Author: jakepascoe
Women Online – “Tits or gtfo”
On most online forums where everyone has an account that gives them anonymity from themselves, they are mostly seen as genderless. And because of this, each gender will automatically associate a gender towards a people online. This will generally be because of a sexist view about whatever they have said, or maybe because you just associate an unknown gender of someone as similar to your own. I’m desperately at fault here, I do this all the time on forums online, mainly Reddit, where plenty of the users will also assume the profile is a male unless details specify otherwise.
Woman are not treated equally online. A lot of people have the stance of “tit’s of gtfo”, which is a famous slogan across the internet, mainly used sarcastically, but most certainly used seriously by some people. Some people online think that woman don’t have much to contribute online, which is a huge sexist issue right there, which is why they have this phrase, because they honestly think the only thing they can contribute is a picture of their breasts. Some 4chan user explains why they (or perhaps only himself/herself) use the phrase to eliminate gender all together, to create a true anonymous feeling.
For 4chan users, this phrase represents their philosophy of remaining anonymous if you actually think about the meaning of the phrase from their perspective. Another user talks about how this phrase is used to deter having a gender bias online. Everyone wants to remain anonymous, because they don’t, and no one should, care what gender they are. It’s a method of degrading woman for attempting to regain this gender bias online.
I’m expecting some comments about how this view might be sexist, or how the philosophy behind the phrase “tit’s or gtfo” is sexist itself. But once you understand that these people want a truely anonymous society, you can understand their reasoning. So is this a problem?
Well, on 4chan, in my opinion, it certainly isn’t. If you go into an anonymous environment where everything is gender-less and unbiased, and destroy your anonymity, you are destroying their philosophy, and deserve to be denounced because of it. You’re not denounced for being a woman, you’re denounced for breaking their philosophy. There is certainly sexist issues online that need to be addressed, and 4chan certainly can be sexist. There’s always going to be sexist demographic online, we just need a way to deal with it.
Media Ownership & Citizen Journalism Prezi
Media Ownership & Citizen Journalism Prezi
Because of tools such as twitter and Facebook, we can receive an almost live stream of information about current events, whether it be the riots of Ukraine, or the process of your mum cooking dinner. Twitter is a tool that allows for citizen journalism, but, it can have positive and negative impacts towards the modern day journalism. Can it be considered as a primary source of information? Is everything we see on twitter actually true? Things need to be questioned. Question Citizen Journalism with the hashtag #BloodyCourseMaterial
Clicktivism.. Or Slacktivism?
Clicktivism is a principle where people can essentially become activists online, through ‘clicking’ petitions and sharing particular stories, hence the name clicktivism. Clicktivism is very popular in today’s society, because it’s easy, you don’t need to physically stand up and protest for fight for your beliefs, you can sit down and eat Cheetos and simply click the right stuff. Dwight Ozard calls this ‘slacktivism’. This is important because a lot of people in society are lazy, they’ll have beliefs, but when it comes to protesting for them, they “can’t be bothered”, so clicktivism shows a more accurate picture of who believes in what.
But it’s also easy to fall into an issue through clicktivism without even knowing all the facts. Take KONY 2012 for example. Almost instantly, everything became a human rights activist because they were so moved by the video from Invisible Children. It’s always good to stand up for human rights, but most people hadn’t researched the issue, and were believing almost anything they heard that was relevant to the issue.
I personally love clicktivism, because as I said earlier, it’s just so easy to broadcast your beliefs, all it takes is a click. I’ve participated in the KONY 2012 issues, SOPA/PIPA/ACTA, Anti-Liberal Marches and The Occupy Movement. It’s important to stand up for what you believe in, otherwise “the bad guys win”. It’s easy to join these clicktivism ‘trends’, they essentially are begging for your clicks.
Clicktivism has affected my offline activites, by physically going to marches and becoming more passionate about my beliefs, because I realise how many people think the same way as me. It helps me realise that i’m not alone with my beliefs, and there are thousands of similar people out there. Clicktivism can bring together people the same way religion does, through similar beliefs and values.
