Natalie's Blog

Digital Justice

Activism and Social Media

Social Media Acts as a Platform for Social Activism (Photo Credit Amine M’Siouri via Pexels)

As Citizen Journalism continues to arise and develop, so to does the way we interact with social activism and the way we broadcast our messages to the world.

Naturally, with the progression of availability and features of social media, the usage of these platforms to spread messages related to social activism has become significant. People are able to share footage and information from protests and rallies, even live stream events for information to be instantly spread to viewers.

The #Hashtags

To examine a model of modern activism as affected by social media, we can look to hashtags and their virtues for activism. Over the past few years, many hashtags related to social issues have gone viral, raising awareness of the general populations to certain topics that activists concern.

One of the first hashtags linked predominantly to activism that blew up is #BlackLivesMatter, and brought about conversations across the world based upon the treatment and regards of African American people. By spreading this hashtag across media platforms, access to messages about the relevant issues is made easy, and pushes people to consider the subject when they notice how many others are sharing their own input with the hashtag.

Technological Determinism

A theory developed by Thorstein Veblen and later developed by Karl Marx, ‘Technological Determinism’ essentially indicates that technology moulds social structure and cultural values.

“We can think of technological determinism as an approach that identifies technology, or technological advances, as the central causal element in processes of social change”
Croteau, Hoynes. “Communication Theory: Technological Determinism.”

Considering this theory, it is suggested that technological developments are central to influencing societal changes; smartphones and social media act as catalysts for changes and evolution of social activism.

Bibliography

Anderson, Toor, Rainie, Smith. “Activism in the Social Media Age” July 11, 2018. Pew Research Centre. Accessed August 20, 2019. https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/07/11/activism-in-the-social-media-age/

David Croteau, William Hoynes. “Communication Theory: Technological Determinism.” Communicationtheory.org. Accessed August 21, 2019. https://www.communicationtheory.org/technological-determinism/

The Unaccredited Reporters

Citizen Journalism

Sharing news is simple with the help of smartphones and social media. (Photo Credit janeb13 via Pixabay)

The birth of social media has aided exponentially of new forms of media, communication, and journalism, as we see especially with the development of Citizen Journalism. Citizen Journalism is the act of average, everyday people sharing news affairs through the use of the internet and social media on an individual level.

Considering that majority of populations of developed countries own or have access to smartphones nowadays, we witness citizen journalism every day.

Citizen Journalism Reforming News Coverage?

With constant access to share content on a range of platforms, it is extremely easy for anyone to share information instantaneously. While citizen journalism allows for information to be produced and spread much faster than traditional media, some citizens may not have research skills to the same extent as professional reporters.

This type of journalism is quicker and allows for wider views and aspects, but can be significantly less reliable; anyone can spread misleading information easily with the help of the internet. With the “Fake News” phenomena being brought to light over the past couple of years, it’s natural that most people are to be sceptical of journalism in general, let alone citizen journalism. Despite misleading information, highly valuable input is often acknowledged and used by reporters and journalists as a product of citizen journalism.

“Journalism’s relationship with social media continues to get more complex.”
Cision, “Cision’s Global State of the Media report 2019”.

Considering major advantages and disadvantages with relying on citizen reported information, this statement from Cision’s 2019 report rings true.

Bibliography

Cision. “Cision’s Global State of the Media report 2019” May 7, 2019. Accessed August 16, 2019. https://www.cision.com/us/resources/white-papers/2019-sotm/

Iribarren, Leopoldine. “The Impact of ‘citizen journalism’ on the public sphere”. February 3. A Medium Corporation. Accessed August 16, 2019. https://medium.com/@LeopoldineIL/the-impact-of-citizen-journalism-on-the-public-sphere-c1a5586cdac9

Rogers, Tony. “Understanding Citizen Journalism”. May 25, 2019. Thought Co. Accessed August 16, 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-citizen-journalism-2073663

Webwise. “Explained: What is Fake News?”. webwise.ie. Accessed August 16, 2019. https://www.webwise.ie/teachers/what-is-fake-news/

A Digital Age

The Changing Face of Technology and Media

Technology and Media is constantly changing and developing. (Photo Credit kaboompics via Pixabay)

Over the past couple decades, the world has witnessed constant major changes and developments in modern technology, that ultimately affect the daily lives of masses of people; “changes”, in this case particularly, referring to the creation of smartphones and social media.

Nowadays, it is difficult to find people from developed countries that do not interact with modern digital technologies. In fact, a survey from Deloitte shows that 89 percent of Australians own a smartphone as of 2018.

Technological Change

As author Woodrow W. Clark puts it, “Historically, technological change has been the catalyst for change.” (Clark, 2017.) Though change is a constant and continuous aspect throughout all of history, the cultural changes and scientific developments we’ve experienced throughout the past 20 years or so, thanks to our technological advances, is phenomenal. As Ray Kurzweil states with relevance, “We won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century, it will be more like 20,000 years of progress.”

Changing Media

Due to these advances in technology and the cultural shifts they ensue, media is gradually evolving with it. The lines between traditional and modern media have been blurred, and the way we consume completely altered. One notable example of this is how many news companies have made the shift from traditional newsprint to online forms, adapting to effectively keep relevancy among modern audiences.

Not only do these changes allow valuable opportunities for media-oriented businesses, rather anyone can share their content to the world with extreme ease. We can access and consume content from anyone from anywhere.

Media is no longer so black and white with who or what is successful, and everyday we see how technology and media is relentlessly changing- subjectively for the better or worse.

Bibliography

Clark, Woodrow. “Chapter Six – Technologies, Changes, and Impacts: From a Vertically Integrated to Dispersed Energy Systems”. 2017. Science Direct Accessed 15 August, 2019. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081017609000064

Deloitte, “Mobile Consumer Survey 2018”. 2018. Deloitte.com. Accessed 15 August, 2019. https://www2.deloitte.com/au/mobile-consumer-survey

Hartman, Alex. “The changing face of media in the digital world” 22 June 2015. Dynamic Business. Accessed 15 August 2019. https://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/featured/the-changing-face-of-media-in-the-digital-world.html

INEOS, “The changing face of technology: Advances in technology have revolutionised the world of business”. 2015. ineos.com. Accessed 15 August, 2019. https://www.ineos.com/inch-magazine/articles/issue-8/the-changing-face-of-technology/