The second 'life'

The second life, a world of money, sex, gambling and retail- it’s no different to the real world, but then is that what were looking for? What is the real world anymore? It seems what was once a parallel of real and ‘unreal’ is slowly overlapping. It wont be long before were lost in a paradigm shift and unsure of where we belong.

In the beginning I thought the attraction was one of self consciousness; someone’s ability to morph themselves into an alias that replicated a person they wished they were. They take the form of an avatar and create friendships and have sex via this virtual world, to compensate for their lack of, within the real world. Yet after some very INTERETSING research I found there is a whole other side to this world, that sees advertising boom, companies marketing and even a currency that can be converted into US dollars (ABC net, 2012).

Businesses use the site to not only promote their products but also sell. American apparel have stores where people can buy shoes for their avatars, Canadian mobile teller Telus sell mobiles. This is done so for market research, trend spotting and to generate feedback, before a product is released worldwide (Spicoli 2006). As Rheingold discusses; businesses can benefit from sharing services and ideas in a virtual world, and the second life provides this outlet. Finally I am beginning to see some productivity to ‘the second life’, rather than just a space for people to hide behind an avatar identity.

Through pure amazement that the ‘second life’ even existed I decided to create my own sim for a mini-experiment. As any keen Gen-Y-ian would do, I delved myself even further into the social media world:

 

Meet my avatar, Tara31 (note: i do not have blue eyes, or blonde hair, but I thought she looked prettier that way)

In the beginning I found it bizarre, as I was even able to navigate my avatar around using the keyboard. The further I progressed through the introductory pages the more the avatar was beginning to feel apart of me- I didn’t like it.

Then another avatar approached me and I had my first conversation; it was brief, they complimented me on my hair and we went our separate ways- I was flattered.

A few days passed and I idled my way through the second life, having conversations and visiting stores (window shopping of course). But there was one aspect of this ‘life’ that intrigued me- sex! It was beyond me that it was possible, yet it was so prevalent via the site and I found myself (my avatar) being asked for sex daily (I did not partake)! According to research in the month of December avatars had sex 680,000 times a day (Clevvergames 2012) CRAZY!

As my week on the second life came to an end, I found myself attached to my avatar, and I could also see how this site could take over and consume a person- I destroyed my avatar right away.  Theorist Baudrillard emphasizes this type of hyperreality can disconnect us from real emotions and It scared me how you could create your ideal world in cyberspace, and that people were dabbling financially within it. By the end of the week I was emotionally attached, yet to what? And to whom? This hyperreality engulfed me and I found myself distancing myself from the world around me. As a society we are already so caught up in social media such as Facebook and Twitter, but this was beyond anything I had ever experienced, and if I want to live my own life, it is better that I steer clear of the ‘second’.

Clevvergames (2012) The Sims have more Sex then You. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlBkhZgaGNU [Accessed: 28 January 2013].

ABC net: Four Corners (2012) You Only Live Twice. [video online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/default_full.htm [Accessed: 28 January 2013].

Spicoli, S. (2006) Introduction to the Second Life (Historical View). [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q [Accessed: 28 January 2013].

HERO/ TERRORIST- sense the irony

“Hero to untold millions, public enemy #1 to the most powerful government in the world.” (ABC 2011) this is describing a man named Julian Assange. I like this Assange character, I may have only met him today (figuratively, of course) but he had me interested from the get-go, despite his creepy demeanor.

He is the leader of the organisation/ website Wikileaks, whose aim is to expose government scandals and share information to the public (Wikileaks 2010). He is described as a whistleblower, activist, terrorist and hacktivist but what about inspirational, courageous, hero or just plain crazy. Lets look at this more in depth:

• ·      A whistleblower: an informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.
• ·      An Activist: advocating or engaged in activism
• ·      A Terrorist: a person who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims
• ·      A Hacktivist: the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends.

This is how I see it; he goes about his work by exposing wrongdoing (whistle-blowing), acting out against government enterprises in hope of making a change (activist), and he does all of this through the use of computer and computer networks, as a means to protest (hacktivist/ terrorist). Yet is it strange that I still find myself in awe of him. I think, as the ‘little guy’, I cannot help but feel that this courageous man is doing his bit for community and ensuring as a public, we are AWARE!

Digital activism is at the heart of Wikileaks, Assange and his team utilize technology outlets to share information to widespread audiences and a fast rate. Pertinently speaking, Assange would be a threat to the government with or without social media platforms. There would be numerous networks or radio stations ready to PAY money for the information Assange holds. While one may speculate that Wikileaks is reducing government corruption through the activist website, who’s to say the government are not just becoming more careful where they ‘leave’ their information?

