Just like a regular community, only crunchy

Wait I mean Digital

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The last couple of posts were a bit heavy so enjoy this meme :)

[compostboy]

Stay Safe Online

I have always seen lots of posts saying “don’t talk to 40 year old men on the internet!!” and “avoid creeps!!” but it didn’t say how to spot dangerous situations so I ended up in some. That’s why I’m making this post!

• if someone threatens to harm themself or someone else to make you do something they are trying to manipulate you (knowingly or unknowingly) which is very toxic

• if someone threatens to harm you (whether they physically can or not) they’re doing something wrong

• if someone is talking badly about people behind their backs a lot that’s a sign they could become a toxic person in your life

• if you feel unable to say no to someone it’s not a good relationship/friendship for you (regardless of if they’re malicious)

• if you feel like you need to act a certain way that isn’t like you to keep their respect it’s not a good relationship/friendship for you (regardless of if they know they’re making you feel that way)

• if you’re talking to an older person and you feel like you need to be as mature/adult as them it’s not a good relationship for you (regardless of if they’re knowingly making you feel that way)

• if someone is known for turning on their friends or starting drama in their friend groups they will probably end up being a toxic person in your life

• if someone exposes you to nsfw content without your explicit consent (can be a question every time it happens, or an agreement that it’s always okay, or an agreement that the picture has to be blurred, you set your own boundaries) they are doing something bad (regardless of their intention)

• if someone only talks to you when they need something from you it’s not a good relationship for you

• if someone hurts you (emotionally, physically, psychologically) and claim it’s for your own good they are doing something bad

• if someone doesn’t allow you to break contact with them they’re doing something bad and you should get help with that

• if someone can’t admit to doing something wrong ever but everyone else does something wrong all the time they’re most likely going to be a toxic person in your life

• watch out for grooming

Some examples of grooming:

- giving you gifts (to gain your trust and affection, and they might demand favours in return)

- showering you in praise (to gain your trust and affection, and to make you feel “special” to that person, and they might use devaluation as an opposite to this to break you when you don’t do what they want)

- getting close to people you are close to (so they can use them against you if you don’t do what they want, and so your friends can tell you to trust them)

- assuring you that you’re different (maturer, look older, smarter, stronger, an exception of some kind) this can be to make sure you won’t take other people’s concern seriously because it can’t apply to you you’re “different”, or to make you emotionally dependent on this person who seems to be the only one understanding that you’re special

Anyway stay safe!!

This applies to people of all ages! Kids, teens, adults, old people, everyone should stay safe!

Remember that just because someone doesn’t mean harm doesn’t mean they can’t do harm - it’s okay to distance yourself from a person/situation that hurts you.

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A lot of great tips in here for online safety in the somewhat troublesome online community we discussed in week 11

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Week 11 – The Dangers of Digital Citizenship

As we enter the final week of this discussion, the topic comes around full circle. In the first weekly post we discussed the positive aspects of digital citizenship, but what we failed to mention were some of the immediate dangers that followed membership. Here we’ll discuss the major obstacles faced by the digital citizenship and what is being done to overcome them.

One of the major issues to governing the online community is a conflict of interests between the private and public sectors of media. Corporations such as Apple and Facebook seek to monetize the sharing of media and information, while public sectors such as university recourse adopt a stance that supports widespread education and sharing of knowledge. This leads to a wide array of rules to abide by depending on the platform you engage with and that there is no blanket rule of law that applies to you when you’re online.

An area that is being combatted however is trolls and cyberbullying. For example, Facebook has taken the stance of ‘zero tolerance for any behaviour that puts people in danger, whether someone is organising or advocating real-world violence or bullying other people,’ (Facebook, 2020). It’s not without good reason too, the ABC estimates that online abuse, harassment and cyber trolling costs Australians $3.7 billion annually in terms of medical bills and loss of income.

