My Digital World

A blog to discuss my Digital Communities module topics

[melgallimore-blog]

Week TEN

I am not gamer; I have never been good at it and have never tried hard enough. That is not to say I am completely naïve, my brother played games and my boyfriend does. What is interesting to me is the time dedicated to gaming.  

Gaming and its virtual worlds have become the entertainment industry’s highest earning division. (Chatfield, 2009).  Advancements in technology have developed what used to be pixelated standard games into cinematic adventures, where the graphics are so real; it feels like the player is controlling life.

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2, was one of the largest earning films in box office history, earning $169 million, in box office sales its first weekend. Black Op’s the highly anticipated battle game earned $650 million in its first five days (Cross, 2011).

The entertainment industry is used as a form of escape for society. Being able to relax and enjoy a world that is different to your own is a luxury. Gamers enter a new world with its own governing body; which set out rules by which players abide (Suzor & Woodford, 2013). Take for example the case study EVE online, where $300,000 worth of game time was lost due to a virtual battle (Thornhill, 2014). Irrelevant of the cause, what is most interesting to me is the amount of time spent on the game to fix the mistake. 4000 gamers took part in the online battle that day to regain what was lost in mere moments (Thornhill, 2014). This displays the loyalty players have to a game, and length by which they are willing to go to, to protect their work.

What does this mean for individuals though?

Everywhere we look games are advertised. We see them on social media through examples such as Farmville; we have apps such as the hugely popular Candy Crush.  The below image may look familiar to some…it displays the all too common antisocial behaviour resulting from our attachment to digital technology.

Figure 1: Mobile gaming, Skillz, 2013

This attachment draws us back to a particular point which has been noted in every posts discussion – the blurring of online and offline. Thornhill further discusses how games are valued; which it through the time and skill of the player (Thornhill, 2014). This is perhaps why I have never been interested. I have never dedicated enough time to games to truly see the value.

It goes to show that times and society are changing. Kids no longer have to play sport outside because it is their only option. Instead they are able to enter an alternate reality and become something/someone different – their alter ego perhaps.

[commonalitycommunity-blog]

I like your comment about antisocial behaviour. Its an interesting one - one on hand we are all playing ‘social’ games on our laptops or mobile phones and yet we are being ‘antisocial’ for not talking to each other on the bus!

I remember being younger and my father complaining that I was on my laptop too much and that I should go over to a friends house instead, I remember trying to explain to him that I was TALKING to that friend online on my computer, a challenging concept - are we really ‘hanging out’? Are kids really ‘playing’ these days? Maybe we could all do with some fresh air in a park once in a while..

[mindmymarketing-blog]

Great post melgallimore. I like the blurring of the online and offline statement.

I’d like to add that after researching this subject, I’m not as apprehensive as I was about my teen playing online. My son doesnt play outside as much as I did back in the 80s, but I can rest easy in the fact that he’s; where I can see him, I can constantly check his online activities, we have good communication and he’s online chatting and playing with this school friends whom I know. Apparently online gaming and chatting is the medium for males to build stronger connections with their friends. And it’s where they do the most talking. Unbelievable! :-)

[my-digital-world-blog]

I also am a non-gamer and also can’t believe how long is spent gaming. One report I read said an average of 88 minutes a day. but I am sure there are many, likely husband who can spend hours. 

[thisisclarewright-deactivated20]

Crowdsourcing Power

Blog # 6

Week 8

The good, the bad, the ugly, we all have our opinions on Social Media. The way it has filtered into our lives and revolutionized the way we connect with each other in our personal and business lives, but what about the use social media in global scale disasters? By posting photos, comments and hashtags we rapidly spread information globally for disaster relief via social media sites. This is the crowdsourcing power of open social media platforms.  

The main advantage of crowdsourcing is the immediacy in which disaster status reports and emergency information can be dispersed compared to more traditional methods. The use of social media platforms provides the opportunity for status reports to be communicated urgently to relief organisations and the public (Gao, Barbier, Goolsby 2011 p. 11).

Crowdsourcing tools collect data by creating hashtags. Hashtags are a user-generated tool for marking a message with a specific topic or theme. As an example, the twitter hashtag #qldfloods was created in 2011 for the Queensland flood crisis. By using a hashtag tool we are able to coordinate user activity on social media platforms (Bruns, Burgess, Crawford & Shaw 2012 p.7).

Social media platforms, in particular Twitter, have proven to be a main source of news and media information. In the Queensland flood crisis first hand images were posted and shared in a context that is referred to as “citizen journalism” (Bruns, Burgess, Crawford & Shaw 2012 p.34). Citizen journalism, like all social media post ranges from the informative to the boring, but gives the public a true, first hand sense of the scale of the disaster in real time.

The platform Ushahidi was created specifically for crowdsourcing power.  Ushahidi enables anyone to create their own mapping website for events in which public can post reports to. This means that even in remote locations, with the use of Ushahidi, we can use crowdsourcing power to organise events and citizen contribution reporting in global disasters (Ford 2012).

Crowdsourcing has proven to report information and advice quickly in crisis situations, often developed with very little prior planning from authorities. This platform provides scope for up-to-date information and coordination of emergency management of global disaster procedures.

References

Bruns, A, Burgess, J, Crawford, K & Shaw, F 2012, #qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Arc Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, pp 7-10, viewed 17 September 2015, <http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>.

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

Huiji Gao, Geoffrey Barbier, Rebecca Goolsby 2011,“Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief,” IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 10-14, viewed 11 January 2016 < http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>.

[commonalitycommunity-blog]

Your comment about the speed and immediacy of crowdsourcing is one I wanted to comment on myself - strong point! I’ve most certainly googled a date followed by the word ‘Twitter’ knowing I would get the most up to date news about the matter, such a great tool!

[mindmymarketing-blog]

Hi thisisclarewright. Some feedback for you: You could make it more visually appealing by adding some images. It’s a nice way to break up the text. 

I’m a hashtag girl myself. The hashtag feature rates really high in Google search in the right mediums. Thanks for your post :-)

[my-digital-world-blog]

In the 2011 floods in Qld I can vouch for the effectiveness of citizen journalism. My husband loves an unfolding drama like this and he was searching Youtube for the latest footage. I think it’s like a trophy to be the first friend to share some new footage on Facebook. He would argue it was all in the name of staying safe, though other than the leaking roof in our house, I don’t we were ever in danger. 

[elliotconte-blog]

Week 5:

This week’s blog is on politics, which unfortunately I am not very knowledgeable and interested in, however I do like to keep up to date with various news happening around the world. I tend to only tune into politics when bad stuff in the world goes on.

Politics within social media has become a bit part of how people get their sources of information today. What I do is I ‘like’ various news pages on Facebook and they post articles of updating news from their website. This is the way I access news, I don’t watch the news at 6-7pm, I just scroll my Facebook newsfeed and let the news find me.

I studied abroad in America last year when the Sydney Lint terrorist attack went off; and the only news I heard about it was from my Facebook news feed, none of the television news stations aired any news outside of America.

