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How many people do you know that have an online presence?

Actually, scratch that. It’s probably quicker to ask you to count how many people you know that don’t have an online presence.

The chances are that most of the people you know are online (unless you know an unusually high amount of elderly people).

The truth is, it is becoming quite difficult to live your life without being online. Things like online shopping and online banking are becoming increasingly popular. So popular that it can sometimes be more pleasant to do things over the internet, rather than deal with incompetent staff members in store (who usually refer you online anyway so they don’t have to bother with you). These days, doing your errands online has become so normal that we don’t even think about what we’re doing. We don’t think about how much information about ourselves we leave behind as we frolic around cyberspace looking at all the cool stuff.

This information – all of our information – is Big Data.

Big Data is, in essence, large and complex amounts of information that are difficult to maintain or control (Woodford, 2014).

Big Data, for every industry, is currency (Woodford, 2014).

There are many experts across every industry, who specialise in dealing with Big Data. They collect it and analyse it so that they can use it to influence their target market. It is all compiled into statistics based on demographics to determine what you’re doing and why. They do all this just so that they can make you more inclined to buy their product or service.

However, Big Data doesn’t only come from information imprints you left behind by accident. I can guarantee that a majority of you will provide Big Data willingly on a daily basis. And you probably don’t even know it.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever used a Hashtag (now put it down, you look stupid).

That’s right, the simple Hashtag is key in finding some pretty important information. Those who are interested can find out what people are talking about, what they think of it and why they think that way. All on one quick search. For example, if the marketing team at Channel Seven wanted to find out how My Kitchen Rules was being received by the public, they could just search twitter for #MKR, or even just the ‘keyword’ MKR, and every tweet involving either that Hashtag or keyword would be at their disposal.

The act of collecting Big Data has been known to blur the lines of public and private data. Data such as tweets are on a public forum, and therefore can be considered public data. However, if the person who wrote the tweet didn’t realise that it would be used for Big Data market research, can it also be seen as a breach of privacy? Where do you draw the line between ethical data collection and privacy invasion?

I'll leave you with this question: Is Big Data a big issue or a big breakthrough?

  References

(Image source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/understanding-the-cfaa/#!Ieaz5)

  The internet is made up of a vast array of people all over the world and all the information they upload and share amongst themselves. Because it is so vast, it is difficult to pin down what happened and when, and most importantly, who did it. Creating a false identity online is incredibly easy: with one click of a button you can change your name, age, and even gender. So when it comes to laws and regulations concerning the internet, enforcement success rates often seem bleak.

Another thing is, when it comes to enforcement, who is really in charge anyway? Who has the right to dictate what is acceptable and what isn’t in our virtual communities. The internet today is no longer just academic journals and information sources uploaded by professionals. Technology has advanced and we no longer need a degree in I.T. just to turn a computer on. Technology is now user-friendly and we’re not letting it go to waste. However, with participation rates growing exponentially every day, how do we prevent the abuse of this wonderful tool we’ve been given? There are many people who would chose to exploit the system and commit virtual crimes. A lot of the time, they get away with it too. The internet is ever evolving and the law is struggling to keep up. Many issues tend to slip through the cracks.

Are we able to do anything to prevent this happening in the future? Is that something we have the authority to take on? The answers are still unclear…

Enforcing the law on the internet is even harder when you think about all the different shades of grey when it comes to ‘virtual criminal activity’. Downloading music and movies for free is illegal, and yet I bet most of you do it anyway. I’m sure many of you have ‘justifiable’ reasons too. We’ve all been guilty of downloading something we haven’t paid for. It’s just so easy. And it’s because it’s so easy that we don’t think of it as criminal. It’s not like breaking and entering or violence. Physical crimes like that take effort, and so when we’re just clicking away it computer screens at home, it doesn’t feel wrong at all.

Grey areas get particularly murky when we talk about copyright. In a virtual sharing community, you can make a copy of any type of media and use it in something else. A picture, a song, a video clip, a piece of writing – how do you govern ownership of these kinds of data, when they can be whisked around the world and viewed by millions in a matter of seconds. It can be copied and used by anyone. It can even be changed to make something completely new (Ferguson, 2012).

But is it completely new?

If a person uses someone else’s work in something they made, who owns it? Who has rights to it? Does something automatically become raw data for other people to make new data with? These questions are hard enough to answer when dealing with copyrighted material – cases involving ‘intellectual property’ can get much messier.

So what are we to do if we can’t get our virtual regulations implemented and functioning properly? Do we shut up shop and go back to the dark ages, before little smart screen lit up our lives? That seems a bit extreme to me.

