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The Great Firewall of China

When was the last time you used a VPN (virtual private network or in other words software that hides your IP address when cruising the World Wide Web)? For us Australians, I think I’d be ok in assuming the only time you’d ever use one is to access American Netflix (for overseas readers, Australia’s Netflix fucking sucks!) or at school/uni trying to access any site that is rated PG. Well in china, to access something as simple as Facebook you’d need to use a VPN and even then, your chances of getting through are not great (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/11/china-moves-to-block-internet-vpns-from-2018). Social media platforms that we in western countries use every day are blocked by the government in China and replaced by social networks that the government can monitor. It’s a common belief in western countries, that whilst there has been a gradual social media revolution across the world, this revolution has not reached countries like China due to the strict laws and restrictions in regards to the internet. This is not necessarily true, in fact, China has experienced a similar revolution of their own. Just because China doesn’t have Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms that we in the west constantly use, this is not to say that they don’t have social networks all together. For example, while we in the west have Twitter, China has Weibo. The West has Facebook, China has Renren. The West has YouTube and China has Youku. Even though almost all popular websites have been blocked in China, China has replicated and arguably improved upon these websites. In a sense, China has its own mini Internet that functions within the country and separate to the rest of the world. But, if Chinese social media is simply a clone or replica of Western social media, why are they experiencing their own social media boom different to the rest of the world. Whilst the Chinese platforms may have started or have been conceived from their Western counterparts, due to the Chinese language and social climate, the platforms take on the life of their own. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41398423/social-media-and-censorship-in-china-how-is-it-different-to-the-west

https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_anti_behind_the_great_firewall_of_china#t-577252

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Social Gaming

Believe it or not, there was a time not too long ago before Fortnite, before Facebook games and before online gaming in general where video games were a somewhat private activity. I remember being ten years old, spending a whole weekend playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 on the PS2, and being completely fine with the fact I was simply versing the game not a person. This concept seems so outdated and irrelevant these days; what’s the point if I’m not competing against someone, what a waste of time! So where did social gaming originate? With the emergence and dominance (at least dominance in Australia) of social media site, Facebook, arguably the origins of popular online gaming begun with Facebook games such as Farmville, Candy Crush and Words with Friends. Facebook games allowed users to verse, play co-op, in-game gift, in-game chat and share the gaming experience with friends and random people across the world. In 2017, Fortnite became a social gaming phenomenon across the world. Fortnite is a free to play battle royale shooter survival game (https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/home). Whilst, Fortnite highlighted the benefits and power of aspects of online gaming, it also bought to light the dangers and issues of social gaming. Addiction to Fortnite in children and young people is a growing concern (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2WNWSnWFnQ), so much so that online support groups for parents and their kids have sprung up in an attempt to combat addiction (https://gamequitters.com/parents-guide-to-fortnite-addiction/). Another issue Fortnite has shone on social gaming is due the nature of the game and how it appeals to young people, regulating behaviour has become a huge concern, so much so that the creators of the game have pursued a lawsuit against a 14 year old for cheating (https://www.vg247.com/2018/04/26/fortnite-lawsuit-cheaters-epic-14-year-old/). Whilst social gaming does have its drawbacks, it’s not all cause for concern. With platforms like Twitch, cool little networked publics have sprung up. Twitch allows ‘casters’ to broadcast online games to audiences across the world. I for one, am not a huge gamer, but, I do use twitch to watch Age of Empire (a game that is now 20 years old) matches out of nostalgia (https://www.twitch.tv/t90official ). I have found that the communities on twitch are for the most part, inclusive and positive.

To wrap up, I want to recommend a video game podcast called Filthy Casuals. In this particular episode http://www.filthycasuals.com.au/2019/01/17/ Wil Wagner of the Smith Street Band talks about how online gaming has become an awesome tool for passing the time for touring bands.

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Public Health Campaigns and Communities

The more I post on this blog, the more I feel I need to address the memes that accompany each post. Haha. Well today may seem like a cop out meme, but, I do plan to talk about music and musicians in this post which I feel justifies it.

