Blogging my way through digital communities

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Week 10: Social gaming: playing the crowd

Source: https://www.vg247.com/2014/02/04/pc-gaming-spend-on-the-rise-despite-release-drought-report/

As technology has advanced, online games have evolved into a number of genre, the most well-known being the MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game). This is a computer game that enables hundreds or thousands of players to simultaneously interact in a game world. Typically this kind of game is played in an online, multiplayer-only persistent world. (Kirriemuir 2005).

Online Gaming

The online gaming community affords users the opportunity to build a community of like minded ‘gamers’ who all communicate through gaming platforms. Interaction and online codes of conduct all form part of the gamers experience. EVE Online, a space-themed massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), with over half a million subscribers, actively encourages player participation in game  management, with a player council, the Council of Stellar Management (CSM), and active fan forums,(deZwart & Humphreys 2014).

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3418888/Mother-boy-14-murdered-sadistic-sex-killer-met-online-gaming-furious-killer-posted-rambling-open-letters-jail-cell-bemoaning-lot.html

While gaming has its positives and negatives a negative. One such instance of negativity surrounding the gaming world. But not exclusive to just gaming - the same tragic outcome could as easily be done through social media platforms - was the murder of Breck Bednar, a 14 year old gamer who was groomed and befriended through an online gaming forum and lured from his home and murdered by what he thought, was his online friend. 

Taken from the Office of the Children’ s eSafety Commissioner website, it offers this for children online.

Protect yourself

If another player is behaving badly or making you uncomfortable, block them from your players list.

Report poor behaviour to the game site operator.

Keep personal details private.

Respect others in the game.

Be aware of game classifications and age restrictions

Gaming Stats

Assuming that social gamers are all male teenagers with nothing better to do with their time is about as far from the truth as you can get. Over half (54%) of the social gaming population are female and the biggest proportion of social gamers (50%) are parents, whose children no longer live at home with them. 36% of them have some level of college experience, and a further 28% have a Bachelor’s degree (Think Management 2014). 

Source: http://www.thinkmanagement.com/social-gaming-statistics-2014-revenues-purchasing-demographics/

References

PC gaming spend on the rise despite release drought – report, viewed 5 February 2016, https://www.vg247.com/2014/02/04/pc-gaming-spend-on-the-rise-despite-release-drought-report/

Kirriemuir, J 2005, Online Games and Digital Information Services, D-Lib Magazine ,viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december05/kirriemuir/12kirriemuir.html

De Zwart, M & Humphreys, S, The lawless frontier of deep space: Code as law in EVE online [online]. Cultural Studies Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, Mar 2014: 77-99. Availability: <http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=225934593111540;res=IELAPA> ISSN: 1446-8123. [cited 08 Feb 16].

My son's killer is taunting me from jail: Mother of boy, 14, murdered by sadistic sex killer he met through online gaming says the murderer has sent vicious notes blaming her for the crime, viewed 5 February 2016, {image},  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3418888/Mother-boy-14-murdered-sadistic-sex-killer-met-online-gaming-furious-killer-posted-rambling-open-letters-jail-cell-bemoaning-lot.html#ixzz3zWfOc9le

Social Gaming Statistics 2014 – Revenues, Purchasing & Demographics {image},viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.thinkmanagement.com/social-gaming-statistics-2014-revenues-purchasing-demographics/

Office of the childrens eSafety commissioner, Games, apps and social networking, Quick guide to popular social media sites and apps, viewed 5 February 2016,https://www.esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/games-apps-and-social-networking

[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. 

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

You can’t imagine anyone could be bothered to start a blog to post awful content about anyone let alone Princess Mary! I read there is a similar blog about Kylie Jenner, that post photos of her looking like pigs or being unattractive....you don’t have to be a fan of the Kardashians/Jenners but that is seriously ugly behaviour to post such horrible content about anyone. Great post!

[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!

[digicomk-blog]

How ‘social’ is social gaming?

The most appropriate definition of social in regards to this topic is “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others.” (Merriam-Webster, 2015). I have always wondered about the effects of gaming on kids, but I think social gaming is a step up, in terms of interaction. I have known group of men in their 30’s to gather together at someone’s house and spend a Friday night drinking wine and play Mario Kart. I think in this sense gaming is social because they all get involved and take turns. The type of gaming that concerns me is when individuals spend all day/night in front of a screen playing World of Warcraft (WoW) by themselves. A study looking into the motivation behind playing WoW and found specific associations between motives and in-game preferences or actions (e.g. type of achievements targeted, type of server chosen, affiliation with a guild). Longitudinal analyses showed that high involvement in the game is not necessarily associated with a negative impact upon daily living (Billieux et al., 2013).

It really concerns me when it come to adolescents. I hear more and more of kids getting diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and I wonder if it is because they are getting too much stimulation all the time that when it comes time to concentrate on only one thing, the get bored quickly and act out as a result. The book ‘Multiplayer’ confirms that gamers can have social problems “despite the fact that online games are highly social spaces, the player of such games have become anecdotally and empirically characterised as socially reclusive, inept individuals” (Quandt and Kröger, 2013, p. 99). Jim Hightower, an ABC radio commentator, expressed concern about the the impact of social interaction online when he stated, “While all this razzledazzle connects us electronically, it disconnects us from each other, having us interfacing more with computers and TV screens than looking in the face of our fellow human beings” (Quandt and Kröger, 2013, p. 99). I feel his concern is a reality and I wonder how much longer this will last, if it will ever change, or will be all walk around like zombies staring at screens, even when we are amongst loved ones.

References: Merriam-webster.com, (2015). Definition of Social. [online] Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015].

Billieux, J., Van der Linden, M., Achab, S., Khazaal, Y., Paraskevopoulos, L., Zullino, D. and Thorens, G. (2013). Why do you play World of Warcraft? An in-depth exploration of self-reported motivations to play online and in-game behaviours in the virtual world of Azeroth. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), pp.103-109.

Kowert, R., Domahidi, E., Festl, R. and Quandt, T. (2014). Social gaming, lonely life? The impact of digital game play on adolescents’ social circles. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, pp.385-390.

Quandt, T. and Kröger, S. (2013). Multiplayer. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Having a teen who is quite an avid gamer, I feel lucky that he knows when he needs to get off the game and when he’s had enough. I didn’t allow him to play when he was younger and do feel we were lucky that he has formed a solid little community of friends online (which were already his friends in real life)...Im not sure how I would feel if he had an open network of strangers from all over the world though!

[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. 

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

I watch trolls on instagram who seem to have specifically opened an account just to harass other users. They have no profile pic, or photos in their feed or friends in a friend list...just an invisible key board troll seeking pleasure from causing pain...I do feel if we completely ignore these people we don’t feed their need. To often I see other users trying to explain how much hurt they are causing and to move on...this seems to feed a troll even more. What if we all had a blanket rule to ignore these fools....and Charlotte Dawson, was a tragic end result to what cyber bullying and mental illness can have. Very sad. 

[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!

[tanyasdigitalcommsblog-blog]

#8 (wk10) Social gaming: Playing the crowd

What is ‘social gaming’ and how does it help to inform online publics?

“What many began to realize was an explosion of casual gaming through which I believe the awareness of each others’ gaming activities was a catalyst for.” - (O’Neill, 2008) 

Social gaming refers to ‘multiplayer’ games which are based on social media platforms such as Facebook . O’Neill (2008) describes ‘social games’ as having one or more of the following features:

Turn-based - where the online players take turns much like in a traditional board-game however in the case of online gaming your opponent may be completely unknown to you.

Awareness of the actions or presence of other players -  the game aids in providing or forming an identity 

Casual gamer’s- social gaming is available when and where you want to play, you do not need to be a ‘serious’ gamer to engage in this activity.

How can we understand the participatory nature of social media more fully through online gaming?

“As with most participatory media, there is a commodification of player engagement, but this should not necessarily be read as exploitation.” (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p.78)

The incentive to play these online games lies in its participatory nature; being aware of the actions of other’s playing in the game presents challenges. Perhaps to beat a ‘friends’ top score or to help them out by sending ‘lives’ so they can keep playing. 

The social context of gaming means that unlike other creative media, such as film, the narrative of the video game is generated by the user. It is often through the willing engagement of the game players that games are enabled to develop (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014 p.78). 

How does online ‘social gaming’ influence offline communities?

“As the implementation of the online expands within everyday offline contexts, notions of online identity community and expression are changing.” (Hjorth, 2011 p.66) 

Whilst it could be argued that social gaming is simply a form of entertainment, it is important to look at social gaming within the broader realm of both online and offline contexts.   

Studies have shown that gaming can cause adverse behavioral issues in people; such as being more prone to addiction and violence (Sifferlin, 2015). Over-dependence on social -gaming could foster social isolation and may even cause people to confuse reality with fantasy.

Yet studies have also shown gaming to be an effective tool for learning and helping to teach critical thinking skills. Gaming can help to develop fine- motor skills in children and to develop skills in planning, multi-tasking and problem- solving in adults. Gaming can also lower stress levels (Granic,Lobel and Engels, 2014 p.68-69)

Are you a Social Gamer? If so why does gaming appeal to you?

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.

Granic,I, Lobel, A, Engels,C. M. E. 2014, ‘The Benefits of Playing Video Games’, American Psychologist, vol. 69, no.1, pp. 66-78.

Hjorth, L 2011, Games and Gaming: An Introduction to New Media, Berg publishers, New York. EBL book Library. 

O’Neill, N 2008, ‘What Exactly are Social Games?’, Social Times, 2 July, viewed 13 January 2016, <http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-games/1695>.

Sifferlin, A. 2015 ‘Violent Video Games Are Linked to Aggression, Study Says’, Time.com, viewed 10 January 2016, <http://time.com/4000220/violent-video-games/>

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

I have to admit, I feel very lucky that while my teen son is quite the avid gamer, he can put it away and not be obsessed with the whole gaming experience. I don’t know what I would do if it changed his behaviour and it ruled his/our lives....

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging

Like my selfie?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3185027/Keep-yourselfie-Kim-Kardashian-s-selfie-book-Selfish-sells-just-32-000-copies-three-months-despite-reality-star-boasting-41-4-million-Instagram-followers.html

Selfie royalty Kim Kardashian has released a book of selfies, called - ‘Selfish’. A ‘must have’ book, to add to ones already impressive accumulated selfies collection in what is now a selfie culture. Choose an app, add a filter, turn slightly to the right, find your key lighting, purse those lips and ‘voila’ the perfected selfie, that only took 30 tries and 50 different angles. Welcome to the generation of appearing effortless and all it took, was a mere 2 hours of your time to perfect....thank you key lighting!

