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DIGITAL COMMUNITIES WEEK 10: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND CONFLICT: SOCIAL MEDIA GOVERNANCE

Digital communities are often regarded as an ideal way to for communities to congregate in a civil and friendly manner to create an avenue of  societal and cultural participation where everybody is welcome. However, more often than not, the online world is littered with harassment, conflicts and issues of governance and standards.

Take political dialogue for instance, where social media platforms have been shown as a surefire way for political discussions to go awry and very off topic and transform into a debate of personal qualities as opposed to policies and mandates. Without the advantage (or disadvantage) of face-to-face interactions, individuals will utilize online platforms as a way to anonymously and deliberately “participate in political discussions and offend others in both online and offline contexts” (Bor, A & Petersen, M 2022, pg. 16). One of the more popular examples that you might have seen used on Facebook comments is the “snowflake”, used by people on both sides of the political spectrum to denote people with hypersensitivity (Haslop, C et al 2021, pg. 1419).

Furthermore, the internet is unfortunately but inevitably full of almost every kind of virtual harassment, including sexual harassment, which a lot of the time may not even directly cross any boundaries but can be as simple as when a group of men “evaluate and comment on women’s bodies” which tend to “help produce and reproduce shared masculine identities and social relations” (Reinicke, K 2022, pg.4). This trend is often seen simply as an effort to establish the prior dominance of men and an “off-line misogyny moved to a new arena” (Nadim, M & Fladmoe, A 2019, pg. 246).

Online platforms have also been utilized as a tool for people of similar values and interests to gather and drive extremist cultural movements, finding a “platform on the internet to spread their narratives” (Dickel, V & Evolvi, G 2022, pg.1).  This is epitomized through the dimension of the ‘manosphere’, escalated by misogynist influencers such as Andrew Tate, which despite its controversial undertones and themes, have become digital beacon for younger men facing challenges concerning alienation, loneliness and economic failure, as well as their “search for connection, truth, control and community” (Rich, B & Bujalka, E 2023, pg.1).

BOR, A & PETERSEN, M.B 2021, ‘The Psychology of Online Political Hostility: A Comprehensive, Cross-National Test of the Mismatch Hypothesis’, American Political Science Review, pp.1–18

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Dickel, V & Evolvi, G 2022, ‘‘Victims of feminism’: exploring networked misogyny and #MeToo in the manosphere’ Feminist Media Studies, pp.1–17

Haslop, C., O’Rourke, F & Southern, R 2021, ‘#NoSnowflakes: The toleration of harassment and an emergent gender-related digital divide, in a UK student online culture’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, vol.27, no.5

Nadim, M & Fladmoe, A 2019, ‘Silencing Women? Gender and Online Harassment’, Social Science Computer Review, vol. 39

Reinicke, K  2022, Introduction. Men After #MeToo pp.1–24

Rich, B. & Bujalka, E 2023, ‘The draw of the ‘manosphere’: understanding Andrew Tate’s appeal to lost men’  The Conversation

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DIGITAL COMMUNITIES WEEK 9: GAMING COMMUNITIES, SOCIAL GAMING AND LIVE STREAMING

Even if you are not a gamer, the meteoric rise of Twitch is not just a trend in the growth in numbers of gamers, but is a reflection how we now consume digital media (or perhaps how it’s consumed us), and not just a gauge of the absorption of our offline lives into online dimensions, but is perhaps a foreshadowing of how we will consume media in the future.

To begin, much like how digitization dictates our lives in terms of banking, ordering takeaway and dating, gaming is an example of how far the fingers of platformitization have reached into our lives.

As our offline lives are completely digitized, the action of playing a game on a mobile phone, for example has been absorbed into what is regarded as “a mode of ambient play” (Hjorth, L et al 2020, pg. 29), or a play that is digitally ephemeral, vaulting over the boundaries of social media networks, different devices and public domains, and eventually becoming part of a trend of digital mediation which is “reshaping our experience of being-in-the-world” (Hjorth, L et al 2020, pg. 29).