Another reason why social media is now such a good tool to source news is to target a younger demographic. Think of it this way, when I was younger and didn’t have Facebook or media was not sourced there I had no idea about the news, I was never going to watch the news at 6pm. But, when interesting stories come up and other countries and new inventions are coming out its wash more interesting then the weather and sports updates at 6pm.

After understanding Young’s reading ‘News, political reporting and the internet’ I have thought about online voting and how it could work successfully. The world is rapidly digitalizing so I wouldn’t be surprised if this did begin. A lot of political campaigns are turning to the internet for marketing advantages; having various advertisements to enhance the popularity of the campaign.

References:

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

[mindmymarketing-blog]

Nice post elliotconte. I also have no interest and little time for politics. I guess it’s not in my control so I devote myself to things that are in my control. On that note, I like your mention that you only learned of the Lint attack via your Facebook page. Thank goodness for digital communities and technology that we’re kept in the know about things outside of media control :-)

[my-digital-world-blog]

I have to agreers news watching. It really is just glamorised reporting, there’s not much truth involved. When 9/11 happened I never had a TV but I can tell you I knew all about what had occurred and there was no social media back then! If it’s interesting enough or relevant to our local area I think we will hear about it. 

[aleksnajd-blog]

Week 6: Digital citizenship 2 - Activism and protest.

What is Digital Citizenship? Digital citizenship is used to refer 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, 2008, p. 1). It helps technology leaders, teachers and parents to understand what children/students/technology users should know how to use technology in the appropriate way. It is more than just a teaching tool, it was a way to prepare users for a society full of technology (Mike Ribble, 2015).

The cyber activists who want to shut down ISIS:

In August 2014, a Twitter account that was affiliated with the hacker group Anonymous, declared a full scale cyber war against ISIS. Anonymous will do its part in combating ISIS’s influence in social media and shut them down (Simon Cottee, 2015).

Anonymous is believed to be setting up protest in a number of major cities across the globe for masked members to show unity against the Islamic State.

When the terrorist attacks happened in Paris, a group that were associated with the hackers’ known as Anonymous had announced #OpParis, a social media campaign against ISIS (Brian Mastroianni, 2015).

“This is only the beginning, ISIS. We will hunt you, take down your sites, accounts, emails and expose you … You will be treated like a virus and we are the cure,” stated a masked activist in a video posted on YouTube. “We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. ISIS, it is too late to expect us” (Brian Mastroianni, 2015).

While French, Russia and the United States bombers are targeting Islamic Sate areas from the sky, Anonymous are making their own devastating campaign against the terrorist origination. They are using computer codes rather than a high-powered weapons and say that the hacktivist group has built tools that might be a better approach than the world governments tool to combat ISIS (The Daily Sheeple, 2015).

In a YouTube video by Anonymous, the group had said: “More than 20,000 Twitter account belonging to ISIS were taken down by Anonymous.” They have provided a whole list of accounts that have been taken down (The Daily Sheeple, 2015). But answer this, how effective has the web-based operation really been counteracting the terrorist group effective reach?  

References:

Mike Ribble, 2015, Digital citizenship, using technology appropriately, Retrieved 8 December, 2015, from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/

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

Simon Cottee, October 8th 2015, Can Cyber Activists Chase ISIS off Twitter? [Weblog], Retrieved 8 December 2015, from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/anonymous-activists-isis-twitter/409312/

Brian Mastroianni, November 24th 2015, Anonymous vs ISIS: Who has the upper hand in social media war? [Weblog], Retrieved 8 December 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anonymous-vs-isis-social-media-war/

The Daily Sheeple, 2015, YOU’RE A VIRUS, WE’RE THE CURE’: ANONYMOUS TAKES DOWN 20,000 ISIS TWITTER ACCOUNTS. [Weblog]. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from http://www.thedailysheeple.com/youre-a-virus-were-the-cure-anonymous-takes-down-20000-isis-twitter-accounts_112015

Anonymous protest: http://blogs.ft.com/photo-diary/files/2013/11/anonymous.jpg

Keep calm: http://data.whicdn.com/images/64595778/large.png

[mindmymarketing-blog]

Nice post aleksnajd. I follow the activist groups on social media, myself. A pity that some posts by these groups are just randomly shared, and not always checked for facts. I feel they waste my time in reading all the hype comments debating on what is and isn’t true. I think activists should be active in confirming the truth from the lies. It’s the reason I’ll take time out in my busy schedule to hear what they have to say :-)

[my-digital-world-blog]

Really good post, lots of interesting information presented in a non-biased tone.  Thank you, an enjoyable read. I think we will see more of this type of activism in the future regarding terrorist groups. 

[mysocialmediafan-deactivated201]

Week 7: Digital Citizenship 3: Trolling and social media conflict

This week we learn about Trolling and social media.  Trolling really means the peer to peer abuse or bullying forms of harassment or stalking.

In this weeks readings i especially found the article by Danah Boyd interesting as the different people interviewed had different perspectives of the word “bullying” for example some teens didn’t think spreading gossip and rumors or pranking other students. She also makes a good point that social media has complicated the dynamics of social sharing and gossip as it provides a larger audience for information to be spread

As the picture above states trollers gonna troll, however do we accept it and what is the government doing about it?.

In 2014 Charlotte Dawson took her own life after a series of hate posts, however it is to be noted that this was only a contributing factor as Charlotte had other mental issues.  Her situation started a petition called #Charlotte Law

In Australia cyber bullying laws have been in effect since 2014.  The scheme is a 2 step monitoring system for social media giants like Facebook and Twitter.  The scheme allows for companies to voluntary address cyber bullying, but if they don’t they will face civil penalties. The new laws will create an e-Safety Commission that will be empowered to ensure that cyber bullies take down harmful posts or face court and police penalties.

The problem with this however it is complaint based, and that the action can only be taken after the harm has occurred. Second it can take a while before the post can be taken down. Third the law is inadequate and therefore the sanctions are inadequate.While these laws may be imperfect it is still the best option.  There are other criminal laws in place for other online abuse for example section 474.17 of the criminal code act 1995 makes it an offense to use a carriage service (such as the internet, email, social media) in a way that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing, harassing or offensive.

While the above is good first step we need to do more as we are way behind the laws of the UK & US

[adamdigital-blog]

Trollers are gonna troll! I spend way to much time on games myself and there is literally nothing you can do to stop them. Just can’t give in! Good work!

[digicomk-blog]

Great blog about trollers. I see it more and more these days just reading the comment section on Facebook posts and Instagram pictures of more famous people. It’s sad that people say the things they do and think it doesn’t have an effect on others. I’ve heard of people actively engaging in arguments and causing hurt to others. Sad. 

[my-digital-world-blog]

I really like Danah Boyd’s commentaries on this topic and have to agree with her about some students truly believing they are not bullying. But trolls like those who pursued Charlotte Dawson, they have to know that their behaviour is totally out of line. I follow a fashion blogger who I know personally to be a  really lovely person, she had a really bad experience with a troll. Her ‘community’ helped and encouraged her through the rough patch she had. Today she is one of Australia’s leading fashion bloggers and I bet she doesn’t let mere trolls rock her confidence. 

