ALC201 - EXPLORING NEW MEDIA: USERS, SETTINGS, AND IMPLICATIONS MODULE 3 EXERCISE

Many ideological messages can be analysed and explored in regards to how digital media and its users, are portrayed in film. Through this, I will explore how online dating ideologies will be explored through the digital media users who choose to involve themselves in online dating. An example of this in relation to film would be through the documentary style film Catfish (2010). Catfish is a perfect example of how meanings about digital media and its users form ideological theories in relation to the online dating world.

The ideological messages conveyed through the film, Catfish (2010) are the appeal of a visual reality, and a simulation of a real relationship, that ultimately isn’t what the initial participant expected. Catfish (2010) is a documentary that was produced as a warning to people who use the Internet with the intent to meet people online. The film follows two young filmmakers that document their friend, Nev’s, online relationship, which ultimately leads to an unexpected series of events. The films title ultimately and intentionally spoils the movie for viewers, as in the world of new media, the term ‘catfish’ relates to someone falsely portraying their identity online. A little background information is necessary to understand the ideological messages portrayed in the film. Basically, the protagonist, Nev is a New York based photographer that initially received a painting of one of his photos from a young girl Abby, from Ishpeming, Michigan. Nev and Abby form an online friendship through their art, with the help of Abby’s mother Angela, and Abby’s half-sister, Megan. Eventually, Megan and Nev begin talking, and form an online relationship. 

(Image courtesy of the guardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/dec/16/catfish-review>)

The ideological message of a ‘virtual reality’ is portrayed throughout the movie, particularly in one scene where Nev decides to go and confront the people he has been communicating with through technology, after the behavior of his online girlfriend, Megan, becomes quite suspicious. The ideological message of a ‘virtual reality’ is continuously present in this scene as “The internet is theoretically making Abby and her family vividly and instantly real even though they're hundreds of miles away, but it's precisely because an elaborate, visually detailed reality can so easily be conjured up via the web that it is so treacherous.” (Bradshaw 2010) In a way, the film could be portrayed as somewhat of a reality thriller within a maze of online deception for Nev’s journey to meet who he has been conversing with. The film portrays the ideological message of a virtual reality in a way to understand how easy it is to fall into something that isn’t real, out of the comfort that it brings, much like online dating does. Cooper (1999) proposes that “Sexuality is one aspect of human social behavior that is dramatically impacted by the Internet,” (p.6) and for Nev, being sexually attracted to Megan, is what obviously encouraged him to uphold this ‘virtual reality’ that was their online relationship.

“The development of technology in our modern era has not only blurred the lines between cultural identities (ultimately lending to an increased sense of globalisation), but has also empowered human beings with the ability to connect, interact and essentially become, capitalists. In essence, we have become prosumers.” (Ritzer, G, Jurgenson, N, 2010) With this, Ritzer has explain how through technology, all digital media users have all become prosumers mostly through social media websites, such as Facebook. Throughout the film, Nev and the women all converse mainly through Facebook, allowing them all easy access to choose how they want to be represented online. Most people would assume that the disposition of prosumption is manipulating individual originality by exploiting consumers; however, this has given users, as consumers, more freedom with how they express their own individuality through technology, which is highly evident throughout the film.

Prosumption is another ideological message expressed through the film as it raises questions about the issues of intellectual property online, especially in regards to identity theft, as the film explores how easy it is to steal work that has been published online. In one scene in the film, Nev receives several MP3’s of what is said to be Megan singing, which he eventually discovers, is pirated YouTube clips that Megan has stolen. In this particular scene of the film, Nev decides to confront Megan as he discovers that she has been lying about her singing through stolen YouTube clips that she had claimed to be her own. This scene brings up the ideological message of prosumption as “Prosumption involves a process of both production and consumption” (Ritzer, G, Jurgenson, N, 2010). Prosumption is evident in these scenes as Megan’s acts of theft are what initially leads Nev to question the authenticity of his girlfriend and her family in the first place, and eventually, he, along with the filmmakers, travel to Ishpeming to confront them. In the dark and thrilling confrontation, Nev discovers that he had technically been in an online relationship with Angela, Megan and Abby’s mother, as she had been the primary source of communication with Nev, as ‘Megan’ technically did not exist.

