“A young user entering this realm of hate-disguised-as-humor is given control of the interaction. A child can spend hours with the WCTOC (World Church of the Creator) site or may drift in and out, building a narrative not just from the databases but also bringing in other anonymous links to other hate sites” (Williamson & Peterson, 2003).
I have been observing a resurgence of something that I thought was long gone. I remember seeing race riots on television as a young girl. Since then we have been teaching and learning to be more tolerant of others; haven’t we? In researching cyberspace ethics I found that some of the groups that I thought were outdated are actually thriving in that realm. The Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, Skinheads, and anti-Semitic groups are protected by the first amendment, and they are catering to a possible ripe group of recruits; children.
I sat and read “The Rhetoric of Hate on the Internet: Hateporn’s Challenge to Modern Media Ethics,” with my mouth hanging open. I was so frightened by what I was seeing; I began to yell at my son loudly asking if he had ever seen any of the websites discussed. Like every 14 year old he likes to play internet video games. The games included in the article had such colorful names, “Niggerhurt” which is an African safari type game. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what the ‘prey’ is in this game. There are others that are just as horrific. In one game you can be a commander of a concentration camp, merrily putting Jewish people to death. If you want to know where the hate is coming from, it is straight out of the computer screen in your home. These groups are also giving themselves organizational type names, I mean the World Church of the Creator sounds like good things don’t you think? In reality it is the WCOTC.com, a site for White Supremacy.
These people are using cartoons, video games, and music to attract young people to listen to their rhetoric. There main goal in life is keeping the white race pure. They are very welcoming, and as I mentioned protected by the Constitution of the United States. They use loosely worded disclaimers to ‘warn’ that their sites are graphic. They also insist that they do not promote violence; they are merely a forum to discuss their views. One page of the article sent a very cold chill directly to my core. The age of one person that frequented this site is 14, the same age as my son. He asked for advice about how to deal with a non-white student that was mean to him. No problem, all of the adults had plenty of non-lethal ways to subdue his problem, the problem with some of the tactics was that injury or worse death could occur to the ‘offender’. Only one person was concerned about the legal implications if the boy actually killed his antagonist, since he didn’t want to see a nice white boy go to jail for nothing.
Just watching the news recently it seems as if every person in America is extremely tense. I must admit that some of the crowds shown on television protesting the government, and more specifically President Obama, have been drawing lines in the sand that make those memories of police with fire hoses and attack trained dogs a little more vivid in my mind. I am worried about a lot of things for my 14 year old son. This revelation is the one that just took the lead on my list of what to not sleep over.
Lorraine
Reference
Williamson, L., Pierson, E. (2003). The Rhetoric of Hate on the Internet: Hateporn’s Challenge to Modern Media Ethics. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 18(3&4), 250-267.
Internet Advertising
With this quote i cant agree more with. As we become more of a technology based socity we are going to see more and more web based advertising. We will need to make it more and more eye catching. If you have a add that is all in black and white lettering at the top of a page more then likey you will not get anyone to see that it is there. If you were to add color to it and make it flash you will be amazed to see that you will start to get people attention
This is really true if you have a website that is very busy. If you have alot of information on it you need important things to stand out in your site or it will always get overlooked no matter what. So you need to make everything that is important on your site like sales, new equipment or just new news, it just needs to be able to pop out at the customer.
Professional Networking
"Appeal of social networking is limited largely to industries where workers are fairly isolated from their colleagues on a day-to-day basis, like medicine, construction and sales." (Social Networking Goes Professional http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118825239984310205.html)
Most people think of social networking sites as being merely a way to keep in touch with family and friends. Now that the internet is becoming more a part of everyday business use we are finding more and more professionals using social networking to communicate with other professionals. The reason for doing this is simple; it allows them to get opinions, advice, and to have others listen actively to what they are doing. For example a doctor could spend all day trying to call around to other doctor's in the same specialty and not get a call back but with a social networking site they are able to communicate with each other more conveniently without taking time away from their patients.