However it is clear that something must be done. The main question is, who is going to do it? The government? Corporate businesses?

Or will it be us?

  References

(Image Source: http://www.jokideo.com/i-worry-that-facebook-is-killing-meaningful-communication/)

  One thing I find very frustrating about having an online presence, is that it can be very difficult to express meaning. By nature, I am a very dramatic person when it comes to expressing myself. I don’t mean that I’m addicted to social drama or that I over exaggerate when I tell stories. I mean that for me to communicate my point effectively, I rely heavily on inflection and body language. I’m also very sarcastic, so I am definitely one of those people who thinks that creating a ‘sarcastic font’ is a great idea.

When we speak to other people, a significant percentage of the message we convey is understood because of the body language and inflection we use alongside our actual word choice. Think about any ‘crossed wires’ you have had recently in a virtual conversation, where the person you were conversing with misinterpreted your message because they had nothing else to go on except your words.

Take, for example, this sentence: ‘I don’t think they can do it.’

Can you tell what message I am trying to convey just from those words alone? Of course not. You need some context.

What if I provided you with some context? ‘They’ are a group of people I know but don’t see very often, and they want to compete in a marathon. Do you understand now?

You will have a vague idea, but you still won’t be able to understand entirely. You can guess, of course, but you won’t know for sure. Is my tone worried that it might not work out, or am I being condescending? Unfortunately, there’s really no way to tell, so when we’re using virtual platforms and we have to rely heavily on written words, what are we supposed to do?

Most of us have taken to using symbols. Adding emoticons to instant messages will help to convey your emotions and they can also make conversations more interesting and fun. Even symbols like the hashtag (#) have become central to the world of virtual communication. Nowadays, the hashtag is a useful little thing. Bruns and Moe (2013) state that they can be used topically and non-topically. Topically, referring to what is actually being said (eg #QUT #Assignments), and Non-Topically, referring to the emotions behind the message (eg #NearlyDone #Yay).

Hashtags are also used to connect similar threads of conversation in a very neat and concise way. The second you add a Hashtag to your Tweet or Facebook status, it is instantly connected with any other online post with the same Hashtag – now how’s that for accessibility?

Communicating with others has come a long way in such a short period of time, so it’s understandable for us to fumble around with different ways to get our message across. The fact that technology is constantly changing means that we keep coming up with new and better ways to do it. We’re leaning as we go, and having a great time in the process.

So, do I get frustrated from time to time? Hell, yeah.

Is it worth it? You’re damn right it is.

#OverAndOut

  References

(Image sourced: http://www.funnyjunk.com/Internet+socializing/funny-pictures/4962602/)

How do you entertain yourself online?

Do you play games? Watch YouTube videos? Chat to people in forums? Write blogs?

Maybe you do all of the above.

As for me, you can usually find me reading. I mostly spend my time reading online fiction, because it’s cheaper than my book obsession (my bookshelf is overflowing anyway, so buying more books is impractical) and there are definitely some impressive up and coming writers strewn throughout the internet, hidden gems in a vast accumulation of poor grammar and badly developed plotlines. Finding them gives you a little rush of giddiness and I am not ashamed of how dorky that makes me sound.

Because now I’m going to talk about fandom communities, and that takes dorky to a whole new level.

Fandom communities are essentially people coming together to share their love for a particular creative media, usually a band, book or TV show. Within these fandoms, people become ‘active’ and ‘participatory’ fans (Jenkins, 1992). Members of these communities will share creative content relating to their fandom, both original content and also content that they have created themselves. They sometimes dress up as characters and go to events like Supanova to meet actors or writers who created the original media and also to meet other members of their community. They also engage in heated and complex discussions with each other, and sometimes even across other fandoms – much like the late night debates between me and two of my closest friends, trying to decide once and for all, which is better: Supernatural or Doctor Who?

Sometimes, the level of commitment a person can have to their fandom community is intense, and to an outsider, a little creepy. A number of people will even say it’s unhealthy to become so attached to something based outside of reality. However, I can safely say that these communities help people. There is a lot that can be said about being a member of a community that you know for sure are as passionate about something as you are. Being a part of something so inclusive allows for people to explore who they are and who they want to be, and it’s available for free at the touch of a button. As Burgess and Green (2009) put it, we have discovered “Interpersonal, playful and identity-forming uses of information communication technologies”.

I interact with a diverse culture of people from around the world daily, and they have helped me to fine-tune my skills as a creative. I also have constant access to mass multimedia content that actively interests me.

I openly admit my obsession with my fandoms. I also confess that when watching my favourite TV shows, I tend to talk to the TV. But no matter what, they make me happy.

So, answer me this; am I a part of something special, or just plain crazy?