(Trailer courtesy of Youtube.com <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xp4M0IjzcQ>) 

Cooper 2004 suggests that, “With the invention of the Internet, the pursuit of sexual stimuli has become more accessible, affordable, and anonymous” and drawing from this statement, It is therefore not surprising that compulsive use of online dating is on the rise. Angela, who falsely represented herself online, turned out to be a shy, middle-aged woman, who turned to her online relationship with Nev as an escape from her day-to-day life, Cooper’s theory explains how easy it was for Angela, to mislead Nev into thinking she was ‘Megan.’ For Angela, the virtual reality that was her relationship with Nev was more appealing to her than reality. According to Cooper 2004 “As of the year 2000, it was estimated that 20 million people visited sexual websites monthly, and this number continues to increase with sex being the number one searched topic on the Internet.” The amount of time spent online is positively correlated with online sexual activity that is problematic and potentially compulsive in regards to how it interferes with other areas of the users’ life, particularly the users’ real-life relationships, that are ultimately put at risk.  Both Nev and Angela put their realties at risk, and by drawing on this we can understand why online dating is so appealing to online consumers such as Nev and Angela, therefore making it a popular, yet controversial outlet for sexual exploration.

The film explores many varied ideological messages to raise issues of pseudonymity in online communities, as a warning to online digital media users. It is evident to many digital media users that nowadays, online dating is not traditionally the safest option when looking for romance and socializing with people online, however, warnings such as the story behind the film Catfish (2010), gives digital media users the opportunity to use social media websites such as Facebook, and online dating websites, in the safest way possible, and to approach people online with caution.

References:

Bradshaw, P (2010) ‘Catfish - Review,’ in TheGuardian.com, Friday Decemeber 17, retrieved October 8, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/dec/16/catfish-review

Cooper, A., Delmonico, D. L., Griffin-Shelly, E., & Mathy, R. M. (2004). “Online sexual activity: An examination of potentially problematic behaviors.” in Sexual Addiction and Compulsion, pp. 129-143.

Cooper, A., Scherer, C. R., Boies, S. C., & Gordon, B. L. (1999). “Sexuality on the

Internet: From sexual exploration to pathological expression.” in Professional

Psychology: Research and Practice, pp. 154-164.

Ritzer, G, Jurgenson, N, 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol 10, number 1, pp. 13-36, retrieved October 8, 2013, <http://joc.sagepub.com/content/10/1/13>

Hollywoodization and Asianization

Nowadays, it isn’t unusual to see Hollywood films exploring numerous cultures through their blockbusters on the big screen, which leads us to understand how Hollywood is becoming more Asianized in order to expand their overall viewership. Wasser (1995) describes the process by which America now gains financial support for entertainment industries from purely domestic sources, not cross-culturally, as a form of Hollywood domination. This statement furthers the suggestion that Hollywood is becoming more and more asianized through typical cinema. Wasser (1995) believes by concentrating on the financing of American films the history of Hollywood trans-nationalization can be isolated, thus creating more of a diverse audience for typical Hollywood blockbusters, and in the end, giving Hollywood more revenue for the films that they endorse.

Klein (2004) has pointed out that the people in Hollywood have hired Asian actors, directors and choreographers because “they brought ability to produce a sophisticated, distinctive form of spectacle” for its globalized audiences especially Asian markets (p. 365). Immediately, when taking Klein’s thoughts into consideration, my mind overflows with the typical Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen movies that were huge hits, even in Hollywood, as they were action packed, but still exploring established Asian heritage, culture and traditions. Consequently, this is why Hollywood is continuously becoming more and more asianized in their films because as their market grows, Hollywood is given more of an opportunity to sell their work.

From this, we can form a discussion from a particular “Chinese style” animation, through the Disney blockbuster Mulan (1998). Mulan is the first Disney princess to be of East Asian decent and Mulan is also the first Disney movie, in which the female protagonist becomes her own hero, without having to wait for the prince to come and save her. In fact, I distinctly remember Mulan saving the guy (and the entire dynasty) in the end, talk about girl power!!! Nonetheless, Mulan is a perfect example of how Hollywood is becoming asianized in many ways, through popular animation. The movie depicts how a young woman, Fa Mulan, disguises herself as a man and takes her fathers place to fight the Hun invasion of China in order to spare her fathers life. While her name is "Fa Mulan" in the Disney film, in the actual Chinese legend her name is "Hua Mulan." The popular animation identifies Mulan with the Northern Wei dynasty, during the fifth or sixth century when its territory was frequently invaded. Mulan (1998) is an excellent example of the ‘Asianization of Hollywood’ as the films depicts traditional Chinese legend, customs and history throughout the entire film.

Mulan has often been criticized by the way the film was made as it can be perceived, more obviously to Chinese audiences, as a traditional western film in the midst of an Asian concept. Many audiences believed that this was unfair to the legend of ‘Hua Mulan’ as the Disney animated movie was essentially an Asian film idea incorporated into a western style, given the opportunity to suit Hollywood’s traditions and the traditional work of Disney, as Hollywood is the dominant film industry. Even if this is the case, Hollywood has created this strong and independent female lead, in Mulan, which integrates action, music, humor and legendary, which we cannot expect from usual Chinese cinema. As Klein (2004) suggests, there are different forms of Asianization and Mulan may be adapted into a western style character, but is still delivered as a strong and devoted character with exceptional traditional Chinese history, which is still very impressive to any audience.

Another well-known example of Disney portraying Asianization in Hollywood would be the Disney/Pixar animation movie ‘Up’. ‘Up’ is an American computer-animated comedy-adventure that centers on an elderly widower, Carl, and a young wilderness explorer named Russell, and together the two are determined to see the wilderness of South America, by tying thousands of balloons to Carl’s home. The young protagonist, Russell, is evidently, a half-American, half-Asian character, and is also voiced by a young, Japanese/American actor, Jordan Nagai. This is yet another example of how Disney is exploring Asianization through Hollywood cinema.  According to the Disney Wiki webpage, “Asian Americans have positively noted Pixar's first casting of an Asian lead character, in contrast to the common practice of casting non-Asians in Asian parts.” Veteran actor Aki Aleong has praised Disney and Pixar for their work and has previously stated in regards to the film, that,  "Disney/Pixar could have drawn Russell as a white character, but instead, they demonstrated their commitment to diversity.” Schwarzacher (2013)

Hollywood is a machine that is nowadays taking cultures from everywhere. It has been noted in the past that Hollywood often uses other cultures in its films as a way of appropriating world cultures by fitting them into America’s point of view, instead of actually depicting the heritage of choices’ national traditions and customs. Klein (2004) argues that Hollywood and a number of Asian film industries are being knitted together through the transnationalization of audiences, labor pools, distribution networks and production capital as Hollywood today remains heavily dependent on overseas audiences. Big Hollywood movies typically earn most of their money outside the United States of America and executives now consider foreign audiences a primary, rather than secondary, source of revenue (‘All-Time’, 2003; Groves, 2001a). Hollywood became most popular during the post-war 1980s decade, after that it originated many interesting ways to appeal to international audiences. Hollywood’s overall profit percentage has declined over the years, hence why many people involved in the world of Hollywood are seeking ways to change-up what is happening in Hollywood and are continuously generating new ideas that would appeal to world-wide audiences in order to accumulate more international profit.

Nostalgia is a media industry technique in order to appeal to audiences, and Hollywood uses and manipulates nostalgia to do so, especially through the use of who is cast in the big Hollywood blockbusters. These films intentionally turned ‘stars’ into big name ‘celebrities’ mainly by who they are, not how they perform. Given the example of Asianization in Hollywood, a well-known example would of course be Jackie Chan. But essentially, these celebrities are cast as a way to promote themselves and their name, rather than their performance, as the more famous an actor is, the more appealing they are to international audiences, and therefore, the more money Hollywood will profit from. Although Jackie Chan is a remarkable actor with many skills, many people associate him with his action roles, and his martial arts skills in these roles, in comparison to his performance skills.

In comparison to Asianization, Hollywoodization is the exact opposite. According to Klein (2004) today we are seeing a partial erosion of the boundaries that once separated Hollywood from local Asian film industries, and a consequent intertwining of industries on both sides of the Pacific. One thing we have to keep in mind when discussing cinema depicted in Hollywood and Asia, is that both ‘Hollywoodization and Asianization’ are continuously gathering ideas from what the other is producing in order to attain a high amount of viewership of their produced films, from the population, to make as much money as they can. ‘Hollywoodization and Asianization’ manipulate each others’ produced work in a continuous circle that can be described in the most plain way as two-way manipulation. As a result, individual films and entire industries can no longer be adequately understood within a national framework (Keil, 2001; Lewis, 2001; Staiger, 2002). Hollywood is becoming Asianized in diverse ways, while Asian film industries are in turn becoming Hollywoodized.

