LM 111 Week 10

This was the week of my presentation and it was about digital divide. What digital divide is the difference between people who use the internet and technology to use the internet to people who don’t. Digital divide is a distinction between those who can participate in the ‘digital’ economy, as consumers & producers via online, digital systems and those who can’t… (Couldry, 2003:4). This is what we spoke about in our presentation, we discussed who does and doesn’t and people who can’t such as people in countries where the government control what the public sees like North Korea.

The people who can’t have access to the internet are countries such as North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia. This is because the supreme leaders want to control the flow of digital information from the people.  From what evidence there is, we know that China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia have laws and policies about their internet usage and content. Such laws and policies that could be considered extensive when compared with other countries.

The people who do have access to the internet are places like the UN who thin having access to the internet should part of out human rights. it would seem that internet access and freedom on the internet is something now considered into our human rights. As it is such a big part of most of society, it is now viewed as something all people should be able to access and use accordingly. As well as this, the U.N have put these protocols in place to protect people from their states and governments, as it is something they believe can be controlled unrightfully by their leaders.

LM 111 Week 9

In todays lesson, Maria taught the class about globalisation. Within the globalisation there are many manifestations which are all together and not separate. Globalisation can be described as processes and relationships that are multidimensional, interdepend, uneven and not fair for all and contested. ‘Globalisation is also about our growing awareness of these depending connections and independence’ (Steger 2003: 13)

There are many different manifestations such as

  • Economy: This  consists of world trade of goods from other countries, services and also culture (food, clothes, goods).
  • People: This consists of intentional movement of people as tourists, refugees, guests workers and students.
  •  Culture industry: Global culture industries music, film, fashion – global circulation of signs , ideas, brands and lifestyle
  • ‘War on terror’: ‘The globalisation of the ‘war on terrorism’ has had many implications including the monitoring of citizen within nation states, the treatment of those seeking asylum from global conflict zones and the movement of people to and from countries more generally’ (Flew, 2005:178)

 

LM111 Week 8

In todays lesson Maria tort the class about surveillance, dataveillance and consumption online. From my notes from the lesson I learnt what surveillance is. It is ‘watching a recording others activities as a means of monitoring and supervising them’ (Lyon, 2002). This sort of surveillance will be used on places like high streets, supermarkets and banks. The surveillance cameras would normally be used for security purposers for suspicious acts.

There two different types of records. Public records witch which consist on both, marriage and death certificate, electoral registers, council tax revisits and medical records. This sort of records are controlled by the governemnt. The other type of records are private records. This consists of store loyalty cards, frequent flyer data, car rental and traffic control camera database. This records recorded is done irately with this producer and consumer.

This links to the data we register in social media. We give personal information such as name, gender date of birth, nationality ethnic orgin and this links to the  surveillance though suscation. when we see the option to get discount, freebees and sign up for competisitons online, we are willing got give away personal information just to get something from the internet and in store.

LM111 Week 7

In today’s lesson Maria taught us about Network privacy. During the lesson Maria asked the class if there was any networked society that doesn’t ask for personal information such as phone number, full name and date of birth and no one could think of anything. This made me think about my privacy online and if the things I think are private really are. With my own experience on social network society, there are options on who can see your information, like people who are only ‘friends’ or ‘follow’ allowed access. ‘Individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others’ (Westin 1967, in Fuchs, 2011:142 & in Boyd, 2014:59).

Maria explained about privacy of social media posts. There have been many situations where celebrities or people in a job interview have been confronted by the content of their online history which has ruined careers. ‘Comments written weeks ago can easily be fodder for current dramas’ (Boyd, 2014: p66).

There is an option for opting out, meaning you can delete social media from your phone and not use it anymore but your account will still be there, so even though you’re not using it, people can still look you up and read details of your profile.

During the lesson Maria also mentioned the different types of privacy that isn’t on social networking sites – she questioned if prisoners have any privacy and this got me thinking if I actually have privacy in my own home!

 

 

 

LM111 Week 6

In today’s lesson Maria taught us about 2 different types of communities – territorially bound and virtual. Territorial communities are defined by physical location like the communities in the area you live in, and where people bond together. Virtual communities are ‘not tied directly to physical reality (Von Dijk, 1999: 250) so are based online, on the internet.