It is possible and even probable that this is going to become more of the business norm over the next decade; businesses will find more information readily available on sites like Facebook or Twitter rather than having to make multiple phone contacts that could waste precious time that employees do not have. All employees may not have a direct need for sites like these but for professionals such as accountants or sales representatives it could be a very good source of advice from other professionals in their fields. We already get offers on line at work so this would just be the next step in our journey to complete reliance on the internet for business. The next step will to be to find a way to make sure that those professionals presenting information on these sites are exactly who they say they are.
Vascellaro, J. (2007) Social Networking Goes Professional, Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118825239984310205.html
Most people think of social networking sites as being merely a way to keep in touch with family and friends. Now that the internet is becoming more a part of everyday business use we are finding more and more professionals using social networking to communicate with other professionals. The reason for doing this is simple; it allows them to get opinions, advice, and to have others listen actively to what they are doing. For example a doctor could spend all day trying to call around to other doctor's in the same specialty and not get a call back but with a social networking site they are able to communicate with each other more conveniently without taking time away from their patients.
It is possible and even probable that this is going to become more of the business norm over the next decade; businesses will find more information readily available on sites like Facebook or Twitter rather than having to make multiple phone contacts that could waste precious time that employees do not have. All employees may not have a direct need for sites like these but for professionals such as accountants or sales representatives it could be a very good source of advice from other professionals in their fields. We already get offers on line at work so this would just be the next step in our journey to complete reliance on the internet for business. The next step will to be to find a way to make sure that those professionals presenting information on these sites are exactly who they say they are.
Vascellaro, J. (2007) Social Networking Goes Professional, Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118825239984310205.html
Internet Ethics
"The fostering of an Internet societal infrastructure consciously ethical, is needed to curtail the new era of global irresponsibility that is at hand."
The internet although useful is somewhat of the wild, wild, west when it comes to ethics and how people conduct themselves. Sure there are laws prohibiting certain things on the internet but even those are vague and broad based.
I am referring to ethical standards the same as we have in physical society. Example, you may not go straight up to someone in public and give them your honest opinion on a sensitive matter such as being pro choice for fear that person may not take your comments to well and there could be real trouble. However, online people have absolutely no trouble saying whatever they want in a blog or straight to another person on a chat room etc. This is in my opinion due to the fact that people have such a high level of anonymity online. Nobody knows anything about the other person typing these things. This kind of blatant ethical disregard doesn't happen in email. When you send an email the recipient knows exactly who it is coming from. This creates a built in level of ethical rule minding.
As we continue to move more and more towards a global economy and society it will be come increasingly more important for us to focus in on the importance of carrying high levels of ethical standards while online. This should be taught in school and by parents and authority figures just as it is when referring to physical relationships.
Ethical standards should also come into play when posting information online. With the evolution of the "blog", more people are finding their voice online and providing their opinions on all sorts of topics. These pieces of information are exactly that, opinions. Opinions are fine so long as they are given in that manner and the reader understands that the information is nothing more than opinion and not to be taken as fact. If we fail to implement a certain level of ethical standard online, the internet will grow to become more and more of an entertainment tool and less and less of a reliable source of information.
Steve Prew
Shearer, J. (1998). The campaign for an ethical internet. ACM Policy, 80-85.
The internet although useful is somewhat of the wild, wild, west when it comes to ethics and how people conduct themselves. Sure there are laws prohibiting certain things on the internet but even those are vague and broad based.
I am referring to ethical standards the same as we have in physical society. Example, you may not go straight up to someone in public and give them your honest opinion on a sensitive matter such as being pro choice for fear that person may not take your comments to well and there could be real trouble. However, online people have absolutely no trouble saying whatever they want in a blog or straight to another person on a chat room etc. This is in my opinion due to the fact that people have such a high level of anonymity online. Nobody knows anything about the other person typing these things. This kind of blatant ethical disregard doesn't happen in email. When you send an email the recipient knows exactly who it is coming from. This creates a built in level of ethical rule minding.
