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Author Archives: Julianne Miller
Posts: 5 (archived below)
Comments: 4
Journalism in the digital age causes Capitalism?
A recently file lawsuit on behalf of 9,000 bloggers against The Huffington Post are seeking over $100 million in damages. The bloggers are claiming they made The Huffington Post what it is today due to their contributions. With the recent sale of the Huffington Post to AOL for $315 Million, the bloggers believe they are entitled to a share of that. One outraged blogger stated “without the bloggers there was no Huffington Post and there would be no sale to AOL.” However the bloggers knew they would not get compensation for writing an article for the Huffington Post. Whether or not there was a contract with each blogger is unclear.
As Ritzer & Jurgenson observe, there is a “trend towards unpaid rather then paid labor and towards offering products at no cost” which they conclude as a new form of capitalism. Could you say The Huffington Post, as one of the many online profit-seeking companies, has traits of capitalism? Ritzer & Jurgenson state traits of capitalism include “efforts to gain greater control and greater profits.” Well The Huffington Post did not pay the bloggers who contributed leaving them with greater profits and with AOL buying them, there is now greater control and power.
Ritzer & Jurgenson ponder on a point that can be related to how The Huffington Post functions and the possibility of a new form of capitalism emerging; “If capitalism is ultimately based on (unequal) exchanges based on a money economy, in such a ‘free’ economy can we be said to have capitalism in its traditional sense or are we beginning to see the emergence of the outlines of a new form of capitalism?” We will see how the lawsuit pans out but for the mean time, Did Arianna Huffington create an online journalism platform with capitalism written all over it or did she just create an amazing business idea that made her millions?
Source: Production, Consumption, Prosumption, The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’ by George Ritzer and Nathan Jurgenson
Posted in Assignment 5
Tagged Blogs, Capitalism, Huffington Post, Ritzer & Jurgenson, Social Media
Comments Off on Journalism in the digital age causes Capitalism?
Social Media as a tool
The disaster in Japan gave a different use to social media. The concept similar to that of an illness narrative unfolded on the web. The internet “spawned creativity & innovation online amid a collective desire to ease suffering.” After the earthquake, tsunami & nuclear crisis during March, the people of Japan were able to use the internet mainly Twitter, to receive up to date real time information. As the earthquake & tsunami unfolded, the people of Japan were able to connect to Twitter to find their loved ones. Between March 7 to 13 the site grew by a third to 7.5 million users. Even one of the cities in Japan, Mitaka which is west of Tokyo, created a twitter.
Those directly affected by the disaster weren’t the only ones who used social media to connect. Many people became volunteers who used their blogs, Facebook & twitter to attempt to heal or at least comfort those suffering. A teacher living just outside of Tokyo created “Quakebook.” Quakebook is a collection of reflection, essays & images from various bloggers. IT plans to become a digital publication that will be sold. The proceeds of the publication will go to the Japanese Red Cross.
“World’s 1000 messages for Japan,” is another project that involves contributions from social media users. It consists of a collection of emailed notes & notes from Facebook users which then get posted to Twitter.
Social Media has used the Internet as a place to connect with people, share stories, give hope and volunteer time. It’s amazing that from countries & miles away we can all join in and let those suffering know they are not alone but rather there is someone here to lend a hand & do what they can.
‘Do Not Track’ Me
I found an article in self magazine about the same old story of some aspect of someones life ruined from what was on their facebook. A women was on a disability leave after a diagnosis of depression. Her doctor’s had recommended that she go on trips and have nights out. She then posted pictures of her trips and nights out on her facebook. Her disability insurance ended up dropping her. The article also talks of a case about two teenagers who suffered from an eating disorder. They had to provide their online posts as evidence to prove whether or not their illness was biological or emotional and therefor covered or not covered by their insurer. What you put on the Internet could be held against you in the courts apparently. This leads to the idea of information collection. Should companies, potential employer and even advertisers be allowed to access what you post on your personal page?
The New York Tims recently reported news of the Do Not Track Online Act of 2011. The Senator of West Virgina claims “Consumers have a right to know when and how their personal and sensitive information is being used online-and most importantly to be able to say ‘no thanks’ when companies seek to gather that information without their approval.”
Recently various Internet browsers such as Google, Mozilla and Microsoft have created a privacy feature for users to opt out of their personal data being collected. With this feature Third party advertisers would be sent a signal that a users does not want to be contacted. As for collection of other sensitive information such as religious affiliation or medical condition, “the Commercial Privacy Bill of Right Act of 2011 required users to opt in…but did not call for a do not track mechanism.”
If any of the companies violate this law, the Federal Trade Commission would be able to pursue action against that company. This Act is in the process of being proposed to congress. It will interesting to see how this Do Not Track Online Act will pan out and affect the future of information collection.
Communicate from beyond the grave
Social media has changed the way we live. Now it is changing death too. I’ve seen the facebook status posts that say “When I die, friends will go to my funeral, good friends will cry at my funeral, but my best friend will change my facebook status to ‘Chillin with Jesus’.” Well now your best friend won’t have to because you can now be prepared for death in the digital age. LifeEnsured is preparing people for specifically that. This service allows people to control what happens to their accounts. From beyond the grave you can control what happens to your facebook for example. You can have you facebook deactivated, disable wall posts, change everything to past tense and even post a final status. This service is offered for over 30 online services, including Facebook, Twitter and WordPress. You won’t have to worry about your digital information living on forever. LifeEnsured gets notified either by the Social Security Administration or your confidants who are people you select to notify LifeEnsured of your death. LifeEnsured will take care of anything from your match.com profile to transfer of ownership of your PayPal account to who controls your email. You can send out a final email and other various changes to any of your online accounts. This is a way of protecting all your digital information in a time where almost everything we do is documented online. There are different types of plans offered, some of which are free and an unlimited service is priced at $300.
Constant surveillance of our lives
There is constant surveillance of our lives. Whether you’re walking down the street, making a phone call or sitting behind a computer, there is always someone watching or recording our moves. As I attempted to find a video clip showing the constant surveillance of our everyday lives, I stumbled upon a website called earthcam.com. As if the constant surveillance and cameras throughout the city for the purpose of terrorist threats and what is claimed to be for our protection isn’t enough. Surveillance is being watched over to protect and enforce social control of criminal activities and most recently to monitor for terrorist activities.
Now not only think about what you put out on the internet but what about the things you don’t put on the internet? Like the cameras watching you at the intersection of Christopher Street and 7th avenue streaming to the people at home on their computers on the website cnyclive.com. The people at home get to watch you at that intersection and the surrounding store with the power to control the direction of the camera and even zoom in.
An article from 2001 on the wired.com mentioned websites such as beer (dot) com, which is not currently a valid URL. This site allowed people at home to watch what was happening at participating bars online. Bar owners claimed that it allowed their usual customers to see if other frequent customers were at the bar. Some bars didn’t even notify the customers at the bar that their actions were being streamed live over the bars webcam.
Websites such as cnyclive.com and beer (dot) com make us aware to the fact that we may not know when we are being watched so we constantly have to be surveilling ourselves. The idea of the panopticon now becomes a major part of our life. The idea that you are constantly being surveilled causes you to be self disciplined. These websites should also raise questions as to what should and shouldn’t be private. Though we may not be partaking in private actions in the street, does that mean its okay for it to be broadcasted throughout the world?