Hollywood is now a cultural machine with its ‘repackaging’ culture, it has manipulated Asian cinema to become more diverse in order to attract a more varied audience, creating the massive impact on how Asian film and culture was originally influencing Hollywood cinema. As Klein (2004) suggests, “there are different forms of Asianization”, and with this, it is obvious as to how we cannot deny that distinctive kinds of Asian rudiments can be immersed by Hollywood films and Asianization is an unavoidable outcome in the globalization progress.

References:

‘All-Time Top-Grossing Films at the World Box Office’ (2003) Variety 20–6 January: A6. Amnatcharoenrit, Sukanya (2002) ‘Thailand Movie Production Firm Rides Global Wave’, Bangkok Post 2 September.

Disney Wiki webpage <http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Up> Date accessed, October 8, 2013. 

Keil, Charlie (2001) ‘American Cinema in the 1990s and Beyond: Whose Country’s

Filmmaking is it Anyway?’, in Jon Lewis (ed.) The End of Cinema as We Know

It, pp. 53–60. New York: New York University Press,

Klein, C 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384. 

Schwarzacher, Lukas (2013) ‘Asian Films Gaining B.O. Favor’, Variety.com October 5.

Wasser, F 1995, ‘Is Hollywood America? The Trans-Nationalization of the American Film Industry’, Critical Studies in Mass Communicaion, pp. 423-437.

Gif’s courtesy of tumblr.com

Video courtesy of channelapa.com via youtube.com (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYf6UtLeH1o&feature=player_embedded)

Hollywoodiztion and Asianization

Wasser (1995) describes the process by which America now gains financial support for entertainment industries from purely domestic sources, not cross-culturally, as a form of Hollywood domination. This statement furthers the suggestion that Hollywood is becoming more and more Asianized through typical cinema. Wasser (1995) believes by “…concentrating on the financing of American films the history of Hollywood trans-nationalization can be isolated”. Thus creating more of a diverse audience for typical Hollywood blockbusters.

Klein (2004) points out that the Hollywood hired Asian actors, directors and choreographers because “they brought ability to produce a sophisticated, distinctive form of spectacle” for its globalized audiences especially Asian markets (p. 365). Immediately, when taking Klein’s thoughts into consideration, my mind overflows with Jackie Chan movies that were Hollywood hits. Hence, why Hollywood is continuously becoming more and more Asianzied nowadays.

From this, we can form a discussion of a particular “Chinese style” animation, through the Disney blockbuster Mulan (1998) Mulan is the first Disney movie, in which the female protagonist, becomes her own hero, without having to wait for the prince to come and save her. In fact, I remember Mulan saving the guy in the end, talk about girl power!!! Nonetheless, Mulan is a perfect example of how Hollywood is becoming Asianized in many ways, through popular animation. The movie depicts how a young woman, Mulan, disguises herself as a man and takes her fathers place to fight the Hun invasion of China, which identifies Mulan with the Northern Wei dynasty, during the fifth or sixth century when its territory was frequently invaded.

Hollywood has manipulated Asian cinema to become more diverse in order to attract a more varied audience, creating the massive impact on how Asian film and culture was originally influencing Hollywood cinema. As Klein (2004) suggests, “there are different forms of Asianization”, and with this, it is obvious as to how we cannot deny that distinctive kinds of Asian rudiments can be immersed by Hollywood films and Asianization is an unavoidable outcome in the globalization progress.

References:

Klein, Christina 2004, ‘Martial arts and globalisation of US and Asian film industries’, Comparative America Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 360-384. 

Gif’s courtesy of tumblr.com

The Specular Celebrity Culture

The idea of no privacy has become the norm for most celebrities, as privacy is something that you usually don’t associate with in regards to the lives of celebrities. It is undeniable that celebrities are aware that through the uproar of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other similar mediums in this century, getting access to personal and private information on our favorite celebrities is much easier than necessary. And “with these new media platforms greater portions of the populace are now constructing online public personas.” (Marshal, 2010)

Marshal (2010) describes the term ‘specular’ as “a two-way mirror projection on to the screen and the circulation of and interaction with those images and texts into the wider world.” With this, we can discuss the impressions that celebrities are leaving on us through social media. On our beloved celebrities social media profiles, they’re projecting their personas out to the world. But unlike us, their beautiful black and white profile picture was taken by a world-renowned photographer, it’s rare that you’d see a typical ‘shameless selfie’ taken at arms length and edited with a few filters to look a little more appealing by someone such as Emma Watson.

