#DMCS301

[aakezia]

Blog Post #10

1. What was TIPS and in what ways has it invaded the privacy of Americans?

TIPS was a surveillance idea from the Bush administration, formally known as the Terrorism Information and Prevention System program. This program essentially turned American service workers into ‘snitches’ where meter readers, UPS drivers and letter carriers were to report on suspicious activity witnessed inside of homes. These people did this obviously without theses residents knowing which made it an invasion of privacy as they were never informed as to what they were truly doing.

2. As Parenti poses, are the rules of society rational and do they do they in many cases aim to reproduce brutality, exploitation racism and more?

I believe that many times the rules of society are not rational, take the Patriot Act for an example which truly violated the rights of Americans and allowed for illegal tactics of surveillance. More so with the implementation of TIPS people who even looked remotely Arab were targeted. Not only there but everywhere else like at airports especially and just in other everyday occasions. Infact, a Newsweek survey conducted immediately in the wake of 9/11 found that 32 percent of Americans favored putting arabs under ‘special surveillance’ like that used against Japanese-Americans during World War 2 (Parenti, 2003).   

3. What was FISA?

According to Christian Parenti (2003:200), “FISA or the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was a law that permitted easy access to warrens if they could show that there was an substantial for ‘foreign intelligence’ angle to their work.” Essentially FISA was operating as a cover to conduct illegal; investigations.   

4. What was TIA ?

This plan was formerly known as the Total Information Awareness project where people were being recorded in every aspect of life. From digital trails from credit cards, electronic tolls, banking transactions, health records and library use. This information was then put into a virtual grand database that were then [possible archived fr interesting or incriminating patterns. Along with this this program included the invention of new algorithms for ‘mining, combining, and refining’ this personal information. This to me definitely seems like’ hacker’ behavior and unjust to be conducting on Americans without their knowledge.

Parenti, Christian. 2003. The Soft Cage: Surveillance In America From Slavery To The War on Terror. New York, NY: Basic Books. 

[smith47-oz]

Ninth Weekly Post

1. What are some examples of people coming together on social media to fight for one cause?

      Zeke Spier- Protestors gathered in Philadelphia choose a spokesperson, nature of the protest, times, places, and topics online before they went out to the streets.

     Anti-Fur Coalition- This group protests through demonstrations, throwing red paint on people who have real fur coats on, passing out leaflets, and making/sharing videos on social media. (Video below)

     Greenpeace- They fight against the company Nestle because they are using palm oil from companies that are destroying the Indonesian rainforest, which effects orangutans. They share videos on social media like opening a Kit Kat, but to pull out an orangutan finger and the person bites/eats the finger. With many people disgusted, Nestle did agree to cut down on forest destruction. (Video below)

2. Is there a group you're apart of on social media?

     I am apart of multiple EMS groups on social media. It is where we can joke around but also give each other information about what is going on around the world with first responders. We all mostly are on the same page of ideas/ are like minded. If a department needs support against someone/something or if they need support mourning a loss, hundreds of first responders are there to help.

3. Is the Internet a doorway to a public sphere now like it was during Zeke Spier’s cyberactivism?

     I do believe the internet is still a doorway to the public sphere now even more than Zeke Spier’s time. We now have more platforms to talk and connect with more people. Although, we have to be careful of what we say, see the other side, and fact checks a lot of information. People can now educate themselves quicker and with more information about the whole world. These citizen journalists who have cell phones recording in real situations allow us to see it in first person perspective and usually, it’s the raw image.

4. Who/What is the R2K Network?

   The R2K Network is multiple organizers, coordinators, and activists that plan to demonstrate and educate before/during Republican National Convention (Elin 2003).  They believe that the political process is biased and look past the interests of the poor and working people.

Elin, Larry. 2003. Cyberactivism: Online Activism In Theory And Practice. “The Radicalization of Zeke Spier: How the Internet Contributes to Civic Engagement and New Forms of Social Capital”

[joycearlene3]

Blog Post 4

1. What type of person do you think you would be if you happened to live in a society like the one shown in the episode of Black Mirror? 

- I think I would somewhat care about rating because of the fact that you are able to get nicer things but I don’t think I would be like Lacie and be desperate for a high rating. 

2. Do you think there’s any way of helping or stopping the exploitation of workers? 

- As mentioned in page 130, without labor there would be no profit. The workers are the reason why companies are getting so rich. but yet the ones providing the labor are working for little to nothing. I think companies should pay workers more and give them better working conditions, but this could only happen if all the works unite and go on strike or protest.

