Friday, April 30, 2010
Type oneself into being- Social Networking
Type oneself into being- Social Networking
The pervasiveness of social networking sites has become everyday and is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of communication. While online communities have been popular for the last ten years, social networking has become a recent phenomenon. Social networking sites are centred around people rather than a specific interests. They are said to be ‘ego centric’ networks with the individual at the centre of their network. Dana Boyd an academic that has centred her career on the effects of social networking sites has noted that the bulk of SNS’s focus on impression management and friendship performance. Boyd (2004) has suggested that ‘public displays of connection’ serve as important identity signals that help people navigate through a networked social world, in that an extended network may serve to validate identity information presented in ones profile. Most sited encourage accurate representations of participants. There is a sense that a profile will never be real, that they are a projection of one’s best self or a selective presentation of a person.
Another aspect of self presentation is the articulation of friendship links, which serve as identity makers for the owner of profiles. MySpace has leveraged Peoples willingness to connect to interesting people to find targets for their spam. Friends on social networking sites are not the same as friends in real life. The context of friends is reliant on behavioural norms, but a social networking site seems to create a different set of norms, in that a SNS user may be behaving in a way that is a reaction to a perceived audience. They are effectual performing, in that a status update may be a means of attracting attention and go beyond the basic conception of letting the world know what they’re doing.
Most social networking sites support pre existing relations; sites like Facebook are designed to foster existing relations rather than soliciting new friends. The relationship may be based on weak ties but typically there is a common offline element, like that of a college of work place. An advantage of SNS is that they allow a network of people to socialise in a borderless space and in unmediated environment. There is much discourse to support that SNS promote sociability. However there are a great number of privacy concerns, this may be of particular concern for younger users. There is a sense of disconnect between users awareness of the dangerous of the internet and their actual behaviour. Users often reveal there where about but fail to realise that a wide variety of their audience can access this. The public nature of the internet seems to be over looked or underestimated. There is very much a lack of responsibility in what people type into their being, in that a passing comment on the internet is recorded and can be liable, there have been many cases of employees trashing their bosses only to be fired on the grounds of defamation of character.
Aside from privacy concerns, the positive uses of SNS has benefited many and allowed one to keep in touch with estranged friends and family, similarly people living abroad or away from their primary social networks can keep in touch online and remain a part of people’s lives despite living hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Sources: Judith Donath and danah boyd (2004, October). "Public displays of connection."
The pervasiveness of social networking sites has become everyday and is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of communication. While online communities have been popular for the last ten years, social networking has become a recent phenomenon. Social networking sites are centred around people rather than a specific interests. They are said to be ‘ego centric’ networks with the individual at the centre of their network. Dana Boyd an academic that has centred her career on the effects of social networking sites has noted that the bulk of SNS’s focus on impression management and friendship performance. Boyd (2004) has suggested that ‘public displays of connection’ serve as important identity signals that help people navigate through a networked social world, in that an extended network may serve to validate identity information presented in ones profile. Most sited encourage accurate representations of participants. There is a sense that a profile will never be real, that they are a projection of one’s best self or a selective presentation of a person.
Another aspect of self presentation is the articulation of friendship links, which serve as identity makers for the owner of profiles. MySpace has leveraged Peoples willingness to connect to interesting people to find targets for their spam. Friends on social networking sites are not the same as friends in real life. The context of friends is reliant on behavioural norms, but a social networking site seems to create a different set of norms, in that a SNS user may be behaving in a way that is a reaction to a perceived audience. They are effectual performing, in that a status update may be a means of attracting attention and go beyond the basic conception of letting the world know what they’re doing.
