Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Text
Minding the digital gap: why understanding digital inequality matters
Indeed, rather than decreasing, it appears that forms of digital exclusion are actually increasing. "As the internet is ever more seamlessly integrated in everyday routines, forms of disadvantage themselves mutate," Stern and his colleagues observe.
Among the many examples the authors cite of how life is becoming more challenging for those who aren't 'wired' or confident online, one of the most striking is that of the roll-out of Obamacare in the United States. Despite its website being intended as the primary source of programme information for all Americans, design issues made it difficult to navigate and use for people with slow connections or smartphones; just 1% of the millions of people who visited the site during its first week managed to register.
Throughout this insightful article, Stern and his colleagues illustrate in great detail how 'digital disparities' affect how people find work, build their businesses, shop, access health care, learn, socialise and even reply to consumer or government surveys. From their research, it is clear that being on the wrong side of the 'digital gap' can have significant effects on one's life course and trajectory.
This article is therefore essential reading for anyone set on reducing inequality in our society, including policymakers, social scientists, and with only weeks to go until the general election, even politicians.
Taylor & Francis ,Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150409081820.htmn
0 notes
Text
Toward a new(er) Sociability: uses, gratification and social capital on Facebook
The “like” feature on Facebook has emerged as a commonly used paralinguistic tool for communicating, and its importance as an indication of positive feelings toward the posts of others is likely to increase. Comprehensive research is needed into why and how users are motivated toward ‘liking’ behavior, and whether this behavior generates an intention to continue using Facebook over time. This study combines the theory of uses and gratification and a subjective norm perspective to create an integrated model that predicts liking behavior and usage intentions on Facebook. The research model is tested with data collected from online users of Facebook and the proposed model is supported by a measurement and structural model analysis based on empirical data collected from 267 Facebook users. The findings indicate that the most salient motivations for users to liking behavior are enjoyment, information seeking, social interaction, and subjective norms, and that they subsequently reinforce their continuous intention toward the Facebook. The results also revealed that subjective norms contribute strongly to the projections of liking behavior and continuous usage intention. The proposed research model contributes to global marketing research and information-technology service management by integrating personal and social motivators to understand the acceptance of social networking technologies by users in Asia. In particular, the outcomes stand to enhance the current state of knowledge of social networking site developers, managers, and organizations to improve acceptance of their services or products, development of customer support, advertising, and/or product development. The present results lay the foundation for uses and gratification theory and subjective norms model that have important theoretical and practical implications and may guide future research efforts in this context.
Md. Alamgir Hossain, Minho Kim and Nusrat Jahan (February 2019) Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/4/1166/htm
0 notes
Text
PHILOSOPHICAL LINKAGES BETWEEN PUBLIC JOURNALISM AND CITIZEN JOURNALISM
The term citizen journalism or public journalism has spread widely around world as it has been connected to publishing the news and information. It can be defined simply as an alternative source of news which is produced and published by the general public. The concept of citizen journalism is not a new phenomenon and it has started long time ago. What has changed is the importance and the prevalence of the citizen journalists as an alternative source of information and news worldwide. There is an argument whether citizen journalism has transferred the news positively or negatively. Some experts argue that citizen journalism has many disadvantages such as lack of credibility and low objectivity which make it unreliable source of news comparing to traditional media. However, others support the citizen journalism because it has important advantages like promoting democratization of society and increase the speed of news. Therefore, this essay will argue that citizen journalism has apparently positive aspects in promoting democratization by removing corrupted regimes and being the first in providing media coverage.
Source:
(2018) Retrieved from https://www.bartleby.com
0 notes
Text
HOW DOES THE INTERNET CHANGE JOURNALISTIC INVESTIGATION AND HOW SHOULD COMMUNICATION SCIENCE DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE?