3. Do you think there will be any new platform that could come out and be eve more popular than the already existing ones such as Youtube?

- I know Youtube is one of the most used sites online and it seems like the numbers just keep growing and growing, but I feel like with time there might be something even bigger than Youtube. For example when snapchat came out a few years ago it blew up and now it seems like everyone has it. So maybe in a couple years something bigger could come out and surprise us with all it’s new qualities.

4. Which gender do you think companies make more money off of?

-We know that companies make ads and target certain groups whether it’s boys or girls, or certain groups but I wonder which gender actually spends more money in general. I think that girls might actually be the one’s who spend more money because we tend to look at the new fashion trends, while I fell like guys don’t really pay much attention to that. For companies this information is useful because they know which gender will give them more profit.

Fuchs, Christian. 2017. Social Media: A Critical Introduction. 2nd Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

[zwyant98-blog]

Blog Post 10

1. What was the T.I.A.?

The TIA was a project of the pentagons defense advanced research projects agency that started in 2002. This was created to “imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate, and transition info technologies, components, and prototype closed loop info systems that will counter threats by acheiving info awareness thats useful for national security warning and decision making.”

2. What is TIPS?

TIPS was the terrorism information and prevention system that failed under Bush. it was sought to turn every 1/24 americans into a “snitch”. They recruited ups drivers, letter carriers, and meter readers to report on suspicious activity they witnissed while inside homes. This ended around the summer of 2002 as it was torn apart by mainstream press, to post offices, to utility companies as they were to be relied on.

3. How did these two programs benefit government surveillance?

TIA was able to pulls records from peoples everyday lives. These things would be credit cards, electronic tolls, health records, and much more to be data mined. This would allow the government to be able to identify people with just one photo and automatically track people as they travel in public. TIPS was able to get snitches to walk inside peoples private home, and listen to information and determine whether or not it was deemed dangerous. 

4.  What was the New Immigration Program? 

This program required all residets from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria who are not permanent residents to register their fingerprints and photos with the local immigration authorities. They also went over foreign students and were kept track of to see if they enrolled, dropped out, had poor grades, or changes to their address, name, or field of study. I don’t believe this is right, i understand if it is managed, but not checked regularly just because a person is not originally from the united states.

Parenti, Christian. 2003. The Soft Cage: Surveillance In America From Slavery To The War on Terror. 

[sadams3-blog1]

Wikileaks 11/9/2018

What is Wikileaks?

Wikileaks is an international non-profit organization that functions as a type of whistleblowing database; a free encyclopedia of leaked secret information, news leaks, that also hosts reports on other important clandestine activities. Wikileaks became prominent in the United States in the late 2000′s because of their publishing of classified documents pertaining to the on-going war in Afghanistan. Wikileaks is now increasingly known for their participation in the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections by releasing information that was hacked from the Democratic National Convention’s databases and publishing it on their website.  This is considered to have done some serious damage to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and a factor in her loss to now president Donald Trump.

Is Wikileaks impartial?

Wikileaks has shown signs of being increasingly compromised by outside influences over the course of the 2010′s. Since Julian Assange essentially became an international fugitive over sexual assault charges, he has been living in and running Wikileaks from the Russian Federation. (Not) coincidentally the information that Wikileaks released about Hillary Clinton’s emails during the course of the 2016 election is highly suspected by multiple intelligence agencies to have been stolen by Russian hackers. Wikileaks’ has also been criticized for it’s lack of attention paid to the Russian federation and it’s very shady actions both internationally and domestically, such as its treatment of journalists and the press, it’s illegal meddling in foreign elections and it’s consistent cyberwarfare (fake news, hacking) would seem to be perfect content for Wikileaks, yet they refuse to say anything about it.

3. Does Wikileaks promote conspiracy theories?

Wikileaks has been known for peddling conspiracy theories, most particularly during the 2016 election. The Seth Rich conspiracy theory was one of the most flagrant examples of Wikileaks promoting fake news, as right-wing figures had begun to spread the claim that Seth Rich was murdered on behalf of the Clinton’s for hacking the DNC. In reality of course Seth Rich’s murder was not politically motivated, yet Wikileaks did nothing to set the record straight but instead put a $20,000 reward for anyone who could give information that could bring Seth Rich’s killers to justice and implied that he was the one who leaked the information to them. 

