Ten things I’ve learnt

I’ve now blogged for  just over a month. What have I learnt?

Well firstly, I’ve learnt there’s multiple ways of structuring a post, so for this final post I’ll structure my usual rant into a list. Ten things I think about this subject and blogging in general:

1. Blogging gives idiots a voice.

Anyone can blog really. I have no qualifications other than an internet connection and an interest in this area, yet no one stopped me. This made me truly realise that any idiot can express themselves on the web, they’ve just got to tap into their idiotic niche. The amount of poorly researched, irrational and narrow minded blogs I came across on this subject helped me come to that conclusion.

One further area that interests me is the impact this load of fools has on the public sphere. Reviewing many ‘debates’ on the internet did not reinforce any confidence in participatory cultures. I don’t think the internet is a rounded Habermasian-esque discussion sphere.

Plus this is the most viewed video on YouTube. We’re screwed.

2. Blogging is unhealthy.

On that note, blogging undoubtedly screwed me up. No wonder the archetype internet geek is portrayed as being so unhealthy. Hours sitting down trawling through the web, countless boxes of cookies to keep me going, non stop staring at a computer screen, and distorted sleep patterns have left me craving a holidays full of exercise, healthy eating and outside time. But it’s now winter. Back to the web.

And don’t even get me started on the narcissistic characteristics that blogging fosters.

3. Blogging is wasteful and time-consuming.

In between working two jobs, full time university studies, volunteering work, attempting to stay fit and demanding social life (which required more than just Facebook chat), I struggled to do my blogs and readings every week.

Admittedly, I compromised by regarding blogs as ‘lesser’ to actual writing subjects, and didn’t commit myself to the blogs as I would to a major essay or journalism piece. I realised blogging is a time-consuming, irritating activity that ultimately produces nothing. It’s a public journal: narcissism at it’s worst. Hello relevant subject material: nihilist impulse! This is an idea I was strongly attracted to, and have thought about at length. It’s certainly an area that both enlightens and confuses me, but I’ll be sure to continue to puzzle over into the future.

Update: after finishing writing that I cam across this blog post, and it softened my stance on blogging slightly. Possibly just for today. Like I said, I will continue to puzzle over this area.

 

4. The internet is far from mature.

Looking into how the internet affects everything from copyright to the public sphere, I realised that it’s still young. There is still a lot of potential for the internet to become a truly world changing phenomenom, and it has already affected social and cultural aspects of life in very diverse ways. However, it has only just begun. Particularly for my niche, social and enironmental organisations (along with marketing organisations and political parties) are constantly adapting and evolving around changes in the web. So far, it’s signs are promising.

I appreciate doing this subject as it has given me ways to think about and analyse the web and its impacts. It has also provided me with a context and backround to the many aspects of the web. Hopefully these will allow me to appreciate even more the constantly changing (and improving) nature of the net. I look forward to growing old with it.

5. This subject needs to broaden its horizons.

Ok this one is a serious critique of this subject. It’s very focused on ‘The West.’ Apart from some references in regards to social networking, Google and web design, this subject seemed to look entirely at the web as something normal and universal across all cultures. It definitely needed some more global depth to it, looking at the uses of the web across cultures, access to the web around the world and differing perspectives on it from a more diverse range of people.

For me, I started Net Communication one week after arriving home from backpacking around West Africa over summer. So the first few weeks in which the web was presented as universal and an everyday occurrence seemed very ethnocentric. It was a big shock to my system after spending 3 months in areas where the internet was a luxury, with many different uses for different cultures.

Even while I was in Ghana, one of the more developed nations, the internet for the entire country went down for about two weeks. So everyone just got on with things without it. Imagine if that happened in Australia?

Point is, the internet is far from universal, and it’s social and cultural impacts across the globe have to yet to be fully realised. This is an area that really interests me – how will the internet shape transitional cultures and economies and be adopted in the developing world.

Ok so it’s an area not specifically covered in the course, but it was an interest that I will no doubt pursue, and it was sparked by deficiencies in the course.

6. More Radiohead please.

Nothing like reading about the nihilist impulse while listening to Kid A. It is the sounds of the 21st Century. And what, no mention of In Rainbows? It is related to course material – for example, the ‘Long Tail’!

7. Twitter is useful!

Good for #breakingnews #links to #myinterests, #tinyurls, #connectingppl but still lacks cohrency 4 me to use reglry.

8. Readings can be interesting!

This is one aspect of the subject I absolutely loved. The readings were interesting, informative, useful and most importantly of all – readable. I didn’t know a lot about anything when I begun this subject, and the reading really helped me out. They were wonderful. I love Lovnik, and have read some of his work beyond the reader.

The downside is to explore any of them in detail would really blow any blog posts word limits out of the water. I’m already smashing this one, so better get a move on.

9. Geocities no longer exists!

Thank god.

10. Privacy.

This subject reminded me to delete that old MySpace page from way back when I was young. It also taught me a fair bit about online privacy, and I think this area should become compulsory for primary school aged children. I think my generation (myself included) has a lot of hard lessons ahead. It’s going to be interesting seeing how much more the blurring between public and private affects out social and cultural fabric. And for those who doubt the future of mass media, just think of all the ‘scandals’ the youth of today are preparing through those comments they make, photos they upload and groups they join. Being a politician in the future requires not having a Facebook page in the present.

