#digitalcitizen

What does it mean to be a digital citizen?

A digital citizen is a person who is known to use digital technologies appropriately and responsibly. They are having good manners whenever dealing with people online then, know to avoid using hateful speech with others and most importantly respect others opinions and ideas. Also, a digital citizen should think deeply before posting something because nowadays everyone can access it on different devices especially the kids today that's why we need to be careful about what we post online. Let's use our platform in social media in a positive and meaningful way.

How can you observe social, ethical, and legal responsibilities in the use of technology tools and resources?

In the digital age, we live in now almost anyone can be classed as a ‘digital citizen.’ Digital citizens have a strong influence within the public sphere, shaping their skills and knowledge surrounding digital technology in a positive way to participate with the rest of society, whilst creating, consuming and sharing digital content. There are three main areas of participation in society which are to do with economical opportunities, democratic participation and inclusion in prevailing forms of communication. (Mossberger, 2008)

As mentioned in this week’s reading, it’s important to understand the mainstream influence Australian politics has on its audiences. (Vromen, 2017) Understanding these effects and tactics through digital technology/media is what helps a wide audience of Australians become familiar with “major changes in citizen-based politics in the digital age,” (vromen, 2017) this is especially prominent in advanced democracies. 

Nowadays most citizens engage with politics in “individualised” ways this can be done through online or offline forums such as “online petitioning, donating money, ad hoc volunteering of time, and boycotting…” (Vromen, 2017) Many citizens also used “digitally-based mechanisms” (Vromen, 2017) to engage audiences in politics, enabling them to have the ability to express their point of view through the public sphere. 

The use of hashtags has had a huge part in shaping the public through the use of social channels relating to politics and pressing social justice issues. Hashtags such as;

#Auspol

#MeToo

#ClimateChange

#ImWithHer

#ecofashion

#March4Justice

#BlackLivesMatter

#FreeBritney

These all demonstrate a call to action, engaging citizens and making them more aware of the effects these topics have. Platformization can also be considered a result of the transformation of social networks into social media platforms. Which is relevant to the ways digital citizens engage with content online or offline sparking discussions surrounding these issues.

Bibliography:

Mossberger, 2008, ‘Institution, Policy Innovation, and E-Government in the American states’, Wiley online library, URL: 

Vromen, 2017, 'Intro  Download Intro', 'Digital Citizenship and Political Engagement The Challenge from Online Campaigning and Advocacy Organisations' London : Palgrave Macmillan

Activism is broadly defined as a “process by which groups of people exert pressure on organizations or other institutions to change policies, practices, or conditions the activists find problematic”, and the digitisation of this process refers to digital, or internet activism (cited in Chon and Park 2020, pg. 73).

The proliferation of social media and its accompanying technological developments has fundamentally altered how individuals, groups and institutions advocate for social and political change (cited in Glenn 2015, pg. 81). The introduction of social networking sites, microblogging platforms, and content-sharing services institute for the opportunity of wide-scale online and virtual participation in utilising the platforms as a ‘public sphere’ (Rotman et al. 2011, pg. 819). Habermas "defines the public sphere as a place where 'private people come together as a public' for the purpose of using reason to further critical knowledge which, in turn, leads to political change" (Kruse et al. 2018, pg. 62/63). This technology-mediated exchange affords users with the ability to contribute to, and participate in, the visibility of "national and international priorities such as public health, political unrest, disaster relief and climate change" from their computer and mobile device without even leaving their living room (Rotman et al. 2011, pg, 819).

Figure 1. Marching Women’s March GIF. Source; Rosanne-esme c. 2020.

According to the Office of the NSW eSafety Commissioner, “a good digital citizen is a person with the skills and knowledge to effectively use digital technologies in a positive way to participate in society, communicate with others, and create and consume digital content” (Grant 2020). Recently, politicians have been identifying more as digital citizens, forming an online presence with a community of followers. Voters, also digital citizens themselves, have been using the online world as a space to express their political values and track elections. An example of this is the use of hashtag public #auspol, short for Australian Politics. The third largest trending political Twitter hashtag in 2015, #auspol synchronised all tweets posted by Australians commenting on and critiquing each federal election (Bogle 2016). 

However, a stand out political user of social media and the online world is Jacinda Ardern. The Prime Minister of New Zealand currently has 1 million Instagram followers and over 1 million likes on Facebook. She is using these platforms to spread positive messages, highlight achievements of both herself and fellow New Zealanders, and also to share aspects of her personal life in order to ‘humanize’ herself. At the end of 2019, a video created by Jacinda and her team went viral on social media. The video explains that Jacinda had been challenged by her team to list all her achievements as Prime Minister over the last two years in the span of two minutes. The video went overtime, ending at two minutes and 56 seconds, highlighting the enormous successes of her time in government. The video had 40,000 shares and about 6,600 comments on Facebook as of November 2019 (The Star 2019), and has since been re-posted on several other sites such as YouTube. 

