Bubble

The worst part of censorship is that those being censored don’t know what they are missing.

  The Chinese government holds significant control over social networks, blocking global sites like Facebook and Twitter, and even censoring networks based in China.

  Facebook is blocked by “the great firewall of China” but it can still be accessed via private networks. I don’t think many people can say that the process of censorship in China surprises them.

  Some argue that censorship is necessary to ensure national security, whilst those who are against censorship argue that the practice of censorship limits freedom of speech and can foster ignorance in the world’s citizens.

  Another issue I have is that people should control the government, rather than the government controlling its people. Censorship prevents free access to information; therefore people can easily be controlled due to their restricted understanding of the world.

  Social media censoring is arguably the most important to China’s efforts to control online speech.

I have never participated in online gaming. I play some playstation but don't use the settings that would allow me to compete with people from around the world. It’s just not my cup of tea.

  I know a friend that comes home from a day of work and uni and then jumps onto an online game and spends all night gaming, interacting with people on the other side of the world rather than with people that are in the same room as him… I think that online gaming can be considered both social and antisocial for this reason.

  The lecture demonstrated to me how some people could find online gaming as a way to communicate with people that share similar interests and is a way of being a part of a large community.

  I never thought about there being contracts in online gaming. I guess this explains how disputes online are settled, and if a party does not follow the contract that cannot remain in the game.

  One of the things that pop into my head when talking about online gaming is tv shows like The Big Bang Theory. It demonstrates how the user is able to construct an idealized version of them in a game. The user is able to create an avatar that enhances them and presents themselves to other users as what they want them to see. This is similar to camera consciousness, just in a differing setting.

Social Gaming can consume a persons life, they can become so involved in their online universe that they find it difficult to leave it, becoming addicted.

In the era of social media, self-representation cannot go without a selfie, shared with hundreds of “friends” before being stored away in the Worldwide Web’s “save it for later” back room, to only be pulled out for your 21st and when you are looking for really important job. It generally represents how we want other people to see us.

  In this day and age, digital photographs allow us control over our photographed appearance, inviting us to tweak and reshape our public and private identities.

Urban Dictionary defines Selfie as: 'A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person's arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.'

I will admit that it is human nature to want to show off your achievements. When you feel good about yourself it's easy to reach for your phone and document it all through one or more (usually more) selfies.

Visual media is revolving and changing the direction of social media. It all started with Blogs, a long form of storytelling, with the use of gifs and images.

Then moved on to platforms like Facebook and Myspace with shortened posted and walls that we express ourselves on. Then came Twitter. Twitter dramatically changed the way we communicated by cutting it down to 140 characters or less, so resulted in people posting pictures and videos instead. 

  And now with platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and Vine, words are optional and are replaced by images. Communities are present in all of these platforms – just in different ways.

  When it comes to social media posts those messages with photographs included are more likely to receive active user engagement. Research shows that photo post receives 104% more comments than non-photo included social media posts.

  I personally I’m not a massive user of social media. I only really have committed to Facebook. When I first joined I posted everything – including my fandom of Twilight (how embarrassing!). However, as I got older I realised that I didn’t want pictures of me on the Internet. So now I only post things that are important (questionable) and that I would be happy with a potential employer seeing it.

In my own experiences I have found that people will post just about anything - including truly horrid photos and videos of their friends on social media. Personally I have found this apparent on my birthday. My friends find it appropriate to dig up bad photos from my formative years and share it will everyone. That is why I have taken to changing my Facebook settings. This includes needing to approve any pictures I am tagged in, which means I have some control of the amount of unforgiving images of me are out there. Unfortunately, some have slipped through the cracks - I guess that is the price I pay for growing up in this generation.

It is undeniable that Social Networking sites are an integral way to distribute information about disastrous events that occur all around the world.

  Crowdsourcing has impacted the way the world reacts to natural disasters. Social media makes a massive difference to the way information is disseminated as it provides easy accessibility.

  Emergency relief agencies such as the Red Cross use Twitter accounts to communicate with the pubic about natural disasters from Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes in Haiti and Asia, the tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

  What people see, hear and do before, during and after an emergency or crisis is documented on social media.

Whether people are directly affected or just share their reactions online.

  Twitter could be faster at detecting natural disasters such as bushfires, cyclones, floods, and earthquakes and has the possibility to communicate around the world the event of a terrorist attack. The CSIRO is even monitoring tweets and alerting emergency services. The software used by the CSRIO monitors the statistical incidence of words used by people on Titter to describe an emergency and compares them with word occurrences on Twitter from past emergency events.

  Police are even using social media to appeal to the wider community for information on situations, including following the Boston Marathon Bombing, where online communities have provided valuable information to help find the people responsible. It was a way of posting videos and images and sharing them around the world.

