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[cassandra-acf]

Wow I didn’t know how strict the rules and regulations of the government in Eritrea can be! You provide some very convincing points and I love the way it is interpreted!

Global Social Media: Eritrea

Many may not heard about Eritrea before and so do I. Therefore following my curiosity, I am about to find out more of Eritrea as in the location, the internet access and the people. Eritrea is located in the north east of Africa on the Red Sea surrounded by neighbour countries like Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia with the population of over 5 million. The country is listed as the most isolated place on earth in term of internet connections, in other word ‘The Africa’s North Korea’. The internet access in this country is fully controlled by its government and it is the only African country to have no privately-owned media (BBC News 2019). The internet censorship and surveillance has got to another level here in Eritrea. It is also voted as the tops list of most censored countries in the world overtaking China, North Korea and any others (VOA News 2019). According to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists (n.d.), the following are the ranking of top 10 most censorship countries:

Eritrea

North Korea

Turkmenistan

Saudi Arabia

China

Vietnam

Iran

Equatorial Guinea

Belarus

Cuba

In Eritrea, internet access is all government-controlled and less than 1% of the population reportedly go online. All non-government controlled media is banned. There is no room for freely reported news and the media are subject to the whim of the president. According BBC News (2019), the government has held a monopoly over broadcasting since independence as well as shutting down all independent media since 2001. Its exceptionally limited internet access has caused unconvience to its people as well as there are no connection between the citizens and outside world. Do the government actually cares about their citizens feelings in term of freedom? The answer could be no because citizens could not have knew their news are being censored. Citizens might still lived under the rock where they know nothing about internet, digital media, and so on. Are the government being selfish or they are hiding somethings fishy? It remains a unanswered question.

Why do some countries censor the internet?

In this 21st century, where digital media is almost everything in our daily life, current technological movement gives the impression that the internet is unrestrained but imagine people or the whole country’s media is totally censored by its government. Well, there are countries like that, citizens has no access to internet, to social media, to the world. The common reasons behind are always related to politics to completely controlling what information citizens have access to. But unlike any countries, Eritrea has the strictest law on censoring the country’s internet which allows governments to be able to hold greater over what people say and do, and often, how they vote (Open Access Government 2019). Access to information throughout the country is also hurt by a prohibition against mobile Wi-Fi, and means Eritreans are only able to access the internet via slow dial-up modems, which could account for the very low access rate of just 1%.

Not only that, North Korea with the dictatorship of its supreme leader Kim is known to have a extremely strict censorship rules over its country. With the government able to take strict control over communications, all media outlets are owned and controlled by the North Korean government. As such, all media in North Korea get their news through the only government oriented platform; Korean Central News Agency. All news, information publish by any North Korean media has to go through and get its information from Korean Central News Agency. It is believe that the reasons are mostly because of its propaganda as back in the days to prevent conflicts with countries like China, Russia and South Korea (Veronica 2016, vol.37, pp.46-50). In addition, it also helps to prevent any distribution of digital media files hence it also prevent the loss of control in term of digital media distribution and also easier for tracking (Schiess 2017, pp.4).

People Republic of China, one of the biggest censors of the internet and uses a vast digital barrier nicknamed “The Great Firewall of China” has implemented the similar concepts across its country as well and significantly stepped up its game starting from 2012 when President Xi took place. The government censors content for mainly political reasons, but also to maintain its control over the populace. The government maintains censorship over all media capable of reaching a wide audience. This includes television, print media, radio, film, theatre, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature and the internet. However unlike others countries, China has also developed its own national social media or internet platform to benefit its citizen which are mainly allowed to use only in China. Social media apps such as WeChat, Sina Weibo, Tencent QQ, DouYin and many more.

Do citizens have a choice on censorship? Does this means they have no rights to oppose?

Censorship appears in most countries whether it is seriously carried out or not. Even country like Malaysia has its own censorship on internet websites as well. Malaysia ban most of the pornography websites which prevent citizens to gain any access to any of those websites which could potentially harm the younger generations or any individuals. Back to Eritrea, personally from my point of view, people living there do not get a choice to decide in fact they have to follow whatever their government said to stay tight with their legal rules and regulations. They are put in a situation whereby they can only listen to orders from the government and do not get freedom from there.

Well, there are exceptional cases where citizens tries to disobey the rules set by Eritrea’s government on censorship media. As of 2018, at least 16 journalists were still behind bars or imprisoned in Eritrea. I believed with the advancement of technologies available these days, it could be getting easier for people to break the wall, oppose the law and reach for the outside world. Virtual Private Network (VPN) is one of the ways for any individuals to use and have access to the internet browsers. 

List of References:

BBC News 2019, ‘Eritrea profile - Media’, viewed 6 June 2020 <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13349077>.

VOA News 2019, ‘Eritrea Tops List of Most Censored Countries’, viewed 6 June 2020, <https://www.voanews.com/africa/eritrea-tops-list-most-censored-countries>.

Committee to Protect Journalists (n.d.), ‘10 Most Censored Countries’, viewed 6 June 2020, <https://cpj.org/reports/2019/09/10-most-censored-eritrea-north-korea-turkmenistan-journalist/>.

Open Access Government (2019), ‘Why do some countries censor the internet?’, viewed 7 June 2020, <https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/countries-censor-the-internet/58366/>.

Veronica, M 2016, ‘Propaganda and Censorship: Adapting to the Modern Age’, ProQuest, vol.37, pp.46-50, viewed 7 June 2020, <https://search.proquest.com/openview/69209b239e82cd368d45cc68d1c62c09/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=32013>.

