QotW9: A New STOMPing Ground

The advancement of technology has enabled people to actively take part in the dissemination of news and information. With the usage of image capturing devices found conveniently in everyday appliances such as mobile phones, people are now able to further their ability to bring news and reports to others. No longer is news reporting restricted to the media but opened for all.

Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism," is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information". (Citizen Journalism, 2007) As mentioned above, the role of news gathering and sharing is an activity that anyone be it educational level or age can participate in. Even the aunties and uncles who gossips at coffee shops are able to consider themselves as participants of this new form of journalism.

So what benefits does citizen journalism bring about? In the past, people who were not of the journalistic profession, simply received information from press companies. Their individualistic point’s of view was completely ignored thus rendering them to be voiceless. With this new form of journalism, the ability of anyone to make the news will give new voice to people who’ve felt voiceless—and whose words we need to hear. (Gillmor, 2004) In countless episodes of societal events, the credibility of newspapers and the media are most often questioned because of the fear that a story might be biased. The rise of citizen journalism reassures the voiceless that stories and news which they receive originate from ordinary folks such as themselves.

STOMP also known as “Straits Times Online Mobile Print” (STOMP (online portal), 2007) enables Singaporeans to interact and engage in local current affairs via three platforms; online, mobile and print. Recently as I explored it, I realized that unlike the conventional method of news reporting, STOMP included in its news, everyday events such as illegal parking, arguing parties in public and even reports of April Fool Hoaxes. Also, in comparison to regular news paper reports which would normally require a reporter to be present at an event, the news from STOMP were as you can say “taken off the streets”. However, although this may seem to add credibility to the reports, many critics of citizen journalism may find it as an invasion of privacy.

An example of this would be about ugly commuters in the train. The sender of the article took a photo depicting how a passenger couple obstructed the door and in the process preventing others from entering an exiting with ease. In my opinion, although the sender of the picture and story was merely voicing her views, I would consider it a paparazzi-styled report rather than an important and useful piece of news which instead of benefiting the general public, seemed to cause embarrassment to those involved.

Although STOMP allows its citizen journalist to report about practically anything as I have mentioned before, there are still limitations to it. Politics and sexual matters are examples of such. As citizen journalism requires the view of topics to be covered from all angles of the previously voiceless, it is important that freedom of expression should not be compromised. Therefore to improve the site’s function of citizen journalism, I feel that no matter what topics are discussed, there should not be any filtering of information.

In conclusion, STOMP clearly demonstrates itself as a good example of citizen journalism. However although this is the case, with the present filtering of certain information, the main aim of being a voice to the voiceless would clearly be compromised.

References:
Gillmor, D (2004, July). We the media Grassroots Journalism by the people for the people. Retrieved March, 27, 2007, from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html
Citizen Journalism. (2007). In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March, 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

STOMP (online portal). (2007). In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March, 28, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOMP_(online_portal)

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

QotW7: Online Twitters

Do you have an account with Friendster? If so, isn’t it a great place to look for your old friends and keep updated with their whereabouts, or even better, to find friends of similar hobbies? What about IRC? Yes the site which gives you a variety of rooms to choose from depending on your interest or age group. If you have used any of these examples before, well I have good news for you. You have been involved in an online community. So what exactly is an online community? An online community otherwise known as a virtual community can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. (Virtual Community, 2007)

Ever since the founding of the Internet, people have taken a shift in communicating with one another primarily in the ‘real’ world to communicating with one another via the virtual world. Since the 1980s, there have been a steady incline in ways which help foster such a relationship. From the email, to present day online community sites such as Friendster and MySpace. Internet users have overcome geographical and time boundaries which have always obstructed face-to face interactions.

Besides such basic advantages, online communities provide other advantages such as greater control over timing and content of self-disclosure, organized by shared interest instead of place, higher level of willingness to help and also helps foster contact with others who are different. (Wellman, Gulia, 1996)

However, with respect to online community sites, the key most important advantage would be that Internet users no matter how distant they are from one another are grouped together according to interest. For example a car enthusiast from America would be able to share his knowledge and ideas with another car enthusiast from across the globe. With the development of online forums, people who share similar interests may trade ideas and comments with others outside of their usual community. In a way, this can be seen as an example of the global village which was often discussed by Marshall McLuhan.


For this blog entry, the class was required to sign up for Twitter, an online community site which allows its members to inform each other about what they are doing and their thoughts. (Twitter, 2007) Members who have added one another to their profiles are then able to constantly update their entries via SMS or through instant messaging.
I feel that Twitter can be considered an online community in fact I believe that it can be likened to a combination between two other forms of online communities. One of blogging and the other is that of Instant Messaging. Reason behind this would be similar to that of blogging, Twitter enabled me to share my thoughts with others and receive comments from them. However unlike blogging, the recipients of my updates and thoughts were limited to only people whom I had added on my “friends” list. After receiving updates on myself which I had posted, those who chose to comment on anything which I had mentioned could just reply with the pace of Instant Messaging. Because of this speed, a few of my course mates including myself were astonished at the speed in which Mr. Kevin Lim replied to our conversations, making it seem as if we were all within the same room when we were all spread out in different areas.

Besides an example such as this, Mr. Kevin Lim pointed out that we could actually use Twitter in order to post and discuss questions with regards to his class during class time. Alas another characteristic of an online community where by people connect with one another because of similar interest can be seen.