[tanyasdigitalcommsblog-blog]

#4 (wk 6) Activism online: a platform for change.

Image: ‘birds on wire picture holder’ licensed under creative commons 

Digital Citizenship and the online activist…

“Information technologies have become indispensable to reformers, revolutionaries, and contemporary democracy movements. They serve as venues for the shared expression of dissent, dissemination of information, and collective action.” (Youmans & York  2012)

Digital citizenship refers to how we engage with other members of society online; particularly the ways in which we can be involved in political processes and issues which affect our social communities.

By re-posting, commenting or even just ‘liking’ social media posts we are on some level engaging with others; sharing information, being inspired or seeking to inspire. 

Whilst social media platforms have made it easier for activists and social justice advocates to raise awareness on issues and to develop protest campaigns, it is also important to remember that the same technology is available to everyone “ reformers, revolutionaries and authoritarian regimes” (Youmans & York 2012 p.315).  

Does Activism and Advocacy have to involve confrontation?

“The times they are a-changing.” - Bob Dylan

There have been many life-changing protest marches and acts of activism in our history, online activism is in many ways less confrontational than taking to the streets.  However, the battle is same although online activist do not necessarily find themselves in physically threatening situations, learning to control and confront dominant views and power structures on social media remains a crucial part of activism.

Activism is about power and opposition and whilst social media platforms provide a cost effective avenue for reaching the masses, the opposition is often well prepared (Community Tool Box 2015). 

Advocacy and activism do not always involve conflict or confrontation, it is about instigating change and sometimes that change is a slow journey to shift people’s attitudes and mindsets. For consumer organisations change can take effect as simply as having people refuse to buy their products.

Does advocating online actually inform change?

“Sub-activism has to be recognised as an important dimension of democracy grounded in individuals…” (Bakardjieva 2009 p.103)

Social Justice advocates will tell you that the results of campaigning on social media are often a mile wide and only an inch deep. In other words, social media is great for spreading awareness but this doesn’t always result in action.

It seems that the participatory nature of the internet is what drives citizens to become involved rather than the issues at heart (Christensen, 2012) and in online activism there is a huge gap between drawing people’s attention to issues and generating action.

Organisations such as Change.org (2016) can be important for activists, providing information, support from like-minded people and finding allies and the people-power to boost campaigns.

References AZ Quotes 2014, Bob Dylan quotes political, viewed 12 December 2015, <http://www.azquotes.com/quote/797897>.

Bakardjieva, M 2009, ‘Subactivism: Lifeworld and Politics in the Age of the Internet’, Information Society, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 91-104.

Christensen, H 2012, Simply Slacktivism?, ResearchGate: Journal of Democracy, viewed 30 December <http://www.reasearcgate.net/profile/Henrik_Christensen4/publication/261638212_Simply_slacktivism_Internet_participation_in_finland/links/00b7d534e7b9cc0d6f000000.pdf>

Community Tool Box 2015, “Section 1. Overview: Getting an Advocacy Campaign Off the Ground”, cbt.ku.edu, viewed 12 Dec 2015 <http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main>

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.

Image Source 

‘birds on wire picture holder’ <gadgetsandgear.com> licensed under creative commons 

[digicomk-blog]

I think that huge gap between drawing people’s attention to issues and generating action is partly due to the fact that people think their one signature, or share can’t do much to create change, and that is where I think people underestimate the power of creating awareness. Even if just one more person shares the message, it creates a domino effect. 

[my-digital-world-blog]

I love that line “results of campaigning on social media are often a mile wide and only an inch deep.” It’s so true, people jump on the band wagon but never follow through with the action which eventuates in change. Some might say that’s because the forms of activism launched on social media also tend to have shallow roots, hence results only an inch deep. Great blog, thank you. 

[studentmedia-blog]

Blog 7: Visual communities and social imaging

Technology, through the use of mobile cameras and image sharing has created a culture obsessed with appearances. According to Hermans (2014), traditional social media required that we live experiences in the offline world, record those experiences, and then post them online to recreate the experience and talk about it. The new digital culture is now living the opposite lifestyle in attempt to compete with the new ‘selfie culture’. According to Awani (2014), the ‘selfie’, a popular trend among many is now linked to mental and low self-esteem disorders. Just how dangerous has the trend of social imaging become?

According to Walker (2013), due to an influx of ‘model’ images online it has resulted in posting selfies is an empowering act for another reason: It allows you to control your image online. With this being said, how does social image impact one’s self esteem. In Malaysia alone, experts from the Thai Mental Health Department are warning, that ‘such behavior could lead to mental health problems in future, especially related to self-confidence, and this could unexpectedly cause a negative effect on a person’s everyday life, future career and even the country’s development’ (Awani 2014). This means that the ‘selfie craze’ could result in a future with more eating disorders and mental health issues including self harm. According to Woda (2014), a poll from The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that 30% of plastic surgeons reported that they’ve seen an increase in demand for plastic surgery… because patients aren’t happy with how they look in selfies and other social media pictures!

It is important to think about the consequences of posting a selfie. Potential employers and professional connections often research a potential candidate’s social media page. This can result in a negative outcome, even if the image is outdated. However, potential employers are not the only ones checking out individual’s selfies. According to Woda (2014), explicit oversharing is an obvious digital danger for teens when it comes to posting phone numbers, geotags, and home addresses. It is important that individuals are aware of public accessibility to their profiles. Woda (2014), has highlighted safety tips for parents to teach their children in order to be safe online;

Teach teens early on that selfies, social media posts, and the feedback they receive on social media should not be tied to their self-worth

Ensure privacy settings are on throughout all social media accounts.

Instruct your child about the importance of personal settings.

Advise teens to only post selfies (or anything on social media) that they would be comfortable sharing with the world.

The ‘selfie’ craze is on the rise, and despite social and health related repercussions it is going nowhere. It is therefore important that young people are educated about the dangers of social imaging in order to avoid negative consequences.

Have you checked your privacy settings? Should you be concerned? These are questions that all social media users should ask themselves regularly.

Just remember… a photo is forever.

References

Awani, A 2014, ‘’Selfie’ addiction brings negative impact’, Astro Awani, 11 February, viewed 30 December 2015, <http://english.astroawani.com/lifestyle/selfie-addiction-brings-negative-impact-29905>

Daze, D 2015, ‘Selfie’ [image], Doris life, viewed 30 December 2015, <https://dorislife.wordpress.com/tag/selfie-culture/>

Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet the Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’, BuzzFeed, 28 January, viewed 24 September 2015, <http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch#3dlvjg2>.