Most social networking sites support pre existing relations; sites like Facebook are designed to foster existing relations rather than soliciting new friends. The relationship may be based on weak ties but typically there is a common offline element, like that of a college of work place. An advantage of SNS is that they allow a network of people to socialise in a borderless space and in unmediated environment. There is much discourse to support that SNS promote sociability. However there are a great number of privacy concerns, this may be of particular concern for younger users. There is a sense of disconnect between users awareness of the dangerous of the internet and their actual behaviour. Users often reveal there where about but fail to realise that a wide variety of their audience can access this. The public nature of the internet seems to be over looked or underestimated. There is very much a lack of responsibility in what people type into their being, in that a passing comment on the internet is recorded and can be liable, there have been many cases of employees trashing their bosses only to be fired on the grounds of defamation of character.
Aside from privacy concerns, the positive uses of SNS has benefited many and allowed one to keep in touch with estranged friends and family, similarly people living abroad or away from their primary social networks can keep in touch online and remain a part of people’s lives despite living hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Sources: Judith Donath and danah boyd (2004, October). "Public displays of connection."
Friday, March 19, 2010
Jihad vs MacWorld
According to Barber Jihad and MacWorld’s are two seemingly opposing paradigms that share a common trait; they both threaten democracy. In the meantime network based organisational structures, Jihad /Macworld belong to this category are thought to foster democracy. How would you unfold this paradox?
I would agree with Barber, both paradigms do threaten democracy, as the author so aptly captures, ‘their common thread is an indifference to civil liberty’ (Barber, 2003).Yet I find it difficult to reconcile how Jihad or MacWorld are fostering democracy. Perhaps if I consider them in isolation, I could fathom how they may foster democracy.In this article, I would like to argue that they offer an element of democracy in their respective structures but not in the greater sense that the question purposes.
With my argument in mind, I feel it would be prudent to consider, if MacWorld does foster democracy?Democracy is dependent on the majority of rule. If like Barber, we recognise MacWorld as the development and exploitation of technology, communications, economics and information, then we look to the structure of this, in how do we as members of Macworld contribute, do we have a voice and are the majority ruling? If MacWorld is becoming homogenised, then is this true of the ownership of such multinational corporations. Consider the leading institutes; Coco-Cola, Mac Donald’s, and media providers such as Star TV and Myspace. The latter are owned by Rupert Murdoch, he seems here to be an example of how the world’s leading media platforms are being bought by one man and his empire. Does this structure foster democracy? My initial reaction is to say no but let use delve deeper. Media products are consumed and bought, in that, there is a sense of a choice and the choice is our vote as the public. By Buying and consuming certain products, we are signalling an acceptance with the product and the provider. This seems to show how the majority is passing their rule. But are we consuming certain products because there is no alternative or are perhaps the alternatives harder to access? Or is it because of aggressive advertising? It would seem that they all play a vital role. The rub of the argument is suggesting that our choice in consumption is our vote and Macworld is giving us a voice albeit a limited one.
In terms of Jihad, I can perhaps conceive an element of democracy in that; democracy offers freedom of a political voice and the right to petition. Jihad does exercise thier right to political freedom, that is perhaps against the democrat governance from west.Here lies the paradox; jihad uses democrat functions against what it fears.In galvanising the tribal elements of Islamic culture there is a sense that a structure is being used to create something that has democrat elements,in that there is a hierarchy that is said to be protecting its people and ensuring their rights. Jihad is said to be opposed to Macworld, yet it utilizes MacWorld’s success such as the web , and living in societies that exhort MacWorld’s ideals . What I can deuce from this, is that , Jihad and Macworld inhabit the same spaces, employ elements of democracy as network based structures but they both at the same time undermine the principles of democracy.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tracking Global Flows
Globalisation is considered to be a process whereby regions of the world are linked by economic or cultural flows. The process involves the expansion and contraction certain aspects of culture, in that one country may adapt certain tendency of another nation perhaps at the loss of a former tradition. The example banded about is that of the prevalence of Mac Donald’s throughout the globe.
