Either i pass this subject or i pass awayy

In the digital age, crowdsourcing has emerged as a crucial element of crisis communication, particularly during natural catastrophes when conventional communication infrastructures are frequently disrupted. Social media and open mapping systems are examples of platforms that enable regular people to provide real-time information, creating what academics refer to as dispersed "networked publics" that aid in disaster response.

Ushahidi, a tool created to map citizen reports during emergencies, is among the first and most significant instances of crisis crowdsourcing (Ushahidi）. Crowdsourcing enhances disaster response by expanding the speed, reach, and diversity of information, particularly when official channels are overloaded or unavailable, as Riccardi (2016) notes. Since then, this paradigm has grown to include digital audiences and influencers that affect how information spreads online in addition to volunteers on the ground. 

Celebrities and influencers have a significant impact on crisis crowdsourcing in today's digital culture. They can quickly spread important messages, fundraising efforts, and confirmed updates thanks to their enormous fan following. For instance, popular characters like MrBeast have raised millions of dollars through viral fundraising campaigns throughout numerous international disaster relief efforts, illustrating how attention may be translated into material resources. Similar to this, fan groups like BTS ARMY have organized massive donations by answering requests disseminated via networks connected to celebrities, demonstrating the intersection of humanitarian action and participatory fandom culture. Elon Musk and the Starlink satellite internet system assisted in maintaining communication infrastructure in areas where traditional networks were destroyed during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is another pertinent example. This demonstrated how powerful people may directly influence crisis communication systems by allowing citizens and organizations to continue exchanging real-time updates and coordinating emergency responses online. 

This change has also helped organizations like the Australian Red Cross (Australian Red Cross）. Influencers and celebrities often amplify their official messages during floods and bushfires, boosting awareness and promoting quick public donations. This illustrates a mixed approach to crisis communication in which celebrity-driven visibility and institutional authority coexist.

But there are also significant issues with this change. Celebrities may help propagate unreliable or emotionally charged information, but they may also accelerate awareness and mobilization. This emphasizes how crucial platform administration and digital literacy are to maintaining the integrity and dependability of crowdsourced disaster information. 

All things considered, crowdsourcing during emergencies has developed from simple mapping tools into a sophisticated ecosystem encompassing organizations, people, and celebrities. According to Riccardi (2016), organization and credibility are just as important to crowdsourcing's success as participation. Celebrity impact has emerged as a major motivator for that involvement in today's media landscape, changing how communities react to crises as a group in real time. 

References

SpaceX chief Musk warns that its Starlink system could be “targeted” in Ukraine. (2026, June 12). Euronews; euronews.com. https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/03/03/us-ukraine-crisis-starlink

Brodkin, J. (2022, March 4). Elon Musk: “High” probability of Russian attacks on Starlink in Ukraine. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/elon-musk-high-probability-of-russian-attacks-on-starlink-in-ukraine/

Skipworth, W. (n.d.). Elon Musk Cut Off Ukraine’s Starlink Access During Drone Attack, According To His Biographer. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/09/07/elon-musk-cut-off-ukraines-starlink-access-during-drone-attack-according-to-his-biographer/

Coldewey, D. (2023, September 8). Musk says he limited Ukraine’s Starlink to prevent attack on Russia. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/08/musk-says-he-limited-ukraines-starlink-to-prevent-attack-on-russia/

Australian Red Cross (n.d.) Official website. https://www.redcross.org.au

Riccardi, M. (2016) The power of crowdsourcing in disaster response operations, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 20, pp. 123–128. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-disaster-risk-reduction

Digital Citizenship and Online Harassment

By emphasizing that internet communities are not always welcoming, safe, or good, this week's lecture helped me get a more critical awareness of them. Social media platforms facilitate participation, communication, and information sharing across international networks, but they also foster situations that can give rise to abuse, harassment, and violence. This helped me realize that being a good or active user of technology is only one aspect of digital citizenship; another is comprehending the moral obligations associated with fostering inclusive, safe, and respectful online communities. 

The idea of online harassment and how it functions in networked situations caught my attention. Marwick and Caplan (2018) define online harassment as actions like spreading harmful or misleading rumors, imitation, coordinated attacks, and abusive messages. One particularly significant takeaway from the lecture is that online harassment is frequently social and organized rather than private or individual behavior. Network effects, in which groups of users contribute to the reinforcement and escalation of harmful content, frequently lead to increased levels of harassment. This illustrates how "mob-like" dynamics where exposure and virality aid in the spread of harm can be accidentally enabled by digital platforms. 

The experiences of celebrities like Taylor Swift, who has frequently been the target of organized harassment, body shaming, and the spread of altered or artificial intelligence-generated information, provide a relevant illustration of this. This demonstrates how dangerous content can spread far before it is successfully monitored or removed, and how digital harassment can grow rapidly through networked platforms. 

