Website analysis, Asos.com

The website which I chose to analyse is the fashion website www.asos.com. This website has different sections aimed at men and women, and each category the target audience can look at men’s clothing, women’s clothing, beauty, designer productions, children’s clothes and Asos outlet. The audience can therefore find what section they’d like to find their products in, and easily use the hyperlinks to find the products. Before, you start to look at the products there is a non-linear way to read the website, with the encouragement to read other parts of the website, including ‘Look of the Week’ and ‘Asos Today’ which shows you the latest celebrity fashion. Despite the fact that a linear process if used when looking for clothes online, (where the consumer has to click through pages of clothes) it could be argued that more power lies with the audience. The audience have the power to decide what product they want to search for, the colour, the size and the price, eliminating the futile products which otherwise would have been shown. As Lister says’ there is no attempt here to prescribe how or where such data flows’ (68), the audience have control over what products they look at, rather than being sent messages which they have no choice over. However, this argument is criticised because this website is made for commercial gain, and throughout the website the audience are encouraged to buy other items when they have chosen one by being shown products that will ‘complete the look’ and ‘what other customers brought’. So, the messages which are being given to the audience on this website are not completely avoidable, but because of the non-linear style of the website, the audience can have an element of control.

The celebrity culture is heavily focused on in this website. From the journal ‘Websites as visual and multimodal cultural expressions: opportunities and issues of online hybrid media research’ Paulwels described that websites ‘choice of colours, typography, music, shapes may convey a symbolic meaning’ (8) You can apply this theory to the ASOS website, because of the focus on celebrity fashion. The serif fonts which are used throughout the website are fashionable and ‘pretty’ which gives connotations to fashion, and the music which is played on the background of the catwalks are the latest hits, which gives connotations to celebrity. Pauwels also states that ‘as most websites have a multi-layered structure, one should also investigate whether the order, flow and hierarchal elements as they are organized reflect another type of hierarchy’ (8). The hierarchy that is shown on this website is the power that celebrities have in our culture. The audience are encouraged to buy the latest products which are replicas of what celebrities are wearing, by the website telling you ‘as seen on Nicole Richie etc’. This online culture however is only advancement of the celebrity obsessed culture which we see in real life and websites only allow us to feel as Senft would argue ‘closer to them’. (Lister, 2003:185). However, this could be criticised because this website does allow some freedom on opinions, compared to what a celebrity magazine does. In one of the links members of the public are able to comment on what they think of the outfit, which does show an element of Turkle’s idea of freedom and the idea of ‘produsage’ and the power the audience have in the ‘open architecture’ on the internet because of their ability to share their thoughts and opinions, but still these opinions are heavily moderated and only a select few are published which does criticise this.

The appeal for the user of the website is the fashion that it contains, and the reassurance that these clothes are fashionable because each item is compared to something that a celebrity would wear. This website represents the hierarchy of celebrities compared to other people in society; the celebrity is focused on in the western world. Therefore, this website isn’t a new type of online community; it is just advancement to some of the shared values which are already apparent in our everyday life. It shows the idea of socio-determinism and how the internet is shaped to our needs from the norms already apparent in society. The celebrity culture focus is an advancement of the focus which is shown in tabloids and magazines which focus on their lives and fashion. The appeal of this website is not only the focus on celebrity life, but the convenience of shopping online. The user can choose their product, see it displayed on a catwalk and decide on their delivery options all from their own home. The convenience of this online shop (especially this shop only being available online) means that the audience are being persuaded to do more of their offline jobs and hobbies, online.


Pauwels’ Journalhttp://mcs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/27/4/604

Website usedwww.asos.com

Week 6, 6.4 New media cultures

The New Media Cultures course in my opinion fits into the Community of Practice description. All the students are at the same level, trying to work at tasks in order to pass the course. Using Wenger’s model you can apply NMC unit to CofP. For example, what is it about? The students understand the unit and what is needed of them to pass it. How it functions? The students are part of a mutual engagement in order to pass the course. They work together in the ‘meat space’ time and comment on each others posts, raising questions about each other’s work in order to help develop their knowledge of the subject. What capability is has produced. The students have a shared repertoire about terms that they have learnt in this module, skills that they have learnt together and shared routines regarding timetables and classes together. The CofP will not end after this module; the students on the MCC course will continue to work together throughout their 3 years at university. This therefore backs up Wenger’s thoughts of that CofP ‘do not appear the minute a project is started and does not disappear with the end of a task’. Even though you could argue that the NMC course does fit in with the idea of the organizational practice because of this statement, that once the task is complete the CofP disappears, it is also true to say that the CofP continues with the same group of people through other modules and to finally complete the degree. In the NMC module, there isn’t much of a power hierarchy. As this unit doesn’t mirror other modules on the course the power is much more evened out. The tutors don’t hold usual seminar groups, where they guide the students on the topic, but the emphasis is on the students discussing the topics together. Despite this, the tutors do have some power in deciding the subjects which are going to be discussed and the marking scheme, but a lot more freedom is given to the individual about what points they want to cover in their blog.

