Chile!

This year, we were lucky enough to witness one of the most technologically revolutionary events of our time: the Chilean rescue mission. 

Earlier this year,  33 Chilean miners were trapped 200 meters under the ground for what started as a few days and lasted 2 months. What was fascinating about the issue wasn't just the strength and bond that formed between the miners while underground, as well as the amazing spirit of the Chileans in supporting their miners, but the technology that brought it all together. 

The miners were provided with internet connections to allow them to Skype with their families as well as psychologists. They were provided with phones and cameras to document their time underground. The ability to speak to others above the ground provided sanity and comfort for the miners. What's more, we were able to see and hear everything they went through underground until the moment they were rescued. 

For those that watched the rescue mission, as I religiously did, Twitter and Facebook were two of the best sources for updates. The majority of news sources utilized Twitter to notify followers every time a miner was rescued, so information updates were never out of reach. 

New media platforms revolutionized a tragedy. Technology gave the miners a chance to connect with the outside world and maintain their sanity.

Facebook vs Twitter Infographic

I found the following Facebook vs Twitter infographic online: 

Interestingly enough, it rates mobile usage of both between at 30 and 37%, which I have a very hard time believing. The majority of Facebook and Twitter users use the social platforms through their smartphones. As a Twitter and Facebook user, I've observed that the majority of status updates are provided with a mobile upload sign. What's more, only 52% of Twitter users update their status a day? The entire concept of Twitter is status updates, which again makes the infographic seem even more questionable. 

Cyber-Rape: A Crime of the Mind?

In class today, we discussed Julian Dibbel's article on "A Rape in Cyberspace" and the implementations of cyber-action on the mind, on the real life (or "RL") and the online community and it's governance.


I found this article both fascinating and extremely twisted. It provided us with a look at a world that many of us have heard of and some of us are part of: an online community governed by their own accepted social normals for the community. It also provided us with a look at the dark side of these virtual communities. As users, we stumble upon groups and communities where we share photos, stories, etc online and while not necessarily always positive, it is more often than not, legal and within social norms. 


There's a dark side to the internet though. A violent side that we shun in the real world with consequences and punishment. But are there virtual consequences? Is the act of violating via typing an expression of violent action itself? These are questions that I couldn't help but ask myself while reading and during our class discussion. 


To understand the role of consequence for inappropriate behavior, we ultimately have to look at the concept of consequence and measure it in the real world vs the virtual world. Each person's consequence is different. In the real world, consequence for rape would include jail time but maybe criminals in the real world have no real consequence, which is why they act the way they do. They're lack of respect for the rules displays their lack of fear of those consequences. In the virtual world, the highest form of consequence in getting logged off/banned and socially unaccepted - which in theory, could be worse for these users. 


Taking a step back to the larger picture, the internet is a platform of expression with no boundaries. Behind the veil of computer screens and keyboards, people are given a second chance to recreate themselves, to express themselves in ways that they may feel uncomfortable expressing in the real world (for whatever reason), without the fear of real world consequences. This may tie back to individual personalities and psychological factors.


Now taking a look at Mr. Bungle, the online rapist, his actions and statements suggest that this online community is an escape for him, an expression and comfort zone where he can say or do what he wants without fear of real world consequences: 

"I engaged in a bit of a psychological device that is called thought-polarization, the fact that this is not RL simply added to heighten the affect of the device. It was purely a sequence of events with no consequence on my RL existence."

Considering his platform of expression and constant participation in the site (as explained in the article), in retrospect, being banned from this online community may potentially be a worse consequence for Mr. Bungle; the sting of being rejected in his own virtual comfort zone.

Moreover, it boggles my mind that users have this crazy idea that there are no "real world consequences" for virtual world behaviors. The virtual world is not Narnia; it is not an untouchable parallel universe. Besides legal action in cases of illegal activities, there is a psychological effect that carries on from the internet. The internet seems to be a therapist of some sort in which people vent and express themselves (look at Twitter for example). The violent act and wording of a cyber-rape could and probably did have detrimental psychological effects on the cyber-rape victim.

I could continue branching out on this subject so I should stop my train of thought here and potentially consider it for my final?

Media Convergence & Participatory Culture in Films

I previously commented on Henry Jenkins' and his analysis on media convergence and knowledge cultures, so you can only imagine my excitement that he was featured in our readings for the week.

Jenkins' investigates the film world in this paper, using Star Wars, one of the world's most famous fan films as the variable for comparison of filmmaking and media convergence. He highlights the corporate movement towards media convergence and the innovation of new tools and platforms that revolutionize media content:

"These fan films build on long-standing practices of the fan community but they also reflect the influence of this changed technological environment that has dramatically lowered the costs of film production and distribution.

What emerged are new strategies of content development and distribution designed to increase the "synergy" between the different divisions of the same company. Studios seek content that can move fluidly across media channels. "

He discusses the new media innovations that have revolutionized the film industry, how media convergence is changing the way us consumers, well...consume. With the abundant amount of media platforms for distribution, sharing, and more, it's even affecting the way we are fans: 

"Such an approach requires the constant development of media content that can provoke strong audience engagement and investment. For this synergy-based strategy to be successful, media audiences must not simply buy an isolated product or experience but rather must buy into a prolonged relationship with a particular narrative universe, which is rich enough and complex enough to sustain their interest over time and thus motivate a succession of consumer choices."

Jenkins uses Star Wars as an example of the effect of convergence and participatory culture, but I couldn't help but think of Harry Potter as an excellent example of a movie saga. Not only has the Harry Potter saga been developing alongside technological innovations, but it is an idea example of participatory culture, which Jenkins' explains: 

"Patterns of media consumption have been profoundly altered by a succession of new media technologies which enable average citizens to participate in the archiving, annotation, appropriation, transformation, and recirculation of media content. Participatory culture refers to the new style of consumerism that emerges in this environment." 

This photo was taken of a movie theater the night the 6th Harry Potter movie was released.

Harry Potter has created a subculture of fans that recreate, analyze, and discuss each and every book, movie, and concept of the story-line. From huge online group communities to book clubs, these fans have obsessed through various platforms. These are also the very fans that, like Star Wars, will camp out in front of the movie theater dressed in Harry Potter costumes waiting and discussing the film with one another. What's interesting is that the saga is not just for children, while the author may write a book about wizards, her writing is extremely sophisticated and with underlying meanings. This is the exact reason that J.K. Rowling's books have won over the hearts of both children and adult fans. 

Enter technology.

Add in new media platforms of communication and distribution of media content, and watch as media convergence revolutionizes participatory culture. We've seen the same effect of Star Wars and Harry Potter with Lost fans, Survivor Fans (discussed by Jenkins' in his book Convergence Culture), and most recently, the twi-hard "Twilight" fans. 

A Rape in Cyberspace

Loved this:

"Here on the brink of a future in which human life may find itself as tightly enveloped in digital environments as it is today in the architectural kind...

It asks us to shut our ears momentarily to the techno-utopian ecstasies of West Coast cyberhippies and look without illusion upon the present possibilities for building, in the on-line spaces of this world, societies more decent and free than those mapped onto dirt and concrete and capital. 

It asks us to behold the new bodies awaiting us in virtual space by their phantom powers, and to get to the crucial work of sorting out the socially meaningful undazzled differences between those bodies and our phsyical ones.

And most forthrightly, it asks us to wrap our late-modern ontologies, epistemologies, sexual ethics, and common sense around the curious notion of rape by voodoo doll - and to try not to warp them beyond recognition in the process."

Best Quote from The Social Network Movie

"I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to try - but there is no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie.

You have part of my attention, the rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.

If you guys were the inventors of Facebook...

then you'd have invented Facebook." 

~Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg: The Antithesis of all that is social

To add to the awesomeness of this class, our class took a field trip to watch the movie that epitomizes our social interactions for the past half decade: The Social Network.

In a nutshell, the movie was more focused on the trials and tribulations of Harvard-genius and Facebook-founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The plot-line was filled with stories of betrayal and lawsuits between Zuckerberg and his best friend, Eduardo, as well as the Winklevoss twins who claimed that he had stole their idea. 

The best part of the movie was that every person walked out with a different view. I personally did not find Mark Zuckerberg at fault. I do believe that he lacked major social skills and loyalty to friends, but I don' t believe that he stole the idea. Mark Zuckerberg did exactly what he said he did: took an idea, and made it better. 

Ironically enough, the most socially awkward individual has epitomized social interaction. He was able to take real life social interactions and virtualize it on the internet, giving people the ability to meet, greet, and socialize with one another via this new media platform. Taking the idea of a "online friends" and the Winklevii's college dating site, Zuckerberg took college social interactions to a whole new level, and made it easier for socially awkward individuals like himself to interact. Hiding behind his computer screen, he began with his blog as a form of expression, followed by "Facemash.com" that was inspired by a break up and a few beers. His website gave men the opportunity to judge women virtually in ways that would deem completely inappropriate and sexist in real life. Then finally, he created "The Facebook", the simplest yet most revolutionary concept of our social lives...but on the internet. 

While I understand that the movie may not be completely accurate of real life events, seeing Mark Zuckerberg in interviews and in the media has confirmed his social awkwardness. The most fascinating bit of it all is that after the hours of coding, the friendships lost, the enemies made, and the millions...sorry, billions of dollars earned - it was all done simply for the social acceptance of a woman.  

Friend Requested: Waiting for Acceptance.