Enter World: exploring mediated cultures

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Diverse Communities: The Problem with Social Capital by Barbara Arneil

I started reading this in bed thinking that it would aid me in nodding off. Far from it, I was awake until 2am reading and then for at least another hour thinking with the lights off as I tried to sleep.

Now that I’ve finished it, I think that anyone who has read or is considering reading Putnam’s Bowling Alone should pair it with this very respectfully challenging and insightful critique.

My only complaint is that in all of Arneil’s urging for new forms of community to be considered, she fails to touch on the idea of mediated communities.

Friday, October 31, 2008

It turns out I’ve been bloki-ing without knowing it.

With so many terms to choose from (according to Wikipedia: bliki, wikiLog, wog, wikiWeblog, wikiblog, or bloki), how do you pick just one? If the percentage of the word originating from blog or wiki should represent the percent of the content that follows that format, bloki is closest for my Braddock section because it is more blog than wiki. In actuality though, I am writing a blogi ... but that’s not an accepted term yet. (This section, on the other hand, is pure blog.)

When I started writing Braddock Journey, my intention was always to piece the posts by topics rather than blogging about experiences in a purely chronological manner. In that vein, I’ve been updating the posts when new information can be added, especially to the list of contractors. The only thing I’m missing is the archive of changes, which isn’t an available tool since I use blog software. I’ve heard that wordpress is releasing bliki software soon, but for now I don’t see anything that integrates here.

It’s interesting that we need new words for every new use or twist to what is done online. Terminology of online services, features, and functions seems to be a stumbling stone for many researchers. So many focus on the brand names instead of the general format, which to me seems limited in the application while also promotional for the companies. But then maybe it’s because those brand names are solid concepts in a more traditional sense rather than malleable compilations that haven’t taken root yet. Bliki, for instance, was coined in 2003—and though I’ve been bloki-ing for nearly six months I just learned the terms last night.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Everywhere I look in my feeds and alerts there are short pieces about the increase in lawsuits against bloggers popping up. But what does 4 lawsuits in 1997 versus 89 in 2007 really mean?

The madness seems to arise from division: 89 is 22.25 times 4. That sounds pretty impressive.

But what if we use something a little more meaningful like the percentage of the blogs involved in lawsuits to compare this much-cited statistic?

Blogging began in the 1990s. As far back as 1993 there was a forest protection blog, in 1994 there was a student writing a diary online, but it wasn’t until 1999 that blogs took off. And it wasn’t until 2001 that they became mainstream. Then in 2004 they flew into the spotlight. The number of people blogging increased with the popularity of blogging. The question becomes: How many bloggers were there in 1997?

We’ll start in 2007 and work backward. In 2007, there were over 70 million blogs. It is important to note that this is only how many blogs Technorati was tracking at that time, the actual number of blogs was most likely higher.  With 89 lawsuits spread out between 70,000,000 blogs that would be .0001% of blogs in 2007 that were called into courts. 

The State of Technorati only goes back as far as 2004 when the 3 millionth blog was tracked and 12,000 new blogs were being created every day.

It’s more difficult to find the number of blogs from 1997. A BloggerCon post estimates no more than 4 to 5 blogs were up in 1997. That would mean 100% of blogs in 1997 were called into court!?

The BBC says in 1998 there were 23 blogs. Just for fun, let’s use this number—because it’s hard to believe that ALL the blogs in 1997 were sued. If there were 23 blogs with 4 having lawsuits brought against them, that would mean that 17% of blogs were involved.

Let’s recap:
1997/1998: 17 or 100 percent of blogs are involved in a lawsuit
2007: .0001 percent of blogs are involved in a lawsuit

Does this sound like an increase warranting all of the hype? It is still a good thing to know the laws, and taking the free online media law class won’t hurt—but I’m beginning to think these “posts” I’ve seen are actually press releases pushing the sale of buying insurance.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

As a communications design professional, I first discovered open access in the form of software. But in practice, I have been involved with open-access information and publishing since I was in high school cutting and pasting together zines. We went so far as to “merge” with a group from another high school that also had a zine so that we could increase our reach when we handed out the free rags.

Later I applied this concept as a hobby in Juneau, but increased the open aspect by soliciting all of the content from the community. By then technology had advanced enough that I wasn’t cutting, pasting and photocopying the zines ... but I still tried to keep a little of that rough aesthetic as homage to one of the first forms of self-made media.

As mainstream media embraces the DIY media tools spawned after zines, but instead uses the content to target (or create) advertising, I can’t help but wonder if this will unintentionally expand the groups that create media and push open-access creation of new tools.

Media participation supported by others, such as using open-access software for blogs or even building an ad with pieces provided by a corporation, could be a way of entry leading to further exploration with media creation. Zines began with letters to magazine editors. Once science fiction magazines began printing these letters with contact information for the writers, communities began to spring up between these fans. In a similar manner, participation through the foundations of existing media outlets can allow for networking and growth. However, it is in the later stages of participation that individuals are able to combine the developed domain-relevant skills with creativity-relevant skills to begin producing their own media products. How many will go the way of open access?

