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It’s been real.

And so ends MDA20009. Thanks for reading.

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Blog Post #8: Global Social Media - China

China is the world’s most populous country, with approximately 1.371 billion people (as of 2015). That’s about 58 times the Australian population. And while Australia has a higher rate (around 90%) of internet penetration than China, Australia’s rate has plateaued, and China’s continues to grow. 

Source: https://www.techinasia.com/china-731-million-internet-users-end-2016

We hear a lot about censorship in China, about how the Chinese population cannot access social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, that they can’t watch videos on YouTube and can’t just search anything on Google. This is known as the ‘Golden Shield Project’ or ‘The Great Firewall of China’.

Source: http://www.globaldots.com/chinese-digital-opportunity/

When I first learnt of the censorship that exists in China to restrict internet users from websites that I use all the time (and also stop people from searching and commenting on political leaders), I think I just assumed that they went without. That because they couldn’t access the existing global social media platforms that already existed, they instead just didn’t use anything. How very wrong I was!

Censorship began in China in 1998, with the implementation of the Golden Shield Project by the Communist Party of China. As restrictions gradually increased to the approximately 18000 websites that are now blocked, Chinese internet companies developed alternative platforms and websites to be used by the local population. 

Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/2015-05-04/4-tips-engage-chinese-social-media-users

The number of registered (and active) accounts far outstrips the number of internet users because people often have multiple accounts on the same site as well as across multiple platforms. There are also different kinds of users and these types are more likely to use specific platforms over others. For example, ‘social enthusiasts�� use social media ‘to build and maintain their circle of friends’ (Chiu et al 2012, p. 6) and higher income bracket earners are most likely to use Sina Weibo.

Source: http://sampi.co/chinas-social-media-evolution/

There were a couple of other things that this week’s case study of China forced me to consider. Firstly, what are the ways around the restrictions, how do people rebel without being subject to severe punishments? And secondly, just because China cannot access sites that are blocked by its firewall, does not mean than the rest of the world cannot access the sites that have been created to replace Google, Facebook and the like. 

Part of the answer to my first consideration was discussed in the lecture. Young people, in particular, have developed a kind of code so that they can discuss banned subjects and terms without being detected (the Chinese character for ‘llama’ being an important one!). But I also thought about the ways in which Australia is restricted from some global internet content, and that we can simply access and use a VPN (virtual private network) to conceal our location. This is not possible in China as part of ‘The Great Firewall’ can discover and block communications made through a VPN.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD2b-zNHdGY

It seems likely that Chinese people outside of China would continue to use platforms such as Sina Weibo and RenRen to keep in contact with family, friends and news, along with the platforms they could now access beyond the firewall. It got me thinking about non-Chinese speaking/reading users being able to use Chinese developed platforms if the translations were high-quality enough. If a platform of huge popularity in China could be used effectively by speakers of other languages all over the world, could it have the ability to push Facebook out of the market?

Sources cited:

Chiu, C, Lin, D and Silverman, A 2012, 'China's social-media boom', McKinsey and Company, 1 May 2013

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Blog Post #7: Social Media - Playing the Game

I hate to think about how many hours I have wasted playing Candy Crush or Tetris or which ever other silly game on my iPhone to pass the time. It might be on the train or tram on the way to work or uni, maybe while watching TV at night. It might be during long hours of insomnia or an overnight plane trip. Whatever the occasion, my use of these types of games challenges the definition of ‘play’ as something that is ‘outside of ordinary life’. 

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/2faecx/sprinkle_city/

This kind of ‘play’ has transformed from that which we knew as children, and even the kinds we experience as adults such as competitive sport (agon play) or a game of bingo (alea play) which are bound by time and space. It does, however, still involve the formation of social groups—depending on your level of interaction with other players—but video and online games do not necessarily ‘stand consciously outside of ordinary life’ (Albarran-Torres 2017).

For many, video and online games have become a huge part of, or even a way of life. Games such as Second Life and The Sims mimic elements of real life using things like digital currencies, and develop their own systems of regulation.

