When signing up for something online, often the application, or site contains a Terms And Conditions, which must be agreed to before accessing the content.
But how often do you really read through the whole terms and conditions?
Most of these terms and conditions contain clauses stating that by agreeing to, you agree to have an online profile of everything you do online, which is then sold to various companies, which market specifically to you.
Often, these agreements remove all privacy you once believed you had, allowing you to be manipulated and controlled, due to the constant fear of being watched. Your privacy is being exploited by the government, large corporations and anyone who can access your devices freely.
As an avid surfer and surf life saver, I knew I wanted to base my Digital Artefact on the beach, so I was stoked to learn that Kel and Michelle Giddey, both fellow surf life savers at North Wollongong Surf Club, the owners and creators of North Gong Daily’s Instagram and Facebook pages were looking into creating a website of the same name to support both of their pages.
After creating the site, I had to transfer the custom domain name that NGD had purchased for the site, and select the right theme to fit what NGD wanted their site to be. The daily video posting has been successful, and the picture gallery has been started, with 6 images added in and hopefully more pics of North Gong on the way. The “Tees On Tour” section has been created, however, pics have yet to be uploaded and should be posted within the next few weeks. The “Store” page is currently in the very early stages, as I hope to set up an online store, where customers can purchase T-shirts currently, with the aim of expanding to other items of clothing such as hats, allowing NGD and myself to monetise our work.
North Gong Daily’s posting consists of uploading their videos to a Youtube channel, then embedding that video in the post, alongside a picture containing the stats for each day’s weather and surf conditions, and a picture of North Gong Beach. Each video consists of someone, usually Kel, discussing the surf conditions for the day, with the camera then panning across the beach, giving users a look at the conditions themselves, allowing them to decide whether they will visit the beach on the day they view it.
One form of feedback gained from a classmate was that alongside the daily reports, the NGD site could also contain information, pictures and videos regarding what’s happening around Wollongong, especially its beaches, each week, acting as a portfolio similar to a travel guide.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the original expression of ideas. It enables creators to manage how their content is used.
Copyright is an extremely murky topic, especially in the music industry, where using even three or four of the same notes as someone else can result in copyright infringement. This happened to Marshmello, after he “copied” elements of Russian producer Arty’s remix of OneRepublic’s song I Lived in his song Happier, a collaboration with Bastille.
Every time you access anything on the web, you create a localised copy of it on your device, whether it be an application, image or document which you are able to edit and play with, however, often the owner retains full control and ownership.
“The owner may, for example, post copyright-protected material on the Internet and leave it free for anyone to use, or restrict the abandonment to non-commercial use with or without certain additional requirements” – The World Intellectual Property Organisation
Society is currently extremely reliant upon technology, almost to an unhealthy level. When every piece of information, images and videos ever available now on this database, then what would be the point of disconnecting?
When we can form relationships online and interact with people across the planet, why would we need to ever talk to someone face to face ever again?
I don’t have a clear answer, but living in such a simulation is not realistic, as the relationships and content we absorb are just a Simulacrum, they imitate a basic real, which can only be truly gained from experiencing them first hand, rather than online.
When online, we develop a Mask for our personality, masking our insecurities and presenting the ideal vision of ourselves to those we interact with. Though we try to portray ourselves as this Mask, it isn’t real, and therefore cannot provide a completely fulfilling experience.
Framing refers to the perspective or angle that something is viewed from and how you understand it, by applying your experiences, beliefs and opinions to it.
First defined by Robert Entman, “Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text.” For example, this could be as simple as highlighting a piece of text or pointing at something.
When viewing anything, your internal Frames shape your perceptions of what you’re viewing, however, the Media also provides their own Frame of References to what they’re communicating or selling.
Frames are extremely influential on the minds of the public, if the public perceive something negatively, chances are they’ll avoid it or boycott it.
As David Bach states: “a frame not only structures the public debate but also plays a key role in determining the eventual outcome.”
By adding a red circle and text telling you where to look, I have changed the salience of this gif, therefore reframing it in your mind.
Propaganda is extremely prevalent on the internet, though Users are often blind to it, and dismiss it as if it were nothing.
Although memes are often used as jokes and funny scenarios which Users relate to, they can often be used to brainwash masses of people into thinking something.
“If an emotional response can be invoked in the audience, even the most irrational piece of information can be sold to any willing observer” – Me on Tuesday
Hillary had nothing to do with these posters.
Take the #DraftourDaughters twitter trend – what was believed to be horrifying political campaigns spread by Hillary Clinton, were actually disturbing memes made by certain 4Chan users which had copied everything she used and remade it in a darker tone. This in turn made many people dislike Hillary, despite it not being her fault. This use of propaganda is reminiscent of 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 in that propaganda is often weaponised.
To create an emotional response in the audience to convince them is a lot easier than having the audience come to the decision themselves.
No longer just funny images, now, memes are used as propaganda and warfare.
Jรผrgen Habermas’s The Structural Transformation Of The Public Sphere (1962) defines the “Public Sphere” initially as “conceived above all as the sphere of private people come together as a public”. This can be simplified as a metaphorical “bubble” which people enter into to when wanting to debate topics.