Week 6, 6.3 Organizational unit

When Wenger uses the term ‘organizational unit’ you think of a large business, with many people and no distinguished people. It’s a large organisation, with no specific faces of people, where people are separated by numbers rather than names. This idea is describe as ‘distinct’ from communities of practice because Wenger is trying to emphasis the familiarity of people in the community, to show the ‘togetherness’ of them. ‘Communities of practice are not a new kind of organizational unit; rather, they are a different cut on the organization's structure—one that emphasizes the learning that people have done together rather than the unit they report to, the project they are working on, or the people they know’. This example from Wenger’s reading shows the idea that communities are different to organisations. For example, the members of a community are working together to reach an agreed target. Durkheim ideas of community are apparent here, where they have ‘shared norms and values’ and the sense of togetherness, rather than a large organisational unit where there is a hierarchy and each individual has to do their own work and report to someone else with it. The difference is shown in the following examples; an organisational unit will have a Manger an office worker and an office junior, and each member has their own specific tasks to do daily. A Community of Practice e.g. a Ballet School who have to pass a dance grade, all work together at the same level, learning routines in order to pass the exam. You could argue that an office does have aspects of a community of practice in the sense that the workers are all trying to reach an intending target or deadline and some characteristics of CofP are built up during this time, e.g. the different workers learning things from each other and the mutual agreement that they want to learn and work. But, Wenger would criticise this idea with the statement that CofP relationships do not disappear and grow; ‘It does not appear the minute a project is started and does not disappear with the end of a task’. CofP differ from this idea, because all the members come together and continue in the group for months, years etc, and will cross many boundaries and deadlines together and these relationships remain solid, rather than being built in times when the members need to pull together to reach a target, like it could be argued office workers do.

Week 6, 6.2 Joint Enterprise

Durkheim’s description of a community is that they all need to have ‘shared norms and values’ and Baym argues that they need to have a ‘group specific meaning such as text language’ etc, this is true for normal types of community like a neighbour hood, or online fan site. However, Communities of Practices are an advancement to these type of communities, they are not there necessarily because of a shared opinion or because of where you live, but because there is a mutual agreement that these members come together in order to learn something, or reach a goal. Joint enterprise is the key element to being a community of practice, as Wenger states in his article ‘Communities of practice develop around things that matter to people’ therefore the audience want to reach a goal or develop a skill, as does the other members in the group. So, this type of community does have factors of ordinary communities or online communities with the idea that there is a sense of ‘togetherness’ and like Durkheim said ‘shared norms and values’ but they are working together to reach a certain goal, rather than just discussing views etc. The example I gave before about Kickboxing shows the idea of communities of practice through Wenger’s model, and even though it has all the original factors to be just a community, the members are working together to achieve a certain standard of self defence. Wenger’s idea of communities of practice, agree with the ideas of Putnam’s social capital for example they ‘enable people to build communities, to commit themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric. A sense of belonging and the concrete experience of social networks (and the relationships of trust and tolerance that can be involved) can, it is argued, bring great benefits to people’. However, social capital is criticised as being able to exclude people as well as make them into a community. These close knit groups have the ability to seem quite overpowering and may result in people feeling too overwhelmed to join. Do you agree?

An example of a CofP which I found online was http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/ . This website helps a community of people work together to loose weight. They have goals that they can work towards together and it gives them a sense of ‘belonging’ and they learn information about how many points to eat per day and what constitutes a good diet. Even though weightwatchers meetings are held IRL, the website still allows the idea of CofP, because of the tab called ‘community’ where you can write on the message board and swap recipes. This idea is showing CofP, as its helping people come together with a shared agenda and a shared goal.


Putnam's journal http://www.infed.org/thinkers/putnam.htm

Week 6, 6.1, CofP- kickboxing

Kickboxing, a community of practice I have been involved in can be applied to Wenger’s model. What is it about?’ A community of practice is something more than a club of friends or a network of connections between people’ (Lave, Wenger) Kickboxing therefore fits into this description because of the knowledge that everybody has come to this class to learn self defence and exercise. How it functions? ‘They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other’ (Lave, Wenger) the members of kickboxing understand that there is mutual engagement and the members are coming together to learn moves from the instructor. The members have to work together in parts and try moves on each other, which gives a sense of community and engagement. ‘What capability it has produced? They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice (Lave, Wenger). The group members in Kickboxing are learning routines in a period of time, they have to work together so mutual respect is gained. Other shared resources which are gained from Kickboxing are the understanding of the names of routines, the routines and the sharing of facilities.

Kickboxing reflects the idea of Community of Practice because as Wenger states in his article ‘that emphasizes the learning that people have done together rather than the unit they report to, the project they are working on, or the people they know.’ The members of kickboxing all work together and learn the moves as a group. In this case there isn’t much of a power hierarchy within the group, apart from the instructor and his helpers. The beginners all work together and the more experienced members work together, giving the sense of ‘togetherness’ and the mutual respect for each others learning.

