PRESENTATION - Online Communities - Myspace and Teenagers

The article that I am focusing on is the third article of the week by Danah Boyd, called "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life."

"If you're not on Myspace, you don't exist." This is the opening quote to Danah Boyd's article about online communities, and the role they play in the lives of teenagers. Being a teenager myself in today's society, I somewhat agree with this quote. However being the (mature) person that I am now, I have advanced from my teen days of Myspace and now spend my days checking up on my Facebook profile. However, no matter which online community one belongs to, it is no doubt that these sites play a huge part in the majority of people's lives.

I found that Danah Boyd's article focused more on the logistics of Myspace rather than the issues surrounding it. So I ask the question, why do we join these sites? Why do we post photos, comments and information about ourselves that anyone around the world can see? Is it to do with inclusion, or to do with expressionism?

In Boyd's article, she claims that an online profile can be seen as a form of 'digital body', where individuals can write themselves into being. People can post altered photos, give false information and say anything about themselves they want. This differs to the offline society. In the offline society people are less inclined to find out information about others. No one would come up to you and ask for your date of birth, relationship status or to look at photos of you. However, online one can look at anyones profile, and find out who they are online, rather than offline, a whole lot easier.

I find that on online communities, it is also alot easier to showcase more information of yourself. As the article focuses on teenagers, it says that most of them join Myspace because everyone is on it and to be 'cool'. In the offline reality, one doesn't showcase openly to the public what famous people they are friends with, or what they have done during the day or holidays. However on Myspace and other online communities, you can tell the world just about anything about yourself.

With these points from the article in mind, what has become more of a reality for society? Online or offline? Has online interactions become the new reality? Are you more 'real' now online than offline? And do people have two separate identities, online and offline?

Pranking Rhetoric: “Culture Jamming” as Media Activism

OMG. First off, so sorry. I thought I had posted this last week, but apparently... >__>
My bad.

Checked in today and was rather 0__o!!

Sorry for the delay!


------------------------------
Pranking Rhetoric: “Culture Jamming” as Media Activism


The article discusses the phenomenon of Culture Jamming, in which pranksters use the tools of mass media to subvert the messages of authority, in this case, usually powerful corporations. It is interesting precisely because it takes advantage of the very same tools and methods that these powers use and turn it against them in a way that does not directly resist the original message, but rather turns it inside out and expose its flaws.

Christine starts by examining the Adbusters 2003 campaign called Blackspot, in which they attempt to sell a black canvas shoe with a white spot where a logo would traditionally be. This and other Adbusters projects attempt to subvert the methods of advertising and use it against the corporations, but after awhile, even this gets tiring. Adbusters fiercely direct opposition to certain brands feels like a rehashing of the very same “do this, do that” rhetoric of the big brands themselves - being “told what is best for them is no more welcome coming from Adbusters than it is coming from advertisers”.

Instead she advocates a more playful approach, represented by Joey Skaggs, ®™ark , the Biotic Baking Brigade, and the American Legacy Foundation's INFKT Truth Campaign.

Why this playful approach might work, whereas a directly oppositional one may not, is that the latter functions by a “rhetoric of negation” - that merely by a constant process of saying “No”, no new framework is established, and more limits and boundaries must then be overcome.

Perhaps, rather than being told what is right or wrong, people might prefer to be given control and a sense of power over the message.

A quick summary of what the various groups/individuals accomplished.

Joey Skaggs
- Opened a false dog brothel for dogs, and posted advertisements up. Whilst it may sound silly, it drew uproar, with Skaggs quickly earning ABC News interviews and eventually even criminal charges. The charges were dropped when he revealed it as a hoax.

®™ark
-Switched voice-chips within Barbie toys and G.I. Joe action figures and then returned them to stores, leading to G.I. Joe proclaiming “Let's plan our dream wedding!” and Barbie exclaiming “Vengeance is mine!” on Christmas day when said toys were opened by unsuspecting families. Ensue resulting hoo-haa and discomfort/enlightenment over toys promoting gender-based sterotyping.

Biotic Baking Brigade
-Ambushes celebrities and powerful leaders (like Bill Gates) and hurls a pie in their face, often at a very serious and public speech-giving session. Plays with the image of power, and the media's obsession with images and scandal.