It is difficult to over-state the pervasiveness of Internet communication in science. And it is plausible to claim that journalists have been more thoroughly affected by technological change in recent decades than any other occupational group. In the cross-connection of these processes science journalism is being redefined. New opportunities, media, and genres for reporting science have emerged, that challenge established modes of science journalism. Producing and distributing 'science news' comprises part or all of the professional responsibilities or personal pastimes of an increasingly diverse range of social actors. In the context of Internet publishing in particular, it is an inescapable reality, and it has clear implications for the practice of science journalism. This specialist practice is located at the boundaries of two professional communities, boundaries that are weakening progressively through developments on both sides, as it were. Not the least of these influences is the increasing use of Internet media in all spheres of science communication. Professional communication reaches external audiences, intentionally or not, and public communication connects discrete professional groups and interests. The web, which was developed for information-sharing among scientists, is increasingly used by research and educational institutions to recruit students, employees, and collaborators and to impress niche audiences in policy-making, scientific, and business sectors. These institutional websites frequently use mass media journalism formats, such as daily or weekly news updates. In this way, they make what may have been intended as peer communication publicly accessible.
Source:
(January 2007) Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net
0 notes
Text
CONSUMER CULTURE AND NEW MEDIA: COMMODITY FETISHISM IN THE DIGITAL ERA
Commodity fetishism is the perception of the social relationships involved in production not as relationships among people, but as economic relationships among the money and commodities exchanged in market trade. As such, commodity fetishism transforms the subjective, abstract aspects of economic value into objective, real things that people believe have intrinsic value.
The millennial era is an extraordinary one for developments in consumer culture. Especially central to these developments is the use of new media and their commercial and consumerist manifestations. The multimedia, e-commerce and interactive characteristics of the Internet, the mobile commercial possibilities of smart phones, the creative power of digital video production, and digital video recorders/on-demand media are just a few of the media developments that radically change the way that brands are bought, sold, marketed and understood. These changes influence such factors as the diversity and vibrancy of media systems, the relationship of consumption to definitions of prosperity and happiness in our lives, the role of surveillance and privacy, environmental impact and issues of personal agency.
Sources:
Retrieved from https://en.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/commodity_fetishism and https://www.Taylor Francis.com/books/e/978113684469/chapters/10.4324/9780203834077-18
0 notes
Text
MEDIA LIFE
Technology has made the lives of many people easier, especially with the creation of the social media. Today the social has gone beyond tweeting about your accomplishments or uploading images to show your latest achievements. Because of its fame, the social media can be seen as a means of acquiring popularity. Only a few years ago when most of the social platforms we are using were created, not everyone gave much thought to how much impact it would have in people's lives. In other words, the social media are websites and applications that allow it's users to create and share content, or to participate in social networking. While some people think that social media destroys human interaction and real life relationships, others think it is a blessing. One of the largest industries that social media has an effect on is news and journalism. Since, the internet is now the fastest and easiest way to get news, print media is diminishing and publications are being forced to post their articles online. The possibilities are seemingly endless for social media. It is uncommon for people to go a day without using or referring to social media. Whether it is used for communicating, learning, or decision making, social media is here to stay and will continue to affect our society.
Sources:
Eseohe, Ebhota & Bamas, Victoria, (December 2017) Retrieved from https://www.dailytrust.com.ng./impact-of-social-media-on-our-lives.html
(June 2012) Retrieved from https://www.insegment.com/blog/reliance-on-social-media-in-todays-society/amp/
0 notes
Text
FROM MASS TO NETWORKED COMMUNICATION
In the Neolithic ages, face to face communication was the only option. During the Paleolithic age, as cities grew, writing was introduced. As writing spread, so did people to every part of the world. The printing press made mass communication possible and newspapers were created on its ability to mass produce. In the 19th century, rapid industrialization occurred and the need for mass communication increased. Soon after the radio and television we're invented followed by cinemas all this made it possible to easily broadcast information and entertainment to the masses. When computers became available mainframes dominated storage space and required punch cards to work then it evolved to fit on a single table the desktop and continued to shrink to fit onto laptops and eventually to smartphones. Network computers other basis of the new information society mass communication has evolved into networks communication. People are connecting through networks across families countries all around the world network connections have cut across traditional communication boundaries. In the 21st century and beyond, people are connected through networks connections which leads to the existence of strategic communication. Students will gain knowledge and skills to analyse latest communication trends. Opportunity to brainstorm solutions to issues of a fast and globalizing world and better understanding of the communities we live in.