As we continue to move more and more towards a global economy and society it will be come increasingly more important for us to focus in on the importance of carrying high levels of ethical standards while online. This should be taught in school and by parents and authority figures just as it is when referring to physical relationships.
Ethical standards should also come into play when posting information online. With the evolution of the "blog", more people are finding their voice online and providing their opinions on all sorts of topics. These pieces of information are exactly that, opinions. Opinions are fine so long as they are given in that manner and the reader understands that the information is nothing more than opinion and not to be taken as fact. If we fail to implement a certain level of ethical standard online, the internet will grow to become more and more of an entertainment tool and less and less of a reliable source of information.
Steve Prew
Shearer, J. (1998). The campaign for an ethical internet. ACM Policy, 80-85.
The Blog Reader
“In order to understand the myriad contexts in which human-computer interaction takes place, researchers have adopted different stances toward users and taken different perspectives on HCI systems. Similarly, in order to understand fully the activities of blogging, we must study not only bloggers and the blogs they produce, but also the readers of those blogs and their interactions with the blog and the blogger.” (Baumer, Sueyoshi, Tomlinson 2008)
My research revealed a tremendous amount of data about the growth and complex issues raised by blogs. The popularity of blogs has exploded in recent years. The new pathway for social networking has brought with it much investigation and research to understand what blogs are being used for and what the future may hold. The research I found was typically focused on the blog topics and that of the author. Very little research was done on the reader of those blogs (Baumer, sueyoshi, Tomlinson 2008) The article points out the critical information which might be gained by researching just who is reading the blog and why.
For me personally, I read and respond to blogs which are of interest to me. I rarely respond to a blog of someone I know personally. For example, someone might post what they did for the weekend on a social blog, with minimal replies mostly from specific friends and family. That same post on a weekend adventure site might get a tremendous response from all over the world from numerous unknown people. The same information can take on a completely different response based on the perspective of the reader.
Source"
Baumer, E, Sueyoshi, M, Tomlinson, B. (2008). Exploring the Role of the Reader in the Activity of Blogging. Retrieved September 23, 2009, from http://portal.acm.org.dml.regis.edu/citation.cfm?id=1357054.1357228&coll=Portal&dl=ACM&CFID=54732608&CFTOKEN=187
Behind CAPTCHA
“Chances are, you’ve been CAPTCHAd” (PC Magazine Online, 20 August 2003)
Have you ever wondered why the internet tests your ability to read a configured word and reenter it into a box provided? The internet is not testing our vision or ability to read. It is using CAPTCHA as a function on the internet. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. CAPTCHA is “a small rectangular graphic containing a short, well-known word, such as "coat," "manage," or "worry"” (PC Magazine Online, 20 August 2003). It was implemented by email services and antispam products due to the large increase in internet spam issues.
History of CAPTCHA began in 1950 when Alan Turing wrote “Computer Machinery and Intelligence”. Since then, the term turing has been applied to any test used to decipher an unknown entity as being either human or machine. Because only humans are able to read the CAPTCHA, the process requires the user to read and correctly enter the word into an adjacent box. Any person who has used the internet will run into CAPTCHA and will rarely know the reason it is being used. CAPTCHA has primarily been used as security precautions, such as registering for email accounts or purchasing items on the web. As machines or computers are unable to read the words, internet services are able to prevent spam, filter unwanted advertisements, and block online misconduct. Many people are even use CAPTCHA in their homes because “Internet users often install software that uses CAPTCHA to weed incoming spam from legitimate correspondence” (PC Magazine Online, 20 August 2003).
As more spammers find ways around CAPTCHA, the concept to identify obscured words have evolved to, “a new breed of CAPTCHA called BaffleText” (PC Magazine Online, 20 August 2003). BaffleText are words hidden in a digital graphic and the image is then visually degraded. The next time you are asked to decode a CAPTCHA, you will now know that the service provider is trying to determine if you are human or machine.
Source:
CAPTCHA-ing the Spammer. August 20, 2003 pNAPC Magazine Online, p.NA. Retrieved September 23, 2009, from Computer Database via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=CDB
The Purpose of Blogging
“Unmonitored, each blogger is author, editor and publisher, beholden solely to his or her own whims and desires”. (Snider, 2003)
The purpose or content of a blog will vary according to the purposes and interests of the author. The author’s purpose may be to keep a journal of their life or a journal of a trip. The author may have a strong opinion about a subject and want others to read their view of the subject. The author might be someone who has kept a personal diary for years. In a personal hand written diary of yesteryear, diaries were something kept very private by the author. From some blogs or journals you see on the web, the standards if disclosure by authors of blogs has changed the old standards of diaries/journals. With blogging, those authors seem to loose their inhabitations and post personal blogs, revealing details they would possibly not disclose to a human being on a normal basis. A personal blog is more like a diary entry as in the Weblog site “I do things so you don’t have to”. Writer’s talk about events in their lives, sometimes private, and air their thoughts to whomever is interested. According to Snider (2003), “Personal blogs are famous for breaking the usual standard of disclosure, revealing details considered by some to be very private”. I think individuals find it easier to disclose personal information to a machine out in the expanse of the internet than to someone face to face.
An individual is able to say that posting a blog is all up to the author’s perception or desires about a subject. There does not appear to be any boundaries except the possibility of morality or that anyone is monitoring data when it comes to blogging. To re-iterate, there is a person’s perception of morality to think about. “Unmonitored, each blogger is author, editor and publisher, beholden solely to his or her own whims and desires” (Snider, 2003). I believe there should be a way of monitoring blog content. I really have to wonder where the world is headed in the future regarding communication. The only way a person might be able to communicate with others in the future is through blogging to complete strangers, relying on the fact a human being is actually on the other end. People may get to where they are unable to speak with a person face to face anymore.
Source:
Snider, M. (2003). The Intimacy of Blogs. Maclean’s, 9/15/2003, 116, (37), 40-41. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Academic Search Premier Database.
The purpose or content of a blog will vary according to the purposes and interests of the author. The author’s purpose may be to keep a journal of their life or a journal of a trip. The author may have a strong opinion about a subject and want others to read their view of the subject. The author might be someone who has kept a personal diary for years. In a personal hand written diary of yesteryear, diaries were something kept very private by the author. From some blogs or journals you see on the web, the standards if disclosure by authors of blogs has changed the old standards of diaries/journals. With blogging, those authors seem to loose their inhabitations and post personal blogs, revealing details they would possibly not disclose to a human being on a normal basis. A personal blog is more like a diary entry as in the Weblog site “I do things so you don’t have to”. Writer’s talk about events in their lives, sometimes private, and air their thoughts to whomever is interested. According to Snider (2003), “Personal blogs are famous for breaking the usual standard of disclosure, revealing details considered by some to be very private”. I think individuals find it easier to disclose personal information to a machine out in the expanse of the internet than to someone face to face.
An individual is able to say that posting a blog is all up to the author’s perception or desires about a subject. There does not appear to be any boundaries except the possibility of morality or that anyone is monitoring data when it comes to blogging. To re-iterate, there is a person’s perception of morality to think about. “Unmonitored, each blogger is author, editor and publisher, beholden solely to his or her own whims and desires” (Snider, 2003). I believe there should be a way of monitoring blog content. I really have to wonder where the world is headed in the future regarding communication. The only way a person might be able to communicate with others in the future is through blogging to complete strangers, relying on the fact a human being is actually on the other end. People may get to where they are unable to speak with a person face to face anymore.
Source:
Snider, M. (2003). The Intimacy of Blogs. Maclean’s, 9/15/2003, 116, (37), 40-41. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Academic Search Premier Database.
Cyber-Journalist Responsibilities
"The Internet is all about speed, and this can be both a strength and weakness of Internet news. The rush to out scoop the competition has always been a part of journalism, but the Internet has accelerated this" (Goldsborough, 2009).