The examination of how some groups are disproportionately affected by internet harassment caught my curiosity. According to research, targeted internet harassment is much more common among women, girls, and people of different gender identities. For instance, Plan International (2020) discovered that 59% of girls in 31 countries said they have encountered offensive or abusive online behavior. This demonstrates that digital spaces are not neutral settings; rather, they frequently mirror and perpetuate current social injustices, such as power disparities and discrimination based on gender. In this way, cyber harassment is a social and cultural problem in addition to a technological one. 

I was also inspired by the lecture to consider governance and accountability's role in resolving these problems more critically. Digital platforms are responsible for protecting users and filtering harmful content, even as they offer avenues for community development and speech. Digital literacy efforts, platform-based moderation systems, community reporting mechanisms, and legal frameworks like the Online Safety Act 2021 all contribute to the decrease of hazardous online behavior. These solutions, however, are not always simple since they raise concerns about censorship, freedom of expression, and the efficacy of automated moderation systems. 

Advocacy groups and public awareness campaigns are also crucial for helping victims of cyberbullying and teaching users about safe online conduct. In particular, social media companies have a big part to play in creating safer platform structures and more successfully enforcing community rules. This implies that a multi-stakeholder strategy that includes governments, platforms, civil society organizations, and users themselves is necessary to address online harm. 

References

Rahman-Jones, I. (2024, January 26). Taylor Swift deepfakes spark calls in Congress for new legislation. Www.bbc.com. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68110476

Marwick, A. E., & Caplan, R. (2018). Drinking Male Tears: Language, the Manosphere, and Networked Harassment. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 543–559.

Plan International. (2020). Free To Be Online? Girls’ and Young Women’s Experiences of Online Harassment.

Celebrity Culture, AR Filters and Unrealistic Beauty Standards 

I thought about the increasing impact of celebrity culture on social media after attending this week's lecture on Augmented Reality (AR) filters. AR filters enable users to create improved versions of themselves by adding virtual elements on real-world photos and videos (Azuma, 1997). These filters may appear innocent and amusing, yet they are now strongly associated with digital beauty standards and celebrity culture. 

The idea of the "Instagram Face" was one that caught my attention. According to Lavrence and Cambre (2020), filters have developed from obvious and lighthearted effects into subtle editing techniques that are now commonplace on social media sites. Online, celebrities, influencers, and content creators routinely display idealized versions of themselves. They frequently use beauty filters to modify facial features, smooth skin, enlarge eyes, and create a more polished image. Audiences may start to see these altered photos as realistic standards of beauty as a result of their frequent exposure to them. 

The Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954), which argues that people naturally compare themselves to others, can be connected to this concept. Users may feel unsatisfied with their appearance when they contrast filtered celebrity photos with their normal appearance. Additionally, the course materials emphasized how beauty technology might lead to negative upward comparison, self-objectification, and low self-esteem (Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). These results show that AR filters are cultural mechanisms that influence the definition and value of beauty in addition to being technology tools. 

However, I believe it is critical to take into account both positive and negative viewpoints. On the one hand, filters may raise pressure to meet social norms and promote unattainable beauty standards. However, they can also offer chances for self-expression, creativity, and identity development. Some users challenge rather than reinforce traditional norms by using filters artistically rather than for aesthetic purposes.

All things considered, the connection between AR filters and celebrity culture shows how technology affects social behavior and self-perception. The widespread use of filtered photos poses major questions on identity, beauty, and authenticity in digital environments. As social media users, we ought to be more wary of the material we take in and acknowledge that a lot of the pictures we see online do not truly reflect the world. 

References 

Instagram. (2025). Instagram. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/

Azuma, R. T. (1997). A Survey of Augmented Reality. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 6(4), 355–385. https://doi.org/10.1162/pres.1997.6.4.355

Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140.

Lavrence, C., & Cambre, C. (2020). “Do I look like my selfie?” Filters and the digital-forensic gaze. Social Media + Society, 6(4), 1–13.

The Kardashians and the impact of microcelebrity culture on body image.

This week, let us concentrate on a new subject: body modification on visual social media. The Kardashians are one of the most well-known examples of microcelebrity culture today. Kim Kardashian and her sisters have become international personal brands thanks to social media sites like Instagram and TikTok. Their success serves as an example of how social media enables people to become more visible, affect consumer behavior, and create modern beauty standards. Senft (2012) defines microcelebrity as presenting oneself as a branded identity and continuously interacting with online audiences. The Kardashians have mastered this technique by carefully selecting their lifestyles and online identities. 