Source:
(October 2018) Retrieved from https://m.YouTube.com/
0 notes
Text
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS IN THE PHILIPPINES
In 1989, Ronald Reagan proclaimed that “the communications revolution will be the greatest force for the advancement of human freedom that the world has ever known.”
Maybe — in a decade or so — his prophecy will come true and Nigerians, Saudis, and Kazakhs might routinely download the U.S. Constitution and vote over cell phones in mass parliaments.
But for now, information technology hasn’t lived up to its worldwide political promise.
Many authoritarian countries, such as Burma, have simply and successfully banned the Internet from the public. Others, such as Cuba or China, have built national firewalls that block the Net’s democratizing effect.
But the most interesting indictment of the early thesis of information technology’s coming political beneficence comes from the few places where it has indeed had an impact.
There, it has tended simply to speed up the political process rather than improve it. And when it comes to selecting effective global leaders — faster often equals worse.
Consider the three political leaders aided the most while rising to power by the Internet and information technology: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the Philippines, Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia and Jesse Ventura in Minnesota.
Macapagal Arroyo came to power in January 2001 after Filipinos converged en masse on a famous Manila intersection on the Edsa Boulevard to protest against then-President Estrada.
Most of the protesters came because of little notes on their cell-phone screens: “Go to the EDSA shrine to protest. Pls pass” or “EDSA. EDSA: everybody converge on EDSA!”
After Estrada was thrown from power, the Manila Standard filed the headline “At least 100 million text messages did Estrada in.”
In Indonesia, the effect of information technology on Megawati’s rise to power was less clear — but certainly substantial.
As with the Philippines, the government had embraced information technology — and students had become familiar with the Internet during the ’90s Asian economic miracle.
Then, during the protests that brought down long-time ruler General Suharto, the Internet provided an essential communication method.
“The internet contributed significant role in stepping Suharto down in 1998,” says one of the student leaders at the time, Zul Zulkieflimansyah.
“Many sensitive and important issues, up to date infos, etc were spread easily by using the Internet — Email, Web, mailing list etc…”
The Jakarta Post wrote of the protesters at the time, “Instead of fighting with bamboo spears, swords, guns or tanks — they used banners, placards, the mass media and the Internet.”
Megawati didn’t immediately take power after Suharto fell, but the 1998 protests brought her into the political spotlight and set in motion the events that would deliver the presidency to her.
In the United States, a number of candidates have benefited greatly from the Web. Former Presidential candidate John McCain was able to raise millions of dollars online in 2000.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used online advertising to great effect in 2001 — and a number of candidates successfully used the Internet to coordinate their get-out-the-vote efforts last year.
But the only one to claim that the Internet played a fundamental role in his victory was the former wrestler, Jesse Ventura, who used the Internet to rally supporters for his 1998 candidacy for governor of Minnesota.
“The Internet for us served as the nervous system for the campaign,” said Jesse Ventura’s campaign manager. “It was the mobilization.” Arroyo, Megawati and Ventura all demonstrate the considerable political power of the Internet.
Unfortunately, none of the three has managed to fulfill his or her most basic campaign promises. Importantly, they also completely failed to push their agendas through fractious legislatures.
Mr. Ventura’s legislative agenda quickly collapsed — and he left office with a much longer list of memorable quips than legislative accomplishments.
