technology-legacy/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2018]

Pickard, J, (2016), When politics and social media collide. [online] Ft.com. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/27a7d6c8-702f-11e6-a0c9-1365ce54b926 [Accessed 13 Apr. 2018]

Young, S 2010, ‘News, political reporting and the internet’, in How Australia Decides, Cambridge University Press, Victoria, Australia

Image References:

Berry, P, Comment un roman français prisé du FN a influencé Steve Bannon, le conseiller de Trump. [online] Available at: https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/2025935-20170307-comment-roman-francais-prise-fn-influence-conseiller-donald-trump-steve-bannon

Schluman, K, (2017),The Obama Administration Digital Transition: Moving Forward. [online] Available at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2017/01/17/obama-administration-digital-transition-moving-forward

michaelamarasingham-blog

In the recent investigation of the Cambridge analytical issue as it pertains to Facebooks complicity. The recent senate questioning of Mark Zuckerberg it highlighted the lack of technological literacy of elected officials. The question by Senator Hatch “if you don’t charge uses for your service how do you sustain a successful business model” seems to undermine the investigation and the politicians grasp of why Zuckerberg was sitting in front of him in the first place. This technological illiteracy is symptomatic of the 55+ generation and highlights the Digital divide that is not only present in socioeconomic sector but also in the generation gap.

Barak Obama was one of the first candidates to harness the power of social media followed by Kevin Rudd who was one of the first Australian politicians to engage with constituents on social media. The use of twitter by Donald Trump is featured on the daily news cycle in American media. However, the danger is these unqualified tweets divide the digital community rather than inform and educate. The misuse of digital networks with false biased tweets by policy makers has the potential to destroy democracy rather than safeguard it. As Barrack Obama warned we must safe guard ourselves form being consumed by the information cocoon. "One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases," (Kharpal, 2017). I feel in the Digital world both politicians and public's need to be weary that in trying to find a point of difference they don’t create an information cocoon. The idea of the internet was to connect all people under the umbrella of knowledge, This however is only possible if people are willing to accept, truth over falsehoods, facts over fiction.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

MDA20009 Learning Group 01