Social Media is a powerful tool for clicktivism, because it’s easy to share information, and broaden your audience to the issue. Everything is public, and by sharing clicktivism issues, you are broadcasting your beliefs. But anonymity is also important. We can hide behind our IP address and protest for less popular beliefs, or even share our not so popular opinion. We want to share our opinions, but people think of the consequences and the ‘damage control’, for broadcasting a particular message, and anonymity solves those issues. Which is why a lot of anonymous people are generally mean on the internet.
A current clicktivism event i’m currently participating in is the March in May, where people are protesting for a better government. People do this through the multiple March in May social media’s, but i’m planning on physically attending these marches and becoming an activist for this issue.
The Uncanny
Re-re-remix!
Remixes! These days almost everything you hear is a remix, you just don’t realise it. So many popular songs are remix’s of old songs, or just current ones with a new twist. They’re all part of a remix culture. Bit’s and pieces of different material remixed together to create new content, creating a new perspective of the original content. But I want to touch one two main issues, how the internet has grown remix culture and how it affects it, as well as the nature of mashups in general.
The Internet and Remixing:
I don’t think remix’s would be as popular as they are today without the internet. Because of the internet, everyone get’s the chance to share their work. It’s up to the audience if they want to view it or not. And without the internet, most producers wouldn’t have the chance to share own work. There are so many aspects about the internet that have allowed remixing to become so popular. The accessibility and ease of use being one of the main characteristics. Anonymity I think is another key aspect. Without this anonymity, I don’t think as many people would or be able to download the original content, mainly because most people would download it illegally through a peer-to-peer torrenting website, or through a youtube downloader. Of course there’s always going to be the demographic that play’s it by the books, but that’s not interesting to talk about. Who buys music these days?
There’s also the issue of copyright and ownership. The internet makes it easier not only to share your work, but it makes it easier to illegally share your work. If you don’t own the rights to content that doesn’t allow you to edit it in any way, and then you go ahead and remix it, well i’m afraid that’s illegal. And the internet makes sharing illegal works easy, because it’s impossible to track down every source of infringement. I personally think that this is good for remix culture, because remix’s can make the original content more known, and it has more positive aspects then negative. For example, Gotye ‘steered into the skid’ that is remix culture, and created a remix of remix’s to create a mashup, and I wished more artists’ encouraged this rather than file for copyright.
Mashups:
Why mashups? Because mashups are awesome. Can you honestly tell me that there isn’t one mashup out there that you don’t like? Maybe it’s music, maybe it’s a mashup of tv shows, the possibilities are endless. Imagine mashing up two of your favourite shows, I think we all know you would watch it all at once. I’m still waiting for the Doctor Who and Sherlock mashup series, and I know i’m not alone. When people think of ‘mashups’ they generally associate that with music, but the mashup of ideas, shows, movies or concepts can be even better. It just takes one person to ask themselves what something would be like if they were mashed together, and they can create something amazing. The possibilities are endless.
Promotions that fans love.. Transmedia Stories
Transmedia is a principle involved with books and movies, basically anything that has a narrative. Henry Jenkins explains that “Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” Henry Jenkins (2007). Transmedia creates synergy across different platforms to work together and provide the audience with a good story, you can’t just “copy and paste” (Jezam Interactive) the content across platforms. But how does this concept work through The Pirate Bay?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll be aware that The Pirate Bay is a torrenting website, and it’s through this torrenting that transmedia takes place. People can upload and download whatever media they want, which can expand their potential audience, and it’s this factor that makes The Pirate Bay so amazing. If enough people seed a particular torrent, people will notice and think “What’s all this fuss about?” and they may or may not be urged by their curiosity to download and watch it. Seeding not only allows for it’s potential audience to grow, but it gives access to those that want it. It can also be seen as “…basically a new promotional strategy” (Jenkins Henry 2010) . If people want the media for a potential narrative, whether it be the original content, or fan-made content expanding on the particular show’s ‘universe’.
