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Blog 5 – Trolling and Social Media Conflict

This week the first article was ‘Trolling as Provocation’ (McCosker, 2014). McCosker (2014) discusses two events in New Zealand that took place in 2011 and were publicised through the social media platform YouTube. These events were the Christchurch earthquake and the Flash Mob Haka. A lot of these videos were uploaded without any consideration for the people and their country. Several comments were at times were filled with criticism.

The next reading was a few pages of ‘It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens’ by dana boyd. I found this a very interesting read about teenage bullying. In this article, dana boyd (2014) discusses how teenagers do not always understand the consequence of their actions of bullying. Until teenagers start to realise the hurt and pain they inflict on others, they will continue to follow the current destructive path. Although bullying has been around for a long time, social media has made bullying more visible to people (Boyd,2014).

In 2012 anti-bullying laws have been implemented, with specific provisions for online bullying (Boyd 2012). The way we use social media today may cause conflict, sometimes even without realising it. People tend to hide behind their computer or smartphone to troll or bully others. It’s sad to see how selfish and unsocial society has become.

While writing this blog, my son showed me a video that had just been posted on Facebook of a former soccer player inappropriately rubbing his daughters’ chest during the national anthem. The anthem was played just before a soccer match that evening. At the time of watching this video, I found it quite disturbing. The former soccer player was instantly trolled, mainly on Twitter (Daily Telegraph, 2016). Although I too found this behaviour inappropriate, especially on live television, I did not find the need to express my disgust on social media.

I think it is very important for Australia to dedicate an Ombudsman to online safety for everyone, not just children. I couldn’t find a website that was available for adults to find help. Yes children are more susceptible to cyber bullying; however adults are just as susceptible to cyberbullying. If an adult has was bullied as a child, moving into adulthood, and still being bullied, might cause a lot of mental health issues. Luckily for me, in my adulthood I have not experienced or know of anyone who has been bullied this way.

References

Boyd, D 2014, ‘Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp 128-52.

Daily Telegraph, 2016, “SBS TV presenter Craig Foster trolled over footage of him with daughter at soccer match”, viewed 8 January, 2016, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/sbs-tv-presenter-craig-foster-trolled-over-footage-of-him-with-daughter-at-soccer-match/story-fni0cvc12277014062679->.

McCosker, A 2014, YouTrolling as provocation: Tube’s agonistics publics, Convergence, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217.

martha-browning-blog

I really enjoyed your breakdown of what you got from the weekly readings and think it is very important for adults to have support for bullying as well!

melje-digital-comms-deactivated

I thought this was really great. Thanks for sharing.

socialhouse-blog1

This was a great read which covered anti bullying laws. It's great to share that there is a difference being made for this issue.

melje-digital-comms-deactivated

#6 Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

In many situations of crisis and disaster, our media and communication technologies are vital in the delivery of precise and timely information, as well as planning and preparing for natural disasters, and organising action and the process of recovery. During this time we also see a great deal of innovation in use of communication tools, particularly social media (Learning materials, 2015).

Crowdsourcing is increasingly becoming a vital and reliable source of information as it not only assists emergency services and the media during times of crisis, but it can educate, keep records, produce powerful sources of information, act as a communication tool, and alleviate further destruction and even save lives in a crisis situation or emergency (Ford, 2012).

(YouTube, 2010)

The two main platforms that are used for crowdsourcing include Twitter and Ushahidi, and are used for communication, raising awareness, tracking/mapping affected areas and raising funds. Communication is very important in a crisis and using an online platform increases the speed that information is available (Ford, 2012).

In 2012, a year after the Queensland floods, it was noted that the Queensland Police Media Twitter feed was the most visible presence in the information being distributed throughout the crisis (Posetti, 2012). By using social media, particularly twitter as a form of communication, emergency services were able to successfully inform both residence of the Queensland community and the Australian public about what was happening and the specific measures being taken to ensure everyone’s safety.

(Kerschberg, 2014)

References

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

Kerschberg, B (2014) How Strategic CMOs Use Crowdsourcing to Win [image] available at: http://www.forbes.com - accessed 15 January 2016

Posetti, J (2012) The twitterisation of ABC’s emergency and disaster communication, The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 27(1), pp.34-39

YouTube (2010) [Video] available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buyub6vIG3Q - accessed 16 January 2016

socialhouse-blog1

Great post! It is simple and informative covering areas like Twitter and Ushahidi that play a major role when it comes to crowd sourcing during a disaster. Especially with assisting emergency services in their effort to help people in the affected area.

comm-online-blog

Blog Post #8: Let The Games Begin

I never would have considered myself to be a gamer. I’ve never been into Call of Duty, Fallout or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft and Eve Online. The popularity of social games has risen, creating networks and profiting from social media sites such as Facebook, the digital gaming community has expanded to include players of Zynga’s FarmVille and King’s Candy Crush; games which I too, have fallen victim too. Has online gaming become more socially acceptable?