Roughly, more than 80% of internet users seek health information. We’ve all been there. The more gross or embarrassing, the more we rely on ‘Dr. Google’ rather than you’re local GP. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing. The internet has changed how we as a species, take care of ourselves and our health. This being said a level of caution must be considered when placing your well-being in the hands of internet. So, with this in mind, let’s have a look at health campaigns that utilise the internet and networked publics. I’m sure we all remember the ‘SLIP SLOP SLAP’ sun protection campaign (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGgn5nwYtj0) that utilised TV and traditional forms of advertisement. While this type of campaign is great at reaching a wide audience with a specific message, engagement with the message is hard to gauge. Health campaigns these days can be far more interactive and participative, making them arguably more effective. Take for example, R U OK? ’R U Ok? Day’, a suicide prevention initiative (https://www.ruok.org.au/). The idea behind the day is raising awareness about mental health and on this particular day, your meant to ask your friends, family etc. ‘are you ok?’ in an effort to destigmatise asking for help in regards to mental health. The driving force of the campaign is social media. You only have to type #ruok into twitter or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ruok/) to see the thousands of posts from both prominent public figures and the general public supporting the cause. This is the beauty of this type of campaign. If you see your friend or a person of notoriety that you like post about something, it’s fair to say you’d pay more attention and have more respect for the message rather than a generic ad on TV. This is the beauty of these types of health campaigns; peers encouraging peers. However, this does allow for superficial engagement. What I mean by this is, people may post about a health issue and feel as though they have contributed to the cause rather than contributing to the cause IRL.

This next bit may be a tad self-indulgent as I do enjoy writing about my favourite musicians but, hey, this blog is loosely a music related blog. Whilst fans of the Smith Street Band may be aware of the controversy surrounding the band of recent months, I’m purposely ignoring this for the time being as Wil Wagner’s (front man and singer/guitarist) openness towards his mental health issues is something that has helped me and many others over the years. Wil is a perfect example of how using social media to engage with an online community for the purposes of demystifying and raising awareness of a particular public health issue can be so effective. Due to the popularity of the band, wil is able to reach an audience that may not be affected by mental health, or relate to someone who is being affected by it and normalise and advise the issue. Take a look at the bands Instagram and see that the feed is littered with pro mental health content. https://www.instagram.com/p/BaAxp2GgfIY/

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Crowdsourcing in times of crisis

I should probably preface today’s post by addressing today’s meme. Get it? Crowd. Sauce. Crowdsource. Come on, still don’t get it? I suppose Justin Timberlake’s song, ‘Sauce’ isn’t as popular as I thought it might be. Do yourself a favour and educate yourself with this absolute tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw2lOGVwKPQ. Right, now that that’s out of the way, today’s topic is crowdsourcing in times of crisis. So what is crowdsourcing? When I hear the term crowdsourcing I immediately think of websites like Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/). Kickstarter is a platform whereby users can post a project that they want to pursue and if people want to see the project get done, they can donate and help fund it. A notable case of Kickstarter at work is popular actor/director, Zach Braff, using the site to fund his movie entitled ‘I Wish I Was Here’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xRA5-wY5fU). Patreon is similar but, more popular for things like podcasts as it is more a subscription based donation system. Though building finance is one aspect of crowdsourcing, it is far broader than this. Crowdsourcing is the attaining of needed services, ideas or content from a large amount people and whilst this is usually done these days online using networked publics, crowdsourcing has been around for a lot longer than the internet. When plans for the Sydney Opera house were to go ahead, the design was crowdsourced. In 1955 a design completion was announced with criteria of what the opera house had to include and 255 entries from architects around the world were received, the best one picked (https://memeburn.com/2011/09/9-examples-of-crowdsourcing-before-%E2%80%98crowdsourcing%E2%80%99-existed/). So, we understand what crowdsourcing is, but how does it work during times of crisis. After the recent attack in Sri Lanka whereby three churches and three luxury hotels were targeted in terrorist suicide bombings, I was made aware of the attacks quite immediately over social media. Social media has become one of the main ways that news of crisis’ or disasters break around the world. The reason for this is that these networks have people uploading photos, videos and anecdotes of the events which can be found under specific hashtags and categories. In this way, a picture of the event is crowdsourced whereby we gain a better understanding of the event through different people’s perspective. The immediacy and mass of information on social media sites means that emergency services can be deployed with a better understanding of the situation. Facebook actually has a crisis response application with in it which is quite interesting to explore if you wish to do so: https://www.facebook.com/about/crisisresponse/.

