Friday 13 December 2013

NDM - Sun political editor in Page 3 Twitter row over Labour MP's choice of skirt

This article focuses on a Twitter argument over the Page 3 ban between Tom Newton Dunn and Stella Creasy. Tom Newton Dunn is the political editor of The Sun newspaper who criticised the way MP Stella Creasy was dressed at the Commons question time.

"In the meeting she asked David Cameron whether his lack of support for the 'No More Page' campaign was based on the perspective of Tom Newton Dunn, who argued that Page 3 provides jobs for girls". In response to this, Newton Dunn tweeted "Boldly, @stellacreasy has just asked the PM to justify Page 3 - while wearing a bright blue PVC skirt in the Commons chamber". As a result, Creasy fired back by tweeting, "@tnewtondunn and of course look forward to your commentary on Cameron's shiny blue tie too in failing to answer it tom ...#sauceforthegoose". The conflict between the two individuals on Twitter establishes the importance of this issue. Notably, Dunn stated that, "We allow our readers, rather than politicians, to be the judge [on Page 3]" followed by, ""I fully support ALL equal opportunity; yours to wear what you want - and p3 girls to express themselves as they want." However, Creasy was supported by the Twitter group Everyday Sexism which  posted a variety of pictures of Newton Dunn and commented about his dress sense.

Overall, to a great extent, The Sun's Page 3 column should be banned as the images objectify women, thus having an negative impact on young teenage girls. This is because, if young girls see these explicit images they may begin to believe that they have to look this certain way and it may influence them to take on jobs which exploits their sexuality.

Thursday 12 December 2013

NDM - Sexting: Victoria makes it an offence to send explicit images without consent

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/12/sexting-victoria-makes-it-an-offence



This article focuses on new laws being placed for sexting in the city of Victoria, Australia. Victoria has become the first state to censor its law on this issue and making it a offence to distribute explicit images without consent to anyone. However, this approach is also to protect young people from child pornography offences.

The government claimed that this approach has been accept by 11 of  14 recommendations from the parliamentary inquiry into sexting. He stated that the law is there to create an offence for "non-consensual sexting". This is more likely to be common with "jilted lovers maliciously send intimate pictures of their former partners to others". On the other hand, Coalition MP Clem Newton-Brown, chair of the parliament's law reform committee, argued that sending explicit pictures can have serious consequences  for the victims who are embarrassed and humiliated. Thus, the government ensured that children who distribute  the images will not be charged with children pornography. As a result, under the new laws, sexting between individuals with  two years age difference will not be illegal. However, forwarding pictures to individuals who are much older  will be illegal but the penalties for this offence are being decided.

Moreover, Robert Clark who is Victoria's attorney general stated that the issue of sexting is to make sure the appropriate penalties apply to individuals who misuses the technology. Ultimately, this new approach would make it clear to citizens that sexting will not be tolerated, while not treating young people who distribute such images as child pornographers. Thus, Clark stated that the government should do more with schools to ensure that children are being educated on how to use technology appropriately.

Overall, to some extent I agree with Victoria's new laws being placed on sexting as it does prevent child pornography and therefore protecting children. Even though the children who distribute explicit images will not be arrested or individuals between a age gap of two years, the government should acknowledge that their are couples with an age difference of more than two years. Thus, would they be arrested if they distribute explicit images?. However, this new law may be effective in protecting young people.