Walker, M 2013, ‘The good, the bad, and the unexpected consequences of selfie obsession’,  Teen Vogue, 6 August, viewed 30 December 2015, <http://www.teenvogue.com/story/selfie-obsession>

Woda, S 2014, ‘The selfie culture: should we be worried?’, U know kids, 16 October, viewed 29 December 2015, <http://resources.uknowkids.com/blog/the-selfie-culture-should-we-be-worried>

[digicomk-blog]

Agree with your views of the dangers of taking a selfie. I also think it makes people more self conscious. The amount of photo editing apps that are available to totally change certain features about a photo, particularly a selfie, makes people, particularly females, feel like what they look like in real life is not good enough to be posted. I think it is very important for parents to teach teens early on that selfies, social media posts, and the feedback they receive on social media should not be tied to their self-worth. Great post.

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Being able to control my image as a teen would have done wonders for my self esteem! - I feel blessed that I didn’t have to tie in my self worth to my social media posts or the feedback I did or didn’t receive…but as a grown woman I do love a good selfie now under key lighting!

[my-digital-world-blog]

I have to say I think the selfie is pretty harmless. People these days are so quick to blame others for how they feel. If a person feels threatened by another person’s selfie that’s the problem of the person who feels threatened, not the person who posted the selfie. Well that’s my opinion.

[digicomk-blog]

The invention of the ‘selfie stick’

With new applications and social media platforms, we share different information, images, videos and experiences with the people we choose to. With this, of course, came the rise of the selfie - a picture taken of a person, by that person. I have to admit I am not a fan of selfies, and think they are quite ridiculous. When I am traveling, I like to get a picture of myself and the person i’m with in front of a monument or particularly significant building or landscape. But when it comes to my Instagram feed, I think I have posted 2 selfies in the 4 years I’ve had it.

I read an interesting article recently on 21st Century Wire (2014) and here is a snippet from it which I found to be very true. “Everyone is taking selfies now. Should we really be worried about this trend, or is it just a case of people being empowered on a microblogging platform like Twitter, or Instagram? Writer Donna Highfill explains, “I have run into at least 10 people recently who have stopped on fast-moving, heavily-populated sidewalks to take a #selfie. There is no historical building behind them, no beautiful landscape, no real reason to take a picture of themselves other than the fact that they can reverse the camera on the phone, gaze at their own visage, and then share it on social media so the rest of the world can gaze upon it as well.” Does that make ‘us’ narcissistic? I’m not sure I would go that far, but some people certainly think so. I overheard my 7 year-old niece saying to her mum today, after her mum took a video of her playing the trumpet and said she was going to put it on Instagram, “No, don’t put it on Instagram and don’t tag me I look silly”. Guess she doesn’t want that to be seen by her friends…

So not only has the selfie established itself as a thing people do, there is now a TOOL to assist in the picture taking of ones self. Founder of iStabilizer sold 15,000 sticks last January alone, and thats just one company. I can’t stand selfies, but self sticks are on another level of tolerable. I was glad to read that New York museums are banning the selfie stick (Shilo, 2015). The reason for the restriction is the threat of accidental damage to museum exhibits and art work and that stopping to position for a selfie can also lead to congestion in already crowded museums. I encountered this negative experience when I was visiting Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi over New Years, where I wanted to get a picture taken with the mosque in the background, but the space was quite small due to the pillars on either side, and there was a couple standing there for a good 10 minutes taking so many pictures at so many angles and heights with their damn selfie stick. The sooner they ban them at more places, the better in my opinion.

I love this last image of a “selfie stick”.

References: The ‘Selfie’ Obsession: A Chronic, Narcissistic Mental Disorder. (2014). [Blog] 21st Century Wire. Available at: http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/12/13/selfie-obsession-a-chronicnarcissistic- mental-disorder/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2016].

Agonistica, (2014). [image] Available at: http://agonistica.com/wpcontent/ uploads/2014/01/Schermata-01-2456659-alle-07.54.44.png [Accessed 6 Feb. 2016].

Shilo, M. (2015). New York Museums Are Officially Banning Selfie Sticks. Observer. [online] Available at: http://observer.com/2015/02/new-yorkmuseums-are-officially-banning-selfie-sticks/ [Accessed 7 Feb. 2016].

The Oatmeal, (2015). [image] Available at: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/selfie_stick [Accessed 7 Feb. 2016].

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

I love this post! I used to think who on earth would ever buy a selfie stick…..then we did! And we love it! It takes the best group photos!

[my-digital-world-blog]

I was never a fan of selfies, but have to say the other day my sister and I (we are 47 & 60 years old) wanted a photo on the beach, so we took a selfie... we laughed so much trying to take it and in the end the photo was great! If for no other reason it gave my sister and I a reason to laugh together, I like selfies now. 

[my-digital-world-blog]

WEEK 10: SOCIAL GAMING: PLAYING THE CROWD

This week we look at social gaming.  As a non-gamer I’m the first to admit I’m way out of my league here, join me as I enter this world of gaming for the first time.  

Social gaming is a term used to describe games that are created specifically for social media platforms such as Facebook. With the portability of technologies such as mobile phones and tablets, gaming has become more accessible than ever before.

Source: https://40.media.tumblr.com/11253c80294cf9f27a9f61aad7c2d8dc/tumblr_inline_o1fkd0GZGY1th774r_540.jpg

So who are social gamers? You could be forgiven for thinking it’s predominantly prepubescent boys. Here are some interesting statistics about Australian gamers from the Digital Australia Report 2016 (Brand & Todhunter 2015):

·      Average age 33 years

·      68 per cent of Australians are gamers

·      78 per cent of gamers are over 18 years

·      47 per cent of gamers are female

·      Average time spent – 88 minutes a day

To understand gaming it is beneficial to look at the various roles or frames we each play out in any given day. De Zwart & Humphreys (2014, p.81) explain: a teacher commutes to and from work and performs tasks at home, in doing so they take on roles such as commuter, teacher, cook and are able to transition between each role seamlessly. A gamer also has many roles; primarily a gamer is a real person who also takes on roles as a game player and a character inside a game.

One point of division between gamers is the exchange of real world currency to purchase game-time. I had trouble understanding this concept so consulted a friend who is a gamer. She said some games will only allow you to play a certain number of times each day and to play any more a player must pay for games. She had never paid for games but it was her opinion that people that people think, “it’s only a few dollars” and happily pay the money to keep playing. She also said that some games have an option to pay to unlock levels or gain further powers in the game.

Source: http://media.techeblog.com/images/social_gaming.jpg

If you think “it’s just a game” think again, gamers take this virtual world fun quite seriously. A wide range of discussion takes place outside of the game on official and unofficial forums, community blogs and bot developer forums (Suzor, N & Woodford, D 2013, p.8). Game developers feel under pressure to conform to the requests of players. For example, many of the new players entering the EVE community had migrated from WORLD OF WARCRAFT and as such brought expectations and norms from the previous environment with them (Suzor, N & Woodford, D 2013, p.7).  My friend told me how on a recent holiday her friend, a Farmville 2 player, was concerned that she didn’t have in-room WiFi as she needed to ‘tend to her farm’ – very serious business indeed.

So concludes my first look inside the world of gaming. Are you a gamer? Do you pay to play? What advice would you have for a novice like me?

REFERENCES:

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.