The way I see it there are many many aspects of open access. It’s not just about Wikipedia or sharing publicly funded research—it’s about both public and expert information. Some fear that replacing expert knowledge with mass-conceived data in places like Wikipedia will be the end of culture. Others see the same tool as democratic and offering a way to expand knowledge.

Offering scientific, medical, and technology research in an open-access format allows the public to see what the experts are doing. It also encourages involvement with these fields in a way that has not been open to the public previously. Being exposed to research, or at least having it available to anyone interested, encourages understanding of important issues at the local and global level. In turn, access to tools where non-expert information can be shared furthers these discussions.

Open-access media is the final step in the circle. It provides a way to communicate the information through distribution, discussion, and integration with other information.

In celebration of the first Open Access Day I’ve compiled a list of open-access psychology and media sources. Read them, interact with them, make your own:

• Directory of Open Access Journals: Psychology
  
  • Brains, Minds & Media
  • Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace
• Directory of Open Access Journals: Media & Communications
  
  • FibreCulture
  • Invisible Culture
  • Journal of Science Communication
  • Journal of Virtual Worlds Research
• Open Yale Courses: Introduction to Psychology

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Last week an anonymous comment on CNN’s iReport.com snowballed into a web rumor that Steve Jobs of Apple had a heart attack.

Debates abound on whether the following fall in Apple stock was caused by participatory media or the stock market culture. The SEC is investigating the rumor. If the anonymous poster is found to have linked the rumor to trading of the stock there are even more issues than the participatory media versus stock market culture commentary.

Stock fixing aside, the first thing that came to my mind when I heard about the post was the liability of the blogger in relation to writing incorrect information about someone. Individuals are becoming more subject to regulations that have been applied to the media because of the public outlets available. Although spoken rumors are also legally covered, it’s more public and easier to trace when commentary takes place in published atmospheres—including sound and video recordings.

The classes offered on basic law for bloggers are helpful for people interested in writing on a more formal level. But will lawsuits against commenters and cyber bullies join the ranks of those against citizen journalists and self publishers?

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I just completed the Media Bloggers Association course on Online Media Law offered by NewsU.

It was a great refresher course on defamation, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement. The use of recent court cases gave it a timeliness and tie to current events that is missing if you try to simply read about these topics in books or on sites. Of course this is also a brief online class, estimated to take one to two hours, and as such is an overview.

One issue of interest to me is that the course states the Communications Decency Act, Section 230, protects bloggers from being held responsible for comments made on their sites even if they are edited for length or decency so long as the original meaning is not changed. This legislation is from 1996, and what confuses me is that earlier this month the Poynter Institute’s Feedback Guidelines had information about courts deciding that site publishers were responsible for feedback if it was approved rather than automatically submitted. Poynter and NewsU are affiliated and that information is no longer on the guidelines page. However the Wikipedia entry on Section 230 does not list any new relevant cases.

This is interesting to me, because a couple weeks ago I disabled comments after reading the information at Poynter. With over 50 spam comments coming in per day, there was no option other than manually filtering comments. This may change things ...

Friday, September 19, 2008

We hear about issues of cellphone overuse: poor driving, lack of etiquette, interruption of co-present interactions, cellphone addiction. But what about the low level of service that is available in the United States? Before SMS was even available through my carrier I was using websites to send text messages to friends in Europe. They received the messages without a charge. Yet even now that SMS is popular in the States, we pay for incoming texts. With AT&T I even pay for the minutes used to listen to my own voicemail.

This fee-based receipt of messages creates another level of etiquette. Is it more polite to call someone, subjecting those around you to your conversation, or to send a text that will automatically force the receiver into paying for it?

Alternative media outlets and public information networks in developing nations use SMS to send out news to people who don’t have computer or email access but have a high level of mobile phone ownership. There are many areas in the States where local media could use such a service. However, with carriers charging for incoming texts the potential for this method of communication becomes limited. 

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I’ve been noticing commercials lately that promote products that are under attack by health and environmental trends. It’s interesting to see what angle the ads take to promote the products.

Examples:

Dixie paper plates

Overt message: Paper plates are good for your kids because you get to spend more time with them instead of washing dishes. The product makes life easier.
Indirect message: Washing dishes, teaching kids to clean up after themselves, and using more economical reusable plates are not family-oriented things.

Corn Refiners Association

Overt message: HFCS is natural. Cool moms serve HFCS.
Indirect message: The people complaining about HFCS are just parroting what “they” say and are not informed.

Although the debate about corn syrup rages at a different level, connected to public health issues such as obesity and diabetes, it seems like commercials are being targeted against the healthy eating and sustainable living trend on multiple levels. Advertising urging families to stick with simplicity and give up arguing against potentially unhealthy, unsustainable living practices gives me the impression that this change in public attitude is hurting businesses...some businesses.

Saturday, August 09, 2008