New Media cont...

In relation to this post:

The photo I used for this meeting was taken from the cover of a newly released movie called "we live in public" which is a documentary about one of the first and little heard of Internet pioneers, entrepreneurs and media artists Josh Harris aka "The Warhol of the Web". When he made a substantial buck on the dot.com explosion, in opposition to the other dot.com millionaires, Harris spent his money on an sociological art experiment called "Quiet". And here I am taking from the movie's website: "Quiet" took place in an underground bunker in New York City where over 100 people lived together on camera for 30 days at the turn of the millennium. With "Quiet", Harris proved how we willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire, but with every – what the website calls "technological advancement", but what I would call "communication and social phenomena" such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter, this experience of recognition and connection becomes more elusive and sometimes, sinister.

In an article published on Gizmodo, Dan Yoder gives 10 arguments on why we should quit Facebook. Yoder mostly discusses the privacy issues regarding Facebook, and their seemingly sneaky ways of going about accessing information on it's customers and then making that information public. He says:

"Facebook is clearly determined to add every feature of every competing social network in an attempt to take over the Web… I often hear people talking about Facebook as though they were some sort of monopoly or public trust. Well, they aren't. They owe us nothing. They can do whatever they want, within the bounds of the laws. (And keep in mind, even those criteria are pretty murky when it comes to social networking.) But that doesn't mean we have to actually put up with them."

In an article entitled: Too Much Information: what Google and Facebook know about you recently published in the Irish Times Weekend Review, Karlin Lillington commented on the fact that whereas once upon a time, "Online you could be anyone you wished. Or you could be you. Identity was fluid and vague". Now it is quite the opposite. In fact, issues of privacy and control, ownership and public accessibility of personal information has become one of the primary concerns regarding social networking sites, in particular Facebook. Lillington asks if these concerns are valid, are the problems often discussed regarding Facebook and it's policies actually something to worry about? I wasn't sure, until I read that the introduction of compulsory Identification cards to secondary school new-comers in the UK was conceived via Facebook marketing information.

Another concern of mine is how although the new technology such as cameras are becoming more and more accessible in the democratic sense, our etiquette in using these new devices is lagging behind. And as I discover more and more photos of myself posted on the internet without me being informed, I wonder if the problems regarding new media stretch to one of bodily integrity and/ or exploitation.

A discussion on New Media and Social Media

A discussion about New Media, Social Media and the internet:

THE II PART RECORDING OF THIS MEETING IS NOW AVAILABLE HERE.

This meeting will be facilitated by Emily Aoibheann.

Speakers include:

Angela Nagle, Fionn Kidney, Andrew Flood, Vanessa Monaghan and Caroline Campbell.

RAG open meeting Monday 14th June

On Monday 14th June at 7.30pm, RAG will host a discussion on the many uses and dangers of 'new media', the possibilities for positive change and 'radical democracy' via the internet, the dilemma of 'internet neurosis' where feelings of vulnerability and fears of exploitation need to be negotiated in order to utilize the internet as activists, artists and self-publishers and the potential of the internet as a force for oppression and control.

The discussion will take place in Seomra Spraoi. All welcome.

Wikipedia describes new media in the following terms:

New media is a broad term that emerged in the later part of the 20th century to encompass the amalgamation of traditional media such as film, images, music, spoken and written word, with the interactive power of computer and communications technology, computer-enabled consumer devices and most importantly the internet. New media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. What distinguishes New media from traditional media is not the digitizing of media content into bits, but the dynamic life of the "new media" content and its interactive relationship with the media consumer. Another important promise of New Media is the "democratization" of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media)