Arab Spring: How has Facebook changed the world? Documentary Notes


Task One
Quotes on Tunisia

  • The first country which the Arab Spring occurred in December 2010
  • "The internet revolution has tipped the balance of power"
  • The incident started with a citizen called Mohammed who was treated harshly by the Tunisia police force. He was stamped and spitted on. Thus, Mohammed made a complain to the Town Hall, however the government Ben Ali did listen to him. As a result, Mohammed burnt himself alive infront of the Town Hall which began a conflict amongst the Tunisia citizens against the regime.
  • Ben Ali was a dictator as he did not listen to his citizens, thus society was a police state which made citizens furious that there was no democracy.
  • Mobile phones was a toll to show what was happening in Tunisia. This is because, press was censored and therefore citizens would capture footage on their phones to show the outside world that Tunisia has become corrupted.
  • Activist Slim Amamou stated that "were are not animals so why are we being ignored". He was frustrated that citizens could not speak freely in their own countries. 
  • More than 5 years individuals shared their feelings and messages on to blogs about their hatred towards their dictators.
  • 25% of homes had broadband
  • 90% of individuals had mobile phones. However, if citizens were caught using one they would be tortured by the police force.
  • 2 million Facebook users (25%) which highlights a high lever of penetration.
  • The footage of protests went viral and was picked up the Tunisia news channel Al Jazeera. As a result, this led to copy cat demonstration in other countries.
  • The union was on the side of the government but the activists overcome this by jacking the union website and telling people they are going to protest.
  • Warnings on the routes the policies was taking on the day of the protest was announced on Twitter.
  • Live mobile streaming was available to make sure people saw what was happening. Thus, this generated an unstoppable force which led to a downfall in hierarchy.
  • Ben Ali conducted his own public relation campaign revealing that there would be more democracy. However, this was a fail as he promoted it through traditional media which is no longer effective.
  • On the 14th July Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia. He was ruling for 24 years.
  • On the 15th July there was a fall in the regime - it took 28 days for Tunisia to become more democratic, thus highlighting the impact of new/digital media.
Task Two
Would the revolution in Tunisia happen without Facebook?

It can be argued that the revolution in Tunisia would not of happened without  Facebook as that was the source to generate awareness of the corruption occurring in the society. The government Ben Ali was a dictator and censored the press and therefore people was unaware if there was conflict between citizens or the police force. Thus, this establishes the under the regime of Ben Ali Tunisia was not a democratic society as citizens did not have the opportunity to express their views, instead they had to conform to the government orders. However, the social networking site Facebook gave citizens the opportunity to challenge the power of the heirachy by posting up messages and forming an activist group. Notably citizens were able to capture the footage of protests or incidents and publically post on to the Facebook, allowing people across the world to view it. Thus, this generated an unstoppable awareness which led more people to challenge the power of the regime and this led to copycat demonstrations in other countries associated with the Arab Spring. As a result, this highlights the concept of user-generated content which gathered millions of Tunisian's to protest against the regime in order to fulfill their goal by having a democratic society and being treated equally. According to a Pluralist perspective, the revolution of new/digital media illustrates that individuals are no longer passive users of media texts, instead they are challenging or rejecting the hegemonic values of society. This refers to the Arab Spring as citizens are actively challenging Ben Ali values and distribution their own media products (citizen journalism) to provide an awareness of the corruption taking place in their country  Ultimately, the illustrates the impact new/digital media has on the Arab Spring as social media gave activists the opportunity to protest against the dominate ideologies of Ben Ali which shifted the balance of power. 

Task 3
Quotes which support the argument for/against

Against

For

  • In Phillip Howard book 'Democracy's Forth Wave" him and colleagues stated that digital media was "consistently one of the most important sufficient and necessary conditions" for the Arab Spring movements. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=57426


Sunday 8 December 2013

How to tweet without ending up in prison.



This article focuses on the Peaches Geldof and  tweeting about the mothers who allowed their children to get sexually abused by Ian Watkins who was convicted for rape last year. As a result, both individuals have to face the consequences of tweeting confidential information publically. Thus, this article establishes how individuals should tweet safely without getting in trouble with the law. The steps are:

  1. Do not name and shame: 19 year old women victim of Chad Evans was named more than 6,000 times on Twitter by people who thought he was innocent.
  2. Do not assume it is already out there: Peaches Geldof found the names of the women on different websites and believed that they were already released by the courts. As a result, the HM Courts and Tribunals Service had published them by mistake.
  3. Do not re-tweet if you would not tweet it.
  4. Do not try to be clever for it.
  5. Do not forget the allegedly.
This article is significant in establishing the power that individuals have to share their thoughts through social networking sites, such as Twitter. Thus, it can be argued that new and digital media gives people democracy to express thier views globally.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

NDM - UsVsTh3m more than doubles its traffic in a month to 7m

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/02/usvsth3m-traffic-trinity-mirror




This article focuses on Daily Mirror Buzzfeed-style social content UsVsTh3m, which doubled its traffic in a month with 7 million users in November. This establishes that the website is extremely popular with people as it includes a variety of games, videos, quizzes etc which is effective in keeping users actively engaged with the content. Notably, Trinity Mirror described this increase of traffic as a "massive boost as the site hit million users in October for the game North-o-meter. As a result, more than 3.8 million users so far had played the game and at one point 20,000 user were playing the game at the same time. Significantly, this establishes the popularity of this game amongst users which has increased the traffic.