Suzor, N & Woodford, D 2013, 'Evaluating consent and legitimacy amongst shifting community norms: An EVE Online case study', Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 1-14.

Brand, J & Todhunter, S 2015, Digital Australia Report 2016, viewed 8 February 2016, < http://www.igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Digital-Australia-2016-DA16-Final.pdf>

 IMAGE SOURCES:

Gamer Psychology, Who are social gamers?, Tumblr, viewed 7 February 2016 <https://40.media.tumblr.com/11253c80294cf9f27a9f61aad7c2d8dc/tumblr_inline_o1fkd0GZGY1th774r_540.jpg>

Social Gaming, 2010, TechEBlog, viewed 9 February 2016, < http://media.techeblog.com/images/social_gaming.jpg>

[digicomk-blog]

Cyberbullying worse than traditional bullying?

The verbal, physical and social aspects of bullying are very much present, however with the development of the internet comes a change in the environment. Bullying doesn’t stay in the school yard anymore, it can leave school and enter the safety of their homes (Running, 2012). Cyber-bullying has become a large problem in today’s society because bullies feel much freer to say what they want because they can hide behind a screen, creating an emotional disconnect. The person sending the messages tend to feel disconnected from the impact they have on others, but that doesn’t lessen the affect on the people on the receiving end.

The example of what happened to fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd shows why cyberbullying is worse than traditional bullying. She could not get away from a mistake and blackmailer because once put out on the internet, it never went away. He created a Facebook profile which used the topless photograph as the profile image, and contacted classmates at her new school, causing more grief and bullying. She moved schools several times and her tormentors still came after her. She was physically assaulted at a new school by 15 others from another school, which worsened her depression. She took her life after the endless bullying she endured (No Bullying, 2014). A tragic ending to a horrible situation for the poor girl.

According to Boyd (2014) the persistence and visibility of bullying in networked publics adds a new dimension to how bullying is constructed and understood. Engaging in cyberbullying leaves ‘evidence’ of what is being said so others can see what’s happening. However this can lead to enabling others to amplify the attacks therefore increasing the emotional duress of a bullying incident (Boyd, 2014). Technology makes bullying more damaging and hurtful because it lets people inflict continuous harm.

I remember seeing the movie Mean Girls when it came out, I was 12 at the time. I loved that movie- the plotting, scandal, attitude and revenge. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it and would say it had an influence on me in a positive way because it has a good moral in the end. Being mean isn’t the way to go about things and that everyone is human and public humiliation is cruel. There were definitely incidents of bullying throughout high-school, but my school had a 0 tolerance policy and took it very seriously, with major consequences for those who bullied. Being “older” and looking back I’m glad I went to a school that took it seriously and did something about it. I hear of incidents in private Swedish high schools that disgust me, and teachers do nothing about the bullying and ABUSE. A good movie that highlights this problem is ‘Evil’, I highly recommend watching it.

I do think though with the increasing awareness of bullying, people are standing up for people in need and coming to their defence, especially when it is done in a public forum such as Facebook or Instagram. Reading the comments on posts where someone says something mean about someone, and random people who don’t personally know either party come to the defence of the person being attacked. Maybe we’re moving into the right direction? Let’s just hope so..

References:

Running, K. (2012). Cyber-bullying and popular culture. The Observer. [online] Available at: http://www.carlyleobserver.com/news/localnews/ cyber-bullying-and-popular-culture-1.1482627 [Accessed 5 Feb. 2016].

No Bullying, (2014). The Top 6 Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases of the Decade. [online] Available at: http://nobullying.com/six-unforgettablecyber- bullying-cases/ [Accessed 5 Feb. 2016].

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.

[heyscubasteve]

Mean Girls is a great example of showing how being a bully is “cool” in the eyes of other immature people. Even though it does have a really good message at the end, so the whole bullying aspect can be ignored… a little bit.

[my-digital-world-blog]

I was never bullied at school and I also can’t imagine growing up in a time with social media, it must me so hard for children/teens to be bullied continuously. When I hear of teens taking their own life due to bullying it breaks my heart. But the actual reports of suicide are hidden unless a family decides to take the story public. There would be so many cases of suicide due to bullying, what a sad, sad society we have become. 

[mysocialmediafan-deactivated201]

Week 10: Social gaming: playing the crowd

In this week’s blog we  look at Social gaming.  What is Social gaming and what does it comprise of?  The Oxford Dictionary describes it as the activity or practice of playing an online game on a social media platform. Social games are different from other games due to the following:

1. Turn-based – It is not social unless you are playing with another person. As such users taker turns playing the game. 2. Awareness of others actions – this is a means for you to interact more with the game.  You are more likely to interact if you see a friend taking money from another firend online. 3. Casual gaming  - as advertised not for players who want to play 24 hrs a day. 4. Multiplayer – again as advertised, can be two to a hundred users. 5. Based on Social Platforms – These provide users with an identity and also can help in communication.

Some examples of social features in popular games are: • Gifting – This is a huge driver for retention. Players can send each other gifts, some of which actually impact gameplay such as Zynga’s Treasure Isle. • Wishlisting – Players can add items they need within a game and share these on their wall. Other Players/friends can then choose to help out the person in need. • Collaborative Building – Most of the top games have these, where you don’t have access to certain objects unless you ‘get a friend to help you’. These are requested either through Facebook requests or wall posts.

The above video defines social gaming and the true potential it has.

In 2014 was in the top 25 companies that y generated $54.1B in revenue.  A report on CNBC on 26 Jan 2016 stated digital gaming sales hit $61 Billion in 2015.   Among the growth sectors was multiplayer online battle arena game “League of Legends” which earned $1.6 Billion, and games on the PC-based gaming platform which includes titles such as “Farmville” pulled in $32 Billion. Hmm definitely in the wrong industry here!

It does pose the question though, if PC games are free how do these companies make money?  Here’s how, you can download the game for free, however there are all sorts of extra costs.  This doesn’t necessarily translate into big revenue as it doesn’t matter how much you spend (see this report on how much one teenager spent) but rather the most social players.

So how does it work?   You download a game, start to play it, buy some extras, think it’s awesome, mention it to your friend, they in turn then download, buy the extras (what you bought plus more), they think it’s awesome as well and they tell their friends.   (Uh is anyone else seeing similarities to the pyramid schemes?).  Developers look at this and then target the original person for “special” promotions to keep them playing.

Playing these games constantly online can be addictive and can cause strain in relationships.  Some gamers live totally in the online world and may start to think this is the real world. This may mean they can’t or won’t engage in real world conversations with friends and families, and thus may cause them to feel left out which may lead do feelings of anxiety and depression. Social gaming may cause carpal tunnel, migraines, sleep disturbances, poor personal hygiene and lack of sleep.

From personal experience and my research social gaming can be fun provided it’s in moderation.  Organising activities for kids (whether it be actual kids or man/woman size kids) can help stop the constant need to immerse oneself in the online world. For me personally I play Candy Crush Saga, but only on the train ride to and from work.  When I am home I put my mobile/tablet away and concentrate on interaction with my family - certainly not as bad as the picture above.

References

DiChristopher, T (2016) Digital gaming sales hit record $61 billion in 2015: Report  CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/26/digital-gaming-sales-hit-record-61-billion-in-2015-report.html [Accessed 31 Jan 2016]

Grubb, J (2015) Gaming’s top 25 public companies generated $54.1B in revenue last year.  VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/30/googles-u-k-tax-deal-sparks-criticism/ [Accessed 31 Jan 2016]

Knapp A (2014) The Moneymakers for Social Games Aren’t the Big Spenders Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/10/03/the-moneymakers-for-social-games-arent-the-big-spenders/#200cc9ef6076 [Accessed 31 Jan 2016]

O’Neil N (2008) What Exactly are Social Games? Social Times http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-games/1695 [Accessed 31 Jan 2016]

Simpson J (2014) The power of truly social games: James Simpson at TEDxOU Tedx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO7uaoMX60o [Accessed 31 Jan 2016]

Mendoza M (201) Belgian teen spends $46,000 in free-to-play ‘Game of War: Fire Age’ Tech Times http://www.techtimes.com/articles/17267/20141007/belgian-teen-spends-46-000-in-free-to-play-game-of-war-fire-age.htm [Accessed 31 Jan 2016]

[my-digital-world-blog]

As a non-gamer I am being educated, the annoying game requests that come through on Facebook are all part of ‘collaborative building’. I also see why my husband takes his phone to the toilet to play games, his laptop would be a bit awkward to manage and play :-)

[discoveringdigital-blog]

Week 10: Social gaming: playing the crowd

Social gaming has also become an activity for everyone, with females accounting for almost 50% of gamers in the United States according to a 2014 State of Gaming report (2014). Additionally nearly 30% are over the age of 50 which demonstrates social gaming is for everyone – not just the teenage boy locked away in his bedroom.

The social gaming phenomenon has built a new industry with Zynga gaming attaining $691m (US$) of revenue in 2014 (Zynga 2014). Zynga (owner of Farmville), and other successful gaming companies such as King (owner of Candy Crush) have a model whereby the game can be played for free within certain limitations. Extra functionality or usage can be attained through social gaming and connecting with friends, much of this done through social networking sites such as Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

Revenue is derived from advertising (25%) as well as consumers who choose to purchase additional functionality within the game.  This is a scale game with less than 2% of users purchasing within an app on a mobile or tablet. But with global access the market size of mobile and tablets is estimated at $24b per annum (State of Gaming report, 2014)

Of course, gaming extends beyond the mobile and tablet, with PCs being the original platform of social gaming through Massively Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) such as World of Warcraft and the exceptionally popular Call of Duty series with a 2014 report stating over 100 million people have played the franchise (Dargenio 201). These games involve connection with friends, family and people users haven’t ever met – but have a connection through the game.

The social games allow for an increasingly personal experience by facilitating communication between users. From short, simple pre-written messages, to open chat and forums to the usage of headsets to facilitate one to one and one to many audio communication, fully integrated with sound effects and music.

Social gaming has evolved significantly in the last few years, particularly since Facebook integrated its platform for the game developers, and this evolution is set to continue in the decades ahead.

References

Galarneau, L 2014, Big Fish, 2014 State of Gaming report - 2014 Global Gaming Stats: Who’s Playing What, and Why?, viewed 30th January 2016,

<http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/2014-global-gaming-stats-whos-playing-what-and-why/>

Zynga Investor Relations, Fourth Quarter 2014, Zynga Q4 14 Earnings Slides, viewed 30th January 2016, <http://investor.zynga.com/results.cfm>

Dargenio, A 2014, Arcade Sushi,10 Call of Duty Facts That Will Blow Your Mind, Viewed 30th January 2016, <http://arcadesushi.com/call-of-duty-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind/>

[my-digital-world-blog]

I had no idea of those stats! I have never really understood the idea of gaming, if I want to dream of farming I will go plant a tomato bush! Gee I think I’m showing my age. I have a friend who is right into World of Warcraft and is about to virtually marry one of the players and for the record, she is older than me!

[my-digital-world-blog]

Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

This weeks post looks at the emphasis on images in digital media.  Pinodriya (2014) says that if ‘content is king’ then images are the emperor or whatever is above the king.  We look at the origins of using visuals to communicate and delve into the reason why it’s so important. To wrap it up we will look at the selfie culture and the rise of Snapchat.

The idea of communicating through images in not new. In fact since the days of cavemen people have been using this as a means of communication. It makes sense to communicate in images; our whole world is a series of pictures and we spend our life deciphering the visual world around us.

SOURCE: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ms-stock-photo-21721526-newspaper-rock.jpg

Digital dualists believe that the digital world is ‘virtual’ and the physical world ‘real’ but according to Jurgenson (Cited in Herrman 2014) this is a fallacy – the world of online and offline can’t be separated – people live experiences in the offline world then post pics and talk about them in the online world. It’s a natural process for humans to communicate visually. We are able to process visuals quickly and we more easily create an emotional connection through images rather than video, audio or text (Stelzner 2014).

 Throughout the rise of social media the image has been king, or should I say emperor. Each social media platform uses images in one way or another to convey messages. The infographic below gives an insight into the importance of visual for reaching an audience.

 SOURCE: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/visual-social-media-with-donna-moritz/

The selfie culture evolved into a seeming obsession. Selfies in the bathroom in a bikini with a duck face pose became commonplace in our newsfeeds. According to Huffpost writer Tina Issa (2013), celebrities such as Kim Kardashian started the trend and the public thought they might give it a try. The permanency of these shared images raised concerns about the short and long-term moral, legal and ethical ramifications.

 And just when we thought that Gen Y were a bunch of self-absorbed posers, along came Snap Chat with it’s ephemeral posts that disappear in ten seconds, and they were hooked. Take a look at the rise of Snapchat on the following video.

The YouTube above gives rise to a question, what’s next for social media? What will be the next big thing?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

REFERENCES:

Herrman, J 2014, ‘Meet the Man Who Got Inside Snapchat’s Head’, BuzzFeed, 28 January, viewed 24 September 2015, <http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/meet-the-unlikely-academic-behind-snapchats-new-pitch#3dlvjg2>

Issa, T 2013, The phenomenon of the Selfie and the Look at Me Duck Face, Huffington Post, viewed 23 January 2016, < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-issa/selfie-and-the-look-at-me-duck-face_b_4313614.html>

Neistat, C 2014, Snapchat Murders Facebook, YouTube, viewed 23 January 2016, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKSr6h5-fCU>

Pindoriya, V 2014, The Importance of Images in Social Media, Sendible, viewed 23 January 2016, <http://sendible.com/insights/the-importance-of-images-in-social-media/>

Stelzner, M 2014, Visual Social Media: How Images Improve Your Social Media Marketing, Social Media Examiner, < http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/visual-social-media-with-donna-moritz/>

IMAGE REFERENCES:

Stelzner, M 2014, Visual Social Media: How Images Improve Your Social Media Marketing, Social Media Examiner, <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/visual-social-media-with-donna-moritz/>

[petesdigitalblog2025]

Week 5 Digital citizenship Politics and Civic Cultures

A  positive and extensive uptake of social media platforms is the greater participation in democracy, politics and what we refer to as civil society.  A beginning point refers to digital citizenship, an example where social media platforms are used by politicians, staff and supporters as part of campaigning and communicating.