And finally…

Apologies if it seems I’ve just made a meal of the hand that feeds me(/assesses me), but you asked for an honest reflection. I did learn a lot from this subject, more so than any other subject I did this semester. I just struggled to take blogging seriously as a form of assessment. Other than that I found the subject material engaging and well presented, very relevant to the present and the future, and my peers blogs fantastic to read. So thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.

I’m happy to share, just remember it’s mine

Let’s face it, people write blogs to get noticed for their thoughts.

Why else would you publicly share everything you think?

As my favourite writer on blogging once noted, blogging is used to manage the self; it structures the mess that is life, just like a journal – only with the added element of PR and promotion of the self (Lovnik page 28).

With this in mind, how much control should bloggers have over their thoughts, their ideas, and their online identity?

It would be great to be noticed for my writing, but at what cost would this come at? Would it be worthwhile allowing anyone to share my work, possibly for their own commercial gain, or possibly even without attributing it to me?

This is where Creative Commons comes in. Founded in 2001, Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that has created a set of licenses that make it easier for people to share and build upon others creative work, within the rules of copyright. It aims to increase the amount of creative work available to the commons, but within the system of copyright regulation.

It was created as a response to the increasing regulation of creative content and strict tightening of copyright law. However, as Marc Garcelon explains, the point of creative commons is not to entirely oppose the idea of copyright, in fact it limits itself to the confines of copyright law as things are ‘free’ to the commons only if we choose.

Garcelone notes ideological shifts in the 1980’s led to deregulation of markets and legal alterations resulting in a rapid concentration of media ownership. Creative Commons was born from a concern about the implications of restricted market of media ownership, and tightening intellectual property laws, for the new medium of the internet.

There are now around 130 million Creative Commons licensed works. This does not, however, mean that there are 130 million ideas up for grabs. As mentioned, the licenses work within the legal framework of copyright, and as such there are several restrictions you can place on the creative commons license. For example, the one I have adopted does not allow my work to be used for commercial purposes.

On the one hand, restricting my ideas is very selfish. It’s like attempting to place a patent on things I say.

It would also seem a bit wrong for a blog like this: Let’s all work to solve global warming – but make sure you acknowledge me for what I did. It makes wanting to work together for a cleaner world feel so…dirty. It’s narcissistic and greedy, isn’t it?

On the other, how am I supposed to grow my readership while ensuring that others do not profit from my work?

Blogging is not too different from academic work (indeed, some of these posts are pieces I will be assessed on against my peers).You wouldn’t take an essay someone else has invested their time and effort into and sell it off as your own, would you?

For an amateur blogger to get noticed, creative commons is a pragmatic and realistic way to manage content. By allowing my work to be reproduced in other forums, my ideas effectively reach a wider audience. Although I may not remain in absolute control of my ideas (who enforces the use of my work on the web?) ideas can be actively shared amongst an interested community.

And let’s face it, whether it’s right or not, as an amateur blogger people are just going to assume my work is free for redistribution if they see any worth in it. It’s just the reality of the web.

Lawrence Lessig, one of the founders of Creative Commons, sums it up nicely when he states that “stuff in the commons is not necessarily free.” (page 352) He uses the examples of city halls, streets and park benches to highlight that although that all resources can be restricted, the only difference is restrictions in the commons are general and indifferent to who is restricted.

Another pearl of wisdom from Lessig is his distinction between ‘rivalrous’ and ‘nonrivalrous’ resources. Rivalrous resources are those which require restreictions dur to their scarcity, while nonrivalrous are unlimited – and therefore cannot be overused (Lessig, quoted in Garcelon page 1310).

The example is used on creative works published on the web, however what really struck me was the humbling thought that I, as a blogger, am essentially a nonrivalrous resource. There are over 126 million blogs on the internet, posting around a million blog posts a day. I’m certain that if I were to disappear tomorrow, even readers within my niche would not worry. Someone else will replace me in that niche. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t matter. So who am I to prevent others building upon my work for the benefit of everyone?

Wow. That’s an incredibly profound direction I took there. The point is I have chosen to allow my work to be distributed freely across the web and to be built upon. The only restrictions I have placed are on commercial use and that if my work is used, I would hope it would be attributed to me.

To sum up, I believe Creative Commons does have a place for more professional areas of the internet. Especially if your creative work is your source of livelihood. As mentioned previously, I also consider it wrong to profit from the time and effort of others.

And hey, if it helps my online identity, then it can’t be a bad thing.

Infiltrating the penis zone

Save the world through ChatRoulette!

It’s the latest innovative use of social media to advance environmental and social causes. I think it’s brilliant, and shows how dynamic and forward thinking the environmental movement can be.

It’s a lesson in utilising “new” media. It’s also a lesson in infiltrating zones of indifference.

News came through yesterday of Greenpeace’s amazing victory over Nestlé. After the outrage caused by the provocative Facebook and YouTube Greenpeace campaign, Nestlé announced a change in it’s sourcing policy, essentially acting to reduce rainforest deforestation. It was an incredible success by Greenpeace, highlighting the asymmetrical power of social media to influence stakeholders to alter their behaviour.

“With nearly 1.5m views of our Kit Kat advert, over 200,000 emails sent, hundreds of phone calls and countless Facebook comments, you made it clear to Nestlé that it had to address the problems with the palm oil and paper products it buys” Greenpeace UK

This is only the beginning in real and significant changes, that will begin with the actions of average people online. Social media can effectively aid environmental and social organisations in their aims. Time to use ChatRoulette for more than just flashing strangers. See you there!