4. Should we trust Wikileaks?

Wikileaks is very hit or miss, and in recent years they tend to miss far more than they hit their mark. Their increasingly selective reporting can lead to a biased or skewed perspective of politics or international relations, as they choose to not speak on certain issues such as the Panama papers, which should have been a bombshell news story but their was a conspicuous lack of reporting on it, or when it comes to the shady actions of other countries around the world. While yes the United States government has become more obscurant about it’s actions, it is necessary in a global world for someone who claims to blow the whistle regardless of the target to be willing to bite the hand that feeds and let people know what is really happening, instead of bending to the will of dictators and peddling conspiracy theories on their behalf.

[marinadonaghue]

Blog Post 12/7

1. What did the Patriot Act really do?

The Patriot Act served as a justification for the government’s hyper surveillance on people. The government was already utilizing unlawful forms of surveillance through wiretaps, illegally videotaping suspects, and intercepting and analyzing e-mails; all without search warrants. This law simply gave the government more control; this is especially evident through the fact that federal investigators were able to pick judges when seeking warrants, to ensure they didn’t have to face a liberal judge. They were also able to use their warrant in any part of the country. In addition to the Patriot Act allowing the government to justify their hyper surveillance, it also extended the ways in which they could surveil. For example, following the act, federal investigators were able to tap each phone an individual may have used. Before the act,  they were required to obtain a warrant for each phone they planned to tap. Lastly, the increase of governmental control under the Patriot Act is evident through the expanded definition of a terrorist; this allowed the government to investigate and prosecute anyone they saw fit.

2. Are children/teenagers being socialized to accept surveillance?

Because children are growing up in an extremely technological world, I believe that many of them are being socialized to accept surveillance. This notion is evident through Parenti’s discussion on how children are the least surprised by security measures, due to the fact that they’re used to having their luggage searched, ID’s examined, and jokes screened. Surveillance is all children know, and this enables the government to continue their hyper surveillance without much resistance. As Parenti suggests, kids are demonstrating signs of ultra trust and super obedience in authority figures, due to routine observation and regulation. Social media has allowed the government to mask their surveillance in entertaining platforms, advertisements, consoles, cell phones, and other technological devices that include cameras, microphones, and the like. It is likely that when the majority of teenagers sign into social media, they are not contemplating the fact that regulations on their posts, terms of service, as well as advertisements are all forms of surveillance; they simply see them as normal aspects of social media.

3. Do you think Opt-in advertising policies will make digital media less exploitative?

I agree with Fuch’s that Opt-in advertising would make digital media less exploitative; however, I also agree that most internet platforms would refuse to implement this policy. As a classmate stated earlier in the semester, what may be beneficial is providing monetary incentives to users when they allow for advertisements; this way, corporations/internet platforms can continue their advertisements, and users get paid for membership. I believe this would be more effective than Fuch’s suggestion of a participatory fee for media projects. I think the only way to ensure Opt-in advertising policies are enforced would be for the government to make them mandatory. However, that would create a problem because it opposes capitalism’s free market ideology. In my opinion, the best outcome would be for social media users to boycott all exploitative platforms and demand economic justice in regards to their usage. If this happened, I think social media platforms would be more likely to adjust their advertising policies due to the structure versus agency ideology. Unfortunately, gathering enough people together to protest social media in a way that would enforce change is extremely unlikely.

4. After reading Fuch’s conclusion, do you think social media will ever be a space of true participatory democracy?

Although Fuch’s asserts that it is possible for the internet to become a commons-based space, I don’t believe that the policies and changes it would require are likely. I agree with Fuch’s that in order for the internet to truly change, capitalism must change; I don’t believe that will happen in the United States. A commons-based internet opposes most ideologies associated with capitalism, and each social system in our country relies on that economic/political system. I understand that capitalism is not present in every country, which is why I’m limiting my response to the United States. It is important, however, to note the fact that Google (which Fuch’s claims is the internets biggest company) was created in the United States; this is one testament to the political power they have over the internet. In my opinion, there is simply too much capital and systemic control involved in the internet for it to truly transform into a space of participatory democracy (any time soon).

Bibliography

Fuchs, Christian. 2017. Social Media: A Critical Introduction, 2nd Ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Parenti, Christian. 2003. The Soft Cage: Surveillance In America From Slavery To The War on Terror. New York, NY: Basic Books.

[jfleming00006-blog]

11/16

1. What is the relationship between the government and Wikileaks?

The government sees Wikileaks as causing problems in society and that it compromises the state by releasing information. The issue too is that the government hides things from us because there are things they don’t want us knowing. What doesn’t make sense is who are they to decide what we shouldn’t know? The ironic thing with Wikileaks is that while we are being watched by the government, Wikileaks is watching them back.

2. With regards to the Gamergate movement, what went wrong with it? It was started because of Quinn apparently cheating on her boyfriend with a reviewer, who then gave her a good review on her game. Due to her sex life being posted, she started to get harassed. Her address and phone number were made public and she got such intense threats that she left her house and hasn’t been back since. I understand the idea of keeping online gaming reviews ethical, but is it that serious? I don’t think it was necessary to have received so much harassment and so many threats because of it all. In addition, obviously this was such an outrage because she’s a female gamer and was basically being slut shamed.

3. We talked about men feeling marginalized in relation to the Gamergate movement, why is that?

I didn’t really understand this. Was it because they wanted to make it known that it was not ethical to sleep with a reviewer in order to get a good review, and that their voices weren’t being heard regarding this issue? What made men feel this way? They were the ones being completely misogynistic and the article even says the movement was specifically targeting women.  

4. How has the U.S. reinforced the standards required to be considered ‘beautiful’ in relation to institutional racism?

One woman was told she would lose her job if she didn’t cut her hair. A 7-year-old girl was sent home from school because her hair was considered unacceptable. A 12-year-old girl was told her hair is a distraction to other students, which violated the school’s policy. They were threatened with harsh punishment all because of their hairstyle, which projects that Black woman’s bodies are viewed as unacceptable in the U.S. These instances also reinforce what is viewed as acceptable in the country, and the standards we have in place that determine beauty. 

Hathaway, Jay. 2014. “What is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks.” Gawker. October 10. Retrieved November 16, 2018.

Lee, L. (2015). Virtual homeplace: (Re)Constructing the body through social media. In Keisha Edwards Tassie & Sonja M. Brown Givens (Eds.), Women  of Color and Social Media Multitasking: Blogs, Timelines, Feeds and Community (pp. 91-112). New York: Lexington Books.

[mroldvine-blog]

Blog Post 5

1. What does my Avatar/Profile picture say about yourself?

For my profile picture I put up a photo of myself and my girlfriend. I chose it because I think I look good in it, too bad she had to be in it. I also chose it because it wanted it to show who I am as a person. I have a BitMoji as well, he is made to look just like me. He wears what i wear for the majority of the year shorts, joggers, and sweatshirts. Again I wanted him to portray what I look like everyday.

2.  Is racism different on different forms of media?

Yes, I think you can see differences in online racism in different types of media. If you look at twitter and instagram you can see they have different guidelines. The racism will happen different as well because the platforms use different methods of communicating. On Instagram for example a picture could be posted to be racist but on twitter you would see more tweets used for racism. Even then if you look at another form of media like gaming and racism can happen in many different ways. In gaming you can talk to random people from around the world that you have never met before. What they say to other people won’t matter for them.

3.  Is there class in technology?

Yes, Look at Iphones for an example. Every model gets more expensive. Each model adds new features that most won’t be able to interact with the older models. With this people want to get the new models to be in with everyone else. The people who don't upgrade won’t be able to fully interact with everyone anymore. Now if you have an android then that just brings in racism. Iphone people despise Androids.

4. Why does racism occur in online gaming?

It occurs because in online gaming you can say anything to anyone with barely to no repercussions. You may get reported, but the companies don’t do much about it. The companies get many a day. They don’t have the time to going through all of them. This allows with a vast majority of gamers to say what they want. It will happen just because they can do it. Most of the players have stereotypes with other nationalities. Most of the time it is Foreign languages mean a bad teammate. No one wants a bad teammate.

[human-imdb]

Blog Post #2

In what ways can social media of today be distinguished from social communication methods that have existed for the previous two millennia?

Modern social media has led to the creation of communities that can span continents; simultaneous contact with people that live on separate hemispheres. While Roman papyrus rolls and their messengers, and to an extent, the modern postal service, allowed for communication between cognitive people via messages, social media websites allow for the speed of the correspondence to be that of a face-to-face conversation. Like theorized by Marx, it’s become to accumulation of the world’s knowledge, and can, hypothetically, allow for the coordination of co-operation to be on a global scale.