Schless, N 2017, Governmental Control of Digital Media Distribution in North Korea: Surveillance and Censorship on Modern Consumer Devices, ERNW GmbH, pp.4, viewed 7 June 2020, <https://mirror.adversec.com/dprk/docs/governmental_control_of_digital_media_distribution_in_north_korea-nschiess.pdf>.

[cassandra-acf]

Global social media: China

China is considered to have one of the most extensive and sophisticated censorship regimes in the world (Zucchi 2019). After the riot that happened in Xinjiang in July 2009, social media platforms such as Facebook, Google and YouTube were not accessible in China due to the ‘Great Firewall of China’ as it acts as a disruptor that prevent netizens to have access to foreign websites (Bamman, O’Connor and Smith 2012, p. 1).

While the Great Firewall has kept foreign internet companies such as Facebook and Google at bay, this provides opportunity for homegrown businesses in China to flourish (Zucchi 2019). Some of the larger players includes e-commerce retailers Alibaba and JD.com, search engine Baidu, and micro-blogging service Sina Weibo (WB). Tencent QQ and WeChat are popular messaging apps similar to WhatsApp, while Tudou and Youku are China's version of YouTube (Zucchi 2019).

Impacts WeChat has on China

According to Sapra (2019), WeChat, which is owned by Tencent Group, is the most popular messaging app in China with over 1 billion users. Ever since WeChat’s first release in January 2011, the number of users has increase rapidly (Shi, Luo, He 2017, p. 18). According to Kharpal (2019), WeChat has made life so much easier for users to exchange contacts information. When people exchange contact details in China, people often see one person scanning the other person’s phone. This is due to the fact that each WeChat user has their own unique barcode known as a QR code. All that is needed to do is that a user can scan the other user’s QR code to add them as friends on WeChat without needing to type in their user ID (Kharpal 2019).

Other than that, WeChat provides convenience to users when doing basic tasks such as payments. According to Wu, Liu and Huang (2017, p, 1763), WeChat gives users the ability to make online payments through WeChat by just scanning their QR code. From major supermarkets to the smallest of street vendors and taxis, Users can pay for things with WeChat almost anywhere in China. That being said, as long as the user have a Chinese bank account, they could instantly link their account to WeChat (Kharpal 2019). As a result, WeChat has become the dominant payment application in China, to date (‘Alipay, WeChat Pay to open apps to foreigners’ 2019). Thus, in a way, WeChat’s mobile payment is leading China to become a cashless society (Sapra 2019).

Also, according to Chen (2018), WeChat has changed China’s social security system. WeChat has a new programme that develops a new form of digital ID in China. This new program will bridge the gap between physical identity cards and the virtual service WeChat (China to launch digital ID connected to popular WeChat messaging service n.d.). The new program leverages WeChat to identify the person through facial recognition through their smartphone. Once their face is verified, the user is given a limited-function digital ID, capable of basic tasks like registering at an internet cafe.

Initially started out as a lightweight instant messaging app, WeChat has evolved into so much more as it provides services such as online payment and using it as a virtual ID for society social security.

List of references.

‘Alipay, WeChat Pay to open apps to foreigners’ 2019, The Straits Times, viewed 25 May 2020, <https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/alipay-wechat-pay-to-open-apps-to-foreigners>.

Bamman, D, O’Connor, B, & Smith, NA 2012, ‘Censorship and deletion practices in Chinese social media’, First Monday, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1-16.

Chen, C 2018, China’s social security system turns to WeChat for electronic ID, South China Morning Post, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/2127010/chinas-social-security-system-turns-wechat-electronic-id>.

China to launch digital ID connected to popular WeChat messaging service n.d., One World Identity, viewed 27 May 2020, <https://oneworldidentity.com/china-launch-digital-id-connected-popular-wechat-messaging-service/>.

Kharpal, A 2019, ‘Everything you need to know about WeChat — China’s billion-user messaging app’, CNBC, viewed 25 May 2020, <https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/what-is-wechat-china-biggest-messaging-app.html>.

Sapra, B 2019, ‘This Chinese super-app is Apple’s biggest threat in China and could be a blueprint for Facebook’s future. Here’s what it’s like to use WeChat, which helps a billion users order food and hail rides’, Business Insider, viewed 25 May 2020, <https://www.businessinsider.my/chinese-superapp-wechat-best-feature-walkthrough-2019-12>.

Shi, Z, Luo, G, & He, L 2017, ‘Mobile-assisted Language Learning Using WeChat Instant Messaging’, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 16-26.

Wu, J, Liu, L, & Huang, L 2017, ‘Consumer acceptance of mobile payment across time: Antecedents and moderating role of diffusion stages’, Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 117, no 8, pp. 1761-1776.

Zucchi, K 2019, Why Facebook Is Banned in China & How to Access It, Investopedia, <https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/042915/why-facebook-banned-china.asp>.

[cassandra-acf]

Social Gaming

Are gaming communities becoming more toxic environments for some?

Yes, I believe gaming communities are becoming more toxic environments for some. According to Reymann-Schneider (2019), women players are often verbally abused or molested online. Lovi, a 19-year-old streamer who plays Fortnight nearly every day and has hundreds of viewers who watch her and chat with her while she plays. Most of her comments that she frequently gets are insults such as, “Why are you even playing? You're a girl. You belong in the kitchen”. And the remarks have not stopped despite her growing popularity. Like most popular male streamers, she invests a lot of time in her stream and plays for hours to improve her skills. However, she still frequently receives insults from her viewers despite her skills in gaming, just because of her gender.

Besides that, people are more vulgar online. The anonymity that comes with conversing online makes people feel safe to say anything under the sun since there would be no repercussions of their words due to the hidden identities. Almost every player out there has experience in yelling at a stranger online and found it surprisingly easy. Players get invested in play and emotions run high, so swearing relentlessly at strangers is part of the package. Online games that has team-based combat as its core gameplay tends to be the biggest offenders when it comes to toxic behaviour (Plusmana 2016).

