Bonus Mission #2: Not a Game

I have a confession to make –Second Life did not interest me in the least bit initially. I would have never known about its existence if I did not have to take the COM125 class. Actually, that in itself is a lie. I did know about Second Life before I took the COM125 class. In fact, I learnt about Second Life through a friend’s blog.

Perhaps the sexual screen captures of Second Life she had posted in one entry turned me off and left me with a bad first impression of this virtual reality. I could not imagine who in his/ her right mind would enjoy having virtual sex. Perhaps my friend was making a mockery out of the realism Second Life is supposed to portray by posting those pictures up on her blog.

It seems everybody can be anybody on virtual realms like Second Life, which is no surprise because that is what new media brings with it –freedom of identity. Well, at least I like to think so. Being a non-gamer, I did not response at all to the influx of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMO but I am acutely aware of how people can be consumed by the gaming world since I have friends who are fanatics themselves.

In one Newsweek article, Steven Levy (2006) wrote on the power of MMOs, particularly the massive hit World of War Craft (WWO). While WWO displays obvious characteristics of a game more so than Second Life, there are similarities between the two. Just as how Levy observed about WWO, human choices and morals are essential for interaction in a fantasy world like Second Life.

Real people are sitting at those consoles and jabbing away at their keyboards. The act itself may seem passive but a lot of thinking is happening in the mind as a participant goes through the terrain in Second Life. So much so that it elicits sudden bursts of frustrations and elations from players (i.e. my observation of fellow classmates who were trying to get themselves off the ‘orientation’ island in Second Life).

What fascinates me about Second Life is how it is very much like the real world. As my friend has demonstrated with those screen captures on her blog, you can have sexual intercourse in Second Life. You can also earn Linden dollars, Second Life’s own currency and convert it into real money you can use in the real world. Plus, as told in a previous lecture in COM125, you can even use it to aid the marketing efforts of your product. A hotel, which has yet to be completed in real life, has already enjoyed visits from virtual citizens in Second Life.

It takes time and effort to be a participant in Second Life or any virtual fantasy world and it is nice to know that there are people who do so for a cause. Take the example of artist, Joseph DeLappe, (Clarran, 2006). Though he is a passive player in America’s Army, he types the names of real soldiers whose lives were claimed in the real life war of Iraq in the game’s chat interface. He is just one of the many Americans who feel they and the atrocities of the war needed to be remembered.

As I have said before, I am not much of a gamer but if worlds like Second Life, America’s Army and WWO can be utilized in ways a hotel and a concerned citizen have demonstrated to us, I have no reason to dismiss these worlds as just mere games you play to while away your time.

References

Clarran, R. (2006). Virtually dead in Iraq. Retrieved April 7, 2007 from http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2006/09/16/americasarmy/

Levy, S. (2006). World of Warcraft: Is It a Game. Retrieved April 7, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757769/site/newsweek/page/3/print/1/displaymode/1098/

QotW9: Citizen Journalism

In his book, We the Media, writer and journalist, Dan Gillmor (2004) iterates the fact that readers know more than journalists themselves. He professes this is one reason why the voice of the public cannot be ignored in the virtual realm.

When providing an example, Gillmor explains that ‘people who want to improve what they’ve bought are studying how things work, whether products are traditional electronics or things with a software component, and these customers are making adjustments –hacks, as they’re known –that either make the products better or change their nature entirely’. This is to say experts of all kinds come out of the woodwork (public) online.

This sets the pace for citizen journalism. It is journalism by citizens with citizens setting the agenda (Chua and Peh, 2006). In comparison to traditions of competition, expertise and control practiced by big news companies, the marked difference citizen journalism has over professional journalism is that it shows transparency and encourages dialogue and collaboration between people (Carr, 2007).

Stomp was set up by the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in an effort to stay relevant to a new generation (Chua and Reh, 2006). The national print giant could not afford to ignore what the digital advancement brings in its wake. It knows more and more of its readers are going online and this could harm readership. So in order to ‘get with it’, Stomp was set up with the basic principle of being a portal whereby readers generate the content.

Is this citizen journalism? There was a lot of debate about Stomp. Perhaps the answer lies behind the reason of its conception. According to Gillmor, it seems citizen journalism means that people are proactive and they volunteer to disclose information on their own free will. Stomp, in comparison, was marketed and advertised for it to be up and running.

This is not to say Stomp is a marketing ploy. It is not. In my opinion, Stomp is very much like an online community. Visitors are mostly SPH readers. Not only do they meet and exchange ideas in Stomp, they tip SPH off on the latest trends and news. Like Gillmor says: readers can know more about things than the journalists themselves.

Since Stomp is by SPH and SPH is a government dependant media, critics have a field day picking on that fact alone. How can something like Stomp portray an idea, which, in theory, exists outside the boundaries of government and corporation? What is so ‘emergent’ and ‘self-assembling’ about Stomp?

Although, I do not think Stomp is a good example of citizen journalism, I do not think it needs the backlash. Just as how Gillmor (2004) points out –feedback and assistance should be welcomed from both the business and the public.

The real representatives of Singapore’s citizen journalism are those who have readers commenting actively on their blogs or web spaces through conversation, argument and annotation (Carr, 2007). This, in turn, brings about insights and hard facts (Carr, 2007). The citizen newsmaker puts out something that piques his interest and, given time, what he put out will generate readers’ response. He can report about anything so long as what he reports produces a dialogue among his readers.

People should always remember –the name of the game is information and with the Internet, it would be unwise to totally ignore or, worse, dismiss the voices of people just because they are not trained professionals in journalism. People always have something to say and something to share with one another. If they have to utilize Stomp to do so, so be it.

References

Carr, D. (2007). All the World’s a Story. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/business/media/19carr.html?ex=1331956800&en=223e434f8bf020ab&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Chua, M. H. and Peh, S. H. (2006). Looking the media storm in the eye. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from Factiva.

Gillmor, D. (2004). We The Media. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html

QotW8: Democracy The Internet Allows

It is mentioned in Kalathil and Boas’ (2001) study of the Internet in authoritarian regimes that the international community has long considered Singapore as a semi authoritarian state.

So it came as no surprise when Kalathil and Boas continued to illustrate how Singapore has managed to come up with a planned Information Communication Technology (ICT) strategy for implemention and that this strategy is a combination of legal, technical and social measures –all in the effort to control the development of the Internet within the country.

As Thornton (2002) points out people are wistfully thinking that the Internet can offer a public arena free from government control and commercialism. So the word ‘control’ used in the previous paragraph may not go down well with these hopefuls.

Over the years, the Internet has without a doubt, helped China to achieve a freer state of existence for its citizens although the Chinese government still holds an iron grip as Kalathil and Boas demonstrate.

Rebecca MacKinnon attested to this notion in an online roundtable conducted by Frontline. She brought forth a point that China has approximately 15 million blogs and conversations in these same blogs have become more wide-ranging culturally and socially –something unheard of in China 20 years ago.

What MacKinnon is referring to is called ‘citizens’ media’. This phenomenon is not only happening in China, it exists in this semi-authoritarian state of Singapore. In an online roundup of 2006’s politics of Singapore’s new media, Giam (2006) wrote about the major stories that the blogosphere brought forth to the public attention.

Some of these stories were satires, there were stories that were not reported by the traditional media and other stories were intensely thought provoking. Most importantly, all stories were written by citizens and meant for the benefit of citizens. It can be said that Singaporeans are making the effort to engage in participatory democracy.

One particular blogger I made a personal hero out of is Cherian George, an assistant professor at the School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. While other blogs that make puns out of every local issue (governmental or otherwise) are creatively entertaining, George’s entries are serious, objectively written and provoking.

His earlier blog entitled Air-Conditioned Nation was a place where he wrote essays on local matters; particularly of the local media. I remember coming across his blog while doing research for an in-class speech I had to give. I chanced upon his entry, Freedom from press –Why the media are the way they are and thought that it was one of the most thorough piece I have ever read on the government versus the media.

Now, George has moved to a new blog called Singapore Media. It was set up in September 15, 2005 and it is ranked 265, 106 on Technorati. It goes to show that the academia should never be dismissed even online.

Anybody can engage in citizens’ media. In fact, everybody is encouraged to participate in it. This is the only way Singaporeans can realise a greater democracy. Blogs like George’s offer citizens relevant information and alternative perspectives on issues that need to be addressed online because it is not possible to do so anywhere else.

As rightly put by our dear marketing instructor, Neil Holbert, “Democracy is not so much the destination, it is about the journey.” I think it is because the journey is the most exciting part about it.

References

Frontline. (2006). Roundtable The Struggle to Control Information. Retrieved March 21, 2007 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/internet/

Giam, G. (2006). Review -The politics of Singapore's new media in 2006. Retrieved March 21, 2007, from http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/

Kalathil, S., &, Boas, T. C. (2001). The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes: China, Cuba, and the Counterrevolution. First Monday. Retrieved March 21, 2007, from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_8/kalathil/index.html

Thornton, A. (2002). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/

QotW7: Online Communities

Tweety, twatter, twitter, is it a community or something other? What we do know is that it is yet another social networking service the Internet has to offer. You sign up for a free account, take some time to figure out how the application works and then you spend hours on end finding friends and strangers in the network to add on your list. Or you use the social networking application to interact with people who are already online.

Wellman and Gulia (1996) brought up a term they called computer supported social networks (CSSNs). This term included electronic mail, bulletin boards, newsgroups and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) as examples of CSSN. Wellman and Gulia also highlighted that all CSSN provide companionship, social support, information and a sense of belonging.

So we know a community can result from a social network. Fernback and Thompson (1995) were careful to interpret Richard Sennett’s notion of community culture. They said that although the concept of community usually refers to social relationships that occur within boundaries, whether geographically or not, there is an ideological dimension to the concept. Fernback and Thompson were referring to a sense of common character, identity or interests each community possess.

Twitter’s tagline reads ‘what are you doing’. It functions like a hyperactive bulletin board whereby posts get updated every available second of the day depending on how many friends you have on your list. Basically, it provides a textbox (much like a comment box) for you to type in what you are doing right at the minute. People on your friends’ list would read it off their own page about what you were doing with your time and they, in turn, would post about what they were doing.

In the initial stage, it does not allow you to know much about a user, just that you get to know where he or she lives based on a few lines about the user under the ‘Bio’ section. But if you were a friend of the user and an avid visitor of Twitter, you would be able to paint a picture of that same user from reading the few lines he or she types out everyday on what he or she is doing.

But the question is: is Twitter a community or not? My answer is yes simply because the very first thing I saw when I visited Twitter was the SXSW button on the Featured User box on the right-hand corner. SXSW stands for South by Southwest and it is a major event in The States because it is not only a festival for music and film but it also hosts interactive conferences for creators and their audience.

If you decide to click on SXSW the user, the very first thing you will notice is that the user has over 5000 friends on its list. These are all fans of the event and just like me they are following the SXSW page to get event updates. Which is perfect timing, might I add, because SXSW is happening from 9th till the 18th of March.

Curiously enough, as soon as I added SXSW to my own list, three other members off its list added me as a friend. Perhaps this goes in line with what was mentioned by Wellman and Gulia (1996) –the Net encourages the expansion of community networks. They made an example out of receiving unsolicited help from friends of a friend about an email virus. It can work the same way from me because now I have not only SXSW to read about what people are doing at the event but three other friends whose updates I can read from.

References

About SXSW. Retrieved March 17, 2007, from http://2007.sxsw.com/about/

Fernback, J., &, Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Wellman, B., &, Gulia, M. (1996). Net Surfers Don’t Ride Alone Virtual Communities As Communities. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html

QotW6: Privacy, Surveillance, Sousveillance

Sleeping is a private affair, which is why I did not appreciate it when a friend of mine wiped out his latest Samsung mobile phone and started to take a video of an old man asleep in the train with his mouth agape. My friend took the short clip off his phone and mass-emailed it to everyone he knew just for the heck of it.

What would you have done if you had been the old man? You were asleep, you were caught unaware and you would probably feel grossly violated if you knew you have been caught on video by an errant youth.

With more advanced mobile gadgets, anybody can record a video of anybody else at any given time and at any given place. There is a danger to that notion but at the same time this can serve a noble purpose.

Take the example of the police officer who used a Taser on a student in the library just because he did not have his identification card on him (Sousveillance.org, 2006). The incident was caught on video by a citizen and put on YouTube.com. According to a blogger at Sousveillance.org, this led to a discussion about the importance sousveillance in college campuses.

When you have ordinary people going around the place with their own handheld cameras, recording moments on the fly, you start to wonder what they are going to use the footage for. So as far as sousveillance go, as long as it serves a purpose for the good of many, I feel it is fine. But if the footage is misused like the Taser gun in the library, then I would not consider that sousveillance. In other words, the video of the sleeping old man in the train does not count as an example of sousveillance.

In an article written by Jeffrey Rosen (2004), it was mentioned that the sociologist Thomas Mathiesen built on Foucault’s Panapticon concept (the few watched the many) and came up with the terms Synopticon –the many watch the few – and Omnipticon –the many are watching the many.

Within the same article, it was discussed that Americans are facing a dilemma of sorts regarding their tendency to ‘expose’ their Self to mere strangers. They are doing it online through self-disclosure on blogs and filling up user profiles on many social networking applications online. Personal data suddenly becomes easier to retrieve in the public domain.

When The Self is becoming more and more exposed and information about The Self becomes easily available where does that leave us with privacy? Rosen’s article seems to insinuate that we brought it upon us, that we feel the need to belong in a society where trust from strangers can only be achieved by disclosing the details of our personal lives.

There are a lot of issues regarding privacy particularly regarding security. I often wonder if the world will really become like the fictitious one penned by George Orwell in his book, 1984. How much does the government need to know or have under surveillance in the name of keeping its citizens safe (Sullivan, 2006)?

There already has been a case of mistaken identity whereby a woman and two teenage girls were charged for murder just because they were caught on a surveillance camera at the time of crime (Sullivan, 2006). It was not until later it was discovered that the camera was not synchronized to the correct timing.

It seems to me that the situation now is indeed a 21st century equivalent of being caught naked (Sullivan, 2006) and we are still unsure how much about ourselves should remain private.

References

Rosen, J. (2004, July 19). The Naked Crowd. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Sullivan, B. (2006, October 17). Privacy Lost: Does anybody care? Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

The Principle of Evidence: Practical Sousveillance 101. (2006, November 18). Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://www.sousveillance.org/journal/?p=373