Eve Online is a MMORPG set in space - players explore galaxies, fights battles, build and destroy empires and participate in economic warfare. According to Eve Online player, Jestertrek, there are 21,000 concurrent players, having reached peaks of approximately 36,000 players in the past (Martin, 2015). Players can interact, socialise and communicate in fan forums, as well as with the Council of Stellar Management (CSM) to contribute to game management. CSM is a player-elected representative board who relays player concerns, statistics and suggests implementation of change to the game developers - CCP (Crowd Control Productions).

In 1938, Johan Huizinga introduced the analogy of the magic circle, proposing that events within games world are ‘quarantined from the ‘real world’’ (de Zwart & Humphreys, 2014, p.91). Are social games and MMORPGs blurring the line between real world and gaming? The analogy of the magic circle suggests that in the gaming world, everyday rules and morally acceptable conduct are altered for virtual space.

Eve Online players must accept the EULA (End User License Agreement) before commencing. Within the gaming world murder, theft and abusive language are key to the role playing, gaming experience, with players harassing others to maintain dominance and seize control of property. However, ‘abusive, defamatory, ethically or racially offensive, harassing, harmful hateful, obscene, offensive, sexually explicit, threatening or vulgar language’ are all in violation of the terms of service (de Zwart & Humphreys, 2014, p.80).

The Mittani - CSM member and Goonswarm Alliance leader, received a thirty-day ban before leaving the council following his inappropriate behaviour at the March 2012 EVE Fanfest. The presentation at the Alliance Panel was streamed live, discussing how an anonymous player was being repeatedly harassed and killed, scammed out of his in-game currency (InterStellar Kredits), believing he would be protected. In a chat forum the player announced he was divorced; suggesting suicidal tendencies. Alex Gianturco (The Mittani) then revealed the players in-game name, for those who ‘want to make the guy kill himself’ (de Zwart & Humphreys, 2014, p.88). He later apologised for breaching the EULA and terms of service. Gianturco’s address was leaked, receiving rape threats against his wife (de Zwart & Humphreys, 2014, p.91). Is this response justified?

The Mittani’s 2012 Fanfest case demonstrates how ‘out-of-game behavior can be punished through in-game sanctions’ (de Zwart & Humphreys, 2014, p.88).

Eve Online 2003, Council of Stellar Management, Evelopedia, viewed 28/01/2016 <https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Council_of_Stellar_Management>

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.

Lefebvre, E 2012, The Mittani gets hit with ban and resigns in wake of EVE Online controversy, engadget, 28th March, viewed 28/01/2016 <http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/28/the-mittani-gets-hit-with-ban-and-resigns-in-wake-of-eve-online/>

Martin, M 2015, ‘EVE Online’s player count drops to lowest since 2008’, VG247, 29th June, viewed 29/01/2016 <https://www.vg247.com/2015/06/29/eve-onlines-player-count-drops-to-lowest-since-2008/>

The Mitten 2012, 27th March, Apology on Eve Online discussion forum, viewed 29/01/2016

<https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=86980>

suaybreeze-blog

The pattern of negative social media behaviour with activities such as online bullying, trolling, and antisocial gamers is quite stark, don’t you think? To some degree they all use the cloak of anonymity or virtual environments to abscond from the responsibility of real world social norms, preferring traits such as intimidation, manipulation, mistreatment of others, and predatory habits toward their target audience. Perhaps a percentage of gaming profit should be afforded to social interventions that promote rewards for shared cooperation, and stricter punishment for violence and victimisation. Thanks for an insightful post. ☺

bevsblog-world-blog

I totally agree with you. Gaming has changed the way some people behave inside and outside of the game.

socialhouse-blog1

After reading this blog post I can comfortably answer the question of 'has online gamin hung become more socially acceptable?'. Online gaming has become a social phenomenon connecting people together through active online gaming. Wether it is friends, family or strangers these games have become a social norm because of the platform it is presented on, social media.

ka88ee-blog

Online Gaming

These days most of our entertainment and leisure comes from online, after all we live in a world where puzzles, board games and other traditional forms of playing are now done through the use of computers and smart phones (Lee 2015).

Online Gaming Etiquette

Even with online gaming there is a general expectation from gamers in regards to etiquette. But unfortunately, there are ethical measures that are broken by online gamers, and the most serious issue tends to be the lack of security and privacy in the online world, that then leaves the door wide open for cheating (Lee 2015). Cheating is actually a preexisting issue that appears in any form of competitive formats. In online gaming the absence of face-to-face interaction allows gamers to secretly use search engines to download cheat codes in order to gain an unfair advantage when gaming online against other people (Lee 2015). While this may not directly be hurting people, it does take away the fun from online gaming, and is unfortunately tarnishing its name.

Addiction to Online Gaming

Online gaming addiction has recently become a very real problem for many people, especially teenagers. Online games tend to be addictive because they have no ending, and therefore gamers can enjoy creating and becoming an online character that lives in a world where they can escape their fears, and leave their regular life and their problems behind for a period of time (Psych Guides 2014).

There are emotional and physical symptoms of online gaming addiction according to Psych Guides (2014), some signs are:

Emotional:

Feelings of restlessness and becoming irritable when unable to play

Preoccupation with thoughts of wanting to play the game

Isolation fro others due to the amount of time spent playing the game.

Physical:

Fatigue

Headaches or migraines due to eyestrain

Poor personal hygiene due to lack of time.

Help for Online Gaming Addiction

There is treatment available for online gaming addiction, including different types of therapy. Some treatment options include:

Medications (although this opens a whole new can of worms with concerns of substance abuse and overdose, or the addict not taking the medication or forgetting it)

Counseling

Psychological help

Unfortunately there are always going to be issues associated with online gaming, as there are always people who need to break the rules and regulations.

References

Lee (2015). Online Gaming [online] Available at https://sites.utexas.edu/emilyleeincyberspace/2015/12/01/online-health-information/

Psych Guides (2014) Video Game Addiction Symptoms, Causes and Effects [online] Available at http://www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/

socialhouse-blog1

I like how it his blog post covers game addiction. These games are created for social platforms with a goal to attract and achieve commitment to the game. Unaware, the players play constantly in competitive modes with their social circles where constant gaming leads to addiction.

Social games are a structured activity which has contextual rules through which users can engage with one another. Social games must be multiplayer and have one or more of the following features: turn-based, are based on social platforms for providing users with an identity and are casual (O’Neil, 2008).

This week we focus on Social gaming: playing the crowd. Online games that have connected to social media such as Facebook have established a strong platform to expand on. What appeared to be revolutionary about this new series of games was the turn-based model that was seamlessly integrated into the Facebook experience (O’Neil, 2008). One game that stands out and became a global sensation on Facebook was Candy Crush. A game that was created to play online with friends to view progress points of each person on your friends list. Additionally, both candy crush and Tap Fish make use of sociability with in the game itself by offering the player the opportunity to publish scores and screenshots on Facebook (Wilson & Lever, 2016 pg.128). This also created a sense of competition to play in order to beat your friends at particular levels to be on the highest level above everyone else. This also benefits the creators of Candy Crush as they profit from purchasing tips and shortcuts throughout the game.

This week we also explore the power of online gaming connected with social gaming. One most recent and up-to-date game is Eve Online. 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 (de Zwart & Humphreys 2014). This game is widely popular and unique in certain aspects when it comes to the allowance of players to communicate with the platform managers to change or advise of what is positive and negative about the game to better manage the development.

Overall during this unit and this semester I have come to an understanding that social media is not just communicating on-line with friends or family or even strangers. Social media has become a platform to interact in many different ways one fine example being social gaming. Social media can in some cases be detrimental when it comes to bullying and trolling and lead to teen suicide. There are other cases where social media is a reliable source when it comes to natural disasters and crowdsourcing to provide aid through emergency services to save lives.

In conclusion there are pros and cons when discussing social media and its uses.

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.

EVE Online, 2014, viewed 24 September 2015, <www.eveonline.com>.

Leaver, T, Wilson, M 2016, Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape, Bloomsbury Publishing, New York.

O’Niel, N 2008, What Exactly are Social Games?, Social Times, Viewed 01 February 2016, <https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-5190913-dt-content-rid-26655218_2/courses/2015-SO3-MDA20009-210404/UnitLearningMaterials/references.html>

Week 9 readings and topic was based around Visual communities and social imaging. This week we covered sub topics of ubiquitous photography, visible publics, networked visually, videos of affinity and selfie culture.