Are gaming communities becoming less about play and more about monetisation?

Yes, I believe that gaming communities becoming less about play and more about monetisation. Monetisation refers to the act of changing something into money (Cambridge Dictionary 2020). Traditionally, game monetization relied heavily on in-app purchases (IAP) and in-app ads to increase profits and often with a focus on core mobile genres. As new categories have opened up, ads are becoming the backbone for mobile game developers looking to build a viable revenue model. As a matter of fact, the hybrid approach to monetization is now considered the best way to deliver Return on Investment (ROI) (Webb 2019).

With that said, there have been a growing discussion regarding player exploitation in relation to video game monetization among members of the gaming community, for instance, the players. They are probably more aware than many outside observers that the gaming industry's use of microtransaction systems is becoming more sophisticated and generating massive revenue (King et al, 2019, p. 132). According to Markopoulos et al, (2020, p. 397), microtransactions based game monetization is one of the most common method used today by most game developers and the one with the most critical pre and post conditions to apply. Microtransactions are highly related to the player’s culture, financial ability to pay the game effectively, geographic locations, social status and much more. They are applied to large target groups in an indirect and discrete way trying not to disrupt the gameplay, the gaming ethics and the gamer’s communities.

Lists of references

King, DL, Delfabbro, PH, Gainsbury, SM, Dreier, M, Greer, N, & Billieux, J 2019, ‘Unfair play? Video games as exploitative monetized services: An examination of game patents from a consumer protection perspective’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 101, pp. 131-143.

Markopoulos, E, Markopoulos, P, Liumila, M , Almufti, Y, & Aggarwal, V 2020, ‘Mapping the Monetization Challenge of Gaming in Various Domains’, Advances in Human Factors in Wearable Technologies and Game Design, vol, 973, pp. 389-400.

Monetization n.d., Cambridge Dictionary, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/monetization>.

Plusmana, A 2016, Is the Gaming Community a Toxic Environment?, plus.mana, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://plusmana.com/is-the-gaming-community-a-toxic-environment/>.

Reymann-Schneider, K 2019, How to deal with a toxic gaming culture, Digital Culture, viewed 29 May 2020 <https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-deal-with-a-toxic-gaming-culture/a-50075300>.

Webb, S 2019, ‘3 Research-Backed In-App Game Monetization Trends’, GameDaily.biz, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://gamedaily.biz/article/1022/3-research-backed-in-app-game-monetization-trends>.

[cassandra-acf]

#7 Social Gaming

What is Social Gaming?

Social gaming refers to ‘the activity of playing online games with other members of the same online group’ (Definition of ‘social gaming’ 2020). According to Paavilainen et al. (2013, p. 796), social gaming can be defined as the gaming industry that plays video games on social networking services such as Facebook. The most popular category of apps on the site is gaming, which launched in 2007. Social games are distinguished by five factors (O’Neill 2008):

(1)  Turn-based: Playing games with other players on the platform is also considered social, allowing users to take turns while playing the game.

(2)  Awareness of other people’s behaviour in the game: A behaviour that allows the user to interact more with the game by performing an action in the game and then sending a notification to another player.

(3)  Casual: Designed for casual or casual gamers.

(4)  Multiplayer: In social games, for a game to be considered social, it must allow two or more players to participate.

(5)  Social platform-based: Most social games originate from social media platforms, which provide simple communication for players in the game or platform.

Social gaming brings positive changes!

Social gaming has changed the world in positive way. 

For example, WeTopia encourages players to play for a good goal. The game had some good results in 2012, such as providing 1 million days of school for Haitian children and 45,000 meals for children in Las Vegas. 

In addition, in October 2012, Joy Kingdom provided 53,000 bowls of food to cats and dogs at an animal shelter (Swallow 2013), successfully helping pets and animals around the world.

However……

Gaming communities have toxic environment!

While some games allow anonymous play, most games on social media platforms, such as Facebook, are linked to players’ profiles. This makes sexism against women, gays, bisexuals, and so forth toxic, and if players don’t play well, their gender or ethnic minority can be used against them. The claim against these players is that they belong somewhere else or that they should be doing something other than playing games, because games are supposed to be for men and young boys (Reymann-Schneider 2019). 

Research shows that many video games stereotypes and content about women may encourage sexism. The argument against women is that they belong in the kitchen, because women are not considered competent enough to play games. The gaming culture has also influenced LGBT players, who are known as “broke back mountain,” which means “stupid gay people”, forcing players to quit the game (Riedel 2018). 

In addition, women are often underrepresented in video games. They are described as attractive people, sexual objects and indecent people. Women are depicted as sexual objects by displaying revealing clothing or partial nudity (Dietz 1998). In a systematic analysis of 47 randomly selected games, the female characters wore low-cut costumes and could see their cleavage (Beasley & Standley 2002).

Game or monetization?

With the emergence of more and more online games, new monetization strategies have been developed. Some games offer a monthly subscription to play on the game server, and paid access to premium content for the experience is considered a microtransaction. The gaming industry is estimated to be worth $90 billion, of which 70% of android-based games and 80% of iOS games are being monetized (Gough 2020). Game monetization has already affected the game community. When game monetization dominates, users or players will feel no reason to buy the game, because it has no value and is just used to make money (Nikita 2015). 

In my opinion, the gaming community has become more monetized than playing games. Most players buy items from the game to enhance their experience, but most do so for self-satisfaction and to show off to other players. It’s not so much a question of play as of how much things cost. On Youtube, for example, players can upload a video of themselves chasing objects in a game so that they can play a smooth game on the screen.

 Reference List

Beasley, B & Standley, TC 2009, ‘Shirt vs. Skins: Clothing as an indicator of gender stereotyping in video games’, Mass Communication and Society, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 279-293.

Definition of ‘social gaming’ 2020, Collins Dictionary, viewed 28 May 2020, <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/social-gaming>.

Dietz, TL 1998, ‘A examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behaviour’, Sex Roles, vol. 38, no. 516, pp. 425-426.

Gough, C 2020, Gaming monetization-statistics & facts, Statista, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.statista.com/topics/3436/gaming-monetization/>.

Nikita, K 2015, Monetization in games,  Lahti University of Applied Sciences, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/95966/Kononov_Nikita.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y>.

O’Neill, N 2008, What exactly are social games?, Adweek, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.adweek.com/digital/social-games/>.

Paavilainen, J, Hamari, J, Stenros, J & Kinnunen, J 2013, ‘Social Network Games: Players’ Perspective’, Simulations and Gaming, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 794-820.

Reymann-Schneider, K 2019, How to deal with a toxic gaming culture, Deutsche Welle, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-deal-with-a-toxic-gaming-culture/a-50075300>.

Riedel, S 2018, How LGBTQ + people are trying to fix toxic gaming culture, Them, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.them.us/story/gen-con-gaming-culture>.

Swallow, E 2013, ‘How social games are changing the world’, Forbes, 23 March, viewed 29 May 2020, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2013/03/23/social-games/#24c294a2377e>.

[cassandra-acf]

Fandom

What is fandom?

Fandom, also known as fan culture, is a phrase known for a group or community formed around a shared enjoyment of a topic within the community or group. These topics can vary from, TV shows, movies, cartoons, artists, celebrities, sports, and many more. These fans not only act as a consumer but they also produce their own content on the topic they are interested in. These contents that the fandoms create can be memes, fan art, cosplay, fanfics, video edits and more.

Tumblr is one of the best places for fandoms and fanbases. In the years when the TV show Supernatural was debuted, it was one of the largest fanbase In Tumblr. There are wide variety of gifs, pictures and blogs written about these tv shows and the gifs and more can still be seen until now.

These are the reasons why people explore the fandom sides on Tumblr: -

1.     They can make connections and new friends. As people are posting blogs about the topics or people they love to watch, the community will come together to share observations, theories and bond with amazing people with common interest on Tumblr.

2.     They can grasp the skills to critique as well as analyse media. They sometimes call themselves or are called the Sherlock of the fandom. These people are able to connect the character personalities, plots and gain details from the topic that they are interested in that others might not have noticed.

3.     They come to know new books, shows and more. As the topics they are a fan of, will have similarities with other movies and more, other users will suggest new topics that are similar when they finished the current shows and movies that they were enjoying. For example, a community loves Harry potter so when the series ended, they will be suggested the same work by the same author named JK Rowling for you to enjoy, that is Fantastic beasts and other works by her.

Fandom is not all happy and enjoyed by everyone, there are also negative things about fandoms as they do not only love and have passion for the topics and celebrities they are fans of, but they also have power against other when the community comes together. All the topics or people they talk and post about can be seen by everyone worldwide. These causes cyberbullying and dangerous connections like pedophilia. Cyberbullying starts because people do not like the fandom as they see them as losers for liking these topics or people or they just hate the fandom itself for no particular reasons, On the other hand, people especially adults can pose as someone else like a teenage girl, and take advantage of the people who are minors post about their interests by pretending to have a common interest and contact them. Fandoms will also go against other fandoms as the celebrities they stan are competing to get first place in music charts, movie charts and more. They will go against others to tell people that the person they stan is the best and others are not. The word “stan” is used as a term for crazed and obsessive fan that will go to great lengths for their obsession over a celebrity. This term came from a song by Eminem. These causes negative behaviors and teaches young generations that this is a acceptable behavior.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stan

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/06/234404/fandom-fridays-introduction

https://studybreaks.com/tvfilm/tumblr-fandoms-skills-learned/

https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/fandom-and-participatory-culture/

[cassandra-acf]

Fandom

Are media representations of fans as ‘weird’ and ‘overly emotional’ fair?

No, because this does not apply to every fandom out there. Only some fandoms which I will be explaining after this will get a particular kind of representation that is not very positive in the media and the public. For representations of fans as ‘weird’ and ‘overly emotional’, I find it more common around Asia rather than in all other countries.

Firstly, you have the collector where fans collect different items that are sold related to their favourite celebrities for instance. Take as an example, Lisa Courtney who has collected more than 21,000 items relating to Pokémon after she falls in love with Japanese characters years ago. She owns everything from different plush toys to toilet roll! Evans (2019) stated that she even made it to The Guinness World Record holder, based in Hertfordshire. When fans tend to have collections, they do not just stop at one but they will go on to collect different sizes, types, or those that are limited editions (Chin 2020). Not to mention, some people even collect random things like movie tickets, like one of my friends. She has these collections of movie tickets, very thick, as she enjoys watching movies in the cinema every weekend before this MCO thing. When we think about the collector in regards to fandom, it is the one who needs to have everything related to their favourite celebrities, anime, or even their hobbies. If you want to know whether you were now a collector, when something new came out in regards to your favourites and you have to own it, that’s when you need to start saving up.