The Pirate Bay’s search feature allows you to find more stories, some you may not even be aware of, and allow you to access and download it. Webisodes are a great example, they’re an extension of a tv show, usually about a topic that’s interesting to the big fans, but not as important or relevant enough to fit into a normal episode, or maybe they just explain a story behind a particular character. As a big fan of ‘The Office’ (US version, because let’s face it, the UK just doesn’t cut it), I was trying to download a copy of the latest episode, and found all these Webisodes! I could not be happier. Here’s my favourite Webisode from The Office, if you’re not a fan of the show, it probably won’t make much sense. All you need to know, is that Kevin has a relatively low IQ and likes to eat.
The Pirate Bay creates these databases for each story, and allows people to access whatever part of the story they desire, and they’ll always be there, unless of course the website eventually get’s taken down. This principle of accessibility is one of the many reasons why The Pirate Bay is so popular, you can get what you want, when you want. You can go on the website for one thing, and leave with something completely different. It creates fanbases for every type of media, and can be arguably one of the reasons why some tv shows have so many fans internationally.
Sources:
Jenkins Henry, 2011, Seven Myths About Transmedia Storytelling Debunked, Fast Company, Weblog, 8th April, Viewed 21/4/2014, <http://www.fastcompany.com/1745746/seven-myths-about-transmedia-storytelling-debunked >
Jenkins Henry, 2007, Transmedia Storytelling 101, The Confessions of an Aca-fan, Weblog, 22nd March, Viewed 20/4/2014, <http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html >
No Name, No Year, What is Transmedia?, Jezam Interactive, Weblog, No Date, Viewed 20/4/2014 <http://jezaminteractive.com/what-is-transmedia/ >
Fallen Champions: A Full Review
David Moyes has recently broken ANOTHER record by being the first manager fired since 1986. On Tuesday night for us Aussies, we received the not so shocking news of David Moyes getting the axe from Manchester United. Over the last few Months, Moyes has faced some harsh comments towards his management at the club, and losing to his old team, Everton, was the final blow for fans. As there are always two sides to an argument, there a two sides towards his sacking. There are the majority of people that demanded his sacking, and those that were more sympathetic and were open to him managing for another season. And probably one of the saddest things about his sacking, is that it happened just three days before his birthday. Spurs are apparently interested in signing Moyes, and I think he’ll flourish there, as long as he is given time.
Moyes originally signed on with United for a 6-year contract, and the board backed him up with a long-term plan and stating their faith in him, because rebuilding after the departure of arguably the best manager in football wasn’t going to be easy. So why wasn’t he given the long-term chance to rebuild United? Because if we look at his past club, Everton, he brought them from near relegation, to a top 6 team. And if he could do that with the minimal funds Everton had, surely he could do it for the reigning champions? Unfortunately, there’s more than one answer.
- The high expectations left by Alex Ferguson
- The attitudes of the players
- The complete switch in back-room staff
- The philosophy of Manchester United fans
- Age of our starting squads
- Growing lack of talent
When Alex Ferguson announced his retirement, the tickets for his last game were going for sale online for almost £3000, that’s almost $5,500 AUD. When ticket prices are that high, it’s safe to say that the man was one of a kind. He’s the reason why United are as successful as they are. So being the man to replace him would be suicide. The fans would have continual high expectations for him to achieve, as if Fergie never left, and the problem with that is, most of the fans don’t know what’s going on with the club. They just shout and cheer for United, then attempt to blame someone when their club is losing. And unfortunately, for those die-hard United supporters since child-hood like myself, it’s painful to be stereotyped with those people.
It’s come to light that a lot of the players were not happy with the new management, some of them even betting on ‘how long until he was sacked’. There was so much bickering going on behind the scenes that they managed to keep quiet for a while, that i’m ashamed. If I was Moyes, and a player made a negative comment about me, I would shout down at them until they fall in line. Bickering like a bunch of teenage girls and then blaming Moyes because they played poorly reminds me of saturday-league football. They should really think about what they’ve done before they find another scape-goat.