Freedom and Control, New Media and Society journal

I found this journal and I thought it fitted in well with this week’s discussion on Freedom and Control. The journal discusses the issues of Copywriting on the internet and how copywriting issues affects issues such as, downloading, gaming, music etc. Like Turkle’s idea of freedom online, Grimes in this journal describes the internet as ‘an opportunity to express and share cultural products and artefacts’, the internet breaks down communication barriers and allows the user to access software to widen what they can do online. However, the issue of copywriting contradicts the idea about the freedom of the internet. Lastowka in this journal argues that ‘the most popular websites are commercially owned and generated’ and these organisations strive to be the ‘gatekeepers of cyberspace’. This is proving the element of control that there is online, despite the freedom arguments. Capitalists use copy write in a way to make money and keep control online, as capitalists have the ability to copy write products/sites they have a strong element of control. An example which is used in the journal is the legal battle of trying to stop file sharing on websites like Napster and KaZaa, which have been successful, which highlights the fact that capitalist organisation have a large authority on the internet. Arguments of copywriting are shown throughout the journal and it raises questions about how far the organisations can actually copy write their products? If a player gets to a certain point in a game with a character that they developed, does the character still belong to the organisation, or is it the player’s character? These questions raise issues with how far copywriting can be pushed in an environment which is meant to reflect freedom and expression! Have a read through the journal, and let me know what you think!

Sara M. Grimes
Online multiplayer games: a virtual space for intellectual property debates?
http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/8/6/969

New Media Society 2006; 8; 969

Bruns, C- Produsage

I think that produsage will last; I think with all types of technology, they are trying to push the boundaries and get the audience a lot more involved. This is highlighted with ideas in Lister, such as the immersive interactivity. The audience are now encouraged to be more involved in the virtual world, whether it’s on computer games, or by being able to have control on what is produced on websites. Commercial forces will probably end up exploiting it, like I mentioned in my previous post, the sites main priority is to get a large number of participants, not to allow people to say their own feelings. This may result in the websites developing this idea for commercial gain, trying to involve more participants for money. In my opinion this ‘produsage’ idea will be the future of the internet, because this involvement in different mediums is showed through the upgrading of all technologies. For example, immersive interactivity in gaming and the player having more control over what is happening on the screen, the interactivity of television and being able to press the ‘red button’ to control what you watch and the idea of being a ‘produser’ and controlling what is written on the internet. I think this idea is likely to continue developing on the internet and people will be able to control what is written on sites. That’s just my opinion though, what do you think?

Bruns B Moderation

I think the idea of unlimited freedom and control that the terms in my previous post suggest is criticised because of the moderation put on these sites which are meant to allow you to have complete control. Bruns argues that there needs to be a balance between ‘openness and structure’ for these sites to work and gain a large number of participants. This therefore goes against Turkle’s idea of the internet allowing you to have complete freedom, because the participants still need boundaries for them to be guided into the ‘right’ direction. In my opinion, I don’t think it completely defeats the purpose of ‘produsers’ and ‘produsage’ as it does allow a lot more control to be given to the audience, more so than any other mediums. However, there are still limitations and boundaries to which the audience must abide by, which take away the sense of complete freedom. For example, Wikipedia allows the audience to write their own information, but the layout and content styles are similar throughout each individual page, in order to keep the familiarity of a popular website. However, this idea of needing boundaries in order to keep participants and maintain the popularity of the website, raises questions, it seems that keeping a large audience fan base is the most important part of the website, so for commercial gain, they will have to keep some moderation. The focus can be seen to be put on maintain and progressing the popularity of a website, instead of as an innovative way for people to control what they read.

Bruns A, produser, produsage and intercreativity

The term ‘produser’ refers to a person who is a producer and also a user of the internet. This follows the idea of ‘open architecture’ and people being able to build on sites as they wish. The produser term means that the audience now have much more power and instead of just having messages given to them, they have the power to reply, or create their own ideas on the internet. The term ‘produsage’ also ties in with the idea of a ‘produser’. Bruns describes the term ‘produsage’ as ‘the collaborative, iterative, and user-led production of content by participants in a hybrid user-producer, or produser role’. This idea shows that the produsers can build on the internet on sites such as Wikipedia, The Sims etc in order for the site or game to be produced by themselves. With Wikipedia as an example, the produser has the ability to change the site and other people on the internet can see what they have produced. These two terms refer to the power the audience have on the internet, compared to other mediums such as the television and mobile phones etc. The term ‘intercreativity’ talks about the ‘mode of collaborative, productive engagement with content’, this idea shows the idea of providing a groundwork for the expansion of produsage environments and the producers having more freedom to create and build on sites that are already available. For me, this idea gives connections to ‘immersive interactivity’ because of the advancements of technology, immersive interactivity wants to create games where the player is more involved with the computer and the person on the game reflects themselves, and the idea of intercreativity and produsers wants the user to be more involved with the internet and the sites which are available. These collaborative creations want to endear the audience into the internet and make them much more in control of what is happening. These terms are useful in understanding collaborative creations online, but as Bruns argues in this text, the amount of power described by these terms isn’t actually given to the audience; there is still a framework that the audience have to abide by, so they don’t have complete control. I talk about this more in the next post, but if you agree/disagree with any of my terms leave me a comment!