Secondly, fans who dressed up as their favourite characters. These are the fans that are considered weird to the media representations. Those who dressed up are called costume play. In short, cosplay. People who are in love with anime or manga culture will know how important and fun an event is to be held anywhere close to them. Take as an example in Kuching, every year there is an event called Otakyun! that will be held in shopping malls. It is Sarawak’s largest ACG (Anime, Comics and Games) that is organized by the Anime Gathering (AG) team (Otakyun! 2019 is back in October 2019). Last year was the first time they have cosplayer booths where they can sell their merchandise and also have the opportunity to interact with fans. Jay (2019) stated that this convention is organized by fans for fans to gather both anime and non-anime fans in every part of Malaysia to socialize and share their obsession and interest in anime (animation), manga (comics), cosplay and its related sub-cultures to grow as part of their community. Nevertheless, media representation on this fandom is still towards the negative side because some fans cosplay very sexily and weirdly similar to their favourite characters.

Lastly, obsessive fans. They are called sasaeng fans, where a fan invades the privacy of K-pop idols. This is quite common in K-pop. Instead of collecting things or dressing up as their favourite character, K-pop fans tend to follow their favourite K-pop idols to take photos of them and observe what they are doing in public (Chin 2020). Most of the time, sasaeng fans go too far between love and obsession, and in return, they suffocate their cherished idols. For instance, EXO’s attempted kidnapping. Sasaeng fans will do anything to spend time with their idols. After EXO had just completed their schedules, they went towards their van as usual but this time, it was not their van. They could not tell as the sasaeng fans had rented out an identical van of EXO’s. Not to mention, Koreaboo (2018) stated they parked it at the place where EXO’s van normally would. Thankfully, EXO’s manager felt something was not right and stopped them from coming in. These types of fans are being labelled as weird and obsessed by the media. Truthfully speaking, this is just unhealthy and a waste of time and money.  

Reference lists

Chin, B 2020, ‘Lecture 9.Fandom and fan communities’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 19 May, viewed 21 May 2020.

Evans, M 2019, ‘I’m your biggest fan: Pokémon world record holder crams more than 21,000 items into house’, Metro, viewed 21 May 2020,

<https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/28/im-biggest-fan-pokemon-world-record-holder-crams-21000-items-house-9044036/>.

Jay, A 2019, ‘3,000 expected at Otakyun! 2019’, New Sarawak Tribune, viewed 21 May 2020,

<https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/3000-expected-at-otakyun-2019/>.

Koreaboo 2018, ‘13 Extremely disturbing stories of sasaengs that went too far’, Koreaboo, viewed 21 May 2020,

<https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/13-disturbing-stories-sasaeng-fans-went-far-1/>.

‘Otakyun! 2019 is back in October’, 2019, Borneo Post online, viewed 21 May 2020,

<https://www.theborneopost.com/2019/08/27/otakyun-2019-is-back-in-october/>.

[cassandra-acf]

Fandom

What is Fandom?

So, how exactly do one defined fandom? According to Cambridge University (n.d.), fandom is the state of being a fan of someone or something, especially a very enthusiastic one. The relationship between fans and creators has always been incredibly complex, and in recent years it is grown quite intense and fraught.

Fan culture, or fandom, is a term which describes communities built around a shared enjoyment of an aspect of popular culture, such as books, movies, TV shows, bands, sports or sports teams, etc. Fan cultures are examples of participatory cultures. Participatory cultures involve fans acting not only as consumers but also as producers and creators of some form of creative media. Though most fan cultures, including sports fans and fans of music groups, have elements of participatory culture, media fandom in particular encourages creative expression and artistic production by its participants.

Why has Tumblr been currently the preferred social space for fans?

In recent years, Tumblr has increased dramatically in popularity and has become one of the fastest growing social networking sites. The reason for that is because fandoms perceive Tumblr as being a place for people to “strongly unite over something” (Hilman, Procyk & Neustaedter 2014 p. 4). 

Also, in Tumblr, fans have also created their own terminology that fits the type of activities they participate in such as One True Pairings (OTPs). OTPs is a set of characters that fans pair together (in a romantic relationship). Fans will refer to all OTPs relationships in all fandoms as simply ‘ships’ derived from the word relationship. Another terminology is the word ‘endgame’ that is frequently used by fans. The term ‘endgame’ refers to how they would like their OTPs to end up together at the end of a series. OTPs and ships are very important to the Tumblr fandom culture as they often drive what fans call ‘feels.’ Feels describe when a fan has high emotion towards any fandom related event. When a fan experiences an overwhelming amount of feels, they can express themselves by typing gibberish for instance ‘alksjdflksfd’. This text is meant to represent uncontrollable excitement. While there are several other terms used within Tumblr and fandoms, those described represent the most prevalent (Hilman, Procyk & Neustaedter 2014 p. 4).

Is fandom a friendly space for a Chinese/Malaysian/Southeast Asian fan?

First, let me address that a fandom is a pure and precious thing, and no one should feel conflicted about being invested in a pop-culture figure or property. But in certain situation, online communities have served as rallying points for stan armies that are obsessives who comb over every interview and shred of non-news for information about the object of their adoration. But increasingly, fandoms' emotions have been curdling into a different kind of potion such as something petty, entitled, conspiratorial, even abusive (Wired, 2018).

There is certain situation, some fandom can be ruthless. For instance, Taylor Swift fandom, also known as “Swifties”. Generally speaking, Taylor Swift’s fans aren’t bad. They just really love Swift and tend to be a little over-the-top about it. And most of the time, that is what fandom is. But within that group, the “Bad Blood” singer has a few bad apples. There are those who go after Hayley Kiyoko for daring to point out that she should not be criticized for singing about women when Swift sings about men all the time. Also, there are Swifties who get bent out of shape when she does not get nominated for enough awards. And then there are the white supremacists’ fans Swift seems to have done nothing to court but pop up anyway. (Wired, 2018).