Emma Watson grew up under the spotlight, so ultimately she would have changed in the response to the rise of social media, since for her, growing up from child star to young celebrity adult was under constant surveillance. Marshall (2010) describes our modern world as “a well-developed specular economy whose foundations are derived from the much longer tradition of celebrity culture and whose repercussions relate to an emerging comfortability with a society of surveillance.” With this we can understand how the privacy of celebrities such as Emma Watson, was no way near as valued as any other individual. But of course, nothing stopped Emma Watson from admitting in an interview to getting extremely drunk, which many celebrities wouldn’t have the nerve to do in risk of putting a damper on their reputation. This is understood as celebrities are not only representing themselves as they “evolve into a persona, then a brand, then an empire, with the business imperative of grow or die — a process of expansion and commodification that transgresses boundaries by substituting celebrity for institutions.” (The New York Times, 2013)

The only downside of interactivity and virtuality comes precautions such as being way too engaged in a virtual world, which can lead to misinterpretations, and false expectations. And as we all know, the media depicts people as they choose, by manipulating what we see online.

References:

Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502

Packer, G 2013, “Celebrating Inequality” in The New York Times, May 19 2013, Accessed, September 3 2013,

< http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/opinion/inequality-and-the-modern-culture-of-celebrity.html?pagewanted=all>

Gif's courtesy of tumblr.com

Twitter and Virtuality

Twitter is undeniably one of the most popular social media outlets of this century. This particular media culture allows people to have a small but expressive 140 character rant, per tweet. Twitter also gives celebrities the opportunity to casually interact with their fan bases, and as a twitter user who extensively follows her favorite celebrities, I cannot deny the immense need and hope for a celebrity to acknowledge your clever and witty response to their tweet, in which they most likely will never respond to, (yes it is disappointing and heartbreaking all at once.) I am an extensive Twitter user. I check it first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and about a billion times in between. And I post unnecessary things about what I’m doing, purely out of habit.

Twitter is, fundamentally, a strange, nearly surreal service. And being a nearly surreal service, it is understood that what makes Twitter appealing is the way users can manipulate their identity through it. There are no rules about what you want to say on Twitter, and many users would have no hesitance in taking advantage of this. In a way, Twitter can be seen as not only a surreal service, but a virtual reality. Michael Heim described virtual reality as “an event or entity that is real in effect but not in fact” (Raessens, J, 2005). This completely ties in with how users operate Twitter, however they desire. 

In regards to computer games, virtuality is described as “the possibility to stimulate virtual worlds a gamer can explore.” Again, users can utilize Twitter as an escape from everyday life, or their everyday persona. I have found, in my personal experiences, people I follow on Twitter are so much more hilarious online, in comparison to their humor in person. It makes me question, why is this? I have come to the conclusion that many people are in fact, using Twitter as a form of escapism. Ultimately, this is what Twitter is about. The ‘Twitter-verse’ fundamentally is an opportunity for us to post, favorite (like), retweet whatever we choose. The fact that we can choose how to represent our personality through what is on our Twitter profiles beautifully depicts a virtual reality.  

Reference:

Raessens, J. 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388

Community and Culture in the Blogosphere

Blogging is an incredibly popular tool as a way of self-expression nowadays. Many people blog as a way of expressing their individualism, interests and hobbies, and according to Lim (2012), “blogs have become a vehicle to produce a new communication sphere, allowing individuals to broadcast their own social and political commentaries and to build networks of individuals of similar interests.” Personally, I can understand and relate to how blogging is appealing to people. I myself used to run a blog in high school as a way of expressing my artwork without being judged on what I drew. I loved sharing my work online; It was a great way to express my little hidden talent. Ultimately, the blogosphere is an incredible network that hasn’t been given enough credit.

(a quick sketch I drew in year 12)

The blogosphere is not only a network, but also a community within itself. And yet Cyber communities can be therefore seen as cultural (Bell, D, 2000) as well. Now when I first thing of cyber communities, I don’t automatically think of how I used to blog my artwork throughout high school. Somehow, when I think about cyber communities, I think about online games such a The Sims and World of Warcraft. Now I’m happy to admit to my unhealthy obsession with The Sims when I was in primary school, because for me it was a place I could escape, as unusual as it sounds.