Because of this, we are looking at digital citizenship.  A question would be how do politicians and their party’s connect with their communities state and federal through various social media networks. The following politicians current and former are on Twitter and Facebook.  The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Kevin Rudd, Julie Bishop and Julia Gillard.

Before Malcolm Turnbull was voted in by his party to become Prime Minister, he spoke with Saad Mohseni.  The short talk was on social change in Afghanistan. Malcolm Turnbull spoke with Saas Mohseni, Chairman of the MOBY Group.  It is Afghanistan’s largest broadcaster the conversation was about social media, broadband access and the companies role in social change in Afghanistan region.

See the video here

The power of amateur political comment

The platforms have been used to spin and broadcast announcements updates and amendments on policy. Malcolm Turnbull will often use Twitter and Facebook when he is on a suburban train or at a public event. 

The expansion of amateur political views, blogs and Twitter, etc. Ordinary citizens like Kath and Kel have decided to have their say. A role of overseer to spread unofficial political media content.

Another video that is worth a look is the rise of the fifth estate.  Media Watch with Paul Barry Episode 36 

28 September 2015.The link is here for you to have a look.

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4321268.htm

Social media is a good thing for the potential reach of political communication. It gives people more opportunities to have their say. Participate in a discussion on politics provide measured views on policy. One media Scholar Political science professor Jodi Dean. Says it might not be as productive as we would like to to think. Provides opportunities to talk back and participate in political discussion.  It has to be a good thing as long as people have conducted themselves within the laws and regulations of social media.

References

ABC net, 2015,Mediawatch Episode 35 ,28 September 2015, viewed 15 January 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4321268>

Jericho, G 2012, ‘How many votes are there on Twitter?’, in The Rise of the Fifth Estate, Scribe, Victoria, Australia.

 Malcolm Turnbull and saad mohseni ,2014, Social media talk,2014, viewed 15 January 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57k0h83-fT8.>

 Saturday Night Live 2013, Palin/Hillary Open – Saturday Night Live, 23 September, viewed 15 January 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSOLz1YBFG0>

[my-digital-world-blog]

I read with interest ‘the power of amateur political comment’. Political discussions on social media have far greater reach than may have previously been thought possible. The compulsory voting system in Australia means that even those who are not interested in political parties are still required to vote. The result is misinformed citizens voting. One post I read during the previous federal election read something like “I’m not voting for someone who wears budgie smugglers”. Based on this fact, the voter made their decision on which party to vote for. Is it any wonder the key figures are taking to social media to try to win over voters. 

[discoveringdigital-blog]

Week 7: Digital citizenship 3: Trolling and social media conflict

According the online blog, Mamamia (2015), “one in five Australian children aged eight to 15 has experienced cyberbullying” and there is little doubt that this could dramatically increase as the number and prevalence of social media platforms increases.

Even adults are susceptible to trolling on social media with often significant consequences. In February 2014 Charlotte Dawson committed suicide (SMH 2014). The prolific social media user had many battles but also had to fight against constant negativity and trolling on Twitter and Instagram.

International celebrities have also been victims with much publicised cases of Zelda Williams (Robin Williams’ daughter), Matt Lucas (comedian), Stephen Fry (author) and Tom Clarke (singer) all having been on the receiving end of such significant social media abuse that they stopped using their Twitter accounts (The UK Telegraph 2014). Interestingly, all but one have resumed their usage of Twitter, perhaps because of a social media addiction, perhaps due to commercial interests. Whatever the reason, there is a gravitational pull that social media has that is no doubt amplified if you have over 12 million follower like Stephen Fry (2016) has.

Social media sites have various age restrictions in place to help protect users. Facebook Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Ask.fm and Google+ have all settled on a minimum age requirement of 13 according to the Australian Government’s Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner’s website. However this doesn’t necessarily stop children using the sites as a different birth date will provide access. This is where adult supervision and monitoring is required to not only educate children and warn them of the dangers, but also to verify that they are not subject to cyberbullying, trolling, flaming or other aggressive or predatory behaviour from people they know, or perhaps more scarily, people they don’t.

The very nature of social media means that cyberbullying can escalate quickly and spread rapidly through a multitude of networks.  Not only can these leave severe mental scars, it can also never really be erased as electronic records can be restored and screen captures remain – long after the event has subsided.

In an interview with Paul Fletcher (2014), the Parliamentary Secretary for Communications, said the Government was proposing a ‘Children’s eSafety Commissioner’ that would have power to force social media platforms to remove content if it was directed to. This was in response to a lack of action when users report inappropriate behaviour using the platform’s own functionality.

It’s clear that social media is here to stay and that society needs to catch up with the technology to educate, prevent and stop any cyberbullying or related activity that can have such a dramatically negative impact on all people, particularly the young.

References

Mamamia 2015, 1 in 5 Australian kids have experienced this. And the consequences can be devastating, viewed 12th January 2016, <http://www.mamamia.com.au/cyberbullying-statistics-in-australia/>

Sunday Morning Herald 2014, Charlotte Dawson found dead, viewed 12th January 2016, <http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/charlotte-dawson-found-dead-20140222-338j6.html>

 The Telegraph 2014, Twitter trolls: The celebrities who’ve been driven off social media by abuse, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11238018/Celebrity-Twitter-trolls-The-famous-people-whove-been-driven-off-social-media-by-abuse.html>

Twitter 2016, Stephen fry, viewed 12th January 2016, <https://twitter.com/stephenfry>

Australian Government’s Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner, Games, apps and social networking, viewed 12th January, <https://esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/games-apps-and-social-networking>

ABC Law Report 2014, Can a cyber-bullying commissioner protect our kids?, viewed 12th January, <http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/5286036>

[ruedigital-blog]

Nice Blog! It really does bring thins into light. Most people think its just teens that suffer cyberbullying but obviously not!

[heyscubasteve]

I agree, children definitely need to be monitored by their parents while social media!

[my-digital-world-blog]

I read recently that Princess Mary of Denmark has been subjected to cyberbullying by way of an anonymous blog that posts awful content about her. I can only but wonder what motivates a cyber bully to participate in such unprovoked destructive behaviour. 

[studentmedia-blog]

Blog 6: Crowdsourcing times of crisis

Social media has played a role in natural disasters. This has occurred with individuals at the scene of a natural disaster taking and sharing live photos, videos and commentary about the event. The leveraging of social made has also allowed for the growth of crowdsourcing. According to Alsever (2007), definitions and terms vary, but the basic idea is to tap into the collective intelligence of the public at large, in order to complete business-related tasks that a company would normally either perform itself or outsource to a third-party provider. Is crowdsourcing a modern day life saver or  does it further complicate the work of the crisis worker?