Although this was not the case after a recent government scandal; Wikileaks came into the spot light after the ‘whistle-blower’ organisation posted 391, 832 classified Iraq war documents on its website (Greenberg 2010). With these, came the video of the ‘collateral murder’, where you watch US soldiers gun down unarmed Iroquoian men and a truck holding two children (ABC 2011). This video caused great worry for government bodies and the public was demanding answers. This is Assange’s goal exactly; expose and bring power to the people.

If information such as this continues to be exposed due to this website and people continue to support Wikileaks, the government should be worried. Wikileaks relies on the power of the people; if it falls another company WILL begin. Forbes magazine states in relation to Wikileaks future,  “corruption institutes may come and go and may stop an individual, but they cannot stop us all” (Greenberg, 2010).

HERE, HERE!

ABC.net.au (2011) The Forgotten Man. [video online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110214/leaks/default.htm [Accessed: 21 January 2013].

Greenberg, A. (2010) The Future of Wikileaks. Forbes, [online] 22 November. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1122/focus-andy-greenberg-wikileaks-classified-social-remix.html [Accessed: 21 January 2013].

News.com.au (2012) Julian Assange. [image online] Available at: http://www.news.com.au/technology/julian-assange-fate-could-be-revealed-on-twitter/story-e6frfro0-1226263858599 [Accessed: 21 January 2013].

Wikileaks.org (2010) About. [online] Available at: http://wikileaks.org/About.html [Accessed: 23 Jan 2013].

Politicians and Social Media

POLITICIANS HAVE LOST THEIR WAY: Naïve no more!

The world of politics is a foreign place to me. The way I see it, I like how things are going in my life, so the government must be doing a good job. Yes, this is naïve, a little controversial, and also quite sad or even self-centered. But the rule of politics is, that each individual has a say; and I say… (Stare blankly at computer)

As I stare I ask myself my self over and over “what do I say?” I was stumped. But that was nothing a little research couldn’t inspire.

I begin looking at Obama, his accomplishment in reaching a far wider and younger demographic during his campaign was commendable. Through social media tools and meme’s such as ‘Obama girl’ (obamagirl, 2013) his campaign skyrocketed into a victorious success. The further I researched the more prevalent I saw social media becoming an active part of campaigning for politicians with  “54% of adults used the internet for political purposes in the last cycle”(pewinternet.org, 2011).

But more interestingly I could not help but notice the pattern of politicians attempting to entertain their audiences. Between all the promises and future aspirations, politicians were increasingly attempting to win their audiences through humor and entertainment. They began personalizing and proliferating themselves, rather than traditionally giving speeches and making appearances, these politicians were creating connections and providing entertainment. An example is Julia Gillard, on an interview on the Kyle and Jackie O show on 2dayfm (NewsOnABC, 2010). Gillard discuses her campaign “See the real Julia Gillard”, that attempts to portray a lady of the people, incorporating humor and a casual essence to her being. Her technique is to entertain her audience and illustrate herself as an everyday citizen, in turn attracting a younger audience and downplaying her hegemonic power that some may find intimidating. Even Kevin Rudd who lost to Gillard, has an active Facebook page that he continues to proliferate himself on. His latest status said, “Feel like some Boxing Day shopping? A Ruddy Future T-shirt will satisfy your craving” (Facebook) I cannot help but laugh at his enthusiasm, I’m sure his made a big profit from those T-shirts! (If you want to see more follow this link, they come in many sizes and colours):

https://kruddtshirt.myshopify.com/

On a serious now; it is examples like these that illustrate the shifting attitudes of politicians toward their image to the public. Through all the entertainment though, have politicians lost their credibility? While some say ‘yes’ others say ‘who cares’ but figures show there has been a rise in political interest since the utilization of social media (Huckfeldt & Sprague 1995). Citizens now have the ability to connect personally with politicians giving them the opportunity to share their opinions and support their causes. Watch the video below for a further insight:

This video touches upon Rheingolds theory of a virtual community, and how citizens can amalgamate together to voice their opinions and be heard by like-minded people. It discusses the benefits of withholding a strong public image by sharing ideas and connecting with audiences.