Much thought has been given by academics as to the effect of an increasing globalised world. The findings have rendered both positive and negative outcomes. Noam Chomsky summates perhaps one of the negative aspects of globalisation;
‘The dominant propaganda systems have appropriated the term "globalization" to refer to the specific version of international economic integration that they favor, which privileges the rights of investors and lenders, those of people being incidental.’
Chomsky address a very important point, that globalization is a process that protects and supports the economic gain of certain investors, perhaps at the cost of many people’s cultures and traditions.
To offer further explanation, I shall consider the concept of outsourcing. Outsourcing is a practice used by many international corporations; it allows for a cheaper means of production, often a company will relocate to a country where labor is cheaper or there are cheaper natural resources. While this may offer the population of the relocated country employment, there has been reports exploitation of people and the natural recourses. Bearing this in mind, within the article ‘tracking global flows’ there is a clear identification of the types of cultural flows that have been shaped by globalisation. There are; images, capital, commodities, people and ideology.
The article clearly addresses the question does culture flow equally? In terms of globalisation and culture, there appears a one dimension flow, from the centre (the west) to the periphery (the east). This flow is regarded to be a cultural imperialism, where there is a domination of one culture over another. The domination of a few leading cultures, notably America is leading to a ‘cultural homogenization of the world’ (R., p. 15). What is described is how the dominant imposes on the peripheral culture, which leads to the peripheral culture is become an off shoot of the dominant culture. There is a fear that the loss of cultural differences will ultimately lead to a global culture that promotes sameness. However this does mean to suggest that the flow is solely one sided, rather is uneven, as the peripheral cultures do have a marginal influence on the centre, consider fast-food, while the west has exported Mac Donald’s in return we have received cuisine from a variety of places, Mexican Chinese, Thai and Indian are among many. This example can be extended to music and religion. It would be wrong to consider globalisation as merely westernisation as there is a far more interactive relationship between the centre and periphery. As the west becomes home to many migrants, they export their culture and adopt their hosts, what comes into play in interdependency, they feed into each other.
Globalisation is not uniform but is subject to limitations, the article coins the term materiality of the globe and awkward connections to identify the limitations. The former relates to governmental agencies, infrastructure and institutions, and how such powers allow for some entities to flow throughout the globe and other not to. While the term awkward connections relates to selectiveness of interconnection around the globe. To conclude the global flows are ever increasing but are very much bounded by an unevenness.
Much thought has been given by academics as to the effect of an increasing globalised world. The findings have rendered both positive and negative outcomes. Noam Chomsky summates perhaps one of the negative aspects of globalisation;
‘The dominant propaganda systems have appropriated the term "globalization" to refer to the specific version of international economic integration that they favor, which privileges the rights of investors and lenders, those of people being incidental.’
Chomsky address a very important point, that globalization is a process that protects and supports the economic gain of certain investors, perhaps at the cost of many people’s cultures and traditions.
To offer further explanation, I shall consider the concept of outsourcing. Outsourcing is a practice used by many international corporations; it allows for a cheaper means of production, often a company will relocate to a country where labor is cheaper or there are cheaper natural resources. While this may offer the population of the relocated country employment, there has been reports exploitation of people and the natural recourses. Bearing this in mind, within the article ‘tracking global flows’ there is a clear identification of the types of cultural flows that have been shaped by globalisation. There are; images, capital, commodities, people and ideology.
The article clearly addresses the question does culture flow equally? In terms of globalisation and culture, there appears a one dimension flow, from the centre (the west) to the periphery (the east). This flow is regarded to be a cultural imperialism, where there is a domination of one culture over another. The domination of a few leading cultures, notably America is leading to a ‘cultural homogenization of the world’ (R., p. 15). What is described is how the dominant imposes on the peripheral culture, which leads to the peripheral culture is become an off shoot of the dominant culture. There is a fear that the loss of cultural differences will ultimately lead to a global culture that promotes sameness. However this does mean to suggest that the flow is solely one sided, rather is uneven, as the peripheral cultures do have a marginal influence on the centre, consider fast-food, while the west has exported Mac Donald’s in return we have received cuisine from a variety of places, Mexican Chinese, Thai and Indian are among many. This example can be extended to music and religion. It would be wrong to consider globalisation as merely westernisation as there is a far more interactive relationship between the centre and periphery. As the west becomes home to many migrants, they export their culture and adopt their hosts, what comes into play in interdependency, they feed into each other.