Crowdsourcing online has both advantages and disadvantages. According to Zeng (2011), crowdsourcing (particularly during disaster relief) has three main advantages. These advantages include: crowdsourced data including user requests and status reports are collected immediately after a disaster has occurred, crowdsourcing tools can collect data from emails, forums, tweets and other unstructured methods and then analysed and summarised through trends and filters, and finally; providers can include a geo-tag for information or messages sent from these platforms - effectively creating a catalogue and timeline of events. These advantages of crowdsourcing allows emergency relief to paint a broader picture of the natural disaster and create the appropriate plans to target them. This information also allows governments to review and gain further understanding of the damage made.  This is particularly important as according to Corners (2014), some of the biggest disaster gaffes of the last two decades have come from a lack of organization and information management.

On the other hand, one disadvantage highlighted by Zeng (2011), is that although crowdsourcing applications can provide accurate and timely information about a crisis, current crowdsourcing applications still fall short in actually supporting disaster relief efforts. According to Zeng (2011), another major disadvantage about crowdsourcing during a natural disaster is that  data from crowdsourcing applications do not always provide all the right information required for effective disaster relief efforts. It is therefore important that the recipient of this information create metrics for how to assess what pieces of information provided are accurate and what can be used to the benefit of creating disaster relief. This is further highlighted by Ford (2012), who references ‘verification’ as enabling their own process of verification and deciding whether reports are ‘verified’ (often decided by the same media that they might have initially opposed).

Crowdsourcing can sometimes do more damage than good. It is important that as technology grows relevant filters are put in place as well as various verification tools. If you are contributing content, ensure that it is correct and relevant. The last thing you want to do is make life harder for an emergency crew.

Have you experienced a natural disaster and used crowdsourcing? Comment below!

References

Alsever, J 2007, ‘What is crowdsourcing’, CBS Money Watch, 1 May, viewed 23 December 2015, <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-crowdsourcing/>

Collinson, R & Frauzel T 2015, ‘Crowdsourcing disaster relief’ [image], Mobilisation Lab, viewed 22 December 2015, <http://www.mobilisationlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Crowdsourcing-Disaster-relief.jpg>

Corners, B 2014, ‘Crowdsourcing’s role in disaster management’, Crowdsource, 21 August, viewed 23 December 2015, <http://www.crowdsource.com/blog/2014/08/crowdsourcings-role-disaster-management/>

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

Zeng, D 2011, Harnessing the crowdsourcing power of social media for disaster relief, Academia, viewed 23 December 2015, <http://www.academia.edu/2832197/Harnessing_the_crowdsourcing_power_of_social_media_for_disaster_relief>

[my-digital-world-blog]

An interesting article highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of crowdsourcing disaster relief. 

Crowdsourcing to coordinate disaster relief was quite successful during the clean up after the Queensland floods of 2011. It was extremely successful in rallying clean up crews with huge numbers of volunteers converging on the areas that needed it most. I live on the Sunshine Coast (approx 100 kms away) and I know people from here made the trip to Brisbane armed with tools to assist and joined the clean up efforts. 

There were concerns at the time that the numbers would cause problems, however without these volunteers the clean up efforts would have been left to the grieving home owners. Crowdsourcing provided them with the support they needed. 

[my-digital-world-blog]

Week 8: Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

We don’t have to look to far in Australia to find an example of crowdsourcing in times of natural disaster. Bush fires, floods, severe storms including cyclones and earthquakes occur regularly. This week we examine how social media is assisting during times of crisis.

 A newer phenomenon that has been attracting attention in Queensland is sinkholes. On 26th of September 2015 campers at popular Inskip Point, north of Rainbow Beach were voluntarily evacuated when fellow campers raised the alarm. Campers were lucky to escape with their lives; the sinkhole claimed two cars, a caravan and other camping equipment (Moore 2015).

 The action was caught on the ‘dash cam’ of a local towing firms vehicle that was camped at the location. This footage was quickly added to social media and as local residents woke on Sunday morning details were flowing into their newsfeed long before conventional media picked up on the story. This was an isolated incident, everything unfolded so quickly and the area affected so localised that social media was not able to contribute assistance during the crisis management.

 IMAGE SOURCE: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/v/q/z/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gjvq44.png/1450483303456.jpg

 However when a crisis spans several days or longer, social media becomes a dominant tool in communicating with the community. In the case of the 2011 Queensland floods, the Queensland Police Service media unit was able to relay credible information that was shared/retweeted many times over to allow the information to reach a broader audience (Bruns et. al, 2012, p. 7).

 Social media is an integral part of the bushfire response in Victoria. CFA (country Fire Authroity) uses the “Phoenix RapidFire simulation tool, which provides up to six hours warning of the direction, speed and intensity of a fire within minutes, rather than hours of its detection” (CFA 2011, p.7).

 PHOENIX RAPIDFIRE MODELLING

IMAGE SOURCE: http://report.hazelwoodinquiry.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2_19.jpg

 Phoenix Rapidfire generates information that is fed into the OSOM system that in turn coordinates internal communications, dispatching and coordinating crews from different stations and coordinating other emergency services and also feeds information to external communications via the CFA website.

 Previously the CFA relied on mainstream media to communicate information however started using Internet based technologies in 2010 (Bender 2013). The speed of generated fire simulations and real-time sharing of information across social media sites has helped to prevent loss of life and property.

 Social media is so integrated into people’s lives these days that it seems only natural that it assists during times of crisis. The speed in which social media can distribute information seems to have made conventional mainstream media redundant for reporting crisis events in real time. 

 REFERENCES:

 Bender, A 2013, Victorian firefighters extinguish online congestion during bushfires, Computerworld, viewed 23 December 2015, < http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/454947/victorian_firefighters_extinguish_online_congestion_during_bushfires/>

 Bruns, A, Burgess, J, Crawford, K & Shaw, F 2012, #qldfloods and @QPSMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Floods, Arc Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, pp 7-10, viewed 17 September 2015, <http://www.cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>.

 Implementing the government’s response to the 2009 Victorian bushfires Royal Commission May 2011, CFA.gov.au, viewed 23 December 2015,  <http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/fm_files/attachments/Publications/royal_commission_implementation_plan.pdf>

  Moore, T 2015, Sinkhole swallows can and caravan at Inskip Point camp ground, Brisbane Times, viewed 12 January 2016, < http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/car-and-caravan-in-sinkhole-at-qld-beach-20150926-gjvq44.html>

  IMAGE SOURCES:

 State Planning for Fire, 2014, Hazelwood Mine Fire Enquiry, viewed 1 January 2016, <http://report.hazelwoodinquiry.vic.gov.au/part-two-fire/preparing-fire/state-planning-fire>

  Moore, T 2015, Sinkhole swallows can and caravan at Inskip Point camp ground, Brisbane Times, viewed 12 January 2016, <http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/v/q/z/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gjvq44.png/1450483303456.jpg>