Facebook’s tips to combat harassment are transferable across social platforms:

Unfriend the person in question

Block their account

Report for antisocial behaviour

There are also some avenues of protection and justice that can be sought out through the law. These most commonly present themselves in the form of legal remedies. Useful remedies include:

Sex Discrimination Act 1984

Criminal Code Act 1995

Enhancing Online Safety for Children Act 2014

Due to the ever evolving landscape of media it’s not likely we will ever have one overreaching set of rules for the platforms we engage in. What us digital citizens can do in the meantime is look out for each other and strive to stop a few bad apples from running what can mostly certainly be a positive part of our daily lives.

References

Anon 2020, Abuse Resources | Facebook Help Centre | Facebook, viewed 7 June, 2020, <https://www.facebook.com/help/726709730764837/?helpref=hc_fnav>.

Milne, E 2020, "Week 11: Digital Communities and Trolls: understanding social media conflict", Lecture.

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Couldn’t resist sharing

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Week 10 - Is gaming a social experience?

There is no doubt that gaming has a wide spread stereotype for being an antisocial way to pass time or as it was put in this week’s lecture by Taylor, some white dude playing in his Mother’s basement. What we’ll focus on in this week’s post is how gaming does in fact function as a social activity.

Image curtesy of “The Verge”

The rise of the prosumer has had arguably the biggest impact on how the gaming community functions. Drenten et al (2018, pp. 41) define the prosumer as the modern day social media user, ‘who close the once clear gap,’ between the consumer and the producer. This has 1. Allowed gaming to be considered as a realistic career path, whether it be professional (esports) or casual (content creator). Through subscriptions, live chats and comments, creators are able to create a community around themselves where people can enjoy gaming in a spectator environment. Hardwick agrees “Live streaming offers professional esports players and teams opportunities to build their audience, brand, and incomes, while streaming their practice sessions—often straight out of their bedrooms” (Hardwick, 2019 pp. 5). Watching a gaming tournament in person is too on the rise, With Battle Royale game Fortnite leading the way. The Fortnite World Cup saw over 19,000 people sell out Arthur Ashe stadium in New York, which is famous for hosting the US open Final, and the most concurrent online views across twitch and YouTube was 2.3 million (EPIC GAMES, 2019). So if going to the footy with your friends and family is social, then so is gaming.

Gaming, particularly in lockdown, has also offered a way to connect with friends that you can’t see dude to isolation. Gaming in general does do well to go against the concepts of time, space and place. For example, you cannot play a game of soccer with your friend on the other side of the country, but you can start up a game of pro-clubs with them on FIFA. In the absence of professional sporting leagues. Traditional sports and gamers have teamed up to bring fans content. In England, soccer players have versed each other for charity and in Australia, AFL players teamed up with a Fortnite player to play in a duos tournament.

Its’ undeniable that gaming can be an extremely social experience, it just might not be in the traditional ways that people are used to. It may just take time for such experiences to become the norm, and be accepted by a wider audience, as it is already beginning to be. Maybe one day there will even be a Super Bowl sized gaming event. I wouldn't rule it out of the question.

References

Anon 2020, The Fortnite World Cup | A Record-Setting Tournament, viewed 7 June, 2020, <https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/the-fortnite-world-cup-a-record-setting-tournament#:~:text=Over%2019%2C000%20fans%20attended%20the,sold%2Dout%20Arthur%20Ashe%20Stadium.>.

Hardwick, T 2020, "Gaming Communities, Social Gaming and Live Streaming", Lecture.

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), in Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.1-23

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I have degrees in costume design and textiles so I got mending through advanced mending as part of my higher education, but there were both aesthetics and techniques that I found fresh in Katrina Rodabaugh’s MENDING MATTERS.  Make slow fashion one of your things in 2019.

Whether you are brand-new or an old-hand at mending, this book has simple instructions for practical fixes that make clothing more interesting and will help you get more mileage out of your most-favorite shirts and pants.  Great guides for patching differently depending on what part of the garment you are trying to fix and whether you want a visible repair or an invisible one.  It’s all drawn from the Japanese technique known as sashiko, get down the basics and then adapt and apply in all the little ways that work for you.  