This not only reflects Jacinda’s digital citizenship, creating digital content and communicating with her followers, but it also created a space for followers to respond to the digital community. Most responses were in the form of uplifting, praising comments on the videos, however others were more creative. For example, a man named Peter Rhode took to YouTube to create a parody of Jacinda’s video, titled “Australian PM Scott Morrison's 2-minute video challenge goes viral”. The video sarcastically mocks the current Australian Prime Minister in comparison to Jacinda, and has been viewed almost two thousand times (Rohde 2019).

(Image by @studio.bon on Instagram)

Jacinda has also been praised for her impromptu Facebook live sessions, where she joins followers from her own home to answer questions and settle concerns about COVID-19 (Krishant 2020). Rather than waiting until she can dress up and attend a formal press conference, Jacinda decided to use her digital platform to communicate directly with her followers. She did so in a very casual manner, using a selfie cam in casual clothing with no special lighting or make up. This connects her even further to the online community, reminding them that she is more than just a politician. She is just a participant of society, a mother and a human being with understanding and  empathy for New Zealanders. It also allowed them to connect to her further, with the ability to ask her questions themselves.

Overall, Jacinda is a politician who personifies her media, creating relevant content as a digital citizen and encouraging followers to be digital citizens themselves.

References:

Bogle, A 2016, #auspol: The Twitter tag that Australia can't do without, Mashable, viewed 26th April 2020, https://mashable.com/2016/03/21/twitter-australia-auspol/#4tvfXtsZUEqV

Grant, J 2020, Digital Citizenship - About, NSW Department of Education, viewed 26th April 2020, https://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/about 

Krishant, N 2020, Jacinda Ardern praised after impromptu Facebook Live session on COVID-19 lockdown, FijiVillage, viewed 26th April 2020, https://www.fijivillage.com/news/Jacinda-Ardern-praised-after-impromptu-Facebook-Live-session-on-COVID-19-lockdown-5xf48r/ The Star 2019, Video on govt achievements by New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern goes viral, viewed 26th April 2020, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2019/11/04/video-on-govt-achievements-by-new-zealand039s-jacinda-ardern-goes-viral

This week in Digital Communities, I will be taking you through the use of social media for political engagement and activism!

Activism can be defined as "engaging in direct, vigorous action to support or oppose one side of a controversial issue" (Allen 2017). Examples of activism in recent history are Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo Movement, both major global campaigns that are made up of regular people fighting for what they believe in.

Social media has become a place for people to engage in politics and activism. The use of social media campaigning has become increasingly popular for activists as they see "the importance of personal digital media in creating networks and coordinating action across diverse political identities and organizations" (Bennett 2003, p.144). The use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, allows individual activists  to connect with those that share similar beliefs, creating a "politically engaged generation of activists with a slate of creative tactics at the ready" (Alvarez et al. 2019, p.2).

Many political protests utilise digital communities and platforms to gain a wider audience of activists and supporters. Through platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, hashtags are generated as part of political campaigns to raise awareness and gain support, widening the activists for the movements around the globe. The #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movement both have a huge number of posts on Twitter; the campaigns that utilise Twitter to spread the word about the movements work well as all the page has to do is comment and retweet so their followers can publicly view their activism (Davis 2013, p.21). Where social media is a fantastic platform for political engagement and activism, we can’t forget what we learnt in the lecture this week; "Offline and online action are necessary, but not sufficient for revolution" (Stickels 2020), there needs to be a strong connection between activism seen offline and online in order to make a change.

References:

Allen, M. 2017, The sage encyclopedia of communication research methods, vol. 4, SAGE Publications Inc, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Alvarez N., Lauzon C., Zaiontz K. 2019,  'On Sustainable Tools for Precarious Times: An Introduction,' in Alvarez N., Lauzon C., Zaiontz K. (eds), Sustainable Tools for Precarious Times: Performance Actions in the Americas , Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-23.

Bennett, W. 2003, 'Communicating Global Activism', Information, Communication & Society, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 143-168.

Davis, B. 2013, 'Hashtag Politics: The Polyphonic Revolution of #Twitter,' Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 16-21

The power of the digital citizenship, and by extension the digital community, over the physical world is a topic that sparks particular interest in me. The notion that social media is a tool that continues to demonstrate its ability to challenge the concepts of time, space and place. It would appear that as the capabilities of different platforms increases, so too does their hold over their audience. The question that this raise to me, is with more young people joining social media sites each day, how do we teach them to not only stay away from the bad aspects of social media, but equally as important, how to embrace the good?

A good digital citizen is defined by Office of the eSafety Commissioner, NSW Department of Education as ‘a person with the skills and knowledge to effectively use digital technologies in a positive way to participate in society, communicate with others, and create and consume digital content.’ It would appear that by this definition to be a ‘good’ member of the digital community, your intentions must good too. Meaning that when you engage in social media, there is a what you put in is what you get back out. Those who start arguments will undoubtedly receive their fair share of criticism and the more kindness you share to other people, the more likely someone is to spread some back.

In terms of driving realistic, political change, social media can be an incredible tool for holding our politicians accountable to their policies. And GetUp!’s video describing the change we helped them create to real change through our interaction and support over social medias (GetUp!, 2017). They assure too that the best way the digital citizen can create change is by simply making their voice heard, a task that the digital citizen finds even easier through the use of hashtags, in particular #auspol.

Finally, I’d like to share a quote from Albert Schweitzer I’ve grown quite fond of, which I believe is also a good ethos to live your digital life by, which goes, “happiness is the only thing that doubles when it’s shared.”

“They like to call themselves influencers in terms of business… but they don’t want to accept the responsibility of being an influence” (tiffanyferg, 2018)

 According to the NSW Department of Education, “A good digital citizen is a person with the skills and knowledge to effectively use digital technologies in a positive way to participate in society, communicate with others, and create and consume digital content”. So based on this, is the average ‘influencer’ actually a good digital citizen then? 

 The amount of influencers bucking the historical trend of not discussing any ‘polarising’ issues is increasing daily. Youtuber Arden Rose has been a prominent influencer that has been promoting the slow fashion, more minimalist lifestyle. Since 2018, there has been a considerable shift in her content since late 2018. She was one of the original fashion and beauty bloggers of the early 2010s known for her hauls and makeup videos. Since her video ‘How to NOT Destroy the Planet” (August 2018), she has focused her channel on sustainable fashion hauls, wardrobe decluttering, all going to her Depop page, and lifestyle vlogs. 

(via Arden Rose Youtube)

THE SLOW FASHION MOVEMENT

To understand slow fashion, you first need to understand what fast fashion is. Solene Rauturier defines fast fashion as “cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed” (2018).It’s the clothes that we see on the racks of high profile High st stores such as H&M and Zara. The issues of fast fashion resurfaced once again in 2015 after the documentary ‘The True Cost’ which shows the dark side of fast fashion that the average consumer doesn’t get to see. Slow fashion is apparel that are produced in more ethical ways. An easy way to tell if your clothing is ethically produced is by going through this 4 step process:

Is it child labour free?

Are the materials used less harmful to the environment than what is usually used?

Is the production process completed in an ethical and sustainable manner?

Is there any evidence of long term supply chain relationships in the brand?

If your clothes pass all 4 steps CONGRATULATIONS! You can officially say you have shopped ethically. However, for many of us, myself included, this is hard to achieve. 

THE RISE OF RENTING, THRIFTING, SECOND HAND CLOTHING AND MARIE KONDO

In recent years, we have seen a resurgence in thrifting culture and second hand clothing. Apps and websites such as Depop have surfaced and have allowed the average person to sell their second hand clothes to other people at a fraction of the retail price. Similarly, hundreds of instagram pages and websites have started the idea of clothing rentals which provide consumers with formal wear that they can rent for an event instead of going out buying something that they will probably wear once. 

The Japanese consultant Marie Kondo has also inspired many to ditch the materialistic lifestyle that seems to be the common trend today for a life based off of themes of minimalism. This lifestyle generally means that you are saving money on things that you would be and living on only the things you need.

So, if slow fashion is so much better for the environment and our fellow humans, why aren’t more of us shopping more ethically? This can be placed onto two main issues:

      1. The cost

Naturally, clothes, shoes and accessories that are made with more expensive materials, and actually pay their workers a legal minimum wage, are more expensive. HOWEVER, there is still light at the end of the tunnel! Jessica Davis in 2018 stated that in 2014, the price of organic food was approximately 9% more than what the normal cost of the same product would be but in 2018, this discrepancy had dropped to 7.5%. This can be due to the basic function of any economical market: More demand = more suppliers leading to a more competitive market that can cater for lower costs. Essentially, if more people become interested in slow fashion, more suppliers will start and eventually prices will drop so they become more affordable. 

      2. Instagram

It’s probably a bit harsh to blame an entire multi trillion dollar industry’s downfall on a social media platform but Instagram culture has changed society forever. Instagram has placed a pressure on society that other generations have never experienced. The pressure to look good ALL. THE. TIME. And god forbid if you repeat an outfit. This culture means that many of us justify new purchases because it is a fashion no no to be caught in the same outfit twice. 

We are lucky that in today's digital age, it is a lot easier to shop ethically. Check out thrift and vintage stores, head on Depop and similar marketplaces or go onto the BCorp website to find some new ethical businesses to shop from. We have no excuses for not shopping a little more ethically and baby steps are all that is needed to make a difference. 

REFERENCES

Davis, J 2019, A change in the industry starts at the customer, Harper's Bazaar, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a28609044/sustainable-fashion-expensive-why/>

Office of the eSafety Commissioner, NSW Department of Education,~About Digital Citizenship~, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/about>

Rauturier, S 2018, What is Fast Fashion?, Good on You, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/>

How Social Media is Shaping Our Political Future | Victoria Bonney | TEDxDirigoIf

If you have the time I recommend watching this TEDxTalk with Victoria Bonney ( 8 minutes 22 seconds)

She touches on what I discussed in my last post about the evolving relationship between social media and politics and its impact on democracy, digital citizenship and political participation. Further, my post explores the relationship between how politicians use social media and public opinion.