Furthermore, A study into the gaming world will also demonstrate how phantomization has changed the way that people of similar interests will gather and congregate into a singular social group and community, particularly through streaming on sites such as Twitch. The act of streaming hinges on viewings of an actor, ‘the streamer’, providing content and entertainment by playing a game which is viewed by others, in a system which includes “gamers, game casters and game cast viewers” (Burroughs, B & Rama, P 2015, pp.2).

 An important element of streaming is the participatory engagement on the part of the audience, as for instance, chatrooms on Twitch will often be used by viewers to “converse, laugh, and joke with each other about content they are watching” (Hilvert-Bruce, Z et al 2018, pp. 59). This results in a dynamic where the relationship between streamers and their viewers is two way, as the audience of streams is not “passively consuming, but actively engaging with the game and broadcaster” (Recktenwald, D 2017, pp. 69).

Moreover, streaming communities are often self-regulated will generally follow rules enacted by its own members, and evince a “sense of conformity”, where members will “naturally adopt shared qualities inherent to the group” (Hamilton, W et al 2014, pp. 1318).

Burroughs, B. and Rama, P 2015, The eSports Trojan Horse: Twitch and Streaming Futures,  Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, vol. 8 no.2

Hamilton, W., Garretson, O. and Kerne, A 2014, Streaming on Twitch: Fostering participatory communities of play within live mixed media, Streaming on twitch: fostering participatory communities of play within live mixed media

Hilvert-Bruce, Z., Neill, J.T., Sjöblom, M. and Hamari, J 2018, Social motivations of live-streaming viewer engagement on Twitch, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 84, no. 84, pp.58–67

Hjorth, L., Richardson, I., Davies, H. and Balmford, W 2020, Exploring Play, Exploring Minecraft, pp.27–47

Recktenwald, D 2017, Toward a transcription and analysis of live streaming on Twitch, Journal of Pragmatics, 115, pp.68–81.

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DIGITAL COMMUNITIES WEEK 8: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND SOFTWARE LITERACY

Social Media for so many of us is the beacon where we are able to share with everybody the best parts of our lives. While so many of commonly use social media to make public the best parts of our selves, we are more often than not advertising a reality that is distorted.

And much of this distortion is in fact mediated by social media.

For instance, much of this regulated beauty regime is channeled through the “corrective” features of snapchat filters, where they among other digital filters will edit faces to “follow trends and reinforce beauty ideals related to those circled by the cosmetics industry” (Coy, I 2016, pg. 211). What this entails is not a reflection of Snapchat policy in itself, but that when considering a phone device’s technical restraints, we may not give enough respect to its cultural restraints where devices will contain filters “that are themselves influenced by cultural filters”(Rettburg, J.W 2014, pg. 27).

Furthermore, these illusionary manifestations displayed on social media do not just stop at our faces, but also carry the jurisdiction of the attractiveness of our bodies. The competition against digitized dysmorphia is unwinnable, where through the culture of digital physical enhancements, females are not only struggling to wrestle on the mat with socially generated beauty standards, but are struggling to “compete with their own image” (Unger, J.W 2016, pg. 2).

This difficult competition with socially dictated body standards isn’t just played by females either.  This dilemma can also be heavily attributed to male body dissatisfaction, where there is significantly higher likelihood that to internalize the “muscular ideal when viewing content associated with fitspiration” (Ryding, F 2019, pg. 413), ultimately leading up to a new shift from “thinness oriented to muscularity oriented eating disorders” (Kaur, A 2020, pg. 568).

For both this of these tribulations of socially unacceptable inadequacy, this denotes not only the cruel game of trying to adhere to almost laughably impossible physical standards, but also underlines the focus on looks as “unealthy, culturally perpetuated” by the “idealized-image-saturated society” (Coy-Dibley, I 2016, pg. 3).

Coy-Dibley, I 2016, ‘Digitized Dysmorphia’ of the female body: the re/disfigurement of the image, Palgrave Communications, vol. 2, no. 1

Kaur, A., Kaur, A. and Singla, G 2020, Rising dysmorphia among adolescents : A cause for concern, Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, vol. 9, no.2, pp.567–570

Rettberg, J.W 2014, Filtered Reality, Seeing Ourselves Through Technology, pp.20–32

Ryding, F.C. and Kuss, D.J 2019, The use of social networking sites, body image dissatisfaction, and body dysmorphic disorder: A systematic review of psychological research, Psychology of Popular Media Culture, vol. 9 no. 4

Unger, J.W 2016, Erratum: Corrigendum: The interdisciplinarity of critical discourse studies research. Palgrave Communications, vol. 2, no. 1

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WEEK 7: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & HEALTH EDUCATION

Just like there are rules and margins on people real life, these relationships exist on the internet as well. The rise of social media has gifted everybody with the power to create and distribute content, and has shifted the drivers of discourse from companies to ordinary individuals like you and me.

