QOTW9: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Armed with a camera enabled mobile phone, anyone can now be part of the journalism circuit. The dawn of citizen journalism have sparked tremendous responses from the general public. This phenomenon is largely due to the convenience of today's technology especially here in Singapore.

Everyone, well, almost everyone here is equipped with mobile phones with cameras, digital cameras and most importantly, high speed access to the internet. Thus citizens are able to capture news and images at a moments' notice and post it online. All these conveniences would grant anyone the prospect of being a journalist.

"To understand the evolution of tomorrow’s news, we need to understand the technologies that are making it possible. The tools of tomorrow’s participatory journalism are evolving quickly."

(Gillmore, 2004)

What is Citizen Journalism?

Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism", is the act of citizens playing an actiave role in collecting, reporting and desseminating news and information (Citizen Journalism, 2007). With the evolution of the Internet, websites are no longer just a "read only" medium but a "read-write" medium. We now, than ever before, have access to a broader variety of current information, and we can use it with increasing sophistication (Gillmore, 2004).

This allows users to actively participate online, in this case to desseminate news and information, to create a form of "user generated content" for the people who want to be better informed. Today, to get "up-to-the-minute" and valid news, the Internet is the key.


STOMP - Singapore's Platform?



STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print), a website hosted by Singapore Press Holdings, hopes to "engage" Singaporeans in "exciting new ways". STOMP is a site that delievers interactive content that will, "develop new communities of Singaporeans bonded together by shared interests." (http://www.stomp.com.sg/about/about.html)

With that said, STOMP is a very good example for a platform for citizen journalism. I reiterate, it is a good platform, not an ideal one. It is a good platform for citizen journalism because of the traffic and the fact that there are alot of Singaporeans who are actively participating. However, the website looks more like just one big, interactive forum. I would admit that there are a couple of very interesting "stories", but none of them would come close to a journalistic write up.

An example of an "ideal" citizen journalism platform for me, personally, would be OhMyNews (http://english.ohmynews.com/index.asp) - An online newspaper in Korea (now International) that accept, edit and publish articles from its readers, in open source style of news reporting.

This is ideal because, like STOMP, it also have many interactive elements to it. But unlike STOMP, it involves news internationally with writers from all over the globe. And unlike STOMP, all the stories published have full journalistic qualities.

Improvements:

The improvements I would make to STOMP is to involve more journalistic work other than the random pictures and "shabby" write ups. Not all news websites have to be boring, and STOMP is the clear example of that. However, the website is too "casual" for my taste. Especially when it aims to be "a more interactive form" of news provider (http://www.stomp.com.sg/about/about.html). "News" being the operative word, it can be a more professional news site and still be able to "engage" the readers in areas that appeal to them.


REFERENCES:

Citizen Journalism, (2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 30, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizen_journalism&oldid=118429022

Gillmore, D. (2004). We, the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. Retrived on March 30, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html#chap1

OhMyNews. Retrieved on March 30, 2007 from http://english.ohmynews.com/index.asp

STOMP. Retrieved on March 30, 2007 from http://www.stomp.com.sg/

QOTW7: Twitter Dum, Twitter Dee

Don't you just LOVE social networking sites? Like Friendster isn't popular enough, there are a host, make that a galaxy of other web sites that let you connect with friends. To date, I am part of a myriad of different websites; from Friendster, to MySpace, to Live Journal, to Blogger and most recently, Twitter. It's overwhelming I tell you, frankly speaking, I have a hard time trying to keep up with just Friendster, let alone the rest of the social networking sites.

However, in today's information age, especially when WEB 2.0 where the internet is no longer passive but ever so interactive, these web sites are the core to many people's social networks. Without them, our social circle would probably consist of only people in our immediate circle of friends. These online communities allow us to explode our social circle exponentially. It also makes for a good ice breaker. So, do you have a Friendster account or a blog I can peruse?


WHAT IS AN ONLINE/VIRTUAL COMMUNITY?

The concept of a community use to refer to a set of relationships that operate within a specific boundary or locale (Fernback & Thompson, 1995). However, with the advent of the Internet, all boundaries of time and space is broken, allowing people to communicate anywhere and at any time. This breaking down of boundaries have created a new form of community; the online community; communities that exist in cyberspace. More specifically, a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet(Virtual Communities, 2007).

SO IS TWITTER A ONLINE COMMUNITY?

Twitter is a online social networking service that allows members to inform each other of what they are doing and what they think (Twitter, 2007). More inportantly it allows members to interact with each other through their "friends" list or their social networks on the site. It is akin to visiting a friend for a conversation, for idle chat or a sprited debate. The site is mainly used for information gathering(Wellman & Gulia, 1996).

On example of that is a "conversation" our class had with Kevin today. The interaction we had was both sponteneous and dynamic. People were interacting like they were in "real life". The community per se here is mainly the people in our class.

WHY DOES TWITTER CONSTITUTE AS AN ONLINE COMMUNITY?