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Activism & Protest

Ok, yes today’s meme is kind of lame but I mean, shit! You try finding a meme that is funny, relates to music and activism. The meme is from the Don’t Kill Live Music rally that I touched on in my last post (https://junkee.com/dont-kill-live-music-rally/194933?fbclid=IwAR0976e5dYsBv6TYgtCNP6Eek_h1TgxtrmZVzBg-H9-iguwaxNE0UBX5pu8) and today’s topic is closely related, activism and protest in the digital age. To explore this, I want to talk about a fairly grim revolution that took place in Tunisia in 2011 and the self-immolation of a local Tunisian, so I suppose I should apologise for the lack of music based content. In regions such as Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia in 2010 had become victim to heavy censorship and police repression in order to silence the protests of the oppressive government (https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/01/2011126121815985483.html). On the 17th of December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest which was the spark that the people of Sidi Bouzid used to break the censorship, taking to twitter and social media with the hashtag #sidibouzid. The Tunisian government attempted to shut this coverage of the protests and riots; however, it was far too late at this point. The rest of the world had been exposed to the injustices within Tunisia and people from all around the world offered to post on behalf of Tunisians to ensure the coverage continued (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAuxNXmAbyY). On social media, the world showed solidarity towards Tunisia. But what exactly does solidarity achieve? According to academic, Mary Joyce, there are three positions towards social media as a tool for activism and protest: https://www.arifyildirim.com/ilt510/marcos.sivitanides.vivek.shah.pdf

1.       Optimists who believe that digital activism will alter existing political hierarchies

2.       Pessimists who believe digital activism can be constructive or destructive

3.       Persistents who may be optimistic or pessimistic about digital technology, but they do not believe the internet to be exceptional. The same rules of politics apply and technology won’t change that.

Eventually, the protests and riots that took place in Tunisia led to the ousting of president Ben Ali and the implementation of free and democratic elections, so you be the judge of the role social media played in the saga.

Now, it would be remiss of me to post about online activism without talking about ‘culture jamming’ and given it’s a far more lighter topic to talk about than riots and people setting themselves on fire, it is a welcome change of pace. According to Wikipedia (which I generally wouldn’t rely on for definitions, however, this is quite a neat way of putting it), culture jamming “is the act of using existing mass media to comment on those very media themselves, using the original medium's communication method.” In other words, taking a brand icon or slogan and modifying it in an often sarcastic way in order to critique brands, politics, etc. the most common form of culture jamming that you’re probably already aware of are memes (http://politicalmemes.com/lets-get-back-to-that-wall-talk/). There are however, many forms of culture jamming. Check out Ad Busters for example. Ad Busters is an organisation that produce not only culture jamming online content, but also produce products such as clothing that attempts to combat the branded clothing (https://www.adbusters.org/). For more on culture Jamming visit https://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm which has a decent overview of culture jamming.

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Politics

When I think about how social media and the internet in general have impacted politics, my mind instantly thinks of the NSW State government. To be specific, Gladys Berejiklian and the Don’t Kill Live Music movement that has been a contentious talking point recently for Australian music lovers (myself most definitely included). It seems the NSW government have been quite successful in destroying Sydney’s raging nightlife culture and live music (which I would be happy to use this post to bitch and moan about, but that’s not this is about). Well, it seems they are now taking aim at music festivals and the safety of people that attend festivals, with Gladys Berejikilian heading the charge. I won’t go into the saga in depth. You can read about that here:

https://www.change.org/p/don-t-kill-live-music-41f9c8a6-9910-4df8-b2d1-a750e41ff877?use_react=false

https://musicfeeds.com.au/news/dont-kill-live-music-rally-announced-in-the-wake-of-nsw-governments-harsh-festival-laws/

https://www.facebook.com/DKLMAustralia/

Please sign the petition and show some support!