 It should be noted however that dream of becoming an influencer sentinel is not as glamorous as advertised. Just like there are rules within ordinary industries, the careers of influencers online are also overruled by social hierarchies including “gender, sexuality, race, and class” (Duffy, B & Meisner, C 2023 pg. 289). As more and more users become content creators, a certain “govern influence” is enforced through a “instantiation of norms and platform practices” (Duguay, S et al 2020, pg. 239). Becoming a content creator is often not as lucrative as advertised from platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, within an online influencer market marred by “inequality, exploitation and a pervasive culture of overwork” (Duffy, B & Meisner, C 2023, pg.300).

While social media has in some ways liberated us, in other ways its imprisoned us with expectations of how we should look and act. Another way that the social media economy sets the rules on the viability of content creators is through the discourse of sexually implicated images on the internet. Much of this dynamic is reflected within the style of the ‘porn chic’, which channels the practices of commercial pornography (Drenten, J et al 2018, pg. 42).  This style is often utilized by influencers to sell products as part of an effort to champion an “idealized body” and promote “habitual body monitoring, body shame and internalization of the thin ideal” (Drenten, J et al 2018, pg. 54). However, this trend can also be attributed to an avenue where females are able to collectively rebel against a media climate largely dominated driven by men, where the power of social media to manipulates one’s own self-image and representation has been seen as a “potential tool for women’s empowerment” (Carah, N & Dobson, A 2016, pg. 3).

Carah, N & Dobson, A 2016, ‘Algorithmic Hotness: Young Women’s ‘Promotion’ and ‘Reconnaissance’ Work via Social Media Body Images’, Social Media + Society, vol. 2, no.4

Drenten, J, Gurrieri, L & Tyler, M 2019, ‘Sexualized labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention’, Gender, Work & Organization, vol.27 no.1

Duffy, B.E. and Meisner, C 2022, ‘Platform governance at the margins: Social media creators’ experiences with algorithmic (in)visibility’, Media, Culture & Society

Duguay, S, Burgess, J & Suzor, N 2018, ‘Queer women’s experiences of patchwork platform governance on Tinder, Instagram, and Vine’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

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WEEK 6: SOCIAL MEDIA & SLOW FASHION

Considering the built up documentation of the significant impact of the fashion industry on the environment, there are a certainly a number of elements that have contributed to the exponential growth in sustainability fashion practices.

The concept of sustainability in itself is not a new phenomenon, with the consideration of fashion’s impact on the environment going as far back as the 1960s. (Henninger, C et al 2017, pp.3).  Most of the growth of the slow fashion movement can be linked with a greater and broader enthusiasm for embracing practices that friendlier to the environment. The landscape and discourse has seen a shift towards a need for sustainability practices, and the slow fashion movement has highlighted the growing “importance of sustainability” along with a trend of “change in peoples’ values”. (Domingos et al, 2022 pp. 9)

It can also be argued that the likelihood of an individual’s participation in the slow fashion movement hinges  on their level of acceptance of hedonic values in their lives, which for example can influence whether they decide to drive a car or travel with public transport (Geider, S & Keller, J 2018, pp. 1120). In the case of slow fashion, it is the dynamic where the greater an individual’s commitment to sustainability is, the lower the value is of one’s style and beauty. (Domingos et al, 2022 pp. 2).

The concept of compassion is also on display as a significant motivator for subscription to the slow fashion movement.  Most of this is attributed to a tendency of a compassionate person to help in the “relieving of the suffering of others” (Geiger, S & Keller, J 2018, pp.1120).  Compassion is a power that can drive people to consider sustainable purchase criteria and pay more for ethically produce clothes (1137). Furthermore, it is responsible for concern for the preservation of the environment and the “guaranteeing of the well-being of individuals” (Domingos et al, 2022 pp. 2).

References:

Adi, A 2017, #Sustainability on Twitter: Loose Ties and Green-Washing CSR, Corporate Responsibility and Digital Communities, pp.99–122

Domingos, M., Vale, V.T. & Faria, S 2022, Slow Fashion Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review, Sustainability, vol.14, no.5, pp.2860

Geiger, S.M & Keller, J 2017, Shopping for Clothes and Sensitivity to the Suffering of Others: The Role of Compassion and Values in Sustainable Fashion Consumption. Environment and Behavior, vol. 50, no.10, pp.1119–1144.

Henninger, C.E, Ryding, D, Alevizou, P.J. & Goworek 2017, Introduction to Sustainability in Fashion, Sustainability in Fashion, pp.1–10.

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WEEK 5: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

Digital Citizenship is a demonstration of how online community engagement can create positive change in society.

Three approaches to digital citizenship are generally taken: the Uni-dimensional approach emphasizes various aspects of Digital citizenship through their respective disciplines; Multi-dimensional frameworks which outline a multidimensional outlook of digital citizenship; and a critical and radical approach which suggests that the concept of digital citizenship has many complex elements, and that more critical perspectives should be embraced (Choi, M et al 2021, ppg. 362-364).

One of the ways that digital citizenship can create positive change is through Participatory Democracy, where digital citizens engage in the democratization of political and corporate entities every day. Digital Citizens, with the growth of social media have become much more integrated into government processes outside of election periods, and the policy making process has become multi-actored through a “participatory democracy concept” (Iskili, S 2015, pp. 36). Movements such as Black Lives Matter have shown that personalized politics can be vital to participatory democracy due to the fact that they are “linked with connective and collective action” (Choi, M et al, 2021, pp. 365).

One of the other ways that the benefits of digital citizenship can create positive change is through the act of political and civil engagement. The dynamic of civic engagement has pivoted through to more personalized expressions of political ideals and values, separated from allegiance to specific political parties or ideals (Choi, M 2021, pp. 365). Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have especially been transformed into key theatres for political debate and dialogue.

Another example of the change brought by digital citizenship is through Hashtag movements. Movements mobilized through the hashtag function can galvanize a large cohort of fragmented and especially ordinary individuals into a collective force for change which are able to spread “awareness and information on a social issue” (Kim, Y et al 2022, pp. 1). They also allow the opportunity for further dialogue by acting as a “place marker for both fellow activists and multiple uses of a phrase” (Stache, L 2014, pp.1).

While the privacy of social media can certainly bring out the worst in people, a study of digital citizenship shows that it can be a force for good, and create an inclusive environment for all of society.

Choi, M & Cristol, D 2021,  ’Digital citizenship with intersectionality lens: Towards participatory democracy driven digital citizenship education’, Theory Into Practice, pp. 361-370,

Işıklı, Ş 2015, Digital Citizenship: An Actual Contribution to Theory of Participatory Democracy. AJIT-e Online Academic Journal of Information Technology, pp.21–3

Kim, Y. and Lee, S. (2022). #ShoutYourAbortion on Instagram: Exploring the Visual Representation of Hashtag Movement and the Public’s Responses. SAGE Open

Stache, L.C., 2014 Advocacy and Political Potential at The Convergence of Hashtag Activism and Commerce. Feminist Media Studies, pp.162–164

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WEEK 4: REALITY TV

Reality TV, despite its frequent depictions of breakups, heartbreaks, and disasters, has a special way of bringing people together.

Prior to the advent of the speed and power of social media technologies, Reality TV did have forms of audience participation, although both the “nature of this participation” and the “agency of audience members” were limited (L’Hoiry, X 2019, pp. 2).  Now, viewers are not only invited but are encouraged to have their input in the narrative of the show and be able to influence its direction, a relationship regarded as a “democratization of production within an increasingly interactive economy” (L’Hoiry, X 2019, pp. 3).

 Following the growth of the reach of social media through platforms such as Twitter, reality shows are no longer a one way channel but are a “shared social experience where different generations can congregate” (Deller, Ruth A 2019, pp. 156).