Ms. Megawati has had a terrible time pushing through economic reforms — and her popularity levels have sunken considerably. An October poll showed that only one in ten Indonesians thinks she has the intelligence to lead a country.
Macapagal Arroyo has also failed to get her economic reform package through the Filipino Congress — and has been dogged by charges of incompetence.
A December 2002 Philippine Daily Inquirer story about her sagging approval ratings began, “President Macapagal Arroyo is ending 2002 — her second year in office — choking on dust.”
Subsequently, she announced in December 2002 that she will not seek reelection in 2004.
Granted, all three leaders might have come to power even if information technology hadn’t provided their campaigns with extra boosts.
Macapagal Arroyo and Megawati come from near-royal blood and Mr. Ventura outpolled two uninspiring opponents.
So perhaps they would have risen and fallen on their own — but probably not. And the qualities that have led to their failures are the same ones promoted by IT-driven politics.
All three mainly suffer from having excess style and short substance. All three showed an inability to work with and manage the lower-tier legislators necessary for success. None was able to push through substantial reforms or really govern at all.
As the old adage goes: For every political problem, there’s a solution that’s simple, easy and wrong. And that’s what quick IT-based political movements currently excel at finding.
If you had a political pants-on-fire moment 15 years ago, you’d maybe call a few friends — whereas today you can email 500 and exhort them to come to EDSA for a rally in two hours.
Moreover the folks most likely to have sudden outbursts of rage against the system — young people in universities with time on their hands and electronic resources at their disposal — are the ones most likely to have access to the Net.
The right to vent is crucial to democracy, but venting alone doesn’t always do so much good.
Candidates who appeal to folks with their pants on fire are often unproven and provocative ones — with virtues easily described on a cell phone screen.
They aren’t the sort of candidates likely to have the most adept legislative-negotiating and consensus-building skills. Nor do they have truly deep support that will help them out in times of trouble or allow them to select competent aides and allies.
Over time, the Internet will almost certainly mature as a political tool by giving political power to people who’ve never had it before, opening up corrupt political systems — and increasing democratic deliberations.
Even now, with the exception of the untraceable communication it offers to the likes of Al Qaeda, the Internet has mostly been a force for good in the places it has made a difference short of selecting leaders.
The Burmese expatriate opposition operates almost entirely online and has begun slowly forcing reform in that country’s autocracy.
In Serbia, the chief democratic radio station simply shifted online through servers based in the Netherlands when then-President Slobodan Milosevic shut down domestic transmissions during his final months in power in autumn 2000.
In Ghana, the Internet allowed expatriates to raise money in 2000 for the opposition candidate John Kufuor — who defeated the party of longtime dictator Jerry Rawlings. It also allowed exit-polling data to get to opposition leaders outside the country who were monitoring for fraud.
There also are of course times when political rot has become so thorough that the only way to improve things is to strike a match to the whole system.
But — for the most part — countries like that aren’t ones with access to modern technology.
Information-technology-inspired politics move faster than traditional ones. But as the people of Minnesota, Indonesia and the Philippines have found, they’re not necessarily better.
Looking at the leaders that have catapulted to stardom, they’re quite often just the opposite.
Source:
Thompson, Nicholas,(June 2003) Retrieved from https://www.theglobalist.com/the-internet-and-political-campaigns/
0 notes
Text
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
When Umberto Eco died, the world lost an innovative novelist, insightful essayist, and erudite cultural critic.
He was also a renowned academic, one of the few working in the discipline of semiotics. Eco founded and developed the approach called interpretative semiotics.
Simply put, semiotics looks at signs and symbols as a significant part of communication; it is no less than the study of meaning-making.
Signs, symbols, language, artifacts, and context permeate our landscape and are an integral part of communication systems; they have meanings that influence the viewer consciously and subconsciously.
Take the election advertising campaigns. The symbols in Grace Poe’s Gamma Penumbra ad link her to current issues and emphasize her suitability for president. Trees sprout (care for the environment), lovers entwine (individual rights, care for the family), elderly people flourish (senior care), and so on. The shadow Poe rolling up her sleeves shows she’s going to get work done. That image is pure genius.