Week 5, Meikle, E Open News

From Meikles’s writing it questions whether news can ever be completely open because even though Indymedia want to promote open reporting, there is still a type of control put on it. By changing the format of the website to ‘promote certain issues above others’ mirrors the idea of a print newspaper, by putting the most important story on the front page, and proves the idea of control. The idea of open news is criticised because someone is still controlling what stories they believe are going to be ‘more effective’ and this will reflect the same ideas that are shown in other news mediums. Also, the stories in which people write about will probably be influenced by stories which are happening in real life. For example, if there is an issue which someone feels is written correctly, and then they may write their own. So the idea of the story is still heavily influenced by that of existing news, and then other people have the ability to edit and add information to your story, which follows the same sort of ‘editing processes as what a story would do in a newspaper. Therefore, even though there is a lot of freedom in this open news style and every individual does have the right to produce their own story, there is an issue which contradict the idea, and may prove that open news is never completely open!

Week 5 Meikle C DIY news an alternative culture?

I don’t think those people who want to make DIY news online should be though of as an alternative culture, I think that these people represent modern day. These people are advancing with technology and are adapting to the changes that technology is bringing. The communicative advancements that the internet brings, in turn, brings along the idea of an ‘open architecture’. The idea of people being able to add to news topics or write their own, doesn’t mean they are an alternative culture, because it isn’t that dissimilar to people having their own blogs or writing on forums etc. Indymedia is just giving people the freedom of speech that Turkle writes about and what is also shown on websites such as BlogSpot and forums on newspaper websites. Everybody has the ability to speak their opinions on the internet and this website is advancing with this. The quote ‘I belong to a blank generation’, in my opinion not only describes Indymedia, but describes the internet as a whole, and people can build on it as they wish. However, this idea of ‘open news’ may not give the information that the audience want. The people writing on these sites may not have any actual journalistic skills or contacts which may make their story as solid as an actual journalist’s one the stories can be edited, changed or reworded by people, then the view of the story may be lost and could distort the meaning of the story.

Week 5, Meikle A+B

The ‘online news environment’ is an advancement to the existing news shown in print and on television. The news reports need to be written in a style that can reach and be of interest to a large population, ‘the news reports need to be saleable in a market unconstrained by geography’. The communicational opportunities the internet brings means that people can easily find out news on sites which is meant to affect them. Online news is meant to be easily accessible and informative to people all over the world. However, this idea raises questions about whether news in say America or Germany would interest people in England or France. It also questions what point of view these reports will be from, if a report needs to be written about a controversial subject e.g. the Iraq War, whose point of view will it be from? Everybody has different opinions about the intentions of the countries involved so how could a news report take all of these views into consideration and make it appeal to people in different countries across the world? This criticises the above quote from the Meikle reading about news reports needing to be unconstrained by geography. The ability to communicate on the internet has meant that the power has shifted, the audience are no longer the passive audience who just receive messages, and they can also contribute. Indymeida is an example of how ordinary people with no journalism experience can supply information and ideas. This mirrors the ideas that have been given in previous weeks about the freedom and opportunities the internet allows such as Lister’s idea that the users are able to ‘build on’ ideas that are on internet and Turkle’s idea that they have freedom to give their own opinion. To criticise this point though you could argue that would people look at the Intymedia website for news, or would they go straight to the BBC or CNN because these are credible online news sources? I suppose it depends on whether people think that having journalism skills means that the reporter can write the story in a way that will grasp the audience’s attention and they may have more connections which enable them to have better sources, or would the audience prefer to read information from people similar to them, who have little agendas because it isn’t their work?

UPDATE: I found a journal on http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/893/802 and Deuze discusses online journalism online. In the diagram Mode 1 ( a couple of pages down in the journal) he discusses the difference between online new sources and the participatory content, public contectivity and editorial content! This diagram shows a hierarchy of online new sources and how different types of online journalism is being used. Deuze also states that 'Research at the BBC in Great Britain also revealed the unrest new media technologies have created in the newsroom; journalists reported lack of time to adequately use and master the technology, feeling stressed because of the 'immediate' nature of the Internet (Cottle, 1999). This statement shows how saturated the internet news is because of everybodies ability to become journalist. This rushed nature of the internet could question the authencities of the stories online, and question whether the story content is quality, or produced solely on the fact that the journalists are under pressure from competition!