  In times of crisis people are drawn to their key forms of communication. For me that would be my phone. It allows me to text, call and go on Facebook. It was Facebook that I first heard of the missing flight MH370. At first I wasn’t too concerned, however, as the hours past more information popped up on my newsfeed and that is when I realised how serious it was.

Once upon a time there were three billy goats, who were to go up to the hillside to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was "Gruff."

On the way up was a bridge over a cascading stream they had to cross; and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll , with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker…. 

Urban Dictionary defines trolling as "being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-standers, because it's the internet, and hey, you can."

Recent research has found that 1 in 3 young people aged 14-18 was the recipient of online trolling, whilst 1 in 10 have been a troll.

Many people who carry out trolling do so because they thinks its a good laugh, but it thoughtless and harmful, leading to depression and self-harm. 

In 2012, Charlotte Dawson was admitted into hospital after attempting to commit suicide  following a battle with Twitter trolls. Dawson was the target of an organised online campaign of harassment because of her involvement with an anti-cyberbullying organisation. In 2014, Dawson committed suicide.

The issue is that due to the anonymity of social media sites, people believe that they can get away with anything because their identity is hidden. 

The anti-bullying organisation that Dawson was representing - Community Brave - identified one of Dawson's Twitter tolls, an employee of Monash Uni, and she was stood down without pay, however she was reinstated afterwards because it was found that she was not guilty of misconduct.

I think this shows that even the education system is failing us. How can kids be expected to differentiate right and wrong actions online, when higher education provider, Monash Uni, cannot set a good example by punishing their employee for wrong-doing, it sends the wrong message - that trolling and cyberbullying is acceptable.

Digital Citizenship is a term that applies to all of use. It is about our use of information technology as a way to engage with society. We live in a digital age where technology is everything, our computers, mobile-phones and wed-ready devices are our passports.

It has the potential to be beneficial for society as a whole because it allows people to interact with other individuals within society without leaving the comfort of our own homes. 

Social media has been used in recent years to facilitate 'grass roots' activism, mobilising movements and creating awareness globally.

The digital age has provided people with the opportunity to become involved, maybe not directly, in a course they believe in. New media has enable the formation of communities within communities, bringing like-minded people together to share their thoughts and opinions on a certain area. 

It has provided a platform for these people to become heard, and gain a following. This has led to digital activism, the use of communication technologies such as social media (especially Twitter, Facebook and Youtube) to enable faster communications between fellow activists.

In 2011, Egyptian authorities had to block internet and mobile services in order to reduce followers for an anti-government protest. Activist used social media to spread the word about protests, detailing locations where people were gathering, this included 'calls for action' circulating on Facebook and Twitter. Activist used social media inside the country to relay their messages using people in other countries. This then led to people from other countries offering their support in the form of tweets.

An example closer to home is the Occupy Movement. It began as Occupy Wall Street in New York City, and then spread to over 951 cities across 82 countries. It was an international protest movement against inequality both social and economic.

The Occupy Movement used social media as a method of organisation to coordinate protests and connect to people. Facebook pages such as Occupy Together were used to bring together like-minded people to support the protest. The use of social media allowed organisers to simultaneously communicate with people worldwide. The use of online activity allowed everyday people, who didn't want to physically participate in the protests to be involved and support the movement through Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other social media. This was a protest on a monumental scale, reaching people in the furtherest parts of the world. Online activism was a fundamental part of the occupy movement and its message. It provided a way to connect with people across oceans, whilst bring individuals together for the local movement such as Occupy Melbourne. 

At one point or another we have all been involved in an aspect of digital activism, whether it be through 'liking' a Facebook page or watching the Kony 2012 video on Youtube. Social media, and the internet in general provide for a lot of potential online activism, social media facilitates international connections and offers people a platform to express themselves, harmlessly or otherwise. Digital Activism has the potential to destabilise governments and societies.

Social Media, particularly Youtube, Facebook and Twitter have influenced the political landscape in recent years. Many politicians around the world, including; Barrack Obama, Kevin Rudd and even Malcolm Turnbull have utilised social media to reach out to their constituents, targeting younger voters.

It has been used the world over to enhance public profiles during political campaigns. One such example of this is Barrack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.

Barrack Obama was particularly successful in his bid to become US President due to his extensive use of the internet to rally supporters and make his policies know. Obama was able to build relationships through forums and social websites such as MySpace and Facebook, he developed a face-to-face quality that gave his supporters a sense of trust which ultimately lead to him becoming president. 

One thing that set Obama apart was that his campaign managers used consumer marketing to specifically target individuals with customised information, therefore the political communication to these users was based on data collected about them. Social Media was used as a sophisticated campaign tool, but it cannot be said that it has inspired Australian politicians to do the same. 

In the United States, voting is optional, therefore not many people vote, unlike in Australia where voting is compulsory. Therefore Barrack Obama's online campaign mobilised people to get to the voting booths.