Globalisation is not uniform but is subject to limitations, the article coins the term materiality of the globe and awkward connections to identify the limitations. The former relates to governmental agencies, infrastructure and institutions, and how such powers allow for some entities to flow throughout the globe and other not to. While the term awkward connections relates to selectiveness of interconnection around the globe. To conclude the global flows are ever increasing but are very much bounded by an unevenness.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
'From the Plantation to the Cup'
A cup of coffee is a normal and pervasive function of modern daily life. The practise of going to a generic international coffee house is a ritual for many, there is a comfort perhaps in being able to get the same latte in Dublin or in Dubai. There has been much contention about the ethics of coffee plantations and how we receive the end product. In this assignment I shall consider how coffee is produced, distributed and consumed. Coffee is grown mostly on mountain terrains, in tropical and sub-tropical regions. There are approximately around 70 countries across the globe that produces coffee, Brazil being the leader with 28 percent of the market share. Coffee is a highly traded commodity and is an important source of employment in the developing world. Yet while the production takes place in Latin America or the Caribbean, the main consumers are the west, namely the U.S, followed by Europe.
Within the network of coffee production, the nodes can be identified as the workers who pick and harvest the beans, they are indigenous labourer workers, who’s pay is insignificant in relation to the multi billion dollar industry. The Nodes extend to the intermediary components such as the coffee roasters, and to the packing, transportation, exporting, importing and eventual marketing and sales operations. What ties the international cooperation to the farmer is the modes of distribution between them such as the roasters. The roasters are important players in the flow between production and consumption of coffee. Roasters often operate in or rely heavily on the importing country and make the highest profit margins. Large roasters normally sell pre-packaged coffee to large retailers, such as Maxwell House. The coffee is then sold to supermarkets, and coffee shops. Coffee is also sold on the commodity market by speculators and investment firms. The ties are driven by profit, in that the planter is tied to roaster, they both work on the same product, offering different services in the aim of profit. The flow of the production is distributed via the operation that buys from the roaster. Then distributor marks up the price and sells to supermarkets or coffee houses, which in turn is sold to us.
The ethical debate has stemmed from the mistreatment of the planters; in that they received a smaller proportional return in the selling of their crop in comparison to the returns of the larger elements or nodes such as the roasters. In the network of coffee production, distribution and consumption the average consumer pays very little head to how they have come to their coffee. The fair trade movement has sought to bring greater equality into the flow of international trade. The plight of the exploited planter has been highlight in the media and technology such as the web has allowed for a great public awareness as to where there coffee has come from.
Within the network of coffee production, the nodes can be identified as the workers who pick and harvest the beans, they are indigenous labourer workers, who’s pay is insignificant in relation to the multi billion dollar industry. The Nodes extend to the intermediary components such as the coffee roasters, and to the packing, transportation, exporting, importing and eventual marketing and sales operations. What ties the international cooperation to the farmer is the modes of distribution between them such as the roasters. The roasters are important players in the flow between production and consumption of coffee. Roasters often operate in or rely heavily on the importing country and make the highest profit margins. Large roasters normally sell pre-packaged coffee to large retailers, such as Maxwell House. The coffee is then sold to supermarkets, and coffee shops. Coffee is also sold on the commodity market by speculators and investment firms. The ties are driven by profit, in that the planter is tied to roaster, they both work on the same product, offering different services in the aim of profit. The flow of the production is distributed via the operation that buys from the roaster. Then distributor marks up the price and sells to supermarkets or coffee houses, which in turn is sold to us.
