Well politics has been an even bigger hot topic this past week. Who will run, who will win? Having a Bachelor's in Political Science, I seem to find myself immersed in all of the debates and platforms. Then I often have a fleeting thought...do other countries work like this? How do their campaigns for political office go? Do they participate in the same way Americans do?
Jean Burgess and Axel Bruns really got me to see that often times...nothing changes. People are who they are. Their study looked at Twitter as a microblogging platform and the election related tweets. The researchers discuss how much Twitter impacts a campaign but often times not in the ways it should. It seems that even in places like Australia, the voters seem to mirror only what they are presented. Not a lot of in-depth research is done by the common voters to see what they like and do not like about candidates. We see that in our own country as well, Americans jumping on board with social campaigns yet never really understanding what they are fully supporting.
The roles change a bit in places like South Africa. The citizens of these areas, as discussed by Marion Walton and Pierreinne Leukes, do not have a direct and readily available connection to the campaigns being given by elected officials. So do they let that stop them, why of course not. While what gets heard and who hears it is closely monitored, mobile use to gain access to these campaigns has increased. These two articles also add to the context of how crucial it is for voters to get involved and how crucial this new emergence of social media campaigns really are.
The final article for this week discusses how blogs and political blogging effect the political discourse of a country. Stefania Vicari discusses how the new political blogging practices are effecting campaigns. Because of this new era, Blogs are bringing light to the issues facing countries and even giving a new era of campaigning a shot.
Overall the issues that face Americans are still prevalent in other countries. Social media is playing a giant role in the politics of today around the world. So as this new era pushes its way through, will we step up and do our part to join in the fight to know the facts and do the research.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
#PoliticallyCorrect
As if social and digital media did not run our daily lives already a new era has been rung in, digital political campaigns. Our first reading for this week kind of set the premise and theoretical basis for what this new phenomenon is, interactivity. Barbara Warnick writes about the guidelines and research done on interactivity and concludes that is that in which users connect with a speaker on a common cause. She writes about the political campaigns of the 2004 election and shows that interactivity functions rhetorically to advance the agendas of candidates. This shows that political figures are stepping on board the digital media train, now more than ever, to join voters under a common cause.
The next article by Janet Johnston focused on the use rhetoric on Twitter in the 2012 presidential campaigns. She states that, "Social media changes the way candidates react to situations as well as how Americans can respond, support, and gather information about both candidates." So how does this new use of digital and social media affect us as voters in any kind of elections? Well data shows that President Obama's "Change" campaign was one of the driving forces behind his win and reelection. So if he is the first to really solidify the use of rhetoric and Twitter as its outlet then what will come of the next campaigns? Johnson again describes the use of rhetoric by stating, "Political candidates must learn to use rhetoric in the digital world. When a person learns to communicate a clear, concise, and effective message at the appropriate time and direct that message to a specific audience about a certain situation, that person creates leverage. By creating “rhetorical leverage,” political candidates communicate messages effectively with the electorate and create an advantage. The candidates can possibly neutralize messages created by their opponents in other traditional media by learning to use virtual rhetoric effectively and take advantage of the rhetorical situation through these new rhetorical media."
Rhetoric, being the use of language to construct clear and effective messages for an audience and a specific situation, plays a key role in everyday life and once again, like Warnick states, bring people together on a common cause. That also is prevalent in Amber Davisson's piece on Google Maps as a rhetorical invention in the 2008 election. The use of the traditional red and blue maps were used to divide our country by affiliations; however, in 2008 Google created user generated maps that sought to band a divided country together into what they could unite and become. Instead of the traditional read and blue mixed maps we see around election time, alternative maps created during the 2008 presidential election, show the seeds of future political action. Here lies a potential future where users can collaborate and participate in the political interpretation of the spaces they occupy on a daily basis.
Social media plays a heavy role in now just about every aspect of our lives. Political parties and their communication through social media gives voters a firsthand experience of the political process in real time, which television, radio, and print could not accomplish in past elections.