An example of Twitter members lending a helping hand
cheillalala @mandycola: how can you do it? teach meeee.... :) about 13 hours ago from web in reply to mandycola

mandycola @cheillalala: click on "Badges" at the top, then copy and paste the html code into your blog template. about 13 hours ago from web in reply to cheillalala

cheillalala @mandycola: i tried but i failed :( about 13 hours ago from web in reply to mandycola


In conclusion, following my experience with Twitter, I felt that it would probably be an outstanding example of an online community. To summarize it, we as students were able to update others about our whereabouts (ie: which class we were in), similar interest or topic (ie: questions to be raised in class or how boring certain classes were) and even communicate with others who were not physically close to us. With this in mind, although critics have argued that the advancement of technology has rendered our ability to be human. It has in fact brought us closer together.

“The term virtual community is more indicative of an assemblage of people being "virtually" a community than being a real community.” (Fernback, Thompson, 1995)


References:
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.

Virtual Community. (2007). Virtual Community. In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March, 15,2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities

Twitter. (2007). Twitter. In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March,15,2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

QotW6: Be prepared for an Invasion

In recent times, with the development of picture taking as a function in mobile phones, the ability for one to invade another’s private space has greatly increased. Unlike the mobile phones of the yesteryears, where the only addition which cured boredom was basic games such as “Snake”, most of the phones in the market nowadays are equipped with cameras for users to capture special moments without the inconvenience of having a proper camera with them. However, although this special function may serve us in the desired way most of the time, the development of it has also acted as the gate way to one’s personal hell.

Recently, a local polytechnic student called Tammy was the subject of newspapers’ headlines and online discussion forums because of a sex video which her boyfriend and her made. Unfortunately, someone stole her phone and uploaded its intimate contents onto the Internet making it one of the most downloaded videos. Newspapers were reporting it on a regular basis and although some members of online discussion boards were praising her and prompting her to make more of such videos, many were not pleased and criticized her for being an embarrassment to her family. So let us take a moment to think, did Tammy actually do any wrong? I certainly do not think so. She certainly did not expect somebody to steal her phone, much less upload her personal videos online. The only mistake she probably did was not to leave her sexual videos at home. Because of this, she became the victim of someone who craved the controversy which would certainly damage another’s life, someone who had no respect for another’s privacy.

“Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to keep their lives and personal affairs out of public view or to control the flow of information about themselves”. (Privacy, 2007) In the case mentioned above, Tammy’s privacy was invaded. Not only was hers’ was invaded, but others such as those whose pictures were either taken from their personal networking sites ie:Friendster or those who were simply trying on clothes at local departmental stores. Recently, pictures of a friend of mine appeared in a website called “SG Girls” wearing just her beach wear. Coincidentally, the pictures were the same as those she had uploaded onto her Friendster account. Just like Tammy, someone had invaded her privacy simply by “grabbing” her photos and posting them up for others to see.

As noticed, social networking sites such as Friendster could contribute to the act of “invading” ones’ privacy. It is hard to update others on your life without the threat that someone might just use your pictures without any good intentions. So what have such sites taken to ensure that privacy is maintained? The answer can be found under account settings. Users are able to customize how much information of themselves they would like to share with others. They can choose to set their profile as private, whereby only with the acknowledgment of the individual , can others view their page. However, it is important to note that not only strangers can damage your life. According to some, it is rumored that the person who stole Tammy’s phone was indeed a friend who was jealous of her. So really, is there any way whereby which one can protect his/her privacy especially when it concerns personal images? Yes my advice is simply by not uploading such pictures on to the Internet. Remember, “the internet complicates our ability to negotiate the boundary between public and private, making it hard to recover a private self that has been voluntarily exposed.” (Rosen, 2004), so if you are willing to be featured on websites such as “SG Girls” then, be prepared to take the risk.

Although it is easy to speak against the invasion of privacy and how it constitutes to affecting one’s life, there are some good points which may come about from this. Ever since 9/11, government agencies around the world have been on constant alert for the threat of terrorism. According to an article by Bob Sullivan, Technology correspondent of MSNBC.com, the United States federal government allegedly compiles a database of telephone numbers dialed by Americans, and eavesdropping on U.S. callers dialing international calls without obtaining court orders. In this case, it is obvious that with the invasion of people’s privacy though not ethical, could sometimes prevent hundreds from being killed. Another example would be from an article found in the “Newpaper” where a camera caught a police officer punching a teen in the United Kingdom. Quote “the video footage shows Ms Comer then 19, wrestling with Constable Anthony Mulhall outside the club reported the Guardian newspaper, Soon after the first punch was thrown, she was pinned downed by two police officers and two nightclub staff and hit another five times”.

The invasion of one’s privacy may be unethical at times, however without surveillance, how can a police suspect be caught? How can events such as 9/11 be prevented? How can unfaithful partners be caught cheating? With the events which have shaped people in society to be untrusting of one another, the invasion of privacy may sometimes be necessary however it should never be used for the wrong reasons. Like everything else resulting from technology, there is no black or white just grey.

Point to Note: Rumor has it that Tammy was expelled from her school as a result of the controversy. A life ruined for nothing.

Special mentions: I apologize for inserting a picture of Tammy however, I feel we should see what others have done by inserting a text such as that.

Citations:

1) Privacy. (2007). Privacy. In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved 03, 07 , 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy

2) Rosen, J (2004, 7, 19). The Naked Crowd. Spiked Essays, Retrieved 03,07, 2007, from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

3) Sullivan, B (2006,10,17). Privacy Lost:Does anybody care?. MSNBC.com, Retrieved 03,07,2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098

4) Cop caught on tape punching teen in UK. (2007,03,09). the new paper,