Aesthetic labor is an idea from this week's lecture that really caught my attention. The work people do to keep their appearance appealing and desirable to others is known as aesthetic labor (Dean, 2005). Body shape, clothes, makeup, luxurious lives, and perfectly manipulated photos are among the aesthetic templates that form the foundation of the Kardashian brand. Although the fact that many of their photos are heavily edited or sponsored by professional teams, their content encourages followers to see these standards as desirable and attainable. 

Additionally, the lecture focused on the connection between body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), social media, and negative body image. People who are constantly exposed to idealized appearances may have identity dissonance, which makes them unhappy with how they look in real life since it does not conform to online standards of beauty (Phillips, 2009). Young people who regularly compare themselves to influencers and celebrities should be especially concerned about this. 

Even though the Kardashians created a massive online empire, their influence also brings up significant moral issues. Although their content might encourage confidence, entrepreneurship, and innovation, it can also worsen pressure to meet strict beauty standards. All things considered, the Kardashian phenomenon illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of microcelebrity culture and emphasizes the significance of developing critical media literacy while interacting with social media content. 

References

Dean, D. (2005). Recruiting a self: Women performers and aesthetic labour. Work, Employment and Society, 19(4), 761–774.

Phillips, K. A. (2009). Understanding body dysmorphic disorder. Oxford University Press.

Senft, T. M. (2012). Microcelebrity and the branded self. In J. Hartley, J. Burgess, & A. Bruns (Eds.), A Companion to New Media Dynamics. Wiley-Blackwell.

Is Slow Fashion Really Helping the Environment?

Before entering the topic, I thought fashion was mostly about trends and personal style. However, I realized that social media also plays a crucial role in influencing people's shopping habits and awareness of sustainability.

This week has covered that digital citizenship means using digital platforms responsibly and positively in society. This connects closely to slow fashion because many content creators or influencers encourage people to shop more ethically and reduce waste. Influencers such as Tiffany Ferguson and Venetia la Manna often post videos about overconsumption, fast fashion, and sustainable shopping habits.

One thing I found interesting is how thrifting and sustainable fashion have become popular on TikTok and Xiaohongshu (Rednotes). Many users post thrift hauls, 2000s outfits, and “sustainable lifestyle” content. I think social media has helped make slow fashion more appealing to younger audiences because it turns sustainability into something trendy and aesthetic.

Furthermore, I also think there is a contradiction. Some influencers promote sustainability while still encouraging people to keep buying new clothes frequently, even if they are second-hand. This made me question whether slow fashion online is always genuine or sometimes just another trend. The environmental impact of the fashion industry is also much more serious than I expected, given the circumstances. The fashion industry contributes around 10% of global carbon emissions and creates large amounts of textile waste every year. Popular large companies such as H&M and Burberry have been criticized for wasting unsold clothing to meet trends and exclusivity. This action illustrates how fast fashion places revenue and rapid consumption over sustainability.

Overall, this week I explored how social media plays a critical role in affecting consumer awareness, even though some of the social media content that is produced by influencers is unethical or not perfect, but it is also given an opportunity for these conversations to be more accessible to younger audiences. This insight helps me learn that slow fashion is not only about clothing but also about responsibility and online influence. Social media can encourage more ethical behavior, but it can also turn sustainability into another form of online trend culture. 

References

Chi, T., Gerard, J., Yu, Y., & Wang, Y. (2021). A study of U.S. consumers’ intention to purchase slow fashion apparel: understanding the key determinants. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 14(1), 101–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2021.1872714

Fleck, A. (2025, October 2). Infographic: The Environmental Impact of Fashion. Statista Daily Data; Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/35238/key-statistics-about-the-environmental-impact-of-clothing/?srsltid=AfmBOort8_i7biHgawI5l0oPPpeiK74rC6q3iPy0ylrbdlNzxozpx8El

What does it mean to be a citizen in digital spaces? 

Digital citizenship goes beyond staying safe online.The council of Europe (2025) defines it as competent, positive engagement with digital technologies across political, social, and cultural life.Yet Mccosker, Vivienne and Johns (2017) caution that online citizenship is never truly free it is shaped by platform infrastructure, algorithms, and institutional power. Access also matters too , the persistent digital divide means citizenship online remains unevenly distributed (Mossberger et al. 2008).

Plaformisation- The Chinese Context 

China offers one of the world’s most striking examples of platformisation. WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin ( TikTok’s Chinese ) are not merely social apps; they are deeply integrated into daily life, encompassing payments, healthcare, education, and government services. Plantin et al. (2016) describe this as "infrastructuralization," where platforms become so embedded in society they function like public utilities, yet remain under private and state control. China’s social credit system further illustrates how platform data can be weaponized by the state to govern citizen behavior, raising profound questions about what digital citizenship truly means under surveillance capitalism (Liang et al.2018).