It’s not surprising that like me, many people choose to express themselves through cyber communities as a way to escape real life and create something that the perceive as a ‘better’ verve. For example, in my own version of The Sims, my parents were happily married and my dog was still alive. But as sad as it seems, expressing problems through a virtual community, really benefitted for me, as most likely for many others. Blogs and cyber communities give people a chance to escape and express themselves completely free of stress and peer judgment, and what could be better than that?

References:

Bell, D, 2000, ‘An Introduction to Cyber Cultures’, Routledge, London

Lim, M, 2012, ‘Life is Local in the Imagined Global Community: Islam and Politics in the Indonesian Blogosphere’, Journal of Media and Religion, vol. 11, pp 127-140

Photo 1 courtesy of me

Photo 2 courtesy of capsule computers.com.au

Prosumption

Prosumption involves a process of both production and consumption (Ritzer, G, Jurgenson, N, 2010). After reading Ritzer and Jurgenson’s article on Consumer Culture (2010), I realised that like many other students, I am a definite prosumer. I believe that ‘prosumption’ has evidently grown and become more popular in today’s society due to the rise of social media. Unfortunately, I am very ashamed of what I am a prosumer of. It’s nail polish. I don’t know why, but I am constantly looking for new shades and styles of nail polish and/or nail stickers that I can’t help but add my growing collection. I’m ashamed of my guilty pleasure simply because it’s the most obtuse and ridiculous obsession to have, nonetheless, I’m addicted

However, I am not completely at fault for my pointless addiction. OPI, other known as, Odontorium Products Inc, is one of the most ludicrously priced nail polish brands there is, and of course, it’s my personal favorite. In 2011, OPI introduced an iphone application that was a virtual “try-it-on” studio for their collection of nail colours, to help give users a virtual look on what the nail polish would look like on their skin tone. So in hindsight, they basically created an app for people too lazy to go and look at the nail polishes in person. Yes I am one of those lazy people, and yes I loved the app. With this app, OPI have encouraged my prosumer nature, giving me the ability to easily browse then purchase their products.

“The development of technology in our modern era has not only blurred the lines between cultural identities (ultimately lending to an increased sense of globalisation), but has also empowered human beings with the ability to connect, interact and essentially become, capitalists. In essence, we have become prosumers.” (Ritzer, G, Jurgenson, N, 2010) With this, Ritzer has explain how through technology, we have all become prosumers mostly through social media websites. Most people would assume that the disposition of prosumption is manipulating individual originality by exploiting consumers; however, I believe that it has given us, as consumers, more freedom with how we express our own individuality and ourselves through technology.

References:

Image: http://www.couturing.com/top-ten-beauty-apps/

Ritzer, G, Jurgenson, N, 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol 10, number 1, pp. 13-36, retrieved August 20^th 2013, http://joc.sagepub.com/content/10/1/13

MODULE 1 EXERCISE – TOPIC 2 REFLECTIVE TEXT ON ‘IDENTITY’

ALC201 - EXPLORING NEW MEDIA: USERS, SETTINGS, AND IMPLICATIONS

SHELBY TRELOAR 212191842

DUE: MONDAY 12/5 5PM

MODULE 1 EXERCISE – TOPIC 2 REFLECTIVE TEXT ON ‘IDENTITY’

My online profiles are a representation of how I choose to present myself in the online world, through many websites such as, About.me, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogspot and Instagram, I maintain quite a balanced online identity. As a young student, I, like many others, have grown up using many technological outlets such as social media websites to portray an ‘online identity’ to my peers. Personally, I choose to represent myself on the Internet in the most respectable way possible for myself, as I need to be comfortable with what personal information I am allowing others to see and read. I enjoy having a balance between my private and professional identities throughout varied social media sites, as I know respected family members that live overseas can view my profiles.

“Self-identity is explicitly made a matter of ones assorted enthusiasms and fandom’s.” (Hills 2010, p. 120) With this research, I can agree on some levels. I agree on the basis that some users mainly use some social media outlets to express their personal enthusiasms, as I personally use my private twitter account to do so. “But the self is not just presented through fan consumer identities’; given the centrality of the Profile picture, users tend to update these frequently, and they have become a short hand for changing, up-to-the-minute performances of self.” (Hills 2010, p.120) Drawing on this knowledge, I agree that many users continuously update their Profile picture to keep their peers updated with their personal lives. I however, use the same Profile picture for my school-based profiles, such as About.me and Blogspot as it is easier for me to differ between profiles used for assessments, and personal use. 

My About.me profile serves as a general homepage that provides links to most of my social media sites. The sites that I have included on this page are one’s that I consider the most professional and accurate representation of my online identity.  According to Marshall, there is a certain ‘necessity of linking one’s own identities into some sort of pattern’ (2010, p. 42). This demonstrates why I use a platform such as About.me, and how it helps me differ between my personal and school-based online profiles. 

Sullivan (2011, p. 56) states, “The pervasive use of Facebook.com and Myspace.com is remarkable” mainly in university students, I agree with this statement, because as a university student, I enjoy being able to access social media sites such as these so I can connect with family and friends around the world. “These sites are organised to connect friends, but also provide techniques for checking out others… These kinds of sites describe the wider proliferation of the presentation of self.” (Marshall 2010, p. 119) Personally, I am grateful to hate platforms such as these so I can stay connected with the people I do not see regularly, and also to create an online persona that I am comfortable for other people to see.

Through this unit, I hope to expand on my school-based online profiles as I rather enjoy blogging and discussing my opinions on issues drawn through research, as I do in others units such as ALC215. In future weeks, I hope to expand my knowledge of digital identities through the media, and I also hope that I find the encouragement and enthusiasm to continue to use one of my social media outlets as a discussion board for my own personal opinions on research found throughout the unit.

References:

Hills, M 2009, ‘Case study: social networking and self-identity’, in Creeber, G and Martin, R (eds.), Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Open University Press, Maidenhead, pp. 119-120.

Marshall, P D 2010, ‘The promotion and presentation of the self: celebrity as marker of presentational media’, Celebrity Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 42-44.

Sullivan, C 2011, ‘The role and legal nature of digital identity in commercial transactions’, in Digital Identity, University of Adelaide Press, Adelaide, pp. 56-57.

Photos courtesy of myself from Facebook

File Sharing

My generation, otherwise known as Gen Y, is known for the vast amount of online file sharing. When I think about it, most people my age are illegally file sharing every single day. Nowadays, file sharing is not something I would even think twice about! It’s just an easy way to access and share things online with friends such as music, movies, software and so much more. “The development of the Internet and MP3s have created an easily adopted mode of distribution, making it easier for users to upload and download files from a network of other users alike.” (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010). I completely agree with this statement, because since the introduction of the Internet, sharing online files is now an easy manner of allotment of anything on the Internet. Doing so, many ethical issues have been brought up and widely debated throughout the social compass when people are continuously and illegally downloading files online, diminishing the need for people to purchase things such as music, therefore, putting artists and organisations involved with the artist at financial risk as their product is being illegally downloaded and shared instead of purchased.

Martin describes  “One tactic used is the Devaluation versus validation tactic which outlines how powerful perpetrators try to devalue targets by applying derogatory labels to them, disseminating discrediting information or setting them up in compromising situations” (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010) and with this we can discover how file sharers are basically stealing their product without paying for it.

My opinion on the matter is quite biased because I’m not going to pretend that I’m not guilty of file sharing. But condemning file shares as criminals seems very far-fetched as the crime is continuously being committed world wide, each and every day, and people are not ashamed of it, unless they get caught of course.

In my research I found an article about a young American woman who was sued by an American recording industry for illegally downloading music in 2006 and had been ordered to shell out $1.5 million in damages. “Of the hundreds of songs found on her hard drive in 2006, which she downloaded and shared on the peer-to-peer music sharing program Kazaa, 24 songs were deemed to infringe on Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) copyright.” (TorrontoSun, 2010) When I first read this I was completely flabbergasted. $1.5 million for downloading music seems completely ridiculous and pinning her down as a ‘criminal’ seems a bit over the top. Therefore, in my own opinion, the Devaluation versus validation tactic may not be extremely persuasive in convincing people that all file sharers should be deemed as criminals, because I honestly cannot imagine how many criminals I wouldn’t know.

References:

Martin, B, Moore, C, Salter, C, 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12

TorrontoSun, 2010, 'Woman ordered to pay $1.5M for downloading songs', November 4, retrieved August 6 2013, <http://www.torontosun.com/tech/news/2010/11/04/15967161.html>

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