The next article by Janet Johnston focused on the use rhetoric on Twitter in the 2012 presidential campaigns. She states that, "Social media changes the way candidates react to situations as well as how Americans can respond, support, and gather information about both candidates." So how does this new use of digital and social media affect us as voters in any kind of elections? Well data shows that President Obama's "Change" campaign was one of the driving forces behind his win and reelection. So if he is the first to really solidify the use of rhetoric and Twitter as its outlet then what will come of the next campaigns? Johnson again describes the use of rhetoric by stating, "Political candidates must learn to use rhetoric in the digital world. When a person learns to communicate a clear, concise, and effective message at the appropriate time and direct that message to a specific audience about a certain situation, that person creates leverage. By creating “rhetorical leverage,” political candidates communicate messages effectively with the electorate and create an advantage. The candidates can possibly neutralize messages created by their opponents in other traditional media by learning to use virtual rhetoric effectively and take advantage of the rhetorical situation through these new rhetorical media."
Rhetoric, being the use of language to construct clear and effective messages for an audience and a specific situation, plays a key role in everyday life and once again, like Warnick states, bring people together on a common cause. That also is prevalent in Amber Davisson's piece on Google Maps as a rhetorical invention in the 2008 election. The use of the traditional red and blue maps were used to divide our country by affiliations; however, in 2008 Google created user generated maps that sought to band a divided country together into what they could unite and become. Instead of the traditional read and blue mixed maps we see around election time, alternative maps created during the 2008 presidential election, show the seeds of future political action. Here lies a potential future where users can collaborate and participate in the political interpretation of the spaces they occupy on a daily basis.
Social media plays a heavy role in now just about every aspect of our lives. Political parties and their communication through social media gives voters a firsthand experience of the political process in real time, which television, radio, and print could not accomplish in past elections.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
#ViralMovements
This week I am writing all the way from New York City. This week has been a complete adventure for this southern gal, as I have ventured out of my comfort zone and into a world completely different from my own. Though none of this has been done without a bit of academic reading.
This weeks readings are about political and social media campaigns as well as viral movements. Something that struck me as interesting kind of in relation to this viral movement is my snapchat. As I have traveled to NYC and throughout its five boroughs I have seen something quite interesting. Every time I change places my snapchat recognizes this and gives me boarders that tell where I am. This kind of freaks me out after las week's lessons on sur/souveillance; however, it kind of fits into this weeks lessons. Gustafsson brings a new term into the light, viral politics and viral movements. These are simply new ways to create change and publicity for a common cause, much like my snapchat. This sense of viral politics is a new one and instead of us picking and choosing which political movements we choose to be apart of, through the social media boost we are now saturated with this information and know about it whether we choose to or not.
Take the Chickfila campaign a couple of years ago. As Jill Weber writes about the 2012 controversy and how greatly it impacted society in just a few days. No matter which side you were on you were on you still had passion and chose to defend your beliefs. Even those who chose to not do anything about this and did not really care about the controversy, those people can still say they knew about it and had an idea of the situation. This is just an example of Gustafsson and his political and viral movements.
Social media is the new pony express, or world wide web, it is our quickest way to obtain information. The argument has been made over and over again if social media is taking over and pushing out traditional media. In my opinion, it isn't. It is teaching an old dog new tricks and revamping the traditional into the new world.
So like my snapchat has done this week, it takes my location, filters and boarders and those around me and combines them into one common "story" for all those in NYC to see. This is the new viral movements and a new way for information to be distributed. The most effective, with the least cost.
This weeks readings are about political and social media campaigns as well as viral movements. Something that struck me as interesting kind of in relation to this viral movement is my snapchat. As I have traveled to NYC and throughout its five boroughs I have seen something quite interesting. Every time I change places my snapchat recognizes this and gives me boarders that tell where I am. This kind of freaks me out after las week's lessons on sur/souveillance; however, it kind of fits into this weeks lessons. Gustafsson brings a new term into the light, viral politics and viral movements. These are simply new ways to create change and publicity for a common cause, much like my snapchat. This sense of viral politics is a new one and instead of us picking and choosing which political movements we choose to be apart of, through the social media boost we are now saturated with this information and know about it whether we choose to or not.
Take the Chickfila campaign a couple of years ago. As Jill Weber writes about the 2012 controversy and how greatly it impacted society in just a few days. No matter which side you were on you were on you still had passion and chose to defend your beliefs. Even those who chose to not do anything about this and did not really care about the controversy, those people can still say they knew about it and had an idea of the situation. This is just an example of Gustafsson and his political and viral movements.
Social media is the new pony express, or world wide web, it is our quickest way to obtain information. The argument has been made over and over again if social media is taking over and pushing out traditional media. In my opinion, it isn't. It is teaching an old dog new tricks and revamping the traditional into the new world.
So like my snapchat has done this week, it takes my location, filters and boarders and those around me and combines them into one common "story" for all those in NYC to see. This is the new viral movements and a new way for information to be distributed. The most effective, with the least cost.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
#Techy
A wise woman once said "Your pace in the race of life is defined by those whom you choose to run by." This quote really came to mind as I was reading Aaron Hess's article You Are What You Compute. This article brings to the forefront an issue that generations today don't even know they are facing. As Hess states we are "attached at the hip with our digital devices; we have become one with them." Even as I was reading this I received a text and absolutely could not stand to let it sit there and me not know what it said. We have talked a lot lately about where identity is found, online or offline, and Hess describes it perfectly in the term technological unconscious consubstantiality. This means simply that the relationship between humans, identity, and technology is not like a Venn Diagram but three parts that make a whole and cannot be separated. We are in fact defined by whom we choose to run the race beside, and for me a lot of the times its my technological devices.
Hess along with Mark Andrejevic, and Jan Fernback begin to talk about identity and personal information being something that is completely accessible to more than whom we choose to give it to. Andrejevic speaks of a world in which technology predicts our every movements, when to start the car, when I need a bus, even maybe when I am out of milk. Personally, this is immensely scary. I tend to be very private and let no one know certain details about my life, but if these details can be found through other details, what are we to do about it?
The final topic looked at by these authors is once again Identity, but one in which everything we say and type and search is logged and kept for reference. So if I look up something one time and Google logs it, then it begins to show me images and search results based on these one time log ins, what exactly is my identity? Am I really the person I choose to be and do I really like the things I like because I choose too, or is it all a fabrication and recreation of what the man behind the curtain tells me to?
Hess along with Mark Andrejevic, and Jan Fernback begin to talk about identity and personal information being something that is completely accessible to more than whom we choose to give it to. Andrejevic speaks of a world in which technology predicts our every movements, when to start the car, when I need a bus, even maybe when I am out of milk. Personally, this is immensely scary. I tend to be very private and let no one know certain details about my life, but if these details can be found through other details, what are we to do about it?
The final topic looked at by these authors is once again Identity, but one in which everything we say and type and search is logged and kept for reference. So if I look up something one time and Google logs it, then it begins to show me images and search results based on these one time log ins, what exactly is my identity? Am I really the person I choose to be and do I really like the things I like because I choose too, or is it all a fabrication and recreation of what the man behind the curtain tells me to?
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
#OhNaNaWhat'sMyName
Identity seems to be a hot topic right now, not only in the media but in this week's readings. Who are we and what is our story? In the first article by Danah Boyd the ability to have a pseudoname is the issue at hand. Why is such an issue for people? Aren't we allowed to be who and what we choose to in real life. Yes there are dress codes and restrictions for certain jobs but away from those guidelines people are who they are. In the new and upcoming generations a trend has set in to find and define identity through online and social sites, so why is this such an issue to older generations?
The way millennials develop their identity and understand privacy is through the way they are taught in schools and at home. Alice E. Marwick discusses the networked model of privacy and how it contradicts most of the signals or lessons teenagers have been taught on privacy. They have been watched over and informed on how necessary it is to have strict privacy settings; however they live in a world where information freely flows and can be reproduced in every way possible. Because of this their thoughts on privacy and information flow has been altered, as well as their versions of online identity. These two issues go hand and hand.
Camielia Gradinaru discusses the concept of online identity and its convergence to the internet today in her article From Multitude to Convergence: Contemporary Trends in the Online Identity. She states that In the 1990s, the dominant discourse about identity was formed around the idea of the great freedom in construction of a new, different identity/identities using the characteristics and tools of the Internet."
Online identity is something that is liquid and always changing, just like the actual human identity. People change through circumstances and situations and different parts of their person come forth. Frankly, a lot of time is spent worrying about who people present themselves as online while there are many more pressing issues to donate this research time to. After all, for years and years writers, artists, and celebrities have been creating different identities to keep their private lives private, so why is it a big deal for common classes to do so?
The way millennials develop their identity and understand privacy is through the way they are taught in schools and at home. Alice E. Marwick discusses the networked model of privacy and how it contradicts most of the signals or lessons teenagers have been taught on privacy. They have been watched over and informed on how necessary it is to have strict privacy settings; however they live in a world where information freely flows and can be reproduced in every way possible. Because of this their thoughts on privacy and information flow has been altered, as well as their versions of online identity. These two issues go hand and hand.
Camielia Gradinaru discusses the concept of online identity and its convergence to the internet today in her article From Multitude to Convergence: Contemporary Trends in the Online Identity. She states that In the 1990s, the dominant discourse about identity was formed around the idea of the great freedom in construction of a new, different identity/identities using the characteristics and tools of the Internet."
Online identity is something that is liquid and always changing, just like the actual human identity. People change through circumstances and situations and different parts of their person come forth. Frankly, a lot of time is spent worrying about who people present themselves as online while there are many more pressing issues to donate this research time to. After all, for years and years writers, artists, and celebrities have been creating different identities to keep their private lives private, so why is it a big deal for common classes to do so?
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
#Reflections
This week is a little different from previous weeks. This one is about reflecting back and analyzing what I have blogged about and how I have grown throughout the semester.
I must say at the beginning of this project I was a little over confident in myself. I thought, considering I had just created a personal blog, that I knew the ins and outs of the blogging world, boy was I wrong. I quickly learned that academic blogging is nothing like personal blogging and even the mere definition of a blog is in question. Throughout our readings and research I have come to understand a lot about communication technology systems, something that I once again thought I had in the bag. My eyes have definitely been opened to vast discussions on communication technology systems and their impact.
As I looked from my first post and remembered how terrifying it was, to be putting my work up against my fellow students who seemed to have completely better writing styles than I did. As the next few weeks approached I saw my confidence begin to bloom a little as I began to really understand the readings and reflect on not just what the authors were saying but how I interpreted those pieces. In my latest writings I see that I have grown even more in my ability to develop effective arguments about what is being said, as well as, formulate that in a way my audience can understand, even though that audience may only be my mom.
I believe each of the weeks have appealed to me in a different way. The meme week ranks in my favorites because I got to spend hours laughing at the hilarity of internet memes. The Social Networking Sites week was also my favorite because it spoke to a system that I have been able to grow up watching develop and launch. Through these articles and posts I see a common theme and that is me questioning society a bit in their lack of knowledge of these subjects and lack of care. Of course I am a Polly Anna thinker and I like to see that the world, at its core, is good, so these questions come as no surprise.
Through this course I have had the ability to broaden my horizons as well as my audiences, thanks mom! I hope that through the next weeks of blogging I can better my writing styles and gain more knowledge through our readings. I am so honored to have the opportunity to be in this course and absorb all of the information given by articles, my professor, and my fellow classmates.
I must say at the beginning of this project I was a little over confident in myself. I thought, considering I had just created a personal blog, that I knew the ins and outs of the blogging world, boy was I wrong. I quickly learned that academic blogging is nothing like personal blogging and even the mere definition of a blog is in question. Throughout our readings and research I have come to understand a lot about communication technology systems, something that I once again thought I had in the bag. My eyes have definitely been opened to vast discussions on communication technology systems and their impact.
As I looked from my first post and remembered how terrifying it was, to be putting my work up against my fellow students who seemed to have completely better writing styles than I did. As the next few weeks approached I saw my confidence begin to bloom a little as I began to really understand the readings and reflect on not just what the authors were saying but how I interpreted those pieces. In my latest writings I see that I have grown even more in my ability to develop effective arguments about what is being said, as well as, formulate that in a way my audience can understand, even though that audience may only be my mom.
I believe each of the weeks have appealed to me in a different way. The meme week ranks in my favorites because I got to spend hours laughing at the hilarity of internet memes. The Social Networking Sites week was also my favorite because it spoke to a system that I have been able to grow up watching develop and launch. Through these articles and posts I see a common theme and that is me questioning society a bit in their lack of knowledge of these subjects and lack of care. Of course I am a Polly Anna thinker and I like to see that the world, at its core, is good, so these questions come as no surprise.
Through this course I have had the ability to broaden my horizons as well as my audiences, thanks mom! I hope that through the next weeks of blogging I can better my writing styles and gain more knowledge through our readings. I am so honored to have the opportunity to be in this course and absorb all of the information given by articles, my professor, and my fellow classmates.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
#ToBlogOrNotToBlog
This week our readings dive into the very important question of, "What is a blog?." In a piece by Mary Garden, on defining blogs, she gives direct quotes from a Pew Research project about the defining of blogs. Pew Project director Lee Rainie says:
"I would say absolutely we’re dealing with a term that is not particularly well defined because blogging is a platform. Blogs can be so many different things to so many different people. The definition needs to be more about structure than content."
Jeff Jarvis, veteran journalist and blogger, takes a radical position:
"There is no need to define ‘blog’. A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change
the world to share your shopping list. I resist even calling it a medium; it is a means of sharing
information and also of interacting: It’s more about conversation than content … Blogs are
whatever they want to be. Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining ‘blog’ is a fool’s errand."
Boyd found through her ethnographical research that veteran bloggers were usually
irritated by the definition question, finding it a futile exercise. For example, ‘Carl’ says:
"I’ve given up on definitional questions and gone for these tautologies. Like blogging is what
we do when we say, ‘We’re blogging.’ … It’s a blog because a blogger’s doing it … It’s a blog
because bloggers are engaged with it, and everyone points at it and says ‘It’s a blog!’"
So what does this mean? If researchers cannot define a over twenty year-old phenomenon, can we? Or does the definition even matter? I believe that to those who blog or know about blogs it doesn't. The increasing number of blogs over the past ten years have shown us that somehow this idea is spreading and it is giving different spectrum of people in completely different parts of the world a way to reflect and connect, defined or not.
The next article by Torill Elvira Mortensen discusses the main purpose of our whole semester; as well as, the stigma of blogging in the academic culture. This author disscuss the movement and purpose of blogs as being more of a "middle-brow" consumed market, and all but slams the middle-class working blogger by stating, "The common practice of blogging is rarely dominated by clear, touching prose, deep academic thinking, or political debate." While there are two separate and distinct groups, middle-brow and high-brow,
While there tends to be a vast difference in the two classes of blogging, one for more of a diary use and one for professional research, that does not mean that the two cannot mix. Because, I believe to write a blog, academic or personal, you must in some way put forth your personal opinion about the subject which blurs the lines a bit between strictly subjectively academic, and personal. This seems to be, in my opinion, the issue for the stigma. Blogs have retained this impression to be strictly for our diary use, but they are not. They can be used in ways to further education, such as this course.
This article, like the third one on Power Laws, show that a certain group of people are making up and deciding what is needing to be read; however if there were more blogs to choose from, these power laws might actually turn into more bell curves, giving some balance between academia and society.
I will leave you with a quote from Mortensen:
"Ultimately, communication happens as human beings create meaning from a set of signals which we can call signs. The practice of receiving and communicating this meaning is where we need to look, if we wish to make an attempt at breaking out of the symbolic universe within which we have all been trained. Weblogs and webloggers have one advantage in this attempt."
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