So, is fandom still considered a safe place for fans? A safe place is where people should feel free to express themselves however they choose. Nevertheless, not all fandoms can be considered as a safe place, but they are many that can. Thus, it technically depends on the culture of the fandom community you are in.

References

‘Fandom’ n.d., Cambridge University, viewed 22 May 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fandom>.

Framke, C 2016, ‘Creators of popular media are becoming increasingly wary of their fans. That’s a problem for everyone.’ Vox, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.vox.com/2016/6/8/11885562/tv-fans-the-100-fandom>.

Hillman, S, Procyk, J & Neustaedter, C 2014, ‘Tumblr fandoms, community & culture’, Research Gate, pp. 1-6.

‘The 10 Most Difficult-to-Defend Online Fandoms’ 2018, Wired, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.wired.com/story/10-most-toxic-fandoms/>.

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Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding

According to Hargrave 2019, crowdsourcing involves obtaining work, information, or opinions from a large group of people who submit their data via the Internet, social media, and smartphone apps. On the other hand, crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture (Smith 2019).

Crowdsourcing during disasters

Social media sites have proven useful in disaster relief for information propagation and communication. Crowdsourcing is based on social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook or even Instagram, provide a powerful capability for collecting information from disaster scenes and visualising data for relief decision making. Take for an example, the large-scale catastrophe in wake of the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake that happened in Japan. At that moment, social media such as Twitter and Facebook acted as a lifeline for directly affected individuals, a means of information sharing, and a way for people inside and outside Japan to volunteer and to provide information-based support to these affected individuals. Social media was also used to perform vital relief functions such as displaced-persons location, support for disabled individuals, safety identification, fund-raising, damage information provision, volunteer organisation, and moral support systems (Peary, Shaw & Taakeuchi, 2012, p.4).

Apart from that, crowdsourcing can use different Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) or non-ICT tools such as radio, TV, word of mouth, internet, newspaper, mobile, email and SMS. These all generates huge volume of relevant, timely and incident related information during the early stages of a disaster. This information proved extremely valuable in a variety of circumstances during the period of the natural disaster and also valuable after the event. Besides, post disaster assessment and analysis can provide an excellent insight into how the disaster unfolded including critical events and happenings.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding makes use of the easy accessibility of vast networks of people through social media and crowdfunding websites to bring investors and entrepreneurs together, with the potential to increase entrepreneurship by expanding the pool of investors beyond the traditional circle of owners, relatives and venture capitalists. (Smith 2019). In fact, with crowdfunding, you can develop your great ideas into successful campaigns, and if you are lucky, eventually a profitable business while working or attending school. Anything is possible with smart work, creativity and commitment (Robinson 2017).

Take for an example, on how Oculus VR crowdfunded their way to a $2 billion business. In 2014, two years after launching their Kickstarter, Oculus Rift was bought by Facebook for $2 billion. I will quickly run through at how it all started. Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus rift, started Oculus Rift as a side project from his parents’ garage. After experimenting with virtual reality, he then proceeds on developing VR headsets as a side project while working as an engineer at UCS’s Mixed Reality lab. At that time, he started the Kickstarter campaign. The 2012 Kickstarter campaign far surpassed the $250,000 goal and raised a total of $2.4 million. When the product was still in its prototype stage in 2014, Facebook acquire it for $2 billion in cash and stock (Robinson 2017). Palmer succeeded largely because he invented something that held major long-term opportunities, in terms of technological advancement that companies like Google, Sony, and Samsung were rushing to create themselves.

Can crowdfunding actually overtake traditional funding mechanisms for the creative industries? 

Crowdfunding can actually overtake traditional funding mechanisms for the creative industries. Traditionally, cultural and artistic projects have been financed by wealthy individuals, enterprises or the bank (Grant 2010). Crowdfunding is actually an alternative where anybody can contribute small amounts to a chosen project, and the project’s sponsors have less leverage on it which could save time and procedurally simpler way of getting funding for Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). Crowdfunding also uses internet platform to publish their business or projects to be financed, giving its description, financial objective, contribution cap, and deadline. This shows that crowdfunding is a faster alternative compared to the traditional funding mechanisms for the creative industries because crowdfunding involves the use of social media.

List of references

Grant, L 2010, Four Traditional Funding Methods for Small Businesses, Nasdaq, viewed 11 May 2020, <https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/four-traditional-funding-methods-for-small-businesses-2010-10-12>.

Hargrave, M 2019, What is Crowdsourcing?, Investopedia, viewed 11 May 2020, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdsourcing.asp>.

Peary, BDM Shaw, R & Taakeuchi, Y 2012, ‘Utilization of Social Media in the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and its Effectiveness’, Journal of Natural Disaster Science, vol. 34, no. 1, pp.3-18.

Robinson, R 2017, 5 Crowdfunded Side Projects That Become Million-dollar Companies, Forbes, viewed 11 May 2020, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanrobinson/2017/09/18/crowdfunded-side-projects-that-became-million-dollar-companies/#c2db9123f1dd>.

Smith, T 2019, What is Crowdfunding?, Investopedia, viewed 11 May 2020, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp>.

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Public Health Campaigns & Communities

Public health is defined as the science of protecting the safety and improving the health of communities through education, policy making and research for disease and injury prevention. (What is the definition of public health? N.d.). Those with public health degrees keep communities healthy through child wellness, disease prevention, education, disaster relief, clean water, access to healthcare, and much more. 

