Fuchs 4 and 8:
Fuch’s chapter 8 deals with the role of social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, in aiding with slacktivism. Slacktivism is defined here as the kind of activism associated with social media that doesn’t require people to make a “real” sacrifice or invest “real” effort in the promotion of a cause. It’s remarked by Evgeny Morozo on page 188 as feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact and gives those who participate an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything past joining a Facebook group. Josh Moran posed this question on March 17, 2015: is Fuch’s underestimating the power of these social media platforms?
I believe he is underestimating these social media platforms. He makes the claim the Facebook and Twitter activism would only succeed in situations that do not require people to make real sacrifice. Fuch’s mentions in Chapter 4 that face-to-face communication and Facebook were activists most important means of obtaining information about the Occupy Wall Street movement. But he later goes on to dismiss this component as insufficient. I disagree with this comment. I keep bringing to mind the KONY 2012 video that brought national attention to the Invisible Children movement. In the course of a few days, thanks to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, there was such intense exposure of the video that the KONY website crashed. It was later included among the top international events of 2012 by PBS and called the most viral video of all time by Time Magazine. The purpose of the video was to draw international attention to Joseph Kony, leader of an African Militia serviced by refugee children and to have him arrested by the end of 2012. The campaign resulted in a resolution by the United States Senate and contributed to the decision to send troops by the African Union. I believe this stands as a testament of the sheer power social media platforms truly possess. What some believe to be mere slacktivism or clicktivism still aids in the cause.
PCH chp 28
In this chapter, the claim is made that “the paired concepts of the ‘known’ and respect relate directly to the concepts of the anonymous and untrustworthy in online participatory cultures,” (277). We touch on the fact that there exists valid ethical concerns regarding responsibility for words and actions and that anonymity avoids these constraints but conclude that the contributions to the participatory culture are significant but the identity is not. Ocean raised this question on March 17, 2015: Can the real world knowability of a person affect their respect within online participatory cultures? Nikki says yes so long as those in the online realm know the real world identity of the participant. I agree that knowing a person’s real world identity alters the kind of content he or she feels comfortable posting. As previously stated, anonymity provides escape from accountability. But I also agree that that the problem of anonymity is the question of validity. It’s hard to trust the content provided from an unknown source because we also don’t know that person’s motives in providing accurate information. So to Ocean’s question about the relationship between knowability and respect, I’d say the two a closely linked. An online participatory culture could be led to believe they are following the thoughts of distinguished philosopher about modern entertainment figures later to find out the contributor is a Gossip Columnist who’s paid by the word. This person would have motive to provide pages and pages of lies that stem from a single sentence of truth, if any truths are to be found at all. By disguising his or her identity and effectively removing the knowability component, readers/participators are left with only the content to value.
PCH chapter 23
There has been a lot of debate about the uCreate initiative from the Edge Project as discussed in chapter 23 of the Participatory Cultures Handbook; one of the main issues of this project being anonymity and privacy. It was concluded that pseudo-anonymity was the most beneficial for participants in this setting because it allowed youth to be identified and take pride in their work yet allowed distance from published material should it prove to be damaging at a later date. Hiro posted the question: What is being done to educate the younger members of society – minors who have never known a world without Facebook, Twitter, and the like about the consequences of misbehavior in the digital age? This question brought to mind this famous Facebook post:
Supposedly, in an attempt to educate her daughter about the dangers of internet exposure a mother posted this picture to show just how many people have access to anything posted online. I agree that the youth of today are faced with a problem that previous generations have never dealt with, establishing an online presence without tarnishing their identity. I think awareness is the key to solving this issue. Acts such as the above picture that physically show the theorized consequences are the best way to educate the youth about their actions. Maybe it will prompt them to think twice before posting content that would later prove to be incriminating.
Fuch’s chapter 8 deals with the role of social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, in aiding with slacktivism. Slacktivism is defined here as the kind of activism associated with social media that doesn’t require people to make a “real” sacrifice or invest “real” effort in the promotion of a cause. It’s remarked by Evgeny Morozo on page 188 as feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact and gives those who participate an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything past joining a Facebook group. Josh Moran posed this question on March 17, 2015: is Fuch’s underestimating the power of these social media platforms?
I believe he is underestimating these social media platforms. He makes the claim the Facebook and Twitter activism would only succeed in situations that do not require people to make real sacrifice. Fuch’s mentions in Chapter 4 that face-to-face communication and Facebook were activists most important means of obtaining information about the Occupy Wall Street movement. But he later goes on to dismiss this component as insufficient. I disagree with this comment. I keep bringing to mind the KONY 2012 video that brought national attention to the Invisible Children movement. In the course of a few days, thanks to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, there was such intense exposure of the video that the KONY website crashed. It was later included among the top international events of 2012 by PBS and called the most viral video of all time by Time Magazine. The purpose of the video was to draw international attention to Joseph Kony, leader of an African Militia serviced by refugee children and to have him arrested by the end of 2012. The campaign resulted in a resolution by the United States Senate and contributed to the decision to send troops by the African Union. I believe this stands as a testament of the sheer power social media platforms truly possess. What some believe to be mere slacktivism or clicktivism still aids in the cause.
PCH chp 28
In this chapter, the claim is made that “the paired concepts of the ‘known’ and respect relate directly to the concepts of the anonymous and untrustworthy in online participatory cultures,” (277). We touch on the fact that there exists valid ethical concerns regarding responsibility for words and actions and that anonymity avoids these constraints but conclude that the contributions to the participatory culture are significant but the identity is not. Ocean raised this question on March 17, 2015: Can the real world knowability of a person affect their respect within online participatory cultures? Nikki says yes so long as those in the online realm know the real world identity of the participant. I agree that knowing a person’s real world identity alters the kind of content he or she feels comfortable posting. As previously stated, anonymity provides escape from accountability. But I also agree that that the problem of anonymity is the question of validity. It’s hard to trust the content provided from an unknown source because we also don’t know that person’s motives in providing accurate information. So to Ocean’s question about the relationship between knowability and respect, I’d say the two a closely linked. An online participatory culture could be led to believe they are following the thoughts of distinguished philosopher about modern entertainment figures later to find out the contributor is a Gossip Columnist who’s paid by the word. This person would have motive to provide pages and pages of lies that stem from a single sentence of truth, if any truths are to be found at all. By disguising his or her identity and effectively removing the knowability component, readers/participators are left with only the content to value.
PCH chapter 23
There has been a lot of debate about the uCreate initiative from the Edge Project as discussed in chapter 23 of the Participatory Cultures Handbook; one of the main issues of this project being anonymity and privacy. It was concluded that pseudo-anonymity was the most beneficial for participants in this setting because it allowed youth to be identified and take pride in their work yet allowed distance from published material should it prove to be damaging at a later date. Hiro posted the question: What is being done to educate the younger members of society – minors who have never known a world without Facebook, Twitter, and the like about the consequences of misbehavior in the digital age? This question brought to mind this famous Facebook post:
Supposedly, in an attempt to educate her daughter about the dangers of internet exposure a mother posted this picture to show just how many people have access to anything posted online. I agree that the youth of today are faced with a problem that previous generations have never dealt with, establishing an online presence without tarnishing their identity. I think awareness is the key to solving this issue. Acts such as the above picture that physically show the theorized consequences are the best way to educate the youth about their actions. Maybe it will prompt them to think twice before posting content that would later prove to be incriminating.