Civic engagement in the online age- meningitis b

Meningitis b vaccine from smiley2014

Civic engagement in the online age- Viola Beach

civic engagement from katiess07

Paul mihailidis and Citizenship

Paul Mihailidis' central ideas...

1. Young people are empowered by digital media technology because they are media savvy and so know how to use it. He also argues digital media gives them a voice within their community, facilitating them to be better citizens. 
2. Emerging citizens use these digital media tools in a positive way and enabling good citizenship
3. Media literacy is important because you need to understand and be able to use the tools in order to be an emerging citizen. 

Keywords...

Citizenship: certain qualities individuals are expected to have as a responsible member of a community. 

Civic Engagement: interacting with your community and being informed about it. This was originally reading newspapers, attending meetings, but since the internet it now also includes online petitions and sharing content via social media. 

Emerging Citizen: gradually becoming a part of the community.

Media Literate: being able to understand, read, create and interact with the media. 

Key quotes...

digital media has provided "new opportunities for connectivity"

"digital tools and social media platforms has stimulated a rich and active debate" 

"citizens now have the digital tools to become active and engaged story tellers"

"digitally savvy young citizens are capitalisin in social tools to engage with public bodies"

How do I consume music on the internet?

• The main way I consume music would be through YouTube. While doing work I will listen to specific songs by searching the title or artist. Sometimes I will also use the playlist function on YouTube to just listen to a number of songs without having to search.
• Another way I consume music is through online YouTube converters. This allows you to paste the url of any music video/lyric video on YouTube and then converts it to an MP3 file, which can then be downloaded onto your computer. 
• Sometimes I will use http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles in order to keep up-to-date with current songs in the charts. And then I search them on YouTube to listen to the full songs. 
• Another way I is if I hear a song somewhere but can't remember the name or artist then I will search the lyrics using Google to try and find the song. 

Mike Wesch- summary (other student's)

You tube wesch and vloggers from lou80

Opposition to Wesch

Andrew Keen suggests the rise of web 2.0 threatens the traditional media because less people will care about professionals with expertise and will instead turn to amateurs.

An example to illustrate Keen's point is the British vlogger star Zoella.

• Currently has over 10 million subscribers
•  She primarily vlogs about hair and beauty, including tutorials, hauls and advice. As well as other videos, such as challenges and DIYs. 
• However, she does not have any qualifications in beauty and is very much an amateur and not a professional.
• Therefore, it could be suggested vloggers like Zoella are taking away the audience from professional beauticians and highlights Keen's idea of "cult of the amateur"
• However, I don't think this is necessarily the case. YouTube can instead be a platform for professionals to show-case their expertise to a greater audience. 
• This is evident by the channel pixiwoo which was created by professional make-up artists Samantha Chapman and Nicola Haste. 
• Their channel has 1,960,815 subscribers, showing their is still a place for professionals in society. 

The audience as creators and collaborators- Jim Chapman

Created with Padlet

YouTube infographic

Mike Wesch- An anthropological introduction to YouTube

Identity and Social Networking

In today's lesson we have looked at two different social theories

1. Erving Goffman- The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

• The idea that we manage our behaviour in regards to our situation to achieve our aims. 
• He distinguishes between:
• Front stage- in public places, with people we don't know that well, we are more likely to conform to what is expected of us, e.g. being polite to your boss
• Back stage- more private places, with people we are close to, we are more likely to be ourselves. This behaviour Goffman suggests is more authentic
• This can be used in terms of social media interaction. Because people feel like they are in a 'back stage' environment whilst online (being alone) they fall into the trap of not acting how they would in public, this can lead to bullying or lack of etiquette. 
• Goffman's theory can also be used to highlight behaviour on social networking sites as being 'front-stage' behaviour when people conform to the site's rules. For example users having a profile picture of themselves on Facebook.

Here is a visual summary of Goffman's theory

2. Anthony Giddens- Modernity and Self-Identity 

• He suggests that our identity is a conscious activity and as a result is malleable, which allows us to be more playful.
• Giddens says people have to be constantly self-reflexive (make decisions about who they want to be), e.g. their clothing or beliefs. 
• He also proposes the idea of the self as a project, meaning we are always working on ourselves and making changes to the biographical narrative we want to show people. 
• Unlike Goffman he does not state anything about honesty, but merely we are constantly changing due to external factors like the media, other people and experiences. 
• In regards to social networking...
• Gives us greater opportunities to construct and develop our own identities (self as a project). 
• Social networking also gives us more creative and diverse ways to do this, e.g. Tumblr

Social Media Research

Today, we researched one version of social media using the internet. I chose Tumblr and used the following sites for my research:

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-tumblr-blogs-2013-5?IR=T

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblr#Self-harm_and_suicide

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-history-of-tumblr-2013-5?IR=T

http://www.dailydot.com/business/origin-tumblr-anarchaia-projectionist-david-karp/

http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/21/founder-stories-why-david-karp-started-tumblr-blogs-dont-work-for-most-people/

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jan/29/tumblr-david-karp-interview

http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/tumblr-user-stats-fact/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/the-most-popular-tumblrs#.damr3pElo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Yahoo!

Social media in my everyday life (fb)

Social networking in my everyday life (facebook) from katiess07

The Great Levelling- class prezi

The Great Levelling

BBC.The.Virtual.Revolution.1of4.The.Great... by turdlok

David Gauntlett's Ideas

In Gauntlett's video lecture "Media and Everyday Life" he suggests 'maybe we're entering an era where the pleasure of making things is having a resurgence?"


This means there was a time in the past when people enjoyed making things and actively did so, e.g. baking and making clothes. But then as the age of consumerism took effect people became more passive and didn't make things as much as in the past. But then Gauntlett suggests that thanks to the creation of web 2.0 making things has become more popular again in the modern age. An example to illustrate this point is the thousand of Frozen parodies people have made and put on YouTube. As the screenshot below shows there are over 12 million results!!

Here's one example, supporting Gauntlett's hypothesis that more people are now making things thanks to web 2.0: