Should We Fear the Blogosphere?

It’s a Blogs World

I have decided to do my last blog on blogs. Considering we studied blogs 3^rd week and we are now official bloggers, it feels appropriate.

Blogging first started with basic diary entries from Bruce Ableson in 1998. Others then joined and wrote their own journal entries whilst commenting on others journal entries. 5 million people have done this in “Open Diary” to this day. 9 years later David Karp brought us Tumblr.  Users are able to easily upload photos, text, images, video and conversation to the site for short, quick posts or lengthier ones. The site emphasizes its ease of use and encourages sharing by allowing users to "re-blog" posts they loved. With more than 6 million blogs, The New York Times (strangely) called it, "Facebook and Twitter's new rival."(Marcus, S, 2010).

It was surprising to discover that when Technorati, (the blogosphere ranking website), did a survey in 2009, it showed that 67% of bloggers were male. I assumed women would have an equal share, especially for the fact that”one of the most popular categories of blogs is the “mommy blog,” dishing out advice and empathy on raising children” (Cross, M, 2011, pg. 38). I believed this because I have always felt women are better communicators, especially from an emotional and personal stand point.  Technorati has Huffington Post as the most successful blog at number one. The Huffington Post was launched in 2005 as a liberal/left commentary outlet and alternative to news aggregators. The site offers news, blogs, and original content and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy living, women's interests and local news. It has come under some scrutiny over the years for its liberal and anti-republican views. I find it interesting that the website now wants to become an online newspaper. Will this mean it will go full circle and then become a fourth estate?

There are various legal things to consider when starting and writing a blog. Like any form of art or literature, the creator has a personal responsibility and social and legal obligation to act within certain boundaries. Some of the main legal issues are firstly Copyright - if you want to use copyright protected works on your blog, you must obtain the copyright owners permission if you cannot rely on a fair dealing exception. You do not necessarily need a written agreement with every contributor to your blog – verbal permission is fine. Moral Rights - A creator of a work has moral rights which recognise the creator's ongoing connection with the work. Moral rights entitle a creator to the right of attribution (naming), the right against false attribution and the right of integrity against derogatory treatment of the work in a way that prejudices the reputation or honour of the creator. Trade marks - a trade mark is a sign used in business to indicate that goods or services come from a particular trader or service provider. It can be a letter, name, signature, word, numeral, device, brand, heading, label, and aspect of packaging or shape, colour and even a scent or sound. A trade mark can consist of either words or images or a combination of both. There are two types of trademarks: registered trademarks and common law trademarks. Defamation - While you are venting your views on your blog you should consider whether what you are writing is defamatory. Defamation is a communication to at least one person that lowers the reputation of an identifiable third person, where the communicator has no legal defence.

More than 250 years ago a British writer called Henry Fielding introduced the idea of a fourth estate. This was the theory that writers could keep business, government and the social elite accountable for their actions. However the fourth estate has become owned by the social elite that in turn have strong ties to government and business. This is where bloggers and jBloggers can apply a fifth estate though ‘citizen journalism.’ But citizen journalism can share the same bias and hidden agendas that the fourth estate has too.

In Mary Cross’s book, Bloggerati, Twitterati: how blogs and twitter are transforming popular culture, she details how Blogs are more mainstream than any other media format. The new blogs that seem to be creeping up the Technorati charts are ones like TMZ, Gawker and Boing Boing. “The best way to get people to read your blog is to stir up some controversy, drawing in people from all sides of an argument, as Bill Wasik documents in his book, And Then There’s This.” (Cross, M, 2011, pg. 45). To me blogs give the general public a voice again. Our voices have been muffled over the years; even voters are finding it hard to trust their politicians and readers their local newspapers. Andrew Keen comes up with an interesting point when he says” What’s being blurred, he says, is the line “between fact and opinion, informed expertise and amateurish speculation.” Celebrating the amateur over the expert, online discussions are full of misinformation and rumour. Anonymity complicates the picture, and issues of ownership and copyright are rife” (Cross, M, pg. 50).

The technology that makes virtual communities possible has the potential to bring enormous leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost--intellectual leverage, social leverage, commercial leverage, and most important, political leverage. But the technology will not in itself fulfil that potential; this latent technical power must be used intelligently and deliberately by an informed population. More people must learn about that leverage and learn to use it, while we still have the freedom to do so, if it is to live up to its potential. The odds are always good that big power and big money will find a way to control access to virtual communities; big power and big money always found ways to control new communications media when they emerged in the past. The Net is still out of control in fundamental ways, but it might not stay that way for long. What we know and do know is important because it is still possible for people around the world to make sure this new sphere of vital human discourse remains open to the citizens of the planet before the political and economic big boys seize it, censor it, meter it, and sell it back to us.

References

Cross, M. 2011. ‘Got Blog’ in Bloggerati, Twitterati: How Blogs and Twitter are Transforming Popular Culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, EBL eBook Library, viewed in March 2013

Legal Issues for Bloggers, viewed in March 2013, http://www.artslaw.com.au/info-sheets/info-sheet/legal-issues-for-bloggers/

Marcus, S, 2010, A Brief History of 9 Blogging Platforms, viewed in March 2013, http://mashable.com/2010/08/06/history-of-blogs/

The Virtual Community, viewed in March 2013, http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html

Images

1.  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4S6buKKlhfQ/TOwEWQe6UwI/AAAAAAAAAEE/iuiMOhZfJYM/s1600/app_sphere_blogger.png
2. http://www.problogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/huffington-post-blogging.jpg

3. https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT87DYP6XeVGIpyOZa_GIRo-dMQ3lJn18LAVHz9ePRSwvB-WFhU
4. https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRAH2v5xpUmcyDkp39y5EMWzAMECj152SX50U3h7djZpQSrMjgdKw

Chacebook, Chitter, ChouTube and Choogle; China Copy the West to Become the Best.

One must look at China without Western goggles to understand that because it has no Facebook, it doesn’t automatically mean that the country has no social media networks. It, like Syria, Iran and North Korea, doesn’t like to have the West corrupt or alter the minds of its citizens. I think China wants the economic benefits of being global, but wants none of the global culture that could come with it. It does however have a Chinese version of Facebook, which is called Ren Ren. It has a different version of all the social media we have, but its own copycat Chinese version. The Chinese government are smart in that sense. This means they can monitor and manipulate the 2.0 servers and keep its 'Netizen's happy. If the Chinese government did not compromise with its citizens on social media it would prompt revolt, activism and hactivism. Also, despite the censorship that occurs on their social media, there is ways to get around it, slang or memes being one. So there is censorship, but not enough of it too muffle the voices of the masses. Basically China has all the freedoms we have, but the 'Netizens' need to be a lot more covert about what they say and do.

“In addition to having the world’s biggest Internet user base—513 million people, more than double the 245 million users in the United States —China also has the world’s most active environment for social media. More than 300 million people use it, from blogs to social-networking sites to micro blogs and other online communities. That’s roughly equivalent to the combined population of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition, China’s online users spend more than 40 percent of their time online on social media, a figure that continues to rise rapidly”, (McKinsey Quarterly, 2012). The regime, by allowing the Internet to be accessed, has allowed citizens to talk amongst themselves and has probably acknowledged that they cannot successfully monitor and censor 500 million users. China's regime has halted Western influence, but it has an unstoppable force in the ranks; the enlightened intelligence of its youth. China not only has the biggest social media scene in the world, but they also take on board what other Netizens comment on. “An independent survey of moisturiser purchasers, for example, observed that 66 percent of Chinese consumers relied on recommendations from friends and family, compared with 38 percent of their US counterparts” (McKinsey Quarterly, 2012). Therefore Chinese are relying less on the traditional media's opinion whilst paying close attention to opinions of others on social media.

I discovered something very interesting about myself when I started to read about China. My Western head was saying, “oh the poor Chinese, they are being told what to do, what to read and being censored by dictators that want their people kept in the dark.” Then I stood back for a minute or ten and thought,” wait a second, without knowing it I have been subconsciously circumnavigated towards using Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.” The genius of Western society  is that they make it look like we have all these freedoms and choices, yet here we are using one search engine, one social media site, one audio visual site, one phone micro blogging service. So we have freedom, but that freedom is of hegemonic design, not a bourgeois one. Also up until the Internet, I was receiving Rupert  Murdoch’s foot soldiers, (aka, journalists), views of the world. Now I can choose from thousands of journalists, writers and bloggers from around the globe.One interesting and coinciding occurrence is happening in both the East and West, we are all discovering the power of social media with trial and error. For example, Chinese teenagers are discovering themselves through their big social media experiences, something they couldn't do in the past. Australians that had a lot of access to self discovery, seem to be recoiling and relying on these digital realms for escape.

I don’t know if China is leading the way with social media, but they are gaining more benefits from  it than us in the West. Consumers seem to be very proactive on these sites and their local economies are thriving.“The Chinese populace is sceptical of information from news sources and advertising; people rely more on word-of-mouth from friends, family, and key opinion leaders, many of whom share information on social media” (Silverman, Lin, Chui, 2012). When we buy on the Internet, the product could come from anywhere, but Chinese tend to buy Chinese; the reverse dream of Dick Smith. Also, if there is any form of corruption or illicit elitist behaviour the micro blogs can create enough stir that the regime has to listen. While here in Australia I think we use social media for quasi socialising, narcissism and self-serving material gains, I think China use it for resisting repression, discovering an individual self-identity and strengthening the society both economically and spiritually. There will be Government interference naturally, but you cannot stop a flood with bamboo floodgates. Although I believe in total freedom with the Internet and social media, I am not in the position to judge the way China are introducing it's citizens to this new modern phenomenon. Nobody knows the limits and repercussions of social media and it is probably a good thing that different cultures take on different approaches to it. In 5-10 years maybe a combination of the East and the Wests involvement in social media will be the global blue print for all.

                                   More proof of china's social media growth

References

Anti, M 2011, 'Behind the great firewall of China', TedTalks viewed 20 May 2013 http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_anti_behind_the_great_firewall_of_china.html

Chiu, C, Lin, D and Silverman, A 2012, 'China's social-media boom', McKinsey and Company, viewed 20 May 2013, <http://www.mckinseychina.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/McKinsey-Chinas-Social-Media-Boom.pdf

Youtube- How social media is changing China and Asia, 2013, viewed on May 23 May, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG3z2ucaR6A

Images

Image 1. http://africanboots.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/China-painting-over-American-flag-280x242.jpg

Image 2. http://ww1.sinaimg.cn/large/6f449937jw1disvvn6lc3j.jpg 

Image 3. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qnmVs_4fibt7qo2Bs2OjSTbkSvw-hDBswxIuEIElioyVFYOU6GWNuBNU-7VmnHPuYu5eocsKg9410twx8XpLAQI0dbjeeDj2aDC-mvG4-Sj3QYIT2GBTqsYxRG9HCas1SDkrYbkmSjs/s1600/SocialMediaRevolutionChinaSM.jpg 

Video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XudtH27BE-I

Freedom of Speech Without Hate...Please!

Robert F. Kennedy said, "What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

I like living in a country where if I choose, I can look at anything I wish on the Internet. One of the few things I like about the government is that they allow freedom of speech, no matter how futile and deploring you or I may find some of it. If we are spoon fed solely good things on the Internet, then when bad things come in the form of good things, we may automatically accept them. Even though extremist groups have a further reach with Internet, you shouldn't start blacklisting because a few people have questionable motives. If you start censoring and writing censorship laws for extremists, then this could lead to censoring environmentalists or anti-government sites eventually. Also some extremists have the right to be heard. Remember the black revolutionary socialist group the’Black Panthers' Some of what they said was true; aggressive at times, but true.Extremist groups like the Panthers helped to get black Americans civil rights. I think it is a simple formula. If you feel an extremist group incites hate, bigotry or revenge, no matter what its reasons are, it is probably not for you, especially if you have strong moral fibres and were educated on right and wrong. Also it is better to challenge yourself and look at the far left or far right; as well as radicalism, reactionism, fundamentalism factuism fanaticism, to see where you sit on that spectrum. 

                         Hammerskin Nation

There are naturally concerns about vulnerable people getting bamboozled and converted to these extreme ways of thinking. In some cases, especially with uneducated, young and fanatically religious, there is not much one can do to stop this. People have been tempted to do bad things for a long time and always will. Striping down and censoring the Internet could help curb some of this, but so could no violence in films, music lyrics, video games. So could banning alcohol, strict curfews and more police presence. The list goes on. In order to maintain a free society, you have to unfortunately accept some unpleasant circumstances that will arise from this. One aspect that I believe should not be tolerated is when extremist groups use deception to gain support. Such groups capable of this are; Hammerskin Nation, National Alliance, Stormfront, Aryan Nations and World Church of the Creator. Beverley Ray and George E Marsh II’s study on  Recruitment by Extremist Groups on the Internet, shows that groups can exaggerate, embellish and lie under certain societal fabrics. Some use out dated political documents, others  manipulate science and religion, there is false testimonials, propaganda, fear mongering and symbolism as well. So take yourself out of your well educated and well provided for life for a second and transform yourself into a 14 year old, poor white kid from Texas who’s Dad was killed in Iraq. This kid might be searching for a second family and an avenue to vent his frustrations and anger at the world. One of these groups might quench those frustrations. I bring this up because I don’t know any family or friends that have even come in contact with any extremism online. However, America is rife with on line extremism and hate groups. 

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center website there are “currently 1,007 known hate groups operating across the country, including neo-Nazis, Klansmen, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists, border vigilantes and others. Since 2000, the number of hate groups has increased by 67 percent. This surge has been fuelled by anger and fear over the nation’s ailing economy, an influx of non-white immigrants, and the diminishing white majority, as symbolised by the election of the nation’s first African-American president.” It seems that in some countries, inciting enough online hatred can have a domino effect. Especially when it comes to mobilising the masses. So instead of banning websites and censoring, offline legal action can take place. SPLC co-founder and chief trial counsel Morris Dees pioneered the strategy of using the courts to battle organised, violent hate groups. Since then, they have won numerous large damage awards on behalf of victims of hate group violence. These cases are funded entirely by their supporters and they accept no legal fees from their clients they represent. Among the groups shut down by crushing jury verdicts in SPLC cases are the White Aryan Resistance, the United Klan’s of America, the White Patriot Party militia and the Aryan Nations.

Looking at the the extreme right wing Australian First Party's website, it seems like they use scare tactics to hoard in followers. Words like New World Order, Chinese Imperialism, lost Australian identity and traitor classes sponsoring mass immigration, seem passionate, yet extreme. The Australia First Party has been brought into the spotlight for ideologies of violence, racism, and inciting hatred. Fight Dem Back, B'nai B'rith and many other anti-racist groups have accused the Australia First Party of being "racist", "neo Nazi", "extreme right" and of being "far right.” The Party has denied all of these accusations. Party leader Jim Salaem was formerly part of the National Socialist Party of Australia in the early 1970s. The Party are extremists and definitely have the right to be registered and heard. The term extremism is almost invariably used pejoratively, however the term may also sometimes be associated with persons who have different views which are not consistent with the existing norms. It need not necessarily imply that the person is a threat to the society or the government or any other agency. Having a group like this is a positive. It consolidates my own political views, which don’t agree with the AFP’s and we all know competition, good or bad, improves and evolves society. None of us may agree with Hitler, but if there is one thing he has shown us, his way is wrong. You need bad, to learn to be better I think.

As far as a ‘future gaze’ of the online extremism, I believe you can’t eradicate peoples’ right to portray their opinions and ideologies online. I do think that the violent, hate mongering and racist extremists should be held accountable if their online behaviour incites offline harm to civilians.  National Cohesion and Integration Commission's Act defines “hate speech as ‘that which advocates or encourages violent acts against a specific group and creates a climate of hate or prejudice, which may in turn foster the commission of hate crimes”. Some extremist websites do come very close to inciting physical and violent acts, but until you can prove that, freedom of speech will continue. The online laws cannot keep up with the speed of telecommunications, so maybe referendums are in order to analyse and perhaps regulate what is and isn’t tolerable.

Below is one of the most disgraceful organisations I have seen. The Westboro Baptist Church who picket funerals celebrating the deaths of gays and soldiers. This is the name of their website: http://www.godhatesfags.com/


                                                     One of the most famous hate groups in America

References
Ray, B & Marsh, G II, 2001, First Monday, Recruitment by Extremist Groups on the Internet’ http://www.firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/834/743

SPL Center, Hate and Extremism, http://www.splcenter.org/

Australian First Party, 2011, United Patriot Front, http://australiafirstparty.net/australia-first/united-patriotic-front/

Delvaux, L, 2013, Standard Media, Crackdown on Hatemongers online intensifies, http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000076993&story_title=Kenya-Crackdown-on-hate-mongers-online-intensifies

Images

1.  https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQy8LFy62kfacllSW2GgjNWFLGQdt-AL8wtjaO3ThyaZgRK9FxZYA

2.  http://www.hammerskins.net/images/chapters.jpg 

3.  http://images.smh.com.au/2009/07/09/625719/800returnofright.jpg

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjmg69XmJp8 

Reality or Virtuality…Avoiding Life or Embracing Another….Second Life or Second Chance…..Can you have your Cake and Eat it?