Reading one ‘videos of affinity on YouTube’ it focuses primarily around how videos on you tube can build connections and affiliations. Some people might equate videos of affinity to amateur video blogs because they are both assumed to focus on home-based forms of video making. (Lange, 2009). Videos of affinity are for example the makeup based tutorials that are posted on YouTube and that been so successful that a community has been established for that makeup artist due to the connection that is built towards them. Affinity is achieved through activities of social bonding in which people come to feel connected with one another, readying them for further communication (Lange, 2009). One fine example of videos of affinity on YouTube is the famous blogger and YouTube contributor ‘Carly Bybel’ with more than 4 million subscribers she started with a simple in home curling and straightening hair tutorial and soon after focused on makeup and beauty tips.

There are a number of platforms that encourage visual communication such as flicker and Instagram. Through these platforms of social media came the discovery of the selfie. A selfie is a staged photo of you with an exaggerated or unusual expression that we show to others, “just for fun”, like we tell our selves (Di Cola,2014). One of the possible side-effects has been that we care more than ever before about how we appear and, as a consequence, social acceptance comes only when the outside world accepts the way we look, rather than endorsing the work we do or the way we behave off-camera (Day, 2014). Therefore social media and social interaction has led to us creating an image that we want the world to see rather than posting genuine phots of ourselves to social media platforms.

Overall visual communities are set up to connect with the person in the video. The selfie image has become a popular phenomenon that has been highly used in the resent years and encouraged with products like the selfie stick and social media websites such as Instagram, Facebook and Flicker.

This, then, is the selfie: the self-portrait of the digital age (Day, 2013).

Day, E. (2013). How selfies became a global phenomenon. The Gaurdian, Accessed 1 Feb. 2016, <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/14/how-selfies-became-a-global-phenomenon>,

Di Cola, P 2014, You Are Photogenic: Discover Your True Self With Photo Image In the Age of the Selfie, Lulu Press, Inc.

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

pleasantlycrookedstrawberry-blog

A Changing World - The Crowdsourcing Phenomenon

No where has social media had a bigger, more distinct impact than the phenomenon of crowdsourcing. A real-time, socially driven wave of thoughts, opinions and news can flood across the digital community, providing a source of information rich in diversity, clarity and, often first hand encounters.

As we have already discovered, a broad based definition of crowdsourcing is probably best put as ‘the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers’ (Merriam Webster Online 2014).

The concept of people informing people, growing an intertwined web of information, analysis and opinion on major topics, such as major natural disasters or, in more recent times the deaths of celebrities like David Bowie or Alan Rickman means that a digital community gives its citizenry the chance to shape and delivery the news themselves in whichever way they see fit or, in whichever way they believe the particular digital community to which they belong will be at its most receptive.

As we saw with the birth and growth of the ‘Random Hacks of Kindness Australia’ or RHoK group, a self-described “part of a global community of technologists and changemakers who are hacking for good”, the idea that the crowd at large can source from itself a group of people dedicated to acts of kindness and virtuosity is a testament in itself to the strength of ideology and sense of community that can be developed in the digital world when a topic or issue drives significant community involvement and societal thinking.

It is, of course no surprise that the same people with a strong will toward community service and acts of kindness in the real, tangible world would continue to exhibit those traits in a strictly digital sense as well. People have long been, on a whole, charitable beyond what could be expected. From buying raffle tickets to dropping a few dollars into a busker’s hat, people tend to be inherently on the side of helping out a fellow citizen in need.

As digital communities have grown, they have begun to better represent the populous of the physical world, in all their strengths and weaknesses. Last week we looked at weaknesses like bullying and how they have transitioned into the digital age, but now, in essence, through the concept of crowdsourcing, we’re looking directly at the more positive aspects of the digital citizenry.

This thought, that, through crowdsourcing we are given an opportunity to participate in real-world events in real time is a staggeringly beautiful thought. Not so long ago, if a disaster took place somewhere in the world, in a far-flung corner of the world some distance from you, you would rely solely on the nightly news or the morning newspapers for any tidbits of information or scraps of news coming through.

Nowadays, thanks to the accessibility and ease of the digital world, members of the digital community who are in much closer proximity to a disaster, event or just about anything of interest can post images, thoughts, comments and video footage of what is happening, in real time for the ease of consumption anywhere around the world.

It really is a thought-provoking and stunningly simple concept that has become a social norm in the digital community.

hannahyoungblog

You have displayed a fantastic understanding of crowdsourcing through a number of interesting paragraphs! Great job.

socialhouse-blog1

A very good read about crowd sourcing is most deffinetle u shows your understanding of the topic especially after completing a group assessment on this topic it was a great recap of what we have learnt. Crowd sourcing is beneficial in times of crisis and can assist emergency services with facts and numbers.

melje-digital-comms-deactivated

#7 Visual communities and social imaging

As well as posting updates and statuses about what is going on in our lives, social media has evolved to allow us to engage and connect with others through sharing images and videos with those we choose to connect with.

From YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, imaging and videos have become an integral part of the formation of social networks as they enable new visual modes of expression, sharing and communication (Learning Materials, 2016).

A ‘selfie’ is a photograph taken of oneself by oneself but usually not for oneself (Menaker, 2013). Selfies have altered the aspects of social interaction, self-awareness, body language, privacy and humour, altering temporality, irony, and public behaviour (Selfie City 2014).

(Twitter, 2014)

The development of the photo and video has led to the conception of social media apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, which facilitate and encourage this evolution.

Instagram being described as a breeding ground for many people’s narcissistic tendencies, whilst the term ‘Selfies’ has been called a symptom of social media-driven narcissism (Titlow, 2013).

Reference

Menaker, D (2013) ‘Taking Our Selfies Seriously’, New York Times, 23 November, viewed 24 January 2016, Academic OneFile, Swinburne University Online library

Selfie City (2014) viewed 24 January 2016, http://selfiecity.net/

Titlow, J (2013) #Me: Instagram Narcissism And The Scourge Of The Selfie [online] Readwrite.com, available at: http://readwrite.com/2013/01/31/instagram-selfies-narcissism, accessed 24 January 2016

Twitter (2014) Ellen DeGeneres on Twitter [online] available at: https://twitter.com/theellenshow/status/440322224407314432, accessed 23 January 2016

socialhouse-blog1

Selfies have most definitely have altered the aspects of social interaction and self awareness. Selfies have known to be linked to Narcism. This affects social interaction when taking a photo and when not taking a photo. Self centred personality traits are known to be presented at these times. There are a number of image apps that are easily assessable to the public when posting an image such as snap chat, Instagram and flicker.

ka88ee-blog

But First, Let Me Take A Selfie!

We now live in an era where everything ends up on social media. Remember that night you partied a bit too hard? Well, you probably don’t, but guess what? Facebook is about to remind you! And that photo of you and your friends where you look like you have 3 chins, well that’s just been posted on Instagram! Nothing stays private anymore, with more and more information filling up our news feeds, available for visible publics to consume and make use of.

Selfies are extremely popular within our society today, but sadly what seems like a bit of fun, actually creates narcissists to become involved. Studies have been conducted to show that there is a correlation between narcissism and selfie-posting among men (Seidman 2015). The study measured narcissism and selfie-posting behavior in two groups (one group had 748 adults, and the other had 548 adults) (Seidman 2015). The results showed women post more selfies than men (no surprise there!). In terms of narcissistic behavior, different facets of narcissism were examined:

Self-sufficiency

Vanity

Leadership

Admiration Demand

The study concluded that in general people are good at detecting narcissists from their profiles, mainly in selfies that actually indicate narcissism, but there was a small yet consistent correlation between narcissism and selfie-posting (Seidman 2015).

Social Imaging

We all have connections with other human beings, and these patterns of connections are always changing, and part of that change is due to the role of technology. This is a great video that explains why looking at online social data is only a small part of the picture.

https://vimeo.com/70534716

Social imaging is basically a technology that is used to represent and identify social behaviors (social imaging 2014). These are technologies that are able to visualize the biological functions and behaviors that can not be seen from the outside, also known as imaging (social imaging 2014).

Privacy, a thing of the past?

With people constantly uploading to social media, and being able to ‘check in’, there are concerns for the continuing lack of privacy on people’s lives. While this mostly comes as choice for people, the Australian Government has issued a page to help people use social media safely. The Australian Government (2015) recommends the following to stay safe when using social media:

Read and understand social networking privacy settings, be aware of what you share and who you are sharing it with.

Ensure you read and understand any terms and conditions before accepting and agreeing to them.

Protect your accounts with strong passwords.

Think before you post—people other than your friends and family may see what you post online.

Think before you click—remember that it can be difficult or impossible to remove posted photos or information after the event.

Be careful posting information that could compromise your or others the security, such as:

date of birth

address

information about your daily routine

holiday plans

your children’s schools.

Consider turning off geolocation features in social networking apps.

Don’t post inappropriate photos of you or your family and friends, and always seek permission before posting a picture of someone else.

Never click on suspicious links, even if they are from your friends, as their social media account may have been hacked.

Be wary of strangers as people are not always who they say they are.

Never access social networking by clicking a link in an email or other website.

Don’t use social networking sites that do not offer any privacy settings or that enable users to contact each other anonymously.