Hashtag Public’s and Political Engagement 

On Weibo, hashtag public’s operate very differently from Western platforms. While hashtags like #Metoo briefly mobilized Chinese feminist activists in 2018, they were swiftly censored. Wang (2020) notes that Chinese users developed creative workarounds with homophones, symbols, and coded language to evade algorithm censorship and sustain public discourse. This demonstrated that hashtag public’s are resilient , but their reach is always constrained by the platforms that host them.

Vromen (2017) notes a broader global shift away from formal party membership toward networked, issue-based activism. In China, this tension is sharpened digital tools enable collective expression, yet the state and platforms actively co-manage what can be said and by whom.

The core lesson from this week is platforms promise democratic participation yet remain commercially and politically controlled. China makes that contradiction impossible to ignore.

References 

Chia, A., Keogh, B., Leorke, D., & Nicoll, B. (2020). Platformisation in game development. Internet Policy Review, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1515

Digital Citizenship Education Handbook - Education - www.coe.int. (2025). Education. https://www.coe.int/en/web/education/-/digital-citizenship-education-handbook

Gillespie, T. (2010). The politics of “platforms.” New Media & Society, 12(3), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809342738

Helmond, A. (2015). The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready. Social Media + Society, 1(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115603080

Liang, F., Das, V., Kostyuk, N., & Hussain, M. M. (2018). Constructing a Data-Driven Society: China’s Social Credit System as a State Surveillance Infrastructure. Policy & Internet, 10(4), 415–453. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.183

Mossberger. (2008). Excerpts from Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation. Firstmonday.org. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/download/2131/1942

Plantin, J.-C., Lagoze, C., Edwards, P. N., & Sandvig, C. (2016). Infrastructure studies meet platform studies in the age of Google and Facebook. New Media & Society, 20(1), 293–310.

Theocharis, Y., Boulianne, S., Koc-Michalska, K., & Bimber, B. (2023). Platform affordances and political participation: how social media reshape political engagement. West European Politics, 46(4), 788–811. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2087410

Vromen, A. (2017). INTEREST GROUPS, ADVOCACY AND DEMOCRACY SERIES Digital Citizenship and Political Engagement The Challenge from Online Campaigning and Advocacy Organisations. https://content.e-bookshelf.de/media/reading/L-8377915-d076ab2bc9.pdf

Wang, Y. (2020, May 8). #MeToo in the land of censorship. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/08/metoo-land-censorship

McCosker, A., Vivienne, S., & Johns, A. (Eds.). (2017). Negotiating digital citizenship : control, contest and culture. Rowman and Littlefield International.

Social media in now society has transformed the relationship between audiences, celebrities and entertainment programs. Chinese variety shows are the perfect example of how fandoms and digital communities develop through online attraction.

I will focus on digital communities and participatory culture, which can be clearly seen through the popularity of Keep Running. The program has raised a large fan base across Asia due to its humour,celebrity interactions and strong presence on social media platforms such as Weibo, Douyin and Bilibili.

One crucial concept is participatory culture.According to Click and Scott (2025) , digital fandoms are increasingly participatory because social media allows audiences to actively engage within online communities.In the case of Keep Running , viewers creates memes, short edits, reaction videos and discussion online in every episode.Fans also share funny moments between the cast members and share trending hashtags to increase the show's visibility. This action demonstrates how audiences can contribute to entertainment culture instead of only consuming media content. 

Another key idea is the concept of digital publics. Digital public’s refer to online spaces where people gather to discuss shared experiences and issues. Although Keep Running is an entertainment program, discussions online often go beyond the show itself. Fans debate celebrity behavior, teamwork, friendships, and even cultural values shown during the program.Some audiences also compare the Chinese version with the original Korean program Running Man, creating conversations about cultural adaptation and localization in Asian entertainment industries.

Furthermore,  social media changes celebrity-fan relationships. In modern fandom culture, audiences can feel emotionally close to celebrities through online interaction.Cast members from Keep Running frequently interact with fans through posts, comments and behind-the-scenes content, creating parasocial relationships where fans feel personally connected to them. While this can strengthen fan loyalty, it may also lead to toxic fandom behavior such as fan wars, online harassment, and excessive idolisation.

In my opinion, Keep Running reflects how entertainment programs rely heavily on digital communities to remain famous. Social media allows fans from different countries to connect, share humor, and participate in collective discussions. However, the pressure to constantly support celebrities online can sometimes create a harmful competition within fandom culture. Overall, the success of Keep Running demonstrated how digital media has reshaped fandom into a highly interactive and participatory experience.

References

Click, M. A., & Scott, S. (2025). The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003373025

Gruzd, A., Wellman, B., & Takhteyev, Y. (2011). Imagining Twitter as an Imagined Community. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(10), 1294–1318. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764211409378Pearson, R. (2010). Fandom in the Digital Era. Popular Communication, 8(1), 84–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405700903502346