DIGC101 REFLECTION ESSAY – USING AND EXPERIENCING THE WEB AS A COMMUNICATION FORM Web 2.0 (2nd generation) is a dynamic tool that general public can use to access information as well as contribute information. Unlike Web 2.0, Web 1.0 (1st generation) was originally used as a tool to access information that was created by small numbers. (Warschauer & Grimes 2007) On the blog ‘Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0, the difference’, Saad Hamid reconfirms the thoughts of Warschauer and Grimes that Web 2.0 is an evolving tool. The diagram Hamid provides explains the differences possibly the best (http://www.sizlopedia.com/wp‐content/uploads/web1_0‐vs‐web2_0.png) as he identifies the differences between the two generations of the web. For Web 1.0 you have just got the web master writing or creating the website and the internet surfers accessing the website. In Web 2.0 you have still got the web master creating the website and surfers accessing the site, but now they are able to create and contribute. Through the emergence of tools and technology Internet surfers can now tag, chat, blog, upload/download images, audio, video as well as file share. On the other side of this you have also got the creation of online communities through the use of Social Network Sites (SNSs). Hamid poses the question ‘Do you think that web 2.0 has helped users get more interactive or do you think it is just a propaganda term created to wipe out the old web standards?’ (http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/08/18/web‐10‐vs‐web‐ 20‐the‐visual‐difference/) Thinking about this, Web 2.0 has helped users become more interactive. Look at what we are doing in this subject DIGC101, traditionally you would attend a lecture than a tutorial where you would discuss and debate about what you have learned during that week, whereas in DIGC101 we have created a little specific social network groups with the use of certain tools such as twitter, blogs (tumblr, blogger, twitwall) and SNSs (Myspace, Facebook). With the introduction of the second generation web (Web 2.0) blogs have become a large tool for the general web user to create an identity to communicate their thoughts and beliefs to wider audience. As Doorn, Zoonen and Wyatt state ‘If this ‘new forum’ is also capable of instigating new ways in which this ‘self’ can be presented, weblogs could potentially offer new perspectives on the relation between the Internet and the expression of identity.’ This can be easily related to the DIGC101 project of creating an online identity. My identity I decided is a music blogger, I will report and comment on any new music (albums and concerts) and news that I may come across. The term blog short for web log originates from the practice of diary or journal writing and is commonly posted in reverse chronological order. (Warschauer & Grimes pp. 5) Warschauer and Grimes (2007 pp. 5) suggest that the majority of blogs fall within two main styles. Personal journals, which predates the Internet in the form of diaries and personal letters reporting on the individual’s personal thoughts and day‐to‐day experiences. The second take the form of an informative writing such as a newspaper column or pamphlet with the aim to inform, agitate or persuade on social or political issues.
With this second style of blog in mind Kenix states ‘In response to a distrust of mainstream journalism, alternative media forms have existed in numerous forms beside mainstream journalism for centuries. An opinioned and stylized form of reporting that focused on the subjective interpretations surfaced in the 1960s which is believed to be the precursor to the modern political current events blog.’ (2009 pp. 791) With blogging still seen as a relative new form of communication, it opens the door for defamation or online bullying (Cyber bullying). The Australian reported (August 20, 2009) a recent case in America which saw an ex Vogue model sue Google to reveal the identity of a blogger who was posting damaging comments about her on blog titled ‘Skanks of NYC’. The ex model eventually winning the case, the court ordered Google to reveal the identity of the blogger opening the door for questions to be raised regarding privacy of users and whether companies like Google have a right to reveal users private information. Along with blogs, Social Network Sites (SNSs) are another product of Web 2.0. boyd and Elisson (2008) define social network sites as “web‐based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi‐public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.”