Riding the Wave....

Yes unfortunately our unit may be coming to an end, although, this is defiantly not the case for technology. Its power and abilities in today’s society is nothing less than incredible and the thought of it continuing to increase over time is a somewhat scary concept.

Unman aircraft's in the air force are becoming increasingly popular, Yes who would have thought a pilot can fly his plane from a desk 75,000 km away from his aircraft. Technology has made this possible, along with Bionic hands, digital photo frames and a lot more. With skin put technologies making it possible to use skin as a form to hold information I guess we don’t need to worry about forgetting the iPad .. Oh and the common mum rule of no balls in the house has been abolished with the ability to play tennis in your own home without even needing a racket, just a remote.

Reading and Understanding social media can be greater understood by looking into theories. Whether it be Rheingold’s view of a ‘virtual community’ Jenkins’ views of participatory culture these theories are ways of understanding and explaining the concepts of technology and the online world.

Social media has a major impact on society and communication. Friends no longer hug, kiss each other hello hear each other’s laugh or wipe each other’s tears, friends can be derived from a simple click of a friend request. People can have thousands of friends they have never even met? Are these really friends? Is social media promoting the production of friends in our virtual world leaving us with few in the real one? Yes social media is a way of keeping people connected but the physical connection is lost and I see this as an important aspect to any relationship with another being. Social media is also a major distraction from the real world. People get so caught up in their virtual world they forget about the real one, the real relationships, the real activity, there real lives! After watching an excellent Prezi '712:Digital Media Group Project' created by Virtual Experience it stated that 75% of people who undertook a quiz preferred the real world (Virtual Experience,2011). Do the other 25% prefer the virtual experience or is it this just the start in humanity preferring the virtual world to the real one?

The thought of the future of social media to be totally honest scares me. The past 10 years has already seen a massive change in society with the increase of social media and the possibilities are endless. Social media is forever increasing and will continue to do so. Advertising will become more common as it’s a way of making money and that’s what the worlds about New virtual worlds will be introduced and one day majority will most likely prefer these virtual worlds and the world will live in virtual worlds. The ability to hold multiple identities and knowing you can steal, cheat, kill, lie etc. with no serious consequences for your actions knowing it can all be switched off with the flick of a button is why these worlds are so captivating and appealing to the human being.

http://www.agent-seo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/social-evolution.jpg

I definitely think we are at the beginning of entering the third wave of social media. Social media has now become a dominant part of our everyday lives and it’s now beginning to be difficult to reject cyber culture. Whether it be shopping, banking or communicating we live in a society where almost everything can be done online. Not only can it be done online something’s are now required to be completed online. Most recent example of this was when looking for a new part time job, 70% of modern stores will not accept resumes over the counter you now need to ‘apply online’.

Nothing we do can change the rapid growth of technology and it’s just fate and the modern world taking its cause. Time is inevitable, things change, we grow and different eras are introduced. Social media and technology is a wave in the pool of life, whether the second of third wave, we just have to ride it.

REFERENCE 

Virtual Experience, 2011,’ 712: Digital Media Group Project’, Prezi, viewed 12^th February 2013, http://prezi.com/w1ffotfhpgwe/712-digital-media-group-project

Power Of Produser's...

Hi,

My names Luzinda and Im a produser.

No it’s not a transcript of an AA meeting but it is just as addictive.

Don’t believe me?? Ask the hundreds of millions of YouTube users throughout the world.

Being able to produce as well as consume I believe is an amazing thing. The way social media has formed especially over the past 10 years has left us in a world of ability. We can edit wikis, express our feelings through blogs or create YouTube videos to get our voices heard. Having the ability to express something to such a wide audience throughout the world is an addictive activity. You want to get a reaction, you want to see if people are interested and their views on what you have to say. Years ago you could speak to family and friends about a topic, now you can speak to the world.

I access content that has been created through produsage on a daily basis. If I ever get bored I jump straight onto YouTube and find hours of entertainment from thousands of produsers. Along with these hundreds of thousands of produsers comes ethics of copyright and law infringements. YouTube claim to take copyright very seriously and have introduced ground breaking technology called ContentID which helps uses find their content on YouTube and have the ability to block it, leave it up or make money from it “Content ID scans over 100 years of video every day and is used by over 1000 partners, including every major US network broadcaster, movie studio, and record label.” (Frequently Asked Questions). 

Podusage fits in perfectly and is a major example of Jenkins’ views of participatory culture. People are acting not only as consumer, but produsers also. It is though recent technology advancements that has given ability for Participatory culture to enhance rapidly.  From ‘Charlie Bit Me’ to the discovery of ‘Justin Beiber’ YouTube has given the ability for superstars to be found and acknowledged (Not_It, 2012). That and a whole lot of Bieber Fever. Audience attention and numbers are a very important part of produsage “contributions may be major or minor, substantial or insubstantial, take the form of useful content or the form of social engagement in or administrative services to the community, but they are nonetheless all valuable to the overall project. (Snurb, 2007)”

Produsage has exploded, especially in the last ten years. It is so popular because voices are being heard and people are free to express their ideas, talent and abilities to the world. It will continue to grow in the future I am sure of it. Not only because of the audience numbers it has attracted, but the power of some of these viewers. Through more hits comes more views, through ore views increases interest, through interest attracts media and through media anything is possible.

References

Not_It, 2012, ‘Five People who got Famous because of YouTube’, ItThing, viewed 29^th January 2013, http://itthing.com/5-people-who-got-famous-because-of-youtube

Frequently Asked Questions, YouTube, viewed 29^th January 2013, http://www.youtube.com/t/faq

Snurb, 2007, ‘Open Participation, Communal Evaluation’, Producage.org, viewed 29^th January 2012, http://produsage.org/node/11

WikiLeaks Exposed!

Oh the wonderful wide world of WikiLeaks. It is ‘Gossip Girl’ gone viral. Instead of exposing secrets regarding the Upper East Side, Julian Assange is exposing the secrets of the world. Assange is an Australian journalist who created the WikiLeaks phenomenon posting undisclosed information gained from anonymous sources and whistleblowers from around the globe “Seemingly out of nowhere, Julian Paul Assange, a silver-haired Australian, has emerged as the world's most important newsman”(Wachter, 2010).He is the voice of those who fear to speak.

I see Julian Assange as a hacktivist. He hacks into computers for a politically motivated purpose, to unravel the secrets of our most powerful world leaders and organisations. He and his team go above and beyond in the efforts to ensure the world knows the truth about what is going on. I personally think he is an iconic person in today’s society and although I believe and understand how his efforts can be dangerous at times, I know he has good intentions. His posts cause a lot of controversy and his punishment is costly but this is a man who has dedicated his life to making sure the truth is exposed and the feared voices can be anonymously heard. It is a dangerous dedication and something Assange is well aware of “He fears that he will eventually be sent to the United States and perhaps even killed for his role in exposing sensitive US material through WikiLeaks” ( RT, 2012). People would beg to differ with my interpretation many seeing Assange as no more than a terrorist sex offender example being hactivists who recently tried to take over his site “Assange is the head of a new breed of terrorist. We are doing this as a protest against his attempt to escape justice into Ecuador. This would be a catalyst for many more like him to rise up in his place. We will not stop and they will not stop us,” DietPepsi writes.” ( RT, 2012).  

Social media plays a massive role in disseminating information. Wikileaks have access to both Twitter and Facebook currently having 1,783,259 (Twitter) Twitter followers and 2,167,529 (Facebook) likes on Facebook, ensuring the world stay connected and up to date with the latest scandals. By posting leaks on government corruption social media enable on to share or repost this information and it has the ability to go viral. Once viral it is a well known scandal and that’s when the media jump in. When the media jump in it is all over our TV screens and newspapers and the major publicity and uproar begins.

WikiLeaks strongly relates with Jenkins’ views of participatory culture. The public aren’t just acting as consumers to the site, they are contributors also. Most of Assange’s leaks come from anonymous sources from the public and news rooms. His exposing what others are too scared to expose. An activist to justice and honestly throughout the world.