Source: http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/male-avatar-creator_822151.htm

Here, we see another example of, wait for it...a DIGITAL COMMUNITY! Where a virtual space forms our sociality, our ways of being together. Today, most of us are digital citizens to some degree; we participate in society online. For some, digital citizenship is of equal importance, or is more important than anything that happens offline, and because of this significance we see a rise in something that is integral to all communities: conflict, and the need for conflict resolution. Different online social spaces develop their own rules and regulations, usually with the consent of participants, but rules can be difficult to enforce and the legitimacy of online consent can be easily challenged (Suzor & Woodford 2013).

Source: https://memesuper.com/categories/view/3e6b1a5d64dadb670ef1a5e025ec31da6c875fc1/second-life-meme.html

Now, this meme is probably a bit harsh. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of make-believe and to be honest, I definitely enjoy playing around with Snapchat filters to make myself feel pretty (especially when I’m hungover!). But there are people who either can’t or don’t know when to stop, and as the digital becomes more and more integrated with our everyday lives, it’s easy to see why. 

Here, the link to gambling seems to jump out at me. The compulsiveness, and the lack of ability to switch off. Cesar talked about some of links between gambling and play, but I think it’s also worth considering the danger of online gambling and addiction. Our habits online are easy to hide if we choose to, and there’s no local pub owner online to recognise us and tell us it’s time to stop playing the pokies. Gambling apps also use flagging to encourage us to continually place more bets, even when we are already in debt, and approximately 5% of people who gamble online develop an addiction. 

Source: https://www.statista.com/topics/1368/gambling/

The internet sure is a big wide world of slippery slopes.

Sources cited:

Nick Suzor and Darrel Woodford (2013) 'Evaluating consent and legitimacy amongst shifting community norms: An EVE Online case study' Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

Albarran-Torres, C. (2017). Lecture 10. MDA20009 Digital Communities. Retrieved from https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/contentWrapper.jspcourse_id=_178358_1&displayName=EchoCenter&href=%2Fwebapps%2Fanyacrbbbb_bb60%2F%2Fclps%3Fcmsid%3D323031372D4853312D4D444132303030392D323230323731%26essid%3Df66b33bd-8a214d4187f357cbfdae810e%26version%3D1&cR2XilcGYOo=xwYcDWvA5yMlQylQ%2BGBaK%2BcgkLfUvw786x62aBQooDk%3D

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My friend Pete.

My friend Pete works in digital health. He has some pretty fancy ideas. This is his latest one..

http://healthdelivered.com.au/

Efficient, effective & accurate tools for the dietetics industry

Check it out.

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Blog Post #6: Public Health Campaigns and Communities

We’re all guilty of it. Well, not quite all, but at least the 83% of internet users that seek health information online are. Self-diagnosis.

Source: http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/233282-condescending-wonka-creepy-wonka

And given that this statistic is from way back in 2011, it’s likely that these numbers have increased. How often do people look up the symptoms for a headache and discover they have terminal cancer? And while I have been known to look up the odd mild symptom or seek remedies for small inflictions, I still have fairly regular contact with my GP. My fear is that people are replacing real life, qualified treatment and advice with its digital counterpart, with a much smaller percentage of those ‘online diagnosers’ going on to confirm symptoms with a medical professional.

The term ‘public health’ applies to population wide approaches to improving health. ‘Online health publics’ are groups of people that have similar symptoms or conditions, or are trying to find others that are similar to them. The use of online platforms and social networking sites has given rise to visibility and open conversation around many different health issues, between the public, patients and health professionals. 

There are many benefits that come from the sharing of public health campaigns and personal stories online through the digital platforms affordances of reach, persistence, searchability, and replicability. Diseases and health topics that were previously considered taboo for discussion (such as AIDS or cancer) are now present in open forums, and huge amounts of money has been raised through campaigns such as the Ice Bucket Challenge. 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ymwfTyM-H4

But there is also the argument that the scale of a campaign is not directly related to its success in raising awareness and educating the public (thus improving health outcomes in the longterm). In a way, digital health breeds its own form of ‘slacktivism’, previously discussed in regards to digital protest and activism. 

They say that all publicity is good publicity, and if a campaign saves even one life then it is worth it. But many campaigns inspire only ‘superficial engagement’, with Movember being a prime example of this. When the campaign first began, having facial hair (particularly moustaches) was generally unstylish for young men. If a person you know started growing a moustache suddenly it certainly prompted some questions amongst friends, and started a conversation about men’s health. Now, every second hipster is sporting a unique facial hair arrangement and the Movember campaign seems tired and outdated. 