The rise of the selfie – usually defined as an arms-length mobile phone camera self-portrait shared via social media – is a prominent part of the rise of ubiquitous photography and social imaging. It involves a number of factors, including new forms of visual communication and public intimacy, the presentation of the self and of place and location, and also new interactions with the cult of celebrity. (Bishop 2016).

Social media sites like Instagram, and more recently Snapchat where one can snap themselves for a few seconds and show their ‘story’ to friends and followers are just a few of the platforms that form the selfie culture foundation.

source: https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/snapchat-vs-instagram-which-should-you-use/ 

While the selfie culture seems like normality for most teens, tweens and youngster an, well by nearly everyone in today’s society. The lastest  phenomenon, as reported in an Huffington Post article found:http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/selfies-at-auschwitz_n_5564106.html?section=australia

It touches on teens and selfies-at-inappropriate-places. The article describes how teens are taking selfies at landmarks like Auschwitz, places of deep meaning for those who may find a selfie and posting to a social media site distasteful. While the norm for the new millennials to document every detail of their lives through a selfie or photo taken on a mobile device.....doesn’t necessarily give way to it being appropriate. Having touched on digital citizenship in previous posts - selfie etiquette isn’t such a bad idea.

#selfiesatfunerals

source: http://www.ranker.com/list/selfies-at-funerals-tumblr/robert-wabash

Reaching our real and ‘cyber’ friends through visual communities through social media sites like YouTube has seen viewers be able to watch their favourite bloggers - actually named ‘vloggers’, vlogging -a video blog. Allows a follower to watch their desired person instead of just reading from a blog or website. 

Top 10 Most Popular Vloggers On Youtube

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-CZyZLG-E

References

Bishop, R 2016, ‘MDA20009: Digital Communities Week 9: Visual communities and social imaging ’. Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 18 January, viewed 5 February 2016.

Keep them to yourselfie! Kim Kardashian's selfie book, Selfish, sells just 32,000 copies in three months, {image}, viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3185027/Keep-yourselfie-Kim-Kardashian-s-selfie-book-Selfish-sells-just-32-000-copies-three-months-despite-reality-star-boasting-41-4-million-Instagram-followers.html

Snapchat vs. Instagram: Which Should You Use, {image}, viewed 5 February 2016, https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/snapchat-vs-instagram-which-should-you-use/

Teens Post Selfies At Auschwitz In Controversial Facebook Group,HuffPost Live, viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/selfies-at-auschwitz_n_5564106.html?section=australia

51 Best / Worst Selfies at Funerals {image}, viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.ranker.com/list/selfies-at-funerals-tumblr/robert-wabash

Top 10 Most Popular Vloggers On Youtube, viewed 5 February 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-CZyZLG-E

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Week 8: Crowd sourcing in times of crisis

Crowd Sourcing

Due in part to the huge numbers of followers on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit to name a few, crowd sourcing is being used by authorities to fight crime. 

http://cancerqueen.me/2015/04/27/ariel2-my-new-superhero-fighting-ovarian-cancer/

This weeks readings touched on the Boston bombings and how crowd sourcing helped through civilians being asked by authorities to post photos of the event to a social media site, helping authorities to piece together information and where about’s of the bombers and photos of the tragic event. 

Source: https://blogs.microsoft.com/work/2014/07/21/the-power-of-crowdsourcing-why-the-next-best-big-idea-for-your-business-may-be-in-the-brain-of-a-14-year-old-in-belgium/

This post on daily crowdsource found here: http://dailycrowdsource.com/content/crowdsourcing/336-5-ways-crowdsourcing-is-battling-crime -  Explains further how crowd sourcing is aiding in the fight against crime via social media channels and platforms.

But not just fighting crime.....crowd sourcing is well known....One of the most successful and well known examples of crowd sourcing is Wikipedia...

Source:http://www.csicop.org/si/show/is_wikipedia_a_conspiracy_common_myths_explained

Natural Disasters and social media

In times of crisis and natural disaster normal or usual forms of communication break down.  In times of crisis, innovative means are becoming available for facilitating and improving the flow of information among communities when and where they need it most. (Bishop 2016). 

source: https://businesscontinuityplannersassociation.wildapricot.org/BCPA-Blog?pg=2

In times of crisis, when phones lines aren’t reliable, communication is impaired the internet offers, speed, immediate access to information and emergency services are able to constantly update on social media sites.  The addition of social media to the emergency communication toolbox will not mean the end of the Emergency Broadcast System or other communication efforts, it will simply add another layer of communication, an incredibly valuable one. (BCPA 2014).