Another point I made was the age of the team. The likes of Ferdinand and Evra in our starting team, I found was a poor decision throughout the season. Ferdinand is still a good player, but he has the turning circle of a truck, and the speed of a sloth. Multiple times while watching games, I would scream at my monitor when he moved out of position, and it would usually lead to conceding a goal. And Evra was summed up in the second leg against Bayern Munich. Great offence, terrible defence. Both of them should be dropped immediately. They were world class in their prime, but with our captain Vidic leaving at the end of this season as well, it’s time to start a new legacy. They are no longer United Quality.
So what now? We’ve sacked our manager and we still have games left! Ryan Giggs is what happens now. Ryan Giggs has stepped in as Manager on an interim basis, which basically means he is to be Manager until they contract a full-time manager. During his first team talk he said that “we will go back to playing like Manchester United”. I have the same confidence in Giggs as I did in Moyes, which is a great amount. Giggs knows how everything works, he’s basically the living embodiment of Manchester United. The man breathes trophies.
But what about long-term? A lot of names are in the air, including Jurgen Klopp, Van Gaal and even Jose Mourinho. Most of them are just hopeful rumours, but some of then are quite good candidates. I personally would love to see Van Gaal manage United, he has the perfect personality to control the egotistic players, and know-how to win seasons, and continue our reign of success.
But why would Jose Mourinho be rumoured to join us, he just joined Chelsea. Well there were rumours at the end of last season that Jose wanted to take over after Fergie, and perhaps they’re just journalists making up stories to write about. But wouldn’t it be great if he joined us? He has quite the resume. There are rumours that he is trying to get himself fired so he can manage United, but again, i’m going to assume their false rumours.
Van Gaal would be the better fit for United I think personally. He is currently managing the Netherlands international team, and managed the likes of Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich before looking onto the international stage. He’s won countless awards for his clubs, and multiple personal awards. His ‘no one is bigger than me’ personality is exactly what we need at United to keep everyone in line, and for everyone to perform at their maximum potential again. There’s an in depth analysis here on reddit. One story that I particularly like about Van Gaal, is when meeting Pique, Van Gaal, without warning, pushed the 14-year old Pique over and said, “You’re too weak to be a Barcelona defender.” We need that kind of attitude.
Even when we sign a new manager, we still need to make some crucial signings. We need some new defenders, and some new midfielders. We really need to make it rain this transfer window, we have a lot of players leaving, and we already have too many holes in our team. We need to totally reshape our team. So who should we buy? (All values in euro’s from TransferMarkt)
Ivan Rakitic 20M: The 16 year-old Croatian footballer currently playing for Sevilla in Spain, plays in a central midfield or attacking midfield. He has magnificent passing and vision, which we need in our team. He’s also quite the dribbler. While we don’t need another attacking midfield, he can play out wide, and he’s worth the investment. His move and pass play can would be dangerous if lined up with Kagawa and Mata. He would most likely be suited on the right-hand side, leaving the middle for Mata.
Luke Shaw 30M: An 18-year old Left-Back for Southampton, he’s one to keep an eye on. He’s already in the starting squad, and plenty of top clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea have him in their scopes. He’s like a young Gareth Bale, with a great attacking style with good decision making. Apparently Manchester United are to beat Chelsea with a 30M bid for the youngster this transfer window.
Kevin Strootman 21M: At 24 years old, he’s in the starting line-up in his Italian side Roma as a central midfielder. He’s a tough tackler and has excellent vision, which is exactly what we need in a new midfielder. We don’t need another Carrick that will only bass it backwards. He’s currently injured for the rest of the season, and the 2014 World Cup. His tough tackling would suit the Premier League, and most importantly, Manchester United’s style of play. Plus he has a good relationship with Van Gaal, so if he is to manage United next season, he will definitely look at bringing in the Dutchman.