The internet provides a much faster means of breaking the latest news stories than traditional print media. The internet also allows stories to be edited, corrected, and updated immediately. The ability to instantly publish articles is undeniably powerful and should, in theory, be a far superior medium for journalism. In reality, the freedom and speed of internet publication becomes a hindrance to readers who are often times left wondering, “Is what I’m reading accurate?” Internet writers need to be cautious when publishing articles; they need to be sure their story is verifiable. Even though mistakes can be corrected quickly, the initial false report of even the smallest detail can spread quickly and be devastating.
Competition among peers and publications is the sine qua non of journalism. The pressure placed on some writers by their publications could easily cause an otherwise detail oriented author to hastily throw together a hodge-podge, erroneously reported story. Such was the case in 2008, when CNN iReport falsely reported that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack (Goldsborough, 2009). False reports like these are published by overzealous, trigger happy journalists who don’t take the time to verify the legitimacy of their sources. The speed of the internet allows false stories, such as Steve Jobs’ heart attack, to spread like digital wildfire. The consequences can be disastrous for both the reporter and the subject of the story.
Careful consideration needs to be taken before professionals publish a news story. The delay in creating old fashioned print journalism allows for stories to be fact checked and approved by editors. This is not to say that false stories do not get published in newspapers, but it does keep the amount of inaccurate reports to a minimum. In internet publication, the responsibility lies with the journalist to make sure their stories check out and all facts are accurate. Accuracy of the news needs to be valued higher than the speed of delivery; journalists need to respect the rapid fire transmission of information on the web, and assume responsibility for their contributions to cyber space.
GOLDSBOROUGH, R. (2009, April 6). The Internet as the Great Equalizer Has Its Good Points and Bad. Community College Week, 21(16), 20-20. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
“Users want their identity within a virtual community to replace their physical body and to control the degree to which they disclose themselves over the computer.”
Hmmm, what would I look like if I could change my appearance to whoever I wanted? Would that new look bring out my “inner” personality? Would I be embarrassed if I saw someone I knew?
The use of avatars in computer mediated communication is growing. A 2003 study discussed the difference in avatar characteristics used in Internet relay chat (IRC) and instant messaging (IM). In IRC communication, users don’t normally know the other users who they are communicating with. With IM, users typically know each other. The study shows the differences in how users set up their avatars in these two situations.
If my avatar is anonymous, I’d probably express myself in a totally different way than if you knew who I was. It might be interesting to set up that anonymous avatar just to see what transpires. Would it bring something out that I didn’t know I had in me? How would it differ from one I would set up to be used with people I know? Your thoughts?
Kang, H., & Yang, H. (2006). The visual characteristics of avatars in computer-mediated communication: Comparison of Internet Relay Chat and Instant Messenger as of 2003. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies,. 64(12),1173-1183
Teenagers and online freindships
“For teens, the internet is a natural communication environment in which they spend a great deal of their leisure time” (Carlsson, 2006).
There is a definite generation gap between teenagers and older adults when it comes to establishing and maintaining friendships online. Communication researchers are trying to see if online friendships are different from face to face friendships or if they are similar. In a recent study, it was found that teenagers are linked to at least one of their five best friends online thru some sort of social networking site or email (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994, para. 3). Also in this study it was found that the teens did not need to have high computer skills or accessibility to computers. Teenagers who have an online friend also participate in fewer activities outside of the home compared to those who do not participate in social networking sites.
I am currently subscribed to MySpace and Facebook. These two social networking sites are good to keep up with family and friends. All the friends that I have on these social networking sites are my friends face to face. However having contact with them on these websites is helpful because it is easier to keep up with each other without having to call each other every day. It is also great for posting and sharing pictures. I am not a teenager by any means but I do find that social networking online can be very helpful in maintaining established relationships.
Photo Source: farm1.static.flickr.com
http://telem-pub.openu.ac.il/users/chais/2009/after_noon/2_6.pdf
(Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994)
Friendship in Cyberspace: A New Form of Interpersonal Communication?
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