Social mapping and Ushahidi

Today Ushahidi (http://www.ushahidi.com/) has become a sophisticated tool for crowd mapping.  The tool  initially worked by integrating SMS, 'Twitter, Facebook as well as updates from the web, so that a crowd sourced picture of an event unfolding over time could be depicted on a single map. (Bishop 2016).

source: http://irevolutions.org/2009/02/27/huridocs09-from-wikipedia-to-ushahidi/

References

The Power of Crowdsourcing: Why the Next Best Big Idea for Your Business May Be in the Brain of a 14-Year-Old in Belgium,{image}, viewed 5 February, https://blogs.microsoft.com/work/2014/07/21/the-power-of-crowdsourcing-why-the-next-best-big-idea-for-your-business-may-be-in-the-brain-of-a-14-year-old-in-belgium/

Is Wikipedia a Conspiracy?{image} Common Myths Explained, viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.csicop.org/si/show/is_wikipedia_a_conspiracy_common_myths_explained

Bratvold, D 2014, what is crowdsourcing? Daily crowd source, viewed 5 February 2016, http://dailycrowdsource.com/training/crowdsourcing/what-is-crowdsourcing

Ariel2: My New Superhero Fighting Ovarian Cancer, {image}, viewed 5 February 2016, http://cancerqueen.me/2015/04/27/ariel2-my-new-superhero-fighting-ovarian-cancer/

Social media in an emergency, viewed 5 February 2016, https://businesscontinuityplannersassociation.wildapricot.org/BCPA-Blog?pg=2

HURIDOCS09: From Wikipedia to Ushahidi, {image}, viewed 5 February 2016, http://irevolutions.org/2009/02/27/huridocs09-from-wikipedia-to-ushahidi/

Business Continuity Planners Association 2014, Social media in an emergency, viewed 5 February 2016, https://businesscontinuityplannersassociation.wildapricot.org/BCPA-Blog/1530678

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

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

The good the bad and the ugly

Social media opened a world for people to be able to communicate, stay in contact and re-connect all through an internet connection. 

Source: http://www.creativematch.com/news/trolling-and-social-media/101932/

Digital citizenship can be defined as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use. (Ribble 2016)

We now have programs in place starting in primary school in the aim to guide our youth to understand the role of digital citizenship and negative and positive aspects the internet and social media offers. Taken from Digital Citizenship.net the following shows a program offered to children 

Respect, Educate and Protect (REPs) available at <http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html>.

The concept of REPs is a way to explain as well as teach the themes of digital citizenship.  Each area encompasses three topics which should be taught beginning at the kindergarten level.  When teaching these ideas the top theme from each group would be taught as one REP.  For example the first REP would be: Etiquette, Communication and Rights/Responsibilities.  This would continue through REPs two and three.  By doing this all students will have covered the topics and everyone would understand the basic ideas of digital citizenship. Respect Your Self/Respect Others

- Etiquette

- Access

- Law

Educate Your Self/Connect with Others

- Literacy

- Communication

- Commerce

Protect Your Self/Protect Others

-Rights and Responsibility

- Safety (Security)

- Health and Welfare

source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/240590805064813190/

Does all that information and knowledge stop trolls or encourage those who use social media to do so positively? It would be naive to think trolls or bullies will ever disappear. There has always been bullying, cruelty and hate through the ages and kids have been the target of bullies for as long as we can remember, it simply has a far greater reach via means of the internet. There are so many situations that have tragically ended with a victim committing suicide. The governance of social media sites also comes into play, how can a person on the other end of a trolls abuse, report incidents and, are they taken seriously and resolutions achieved.

source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/240590805064813190/

 References

Ribble, M 2016, Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship, Digital Citizenship, viewed 5 February 2016, <http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html>.  

Trolling and social media, viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.creativematch.com/news/trolling-and-social-media/101932/.

http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html

Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/240590805064813190/

[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.

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Awesome post! I wasn’t aware of Amanda Todd and her tragic ending....having a 16 year, I can honestly say I thank my lucky stars every single day that his ‘online life’ and the impact - which has been minimal hasn’t seen us in a situation that Amanda Todd was in. It is utterly terrifying, and so hard to monitor 100% of the time, well done to your school for zero tolerance!

[digicomk-blog]

Activism for the greater good

The ‘invention’ of the internet and social media definitely has its perks. It makes the world a smaller place by connecting people via different channels so they can share their stories, opinions, experiences and lives with others. Instead of only being exposed to what the media reports on about certain events and situations, we can now find out more, from the people in those situations. Content shared via social media from conflict war zones has allowed us to gain a far deeper understanding of the on-the-ground realities of specific conflict than previously possible (Higgins 2015). According to Higgins (2015) in 2012, the video streaming site Bambuser was adopted by groups opposing the Syrian government to livestream videos of protests and violence from across Syria. As violence escalated, internet access in opposition-controlled areas became increasingly limited. Today, this means that the vast majority of social media accounts being used by the Syrian opposition are associated with specific locations, media centres, or armed groups. This provides researchers with a real opportunity to understand the actors and events taking place on the ground. More on this interesting topic here.

The use of social media as an instrument for activism has already begun and I believe is a catalyst for change. A year ago I become a vegetarian because of this simple image. When I saw this whilst scrolling down my Facebook newsfeed, I looked at it, thought about it, and decided that eating meat wasn’t worth the pain the animals go through. As Gerbaudo (2012) says in his book “Social media can be seen as the contemporary equivalent of what the newspaper, the poster, the leaflet or direct mail were for the labour movement. They are means not simply to convey abstract opinions, but also to give a shape to the way in which people come together and act together, or, to choreograph collective action”. It does this by:

1) Being able to send one message to much more people, in a quicker way than any other form of promotion. Any news-worthy post has the potential to be retweeted, reposted and shared to millions more people and the more views have, the more likely it is to be featured on news outlets and websites, spreading the word.