This week Barrack Obama had a selfie blunder which spiralled into a commercial controversy that could lead to the banning of selfless from the White House.

Heres what happened:

American baseball player David Ortiz met the leader of the free world and snapped a picture tweeting it to his 642,000 followers. 

It was then retweeted over 42,000 times, including from phone giant Samsung, who had just signed Ortiz as a 'social media insider'. Samsung Mobile US retweeted the photo to its 5.2 million twitter followers. Obama is now in hot water, and it may see the end of selfies from the White House after this publicity stunt from Samsung.

Australian politicians have attempted to break the social media wall however it has occurred rather unsuccessfully. Although the Federal Election in 2013 saw an increase in the use of digital communities, it was in the form of boring youtube videos filmed on a porch. Did the use of social media by Australian politicians influence me? Engage me as a young voter? No.

However, one youtube clip that got Australia talking was Kevin Rudd on Q and A responding to a question about homosexuality which revived over 3 million views on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzV1r5SCc8U

Similarly, former PM Julia Gillard received praise around the world after criticising now PM Tony Abbott on his misogynistic ways.

Australian politics has done something right, lucky for us the election only runs for a month unlike America. However, that is all that can be said in Australia's defence. Ultimately, Australian politicians did not embrace social media effectively. Is it a case of too little, too late?

Tumblr isn't like Facebook, in that it is less of a place to connect, and is rather an expression of oneself.

Tumblr is an experience that is individual, not really about connecting with other people, however if you do connect with people its not really on a personal level, its almost an 'antisocial network'.

Tumblr allows people to participate in self-expression, however, it enables users to remain anonymous, which suits me just fine. 

One thing I have really enjoyed about Tumblr is the entertaining gifs and memes that you can find, it really differentiates Tumblr from other digital communities like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I have enjoyed viewing gifs from tv shows and movies I like.

I am not a big user of social media sites (or digital communities) I prefer to stick to one thing at a time. That is probably why I am still only on Facebook. 

For a short time I was on Twitter, it was for assessment purposes only, just like this, however I didn't commit myself. I only went on when I had to, and when the class ended I deleted my account. Not once did I tweet, or re-tweet. I did what I had to and that was it. 

Tumblr as  a media platform is a complex topic because it is hard to compare it directly to Facebook and Twitter, simply because they are different. Myspace in the end is a mash up of both Facebook and Tumblr which is why it didn't last. Tumblr allows people with aligned interests to share thoughts, images and videos. That is why there aren't 'haters' because unless you are genuinely interested in topic or discussion you are unlikely to follow it.

In Week Three we had a guest lecturer, Emily Van De Nagle, she discussed a case study on Reddit. The case study was on a subreddit, called Reddit Gone Wild. She discussed the difficulties associated, including the anonymity Reddit allows.

I myself have never used Reddit before, so I was fascinated to see how it all worked, and was intrigued to find out that people aim to gain points. It was interested to discover that Reddit is very much a bulletin board rather than the traditional social media profiles, like Facebook.

In Week Two we looked at the theory and concepts associated with social media platforms and digital communities.

We studied the concept of Virtual Community. It is coming together to share information, ideas, feelings, expertise and resources independent of geographical location, and discussed how virtual communities have just enough human feeling to enable us to form personal relationships online.

We also considered other terms including networks and social network sites, the 'network effect' and social production and exchange.

We explored the visualization of social networks in the form of nodes, ties, clusters and density. Below is my own Facebook friend network that was made on wolframalpha.com:

Source: wolframalpha.com

Following this we looked at American Sociologist, Mark Granovetter’s Social Theory on Social Ties. I agreed with his theory that it is better to have 15 good friends, rather than only one or two great friends, because we will be ‘deprived of information’ from others.

Similarly, we considered Barry Wellman’s theory on Networked and Individualism, which is that we are constantly making connections with others and therefore moving between multiple networks. By having a look at my friend network above I can see that the different clusters involve people from University, High School, Overseas, Family and interstate friends.

In this weeks readings, Eugenia Siapera (2012), wrote about how virtual communities that are sustained via communication technologies, such as the Internet, exist independent of geographical location and generally minus any face-to-face interaction between the members. Therefore I went back on to wolframalpha further explore my Facebook friends’ locations:

Source: wolframalpha.com

Digital Communities began is an introduction into the areas of social media. Social Media is a central part of our experience of various digital communities, however it is just ‘the tip of the iceberg’.

In the first week we explored how self-presentation takes place through online profiles, including Tumblr, which has public access. We then looked deeper into understanding the terminology and practices associated with popular sites including Facebook, Tumblr etc.

Similarly, we explored technologies and the platforms associated, looking at its impact on our social, cultural and political lives. 

We also looked at a glimpse of global user statistics and I was surprised to see that Twitter only has 560 Million active users, I was expecting there to be many more.