Twitter is a platform for the creation of the same class community outside of the classroom. A kind of pseudo-community. This newly formed community is almost the same as a real life class room community but it transends the boundary of space(Fernback & Thompson, 1995).

Twitter also serves as a supplement for companionship, social support and a sense of belonging (Wellman & Gulia, 1996). How so you might ask? For example, I might be alone at home and I see on the site that a couple of my friends have posted. This creates an avenue for me to communicate with them via the site despite being alone at home.

Twitter also acts like a forum or a bullitin board where people can post their comments, or in this case their thoughts. Don't know what to study for the exam? Post a question here and someone might just answer you. Feeling down because you have just gone through a bad break up? Post it up and some of your "friends" may console you.

CONCLUSION...

To answer the increasingly asked question; are online communities "real" communities. Well, for one thing online communities are not about to replace real ones. To say the least, online communities mainly supplement the real communities. With that note, online communities are not real communities but an extension of people's physical social network. However, online communities differ from real communities when it comes to intimate relationships (Fernback et.al., 1995 & Wellman et.al., 1996). In that, it is not humanly possible to have a intimate relationship with all the hundred over or even thousands of your friends on Friendster alone?

Oh and Twitter IS a web site that houses online communities. :)

REFERENCES:

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

Twitter. (2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_community&oldid=115277136

Virtual Communities. (2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on March 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twitter&oldid=115023086

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

QOTW6: Privacy = Leave Me Alone!

Imagine for a second that when you are making a private phone call to your significant other, and someone listens on your conversation. Or worse, people actually know your exact location, that your mobile phone has become a mini homing beacon. Sounds like something you would see only in movies? But with today's technology advancement, these issues are no longer science fiction. We are being watched, whether we like it or not.

WHAT IS PRIVACY?

Privacy is to keep one's life or personal affairs out of the prying eyes of the public and/or to control the amount of information disclosed (Privacy, 2007). However, with the advent of the Internet today, especially when information is being exhanged constantly, the term of privacy has become somewhat vague and difficult to define. The nearest thing to consensus is, "Privacy is just to be left alone."(Sullivan, 2006)

Online, the issue of privacy has become so prevalent that the use of anonymity and pseudonymity have become a staple to ensure one's privacy in the online community.

NEGOTIATING TRUST...

Privacy, however can be used as a currency to buy trust, the trust so crucially needed to maintain online relationships. With the Internet, we are increasingly faced with situations where we are forced to interact with people we never met face-to-face before. In order to start or maintain a relationship with these people online, we are constantly feeling the pressure to disclose private information of ourselves to make up for the loss of cues that aid in "trustworthiness" in face-to-face interactions (Rosen, 2004).

Personally, I can relate to it as I am a member of the popular social networking web site, Friendster. In order to make new friends, I would certainly have to disclose something personal about myself to seem more sincere and genuine. Or in this case, trustworthy enough. Like wise, I would expect the same in return.

PRIVACY IN THE REAL WORLD...

With the popularity of mobile phones, the issue of privacy has become an even bigger problem especially with the introduction of mobile phones equipped with cameras. This has made the invasion of one's privacy even more convenient. Alot more convenient.

While news of this is known to everyone, people are still ignorant to the invasive and dangerous these cameras can be (Sullivan, 2006). Take for example photos, of women exposing their underwear publicly, that were plastered online, apparently taken by some perverts with their camera mobile phones. Or photos posted online of people on the MRT behaving in less-than-courteous ways.

These images can be both damaging and incriminating. My advice for people out there? Be cautious of people around you behaving suspicious with their camera phones. Or better yet, just don't do something embarassing or stupid in public that you won't want others to see.

OTHER EXAMPLES:

The work place, too, is not spared. Though it might be illegal, you will never know who's listening in on your private conversations or going through your e-mails. My mum has had a brush with that experience at work with a "I'm-more-interested-in-gossip-than-my-work" boss. Well, at least she suspected she was being monitered. The best way out of this situation is just to have private conversations on your private mobile phone and not with your office phone. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, there are people who explicitly exhibit their private lives through their personal blogs. Though not to the extent that they tell the entire online community their credit card number. But enough to make it seem like we have known these bloggers for years. Like for example, the pseudo-celebrity Xiaxue who gave us explicit accounts of her recent nose job, with pictures, no less!

CONCLUSION...

To conclude, the topic of privacy is very objective to different people. To some, they think that being monitored is nothing to be worried about because they have nothing to hide. To others, even with the knowledge that their lives might be observed, they still live their lives assuming a "mythical level of privacy"(Sullivan, 2006). I would like to end with one last example of privacy, or the invasion of it. The reality show, Big Brother. Where contestants of the show, who are staying under one roof, are filmed 24/7, even during baths and toilet breaks. This is a gross exggeration of how one's privacy can be invaded.









So to all out there, please becareful with what you do. Big Brother is watching...










REFERENCES:

Privacy (7th March, 2007). In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Privacy&oldid=113354124

Rosen, J. (19th July, 2004). "The Naked Crowd". Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Sullivan, B. (17th October, 2006). "Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care?". Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/