References

Seidman (2015) What is the Real Link Between Selfies and Narcissism? [online] Available at https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/close-encounters/201508/what-is-the-real-link-between-selfies-and-narcissism

Social Imaging (2014) Welcome to Social Imaging [online] Available at http://socialimaging.blogspot.com.au/

Social Imaging (2014) What is Social Imaging? [online] Available at http://social-imaging.org/crest/english/social-imaging/

Australian Government (2015). Socializing [online] Available at https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/internet/stay-smart-online/socialising

socialhouse-blog1

I especially like the stay safe tips from the government when using social media. I completely agree with each and every point. There are a number of social media users that don't pay attention to these warning signs and regret their decisions when posting images or selfies on social media. I especially like the study you have made about the connection between narcosis and selfies in male behaviour.

For a very broad definition, we could say that crowdsourcing is 'the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers' (Merriam Webster Online 2014).

Crowdsourcing is increasingly becoming a vital and reliable source of information in times of crisis situations. Crowdsourcing is a method for recruiting and organizing ad-hoc labor using an open-call for participation (Howe, 2006). Due to the convenience of the Internet and social media crowdsourcing has also become a speedy way to obtain information for planning and preparing for natural disasters. Even though social media platforms generally provide useful information during a disaster there are two main platforms that are more reliable than others. Ushahidi and Twitter have proven to have become instant and reliable sources. As Gao, Barbier and Goolsby (2011) states these platforms visualize data for relief decision making. Allowing the relief organizations to concentrate on providing instant relief for the needy rather than spending time achieving data in order to do so.

Overall the use of crowdsourcing through social media has proven to be dependable in a time of crisis. Through the simple method of Gate watchers

Gathering information on social Media and distributing it based on truth and reoccurrence of a topic, theme or trend broadens the reach of the information allowing a number of agencies, media broadcasters and relief organizations to obtain data for beneficial use. Emergency services have benefited from the use of twitter during natural disasters. Crowdsourcing can provide faster localized information for situational awareness and assistance in disaster (Tierney,2014).

Surprisingly, researchers have learned that social capital is the most important driver of resilience – more so than economic and material resources. (Tierney, 2014). The use of information based on a disaster from social media have proven to be highly beneficial where the advantages out way the limitations.

During week 8 my group presented a short slide presentation for our learning group and tutor. The process of working in a team was quite enjoyable I learnt thoroughly about the topic and it made me understand how important it is to share ideas and contribute to a conversation to learn from each other. Crowd sourcing made the process of managing the aftermath of a disaster much easier such as the Australian Black Saturday bush fires and the Queensland 2011 floods.

Gao, H., Barbier, G. and Goolsby, R 2011, Harnessing the Crowdsourcing Power of Social Media for Disaster Relief, IEEE Intell. Syst, pp.10-14.

Howe, J. (2006). The rise of crowdsourcing. Wired Magazine, (14).

Tierney, T. (2014). Crowdsourcing Disaster Response: Mobilizing Social Media for Urban Resilience. The European Business Review. [online] Available at: http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=4911 [Accessed 7 Jan. 2016].

'Crowdsourcing entry' 2014, Merriam Webster, viewed 01 February 2016,<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing>.

Every now and then on the news there is a story where there is a racist rant on public transport. Someone always manages to record the incident via video on a smart phone and post it on You Tube. Online trolls are agents of chaos, gleefully upsetting people on social media sites, blogs and forums (Munro, 2014).They can be either male or female however 70% of trolling is directed towards women.

Reading one, ‘trolling as provocation: YouTube’s agonistic publics’ focuses on videos posted to you tubed based on the Auckland flash Haka and the Christchurch earth quake. It discusses what kind of reaction these videos received in the you tube comments and how you tube brings people together in a time of grief and how it can also separate and cause havoc due to flaming, hating or trolling. During these two videos there was a majority of comments that represented celebration for the haka video and grief and sorrow for the Christchurch earthquake video. There was that small majority of trolling that kept a conversation going through the comment sections. By considering provocation as the dynamic force or expressive tool that sets in motion a sustained public engagement with these two events (one tragic, the other celebratory), we arrive at an understanding of digital citizenship and of YouTube as a participatory space that incorporates and perhaps also accommodates conflict and cruelty (McCosker, 2014). McCosker (2014) also states that even though there were trolling, flaming or hating comments on these videos there was an equal reaction of unity and defensiveness of the Maori culture especially with the Haka video.