How ethical is it to block a person on social media?

Blocking someone on social media, I believe, is well within a person’s rights. It’s the online equivalent to filing a restraining order. There’s no debating against that here. In certain situations, however, I’ll opine that the ability to block someone has been abused by people seeking to intentionally dissociate with someone for corrupted reasons, such as “ghosting” someone on social media rather than addressing issues with that person face-to-face.

What causes the rise and fall of social media platforms?

On page 49 in Fuchs book, Table 2.2 lists the top 20 websites viewed in the years 2002 and 2015, and what shocked me the most was that MySpace wasn’t on either of those lists. The site was created in 2003, and lost popularity when Facebook launched in 2008. With rising and falling social media platforms on the mind, I thought about when the app Vine announced it was decommissioning the app. A lot of users abandoned the app after the novelty of the platform had seemingly worn off. It’s intriguing how greater technological efficiencies in newer platforms will cause platforms with older interfaces to die out; right now, the most popular website is Facebook. I’m curious: if the Cambridge Analytica and Rohingya genocide scandals couldn’t deter the prevalence of Facebook, what will eventually cause Facebook to be considered obsolete like Vine or MySpace before it?

Do social media sites have the right to share user data with advertisement companies and researchers?

I’d say these websites violated the goodwill of their users. To be frank: hardly anybody will read the Terms of Service for Apple or Facebook, because it’s 90 some-odd pages of 2.5, Ariel font, which nobody would have the time to read in its entirety. Unfortunately, companies know that, so there are usually all sorts of disappointingly deceptive loopholes that get put in those documents. It’s a sneaky, underhanded thing to do, and it’s also how social media sites will get people to agree to be ok with ludicrous invasions of privacy, like having their data sold to companies so they can directly market to their consumers. Legally speaking, Twitter is not doing anything wrong, and these policies, however opposed to they were, had been agreed to by users when they checked the “Terms of Service” box; technically, tweets are public data.

[aakezia]

Blog Post #9

1. What is the role of online communities who generally oppose the policies in authoritarian states?

Firstly, online communities such as  listservs, discussion groups, and Usenet groups distributes news news that may be banned in a non-democratic country (Vegh 2013). According to Vegh an example of this would be “ the apakabar listserv based in Maryland dealing with Indonesia, the BurmaNet list, or the China News Digest.” Secondly, theses communities allow for a for of open discussion on censorship or human rights violations which in turn lead to future protests and boycotts. A young man by the name of Zar Ni, a Wisconsin student, started a free Burma coalition which was a campaign against the Burmese government (Vegh 2013). This massive campaign lead to transnational corporations cutting their investment with Burma, and Ni’s group raised enough public and political awareness of the situation in Burma that is was ranked of higher importance on the U.S. foreign policy agenda (Vegh 2013).

2. What is the importance of Information-Distribution?

It creates networks that can later be utilized for organization & mobilization, for example reports on the NusaNet Consortium-a restricted and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)-encrypted inter-NGO e-mail system- created to disseminate alternative news among themselves and to the larger population (Vegh 2013).

3. What is as "virtual sit-in” and how is it created?

A virtual sit-in aims to block access to a service, like a Website (Vegh 2013). It is achieved by directing an immense amount of of coordinated data stream at the target server, which then slows down or crashes under the traffic. According to Vegh (2013 :13), “Depending on what ports are enabled on the server (MAIL, IRC, ICMP, etc.), these blockades can be achieved, for example, by flooding the server with a large number of emails that are beyond its capability to handle (email bomb), overloading an IRC channel (IRC jamming), or overwhelming the server with small data packages that test the server's response capability.”

4. What is Black Technophobia ?

Technophobia in general is the fear of technology, and according to Everett, (2002: 9) black technophobia “[...] is the general presumption of black nonparticipation in the incipient technosphere.” However, Everett found that the absence of black people on the World Wide Web was fabricated as there have been proof of black online activity from since the 90’s- 00’s with communities like Naijanet a site where Nigerian students at Dartmouth were able to receive the news the news in Nigeria, proving that black technophobia was indeed a myth.