2) “Social media gives people the power to call out injustices, inaccuracies and misrepresentations and brings about better understanding of other cultures and people.” (Khan-Ibarra 2014).

3) Hashtag campaigns provide the opportunity for people from all over the world can get involved in important conversations. 

An couple of examples of this is #HeForShe created by Emma Watson for gender equality and the #ICantBreathe that came from the last words Eric Garner said while being brutally detained which led to his death. This one really touched me, especially after watching the video. The decision made by the grand jury not to prosecute the arresting officer led to protest all across America. I saw some people with signs standing outside the USA Embassy in Stockholm for a few days. NBA players wore black t-shirts with the hashtag during games.

4) Social media = power, as demonstrated by certain countries banning or controlling access.

References:

Roxas, Jude. 2011. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Higgins, Eliot. ‘Social Media And Conflict Zones: The New Evidence Base For Policymaking’. Policy Wonkers 2015. Web. 5 Feb. 2016

Gerbaudo, P 2012, Tweets And The Streets : Social Media And Contemporary Activism, London: Pluto, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed 7 February 2016.

Khan-Ibarra, Sabrina. 'The Case For Social Media And Hashtag Activism’. The Huffington Post 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Social media and the all mighty # has definitely been able to spread the word on social causes through social media..... #icantbreathe is tragic but hopefully due to the hashtag it eventually gets enough attention for us all to notice and active change....

[digicomk-blog]

Politics & Social Media

As socieities propel further into the digital world, politicians have to follow suit to appeal to their publics. The limelight a rising politician can find themselves in can shine a lot brighter and faster with the assistance of social media. The first elected president whose effective use of social media helped him win was Barack Obama in his 2008 campaign. According to The European Business Review (2010) “Obama won by converting everyday people into engaged and empowered volunteers, donors and advocates through social networks, e-mail advocacy, text messaging and online video. The campaign’s proclivity to online advocacy is a major reason for his victory.” He collected 5 million supports across social networks, outperforming his contender four times over on Facebook and 23 times more on twitter (The European Business Review 2010). He set and led a successful example of how to win two presidential elections with the help of social media. Even still, he is an active user of social media posting daily videos, policy changes, updates on his twitter and Facebook accounts.

However, politicians do have to be cautious what they put out on the internet, no matter when, as with the example of the 2012 Queensland Election Campaign where ALP candidate Peter Watson’s posting homophobic comments on a blog 15 years prior, came back to haunt him and he was forced to resign his candidacy (Jericho 2012). Read more here. Our last Prime Minister was very popular according to my Facebook feed. Since I’ve been living abroad the most I heard about him and what he had been up to was through Facebook and other social media platforms, and it went from bad, to worse for him. There are still a number of Facebook pages dissing him, the one with the most ‘Likes’ (over 200,000) being ’Tony Abbott Worst PM in Australian History’. As he was quoted saying last Australia Day “I’ll leave social media to its own devices. Social media is kind of like electronic graffiti and I think that in the media, you make a big mistake to pay too much attention to social media” (The Age, 2015). Considering all the things about him out there on social media, I think he made a big mistake dismissing the importance it had on his popularity with the public and think he should have focused more of his efforts on keeping us on his side, especially after the election.

References: The European Business Review,. ‘Obama And The Power Of Social Media And Technology’. N.p., 2010. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

Twitter,. 'Barack Obama (@Barackobama) | Twitter’. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

Jericho, Greg. The Rise Of The Fifth Estate. Melbourne [i.e. Brunswick], Vic.: Scribe Publications, 2012. Print.

Facebook,. 'Tony Abbott - Worst PM In Australian History’. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

Battersby, Lucy. 'Tony Abbott Dismisses Social Media As 'Electronic Graffiti’, Again’. The Age 2015. Web. 1 Jan. 2016.

WatchMojo, (2015). Top 10 Cringeworthy Tony Abbott Moments. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VmR9CesbXk&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 6 Jan. 2016].

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

I definitely think Tony Abbott underestimated the impact social media had on his popularity! Had he been able to reach maybe the younger generation who are so tech savvy and the rest of us maybe he wouldn’t be seen on social media as the ‘worst PM’ of all time!

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Week 6: Digital citizenship 2: Activism and protest

Source:https://xomariee.wordpress.com/

DIGITAL ACTIVISM

This weeks learning materials explore the topics of digital activism  as digital citizens. Touching on digital citizenship last week in context of the political arena, this week focuses on the activism side to social media collaborations around the world to seek change.

It’s through passionate engagement with technologies that innovation begins to take place, and in the case of protest and activism, we often see social media platforms being used to their maximum potential in facilitating community action (Bishop 2016).

Green Peace

Source: https://www.deeson.co.uk/blog/5-steps-making-some-noise-greenpeace-way

GetUp.org

Source: http://budgetfightback.getup.org.au/

An online campaign through GetUp.org toward Joe Hockey’s budget did have an human interest, it was a social movement to show the government how unimpressed society was with the budget handed down.   