As far as I know we have a kind of love hate relationship with life. It has amazing highs, (birthdays, graduation, travelling, children, soul mates, peace), but some confronting lows, (death, failure, work, disease, war, heart break, loneliness). One of  Mother Nature’s gifts to creatures in times of stress or the ‘lows,’ is escapism. Dogs chase a ball, cats lick themselves, monkeys swing and humans seek an alternative mental state. Some do drugs, some sleep for 12 hours, some sex, some TV and some enter a virtual community. To further the pleasure of escaping reality, they can be who they want and do what they want. As I don’t have a ‘second life’, or ‘avatar’, I liken it to a lucid dream where you are half awake and you can control your actions and behaviour. Yes folks, I have slept with Jennifer Lawrence and Olivia Wilde. Those mornings I woke and then immediately tried to sleep again to resume….no go! Well the virtual community members just need to log on and they are back to the dream.

A critical question here is, why dream, when you can make your dreams come true in real life…MOST OF THE TIME! I have no chance with J. Lawrence. Also when does this alternative life go from game to the real world? Sometimes I think people don’t get enough happiness out of this world, and I see little difference from a virtual world, then watching TV. In fact, you are being somewhat social in these online realms, which may be a step up from TV. In saying this, if you are looking for happiness, you probably won’t find it on a screen. Some thinkers believe there is less hierarchy, elitism and judgement in these worlds. Henry Jenkins has often talked about fan culture and says it “offers not so much an escape from reality as an alternative reality whose values may be more humane and democratic than those held by mundane society." He offers a positive portrayal of this platform. Much like Howard Rheingold who “yearns for a world in which people are free as both users and consumers, where there is an "open innovative commons," where people have the ability to create networks as they see fit, and where people have the, "freedom to associate information with places and things." But Rheingold’s visions of utopia tends not to include the dangers of this alternate universe. 

I will not ramble on about addiction to these artificial worlds and the thousands of hours wasted in a fantasy. Or the fact that a person with a lonely or sad life can at least have some alternative in virtuality. But I feel somewhat apprehensive about our lives getting sucked into technology when our real one is in such a mess. Plugging into another world and ignoring or being detached from this one just exacerbates the existing one. I mean this both individually and communally. An introvert with intimacy issues will only avoid and increase those traits when offline. And communally your social skills and awareness of societal issues will be diluted. Philosopher Jean Baullirard in referring to immediacy and transparency, states, “The ironic revenge of the system, he claims, is that through the ability of technology to obtain--and supersede--these goals, we have reached a catastrophic moment in which "speaking" no longer has a place in the world’. he also says he “sees the hyper real world of immediacy as a cold, desolate realm of communication and information.”  Although Baullirard is speculating; I do become fearful of an alternate universe. Already I have been witnessing a scarcer sense of community and feel that people prefer screen to human, rather than human to human. Naturally I do not blame it on games like Second Life, but if these worlds get better, as this world gets worse, (which it is), then we are left with one dying world and one unreal world. It seems like people are picking the best of the worst. 

When does it stop being a game? The difference between a game and a virtual community member in my opinion is virtual communities can affect your real life world. Also games, even interactive ones, are based on quick response and little reflection or rumination. Virtual communities can require tons of emotion, role play and contemplation. Also games like second life can affect you financially and psychologically. Financially, because you can earn and lose money, psychologically, because you can form relationships where players have actually got married literally. Tina Adelcino  talks of "the element of anonymity within virtual worlds that may provide individuals with a safe and private arena to explore their identity. However, anonymity also presents a problem for others who engage in virtual worlds, and that problem is trust and virtual identities can be quickly “self-defined rather than pre-ordained.” 

Although we are few if not many years away from a conjoined life inside a second world, one thing should be contemplated. When the lights go out and the plug is pulled, will we remember how to be around each other, REALLY!!

One of the best South Park episodes on role-playing game World of Warcraft.

References

Nunes, M, 1995, Baudrillard in Hyperspace; Internet, Virtuality and Post-Modernity, http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/baud.cyber.html

Rheingold, H, The Virtual Community, http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/5.html

Wiscombe, S, Critical Commons, The Missing Piece of Rheingold’s Manifesto, http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/Simon/commentaries/the-missing-piece-of-rheingolds-manifesto

Adelcino, T, 2010, Psychology Today, Exploring Identity in the Virtual World-is that really you? http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/curious-media/201004/exploring-identity-in-the-virtual-world-is-really-you

Images 

1.  https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTih8AFmIiu2Ti8i3UWgjXLXQjU6VcgD2ojK7CIx9cC8tbiwOHItA

2. http://buylovely.com/files/funzug/imgs/funnypics/addicted_to_computer_01.jpg

3. http://secondlife.com/whatis/avatar/hero.jpg

Video

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD2RwC4rZkU