I have some beloved jeans where I have completely burned through the upper inner thighs and they are about to get some mending love….

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I came across this post and thought it added another great side of the slow fashion movement in week 7. Will you be getting the needle and thread out in isolation?

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Simple Little Sketch from YouTuber ‘Cameras Everywhere’ that dsiplays sousveillance on a basic level.

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Week 9 – Political Engagement and Activism

Graphic by Lena Yang

In particular, This week I took away the planning process from the lecture:

VISION >> GOALS >> STRATEGY >> TACTICS

The difference between strategy and tactics was an interesting concept to explore. In the context of planning campaigns, Guest lecturer, Luke Stickels, explained that strategy refers to the bigger picture plan and is directly dependant on the goals and vision you have already set. Tactics on the other hand is the day to day action you take within your strategy, It’s the individual steps you must take to achieve you goals and vision. So to summarise, Strategy is What you have to do to achieve your Vision and Goals, and tactics is the broken down aspects that together form a strategy. James Whelan confirms, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”As someone who is trying to grow their own YouTube Channel, there was plenty of points in this section I could transfer across to my work.

Equally Important to sticking to effective planning techniques is understanding strategies that will set you up for failure. Whelan warns in particular to stay away from 1. circular thinking, which is strategy without a clear goal or vision and 2. Magical thinking which is have a goal and vision but no strategy or tactics to achieve it, that it will simply happen.

The aspect of digital campaigning that seemed most impactful was sousveillance, a term originally coined by Steve Mann. If surveillance is the government spying on you or observing and monitoring. Then Sousveillance is how we monitor and observe the government, leading to a more transparent approach to legislation and the ability to influence policy. I think sousveillance is interesting as it opens up more of an ability to have a conversation about what is happening in the world. When citizen journalism is used effectively I believe that it bolsters sousveillance.  Chung et al (2009) agree citizen journalism has now become an essential way for news consumers worldwide to contribute to and also receive valuable news and participate in public life.

References

Chung, D, Nah, S & Yamamoto, M 2017, "Conceptualizing citizen journalism: US news editors’ views", Journalism, vol. 19, no. 12, pp. 1694-1712.

Mann, S 2017, "Big Data is a big lie without little data: Humanistic intelligence as a human right", Big Data & Society, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 205395171769155.

Stickels, L 2020, "Digital Communities, political engagement and activism", Lecture.

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Week 8 - Visual Labour, Attention Currency and Public Health

This week I was interested to learn of the idea of visibility labour and how one brands themselves on social media, which depicts the relationship between the microcelebrity and the visual influence of platforms, in particular Instagram.

Self-branding within microcelebrity culture relies on visibility tactics. Visibility on visual social medias has become synonymous with acquiring status and perceived influence with an attentive audience. According to Marwick (2013) Instagram users are unknowingly engaging in unpaid labour in the interest of promoting their own status and gain higher visibility. To relate this back to the idea of influencers and the influenced, microcelebrities engage in visual labour to model different aesthetics, appearances and traits, and in turn, users are imprinted with a sense of inspiration. It is not so much ones personality that leaves a lasting impact on someone, but rather the brand of their page.

The average user is not the only person being influenced, however. More concerning than ever is the price that people are paying to achieve this branded look and when it comes to altering appearances and cosmetics, trends and public expectations appear to impact influencers just as they do their followers. Jenna Drenton (2018) explains the rise in cosmetic alterations as the demands of sexualised labour, emotional labour and sexualisation. In turn describing how influences such as mainstreaming pornography and the rise of the “porn chic” aesthetic contributes to the visual labour of social media. An example Drenton uses to highlight these concepts on Instagram is sexualised shout-outs. This involves taking a screenshot of a female user’s Instagram post, uploading it to a moderated shout out page and tagging the user’s page. Thus displaying how sexualisation is used as a currency to gain followers (pp. 5). What then, is being done about it?