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References:

•Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green. 2009. “You Tube and the Mainstream Media.” In YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture edited by Jean Burgess, Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins, 15-37. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.

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                       Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?

You should. You see that little mobile device you have? The one that is almost definitely within reaching distance from you right now? Well, that beautiful piece of technology could very well be the metaphoric binoculars for your virtual stalkers.

I don’t mean actual stalkers, so don’t freak out (although, internet safety guys, it’s important!).

I mean the corporations and businesses alike who operate in many channels all over the internet. They have eyes and ears everywhere, and they’re all interested in you. They want to know what you like, what you’re doing, and what makes you tick. Why? Because you are their target consumer and they want to sell you something. And sometimes, it’s scary how much they know about you…

I’m sure most of you have heard about this by now. I’m also sure that it frustrates a lot of you as well. You may ask “How on earth did they know I like that brand?” The answer is usually through your social media accounts. Sites such as Facebook and YouTube are more than capable of discovering how you use the service they provide, and they then sell this information to advertisers. We the audience, have become a commodity (Sauter, 2014). Advertisers want this information so badly, because it is a direct link into consumer behaviour, and that link is worth its weight in gold in the advertising industry .Our active and willing participation in new media is swiftly becoming a bargaining chip to attract the highest bidder. Are we being exploited? Probably. Is this invading our privacy? Quite possibly. Do we care? The answer to that is more ambiguous…

It is even harder to answer that question when we consider the fact that for some people, this act can simply be called crowd sourcing. It can be seen as a group of people working together on micro tasks to solve a problem (Sauter, 2014). Anyone and everyone can contribute to completing tasks, utilising the collective knowledge of all involved to accomplish goals. Majority of the time, people participate in these tasks for fun. Some people may even be paid for the trouble, depending on what work they’re doing; though it is often not much.

The lines between work and play are being blurred by our constant contact with technology, and the new, innovative ways that businesses are interacting with us as consumers. As we continue to adapt into a sharing cultures, our privacy concepts also begin to change, and so we must ask ourselves;

Are we okay with the way things are progressing?

  References                                                                        

Audiences for media have come a long way over the past decade. We are more empowered to participate in and create new media content and because of the almost constant technological advances in our society, different media are more accessible more readily. The use of smartphones to access social media alone almost doubled over the 2 year period between 2011 and 2013, rising from 34% to 67%.

We also have greater control over what media they do access. We have seen an increase in personalisation of media content, whereby audiences pick and choose which media to which they wish to be exposed. The ability to do this has allowed us to fragment into more niche communities where they can indulge in media content that actively interests them.

The audience now has more control over where, when and how to use media, and also what content should be spread and to whom. The collective choices audiences make in spreading media determines exactly what is considered valuable and meaningful on a larger scale.

Audiences are starting to play new roles in the production of media content, in the way that we are starting to generate more of it. This has led to the development of the word ‘produser’ in which one is simultaneously a user and producer of media. Produsers can be found on many social media sites, using said sites to distribute their own content. Many people have their own blogs, channels and pages on different sharing media sites, and for some people, it can become their main source of income.

People interpret and modify media the way they see fit and then they pass it on again, where it begins to take on a new meaning. We as an audience are creating our own new media formats as we continue to experiment with technological convergence. We are establishing new interactive networks as we go, and as outlined by Green and Jenkins (2011) we are creating social connections and influencing our understanding of ourselves and of our relationships with others. This is achieved through the act of sharing context. Sharing provides us with many opportunities to explore context in ways we may not have thought of on our own.

But how many of us actually take advantage of these opportunities? Who creates content and who just spectates? We have all been provided with voices of our own; is it possible that now there are too many voices speaking at once? Rosen (2006) asks us “If all would speak, who shall be left to listen?”

One thing we can say for certain is that the people who wish to profit from these sharing communities must do so responsibly. According to Lessig (2008), we have created hybrid economies, made up of a merge between the sharing economy (those whose main objective is to share) and the commercial economy (those whose main objective is to secure profits). Two examples are Facebook and YouTube. The maintained balance between these two economies is the sole reason the hybrid economy functions so well. If any profits are to be generated, the sharing economy must be there of their own free will, and they must be kept happy. If this is maintained, then there is potential for profits to rise exponentially.

  References

Green, Joshua and Henry Jenkins. 2011. “Spreadable Media. How Audiences Create Value and Meaning in a Networked Economy.” In The Handbook of Media Audiences edited by Virginia Nightingale, 109-127. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Lessig, Lawrence. 2008. “Chapter 7: Hybrid Economies” In Remix: Making Art and Culture Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, 177-224. New York, NY: Penguin