Change.org

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottdavis/2012/11/12/change-afoot-at-change-org-how-altering-an-ad-policy-alters-a-brand-positioning/#2c33bd0d766d.

Activism - social media style

GetUp.org

Green Peace

Change.org

These organisations make use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs to spread their message and raise funds for their campaigns (Bishop 2016).

By using social media as a platform to get a message across, organisations have the opportunity to reach millions across continents to anyone who has access to the internet. 

‘Digital Activism can be defined as the practice of using digital technology to increase the effectiveness of a social or political change campaign’ (Ventura 2012).

Not all digital activism is focused on global or local campaigns with a human, animal or health interest. The likes of Green Peace, Change.Org, GetUp.org to name a few do focus on such global social change - Kony 2012 ‘invisible children’ global campaign is a prime example of social media activism. 

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

 ‘In the 21st Century, the work of modern social movements can be solitary, anonymous, and take place on digital devices, through email, and social media campaigns often seek to mobilize supporters‘ intellectual resources, as much as, if not more than their time and dollars.’ (Butler 2011).

It is interesting to note that the downside of what can appear to be a good cause and ends up feeling like the end result doesn’t match the original goal. This was the case with Invisible Children - ‘Kony 2012′ campaign. “A case of empowering ordinary people to feel part of something, but many of those same people felt let down with realisation that it was relatively 'empty' connection with no significant result (Bishop 2016).

Other digital types

Cultural Jamming...

 Activism, on a globalist scale to affect change within the world - evoking social movements, that make a difference from being part of the digital citizenship, among the digital world is how organisations like Adbusters come to fruition.....stemming from cultural jamming:

“a form of political and social activism which, by means of fake adverts,hoax news stories, pastiches of company logos and product labels,computer hacking, etc, draws attention to and at the same time subverts the power of the media, governments, and large corporations to control and distort the information that they give to the public in order to promote consumerism, militarism, etc” (Dictionary n,d).

Adbusters, devoted to social and political issues, usually anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist in nature (Bishop 2016). This kind of social activism encourages society to think, be informed, not be swayed by mass consumerist behaviours or swooned by large corporations or political parties....A thought - how biased are these digital cowboys who seek to free society from the grips of capitalism and consumerist culture? Are they then swayed by the digital masses to get our attention and following.....?

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/weber2016/censorship/

References

Bishop, R 2016, ‘MDA20009: Digital CommunitiesWeek 6: Digital citizenship 2 - Activism and protest ’. Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 7 December, viewed 5 February 2016.

Butler, M 2011, Clicktivism, Slacktivism, OR Real activism, cultural codes of american activism in the internet era, University of Colorado, viewed 5 February 2016, <http://individual.utoronto.ca/christine/sources/clicktivism.pdf>.

Culture jamming. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Viewed February 06, 2016 from Dictionary.com website http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture jamming

Ventura, M 2012, A Global Phenomenon, Digital Activism: A revolution for change, viewed 5 February 2016, <https://xomariee.wordpress.com/>.

Images

Censorship,viewed, 5 february 2016, https://www.pinterest.com/weber2016/censorship/

Change Afoot at Change.org: How Altering an Ad Policy Alters a Brand Positioning, Forbes, viewed 5 February 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottdavis/2012/11/12/change-afoot-at-change-org-how-altering-an-ad-policy-alters-a-brand-positioning/#2c33bd0d766d.

 5 steps to making some noise, the Greenpeace way, Deeson, viewed 5 February 2016, https://www.deeson.co.uk/blog/5-steps-making-some-noise-greenpeace-way.

GetUp’s Budget Fightback, GetUp.org, viewed 5 February 2016, http://budgetfightback.getup.org.au/

A Global Phenomenon, Digital Activism, viewed 5 February 2016, <https://xomariee.wordpress.com/>.

Videos

Kony 2012, Invisible Children, 5 March, viewed 22 September 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc>.

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Week 5: Digital citizenship 1 - Politics and civic cultures

source: http://blog.thepitagroup.com/2013/getting-political-on-social-media-what-your-elected-officials-are-tweeting/

Civic cultures and politics

In a society where digital technology is the norm, politicians have no other choice but to engage their potential voters on social media platforms. These digital platforms allow campaigns to be broadcast, information to be distributed, political agendas to be spread. All through the the digital technological channels - the internet and social media platforms, (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube to name a few) - to reach the civic culture:

“The civic culture is pluralistic, and “based on communication and persuasion, a culture of consensus and diversity, a culture that permits change but moderates it”. (Almond&Verba 1963, cited in Ribble).

This weeks readings explore the above civic cultures, digital citizenship and how democracy and politics are now being played out online and through social media platforms, by politicians and political parties. 

Digital citizenship can be defined as the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use” (Ribble 2016).

There are positives and negatives to using digital technology and social media for political parties and politicians. None more so than the parody done on Saturday Night Live by Tina Fey, imitating Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Opening the doors for citizens to weigh in on the political campaigns, through opinions and curating or circulating non-official political media content. (Blackboard 2016). Some say the impact the parody had on the legitimacy of Sarah Palins candidacy was affected. 