Source: http://www.safeandhealthypeople.com.au/hipster-movember/

While some seek great comfort in online support groups or use a personal blog to record experiences or connect with others, there are others who suffer as a result of this connectivity. Online environments can be competitive, and without a moderator (or health professional) to manage comments and advice, the participatory element of others can sometimes have a negative impact. While I appreciate the increased accessibility and interaction that social media use offers, we must remember that not everything on the internet is true. Shock horror, I know.

Sources cited:

Burgess J, Cassidy, E & Light, B (2014). ‘Deeply superficial Digital Media Engagement? The Case of Twitter and Movember 2013’. Paper presented at AoIR 15, Daegu, Korea.

McCosker, A (2016). 'Digital Mental Health and Visibility: Tagging Depression', in P. Messaris and L. Humphreys, Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication (2nd edn), Peter Lang. 

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Facebook will always save the day...

And we can rest assured that Facebook will keep us up to date, our friends and family will check in as ‘safe’ if they are located near a crisis area. And in lieu of power and water, an internet connection still remains after Cyclone Debbie.

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Blog Post #5: Crowdsourcing in Times of Crisis

Source: https://memegenerator.net/instance/51086610/archer-my-plan-is-to-crowdsource-a-plan

The word ‘crowdsourcing’ makes me cringe a little bit. An image of a vacuous twenty-something starting a Go Fund Me page to finance their spiritual awakening/beer tour of Europe comes to mind, but if there are people out there stupid enough to donate, you can’t blame them for asking.

Source: https://memesuper.com/categories/view/802aaf06df414bb92fc8cfc9ee1d3560e17dd6b7/gofundme-memes.html

But crowdsourcing is more than people just asking for money to buy things that they cannot afford. Merriam-Webster describes it 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 traditional employees or suppliers.’ Through combining the elements of ‘sourcing’ and ‘funding’, this practice becomes vital during times of crisis and natural disaster because it is not simply asking for money.

Though financial aid in the aftermath of a crisis is hugely important, the dissemination of information takes priority in its early stages. People on the ground need information for survival (think Black Saturday bushfires, whether to leave or stay behind and protect your home) and people on the outside want to know what is going on. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become integral to the way that information is circulated during a crisis, often ‘breaking’ news before it can reach mainstream news outlets. 

Community-level communication processes are adapting by using decentralised and distributed networks, rather than the traditional linear structure of broadcast communication. While the major players are still there, they must integrate themselves into a system that values crowdsourced information such as video footage and images, and combine traditional news outlets with social networking sites to gain the greatest reach. 

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-11/how-twitter-covered-the-queensland-floods/3767166

During the QLD floods of 2011 over 35,000 tweets were sent with the hashtag #qldfloods. Emergency services as well as news outlets used the platform to quickly disseminate information as the crisis unfolded, with the Queensland Police Service account (@qpsmedia) and ABC News (@abcnews) most visible in the online conversation. Organisations that set up emergency specific accounts found it difficult to organise information that was being tweeted in many different directions. The ABC used their online platforms to publish key messages from on-air announcements, and their traditional outlets featured crowdsourced material such as video footage from users on social networking sites. 

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-15/researchers-analyse-ongoing-health-effects-2011-qld-floods/8182914

Though citizen journalism and amateur video footage & photography are more greatly valued in news dissemination now than they used to be, there is still concern of authenticity and validity when redistributing information. Reputable news outlets and official services must ensure that what they are sharing is true, as it will reach a much larger audience through them than it would through the original poster. The QPS twitter account developed a strategy during the QLD floods that used the hashtag ‘#mythbuster’ to combat misinformation being spread during the crisis. When using uncertified sources for material, both news outlets and government services must be careful and ensure that they remain reputable and trustworthy (though A Current Affair and the Herald Sun are probably less concerned!).

Sources: 

Liddy, M 2013, ‘How Twitter covered the QLD floods’, ABC News, viewed 01 May 2017, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-11/how-twitter-covered-the-queensland-floods/3767166>.

Merriam-Webster 2017, ‘Crowdsourcing’, Merriam-Webster, viewed 27 April 2017, <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing>.

Posetti, J & Lo, P 2012, ‘The Twitterisation of ABC’s Emergency and Disaster Communication’, The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 34-39.

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Blog Post #4: Digital Citizenship - Trolling and Social Media Conflict

When I hear the word ‘troll’ I still think of a big, hairy, smelly mythical creature, lurking under a bridge somewhere, waiting for unsuspecting victims to fall into its trap. And while some ‘internet trolls’ are setting metaphorical traps online, the word ‘trolling’ has become something of a blanket term for any ‘problematic or aberrant forms of participation’ (McCosker 2013).

A trolls intention and motivation may vary, but their comments are designed to start arguments, upset and provoke people and are often off-topic. Trolling is a term also used alongside online bullying and a lot of research is being conducted into the way that young people are using online platforms to interact and shame one another. 

But really, who has the time?

Source: http://modernmelly.com/2015/09/04/top-internet-troll-trash-talker-tactics/

I often come across comment threads on Facebook where I find myself thinking, ‘why would you bother?’ And this thought applies to both people in the argument: the troll, and the person engaging with them. The topic is usually trivial, the troll seems only to be trying to get a rise out of people. People are usually making uneducated remarks, often proving themselves wrong with their stupidity. Oh, the internet.

Take, for example, the recent announcement that a certain artist will appear at this years Dark Mofo Festival in Hobart, and and part of the show (the ‘art’ if you will) will involve the slaughter of a cow. As a previous resident of Hobart with many friends who will attend different events at the festival, my newsfeed has been jammed with articles and opinions on various sides of the argument. (Check out http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/animal-rights-groups-slam-dark-mofo-slaughter-artwork for a reasonable unbiased article.)

Source: http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2017/04/21/dark-mofo-ignites-massive-controversy-over-its-plan-to-kill-a-bull-for-art/

These are the sorts of images that are attached to articles: pictures from other works of Hermann Nitsch. And they are inspiring trolling at both ends. People who are upset that this could be considered art; people who are upset at people for wanting to censor art. MONA itself has always meant to shock, to make its viewers uncomfortable. It always does...perhaps MONA is the real troll here.

As users of the internet we love that we can be heard by many and by anyone, but detest that anyone and many of these viewers and listeners may not enjoy what we are saying. My experiences of trolling are always from the sidelines, so up until this point I have been happy just to spectate. No need to ‘feed the trolls’, as they say. 

But this, according the Stephanie Guthrie, is the opposite of what we should do. And if I was in her shoes, I would tend to agree.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHEkR5yb9A

Her experiences of trolling are fairly in line with traditional misogyny. The only difference being that they happen online, and for this reason she argues, why is it called trolling instead of misogyny? Trolls and bullies need to be stood up to, put in their place and called out on their behaviour. The internet allows us social distance and some anonymity but this should not allow shitty and sometimes dangerous behaviour. 

Because it can be dangerous. People kill themselves. People give up their social media accounts. Kids change schools and lose friends and are ridiculed. Our legislation on online safety is targeted at children, but what about everyone else? Some celebrities may be able to laugh it off on Jimmy Kimmel—

Source: http://bgr.com/2015/12/17/celebrities-read-mean-tweets-9-video/

But we’re not all that tough.

Sources sited:

McCosker, A 2013, ‘Trolling as provocation: YouTube's agonistic publics’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, viewed 16 April 2017, <http://con.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/09/11/1354856513501413>

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Coming soon...a blog on trolls (not this troll).

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/someones-made-a-trump-troll-doll-with-a-tiny-penis-and-you-can-help-them-make-more-6478267/

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#slacktivism

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Sources cited

Gerbaudo, P. (2012), Tweets and the Streets, Social Media and Contemporary Activism, Pluto Press, London.

Pariser, E. (2011), The filter bubble: what the internet is hiding from you, Viking, London.

Tufekci, Z. (2015), Online social change: easier to organize, harder to win, [recording], viewed 10 April 2017, <https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_how_the_internet_has_made_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win>.

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Blog Post #3: Digital Citizenship - Activism and Protest

Social media are powerful tools of dissemination. Gone are the days when posters and pamphlets needed to be copied and passed out by hand, when one person would tell one other person, and in turn they would pass information on one-by-one-by-one. Many of us no longer pick up a newspaper, or catch up with the evening news on the telly. We live in the age of participatory media, of many-to-many rather than individual or broadcast channels.