According to Boyd (2014) suicide rates have increased due to cyber bullying and peer cruelty. The second reading 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’ discusses the highly publicized suicide of Canadian teenager Amanda Todd. Amanda Todd posted a video to Facebook through the use of flash cards about being black mailed physically assaulted and bullied prior to her suicide. Amanda Todd was a victim that was constantly cyberbullied by one person that led to a chain of abuse and bullying by others in her social circles. Even after her death derogatory comments about Amanda Todd were posted to her memorial page by online trolling. This case was so large that it gained worldwide attention and was presented in the media in a number of countries. After the incident where Amanda took her own life because of online trolling and cyber bullying campaigns and laws have been put in place in Canada to protect other teenagers from falling victim to these despicable acts.

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.

McCosker, A 2014, You Trolling as provocation: Tube's agonistics publics, Convergence, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201-217.

Munro, P. (2014). Everyday sadists: Inside the mind of an online troll. Sydney Morning Herald. [online] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/national/everyday-sadists-inside-the-mind-of-an-online-troll-20141201-11xo7u.html [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].

This week we focus on Digital Citizenship: Activism and Protest. The first area focused around was Local digital activism. Activists constantly use social media to promote a campaigns. Social media invitations are used constantly to recruit protesting participants. The aim of these activist groups is to not only recruit members however to raise awareness of a particular issue and rain funds/ money.

Social media has also created “the lazy activist” also known as slacktivism. Slacktivism, a contradiction of the phrase slack activism”, refers to activism that requires the least possible effort (Poole et al., n.d.). For example it can refer to people who feel passionate about an issue and click or share a video or photo that supports a particular campaign however is left at that with no further interaction.

I can relate to this during 2015 there was a high number of Iraqi Christians that were campaigning and rebuking against the tragedies that were occurring in Iraq during the ISIS takeover of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. I shared and clicked and liked videos and images relating to this campaign and at one point was invited via Facebook invitation to actively protest in Sydney CBD however I did not go. In this case I would be viewed as a slacktivist.

Culture Jamming

The purpose of culture jamming is to expose the reality behind cooperate spin and to reclaim the media and public spaces from the influence of powerful cooperation (Iminds, 2014). Culture jamming is somewhat against for example Boxing Day sales. Culture jamming aims to expose the craze behind these cooperate sales and try to stop everyday citizens to not purchase anything on these days.

iMinds 2014, Culture Jamming: Pop culture, iMinds pty Ltd.

Poole, H., Lambert, L., Woodford, C. and Moschovitis, C. (n.d.). The Internet, ABC-CLIO, California.

How Slacktivist Became Superactivist Infographic. (2013). [image] Available at: http://visual.ly/how-slacktivist-became-superactivist [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].

This week we explore the power and the impact social media has for politicians campaigning. I often questioned whether politicians who use social media can be taken seriously. Such as the famous Kevin Rudd selfie when he cut himself shaving in the morning. Most citizens similar to myself would have looked at this post and not taken Mr. Rudd seriously as a politician and a man to represent a country like Australia. However there are a number of politicians that use twitter and Facebook strategically to benefit their positions.

“Turnbull was the first Australian lower-house politician to join twitter. He quickly became a prolific tweeter, and during the 2010 election would often tweet about where he was and what he had done that day, including about which train he was riding on the way home” (Jericho 2013).

The first reading for this week in the book Rise of the Fifth Estate covered the credibility of Australian politicians and the challenges they faced when using social media. Many politicians miss used twitter and accidently posted messages not intended for everyone to see. Other politicians such as Malcom Turnbull was successful in using social media because he had a strategy that would benefit his image and maintain his appearance in the Australian political platform.

In the second reading for the book How Australia Decides it discusses the impact media has on the voters during the election period. Media content seems to play an especially important role in encouraging or discouraging awareness of particular issues and in ‘priming’ people’s evaluations of parties, leaders and candidates (Young, 2010 pg.4). During federal and state elections in the past newspapers like the daily telegraph and the sun herald have impacted the opinions of voters in the country. The federal campaigns presented in TV commercials are also another strategy used by parties such as the liberal and labor party to gain interest from viewers.

Overall before I completed the reading for this week I was under the impression that MP’s who use social media are less credible. However most politicians use it strategically to benefit their image, status and role in the federal or state governments. I constantly question what if it was illegal to promote or campaign using media during an election? How would the citizens of the country make a decision into who shall they vote for?

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

Young, S 2010, How Australia Decides, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Blog #3 week 5 based readings.

Kevin Rudd's famous selfie.

Could he really be taken seriously after that post?

