Tag Archives: Anonymity

True or False?

Posted on May 2, 2011 by gee.elle

As Professor McKinney mentioned in class today, the news that Osama Bin Laden had been shot dead was all over Twitter before the mainstream media or President Obama made any official annoucement.  Although the news did not come from the White House directly, it has been reported that the information came from reputable sources associated with the White House with former ties to the US government.

Professor McKinney also commented on how quickly the information spread and that even the President has no control over the spread of official information.  This reminded of the kid’s game Telephone and how the Internet is just a giant version of this game. In my opinion, modern technologies and the type of communication they allow for is less fact-based and more about hear-say. There is no real control of the type of information posted anywhere on the Internet.  As a result, people are free to post the truth and its corresponding lies. They can also make up anything about everything. Or they may simply misunderstand the information they receive online.

This leads me to wonder: what, then, is the purpose of the Internet if there is no security and confidence in the information we receive? Personally, the vast amounts of information available on the Internet and anonymity of the people posting this information makes me paranoid about the whole situation. If there are so many false accounts of information out in the world, who’s to say that we won’t eventually forget the truth?

(This is somewhat unrelated, but this Tumblr post shows how information and images can be easy altered to deliver a message or  convey a feeling.)

Posted in Assignment 3 | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Stereotypes and Social Media, pt. 2

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Andrew McKinney

In a previous post, I talked about the possibility of stereotypes fading away with the help of social media.  Ultimately, I argued that this was unlikely.  Well, here’s an article that bolsters my point.  The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on a talk given by Lisa Nakamura at the South by Southwest Interactive conference that outlined several recent studies that have found new kinds of racism flourishing in global video game communities.

For instance, in China large numbers of users began earning a living playing Diablo 2, winning virtual weapons in the fantasy role-playing game and selling their online loot to people in the United States who did not have time to play as many hours to arm their characters. Many of the players chose to play as a female dwarf, a class in the game that can more easily win treasure on solo missions. And so other players began killing all dwarfs in the game, often adding anti-Chinese slurs in the chat section of the game as they did, says Ms. Nakamura.

The article goes on to point to the role of anonymity in the proliferation of racism on the Internet, a topic we’ve talked about in the course (especially in relation to cyberbullying).  However, can we really blame anonymity?  In the example that Nakamura gives, anonymity is important, but can we really guarantee that being able to see a profile picture of someone will make people less likely to be racist?  If there’s one thing that became apparent for me while reading your papers on your social media presence its that the vast majority of you have some doubts about whether or not the people you are interacting with online are really who they say they are.  Therefore, we only friend people we know in real life.  So, how does adding a profile picture and some personal information to a social interaction based solely on the Internet equal a lack of anonymity?

Posted in Professorial Musings | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Stereotypes and Social Media, pt. 2

SOCIAL NOT FATAL!

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

“Amanda ******** is a B&%$#”

http://www.collegeacb.com/

As we discussed in class,Facebook users have a tendency of dehumanizing other users in order to gain self-confidence.Cyberbullying has become an ongoing issue in society.It has affected many individuals physically, mentally, and emotionally. Due to cyberbullying,many deaths have occurred.  For the most part, cyberbullying occurs from the actions of others on numerous social networking sites. I will focus on CollegeACB, formely known as Juicycampus.For those who are unaware of the site; it is a social site and peers are instructed to:

  1. Encourage users to post more positive and productive content.
  2. Allow users to highlight content they like.
  3. Give users the power to remove content they don’t like.
  4. Push the culture of the site in a more positive and productive direction.

Instead the opposite is portrayed on the website.

There are some differences between Facebook and CollegeACB.Facebook gives users the opportunity to create a profile and communicate with family, friends and potential friends. However CollegeACB, gives users the ability to post information about their fellow colleagues, whether negative or positive. After scrolling through the subtitles, negative/bashing occurs more often than positive thoughts. Websites like CollegeACB gives users the chance to “cyberbully” with no face to the comment, unless the post gets out of hand and is reported to the website’s owner.

Below I have copied a post from the website to demonstrate the cruelty of one user who accepts the negativity from other users:

“STOP POSTING ‘KIND’ THREADS! IT WILL BACKFIRE!

Posted 03/30/2010 02:38 AM | Last Reply 03/30/2010 02:38 AM

“Do you think that by trying to change the tone of this site it will be a good thing? No! If you write about anyone on this site, someone will guaranteed shit on them afterwards. Yes a girl committed suicide, but still by making these ‘favorite, nicest’ threads, you are going to have innocent good people being caught in the cross fire…”

This goes to show that social networking sites not only serve as a trigger to commit suicide, if not used in the right manner. However, the many users on these websites feel it’s best to bash as many individuals as possible. As he/she states, “STOP POSTING “KIND” THREADS IT WILL BACKFIRE”…In other words, why use a website, like CollegeACB in a pleasant manner, eventually negativity will occur from your post. Unfortunately, one female committed suicide after being cyberbullied and it will continue to happen if websites like CollegeACB exist. In this day and age we are so caught up in technology that face to face conversations, whether a regular conversation or disagreement can be resolved. Instead, anonymity plays key role in pointing out the bad and leaves the ugly with the control/power of words. The website should provide users with profile information to approach or report their aggressive opponents.

From my perspective, the loyalty of friendships and networking amongst humans weaken day by day. I often wonder what happen to the well valued friendships, formal meetings where individuals discuss commonalities and differences face to face. As oppose to, being bashed online which can have a psychological affect on the individual. (Remember all the members on specific sites are anonymous, it can be your best friend who has hatred towards your lifestyle.)

The advancement of technology leads to an increase of cyberbullying. Due to the actions of others, an individual can be affected, which may result in death.Change must occur in order for these websites to be a much safer environment.Unfortunately, some see otherwise.

Posted in Assignment 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on SOCIAL NOT FATAL!