My Facebook newsfeed seems to tell me what I should care about: climate change and the environment, education, refugees and asylum seekers, cuts to penalty rates. These are just some of the issues that make up my own personal filter bubble (Pariser 2011)

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/the-future-of-sunday-penalty-rates-20160712-gq3yjd.html

Facebook often asks me to sign a petition, invites me to join a protest, tells me where a march is happening, or how I can donate money to a particular cause. But just because this information is readily available (and tailored especially for me) does not mean that I act upon it. While social media has enabled people greater access to knowledge and they, ‘know more than they used to,’ (Gerbaudo 2012), this does not necessarily translate into real-world action or activism. 

Does everyone remember #KONY2012? I think I shared the video when it first appeared in my newsfeed, adding to the 100 million or so views it received in under a week. But what did it actually achieve? When I mentioned it as an example of #slacktivism, a classmate stated that they had heard that the whole thing was a set-up, totally fake. While this was not the case, and the video indeed raised huge awareness (and a huge amount of money), Joseph Kony is still at large.

Source: http://www.notothequo.com/kony-2012-social-media-case-study-stats-and-insights/

We are, perhaps, all a little guilty of slacktivism. We might share a status or news article, or change our profile picture to represent a particular flag. This might make us feel good about ourselves. And while these actions may not harm a cause, they may not necessarily aid it either.

People are also predictable in when they choose to show support for a cause. In November my online community members suddenly become animal rights activists. In January it’s all about #changethedate and #InvasionDay. While I understand the importance of currency, I find it interesting that these issues disappear from my newsfeed in just a few short weeks. 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UytdM-x3cv4&feature=youtu.be

For online activism to be successful, there must be strong connections with on-the-ground, face-to-face organisation. We should not underestimate the power of the internet to spread information quickly, as ‘a network of tweets can unleash a global awareness campaign’ (Tufekci 2015).

Tufekci also tells us to be sceptical: ‘Easier to mobilise does not always mean easier to achieve gains.’ Watch the full video here: https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_how_the_internet_has_made_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win

There is a lot of truth in this message. With the good comes some bad, and we should not forget ways in which activism and protest were executed in the past. Social media enables us to connect with broader groups of people in new and innovative ways, but it does not stop us from any of the old ones.

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@letsgetsocialsavvy, @virtuallyunified and I presented on Activism and Protest for Digital Communities this week. Here’s our Prezi!

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lol

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Another reference

Young, S (2010), How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the Media, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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Blog post #2: Digital Citizenship - Political Engagement

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R44NlC-Vd98

Now, I might be showing my age here, but this classic tune was probably the first thing that ever made me aware that some Australians might have negative feelings towards some of the people that make decisions about the way in which our country is run. At the tender age of 10, I started to understand the strength of a good parody, and looking back, how humour can be used to spread a message.

Source: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2016/07/pauline-hansons-mixed-bag/

I used the internet for the first time just a couple of years later (circa 1999), way before things would ‘go viral’. Imagine if Pauline Pantsdown released I Don’t Like It on Youtube or a similar platform now—how quickly it would spread to other outlets, how many views and shares it would receive—rather than being played on Triple J, and its popularity growing mostly through word of mouth. I Don’t Like It became something of a temporal catchphrase, the anthem of 1998.

In 2010, Sally Young (p. 203) told us that, ‘The internet is having an impact on election news, but also, more broadly, on news journalism and political communication.’ In 2017, I think we can safely say that the internet is having an impact on most facets of our lives. We expect politicians to use social media in their election campaigns, and for those already in office, to continue to spread the message of their policies and to discredit their opposition. 

Source: http://www.memegen.com/meme/sp4wt3

I definitely fit the demographic for political social media targeting. A young(ish) person getting more interested in politics, who gets most of their news via the internet and social media platforms. While Kevin Rudd (AUS 2007) and Barack Obama (USA 2008) are heralded as pioneers of using social media to successfully win elections, 10 years down the track we expect politicians at all levels to have an online presence, and to engage. Because posted content can be shared and commented on, liked, or even argued with, the feeling of participation from both the audience and distributor is increased. It is this sentiment, this engagement that is so important for our digital citizenship.

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Some references

Walker Rettberg, J (2013), Blogging, 2nd edn, Cambridge, UK.

Cross, M (2011), Bloggerati, Twitterati: How Blogs and Twitter are Transforming Popular Culture, Praeger, California.