Basically, in the wake of some drug related (some not even drug related) deaths at music festvals in the last 12 months, shocking new festival regulations have been implemented that has resulted in the death of many music festivals. The liberal party has stuck its head in the sand in regards to harm minimisation strategies that have been backed by experts and have been proven to work outside Australia. In response to this an online petition attached with an open letter to “music and culture lovers of Australia” was started accompanied by an online social media campaign called Don’t Kill Live Music Australia which was followed by a rally in Sydney.

What is interesting to me is how social media became a platform for the movement to gain awareness and support and how politics and political issues are often influenced or dictated by these platforms and online publics. I am from Victoria and have been engaged and following the political saga surrounding the NSW state election because I have a keen interest in preserving Australia’s music scene. It’s obvious if you look at the number of people supporting the Don’t Kill Live Music Australia Facebook page and petition that the liberal party are an unpopular bunch, right? Then why was it a shock when they were re-elected recently in March? My best guess is that young people today are not engaged enough in politics. Just because you joined a Facebook group anti a particular government doesn’t mean shit unless you go out, get informed about a party that reflects you, and vote for them. In the same way that it was hard to take Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin seriously in politics after the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler sketch on Saturday Night Live [watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSOLz1YBFG0], the countless memes and slogans attacking and making fun of Gladys Berekjiklian that surfaced on the Don’t Kill Live Music Australia Facebook page and elsewhere, made the whole thing seem like a big joke that would just blow over. It didn’t!

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What is Tumblr?

Memes, GIFs, porn (though not as of the 17th of December last year) , bit of art and a whole lot of ramblings from random ‘nuffies’. As far as I can tell, that’s all Tumblr is right? Maybe a better way of putting it is that Tumblr is an online scrapbook of text, photos, videos and GIFs. A cross between a blog and a Facebook/Twitter feed.

Forgive the overly simplified explanation (as if it was aimed at your grandmother), decent introduction though:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z5CgSt_tc8

So, is it a social network site or blog?

I s’pose I’ll compare Tumblr to the very well-known social network site, Facebook, mainly because I’m very familiar with it having grown up in Australia where it seems to have been the site of choice since Myspace and MSN.

Tumblr does offer social engagement through features like reposts, inbox messaging and of course you’re able to follow other people pages (speaking of this, I’ll throw a cheeky shameless plug in right here… Go follow RAGE AGAINST THE MEMES). In other words, unlike what you might call a traditional blog, Tumblr allows users to interact with each other. These interactions are inherently social connections.

Much like Facebook activist groups or pages such as  the Don’t Kill Live Music Facebook page that was created in the wake of what has been dubbed as the “War on Festivals” in New South Wales this year.

 https://musicfeeds.com.au/news/dont-kill-live-music-rally-announced-in-the-wake-of-nsw-governments-harsh-festival-laws/

The page allowed like-minded people to discuss voice opinions and come together regardless of their geographical location. Tumblr also is a great platform for creating similar online communities. The beauty of Tumblr is that due to the nature and freedom of content on the site, it allows niche publics to form which otherwise would not have been able to thrive. This can also be a negative – see following article to see why these publics can be dangerous:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/justinesharrock/meet-the-girl-behind-one-of-tumblrs-biggest-cutting-suicide

It would seem as though Tumblr is simply a Social Network site. I think what sets Tumblr apart from other social networks and perhaps reinforces it’s status to a degree as a blog site is the dramaturgy of its users or how they present themselves online. Facebook doesn’t really afford much creativity when creating a profile. Your online identity on Facebook usually closer to an extension of your physical, real life self. On Tumblr however there are few rules on how your page functions; be that a regular blog, a place to look at funny shit, a place to promote your business, etc. Users often incorporate a loose theme regardless of what they want to get from the platform to create their Tumblr or online identity.

So is Tumblr simply an amalgamation of a social network and blog?

definitely, maybe.

[For those who are unaware the ‘definitely, maybe’ I am alluding to above is Oasis’ classic album from the 90’s, not the shitty romantic comedy from 2008. Yep, bet you thought I’d never link today’s post with today’s meme but, we got there.]