(pp 211) The first SNS SixDegrees was established in 1997, but the real boom of SNSs didn’t occur until six years later in 2003. Between 2003 and 2006 saw the conception of a total 34 SNSs. (boyd & Ellison 2008 pp. 212) Of the 34 sites, Myspace, Facebook and twitter would have to be the ones that have seen the largest amount of popularity growth within Australia. Myspace was launched in 2003 with the vision to compete with already established SNSs Friendster, Xanga and AsianAvenue. At the time Friendster was the ‘it’ SNS, but Friendster’s users began to become alienated due to rumours that Friendster was going to become a fee based service. As a result users began to join alternative sites, mainlyMyspace. It is believed one main factor as to why Myspace grew in popularity so quickly was the group of indie‐rock bands encouraging fans to cross over due to the fact they were expelled for failing to meet the profile regulations set out by Friendster. (boyd & Ellison 2008 pp. 216 ‐ 217) Greenhow and Robelia (2009, pp. 1132 – 1133) reported that since the introduction of SNSs in the late 1990’s sites such as Myspace and Facebook have attracted millions of users. It is suggested that 55% of teens that are online in the U.S. have created a personal profile on Myspace orFacebook. It is also claimed that an average of 9 hours a week are devoted visiting their social network site. Facebook was originally developed in 2004 to provide a distinct social network for Harvard college students. As a result only users that had a harvard.edu email address where able to join. In 2005 Facebook expanded to cater high school networks and ultimately in 2006 Facebook was made available to the general public. (boyd & Ellison 2008 pp. 218) It is claimed as of 2007 Facebook had a reported 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views each day. (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe 2007)
Facebook and Myspace both depend on a bi‐directional confirmation of friendship unlike twitter which uses a one‐directional confirmation called “fans” or “followers”. The term “friends” used by Myspace and Facebook can be viewed as misleading, because the connection does not necessarily mean friendship in the everyday vernacular sense. (boyd & Ellison 2008 pp. 213) Personally I have noticed it has become almost of a status symbol to friend as many people as possible on Myspace and Facebook. I am always receiving friend requests from people I personally do not know, even people that share the same surname. Like blogs SNSs are facing similar issues within society, as an 18 year old female from England has become the first to be jailed for posting death threats to a fellow student on Facebook. Although people have been convicted for harassment and stalking on SNSs it is claimed she is the first to be convicted for cyber bullying. (Salkeld 2009) Since the evolution of web 1.0 to web 2.0 it has opened the door to endless possibilities. Through the use of blogs and SNSs it has given the user the possibility to create an identity they wouldn’t normally have in reality, such as my identity that I have created for myself. With the guidance of the subject DIGC101 and the use of various tools such as tumblr and twitter I have created the identity of a music blogger with the blog titled ‘Keeping with the beat!’
Reference List: boyd, danah & Ellison, Nicole 2007, ‘Social Networking Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship’, Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, Vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 210 – 230 Ellison, Nicole & Steinfield, Charles & Lampe, Cliff, 2007, ‘The Benefits of Facebook ‘Friends’: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites’, Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, Vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1143 – 1168 Greenhow, Christine & Robelia, Beth 2009, ‘Old Communication, New Literacies: Social Network Sites as Social Learning Resources’, Journal of Computer‐ Mediated Communication, Vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 1130 – 1161 Hamid, Saad 2007, ‘Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0, the difference’, August 18, weblog post, Sizlopedia, accessed 24 August 2009, http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/08/18/web‐10‐vs‐web‐20‐the‐visual‐ difference/ Kenix, Linda Jean 2009, ‘Blogs as Alternative’, Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, Vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 790 – 822 Salkeld, L 2009, ‘Facebook bully jailed: Death threat girl, 18, is first person put behind bars for vicious internet campaign’ The Daily Mail, 21/8/2009,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article‐1208147/First‐cyberbully‐jailed‐ Facebook‐death‐threats.html ‘Vogue model Liskula Cohen’s court win on skank gibe’, The Australian, 20 August, accessed 26/8/2009, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,25954891‐ 17044,00.html Warschauer, Mark and Grimes, Douglas 2007, ‘Audience, Authorship, and Artefact: The Emergent Semiotics of web 2.0’, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 27, pp. 1 – 23