While it is a hard topic to confront directly there are numerous public health campaigns which attempt to use social media in a completely different way and encourage more stripped back approach to social media. Some of these campaigns include the World heart day where post ‘Healthy Heart Selfies’ of the exercising and as well as other health-related photos with the #PowerYourLife and #WorldHeartDay hashtags. IDEFY Is another campaign that was started to defy racism, homophobia, slut shaming and more, in particular encouraging young people to reavaluate how they interact with social media.

So while there is plenty of visual labour taking place on social media that’s not all there is. The responsibility is placed on you, the digital citizen to demand what kind of platform you want to engage in, and to help make that a reality.

References

Drenten, J, Gurrieri, L & Tyler, M 2019, "Sexualized labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention", Gender, Work & Organization, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 41-66.

Howard, A & Clarke, K 2018, 10 Effective Public Health Social Media Campaigns, viewed 25 May, 2020, <https://strategicsocialmedialab.com/10-effective-public-health-social-media-campaigns/>

Marwick, AE 2013, Status update: celebrity, publicity, and branding in the social media age. New Haven: Yale University Press.

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Week 7 - Slow fashion and Influencers

The slow fashion movement was a phrase I had heard of and loosely understood, but was unaware of its true magnitude. Originally, I understood slow fashion as a piece of clothing that was a bit more expensive but was designed to last you longer than a few cheaper versions of the same item. When engaging with this week’s reading, An Exploration of Consumers’ Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion, it became evident there are a stringent set of criteria that must be met to classify fashion as slow.

As per Lai et al (2017) Garments classified as ‘sustainable fashion’ can best be described as those ‘goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimising the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life-cycle, so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations’ meaning that true slow fashion is truly sustainably sourced fashion that is slow in its production just as much as the finished product. This week we’ll use this criteria and apply a case study to gain a better understanding of what a slow fashion line looks like in a real world setting.

Mia Fratino, a company that uses Mongolian cashmere to create slow fashion clothing, has a clear commitment to creating sustainable clothing. They list 4 main steps that contribute to the production of their slow fashion. We’ll work through them below.

1. Sustainable and biodegradable pieces of clothing

This means that the clothing will not contribute to landfill, and slowly breakdown over time once the clothing is no longer wearable. This is due to the absence of synthetic blends.

2. Made to last

Made to last has three different aspects to it. First that the clothing is durable, having been made by skilled craftspeople. Secondly that the design of the clothing itself is not reliant on current trends. And finally that costumers receive information on cashmere care and repair, Mia Fratino even offers an online care clinic and mending service for any of their customers

3. Ethically Made

Mia Fratino’s clothing is manufactured in their own factory in Sri Lanka, where workers are afforded the same rights and conditions for Australian and European factory’s. Displayed by SMETA, GOTS and Oekotex certifications.

4. Socially Responsible

Mia Fratino display social responsibility by giving back to the local community. The Mia Fratino Foundation is a non-profit micro finance organisation that empowers women who are living in poverty.

It now appears that gaining an understanding of the slow fashion movement and the many components that must be satisfied for fore something to qualify as fast fashion is one of the main obstacles to stopping the fast fashion cycle. The role of the influencer in this example thus becomes an important one. It won’t be until we see more celebrities and micro-celebrities following the examples set by people like Kristen Leo, Venetia La Manna and Tiffany Ferguson that we will experience a true change in attitude when it comes to purchasing clothes.

References

Mia Fratino 2020, Our Commitment, viewed 14 May, 2020, <https://miafratino.com/pages/our-commitment>.

Zhen Lai, Claudia E. Henninger and Panayiota J. Alevizou ‘An Exploration of Consumers’ Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion – A Qualitative Study in the UK’, in Sustainability in Fashion A Cradle to Upcycle Approach, edited by Henninger, C.E., Alevizou, P., Goworek, H., Ryding, D. (Palgrave: 2017).

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Week 6 - Digital Citizenship

The power of the digital citizenship, and by extension the digital community, over the physical world is a topic that sparks particular interest in me. The notion that social media is a tool that continues to demonstrate its ability to challenge the concepts of time, space and place. It would appear that as the capabilities of different platforms increases, so too does their hold over their audience. The question that this raise to me, is with more young people joining social media sites each day, how do we teach them to not only stay away from the bad aspects of social media, but equally as important, how to embrace the good?

A good digital citizen is defined by Office of the eSafety Commissioner, NSW Department of Education as ‘a person with the skills and knowledge to effectively use digital technologies in a positive way to participate in society, communicate with others, and create and consume digital content.’ It would appear that by this definition to be a ‘good’ member of the digital community, your intentions must good too. Meaning that when you engage in social media, there is a what you put in is what you get back out. Those who start arguments will undoubtedly receive their fair share of criticism and the more kindness you share to other people, the more likely someone is to spread some back.

In terms of driving realistic, political change, social media can be an incredible tool for holding our politicians accountable to their policies. And GetUp!’s video describing the change we helped them create to real change through our interaction and support over social medias (GetUp!, 2017). They assure too that the best way the digital citizen can create change is by simply making their voice heard, a task that the digital citizen finds even easier through the use of hashtags, in particular #auspol.

Finally, I’d like to share a quote from Albert Schweitzer I’ve grown quite fond of, which I believe is also a good ethos to live your digital life by, which goes, “happiness is the only thing that doubles when it’s shared.”

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How Does Tumblr Function as a Digital Community?

Tumblr is a short-form blogging website that operates by placing different niches under the microscope. The platform, the to the user, feels more intentional compared to the scroll happy Facebook where, according to Adweek, users view each media for 2.5 seconds on desktop and just 1.7 seconds on mobile. Tumblr’s role then, in the wider digital community could be considered a platform that allows users to take their time and escape. Whether it’s to indulge in from favourite cooking or travel thread or find you humour fix Tumblr has it all. As a new user, It feels more natural on Tumblr to form an attachment to a blog, yet harder to come across the right one for you. While there might just be something for everyone, no single blog is a one size fits all.

Tumblr satisfies Habermas’s criteria in ensuring the public sphere is ‘open to all’ (Fuchs, 2014). However, there are more limitations in offering total participation. The same is true or any social media with perquisites of language and technology. The platform does well to strip rank, this is partly achieved through the through the rise of the non-expert, because as Chef Gusteau affirms about cooking in the film Ratatouille, “anyone can blog” And while this is a positive aspect of social media it is also fraught with danger. Look no further than Belle Gibson who sold an app, books and started a foundation after overcoming cancer using alternative medicine, only to be alleged to not have ever been diagnosed in the first place. (ABC, 2015). Nevertheless, the overall impact of the non-expert feels positive, as we gain information that hasn’t been curated by a corporation. I appreciate a community that offers hundreds of pieces of information that tasks you with deciphering the truth over just a few half-truths from major news outlets.

Here is a platform that puts the power back in the hands of the user. Content creators must work hard to have their voice heard, and users are allowed to engage with content that genuinely interests them. Whether you’re a daily reader or a first time in a long time, you can always rely on the community to be a welcome release from a demanding social media landscape.

References

ABC 2020, How the media fell for Belle, viewed 26 April, 2020, <https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/how-the-media-fell-for-belle/9973312>.

Fuchs, C 2020, ‘Social Media and the Public Sphere’, tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 4.

Saric, M 2017, How Brands Can Still Win Over Customers as Attention Spans Decrease on Social,viewed 26 April, 2020, <https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-brands-can-still-win-over-customers-as-attention-spans-decrease-on-social/>.

Milne, E 2020, Lecture 5. Digital Communities and Blogging: Tumblr Case Study, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 8 April, viewed 26 April 2020.

Saric, M 2017, How Brands Can Still Win Over Customers as Attention Spans Decrease on Social, viewed 26 April, 2020, <https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-brands-can-still-win-over-customers-as-attention-spans-decrease-on-social/>.

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