Why is public health important? Public health is important because it can help to analyse the overall condition in the community. Without a public health system, it will be challenging for any health worker to determine the circumstances, needs, and areas of improvement for a specific community. Besides, the community can rally for financial assistance and priorities in the budget of the government. (Why A Public Health System Is Important In Communities 2019). For example, now that the current pandemic outbreak, COVID-19, is becoming serious day by day, which cause multiple deaths, the Malaysian government are fully involve to help and guide the community in this outbreak by enforcing Movement Control Order (MCO) to decrease the spreading of this virus and constantly post latest updates on social media such as news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Besides, the government is allocating an additional RM600 million for Health Ministry to combat COVID-19. These additional funds will be used to purchase equipment like ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical staff as well as to beef up manpower. (Yusof 2020).

Is social media useful in spreading information on covid-19 in Malaysia or your home country?

According to The Star 2020, in Kuala Lumpur, a social media post by a Malaysian doctor, Dr Gee Teak Sheng, urging the public to obey to the government's restricted movement order (RMO) has triggered a #StayAtHome and #KitaJagaKita (We take care of ourselves) campaign on social media. He took to Facebook to remind Malaysians that staying home would help to not only curb the spread but also lighten the burden of front-line medical experts during this crucial time. In less than 12 hours, the post has spread like wildfire and have gained at least 17,000 likes and 57,000 shares on the social media platform. Nevertheless, despite the government's order to cancel all mass gatherings, some Malaysians were still seen flouting it by eating out and gathering at public parks, which led to Dr Gee posting the content. So other health workers have also joined in by posting similar posts and tweeting on the importance of keeping one another safe and have used the #StayAtHome. The hashtag is currently trending on Twitter, with more than 150,000 tweets have been posted on the matter it so far, which led to the general public responding with the #KitaJagaKita hashtag, with many thanking the medical professionals for their service, as well as encouraging one another to be more responsible by staying put and aware of the situation.

However, as the world fights COVID-19, the online public sphere across the world is witnessing unprecedented misinformation and fake news. Misinformation is contributing to paranoia and making the fight against COVID-19 even tougher. According to Leong 2020, the news of “Special military helicopters will spray pesticide from the sky all over the country tonight, so please stay indoors” is just one of the hundreds of fake messages that have made the rounds of mobile phones across Malaysia in recent weeks as the country imposes a partial shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Malaysia's civil servants and medical experts have not been spared, with fake information being falsely attributed to them on social media. With that said, one such victim was Datuk Christopher Lee, a former health ministry official specialising in infectious diseases. A WhatsApp message claiming to be from him warned people against touching letters, in case they contracted COVID-19from the envelope. Besides that, there are chain messages on WhatsApp saying that most common virus miracle cures circulating online include gargling salt water, drinking boiled ginger and eating garlic. These have been discredited by experts. (Leong 2020).

In conclusion, I believe social media is both useful but also not fully reliable in spreading information on COVID-19 in Malaysia. Yes, social media could help in spreading awareness about the danger of this virus and tips on how to avoid getting them, however, it could also help to spreading false news which could cause more damage, for example, sparking panic buying at supermarkets or people promoting false cures and scamming millions of ringgit off buyers desperate to get their hands on surgical masks.

List of references

Covid-19: Two Malaysia hashtags, including #StayAtHome, trending in the country, 2020, The Star, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/03/19/covid-19-two-malaysia-hashtags-including-stayathome-trending-in-the-country>.

Leong, T 2020, False information goes viral as Malaysia tackles coronavirus outbreak, The Straits Times, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coronavirus-false-information-goes-viral-as-malaysia-tackles-outbreak>.

What is the definition of public health? n.d., University of Pittsburgh, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/careers/what-is-public-health>.

Why A Public Health System Is Important In Communities 2019, Healthcare Business Today, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.healthcarebusinesstoday.com/why-a-public-health-system-is-important-in-communities/>.

Yusof, A 2020, Malaysia government allocates additional RM600 million for Health Ministry to combat COVID-19, CAN newsletters, viewed 9 May 2020, <https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-covid-19-muhyiddin-movement-control-order-jun-9-extend-12718738>.

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Activism and Protest

Activism is defined as the use of direct and noticeable action to achieve a result, usually a political or social one. (Cambridge Dictionary 2020). On the contrary, Cambridge Dictionary defines protest as a strong complaint expressing disagreement, disapproval, or opposition.

The influence social media has in activism and protest.

People often portrays social media as a new ground for political and social activism. Although it is relatively easy to just create a social movement on Twitter or Facebook, translating that into actual policy change is very different and challenging. Ever since the involvement of social media for social movement, it has been more effective compared to the era before internet involvement. An effective protest requires not just the right of the people to gather, but accessible public paced in which gathering is possible and citizen who understand what those rights are. (Mahlchik 2019).

Take for example, in June 2019, Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum was rattled by a violent government crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Security forces killed and wounded hundreds of activists and protestors, most notably in the invasion of a protest camp. Mohamad Mattar, a 26-year-old activist was reportedly shot and killed while trying to protect two women during the violence. (Sudan Pro-Democracy Groups Vow to Continue Protests after Deadly Crackdown 2019). So, in a wave of online solidarity, global social media was draped in his favourite colour, blue. Besides that, activists and layfolk alike shared infographics about the unfolding events and plastered the hashtag #BlueforSudan on stories and posts on their social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, to show their support for the people in Sudan.

In Sudan and other developing global regions, social media has provided an infrastructure for organizing, meeting and protesting that would otherwise be impaired by feasibility or government intervention. Social media activism is a way of including the voices that cannot be physically protest. Social media is also a sphere interaction that strengthens democratic attitudes and increase democratic sentiment. #BlueforSudan is a clear example of social media facilitating human healing and emotional solidarity in a larger way. #BlueforSudan started off as a symbolic thing which eventually became a symbol of revolution. (Mahajan 2020).

Digital technology has opened up unimaginable worlds of access and connectivity. (Malchik 2019). Social media could help bring visibility to issues that might otherwise never reach over the border of their own country alone. Thus, social media can dramatically cause a huge influence in activism and protest when it is used in the right way.