The ethical debate has stemmed from the mistreatment of the planters; in that they received a smaller proportional return in the selling of their crop in comparison to the returns of the larger elements or nodes such as the roasters. In the network of coffee production, distribution and consumption the average consumer pays very little head to how they have come to their coffee. The fair trade movement has sought to bring greater equality into the flow of international trade. The plight of the exploited planter has been highlight in the media and technology such as the web has allowed for a great public awareness as to where there coffee has come from.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Each age is defined by an underlying spirit; Barney asserts in his thesis statement that ‘the spirit of our age is the spirit of the network’ (Barney, 2004). He finds that the network society pervades the individual, social, economic and political climate, and this to Barney grades the network societies place in history. Van Dijik reveals how many critics have described this epoch as ‘web society’ where the world is connected on more planes than ever before, the psychical space and time constraints have been broken, yet contrary to this we seem to use the web to define ourselves and evoke as sense of individualism on a common platform. The new media has a potent effect on society globally, and in understanding the consequences of this potent new media it would be prudent to explore its characteristics of integration, interactivity and digital code as Van Dijik sees it. Integration is of great importance to the structure of new media as combines telecommunications, data communication and mass communication in one strand. Van Dijik explains this to be a convergence and thus the new media can be called a multimedia. Integration exists in a variety of strata; infrastructure, transport, management, services and types of data. Integration has allowed for digitalization of new media through the use of digital code.
Second to integration is the characteristic of interactive media. This pertains to a ‘sequence of action and reaction’ (Dijik, 2006). Interactivity is based on a time and space dimensions. New media has allowed for a significant shift the time and space paradigm. The concept of online on the web allows for a continuous stream of time and space, which defies the older conventions of having a fixed space or time for a given medium. Van Dijik raises a valid point; digital media is more interactive than traditional media, and the user could potentially be empowered to influence the content they consume, however Van Dijik suggests that this power has yet to be fully exploited by the media consumer. Another element of interactivity is the mental dimension which relies on the context and value of the relations between users.
Digital code is the third characteristic of new media and is associated with transmission of binary code made up of a series of 0’s and 1’s. Digital code has replaced analogue. Digital code allows for standardization and thus content is produced, disturbed and consumed with greater ease. The characteristics of integration, interactivity and digital code are not isolated elements but rather they exist and operate in chorus. In short Castells summates the attributes of a network society: ‘the network society is made up of production, power, and experience, which construct a culture of virtuality in the global flows that transcend time and space.’ (Castells, p. 1998:370)
Sources
Barney,D. (2004) The Network society.
Castells, M. (2004) ‘Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint in The Network Society’.
Van Dijik, J.(2006) The Network Society .
Second to integration is the characteristic of interactive media. This pertains to a ‘sequence of action and reaction’ (Dijik, 2006). Interactivity is based on a time and space dimensions. New media has allowed for a significant shift the time and space paradigm. The concept of online on the web allows for a continuous stream of time and space, which defies the older conventions of having a fixed space or time for a given medium. Van Dijik raises a valid point; digital media is more interactive than traditional media, and the user could potentially be empowered to influence the content they consume, however Van Dijik suggests that this power has yet to be fully exploited by the media consumer. Another element of interactivity is the mental dimension which relies on the context and value of the relations between users.
Digital code is the third characteristic of new media and is associated with transmission of binary code made up of a series of 0’s and 1’s. Digital code has replaced analogue. Digital code allows for standardization and thus content is produced, disturbed and consumed with greater ease. The characteristics of integration, interactivity and digital code are not isolated elements but rather they exist and operate in chorus. In short Castells summates the attributes of a network society: ‘the network society is made up of production, power, and experience, which construct a culture of virtuality in the global flows that transcend time and space.’ (Castells, p. 1998:370)
Sources
Barney,D. (2004) The Network society.
Castells, M. (2004) ‘Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint in The Network Society’.
Van Dijik, J.(2006) The Network Society .
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