Watching 6 people trying to give up their phones for a week is eye opening into how technologically dependant the world has become.

melje-digital-comms-deactivated

Public Culture

Whether you are researching a topic for a Uni assignment, you’re looking for commentary or guidance on a specific topic, or maybe you just inadvertently came across a blog whilst aimlessly surfing the internet, I’m sure at one point or another you have come into contact with a blog of some sort.

A blog is a website that allows individuals or groups to interact with others, and to express themselves on a regular basis by sharing personal experiences, opinions, interests, ideas and information to an online community, also known as the blogosphere (Barlow, 2007). According to Cross (2011), the blogosphere has a wider reach and a larger audience than any media platform has ever had.

Source: (Google Image, 2015)

Publics are a crucial part of society as they are the audience that blogs are essentially directed at. Publics are made up of networked publics and counter publics (Warner, 2002). According to Boyd (2010) networked publics are defined as a group of people who have a collective set of beliefs. They allow people to gather for cultural, social, and civic purposes and they fundamentally assist others in connecting with individuals beyond their close friends and family. Counterpublics are the minority group that have conflicting beliefs, and are excluded from the more conventional public sphere. They are formed around shared opinions, common interests, and issues (Warner, 2002).

Blogs can be used for many reasons, but most commonly they are used as a means to provide a way to connect with others enduring similar issues and experiences. Traditionally, illnesses were once a private and unspoken topic. However, with the progression of the Internet it has created a significant online space for individuals to receive guidance and answers to the questions and concerns that accompanies the diagnosis of serious illnesses (McCosker et al, 2013). A blog is a place where individuals can go to connect with, and receive support from others who are experiencing the same or similar illness. It provides them with a place to share experiences, and to discuss and vent about body and emotional states, their relationships, physical appearance, and the loss or recovery of physical ability (McCosker et al, 2013).

Source: (Google Image, 2015)

References:

Barlow, A (2007) The Rise of the Blogosphere, Westport, Conn: Praeger.

Boyd, D (2010) ‘Social Network Sites as Networked Publics’, in Papacharissi,  Z, A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites, Routledge, Hoboken, pp. 39-58.

Cross, M (2011) Got Blog, in Bloggerati, Twitterati: How blogs and Twitter are transforming popular culture, Praeger, Santa Barbara.

Google Image (2015) [image] Available at: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/es/business-magazine/hacer-blogs-o-leer-material-impreso [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015]

McCosker, A & Darcy, R (2013), ‘Living with Cancer: Affective Labour, Self-Expression and the Utility of Blogs’, in Information, Communication and Society, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 1-20.

Warner, M (2002) ‘Publics and Counterpublics’, Public Culture, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 49-90.

socialhouse-blog1

I like how you emphasised on illness is not so private anymore and there are a lot of people these days that want to connect for support and sharing experience and changes with others that have been through a illness and people who are about to.

dannymda20009-blog

Blog away!

For many who were introduced to the internet early within its quick development, it is likely they would have been introduced to the function and platform of blogs. These websites are user generated social media platforms, which allow users to express, inform and share knowledge and interests to large audiences. With such a huge variety of subject matters and themes these blog cultures have a wider reach than any other media platform (Cross 2011).

The public are the primary drivers for blogs as the public generates and forms relevant event’s it creates cultural formations within a digital format. This inner community of subject matter develop online cultural practises and with further analysis shows the relation to public nature within an online platform.

Publics can be reactors, (re)makers and (re)distributors, engaging in shared culture and knowledge through discourse and social exchange as well as through acts of media reception.

(Mizuko Ito, 2008, pp. 2-3)

Blogs helped form an online community and norm for social media interactions; however it also quickly showed the dynamics of online norms and expectations of use. Much like the connotations with public interactions, online created its own set of central dynamics ( as discussed in the learning material).

Invisible audiences: not all audiences are visible when a person is contributing online, nor are they necessarily co-present

Collapsed contexts: the lack of spatial, social, and temporal boundaries makes it difficult to maintain distinct social contexts

The blurring of public and private: without control over context, public and private become meaningless binaries, are scaled in new ways, and are difficult to maintain as distinct

(dana boyd (2010) ‘Social Network Sites as Networked Publics’, in Zizi Papacharissi, A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites, Routledge, Hoboken, pp. 39-58.)

Cross, M (2011) Got Blog, in Bloggerati, Twitterati: How blogs and Twitter are transforming popular culture, Praeger, Santa Barbara.

martha-browning-blog

The dynamics of online communication is very interesting, and a good point which I did not think to consider, so thanks!

socialhouse-blog1

Great post, I appreciate the extended definitions of 1.Invisible audiences 2.Collapsed contexts 3.The blurring of public and private

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