chillkingpenguin

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 11 - Global Social Media: China

The first thing that comes to mind when I see the word China and internet together is censorship, a.k.a. The Great Firewall of China. A filter that separates China, blocking access to all sorts of information and a ploy to make the Chinese government to appear great. While the idea of censorship may seem good on paper, it rarely turns out the same way in real life. That’s because in the real world there is one factor that proves to be a major variable in every plan, that is humans. With some level of control, one could argue that in good hands that would mean protection from false information and other forms of threats from the outside world. But that also mean the opposite is likely to be true as well.

With the implementation of the system, it would require a massive amount of trust from the citizens to the person in control and both parties should have the means to keep each other in check. At least that’s how it should be in my eyes. In my opinion, the Chinese people had the right idea in 2012 by using social media platforms to hold authorities accountable for the things that they had done wrong (Economy, 2018). It was a good way to keep them in check, to prevent corruption, to ensure the will of the government is the will of the people.

Censorship

Chinese media portrays criticisms brought up by western countries as “anti-China” which essentially dismisses such criticisms as racist against all Chinese.  Western journalists were kicked out from the country and news websites access were banned from China after publishing works that puts China in the negative light (Blumenthal and Zhang, 2020).

These happenings had ultimately brought us to the situation we are currently in. Blumenthal and Zhang mentioned that COVID-19 wouldn’t have spread so far if not for the censorship. Doctors, journalists and activists tried to tell the truth about the virus but was ultimately silenced, arrested and intimidated. The CCP not only silenced the people, they also had pushed a narrative which basically accused several countries of the start and outbreak of the virus. A move to cause discord and mislead people of the origins of the virus.

As per Hartman (2019), the Chinese government are the worst abuser of internet freedom and I couldn’t agree more. Things have clearly gone too far. A system that allows one party to dominate the other shouldn’t be a thing. How a person who can’t take criticism became a leader is beyond me. *cough cough* A GOVERNMENT who can’t take criticism is beyond me.

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 10 - Social Gaming

With the growth of social media, social gaming has seen a massive growth. Before social media was popular and used by everyone, games were played together in the same room, on the same device. Split screens were introduced. We called that couch play. People would go to a friend house to meet and play games together.

Social gaming then changed for me. After I discovered Facebook web games that was made available free-to-play on the platform, I would find myself playing games on Facebook together with my friends. That was probably the start of social gaming we know of today, playing together online with friends.

In these trying times, gaming has become especially popular. After lockdown, people become more depressed as there is no one to talk to. As per Murray (2020), online gaming has improved mental health. People would reconnect with their friends from the past and played together hours on end.

Among Us

During these lockdown days, one game stood out the most. The game is called “Among Us”. A game made by InnerSloth, it is a social game made to be played by 4-10 players. Among Us is a social deduction game where you have to figure out who the imposter(s) are through discussions and vote them out. Another way to win the game is by completing tasks. As imposter, you are to kill the other players who are assigned the crewmate role.

How did Among Us become successful? I believe it was because of how social and accessible the game is. First of all, let’s talk about the accessibility of the game. Among Us is free on the Play Store and Appstore. To add to this, the game allows crossplay which basically means this game can be played on multiple platforms in a single lobby. That includes PC. The mini games that comes in the form of tasks are also very simple and doesn’t require heavy thinking. The simplicity of the design further adds to the charm that basically appeals people of all ages to play the game. The social side of the game plays a major role in its success. It is the core of the game. As mentioned earlier, you have to deceive people and use your intellect to figure out who the imposter is. This sparks psychological game among the players and that’s where the fun lies. Things like trust and honesty are tested among your friends (or strangers if played on public lobbies), piecing bits and pieces of information together, and getting clues from behaviour pattern and discussion (Muldrew, 2020).

And of course, the amount of exposure streamers and YouTubers has given the game, was one of the major roles the game become successful. The game was released in June 2018 and had gone unnoticed until this year (Lorenz, 2020).

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 9 - Fandom

It was a little difficult for me to consider myself as a fan but that’s because I’m comparing myself to the super fans out there who would literally spend thousands or beyond just to collect items related to anything they are a fan of. So, I gave it some thought. What is it that I like and how much I like those things? I went back far to my childhood to figure things that I could’ve been a fan of or something that I had simply forgotten that I originally was a fan of.

Doraemon. Yes, that cat robot anime. For those who don’t know, Doraemon (the character and also the title of the show) is a blue cat robot that came from the future. Doraemon was sent to the past by Nobita’s (the protagonist) descendant using a time machine to help prevent him from making mistakes, to save him from his bleak future. Doraemon possesses a 4-dimensional pocket which contains cool gadgets from the 22nd century. It’s with these tools Doraemon tries to help Nobita in his daily life. The show normally consists of moral teachings with a touch of educational science (Rei, 2005). A famous show originated from Japan and was made available to many countries including Malaysia. A show loved by many, especially among the Japanese people (mokugyo, 2016).

This show basically made up most of my childhood and honestly, I was surprised that I had forgotten. This show sparked my love for manga, anime and also drawing. It was my root. I remember collecting and reading every Doraemon manga and watched every single episode and movies that was shown on the television back then. I would buy Doraemon piggy banks, plushies and toys. After remembering all these, I thought to myself, maybe I am like those fans after all.

Media Representation of Fans

Media represents fans as weird, overly emotional, obsessed and childlike. This hit close to home for me. I can remember many moments where people, my parents included, questioning me for still watching cartoons during my teenage years and basically implicating me to grow out of my anime fandom. The sight of me being immersed and invested in the story of an anime appeared weird to them. “They’re just cartoons, not real people”.

There are extremists sure, but that applies to everything in life. There’s always someone who takes things too far and that’s what people should be concern about. But someone enjoying a cartoon show is not all that different from the dramas that they watch on the television. They are not real too. They too, are characters.

A Study of Empathy

We are creatures with empathy. According to Finke (2015), there was a study that found people can generate empathy for people who are different than they are by watching movies and reading books. The study showed that the participants showed greater empathy for definable “outgroups” and helped for better understanding of other people’s perspective.

Isn’t it unfair to “classify” people who show greater ability to empathize with people, weird? I certainly think so. To a certain extend anyway. Some people do go too far afterall.

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 8 - Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

As per Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Crowdsourcing means the practice of obtaining information and services through a large group of people.

Crowdfunding means the practice of obtaining funds through a large group of people.

This week I’ll focus on crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a popular means of obtaining funds for a project nowadays. There are multiple big platforms that is dedicated on crowdfunding. Some of the more popular ones and which I will talk about is Patreon, Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Patreon

Following the multiple platforms for crowdfunding, there are also multiple models. According to Seitz (2018), while they are all platforms that allows raising money, they are of different business models and each has its own uses and fits best on case by case basis. Patreon for example, are used for creators with an audience (e.g. Youtubers) as the pay-outs are on a monthly basis. Patrons supports the creator in the long-term as it works like a membership program as oppose to other platform which supporters pledge money on one off projects. This made Patreon unique as oppose to other platforms. It, however, raises the question whether this is considered a crowdfunding platform. In fact, Seitz claimed that it actually is not.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter’s business model is probably what you would imagine how a crowdfunding actually is. At least that’s how I saw it anyway. As for Kickstarter, Seitz mentioned that Kickstarter is used for one-off projects. A system designed to support a one-time project like printing copies of comics, releasing an album, inventions and a game. The only downside for Kickstarter is that it is a all or nothing platform. What that means is if you don’t meet the minimum funding goal, you don’t get the money you had already raised, which I think is fair since it protects the creator and the supporters.

Indiegogo

Moving on to Indiegogo; Indiegogo is the more versatile and flexible one despite being the smaller than Kickstarter. The reason for that is if you release a project through this platform you are able to choose from three different business models. The options are:

Fixed funding (one-time payment, all-or-nothing)

Flexible funding (one-time payment, keep-what-you-earned style); and

InDemand (continue raising funds after campaign deadline provided it reached its original goal).

As for the type of projects being funded on this platform, it is pretty much similar to Kickstarter (one-off projects)

Just my two cents

Depending on what you need, there are platforms that will suit your needs. I am personally, however, not too sold on Indiegogo’s model, specifically the one-time payment (keeping what you earn) model as it allows for scams. I for one have heard of this recurring problem but perhaps it’s just people being negligent for not checking the credibility of the project.

Kickstarter seems like a safe choice as (if I understand correctly) it refunds the money if it doesn’t reach its goal.

As for Patreon, it seems great as it supports content creators on YouTube, other creative professions and artists provided they have a Patreon account. I mean the whole copyright issues that’s happening on YouTube and recently Twitch as well (DMCA) pretty much justifies supporting your favourite content creator through other means as well. The risks of getting falsely ban are getting higher and there’s nothing much they can do to stop it because of the broken disputing system YouTube has and there is no way to dispute DMCA claims as of yet.

As for Patreon not being an actual crowdfunding platform, I read that it actually allows users to choose whether to charge them monthly or per creation. While I’m not certain (hence why I’m writing it here), I feel like it technically is crowdfunding since it’s like funding each of the creator projects.

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 7 - Public Health Campaigns and Communities

Social media and information. Nowadays, that goes hand in hand in my opinion.

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

Most definitely. Social media is a powerful tool when it comes to spreading information on Covid-19; or any information, really. Government officials, business companies, hospitals; basically, everyone uses social media to spread information. Social media is a game changer in the world of information that we currently live in.

Unfortunately, information that we receive on social media are not always correct. It is important to fact-check every information especially in these times. Covid-19 is out there and it’s dangerous. Maybe not to some but it is for the others. That’s not to say it’s not important to fact-check any information you come across on the internet. In fact, any health information should be checked to avoid misinformation, for obvious reasons (Berg, 2020).

Social media as a platform in fighting mental health issues

Social media, when used right, is incredibly powerful in relaying messages. Many celebrities, influencers and youtubers uses social media to amplify their voices and made good use of their platforms to spread awareness on mental health. For example, NBA star Kevin Love, opened up about his struggles specifically about mental health and has since made a concentrated effort in promoting mental health and wellness. He gives out messages and advice through his social media such as Instagram and Twitter as well as launching “The Kevin Love Fund” in the fight to prioritize mental wellness and physical health. For everything he had done, his efforts were rewarded as he earns the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Another person who came to my mind is the youtuber, Jacksepticeye. He introduced PMA, Positive Mental Attitude to his channel and has since encouraged his viewers to spread positivity. He had done a lot of charity streams to spread awareness not exclusively about mental health. Back in 2018, Jacksepticeye raised over 100 thousand dollars in just 5 hours for depression charity (Gifford, 2018). And just earlier this year, he raised over 650 thousand dollars for Covid-19 relief efforts (Bundy, 2020).

This next video, we can see how Jacksepticeye also used his platform to invite a professional to talk more about mental health.

So yes, given that we know where to get our information from and learn to distinguish false information, social media or internet in general, really, is a powerful tool to gain and spread information.

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 6 - Digital Citizenship 2: Activism and Protest

When we talk about activism and protest, the first thing that comes to my mind is the recent #BlackLivesMatter movement in the US. The movement gained global awareness after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody. He was pinned down on the ground with a knee on his neck, gasping for air, pleading and begging for his life (BBC News, 2020).

The hashtag was seen everywhere on social media, demanding justice and highlighting the ongoing racism issue in the US. “Pandemic of racism” to quote a lawyer for George Floyd, telling the memorial service what led to his death.

Following this incident, there are several more cases that involves questionable decisions, rulings and police brutality which further fuels the movement. To name a few, Jacob Blake and Breonna Taylor.

Professional Sports Leagues on Strike

After the shooting of Jacob Blake, players from six National Basketball Association (NBA) teams decided to boycott a postseason game in which later, other professional leagues such as Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) decided to follow suit (Mahoney & Reynolds, 2020). It was a historic protest, with multiple leagues staging a strike to fight for a cause.

Racism is an Issue on a Global Scale

Racism is a huge issue. It’s everywhere. All over the world. I find it sad because I believe that nobody is born racist. It’s our upbringing and/or environment that instils racism within us. And we don’t necessarily realise it ourselves.

Jamil (2020) speaks of a meme that has gone viral, addressing Malaysian BLM advocate for being racist at home. Some regarded it as jokes, and some regarded it as a way to discipline the kids. Casual racism is internalised in many Malaysians’ linguistic repertoire.

She also raised the question; How many feels uncomfortable? How many are brave enough to stand up for themselves? How many simply brush it off and move on? Have we become desensitised?

Small things, big things, doesn’t matter. Racism is bad in whatever form or sense. Think before you speak. Be more verbally hygienic. The change starts with us.