Looking at her other ads and photos, the white shirts she wears signify cleanliness, innocence, and purity, and these virtues are further reinforced by her personal appearance—minimal makeup, hair tied back.
In contrast, Mar Roxas’ ubiquitous yellow shirts connect him to the Aquino legacy and denote his continuing commitment to the Daang Matuwid. The additional baggage of this symbol, however, are both the achievements and the failures of the current administration.
This is something that all the publicity teams must realize—that symbols have complex layers of meanings, and they do make an impression on the viewer. Also, in crafting messages the symbols used cannot be too far-fetched, otherwise dissonance ensues and the message will be rejected.
This can be seen in the disjointed Roxas imagery. There are photos of him hefting a string of garlic or some other bag of produce, directing traffic, and the latest, chewing on sugar cane. These symbols say: regular guy, one of the common folk, a Juan dela Cruz.
At the same time he and his team trumpet his political pedigree (relationships to late great statesmen, past achievements in public service) and educational attainments (Wharton). These symbols point to elite status.
These two personas—one actual, the other constructed —do not jive. Thus the public finds his messages inconsistent.
Symbols are also open to interpretation, especially when the phenomenon is not commonly encountered. Rodrigo Duterte’s public profanity is the first for a presidential candidate, and the public is skewed how to translate this on a conceptual level.
To reduce the risk of misunderstanding, the election campaign teams should focus on creating consistent messages rather than focusing on frequency of exposure, such as in flooding mass media with television and radio commercials. Credibility will suffer even more if the wrong message is reinforced.
Viewers should remember that as good a show as any particular advertisement may be, there isn’t enough time to convey all that needs to be said in 30 seconds or one minute. That is why ads rely heavily on symbols to get their point across, because we are more influenced by them and their meanings than we may realize.
Neither are ads an assurance or an indicator of the actual performance of the candidate when in office, because promises are not always translated into reality.
Umberto Eco proposed that every cultural phenomenon may be studied as communication. Politics and its attendant activities should be scrutinized as to their intended and unintended meanings; take nothing for granted. Discernment is necessary to sift facts from fantasy.
Source:
Ortuoste, Jenny,(February 2016).Retrieved from http://www.manilastandard.net/mobile/article/200190
0 notes
Text
Social Media Democracy
In the last few years, social media become paramount to how we get our news, how we view the world and not end in our democracy but we see in our news feeds whether it be Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or any other platform it affects how we view the world and the things around us. Social media as a positive or negative effect on our democracy. Firstly, social media has a huge influence on how much polarization America has in politics today. Anybody can take a look at their news feeds and immediately see that there is a lack of political neutrality. For example there's always articles that are clearly anti Trump and others that are very pro true. For example you don't see people saying that they really don't care about whatever is going on currently they headline some people truly reacting to that. Instead you see the far left or the alt-right making headlines because people are trying to get their voices heard and that's going to happen by making theirs the loudest and therefore the most impactful. If people are not only seeing what's going the most polarized news articles and their opinion will start shifting depending on what they see and take in causing the average American to gradually shift towards whatever edge of the political spectrum that they see the most of. Through all of this social media becomes an easy scapegoat for us to play in our polarization problems like. Now, of course people are vote on what they believe in which means that this polarization that we have in our social media transfers over into our elections. Social media has an overwhelmingly positive effect on democracy. Well it increases our polarization as a country and that is certainly not good. It is also an amplifier for the voices around the country in our world but do good and want a better life for them and the people around them it allows us to hold our government in check by voicing our complaints and allowing others to hear us out and spread the word although this can clearly work both ways.
Source:
Needham, Maggie, (November 2018) Social Media in Democracy, Retrieved from https://m.youtube.com/#searching
3 notes
·
View notes