As technology progresses, politicians will continue to objectify themselves to becoming this comical, yet professional, casual, yet serious, everyday citizen, yet king of the people. So finally here is my opinion, politicians are loosing their credibility, while they are successfully reaching wider audiences they continue to blind sight the community from the ‘real’ government by painting a picture of your average Joe with all the credentials to run a country. While I commend them on their efforts and enthusiasm, at the end of the day I want someone who is knowledgeable and trust-worthy, not some red head that likes the Bulldogs and taking her dogs for walks in the mornings

…Just saying

Facebook (n.d.) Kevin Rudd and Labor. [online] Available at: http://www.facebook.com/KevinRuddMP [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

Huckfeldt, R. and Sprague, J. (1995) Citizens, Politics and Social Communications. [e-book] New York: Cambridge University Press. p.81-95. Available through: Google Scholar http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xdAB_0-c0ZcC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=politicians+and+social+media&ots=uOqUzEwZR4&sig=nXVXvPnLjz3VD4J_b1_P7EhrQPs#v=onepage&q=politicians%20and%20social%20media&f=false [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

NewsonABC (2010) New Julia meets Kyle and Jackie O. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E99e4IOwIXo [Accessed: 12 January 2013].

Obamagirl.com (2013) Obama Girl. [online] Available at: http://obamagirl.com/ [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

Pewinternet.org (2011) The Internet and Campaign 2010 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. [online] Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/The-Internet-and-Campaign-2010.aspx [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

Tvochannel (2010) SOCIAL MEDIA: Politics 2.0 - The Power of the Citizen. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrczoLm7Es [Accessed: 14 Jan 2013].

From mobile phones to twitter, they are all interconnected. I proliferate myself on twitter, have the application on my phone and receive email updates from their administration. Just as I was with my mobile, I’m obsessed! Although I am not interested in talking about my experience today...

Twitter is a social networking site that allows 140-character expression to update your followers with what you are doing. However twitter is being utilised for reasons other then socially engaging. Celebrities are using the site to proliferate their status, and it is also being used as a communication tool in crisis situations. People are now able to band together and unify in a disaster, and fans are able to follow their favourite celebrities and praise their being (If only I were talented!)

Celebrities are the first to exploit twitter for communication, they use twitter to expand their profile and increase public awareness. They propagate themselves effectively utilizing social media tools, prolonging their celebrity standing. Twitter has become one of the most popular tools; take Kim Kardashians for example, she has 14, 809, 525 followers (twitter), making her one of the most followed user on the site. Psychologist David Giles writes, “The ultimate modern celebrity is the member of the public who becomes famous solely through media involvement” (Bainbridge et al. 2011). This suggests that the success of a celebrity relies upon media attention, however the public sphere withholds power, the audience is skilled in the art of celebrity making and celebrity breaking, theorist Ellis Cashmore insists, the consumers have control (Cashmore 2006). This is where twitter holds its appeal; it allows these celebrities to create a connection with their audience and accumulate followers, even if they withhold no particular skill (cough*, Kim Kardashian, cough*).

Cashmore argues, society spends more time following the lives of celebrities than they do ‘legitimate’ news (Cashmore 2006). Ironically celebrities twitter following is dramatically higher than news following (twitter). Although twitter users, whether they realize it or not, are twittering news stories everyday. Sharing opinions, discussing stories and politics and even updating people on their day, are all examples of people sharing news stories, no matter how insignificant.

Although this does delve further, and in the past it has saved lives. People are now unifying through hash tagging on twitter in a time of crisis, they are also updating events in real-time and are sourced as genuine information. For example: The number of tweets sent out of Tokyo after a massive earthquake in 2011 was over a thousand a minute (Meire 2012):

This is a screen shot of how crisis mapping saved lives in Haiti during the earthquake. Twitter has grown astronomically due to its ability to upload news in real-time and news bureaus are now searching Twitter daily in order to find news stories, BBC recently issued an all points bulletin to its news staff telling them to check social media regularly, “today content is passed on through social media by the audience and that has real credibility” BBC World Service Director Peter Horrocks (Horrocks 2010)

So today when I reflect it is not on my own personal experience with twitter but how hegemonic groups are using Twitter to enhance their profiles and reach their audiences. Also how the everyday citizen can now make an impact in the world- through their 140-character voice! Twitter is an evolution, and as long as the world has celebrities and disasters, Twitter will continue to be influential.

References:

Bainbridge, J, Goc, N, & Tynan, L 2011, Media and Journalism: New Approaches to Theory and Practice, 2nd edn,Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.

Cashmore, E. (2006). Celebrity culture. (p. 312). USA: Taylor and Francis E-library. Retrieved from <http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=r0zjIYHbz_IC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=celebrity/ culture ellis cashmore&ots=t45Cpc-PcI&sig=mM8XHuLT_jVl4sBEB6VpSk9sShs>

"Discover Tweets." Twitter. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http:/https://twitter.com/>.