Maria also taught us about the very first virtual community that was established in 1990 called ‘The Well’. Within this community strangers would occasionally meet and share their interests, and then do the same online. ‘The interest can radically transform social interaction’ (Rheingold, 1994) – when ‘The Well’ got started it gave the opportunity for people to be free from the physical world with inherited identities without having to reveal their face or real name online, and where people were free to participate, communicate and discuss interests and politics. The type of text virtual communities are based on facilitated interaction but people also text about fandom, sexting, grass-root political action etc.

Maria also compared this to the online community that we have today and we also discussed this in the seminar after the lecture. Compared to the online community back in the 1990’s, the online community now don’t meet with each other – they are more likely to follow common interest on social media and consider that a community. However, to me being in a community is meeting with people in reality and enjoying their company, playing, talking about common interests which is more satisfying than ‘liking’ and commenting on social media.

LM111 Week 4

During today’s lesson, Maria taught me about the Information Society. Information, when used in relation to media technologies, refers to codified data that doesn’t have to be associated with context and meaning.

Digital media and information technologies has developed quickly becoming faster and more reliable (increased carriage capacity), cheaper (for information and transmission) and smarter (convergence). These improvements in digitalisation have led, and will continue to lead, to an increase in the volume of information we exchange.

Maria also taught me about the economic change – the economic value of information where significant wealth is generated by information processing activities and where industrial capital base activities are being displaced by information processing sectors. For example advanced capitalist economies (circa in the 1950s) such as the USA have seen information related services sector expanding 2x faster than the rest of the economy. This shift from production of goods to (information based) services represented emergence of post-industrial society/information society with consequent shifts in status and power (Bell, 1970).

I found this lesson quite difficult to concentrate on as the lesson was moved to Tuesday and I had had lessons all day before this one started. Apart from that I found this lesson really interesting because I learned about the development of digital information. The original definition is ‘which is answers to requests for instruction, guidance, directions… what? where? how?’ This is the exchanging of information between people to convey meaning.

LM111 Week 3

In this week’s lecture I learnt about the 3 layered model. It consists of: object/tools which are the tools we use to access the internet such as phones and laptops, content which is the content we use on our phones or laptops to log into and use such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and practices of use and social meanings which are places where you can buy and sell items, such as eBay.

In the seminar Maria split the class into 2 groups, each discussing either how using the internet has or hasn’t helped with communication, expression and freedom of information. My group discussed the later and how people on social media who have lots of followers influence others, plus how some countries, like North Korea, are not part of the networked community.

Maria gave us a list of questions to choose from, I picked ‘Is the historical useful to the study of the media?‘ I think the historical is important because modern media is firmly based around the internet but looking through a historical perspective opens up a new understanding of the origins of the internet and its development into a form of media which we rely on greatly today. Media includes print newspapers and magazines but these are also published on the internet alongside social media pages and 24/7 news websites. By looking back, you can see how media used to be and when the internet transformed that into the place we all now access for media, and places that in historical context.

LM111 Week 2

In this week’s lecture and seminar I learnt about the differences between (i) analogue and digitalisation and (ii) being on and offline, and how they link. My reflections on these are:

Analogue media is how the media was produced before the internet. Examples of this are telephone which consists of voice exchange, radio which relays sound, music and voice, and television which consists of moving image/video. Today we have access to all media via the internet with connections possible using any devise and location with wireless capability. Because of this any digital content such as image, sound and data can be delivered via any network and accessed through any digital device. I was very interested in Maria’s lesson and enjoyed it.

In the seminar I learnt what it meant to be both on and offline, and how I can still be online even though I’m not connected the internet. Being online means you can access the internet from where you are through a device such as mobile phone or computer. But, for example, if I post something on social media and then leave the internet, I could still be considered to be online as my post is still live which people can view, like, comment and re-send which means that digital media is always live.

It’s fascinating to think that I’m still online without being on the internet. I also really enjoyed learning about analogue media as it made me consider how quickly consumption of the media has changed.

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