A significant pull of engagement with reality tv online is through its humor, as many shows often integrate humor into the narrative in order to generate online discussion, primarily through “puns, quips, animated gifs, memes and sarcastic commentary”, often perpetuated by viewers for the reward of likes and shares. These artifacts of audience interaction not only stir engagement and further reactions, but also evince the evolution with social media by giving these moments “a much longer afterlife than the shows themselves even have (Deller, Ruth A 2019, pp. 156).

However, another key attraction to engagement with reality TV is its relationship with realism and authenticity. A popular role of social media within the engagement of reality tv is that of “verifying the truth claims of reality shows” (Deller, Ruth A 2019, pp. 156). Audiences tend to have a never-ending search for authenticity, and when realize they have been fooled they “react pro-actively and – thanks to social media – collectively” (L’Hoiry, X 2019, pp. 4).

Social Media has also transformed the perception of authenticity of its contestants, whose transmedia texts online are required to be “real”, as well as “authentic” and “on brand” (Arcy, J 2018, pp. 500).

As further hybridization occurs and more forms of engagement and entertainment emerge, it does not seem that reality TV will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Arcy, J 2018, The digital money shot: Twitter wars, The Real Housewives, and transmedia storytelling, Celebrity Studies, pp.487–502

Deller, Ruth A, (2019) ‘Chapter Six: Reality Television in an Age of Social Media’, Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World

Kavka, M 2018, ‘Reality TV: its contents and discontents’ Critical Quarterly, pp.5–18

L’Hoiry, X 2019, ‘Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV’, Frontiers in Sociology

‌ Stewart, M 201  ‘Live tweeting, reality TV and the nation’, International Journal of Cultural Studies

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WEEK 3: TUMBLR CASE STUDY

Social media platform Tumblr was one of the first iterations of what is regarded today as the public sphere.

What the social climate provided by Tumblr represents is an avenue where individuals and communities are allowed to congregate freely and express themselves in without contempt or derision. For instance, Tumblr was a significant arena for the facilitation of the #bodypositive movement, which had the goal of encouraging individuals to reconcile with the shape of their body. This movement was heavily aided by the new hash function, a powerful tool for community building, as they “make it easy for users to connect with other like-minded people” (Raef, A et al 2022, pp. 4).  Many feminist communities also galvanized through the hashtag function, regarded as safe spaces against the “historical exclusion of women and other marginalized groups” (Raef, A et al 2022, pp. 5).  

Furthermore, what was then and what still may be Tumblr’s primary lure is its unofficial code of anonymity, where the inability to connect a person’s posts to their identity cements Tumblr’s primary function as a way to “revel in anonymity, say whatever you want without fear of it going on your permanent record” (Reeve,E 2016). For instance, especially with regards to marginalized and disenfranchised public such as queers and transpeople, the anonymity provided by Tumblr and specifically the username flexibility allows uses to connect with similarly minded individuals while they “experiment with marginalized identities they may want to keep private.”

This freedom of physical self-expression, however came under attack when Tumblr’s new NSFW policies arrived.  Tumblr’s status as a go-to safe haven was threatened with the overhaul of its approach to NSFW policies. The persecution of all NSFW content on Tumblr led to an erosion of subcultures cultivated within Tumblr for a decade, and user critique directed at the notion that the embargo on explicit content was “counterintuitive” with regards to an economy premised on “optimized accessibility” (Pilipets. E et al 2020, pp. 1460).  What started as a response to stamp out child pornography was seen as an assault on every fan art visual creator, and an issue that many more platforms will have to face are the “discrepancies between subcultural social value and corporate economic value” (Pilipets. E et al 2020, pp. 1460).

Pilipets, E. and Paasonen, S 2020, Nipples, memes, and algorithmic failure: NSFW critique of Tumblr censorship, New Media & Society

Reeeve, E 2016, ‘The Secret Lives of Tumblr Teens’, The New Republic, 18 February, viewed 30 March 2023

Reif, A., Miller, I. and Taddicken, M, 2022 “Love the Skin You‘re In”: An Analysis of Women’s Self-Presentation and User Reactions to Selfies Using the Tumblr Hashtag #bodypositive. Mass Communication and Society

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