List of reference

Cambridge Dictionary 2020, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/activism>.

Cambridge Dictionary 2020, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/protest>.

Mahajan, S 2020, Online Fever: The Subversive Social Media Activism Movement, Harvard Political Review, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://harvardpolitics.com/world/social-media-activism/>.

Malchik, A 2019, The Problem With Social-Media Protests, The Atlantic, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/05/in-person-protests-stronger-online-activism-a-walking-life/578905/>.

Sudan Pro-Democracy Groups Vow to Continue Protests after Deadly Crackdown 2019, The New York Times, viewed on 25 April 2020, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/world/africa/sudan-protests-military-crackdown.html>.

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Politics and Social Media

Is politics just about governance, or is it more?

Politics are commonly associated with governance. So, is politics really all just about governance? According to What Is Governance?, governance is defined as the exercise of power or authority by political leaders for the welfare of their country’s citizens or subjects. However, politics are more than just a governance. Politics determine the public services the state should provide, the laws it ought to enforce, the form of security it should ensure and the purposes for which the state should govern people and administer things. Since politics are at a high position in the hierarchy, they could help by enforcing laws that could benefits the well-being of their citizens while also making good decisions that could help in resolving conflicts. In simple terms, politics deals with people with different ideas working together to create an agreement about what to do and governance is doing what politics decided needed to be done.

When does social movements become about politics? Should it become politicised?

Social movement is defined as a large group of people who are organized to promote or resist some social change. (Social Movement Definitions: Alternative, Redemptive, Reformative & Revolutionary, n.d.). Social movement is to help people who are directly affected in order to push the political parties to take immediate action. Take for example, ‘Bersih’, a social movement that happened in Malaysia a couple of years back. Malaysia’s Bersih movement is a movement that demands the resignation of the Prime Minster Najib Razak (Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister). What is bersih? ‘Bersih’ means ‘clean’ in Malay, which refers to the Coalition of Free and Fair Elections. It was first launched in November 2006 as a political party-driven movement with members consisting of opposition political leaders and representatives from the civil society. (What you need to know about Malaysia’s Bersih movement 2015).

With the help of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, by posting, retweeting, sharing or even liking, Bersih received a whole heap of recognition among Malaysian citizens. From there, more people are willing and have the courage to express how they truly feel about the politics at that point of time.

So, I believe that it should become politicised because social movements are one of the principal social forms through which collectives gives a voice to concern about the rights, welfare, and well-being of themselves and others by engaging in different forms of collective action. Also, social movement provides such an important role in bringing about social change in political, religious, educational, health, corporate, government, and other institutional arenas.

List of reference

What Is Governance? n.d., Law, Politics, and Philosophy, viewed at 17 April 2020, <https://tamayaosbc.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/what-is-governance/>.

What you need to know about Malaysia’s Bersih movement 2015, The Straits Times, viewed at 17 April 2020, <https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/what-you-need-to-know-about-malaysias-bersih-movement>.

Social Movement Definitions: Alternative, Redemptive, Reformative & Revolutionary, n.d., Study.com, viewed at 17 April 2020, <https://study.com/academy/lesson/social-movement-definitions-alternative-redemptive-reformative-revolutionary.html>.

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What is Tumblr?

Is Tumblr a blog or a social networking site?

Frankly speaking, I have never been on Tumblr nor ever used Tumblr before. Previously, I perceived Tumblr as a platform for people to post mainly about inspirational or motivational quotes, however there are actually a lot more content such as photography, video clips, memes and animated gifs. With that said, in order to find out whether Tumblr is a blog or a social networking site, first is to find out the meaning of those terms.

Cambridge Dictionary n.d. states that blog is a consistent record of your feelings, views or experiences that is to be uploaded via the internet for other people to read. In fact, Tumblr is a good medium for letting users to create and post their own original content, with a wide variety of ideas to choose from. (Broone n.d.). Users could also create their own customized Tumblr blog as it can be a frontstage for other people to guess the user’s personality or identity based on what is being posted on their blog and social media platform.

On the other hand, social networking site is the use of internet-based social media sites such as Tumblr, Facebook or Instagram to stay connected with friends, family or other people. (Kenton, 2020). Besides helping friends and family to stay connected, Tumblr also gives the ability for users to communicate with other users that have the same interest as them. They could either reblog someone else’s content on their user’s feed or they could give ‘notes’ to other subscribers in several forms.

Considering the fact that Tumblr is a highly social website, to become successful or known on Tumblr, users must not only provide strong content to post on their blog but to also regularly engage with other Tumblr bloggers that share similar interest to gain wider audience. For instance, if a user frequently reblogs, comments or provide ‘notes’ on other user’s post, there is a higher the chance that they could be getting more recognition and gain success for their Tumblr blog. (McManaway n.d.).

Now, back to the question is tumblr a blog or a social networking site? I come to a conclusion that Tumblr is a blog and a social networking site. To support my statement, based from the explanation above, users are using Tumblr like both a blog, where users post meaningful content, and a social networking site, where they need to interact with other users to gain recognition.

References

Blog n.d., Cambridge English Dictionary, viewed at 11 April 2020, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/blog>.

Boone, B n.d. How Tumblr Works, how stuff works, viewed at 11 April 2020, <https://computer.howstuffworks.com/tumblr.htm>.

Kenton, W 2020, Social Networking, Investopedia, viewed at 11 April 2020, <https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-networking.asp>.

McManaway, E n.d., How to Have A Successful Tumblr Blog, Chron, viewed at 11 April 2020, <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/successful-tumblr-blog-29033.html>.