Week 5 Lecture Notes- Freedom and Control

The internet is described by Turkle to be seen as a medium of freedom, with no boundaries and the user having the right to express themselves how they feel necessary. However, in this weeks lecture, this idea has been criticised because of the elements of control still being implemented on these websites which encourage the right to freedom and allowing ‘produsers’ to write their own material. For example, Lessig argues in his book ‘Code and Free Culture’ that internet users should be able to use open source software on the internet for free. The internet however much freedom is does allow the audience is still a market for commercial gain, and many companies are adapting their ideas towards the internet because of the profits that can be made from it. A lot, of companies would not allow their software to be given out for free because of the profit that can be gained from the amount of users on the internet. An example of this is music companies that would never allow the free downloading of their music online, because of the money that they would lose, and this is the same for any company that Lessig argues should be allowing free downloads. However, the audience still have the ability to illegally download, but this runs the risk of high fines and criminal record. These limitations of what you can do on the internet, criticise Poster’s idea that the internet liberates you and allows you ‘to act freely’. Boundaries and laws from society still apply to the internet, so no matter how free you feel online, you must still abide by them.

Even self publication websites such as Indymedia have an element of control, as Meikles writes in his article, stories which are seen as better or ‘promote certain issues above others’ are featured on the first page. Proving the idea that whether the audience accept the messages or not, there is still the idea of ‘gatekeeping’ and control over what is seen to be more prominent, as there is on televisions. The internet still possesses values that are seen on other restricted mediums like the television. These are my ideas on the lecture; did anything stand out for you?

Week 4 Topic 3- Online Music

By the audience having the ability to file share, download and network music, the availability of music is increased. The users of the internet are able to easily find the song they want, whether it’s on ITunes, MySpace. YouTube etc, songs are much more accessible, than what they were when they could only be sold in a CD or tape format. For example, artists such as Kate Nash have been discovered because of their music being posted on MySpace. The ability to promote your songs and create fans has changed. It is now much more in the artists own hands; they do not need any guidance or help from industry experts to post their music online. However, because music is widely consumed, and many artists do have their own MySpace account with self promotion, the audience are constantly flooded with invitations to listen to people’s music. This consequently has an affect on how many people do actually listen to these individual sites, because there is so many, people may loose interest. Media companies power may be decreasing because of artist’s ability to self promote, but I think their guidance and knowledge of the industry will still be needed. Artists can easily set up their own account, but this does not necessarily mean that they will be signed; they still need to be discovered by someone who is able to give them a record contract. Does anyone disagree?

Week 4 Topic 2-Networking sites

Facebook can be seen as an ‘online community’ and this would be one community that I am involved in. This website can be seen as a community because it links together different sections of the world in networks. For example, you can be part of the London network the Bristol network etc. This community of people therefore can discuss issues and events which are happening close to them. However, this community may be restricted because it only gives a sample of society. Mainly 17-50 year old men and women use this networking site. This means that these communities are missing out on 50+ opinions, which may mean a distorted version of the community. Unlike other networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo etc, you can only access individual’s people’s sites if you are friends with them. This is preventing the ‘dangerous’ factor of networking sites away, as people are encouraged to only accept people that they know and recognise. This means that Turkle’s idea of personas, because you should only be talking to people who you have already met in real life, meaning that there is little chance of exaggeration or distortion! What social networking sites have you used, and do you notice any sort of personas on them?

Week 4 Topic 1 Blanchard (d)

I do not agree with Kollocks and Smith statement that Lurkers ‘are generally viewed negatively by many researchers because they do not actively contribute to the virtual community’. I think that this idea described in Blanchard’s piece contradicts some of the ideas that have been presented in the previous weeks about how people can use the internet. For example, Turkle’s idea that you are allowed freedom on the internet, but the idea that you must give an input, criticises this, it is saying that people should be controlled and forced to give an opinion, when maybe they do not have one. Also, the idea of personas criticises this, people can still put on a persona and decide that they will ‘watch’ rather than ‘take part’ because they feel like they want to seem quieter on the internet than what they do in real life. This is the opposite to all of the ideas written about personas. Lister normally talks about a shy person gaining confidence on the internet and consequently speaking up more, there is no regard to a louder person who wants to observe the internet. I think with the internet being viewed as an ‘open architecture’ and there is no control on the net, people can take from it as they wish. If this means reading a forum to gain knowledge or viewing other people’s opinion then that is fair enough, people don’t always need to have an opinion on everything. In society, there is always going to be people who do not want to speak out as much as others, and by having these people on online communities it is just a development of the communities IRL. Do you agree?