Everett, Anna. 2002. “The Revolution Will Be Digitized: Afrocentricity and the Digital Public Sphere.” Oral History Review. Retrieved December 1, 2018 (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/31928/pdf)

Vegh, Sandor. 2013. “Classifying Forms of Online Activism: The Case of Cyberprotests against the World Bank | Cyberactivism | Taylor & Francis Group.” Taylor & Francis. Retrieved November 30, 2018 (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781135381486/chapters/10.4324/9780203954317-9)

[smith47-oz]

Seventh Weekly Post

1.      How can Wikipedia operate without the funding like Facebook?

Wikipedia can operate without the funding because people are able to donate money and their knowledge. This makes Wikipedia thrive because people love that they can utilize something without giving up something.

 2.      How do we know the information on Wikipedia is true?

Back then you were able to post anything on Wikipedia. In high school they made us go on Wikipedia and change something on a famous person’s pages. I decided to go onto Abraham Lincoln’s page and wrote that he loved eating cheeseburgers and it stayed there for weeks till someone changed it. So, how do we know the information is true? They now make your changes invisible until someone approves it that its true. Today its fairly reliable. You can also view the works cited on the bottom of the pages. Good articles are indicated by a green plus inside a circle on the right of the article title. The featured articles are indicated by a star.

 3.      Is Wikileaks a serious threat to our society?

Considering the fact that the information on WikiLeaks may not be accurate and is miss leading may seriously hurt our society. People now a day do not fact check articles, so why would they fact check Wikileaks? Also, considering they’ve said they only released 1% of the government articles they have makes me worry what they have. It will result in the American people uprise (maybe) against themselves and the government. I believe with it being misleading it could be even more of a threat.

 4.      Have you used/been on these sites before?

I know most everyone has been on Wikipedia, but some people may have never been on Wikileaks. I’ve been on both, and to me, Wikileaks wasn’t very intriguing. I do use Wikipedia a lot, but only to get credible sources from the bottom in the works cited. Probably not the best way, but its very fast when you’re a college student.

Benkler, Yochai. N.D. “Wikileaks and the Networked Fourth Estate.” Beyond Wikileaks.

Fuchs, Christian. 2017. Social Media: A Critical Introduction. 2nd Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

[neomiea-blog]

How do you feel the patriot act has impacted our society? - I think that the U.S is very hypersensitive the internal and external threats and I somewhat understand the fears because of all the fear post attacks. But I think that with all of this surveillance they should be more involved and engaged with things such as bullying. 2. What is FISA and what was it permitted to do? - Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allowed agents to have easy access to warrants that would show substantial amounts of “foreign intelligence” to angle their work 3. What did the Washington Post complain about? - “Potential for abuse is enormous” implying that the system intended to destroy privacy and subordinate the population 4. What did TSA and CAPPS II pull together? - Credit card trails, electronic tolls, bank transactions, health records to create a “virtual, grand data base” to create new algorithms for mini, combining, and refining”

[mckenziemartin8-blog]

Blog Post #3

Q1.) Does social/digital media influence how we view the world around us?

A1.) Most definitely. If all you’re seeing on your timelines or television screens is sad and depressing stories, then you’re likely to see the world as a very dark and sad place. Social media greatly influences not only how we view and make sense of everything around us, but also how we view ourselves, and even the people we surround ourselves with.

Q2.) How do companies and business establish connections with customers or online users?

A2.) Business connect with their consumers in various ways via social media. Whether it be through polls, giveaways, contests or exclusive deals/discounts for members. Companies really work to integrate themselves into consumer culture online. Making the buyer feel as though they are apart of some decisions made by the company, or that they have a connection with a certain business allows them to influence a consumers likelihood of continuing to shop or work with that specific corporation

Q3.) How does participatory culture effect cultural diversity?

A3.) I believe the more involved you are with social media, or even with those around you, can help to encourage and support cultural diversity. Social media is a place to express yourself in whatever way you please, so why not take advantage of it and use it to show the world who you truly are. Social media allows different people to interact with other people around the world, and opens doors to learning about varying cultures and ways of life, and reassures individuals to express themselves, and their beliefs.

Q4.) Is digital labor considered exploitation?

QA.) In some cases I believe yes, but in others I think no. If an author publishes an article or blog they created on a site that mentions they will not be compensated for their work in the terms and conditions, then that is on the author of that work. Still, bloggers, writers, etc. should receive some sort of compensation, especially if the work becomes big and draws a lot of attention, thus bringing more viewers to the website as a whole. 

Reference:

Fuchs, Christian. Social Media: A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed., SAGE Publications, 2017.

[sarahsellrou-blog]

Blog Post 11/16

Question 1: Is Wikileaks beneficial or detrimental to society?

A: I believe Wikileaks can have negative impacts, but ultimately is beneficial. Wikileaks makes me think back to the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s. This was similar in that a former government employee was aware of sensitive information which was relevant to the American people but not being released. I believe sites such as WikiLeaks, as well as the media are another type of “check” upon the government in order to keep them in line.

Question 2: Is Wikipedia useful despite its reputation for being an unreliable source of information?

A: I would say absolutely. I use Wikipedia frequently, often when I am curious about an event or a person and want to know a quick summary. I have found Wikipedia to even be helpful in academic settings as the references at the bottom often list some very useful resources which can be academic in nature and provide a more detailed summation of the original Wikipedia post. I believe Wikipedia also has a relatively successful method for editing pages and reviewing edits to avoid bias and false information.

Question 3: Is Gamergate really about journalism ethics?

A: I would argue that while journalism ethics may be related, Gamergate goes far beyond that being the root of the movement. The movement could be generalized as a movement against women within the gaming industry. That is in essence what it is, as that’s who the movement targeted. Women associated with video games are often subjected to sexual harassment and discrimination simply due to their voice. Female characters are often oversexualized, and there is a disparity between the number of men and women employed within the industry. Recently, more have begun to take notice of these practices, and unfortunately Zoe Quinn was the target of the gaming community in response. The gaming community subjected Quinn to doxing, and her private sex life was blasted on the internet by her bitter ex. Had these roles been reversed, the response would not have been nearly the same.

Question 4: How was Gamergate similar to the Leslie Jones situation we discussed in class?

A: Gamergate was similar as Jones received the blunt of the abuse as viewers were angered at the emergence of females in the remake of a film which had a cult following. If the abuse was in response to the movie being bad then all of the cast would have been similarly subjected to it, but that was not the case. Similar to how journalism ethics was supposedly the target of Gamergate yet Quinn received the blunt of the abuse. The tactics used were also very similar as the abuse took place predominantly on online platforms and had severely negative impacts upon the victims of the abuse.

Hathaway, Jay. 2014. “What is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks.” Gawker. October 10. Retrieved November 16, 2018.

[marinadonaghue]

Blog 11/16

1. How is Gamergate similar to the online abuse Leslie Jones experienced?

Gamergate is similar to the abuse Leslie Jones experienced through the reasons for its formation, the tactics used, as well as the end result. Leslie Jones experienced online harassment following the release of the new Ghostbusters trailer. People were enraged at the idea of an all female cast in a historically male dominated film; they were also enraged to see an African American woman play a role in a predominately white film. Similar sentiments can be applied to Gamergate. “Gamers”, a population that had historically been dominated by white males, were so resistant to let females enter the gaming world, they harassed and threatened Zoe Quinn to the point where she left her own home. In addition, the tactics used in harassing Quinn and Jones on social media are similar.  During the harassment of Jones, people infiltrated her personal website with nude photos, her passport, and driver’s license. During Gamergate, users harassed Quinn by sexually shaming her, leaking nude photos, as well as releasing her address and phone number. Lastly, the end results of Gamergate, as well as Leslie Jones harassment are similar. Gamergate has been successful through chasing prominent women who make/write about video games out of the industry, while Leslie Jones was temporarily chased off of Twitter. Although Jones eventually signed back onto Twitter, the harassment she faced was so bad she felt the need to leave a social media site she loved and enjoyed; the same situation occurred during Gamergate. Gamergate, as well as the harassment Leslie Jones faced reinforce the notion that online spaces have limitations, as inequalities among gender, race, class, sexuality, and the like do not disappear in digital spaces.

2. How does Gamergate demonstrate white male privilege?

Although there are non-white, female supporters of Gamergate, I believe the general ideology of Gamergate demonstrates white male privilege, because it excuses the portrayals of race and gender in video games. Hathaway claims that one of the most popular explanations of Gamergate is that people want to play games without complicating them by acknowledging or discussing the ways in which those games portray women and minorities, as well as how the industry treats them. As Hathaway suggests, this is likely due to their privilege. Because the dominant population of gamers is white males, they are used to being represented in video games without having to view them from a different perspective. It requires a great deal of privilege to claim that negative portrayals of minorities and females do not need to be discussed, as they will ruin the fun of a game; it’s easy to feel that way when those portrayals don’t negatively affect the population one is a part of.