Furthermore, seven in 10 users accessed UsVsTh3m from the UK with the average time on the site of 6 minutes and 70% of the visits came from  UK. Notably, the digital product developer Malcolm Coles stated that, "this is an amazing achievement by the team to have grown so quickly in such a short space of time and shows the importance of experimentation for publishers". Thus, this conveys that the creation of  UsVsTh3m was a effective and beneficial approach as it has become one of the popular sites with the users.

To conclude, the article clearly establishes how beneficial the website is with users the number of traffic has doubled in a month. This could be because of the different features available on the site such as a variety of games, videos, quizzes etc which keeps the users fully engaged and interacted with the social site. Notably, users can also visit the site on their tablets, Ipads or smartphone which is significant in changes that new and digital media has brought about in society, allowing individuals to use the site whenever. 

NDM - Children's tablets vulnerable to hacking, experts warn

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10494361/Childrens-tablets-vulnerable-to-hacking-experts-warn.html


This article focuses on the negative issue of children tablets as there is little protection to keep them safe online and a chance of hacking. The NCC Group stated that the result of this analysis showed that there is "little to no security and privacy engineering happens in the device marked aimed at children, putting theirs as well as your security and privacy at risk”. Significantly, this establishes that the content available online to children have be harmful for them and therefore this issue must be solved to protect them. 

Notably, the first tablet they assessed which was from a manufacturer in the Far East, the passwords on the device were sent to the manufacturer over unencrypted  connections which were "easily crackable". This conveys a negative issue of the children's tablet as companies can easily hack into their accounts and find out personal information. Furthermore, researchers recommended that "children do not use these tablets in public Wi-Fi networks or on networks where there are people you do not know or trust". This is vital in protecting children's vulnerability and keeping them protected. Additionally, a survey which was published last month highlighted that half of the UK toddlers aged between two and three are regularly using their Ipads and other tablets. One could argue that this 'digital revolution' has impacted children as well as they are frequently using technology to keep them engaged.

Overall, this article establishes the negative issues of children's tablets as little protection can put them in danger. Thus, manufacturers and companies should change their policies in order to make sure that children are protect online.

Monday 2 December 2013

'The Virtual Revolution' Episode 2

Quotes highlighted in bold.

This part of the document focuses on the how the internet is a powerful tool in the world. The presenter Krotoski stated that "already a quarter of our population is connected, providing individual users  access to knowledge and to each other". Similarly, "the web makes openness easy and closeness more different" (Sir Tim Bernes- Lee).  This establishes that the internet is beneficial in allowing people to stay connected and the fact that many individuals are using the internet shows it is a vital source of information. Notably, the main advantage of using the internet is that it has made a society more democratic in some countries. This is established in the documentary which focuses on the protest occurred in Iran. The protest led to devastating situations of many Iranians being killed and badly injured. The result of the protest was caused by the social networking site Twitter, which was first development in San Francisco 2006.

Effectively, "It is a web phenomenon, known as the social network"(Kroteski) which led the Iranians to use Twitter to fill the rest of the world on what is happening. Additionally, the first 18 days of the protests in Iran over 2 million tweets were sent out of Iran by half a million of people. (Kroteski) Significantly "2000 tweets about Iran was posted every hour" (Kroteski) which reinforces the idea of a 'digital revolution' as social networking sites has now become the main source for individuals to express their views publically. Thus, this led to a Arab Spring which increased democracy for citizens as the "web is like a tool box or protest" (Kroteski).

 Furthermore, Wikipedia has giving individuals the opportunity to challenge the authority in society by editing the information online. Notably, the government of Iran blocked social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to stop citizens from communicating to each other. However, Austin Heap developed a software called 'Haystack' which gave the Iranians the opportunity to use the social networking sites freely without the government tracing them. Significantly, this establishes the power of the web as it "gives power for citizens to root around censorship"(Kroteski). Similarly, "the web is a fantastic resource for transmitting information and gathering people together around the issue" (Runciman).

China has the highest population of internet users compared to any nation, however the government banned citizens to use the social media. This is because, the government believe that social interaction threats the state  state and therefore he banned all western sites.