Week 4 Part 1- Blanchard (A+B+E)

From McMillan and Chavis definition of communities, the characteristics which I would stress as important when defining a community is the idea that they must have ‘Feelings of membership: Feelings of belonging to, and identifying with, the community’ By having a collective of people whether it is IRL or online, who have an attachment to each other a community is formed. This community will then lead onto people being influenced by what other people are saying, which is also another characteristic of a community. However, online communities are sometimes chosen, like the virtual settlement ‘Julie, Julia’, these virtual settlements are not the same as communities IRL. IRL people are a community because they are brought together because of the street they live down etc, in this instance, people are consciously choosing whether they want to be part of this group. These community members are majority women of the age of 38. This does not reflect real life communities, where is streets you will find a variety of sexualities and ethnicities. However, because these people feel like they belong to this website and have probably built up relationships with other members, it does not necessarily mean that it can’t be a community in its own right. Just because the internet communities are an adaption of the communities IRL, some factors such as age and sex will differ, but the way it makes people feel will be similar. Facebook has made me feel like a part of an online community. You feel an attachment to your friends from school, when you are in groups to do with your year or form group, this attachment makes you feel like you ‘belong’ and gives reassurance to you that you have people surrounding you.

Week 4 Task 1 Part C Producers of Culture

This idea incorporates the idea of the internet being an ‘open architecture’ from last week’s posts. People have much more control over this internet, than what they have on any other medium. They can produce their own websites, and in turn give their own opinions on subjects, which will be read by other people. As Lister said ‘there is no attempt here to prescribe how or where such data flows’ (68). He means that there is no hierarchy of power like there is with the television, the audience do not have to accept the messages which are being sent to them, they have the ability to reject the ideas and reply. To some extent the audience are able to do this with the television, but with the increasing amounts of forums and discussion boards, if people want to discuss issues they can do. Even though online allows people to be able to control what they read, post their own views and have their own sites means that people are controlling their own culture and what is seen, the online culture still seems to be an off-shoot of the culture already supplied for society. Senft argues that the majority of ‘audience work in relation to websites, functions under the sign of celebrity’ and that our input into websites is to ‘bring us closer to them’. (185) therefore, the online culture, still reflects the interests that are given to us in the offline culture. For example, people’s interests in the celebrities are not only shown on IRL, but this is developed into online discussions and websites. So the audience are not producing a new culture, but they are just reproducing cultures which have already been supplied to them offline. Do you agree?

Week 4 Task 1 (c) Dangerous materials

I think that the ‘freedom’ that the internet allows can be quite scary for the audience. Society constantly moderates and controls what people see, through banning certain adverts and putting age ratings on films etc. The amount of shocking footage people see is limited, and when the freedom of the internet is allowing people to search for every subject imaginable, it raises questions about whether this freedom is positive. Turkle’s idea of ‘freedom’ and having the ability to take up many different personas, in my opinion is not a positive thing. Yes people may feel more comfortable hiding behind the computer when talking about personal things, but changing your persona to be someone else is dangerous. This freedom allows the users to be someone who they are not, and could potentially manipulate someone, resulting in fraud, paedophilia, robbery etc. Kramarae argues that ‘women have to add computers as a new way of receiving threats’; in my opinion I do not believe that it is only women who have to be wary of threats on the internet, everybody is able to have their identity stolen etc. I think it is common knowledge that there is dangerous material available on the internet and there is ways for parents to moderate what their children are reading. I think this freedom in a way is good because it shows the idea of a ‘free country’ and that you are not being constantly moderated by a capitalist society, however, it highlights the dangerous people in the world and creates a moral panic. The idea of paedophilia has heightened since the internet because of the access these people have to children, in one way this freedom scares people, but in another it means that parents will be more wary of who they allow near their children.

Week 4, Topic 1 (A+B) empowering online communities

I think that online communities can empower certain types of people, but not necessarily everyone. Durkheim’s idea communities have ‘shared norms and values’ are shown on online communities. People talk on websites which they all have a shared interest on and show their opinion. This shows the ‘togetherness’ which is a factor of a community. However it could be argued that these aspects or shared opinions are derived from real life, so these online communities are not actually a new community, but as Rheingold argues they are just a development of the communities that appear IRL. But this change in style could mean that people are becoming more aware of communities and are able to get more involved in them, making them much more empowering. If people are too wary to give their opinion IRL, the online communities are ideal for people to share their views on subjects. Baym would argue that these communities allow people to be together, they have generated group specific meanings such as text language, and this mutual understanding allows people to share their views on the same level-bringing people who want to discuss topics together. However, this net being a public sphere, does raise some limitations for me. Whilst looking at the idea of the online community, it raises questions about how limited these communities can be. Yes, people can engage with on another on various different communication sites, but in my opinion they won’t reflect a community of say a city. Forums, network sites etc are very limited; people talk to people about specific subjects and interests. Therefore, this will fail to reflect all different ethnicities, genders, ages etc that live together in a community. If the older generation do not understand the internet, then they will fail to have their opinion shared on the site. If a certain type of person wants to speak about a game, only other people who understand this game will share the view, this is unlike real life communities. There are restrictions to communities in real life obviously, different ages tend to group together, but I feel like you do meet much more diverse people IRL. Also, because of Turkle’s idea of freedom on the net, you would never been sure that the person you are talking to is actually interested in what you are speaking about, or just trying out a new persona, which may fail to reach a feeling of togetherness.