American Legacy Foundation's INFKT Truth Campaign.
-This one was interesting because it was a public service campaign. It was, however, catchy and slick, using modern graphic design and rather than telling kids not to smoke directly and using fear tactics, had 2-page spreads in magazines in orange and white screaming messages like “CIGARETTE SMOKE HAS ARSENIC”, and “AMMONIA IS ADDED TO CIGARETTES”. The genius of the plan was this bit though – to urge the readers to “Spread the knowledge. Infect truth.”

It also had pictures of these adverts opened strategically at a magazine store opened to said pages.

Another of their campaigns gave free stickers in the shape of blank conversation bubbles, with a picturenext to the stickers showing a Marlboro advert with a sticker attached to it, giving kids a convenient way to hijack existing adverts.

Conclusion
It is suggested that these methods work better than directly oppositional and ascetic methods. Instead of saying “No”, how might we subvert the very tools of power (the media) to gain emancipation and ownership?

In this way, instead of being slaves to media, we make media our tool as well, and by riding upon the wave created by corporations/people in power, we harness that power for ourselves.

Powerthirst

I just wanted to share a link to an add spoof thing for sports drinks. Some of you may have seen it before just from general browsing or because it was featured on The Gruen Transfer. Although there is not a specific focus on gender, the idea that sports drink substances have the ability to 'enhance' the sporting performance of the drinker is often directed at men. The Powerthirst add uses the term 'menergy' as you will see and parodies those elements of sports drink adds that we see so often.

I think it's brilliant!

Pranking and Culture Jamming

I thought the topic for this week was really interesting - I especially thought the Barbie Liberation Organization Organization was awesome - of course I had noticed that kid's toys are very gendered, but what the two talking toys say really reinforces certain cultural values - Barbie: 'i love shopping,' 'can we ever have enough clothes' is a pretty blatant advert for capitalist consumption and the G.I. Joes promote and glorify war even more through their speech. I think hearing the words coming from the wrong mouth [ie. hearing a Barbie promote violence and war] could also have the effect of highlighting this. I found this clip about the BLO - if anyone else finds other news items, or any interviews with parents from that time, they'd be great to see. Listen to what the kids say about the G.I. Joe.

Another site about pranking and culture jamming was also interesting to explore.

And given that we haven't had much [haha, ok, any] discussion this week I thought I'd put the link for adbusters here too - it is definitely worth a look.

Next Level Article: Some additional comments

I spent the weekend interviewing a few of my well known gaming friends. My discussions gave me a good insight into the representation of women in a range of games which I will share with you. I myself do not play any games ( apart from solitaire!) and was really shocked and disgusted by some of the things that are in current day games. Below is a brief summary of some of the games and the representations of women in them.

WOW ( world of warcraft)

• Female characters are barely covered with armour so as to accentuate the female body for male gamers
• Male characters in contrast are given full body armour

Age of Conan

• Includes topless female 3D characters and promotes female nudity

Grand Theft Auto

• This game passed the classification boards at first instance despite the fact that there is an actual intercourse section of the game.
• The game allows characters to pick up hookers, attend strip clubs and register and brothels

From my understanding, the gaming industry does not seem to be progressing in terms of representing women in a non sexual, objectified manner. It amazes me how there are strict policies enforced in the workplace about computer savers or desktops having females in swimsuits however no stringent laws apply to the production of games. There seems to be a real blurring of reality and fantasy within actual games despite the fact that most games imitate reality. In essence, the games seem to reflect a modern day reality without any law and order, where brothels and hookers are available and where women are always exploited. I don't mean to sound like a nagging protester but some of these games are truly terrible!