I believe WikiLeaks will just continue to grow and grow. Although recent hactivists attempts to shut it down, with or without Assange’s freedom, his loyal staff members and mass public donations will enable it to continue. Everybody loves a scandal, but nobody ever likes the whisperer. To go against a world and the most powerful people in it is nothing less than inspiring.

References

Facebook, ‘Wikileaks’, Facebook, viewed 11^th January 2013, http://www.facebook.com/wikileaks?fref=ts

Twitter, ‘Wikileaks’, Twitter, viewed 11^th January 2013, https://twitter.com/wikileaks 

Unknown, ‘WikiLeaks Shut down by American Hackers’,RT.com, 9^Th August 2012, viewed 11^th January 2013, http://rt.com/usa/news/wikileaks-attacks-antileaks-group-293/

Wachter, P, 2010, ‘Just Who Is Julian Assange, The man Behind WikiLeaks?’, Aolnews., viewed 17^th January 2013, http://www.aolnews.com/2010/07/26/just-who-is-julian-assange-the-man-behind-wikileaks/

Posting on Politics!

It is fair to say everybody is now coming to terms and adapting to the positive effects of Social Media, even our politicians. Being a 19 year old girl I had never really shown an interest in politics. It was one of those things that I wasn't concerned or interested about until it was thrown in my face and that’s what social media is doing to my generation and the world of politics. It’s bringing a connection, a modern day technique to maintain public interest and attract votes of the younger generation.

To perform and be able to maintain the vote Politicians need to show an interest in what we are interested in. Connect with us through social media and arise with issues that concern our generation. I don’t believe politicians need to look good via YouTube to succeed although knowing that a candidate can relate to us through the use of social media such as blogs, Twitter and YouTube videos it instantly demands public attention and credit. Political campaigns of the past have been proven successful in gaining audience attention and in future will continue to do so  “Fully 73% of adult internet users (representing 54% of all US adults) went online to get news or information about the 2010 midterm elections, or to get involved in the campaign in one way or another” (Smith, 2011).

The boring dull political campaigns of the 20^th century have been updated by modern day graphics and technologies. I do believe that there is an increasing need for parties to provide entertainment as well as credibility and this could be daunting for older candidates although at the end of the day an entertaining piece of work will gain more public interest and attention. The most ideal provisional factor social media brought to the Political world was giving candidates control on the content that is being delivered to the public and can be viewed in a way that they want to be viewed. The video ‘Social Networking is Revolutionizing Politics’ by ABC News imparticular outlines the mass effect Social Media is having on Politics and I encourage you all to take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DtTTB-Njgk.

Rheingold’s view on a virtual community has been obtained by the use of social media via political parties throughout the world. Starting off in the States, using social media to try and attract public attention is known to be a very successful technique and has been adopted by the rest of the world. Jenkins views of participatory culture also relate highly with political social media as we, the public, are not just consumers but producers and contributors also. Not only because we have the ability to vote but it is through views, hits, likes that these political campaigns gain interest and attract attention.

The future of politics and social media will continue to boom. Now they know how much attention social media can gain politicians will continue to use this to their advantage. Whether Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter or some completely new media forum I believe they will stay up to date and connected in an attempt to maintain votes and stay recognized.

REFERENCES

ABCNews, “Social Networking is Revolutionizing Politics”, July 22^nd 2010, viewed 7^th January 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DtTTB-Njgk

Smith, A, 2011, “The Internet and Campaign 2010”, Phew Internet, viewed 7^th January 2013, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/The-Internet-and-Campaign-2010.aspx

Young, S, 2010, “How Australia Decides”, EBL, viewed 9^th Jan 2012, http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/(S(4i5y0jqjuilfe2mznp5pucco))/Reader.aspx?p=647454&o=132&u=sqhA8fZJtjoZH3sMc7Qg%2bA%3d%3d&t=1357533305&h=4F9939409075DC63108a5F50C6BE75F89A663CC2D&s=7362851&ut=405&pg=225&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

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/