Spread positivity, people. It might not mean much to some of us, but I believe that it will eventually change the world for the better. It might take years, decades or even centuries. It might not even be something we can ultimately see in our lifetime. And if so, think of it this way; the future generation deserves better.

[chillkingpenguin]

Week 5: Digital Citizenship 1 - Political Engagement

Social media and politics. Information about politics is widely available and easily accessible through social media. Politicians, journalists and news broadcasting company now all have an account in social media. I don’t specifically follow anyone involved in politics so I’m not really on top of things most of the time. I get my news through friends and family through Whatsapp, an app called Flipboard and Reddit. The reason why I don’t follow anyone involved in politics on social media is simply because I’m not very active on social media hence I don’t feel the need to. My two most frequently used social media platform are Whatsapp and Reddit which aren’t mainstream when it comes to politics. Enough about that, let’s get down to business.

Malaysian youth are apathetic over politics

This is based on the statistics shown in the lecture. Being one of them myself I think it’s safe to say that this is true. Well, for the most part anyway. Surely there are a lot of young people who are interested in politics but personally speaking from experience, prior to and the beginning of university life, friends around me doesn’t seem to be interested in it. I would occasionally hear about memes regarding the topic and some apparent terrible decisions and controversies though.

Political memes

Nowadays, political memes are common. It’s bound to come up in your social media feed when questionable and controversial things happen. Some became vocal and express their displeasure, some wait and worry anxiously, and some finds humour. It’s a funny thing because when we were younger, we were taught not to speak about politics and/or make fun or speak badly of it. And here we are, memeing about it.

Rise of youth in political involvement

I did say that youth are apathetic over politics earlier. But recently, we can see a rise in involvement in politics among the youth.

For example, as per Teoh (2020), earlier this year on July 4 and 5, a mock parliament was organized by a group of Malaysian youth association. Over 200 young Malaysians was involved in this event which was known as Parlimen Digital. They represented the actual constituencies and came together to debate a range of topics, from economic challenges to the state of the country’s education online. This event that was hold was the result of dissatisfaction about the governments decision on not holding a virtual parliament meeting despite the numerous pressing issues faced.

The increasing involvement of the youth in politics could be a good sign as Malaysian politicians are old and their trust in the youth are seemingly non-existent. As young people get more involved and knowledgeable, perhaps the older the generation can finally entrust the future to the younger generation, the generation that is more familiar and adapted to the modern era, the technological era.

[chillkingpenguin]

Is Tumblr a Blog or a Social Networking Site?

A few things to keep in mind to start with:

Tumblr is new to me. I have heard of it, sure, but I never used nor see people around me used it all my life. When I first heard of Tumblr, the first thing that came to mind was social media, and I have since regarded it as that. At the start of this unit however, I learnt that Tumblr is more popularly regarded as a blog. And so, this question already feels strange to me personally. The fact that I am unfamiliar with blogs doesn’t help either.

Definitions of Blog and Social Networking Site

First, let’s see what a blog and social networking site means respectively.

Cambridge Dictionary defines the word blog as “a regular record of your thoughts, opinions, or experiences that you put on the internet for other people to read” while social networking site is defined as “ a website that is designed to help people communicate and share information, photographs, etc. with a group”.

A platform to record thoughts and opinions versus a platform to communicate with people. That’s interesting because I found Tumblr as a platform that can be used to do both. Moving on.

What is Tumblr?

According to Rachel (2020), Tumblr is a website where people can post many types of content such as images, videos and texts. Users can also follow each other to share their content by reblogging it. Tumblr as a platform is designed for short-form content and is visual oriented. You can view other people’s feeds and browse all contents posted by the people you follow in the dashboard. Tumblr also implemented keywords and tags to find content that interests you.

From that alone I must say that sounds a lot like a social networking site. It’s a little hard to picture, I understand, but Rachel described it as and I quote: “If you take the microblogging aspect of Twitter, the social functionality of Facebook, the curation capabilities of Pinterest and the creativity of Instagram and mash them all together, you’ll come out with Tumblr.” That is why Tumblr seemed like social networking site at first glance. So... which one is it?

Conclusion

Tumblr is not exclusively a blog or a social networking site.

At least that is what I think. After taking a closer look at Tumblr I feel like the style is definitely different from the other social medias that I personally used. The uniqueness of Tumblr that I felt here makes me lean on the idea that Tumblr is both a blog and a social networking site. It is not one or the other, but both.