Source: Palin/Hillary Open – Saturday Night Live (2013) <http://bit.ly/1ozhBYk>

Politicians using social media platforms

When heading to Australian political parties or candidates, one needs to look no further than Mike Baird, NSW premier. His strong social media presence on twitter and Facebook is prominent. Premier Baird is seizing the opportunity to hold a positive position on social media instead of attacking his political opponents. 

Source: http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/1beb197a2487c14b3c4b3ed3fec9a05a

While his tweets veer toward a personal level and about everyday happenings - like watching, “The Bachelor’, he forms a real life connection with the public, especially the younger generation, by being engaging on Twitter or Facebook. In return this opens the floodgates for the public to respond and be involved. 

Source: http://www.amsrs.com.au/events/event/vic-srn-politics-social-media

The following YouTube video is from Jodi Dean arguing the point that all the social media activity that we've assumed is liberating political participation, might not be as productive as we would like to think.....

Source: IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 - Jodi Dean (2013) <http://bit.ly/1q5rYZn>

References

Bishop, R 2016, ‘MDA20009: Digital CommunitiesWeek 5: Digital citizenship 1 - Politics and civic cultures’. Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 30 November, viewed 5 February 2016.

Ribble, M 2016, Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship, Digital Citizenship, viewed 5 February 2016, <http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html>.  

Riley, J n,d., Almond and Verba's Civic Culture, Civic Culture, viewed 5 February 2016, <http://academic.regis.edu/jriley/205civicculture.htm>.

Images

Fresh Pita 2013, Getting political on social media: What your elected officials are tweeting, The pita group, viewed 5 February 2016, 

http://blhttp://blog.thepitagroup.com/2013/getting-political-on-social-media-what-your-elected-officials-are-tweeting/

Friday Social: Mike Baird’s Bachelor Tweets, Steve Buscemi and BBC gaffe, viewed 5 February 2016,<http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/1beb197a2487c14b3c4b3ed3fec9a05a>

VIC GSRN: Playing Politics in Social, viewed 5 February 2016, <Mediahttp://www.amsrs.com.au/events/event/vic-srn-politics-social-media>

Videos:

DCU School of Communication 2013, IAMCR 2013 Plenary No. 3 - Jodi Dean, 3 July, viewed 5 February 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ABPuNQ6IU>

Saturday Night Live 2013, Palin/Hillary Open – Saturday Night Live, 23 September, viewed 5 February 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSOLz1YBFG0> 

[studentmedia-blog]

Blog 3 - Social media driven politics

Social media has become a popular platform for individuals to socialise, and for businesses to promote their products, services and specials. More recently, politicians have caught onto this trend and have begun using social media to promote their campaigns and agendas. A well known example of this is the biggest tweet of all time, which was an image and caption ‘four more years’ by American President Barrack Obama. This tweet has had over 7 million retweets (Social Squared, 2013). However, even though this tweet was positively received, can one argue that one ‘like, ‘share’ or ‘retweet’ equals the equivalent of one vote? Politicians are scrambling to be both culturally relevant and popular with key demographics who drive the use of social media.

According to Bennett (2008), the future of democracy is in the hands of these young citizens of the so-called ‘digital age’. This is because many of today’s youth are digitally driven, whether it be through the use of laptops, tablets or smartphones. Access to social media and up to date information is always at the fingertips of society. This can also mean that users are able to access unflattering content about an individual. An example of this was during the 2012 Queensland Election Campaign. At the time ALP candidate Peter Watson found that posting comments on blogs can come back to haunt you, as homophobic comments he had made as a 15 year old on blogs (such as slackbastard) led to him being forced to resign his candidacy (Jericho, 2012).

Politicians, like most of the younger segments in society, are using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to promote their agenda. However, it may be presumptuous to assume social media political campaigns will override more ‘traditional media’ streams when trying to reach today’s youth. According to Auvien (2012), traditional media, with their television broadcasts, newspapers and magazines, are in active interaction with social media: traditional media follows the lead of social media, but aspects of the latter can also be found in the former. It is therefore important that politicians consider ‘traditional media’ in their marketing plan.

Media outlets have also diversified their method of reporting on elections and current events. For example, The Huffington Post transformed from a blog to a ‘fully fledged online newspaper’, and had involved 12000 citizens in reporting on the election in what was hailed as ‘the first open platform election coverage term (Young 2010). The use of hashtags in the political arena can have both positive and negative consequences. For example, during early 2015, then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott made a 79 second media statement. This was followed by ridicule by the Australian public who kicked off a #ThingsLongerThanAbbottsPressConference campaign (Hebber, 2015). This contributed to the already highly ridiculed Prime Minstership of Abbott and created a negative PR storm.

Social media and the digital world has created both new dilemmas for today’s politicians. The extended digital reach for politicians has allowed them to enter new audiences and become more ‘relevant’. But this has also created a fast and publicly documented platform for their ‘dirty’ laundry.

Again, it begs discussion about whether a like, share or positive comment actually impacts votes… or does it merely play host to an online popularity contest?