William Carvalho 7M: A Portuguese defensive midfield player, at 22 years old he plays for Sporting Lisbon. Manchester United have been scouting him for some time, and he’s a perfect fit for United, much like Strootman. And for only 7M, he would be a great investment, and a valued played in our ranks.
Ezequiel Garay 17.5M: A 27-year old defender currently playing for Benfica, would be a great asset to United. With a great tackling ability and some great strength, he surely fit in well for United. United doesn’t really need many CB’s, as we have Evans, Smalling and Jones already, and all of which are good enough to fill the holes of Vidic and Ferdinand. Garay will just add a bit of experience to the defence.
I think the one thing that really needs the change though, the the fans philosophy and mentality towards the next few seasons. Everyone expects us to win season after season, but it’s just not going to happen. We can’t continue to have the strongest ego. We have to accept that we’re going to lose some crucial games along to way, but we’re setting ourselves up for great success in the future, similar to Liverpool. They were once a great team, and it took them decades to contest again.
Everyone just needs to remember that Form is temporary, but Class is permanent.
But until next season, we get to experience Ryan Giggs as a player manager, and i’d love to see him on the side line managing in his kit, and to sub himself on. Especially in the last game. Maybe it’s the start of his next big scheme to win more trophies, to become the world’s next best manager. Either way, i’m behind United, and I have faith that we will eventually bounce back and become champions once again.
Prod-YOU-sage
When you think of torrenting and The Pirate Bay, most people wouldn’t really think of the term ‘Produsage’, but it’s a principle that we’re all currently doing. There would be no Pirate Bay without you and me. A simple way of summarising what i’m saying, is that the uploaders are downloaders. When you torrent anything from The Pirate Bay, you are giving back by seeding to others that are downloading the same torrent, which is how peer-to-peer file sharing works. And these users also make torrents available, they upload a magnet link to files they wish to share, and users can easily access these files to download. The Pirate Bay doesn’t actually host or create content themselves, the users do everything, so the term ‘produsage’ can be related to the Pirate Bay very easily.
Axel Bruns describes four key characteristics of produsage being permissive, unfinished, having fluid movement of roles and having an organisational shift (Bruns 2007, p.3). The Pirate bay shows all of these characteristics within itself. The Pirate bay is always unfinished. New torrents are always being uploaded, nearly 10,000 torrents are uploaded every day. In fact, they just hit their 10,000,000th uploaded torrent, and for those interested, it was in fact porn. I hear the storyline was great. And from a hardware perspective, it’s always changing to compete with the legal issues it’s facing.
To say that The Pirate Bay is permissive, in my opinion, is about as factual as North Korean propaganda. Both the founders and the users completely disregard any legal implications of their actions. They don’t have ‘freedom of behaviour’ to upload and share torrents, in fact for those that have been living under a rock, it’s illegal in Australia (except for shared legal software). But in terms of actually contributing towards The Pirate Bay, in the eyes of the moderators and founders, users are free to contribute whatever they want, and are encouraged to be as creative as they wish.
The concept of “uploaders are downloaders” includes the fluid movement between roles within The Pirate Bay. You don’t have to be Jack Sparrow to upload and download content. That concept could also be used to describe the organisational shift, you don’t have a team of moderators providing the content, the users create their own content and they simply allow you to access that content through magnet links.
The Pirate Bay is a collaboration and collection of participatory media, and without the user participation that they receive, it would be nothing. It’s a community built on freedom and creativity, and it’s based around the participatory nature of users.
References:
Bruns Axel, AB 2007, ‘Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation’, Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI conference on Creativity & cognition
Ernesto, 2014, Pirate Bay Hits Historic 10 Million Torrent Milestone, TorrentFreak, Weblog, April 21st, Viewed 25th April 2014, <http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-hits-historic-10-million-torrent-milestone-140421/ >
“Grief”
jakepascoe.com 