ethics of porn on the net.... SERENA

Hi All,
Reading about sex and pornography is not something i really expected to do at uni but i found this article intriguing. In fact i'm sure we all enjoyed reading this article (?) The reason i say that is because in a classroom setting (and in many social circles) the topic of porn is tabu!! Am i right? And i believe that we certainly (as humans) have the desire to be risky and understand something we may otherwise know nothing about.
This article outlines the demographic of who, where, how, and why internet porn is being accessed and who is making it.
WHO: the general consenses is that porn is made for the middle aged heterosexual male who holds fantasies of sexually active and available women. However, during research for this article it is found that porn on the net can be somewhat liberating for those who have varied tastes in sexual preferences. During the 70s and 80s porn was found in magazines and on video and generally contained images of a limited female body type. Now that porn is on the net and is 70% of it is amateur porn it seems to 'cater' for a wider audience. Now, those who share particular 'fetishes' can share them and find like-minded folk.
A large part of this article talks about the fact that people can now make their own porn and experience exhibitionist attributes at first hand. "The internet has allowed a remarkable blurring of the categories of 'publisher', 'distributer', 'performer' and 'consumer'". The article explores the desire to voluntarily immerse oneself in 'interactive pornography' and states that with this avenue women especially are increasingly more comfortable to perform sexual acts that they had previously only ever fantasied about... ie: group sex, lesbian sex, oral etc.
WHERE: The question of porn invading the home through the internet is raised. In the past access to porn was available through magazines and video's bought from adult shops but now that many households have internet access porn becomes part of the private sphere. This has its up sides and its downsides. Firstly, of course there is more comfort in the private sphere... who would not rather using the simple click of a mouse to access porn rather than entering an adult shop and all its stigma attached? Unfortunately though, feminists argue that porn 'is a perverse outsider forcing its way into suburban homes'.
I close with this quote from the article: " Undoubtedly, the internet facilitates anonymous sexual experimentation. Whether it is seen as a positive or a negative factor will depend on your point of view".

Please feel welcome to start up some conversations about this article and your thoughts on it as i will be regularly checking the blog this week.
Thanks.

Tutorial Presentation: The Good, the Bad, and the Virtual

The ethical issues surrounding mediums like print and television media have been complicated with the onset of the internet. This new form of media has radically changed the presentation of information and therefore has brought a new set of ethical dilemmas. Ethics are standards of behaviour that are ‘right’. In The Good, the Bad and the Virtual, Mark Poster highlights many of the concerns critics shares over the internet; “the new medium will undermine the ethical basis of society”. Poster notes how internet sites are “easy to construct and cheap to maintain”, enabling people to display sites that have ‘disturbing material’. In this ‘age of information’, it raises a number of questions over the ethical systems online and more importantly, do they exist?.

The ethical and moral elements of journalism have been altered online. The internet is a very different medium compared to print media. Print and Television media are usually limited geographically as they are mainly distributed locally (i.e. city, state, country). Certain codes of ethics must be complied to ensure journalists attain and present information in a fair and unbiased way. Although this does not always happen, journalists are held accountable via these forms of media. The internet, on the other hand, is widely accessible. There is also anonymity on the internet as anyone can write news items. Similar ethical issues arise with the presentation of information. Mark Poster referred to a semi-code of ethics which exists on the internet, known as ‘netiquette’. However, he further stated that “the practice of coaching newbies in the ways of netiquette could not keep up”. To see some of the rules, you may want to view this webiste on netiquette. This system of ethics is difficult to maintain on such a large scale and is almost impossible to police. Consequently, there is broad spectrum of views and information presented on the internet, often biased. The anonymity has generated a greater sense of freedom to say what you want, no matter how offensive. Pornography is also more widely accessible on the net. Do you think that the ethical elements behind pornography have changed online? If so, how?

An ethical issue raised online is the distortion of identities. Poster identified a case involving FBI agents who posed as underage girls in chat rooms to catch potential sex-offenders. However, when they caught the perpetrator, he was released based on the argument “that his actions ‘were grounded in an online fantasy world’ and were not reprehensible morally and legally” (Miller 1999). This clearly illustrates how the ethical dimensions radically change online with the separation of worlds into ‘virtual’ and ‘real’. Poster further stated how the justice system “accepted the distinction between real and virtual pedophilia”. Do you think there should be a world wide system of ethics that applies to everyone?

Because characteristics of the internet differ from the traditional forms of media, ethical systems have been thought to be medium-specific. A number of complexities arise from using the internet as the boundaries between the public and private sphere are blurred. Mark Poster notes in his article, that what was previously confined to the private sphere has overflowed into the public via the net. An example of this was a sex change operation which was video recorded and posted on a webcam. This raised a number of ethical issues, including questions regarding censorship on the net. Do you think it was ethical to allow for this operation to be broadcast on the World Wide Web? Do you think ethical systems should be medium-specific?

Thus, the expansion of the internet has given rise to many ethical dilemmas in cyberspace. Do you think ethical systems exist online?