References

Auvinen, AM 2012, Social Media- The new power of political influence, Suomen Toivo -Think Tank, viewed 5 December 2015, <http://www.martenscentre.eu/sites/default/files/publication-files/social-media-and-politics-power-political-influence.pdf>

Bennet, WL 2008, Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age, Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth, viewed  5 December 2015, <http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51ede959e4b0de4b8d24e8a9/t/525485cde4b0843ea38965df/1381270989265/Ciberciudadan%C3%ADa+y+opini%C3%B3n+p%C3%BAblica.pdf>

Heber, A (2015), Australian Twitter is having a stack of fun with these political hashtags, Business Insider Australia, viewed 5 December 2015, <http://www.businessinsider.com.au/there-are-some-hilarious-libspill-hashtags-trending-on-twitter-this-afternoon-2015-2>

Found media group 2014, ‘Vote social media’ [image], Found media group, viewed 5 December 2015, <http://foundmediagroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Vote_Social-Media.jpg>

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

Social Squared 2013, ‘Role of Social Media In Politics’, 23 September, viewed 4 December 2015, <https://youtu.be/UEuvNduQ97A>

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

[tanyasdigitalcommsblog-blog]

It’s very interesting to see how the role of ‘traditional media’ has changed with the rise of ‘digital media’. I think it’s great how programs such as Q&A and DIY shows have links to social media. But I think (mostly) when I switch on the Television these days I like to just watch and be entertained. 

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Interesting read! It’s like the NSW premier Mike Baird who’s certainly made a name for himself in the twitter-sphere with his live tweeting and engaging with society through social media platforms.....

[mysocialmediafan-deactivated201]

Week 4 - Blogging Practices

I must admit when I first saw that part of our assignment was to create and maintain a blog I went into panic mode, why?  I am a private person and certainly don’t want to share my every thought with people, but hey if I have to do so I will. 

Let’s start with the basics -   What is a blog, which site do I use, how easy is it to use.

Looking on the internet I found a multitude of website dedicated to the world of blogging, which included everything from how to create a blog, to what to blog about.

Great, awesome, will bookmark these for future use, but I want to know what is a blog!  Finally came across this Youtube video which I think gives a great explanation and example of a blog.

So a blog is essentially where you share, your thoughts and passions with the public. So is it considered as public?  Well what are publics?  Publics can be defined as a space which allows free exchange of information, ideas, attitudes and options.  So yes a blog can be considered as a public.

So how do I set up a blog and what do I use?  Talking to some friends and family they all said it’s easy Dione, just log on to one of the free websites and go from there…er ok, but what sites do I use to blog.

There are 3 popular blogging websites, Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr, which are all free to use, however of the 3 Wordpress seems to be most popular, with both a free and a self-hosted blog (pay $$$ to maintain and post) .  It is important to note that if you are posting on free blog websites you do not own the blog as it hosted on someone else’s website.

The following table shows the Top 100 blogs by blogging platform

My friends were right it looks easy….30 minutes later….Ahhhhh…why is every blog name I want taken…1 hour later…how the hell do I change this stupid design….2 hours later…..how do I post…riiiiiiight this is soooooo easy !!!! Who blogs then?  A few years ago blogging and social media were separate, now they coexist and complement each other.  Blogging has now become mainstream and everyday people, with no technical ability whatsoever (of who I am one of), can write on blogs.  

Susan Gunelus a blogging expert at about.com, published an article giving the top ten reasons people blog, amongst them are to help others, to market and promote something and to make money. (Hmmm maybe this blogging thing has merit).

Trolling….ehmm…researching blogs on the web showed an eclectic range of blogs, everything from gardening, cooking, celebrity scandal to political rumour and advice on investments.  There was even a show created called Fashion Blogger depicting how bloggers are making their mark in the fashion world through blogging.

Considering the above I have to say I am relieved that my blog doesn’t have to be about my innermost thoughts and feelings, it can just be about things I like such as music, fashion or books, or just a medium for me to release the frustrated writer in me….if I can only figure out how to change the text!!!

References: Gunelius S Top 10 Reasons to Start Blogging, available from http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/c.php?g=324809&p=2178053 viewed 27 November 2015. Knapp J Choose the Best Blogging Platform Comparison 2015 2, January 2015 available from http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/choosing-a-blogging-platform-quick-reference/ viewed 28 November 2015 Knapp J Blogging Basics 101 - How to start a Blog - Beginners guide for 2015 31 October 2015 available from http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/how-do-i-start-a-blog/ viewed 29 November 2015 Social Media Buff Available from http://socialmediabuff.com/thoughts-and-musings-weekly-updates/find-hardest-blogging-weekly-update10-part-2/ viewed 29 November 2015 What is a blog? Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjwUHXoi8lM viewed 27 November 2015 What is the best blogging platform? Advantages and Disadvantages Available from http://onlineincometeacher.com/tips/whats-the-best-blogging-platform-advantages-disadvantages/  viewed 29 November 2015

[my-digital-world-blog]

Engaging post! I laughed about your experience of setting up a blog, I read an article on the topic of setting up a blog which left me scratching my head. I balked at the thought of not having ownership over the content but also not keen to put my hand in my pocket to fork out hard earned cash each month for a hobby. Well done for committing to the process and setting up your very own blog.

[sayitisntsojo-blog]

Great post! I don’t know if I could do this as a profession or a hobby...here I was thinking you just throw a few worlds on a page and you’ve blogged. Easy shmeasy - not yet for me I have to say!