sticks and stones may break my bones...the dark side of social media

source : www.et.byu.edu

 

Cyber Bully : the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. 

Definition British and World Dictionary

What was once out in the open is now behind closed doors, as we advance in our societies with new technologies and new ways of staying at arms length away from everyone around us – we are becoming more accessible to one another. Even though the door is closed, communication and accessibility carries on weather we like it or not.

Cyber bullying and traditional bullying essentially have the same intention and outcome.. 

Although, one is face to face and the other is behind a screen.                           The key word here is anonymity. Cyber bullying allows the bully to feel safe while ultimately their victim is led to feel the opposite.

It’s also often that children being cyber bullied are not telling anyone let alone their parents and one of the main reasons for this is the fear of having their technology taken away from them or not being able to do anything to stop the bullying. Mishna 2009. 

But is there an actual difference between traditional and cyber bullying apart from the way it is executed?

Studies have actually shown that yes there is and the outcomes of cyber bullying v’s traditional bullying are particularly more intense and negative for the victims.

According to Bonanno 2013, cyber bullying makes it easier for the bully yet more challenging for the victim, anonymity as opposed to traditional face to face makes the bully less aware of their impact on the victim.

The fact also that it is happening in homes, which is supposedly in the victim’s safety, there is nowhere to hide and the potential audience is infinite. 

read - what does it mean to be a cyber bully..

Can it be stopped or changed ?  

New laws, policing, more educating, zero tolerance.. There are many schemes out there educating children, schools and parents & good nature and morals can be taught but when there is an absence of this people should be held accountable for their actions through laws.

Can the laws of defamation and intentional infliction be used against cyber bullies.. ? 

This interesting article discusses the case of a 14-year-old girl in Atlanta, America suing her classmates for defamation on Facebook.

More information on Australia’s rights on cyberbullying here..

Thank you for your patience to those who have read through my blogs it’s been a blast !

Signing off Daniela  : )

References and Further Reading:

• Bonanno, R, & Hymel, S 2013, 'Cyber Bullying and Internalizing Difficulties: Above and beyond the Impact of Traditional Forms of Bullying', Journal Of Youth And Adolescence, 42, 5, pp. 685-697, ERIC, EBSCOhost, viewed 4 February 2014.
• Cyber Smart,http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/
• Gerstenfeld, P, Grant, D, & Chau-Pu, C 2003, 'Hate Online: A Content Analysis of Extremist Internet Sites', Analyses Of Social Issues & Public Policy, 3, 1, pp. 29-44, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 February 2014
• Mishna,F,Saini, M,Solomon, S, 2009, Ongoing and Online: Children and youths perceptions of cyber bullying, Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier.com.

produser + user = produsage..

source: wordpress.com

Produsage describes being both the user and producer of information in the online world. I would say we are all producers in one way or another weather it be through blogging, face book and you tube at some stage in our life.  Wikipedia is a prime example of this. The user is able to become the producer and can change the content weather its correct or not.

source: wikipedia.org

Online tutorials are a big one for me, the amount of times I’ve spent seeking to learn a ‘how to’ and have simply found one via You Tube, this ultimately makes me a consumer of produsage.

However I am yet to load a ‘how to’ my self but I am sure in due time I will. 

source : www.squidoo.com

Bruns 2007 describes produsage as  “The collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement”

Further discussion on produsage and other theories are discussed during an interesting part 1 and part 2 interview between Henry Jenkins and Axel Bruns in 2008. 

4 key principles to produsage include. 

1. Open Participation, communal evaluation.

The community as a whole if large and varied can contribute more than a closed team of producers.

2. Fluid Heterarchy, Ad Hoc Meritocracy

Producers participate as is appropriate to their personal skills, interests and knowledge’s, which changes as the produsage project proceeds.

3. Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process

Content artefacts in produsage projects are continually under development which means they are always unfinished.

4. Common Property, individual rewards

contributors permit community use of their intellectual property, and are rewarded by the status capital

See the full presentation here.

Jenkins view of participatory culture relates hand in hand with produsage. Jenkin’s idea of participatory culture is that citizens and public should not only be consumers but to also produce and contribute also. People are clearly contributing and collaborating through social media and the online world and these contributions are coming from everyday citizens.  

source: www.geekculture.com

Slashdot which was created in 1997 is another example of produsage where users are able to submit and evaluate news stories mainly on subjects related to science and technology, they are a dedicated community based on citizen journalism.   The difference between Wikipedia and Slashdot  is that there is a peer to peer to review system on Slashdot where other users are able to rate the creditability of the content and you are able to see some of the profile of the member that has contributed.

I will leave you with an early example of produsage. 

Weird Al Yankovic famous parody “eat it’ video clip back in 1984 – mashing up Michael Jacksons ‘Beat It’ 

See you next time for my final blog on

 ‘the dark side of social media’ 

Daniela 

Referencing & Further Reading 

• Bruns, A 2007, Produsage: Towards a broader framework for user-led content creation, Proceedings Creativity and Cognition 6, Washington, DC.
• Bruns, A 2010, Exploring the Pro Am Interface between production and produsage. Queensland University of Technology. http://www.slideshare.net/Snurb/exploring-the-proam-interface-between-production-and-produsage
• Jenkins, H 2008, From Production to Produsage: Interview with Axel Bruns (Part One) http://henryjenkins.org/2008/05/interview_with_axel_bruns.html
• Jenkins, H 2008, From Production to Produsage: Interview with Axel Bruns (Part Two) http://henryjenkins.org/2008/05/from_production_to_produsage_i.html
• Slashdot:http://slashdot.org/
• Snurb,2007, Produsage Key Principles. http://produsage.org/node/11

a second life... your way !

I decided to create an avatar to see what all the fuss was about using Voki, but for technical reasons could not make it appear on my blog, however clicking on My Avatar  will open it in another window !

In case you were wondering I don’t actually sport whiskers and cat ears in real life, I got a little carried away with the abundance of avatar options there were..

Sim-Ulacra to me is when something is created in a ‘fake’ world to represent something in the real world. I use the word ‘fake’ as I am convinced it is just that.. It is not the real thing.

Salvador Dali Painting - THE TRANSPARENT SIMULACRUM OF THE FEIGNED IMAGE  1983. www.artwallpapers.org

Jean Baudrillard describes it more succinctly  “Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality. A hyper real, It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real"

litteramedia.wordpress.com

However bizarre as the concept of Second Life seems to me, I picked apart what I saw were positives and advantages to what this concept can do especially when it comes to collaboration and learning. One thing, which I thought was advantageous, was learning a new language; on Simple Life you can learn and practice that language with other like-minded avatars while also travelling to that country within the game.

                       This is particularly good if you don’t know anyone that speaks Portuguese and you don’t momentarily have the money to travel to Brazil but are saving for a dream holiday in a few years time.. 

The use of avatars can also assist in education of all sorts; this article discusses 10 ways to use an avatar in education. I particularly like the idea of bringing historical figures back to teach their own theories i.e. Albert Einstein. 

Not only educational advantages but for entertainment purposes holograms are being created on stage during concerts and festivals around the world bringing back singers & entertainers of the past and future to perform side by side and entertain crowds.

The holograms shown in this clip are pretty amazing..

I stumbled across this post on face book which I though was quite fitting for this topic.. Hyper reality in advertising and marketing... brilliant ! Well yes it may mess with your mind but its resulted in an emotion and this is key in my area of study.

What the people being interviewed see is what they think is a simulation of real life.. (or not so real life - hyper reality)

Back to reality for me... for now

Daniela

Further reading and references.

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1994

Digital Learning Environments, Tools and Technologies for Effective Classrooms.   

http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/teaching_learning/10_ways_use_avatars_education.

Meadows,Mark Stephens. I, Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a second life. New Riders, December 2007.   

Wiki Leaked it...

source : forum.warthunder.com

   Julian Assange & what has become of WikiLeaks fascinate me.          I personally see him as a hactivist, someone who has used his cleverness to unveil political secrets that are wrong and unjust. Sure he has also committed an unjust action of snooping where he shouldn’t be but which action is worse, his hacking or what’s being uncovered..?

Julian Assange ultimately just wants to create a sense of transparency and he is using WikiLeaks to do this. The WikiLeaks website quotes :

“We believe that it is not only the people of one country that keep their own government honest, but also the people of other countries who are watching that government through the media” 

                       WikiLeaks Website

 As discussed in the article by Bertot.2010.

The combination of e-government, social media, Web-enabled

technologies, mobile technologies, transparency policy initiatives, and

citizen desire for open and transparent government are fomenting

a new age of opportunity that has the potential to create open, transparent,

efficient, effective, and user-centered information and communication technology-enabled services.

Transparency is the key word here.

source : venezuelanalysis.com

Social media is allowing the public to break down the barriers and play a major role in reducing government corruption.  The WikiLeaks website allows you ‘the source’ to anonymously send information via a discreet electronic drop box. This information is then assessed by the WikiLeaks journalists and re-written & published on the website for all to see.

source: crankpunk.com

Jenkins view of participatory culture relates greatly with WikiLeaks. Jenkin’s idea of participatory culture is that citizens and public should not only be consumers but to also produce and contribute also. Citizens are clearly contributing to WikiLeaks and these contributions are coming from anonymous people weather internal or public.  

Obviously the other side of this is seeing Julian Assange as a wanted man, and with numerous hackers trying to bring down the WikiLeaks organisation. He has been compared to a terrorist for his actions and was wanted killed by government organisations and charged for espionage. Although this is still being fought in a legal battle.

I would imagine the future of WikiLeaks to continue to grow stronger with more anonymous contributions and more scandals being uncovered. However from this strength the political landscape may become even less transparent due to fear of just how many people could potentially access information through WikiLeaks and social media especially if gone viral.  

I will leave you with an interesting you tube video I stumbled across which shows Assange opening singers M.I.A.’s New York Concert in November 2013. He was skyping live from hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy and speaking to hundreds of MIA’s fans.

Now that’s a way to get your voice heard !

            Julian Assange opening M.I.A's New York City Concert

Daniela Gibbons 

References & Further Reading 

• Bekri D et all, Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption 2011, London School of Economics and Political Science, prepared for Transparency International. 
• 
  
• Bertot C John, Jaeger T Paul, Grimes M Justin, Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies, Government Information Quarterly, Volume 27, Issue 3, July 2010, Pages 264-271, ISSN 0740-624X.  

• Jenkins, H 2013, What Do We Know About Participatory Cultures: An Interview with Aaron Delwiche and Jennifer Jacobs Henderson (Part Two), Confessions of an Aka-Fan, viewed 6 January 2014.