3. How does the United States demonstrate institutional unacceptability of Black female bodies?

Institutional practices in the United States demonstrate the unacceptability of the Black female body in various ways, the oppression of hair being one in particular. This oppression is evident through the stories of Ashley Davis, a woman who was told she would lose her job if she did not cut her locs; Tiana Parker, a seven-year-old who was sent home from school because administration viewed her locs as unacceptable and distracting; Vanessa Van-Dyke, a twelve-year-old student who was told that her afro needed to be cut/straightened, and was a distraction to other students in response to her report of being bullied at school; and Audre Lorde, who was not allowed to cross borders or pass immigration in Tortola, British Virgin Islands due to her locs, as her hairstyle was tied to stereotypes of criminality and Rastafarian religion. These stories exemplify dominating European standards of beauty, the policing of the black female body, politicization and racialization of hair, as well as the dismissal of comfortable atmospheres for black women.

4. How are Black women celebrating their hair on digital spaces?

Two ways black women celebrate their hair on digital spaces are through blogging and vlogging. Numerous bloggers/vloggers, such as “CurlyNikki.com”, “Afrobella”, and “BlackGirlLongHair” (among many others) have created “virtual homeplaces” for fellow black women to celebrate their bodies, speak on social injustices, and share experiences, frustrations, triumphs, as well as struggles to embrace their natural hair.  These spaces allow black women to form communities around their hair and connect with women who have shared similar experiences in regards to hairstyle, as well as institutional oppression of the black female body. Through sharing these experiences and forming a community that celebrates the natural black female body, these blogs are able to create social change; this is evident in the boycotting of Patti Stanger’s television series.

Bibliography

Hathaway, Jay. 2014. “What is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks.” Gawker. October 10. Retrieved November 16, 2018. https://oswego.open.suny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1037139-dt-content-rid-5183544_1/courses/201809-94057-SOC301/What%20Is%20Gamergate%2C%20and%20Why%20%20An%20Explainer%20for%20Non-Geeks.pdf

Lee, L. (2015). Virtual homeplace: (Re)Constructing the body through social media. In Keisha Edwards Tassie & Sonja M. Brown Givens (Eds.), Women of Color and Social Media Multitasking: Blogs, Timelines, Feeds and Community (pp. 91-112). New York: Lexington Books.

Silman, Anna. 2016. “A Timeline of Leslie Jones’s Horrific Online Abuse.” The Cut. August 24. Retrieved November 16, 2018. https://www.thecut.com/2016/08/a-timeline-of-leslie-joness-horrific-online-abuse.html

[jfleming00006-blog]

11/30

1. What is it about the internet that makes it so people like Zeke Spier can be radicalized?

The internet is different than mass media in the sense that it provides so much more information. Mass media platforms have limited coverage of news where the internet has a wide range of news. The internet contains several websites and so much news and information is shared in those spaces. Where Spier didn’t have access to certain news through mass media outlets, the internet became this space where he could gain different knowledge and it was easy to participate in protests because of the internet. He got information he wasn’t getting through mass media within establishment. 

2. What are three pros of the internet?

The Zeke Spier article talked about information, communication, and networking being an important part of the internet and especially for Zeke Spier. It has the power of delivering unique information to the audience, people communicate with one another on the platforms and talk about certain issues, and networking allows information to be shared such as when and where a protest will be held. In the case of Spier, other media informed him as well, but the internet allowed him to find similar beliefs to his. It provided education for him and then motivation to take action.

3. What does the statement, “The internet is a medium of conspiracy, a medium of people not heard…it asks you to talk back” mean?

In comparison to other mass media where you simply obtain information, the internet allows for participatory democracy. The user is able to give their input on anything, whereas say one is watching the news-they obviously don’t talk back, they just listen.

 4. With regards to internet activism, what is the awareness aspect of it?

If we used to Zeke Spier to answer this question, he took a Civil Rights course where he developed connections with people who had similar thoughts as him. This is how he got on email lists which brought activists together. Through these platforms he got information about everything, including meetings and discussions to take action on social issues. The internet facilitated made Spier aware of those activist meetings and discussions.

 Elin, L. “The Radicalization of Zeke Spier: How the Internet Contributes to Civic Engagement    and New Forms of Social Capital.”