#alc205

No Citizens, No Journalism

Feature image: ‘Photographers Have Rights Too‘ by Cal Sr (CC BY-SA 2.0) Let us start with the term ‘sousveillance,’ have you heard of it? I didn’t even know what it was until very…

There is far too many surveillance topics that I could continue to cover week in and week out. Hence why my heading is so broad, This is my first post for my university unit, so I wanted to just make it a easy, simple broad post before getting into the serious ones for assessment.

Now, let me get started in one of my favourite topics… Social media. Shock, I know. These days, just about everyone will have some sort of social media account. For example look at my range of profiles.

LinkedIn @JessieHare

WordPress @jessieinwords

Snapchat @jhare

Facebook @JessieHare

YouTube @JessieHare

Twitter @jessieharee

Instagram @j_hare

All above images are screenshots of my personal social media account profiles.

Yes some I am not so active and some I am on every hour. It’s kind of crazy to think every account shows a different side of me. But looking towards the term ‘surveillance’ and a particular site known as Facebook.

Say I think of something like, searching Kia Motors for a new 2017 Cerato Sedan on google on my safari app. After I have finished doing that and I am sitting back on the couch, I might decide to have a scroll through my Facebook feed. And what do you know? After a couple of scrolls down, there you have the Kia Motors Facebook page advertisement right there, coincidence? I think not. I am so intrigued by the concept of how the two different networks combine to be able to come up on my social accounts after one quick easy google search.

Another interesting thing I have noticed Facebook does is the whole section of ‘people you may know’, yet apparently I may know someone who I have zero mutual friends with… How do they come up? Friends have told me that, for example a complete stranger could somehow have come across my profile and they will now come up in my people you may know section. It’s crazy to think that a social networking site can make you connect with complete strangers.

Still on the topic of social media and surveillance, if you have got snapchat, I assume you’ll know about the new ‘snap map’ feature. But just how good is it, personally on a small scale I use it so I can just see where my friends and family are at. But the safety concerns on this type of surveillance are serious, an article by Kylie Bartholomew discusses the potential risks for children. It’s important to understand the safety concerns of social media and surveillance especially if it is for someone under 18.

I haven’t included scholarly sources as this is my first post for the unit so I just wanted to get my foot in the door. I hope you guys enjoyed this brief read and I will speak to you all in my next post.

– Jessie H

Ahoy!

After reading a blog posted by another ALC205 student (https://brettsmedia.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/alc205-a-head-start/) I thought I would start here with a brief introduction to myself, who I am, what I like, what I’m studying etc.

The fundamentals of Lauren are that I am 21, live in Geelong, in my 3rd year at Deakin where I am completing a 5 year degree in Law/Arts, majoring in Media Communications. And I have a love/hate relationship with my degree. Every term starts off the same, nervous and overwhelmed by Unit Guides and discussion board posts by students who already seem to have grasped the nature of the unit before it’s even really begun. Jeepers. The Law classes are particularly hard, I won’t lie, partly because I don’t have a good mind for reading endless text for hours, and partly because IT IS THE LAW. But that’s also why there’s a little person buried inside my who loves the challenge it presents. My Arts classes aren’t as divisive to me, I enjoy the content more or less and it relates (for the better part) directly to my current work as an Administration Assistant where I am solely responsible for a lot of social media posting and reporting. 

I’m a cat person. Shun me now or forever hold your peace. I love food, especially the sort of food that is ‘instragram worthy’, e.g. my recent cookie dough and bacon waffles I had at the Pickers Union in North Geeloong - highly recommend them, tell them Lauren sent you ;) 

I had planned on being an on-campus student for this class as I really enjoy the face-to-face engagement that it brings, but there was a clash with a Law class so I have been rendered ‘online’ and not super happy about it. Which I guess is ironic, given I am studying media communications... Sue me. I thrive at using online tools such as Facebook, Instagram and the like when I am communicating with people I know, or communicating relatively useless ‘bs’ just to serve the undercover narcissist in me. But when it comes to communicating with ‘faceless’ people, who I have no ‘real life’ connection with and can read no tone or intonation from their words, I struggle.

From this unit, I hope to gain a further insight into the ways that digital technologies are creeping into our lives and monitoring out every action. The recent explosion of Pokemon Go and the rumoured data it is collecting for the CIA has been most entertaining. I remember doing a debate in a Level 1 Arts class at Deakin, whereby we were discussing how much power the government should have on monitoring our online movements, and I was on the side saying that they should have as much power as necessary to search internet browser histories etc. to help fight against potential terrorist threats and other crimes. Doing research into this one side of the debate made me firmly a believer in that one side, but I am ready, willing and open to learning more about the ongoing issues of online surveillance. 

Thanks for reading this spiel, it was rather self-indulgent but I wanted to get cracking on the notion of writing a regular blog (this is not something I normally do AT ALL). I’m assuming we can use whichever blog platform we like?

Cheers,