Week 4, Lecture Notes

The internet provides relationships online and from this an ‘online community’ can be argued to be formed. Levy says that the online community allows a rebirth of a ‘social bond’ in society. As technology has developed so has the ways in which people communicate. The internet provides a new communication which in turn provides a new type of community. Following on from last weeks lecture and Turkle’s idea of freedom, it allows people to discuss certain topics online and therefore builds a sense of ‘togetherness’ like that in a real life community, this is shown on online communities such as ‘The Well’. I do agree with Levy’s ideas to a certain extent, and I can see what he means by a bond. For example, people can discuss their particular interests with people and ‘belong’ in a group. However, I think this idea is restricted compared to what communities IRL face the issues which are discussed online, won’t face the difference in opinions of all ages and classes, like communities offline. Many people are restricted from using the internet, due to lack of knowledge, money, time etc, whereas IRL communities they probably play a key role.

Rheingold argues that this type of online community, isn’t a different type of community, but it’s just an advancement of an offline one and because it is easy to discuss online, it has advanced to forums etc. I think that online communities do have similarities with offline ones. However, I think that sometimes online ones can be more restricted. If people come together for a particular discussion or interests, it won’t reflect the views of different ethnicities, gender, ages etc, like a community does in say a city. These online communities seem to be more specific than offline ones do, with people from different walks of life. What do you think?

Week 3 Topic 3 Part B- Forums

For this post, I looked at the discussion forums on the ‘Daily Express’ website and I also looked at some forums on ‘The Sun’s’ website. My initial reaction to the comments left on both of the websites was how negative they can be. Maybe this is because of the barrier people have with the issues they are talking about, and they feel that they are able to freely give their own opinion.
This shows Turkle’s idea of the freedom that the internet allows and how people can speak freely about their opinions. These ‘rants’ on topics such as Jade Goody’s cancer, Gordon Brown and the standstill the snow has given, could be because this is the only appropriate place for these people to air their opinions, because of the amount of different opinions on these topic, there is bound to be a debate. Examples of screen names include ‘Hiphopper. Marigold and Harriuk’ this could be because many of these issues are controversial, they do not want people knowing their real name. However, this criticises Turkle’s idea of the freedom, because if people feel that they can not write their own opinions on the internet, then the internet doesn’t really allow that much freedom, as people are still wary! I think that many of the issues raised on these forums, people wouldn’t be able to get into a debate with IRL because there probably aren’t many opportunities for people to debate on these issues with people with opposing views.

Week 3, Topic 3 A- The Second Life

The second life is example of Lunenfeld’s immersive interactivity. The user can create their own character, and act as them as they live their life through a virtual world, by making things, buying things etc. This style of program is intended to increase the entertainment value of games, such as ‘The Sims’. It is encouraging the participants, to live through the virtual world, and the title ‘second life’ represents this. In my opinion, re-enacting normal life in a virtual way is different to meeting new people in the real world. I believe this because of the persona that people put on without realising it when typing on the internet. However, that is just my opinion, and as I have written before, people who find it hard to speak out IRL, may find this easier. Also, I think that this game appeals to more technological savvy people, who like gaming, and enjoy this as an escapism factor, rather than living their life through it. Turkle’s theory on MUD’s could be linked to how people communicate on this particular website. People are able to present themselves as they wish in these ‘deterritorialised’ situations, they can speak freely about their sexual preference, race etc without the worry that society’s opinion will criticise them. However, if a certain person does have a negative view against say homosexuals, and they too used this website, there is no reason for why they wouldn’t say something derogatory towards them. So even though there is this idea of a ‘second world’ the people who inhabit it are still from the ‘real world’ and even though, this selected group of peoples thoughts wont necessarily reflect the whole of societies, there may still be disagreements, which would reject the idea of these chat spaces being a new place to say your feelings. Feel free to contradict me though, because I have never actually been on second life properly!

Week 3 Part 1 (c) Postmodern Views

The postmodern view that the internet is ‘interaction with no physical codes to locate gender, race of class’ Lister 167, may be true, and the postmodernism argument I believe is right. But, their view leads me on to think why would people want to ‘free’ themselves of the characteristics that makes them, them? Even though the internet is like a barrier, which can control how people perceive you, and the postmodernists were right in saying this, because the internet does hold a lot of power and the ability to do this. In this section they have failed to mention, why people would want to do this? And if they do hide their characteristics then should they be allowed to use the internet at all? The postmodernism seem to argue that the internet is a release, a place where people can speak freely without being influenced by any characteristics that affect them in real life. Personally, I would look at this as being dangerous, because me being comfortable with all the characteristics that come with me, would not hide or lie about things, if I’m in a situation where im comfortable to discuss things. If people go into a situation believing that they can change who they are, or keep major things like the age etc a secret, I think that it is highly dangerous.

