Social Success..

Digital activism is becoming more and more common in modern day society. Organisations and activist groups understand the mass audience’s digital media consume and are using this in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns around the world. At some point most of us would have been subjected to digital activism or eCulture jamming. Everyday facebook, Twitter and several forms of social media are advertising and making us aware of several worldwide campaigns. A few that you may be aware of that I have involved myself in are World Visions 40 hour famine and Kony 2012.

Being one of the 947,000 people like on a Facebook page regarding Kony I became so caught up in his story and his life I wanted to get involved in KONY 2012. Jason Russel was the film maker behind the viral film and after going to government agencies and letters to the president no help was provided in an attempt to find and arrest Joeseph Kony. Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Africa which for 26 years has been killing, maiming, raping and looting and unfortunately mostly children known as child soldiers “ It is estimated that over 25,000 children have been abducted by the LRA in Uganda alone since 1987” (Unknown, 2012). The power of digital activism was shown instantly with the "Kony 2012" video brought 800,000 people to the donation page in a single day" (Baker, 2012). The film/campaign goes for 30 min and I encourage you all to watch http://vimeo.com/37119711 .The day itself unfortunately wasn’t successful as many didn’t appear on the day but that just goes to prove how digital activism is a powerful form of awareness. On 12^th May 2012 Joesph Kony was captured and taken into custody.

An interesting way to see how the public respond to certain issues is cultural jamming. It is the process of taking a known image and manipulating it with critical content. Mostly activists that part take in the jamming I believe are very artistic and strong willed and devoted. I see them as very brave individuals stepping up against mass organisations in order to get there opinion herd, regardless of the consequences. I think they should be perceived as strong minded individuals trying to have their voices heard. Mark Dery is the person behind the ‘cultural jamming’ propaganda and presents cultural jamming in a fine light. He himself could be seen as a ‘cultural jammer’ and through his blogs expresses his concerns. This can be seen at http://markdery.com/

I see social media to be a mass contribution to digital activism in the future. Modern day campaigns are becoming more and more significant through the use of social media and this will only continue to grow due to the mass audiences social media consumes

“Right now there are more people on Facebook then in the world 200 years ago” (INVISIBLE CHILDREN 2012).  Social media is the key to letting these activist groups have their voices heard.

REFERENCES

Baker, P, 2012, “How and why did KONY 2012 go viral Overnight?’, TECHNEWSWORLD, 4^th Novembr 2012, http://www.technewsworld.com/story/74835.html

INVISIBLE CHILDREN, 2012, “KONY 2012”, 11^th March 2012, viewed 11^th December 2012, http://vimeo.com/37119711

Unknown, 2012, “Child Soldiers”, UNICEF, 8^th March 2012, http://www.unicef.org.au/Discover/News/March-2012/Child-Soldiers-in-Uganda.aspx?gclid=CO_L1d6pkbQCFQZcpQodykAATg

http://markdery.com/

Mobile Madness!!

Now this would be a topic mum would be proud of haha. Being a 19 year old girl, mum is constantly reminding me of the dangers of being ‘glued’ to my phone and constantly complains I give my phone and laptop more attention than I do her. Yes mum I admit it, I have a problem.  I have been sucked up into the world of cyber space and cannot get enough. Having a smart phone make it so easy for me. Whether I’m waiting at the doctors or sitting on a train I can always stay connected. Pretty much if I can have my smart phone without getting caught or in trouble for it, you will no doubt find it in my hand.

Although it’s very rewarding knowing that you can communicate with friends 24/7 there are social costs of being switched on 24/7. A major concern I believe is Privacy. Although it seems silly to say and most people would argue just to not answer or reply advancing technology is making this harder to be done without conflict. If I am out to dinner with friends or the timing is not ideal to reply to a text I usually leave it till an appropriate time and use the little white lie of ‘ I just got your text now’. Unfortunately I can’t even use this anymore as iphones now notify you as soon as your message has been opened by the receiver. The second major cost of being switched on 24/7 is its distraction. It is extremely addictive and distracting and is hard to know when to disconnect yourself and focus on the more important things in life.

I don’t know if it has anything to do with the fact with my age or the generation I’ve grown up in but I would find it extremely difficult to go a week without my phone. Mum and Dad thought it would be entertaining to steal my phone for a day and I didn’t find it quite as humorous. I felt completely lost without it and very paranoid, What if I get lost and can’t call anyone? What if someone’s trying to contact met? I felt extremely disconnected from the entire world.

Mobile phones closely relate to the theories regarding Cyborgs. It’s true; a mobile device is something we have added to our lives in order to fit into our environment. Due to our interaction with computers and mobile devices we are all in fact Cyborgs. A piece of footage I found very interesting was “Amber Case- We are all Cyborgs now” and recommend you all to take a look “http://www.ted.com/talks/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now.html”. I believe mobile devices will just continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. We are all spending more and more time on our phones as they are enabling us to complete more and more tasks. In future I believe phones may be more voice recognised and image quality will increase. The rest, we will let time tell that one.

REFERENCES

Geser, H, 2006, “Is the Cell Phone Undermining the Social Order?: Understanding Mobile Technology from a Sociological Perspective”, University Of St Galen, EBL EBook Library, viewed 29^th November 2012

Gluesing, J, 2009, “Mobile Work, Mobile Lives ‘Identity in a virtual world: The coevolution of technology, work and lifestyle”, Wiley-Blackwell, EBL EBook Library, viewed 28^th November 2012

TED2012, “Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?”, April 2012, viewed 28^th November 2012, <http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html>.

TEDWoman, “Amber Case: We are all Cyborgs now”, January 2011, viewed 29^th November 2012, < http://www.ted.com/talks/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now.html>.

Blogging Future Bright...

So the time has come. After having hours of my day consumed by social media I am officially writing my first blog.

Looking through other’s blog’s I find it exciting to be able to openly express my views to the world and having everyday people respond.  The ‘blogging’ nature fits in closely with Rheingold’s vision of a virtual community, a social aggregation that emerges from the internet when enough people emerge and get involved. It’s all about forming personal relationships with other individuals in the wide world of cyberspace.

Blogging has become more and more popular and I believe will just continue to grow. People like to know what is going on, when, where and how other people feel about the situation or topic and that is why blogging has gone so viral. I see a bright future for blogs and bloggers although do see a big corporate influence as advertising is everything and the popularity of blogs will have corporate advertisers going crazy. Either way, corporately influenced or not blogging is a craze that will continue to grow. It’s the addiction of being connected, updated, being apart of something, having a voice and being heard.