Horrocks, P 2010, “BBC tells news staff to embrace social media”, weblog, viewed 3 December 2012, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/feb/10/bbc-news-social-media>

Meier, P, 2012, Twitter Screenshot,  How crisis mapping saved lives in Haiti, viewed 9 December 2012,  <http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/02/crisis-mapping-haiti/>

The evolution of Twitter, [Online image] viewed 15 July 2012, <http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/history-of-twitter-timeline/>.    

The Goldilocks effect

                                                

I stare at my computer with my phone in my peripheral; it is on silent but will courteously buzz when it requires attention. No matter where I am that soft vibration will distract me, like an arm or a leg, it is always at my side.

I cannot help but sense the irony in theorist Donna Haraway’s fascination, that one-day humans would be a part of everyday technology- a cyborg- she refers it (Penley, C & Ross, A 1990). While it is not a physical part of my being, physiologically it would feel as though I were missing a limb if I did not have it. While, in my opinion, Haraway’s theory was crass, she inspired me to conduct a mini experiment and go a day without my mobile.

From the moment I woke up that morning I felt naked and anxious without my phone. I spent the day with a knot in my stomach, wondering what everyone else was doing. It was not that something bad may have happened and no one could contact me that worried me, it was that I was not tuned in with all my friends. My mobile is my ‘social’ security blanket; I have become so self-obsessed with knowing people’s whereabouts that I have lost sight of myself. I felt like nobody because there was nobody to connect with, I've lost the ability to be alone.

Theorist Sherry Turkle discusses a process called ‘The Goldilocks’ Effect’; the idea of being not to close but not to far from one another. When we loose connection we panic, become anxious and fidget; all things I experienced during my experiment. She further contextualises this by stating “I share therefore I am” the idea that we use technology to define ourselves, share our feelings and stay in touch. (TED, 2012)

When I first listened to her video I thought this statement was an over exaggeration, but my opinion changed after having my phone stripped from me for a day and the feelings of anxiety I experienced. I did not feel like a ‘whole’ being because no one knew what I was feeling. It is like that age old question ‘if a tree falls in a forest but there’s no one there to hear it, did it make a sound?’ We have become so consumed in technology and sharing that we have lost sight of ourselves. Yes, the tree made a sound just because no one was there to hear it, it will still make an impact. This metaphor is now a way of life, do we still make an impact when we are not connected and there is nobody there to hear us?

Technology will only develop further and new trends and social media platforms will be created. After this week I have a confession; I am a living, breathing cyborg. I am not proud yet I am no longer naïve,  my mobile device is a part of my being.

Reference: 

mobiledevices.jpg 2009 [ONLINE] <http://www.google.com.au/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=625&q=mobile+obsession&oq=mobile+obsession&gs_l=img.3..0i24j0i5i24.20071.24351.0.24573.16.15.0.1.1.0.228.1333.1j5j2.8.0...0.0...1ac.1.Q-7Bxn1NTFw#hl=en&tbo=d&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=mobile+device&oq=mobile+device&gs_l=img.3..0l10.16760.18654.2.18755.13.11.0.2.2.0.227.2084.0j10j1.11.0...0.0...1c.1.42AjrkwOc4E&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=e915e9dc76db3059&bpcl=39314241&biw=1280&bih=625>

Penley, C & Ross, A 1990, Cyborgs at large: Interview with Donna Haraway, Vol. 25 no. 26, pp. 8-23

Sherry Turkle: Connected but alone? 2012, online video, TED,  US, viewed 30 november 2012 <http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html>

This blog got me thinking:

There is a big wide world out there, and now there are dynamic new ways of exploring it, but have we become to consumed by emerging technologies and social media platforms? Watch this video to give yourself an idea of just how consumed we have become in what is commonly referred to as the 'cyber world': 

 A day in the life of Social Media

Video source: A day in the life of social media, viewed 14 August 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iReY3W9ZkLU&feature=fvwrel>.

I'd like to say I am the minority BUT:

I am your stereotypical genY girl; I have a Facebook profile, I tweet daily, Instagram regularly and visit blogs religiously. I am constantly looking to reveal, update and upload my life for all the world to see; it's an obsession, and it self-admittedly consumes me.

NOW I find myself creating a blog; it is dangerously addictive, yet an exciting, innovative idea to explore different avenues of completing assessments.

For the pupose of my blog I would like to incorporate personal experience into discussion. I would like to create a space where I can discuss my world with others based on learning materials. I am just nervous that this is the beginning of a new social media addiction!!