Week 3 Part 2- identity

I don’t think that holding back your identity is ethically wrong, I think if you are concerned about fraud and giving too much information away, then it’s fair enough. However, I think pretending to be someone that your not is ethically wrong, because like I have covered in my other post, you could be seriously offending someone, by being racist or putting somebody in danger. When people start lying about their age, sex, race etc it makes me think that the have ulterior motifs, which could potentially be very dangerous. I think that it’s a person own opinion on whether they use their own name, I suppose it is to do with how trusting they are of the internet. I generally do use both of my names on networking sites, but I may be a bit more wary when signing up to things when I’m not entirely sure where my name will be used. Even though on sites when shopping online such as Topshop and Asos your details are secure, some people have the problem with sharing information because there is no face-to-face contact. Some people can find it hard to trust the internet, because they do not have the reassurance that their details are safe, because trusting technology isn’t as encouraging as giving your card to a friendly sales assistant in a shop.

Week 3 Part 1 (B)-Online Persona

Regardless of whether you intend on having a ‘persona’ using the internet in some degrees creates a persona for you. The way we speak in emails, blogs, chartrooms etc, is different to how we speak and write in real life, therefore an ‘online’ persona is created, because it differs to how you would act normally. In my opinion, this is harmless and it just comes hand in hand with using the internet. Styles are going to be different, when using different mediums. This is the same as putting on a ‘phone voice’ when answering the phone in an office, it causes no harm and everybody realises that this is what done. However, it is when people consciously choose to represent themselves different is when the problems start. People can pretend to be who that what to be, changing information about themselves which they do not like, or want to hide, e.g. age. The lack of security on the internet allows this to be easy and can harm not only themselves, but the people they are talking to. For example, people can pretend to be over 18 to access websites, such as 4OD, with channel 4 having a low ability to actually find out the users real age. When programs have age restrictions, and if the viewer is lying about their age, they are risking what they are being exposed to. The boundaries are being pushed with issues like this on the internet, because there is little the providers can do to find out the truth!

Week 3 Topic 1 (D+E), Cyber relationships

In my opinion I don’t think cyber identities constitute a normal social identity. For me the internet is used in order to communicate with friends I made in normal social reality. I have never made friends with someone who I have met online. I think that normal social reality is important for your lifestyle, for work, friends etc. By living your life through a virtual world you will lack the communication skills needed in the real world. This ties in with online relationships. Andrea Baker shows that relationships online can be the same as IRL, because of the communication that online allows such as, response time and style of writing etc, but this study doesn’t take into consideration the rest of Listers chapter on ‘network users’. These relationships are assuming that the users are completely honest and they are not miss-representing themselves. If the users are lying or exaggerating than the online relationships do not reflect ‘real’ ones. Though saying that offline relationships are not always truthful, but it is hard to lie about characteristics such as ethnic background etc. Some people find it easier to build up connections on the internet, because of the freedom it allows, so your more than welcome to disagree with me!

Week 3 Topic 1 (a), open architecture

The idea of open architecture is the idea that everybody has the ability to build on what already exists on the internet. People can create their own websites; post their own views on forums etc. The power structure is different to other mediums; the user has control over the production of the sites on the net. They can choose what they write about, and can share their opinions on existing sites. Lister says that ‘there is no attempt here to prescribe how or where such data flows’ (p165) Meaning that the internet is not designed to give messages to the mass media, like the television, newspapers etc, but they all have individual uses and agendas. However, this idea of the internet being a ‘free for all’ could be criticised because of the authority that some websites have over others. For example, large organisations such as the BBC have the ability to promote their website, which means that their site would get a larger audience than an independent one. These messages on these websites therefore reach a larger audience and could result in them being influenced.

Week 3 Lecture

“We are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking about evolution, relationships, sexuality, politics and identity”. This is how Turkle views the internet today and how it can be used in order to be able to express yourself freely in ways in which people may not be able to do in real life. For example, a homosexual may feel a lot more comfortable talking about their sexuality in a chat room, than face-to-face with someone, because they may fear being accepted. This disintermediated relationship allows the users to build up confidence and relationships online. However, Turkle’s idea raises question with me, yes in these cases it may be easier for a person to talk to other people in similar situations for guidance. But, can a person really live 2 lives? One that suits them on the internet where they feel they are being themselves and another in real life, where they are acting differently to conform to society. These two different personas mean that one group of people whether online or offline are not meeting the ‘real’ one. No matter how much you feel like you are accepted more on the internet, you can only live a virtual life to a certain extent, and you still need the communicational skills in the real world, when it comes to things like work, school and family. So the freedom of the internet is only possible to a certain extent.

This is also ties in with Nakamura idea that by changing your characteristics, for example a white male, pretending to by an Asian male, may be following the idea of the ‘freedom’ the internet allows, but could also be seen as racism. If the white male only had a limited knowledge of the Asian culture, his interpretation of it could only reflect stereotypes and could result in them being mocked. I do agree with this point of view, no matter how hard people try to change their characteristics on the internet, they will never be able to actually have these characteristics and therefore will be ignorant to some of the things it brings. These are just some of my views on things that stood out in the lecture, do you agree?