Another source describes it as the “social space in which different opinions are expressed, problems of general concern are discussed, and collective solutions are developed communicatively” (Wessier, Fruedenthaler 2018). It is the place people go to discuss the news, issues and topics that grab their attention or cause concerns.
The Outside World is a big scary place.
Each individual has their own separate bubble of people they go to to discuss topics with, which for myself is with my various groups of friends (weird flex, but ok) as well as the Reddit communities of Subreddits.
For example, I have different groups of people I go to for different topics, such as surfing, tennis, basketball or regular news. These spheres often communicate via various group chats over Snapchat, Instagram, Messenger and in-person.
Some members are active in multiple groups, and often multiple conversations occur at the same time. Major topics of conversations include memes, films, tv shows, controversial news and ethical scenarios.
The media plays a large role in this process, as social media allows for interaction to occur within these spheres, by providing the topics of conversation, as well as the means to communicate anywhere you are, and to comment your thoughts on various posts.
With the amount of topics to discuss, I believe it is nearly impossible to belong to only one Public Sphere, as where one group may not find a certain topic interesting or worthy of discussion, another group may, which is where each person will go to find another group willing to discuss that particular topic.
For example, in the show Spongebob Squarepants, the character Squidward Tentacles (pictured above) prefers to talk to the title character, Spongebob, about working at the Krusty Krab and keeps his private life as private as possible. Whereas, in the episode House Fancy, talks to Nicholas Withers, a fellow house decorating enthusiast about his house, despite the disastrous occurences that take place during the episode.
Prior to the invention of Social Media, communicating through the media was extremely centralised, with messages having to go through a central “Gatekeeper” who would approve and send through the message to its intended Audience.
However, Social Media has become decentralised, by cutting out the middle man and removing the Gatekeeper, and eventually, will become distributed amongst the Audience. For example, Imagine the Facebook network without Facebook. We as an Audience are no longer passive, and now have the ability to universally broadcast and distribute our own message for no other reason than “because we can“, participating has become addictive all of a sudden.
The removal of a central Gatekeeper has allowed for the Audience to post what they want, without the fear of their content being rejected. Therefore, aside from the murky legal restraints they face, the Audience is free to post whatever they want, just as I am posting this blog post.
Since its creation in 2005, Reddit has grown into the 5th most visited site with more than 330 Million active users per month. Reddit is organised into “Subreddits” – communities based upon a certain topic, such as the massively populated r/news, r/movies, and r/memes to smaller, more niche topics such as the tv show r/Brooklyn Nine-Nine (one of my personal faves).
Reddit has a Subreddit for almost everything, and if it doesn’t exist, Users (known as “Redditors”) are able to create and regulate their own Subreddit (now known as “Mods” for that Subreddit). Due to this ability to create instantly, Reddit is constantly updated about current events, especially in r/news, which specialises in, you guessed it, the news.
Reddit was created by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian who use the website frequently, often involving themselves in discussion or posting updates about the app and website. The pair both moderate a select few Subreddits, however, thousands more subreddits exist which they are not mods of, therefore, it is up to the mods of each individual Subreddit to govern themselves. In 2006, the site was acquired by Condรฉ Nast Publications who have owned it ever since, however, they do not regulate each individual Subreddit, which is up to the Mods.
Due to the lack of constant regulation, the r/news Subreddit can often be filled with unreliable sources, therefore, when using this Subreddit, it is best to not believe everything unless the source is trustworthy and the information is verified by multiple sources.
Apart from r/news, the Reddit app has a News section which accesses articles from each Subreddit, providing a current update for users who don’t want to browse one particular Subreddit, but rather access all news.
Though there is no singular governing body on the site, I do not believe this matters too much, as the Mods of each Subreddit are usually fairly successful at removing fake and untrue content, ensuring the news remains useful and relevant for Redditors. When using Reddit, I prefer to remain on the homepage or browse the hot and top posts of a Subreddit, as more people viewing a post means that more Redditors are able to verify and provide their own thoughts, therefore ensuring the post remains truthful and useful for Users.
The switch from Analog Media (such as Film, TV and Radio) to Digital Media as the main source of information has presented many benefits, such as easy access to resources, the ability to ideate, produce and curate their own work, as well as allowing the audience to become active participants involved in the media as if it were a conversation. However, Digital Media has allowed users to bypass copyright laws and instead access and use content without paying royalties and giving credit to the owner.
As stated by Kevin Kelly, “The internet is a copy machine”, but also, “Unlike the mass-produced reproductions of the machine age, these copies are not just cheap, they are free”. Therefore, on the internet, Users may obtain, reproduce, edit and customise content however they like, and regulating this is a seemingly impossible task. The ability to produce and customise allows for all users to become involved, and often trends or themes, pick up, like memes and gifs having a “glitch” style as presented below.
Digital Media has allowed us “to boldly go where no one has gone before”
๐พ๐ช๐ง๐ก๐๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฝ 