Internet Studies 102 (Net 102) Assignment 4: Essay 2
Curtin University Grade: 75%
Laura Herbert
Essay Question: Critically evaluate this statement: the Internet offers a space where people may resist oppression on a daily basis; it overturns traditional structures of power and control.
Technological Freedom
There are technological advances of the Internet compared to the printed book page that have the ability to democratize information by simplifying the creation, skill, knowledge, duplication, storage and fluidity of distribution of data. By utilising applications, networking through computers can facilitate communication amongst a broader spectrum of individuals. People from remote locations are able to associate with one other by creating user accounts specifically to engage in varieties of social networking, fighting the suppression of human rights, the invocation of freedom and political practices, and more generally to make their utopian visions of opinions matter by having their voices heard on a unified global platform. This essay will argue technology's usage to enhance people's options for greater communication in an online environment and to discuss the capacity of online community's ability to overturn the traditional structures of power and control allowing people to resist oppression by utilising the Internet's ubiquitous ability for freedom of social expression.Literacy has been an important developmental mile stone in human history, it represented a time that saw the emergence of abstract thought and linear forms of thinking and expression as well as a change of perception of space and time. (Harris, 2003. Hongladarom, 2002) When Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century information began to distribute to a greater number of people in more diverse places at a cheaper cost than that of hand written Latin language manuscripts deleteriously produced by monks. Although machine printed books of that era kept in large libraries were accessible to the masses, only the elite, powerful, educated and religious educators could afford to access the books, keeping power and control of information distribution in the hands of the minority and not the majority.(Solove, 2007)
Don Slater in his paper Social Relationships and Identity Online and Offline makes an interesting observation concerning peoples adaptation of information "…past media have also seemed to constitute new forms and spaces of sociality, even virtuality's, they have quickly been absorbed into every day practices as utilities …" (cited McLuhan 1974,Standage 1999 by Slater, 2002). Although before the ubiquitous application of the internet in the later part of the 20th Century, choices of mass media consumption were limited in the form of the printed newspaper, radio and television. These facilities greatly accelerated the dissemination of information albeit in a mostly singular direction lending significant power to the hands of a small but significant group of editors and producers of printing, recording and broadcasting technology. Communication by individuals meeting and talking and the use of the telephone contained groups to a specific social environment until the widened public use of the Internet. The commonality of use of the Internet changed the dynamic nature of information sharing and with this technological change came technological structure and a widening degree of personal and political freedom.danah boyd's article Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck, Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence, directs the reader to the idea that people require structure in the real world but not on line. "… Off line, people are accustomed to having architecturally defined boundaries ..." The idea of actual life defined boundaries does not physically apply to the context of the Internet. For religious, political and even suppressed ideals, the Internet has allowed for greater range of freedom and in doing so offers individuals and masses a widened information sharing capability with access to platforms such as social networking sites, political, religious and human rights web pages. These technological structures easily altered to fit a user's specific demographic and individual requirement of spatial usability. boyd concurs in her article "… The digital world has different properties and these can be easily altered through the development of new technologies …" (2008)
The development of new technologies has widened people's ability for greater communication with each other, creating a divergence of concepts and culture. Shafti describes understanding information distribution as communal in Incoherent Thoughts "… As the reality of the information age becomes more certain, people are beginning to understand the vast expanse of new media …" As such users are interacting with each other socially and culturally in a greater capacity. People are connecting in interesting and new ways and for some the internet ingrained in such a way that communication and accessibility electronically are part of a daily routine that allows them freedom from constraints of the traditional structures of power and control. Community and identity as Shafti points out can be "… different people from different parts of the world establish a virtual community in cyber space. Here they share their ideas, opinions, belief, political perspectives, interests etc. …" (2005) This utopian vision and the opening of internet frontiers has enabled people to connect with others that they would not have otherwise have met in a real life setting. People create communities with common ground for different reasons, overriding a degree of possible oppressive social or political behaviour and giving the users greater acceptance within a specific on line peer structure.
Early theorists speculated that electronic communication would be inherently democratic, allowing equal access to data and knowledge, modern communication and transportation technologies have made the classical notion of world politics obsolete. The Internet has evolved from a communication conduit between scientists and engineers engaged in defence work to an information dissemination tool used to resist human rights abuses worldwide, it is the natural vocation of a conscious people to resist oppression. Territorial boundaries, however much bolstered by doctrines of sovereignty are no-longer impregnable; the Internet has made them porous. Increasingly easy access to e-mail and the World Wide Web allows many politically disenfranchised groups to communicate with like-minded or sympathetic audiences, publicising causes often overlooked by the mainstream media and offering perspectives frequently stifled by the conservative corporate ownership.There are a multitude of platforms that any number of disembodied users can and do utilise. "... social network sites (SNS) such as MySpace Facebook, Cyworld, and Bebo..." researched and described by boyd and Ellison (2007) concur with Shafti's previously discussed perspective of community and identity, "…there are hundreds of SNSs, with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices. While their key technological features are fairly consistent, the cultures that emerge around SNSs are varied. Most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing social networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or activities. Some sites cater to diverse audiences, while others attract people based on common language or shared racial, sexual, religious, or nationality-based identities …" (boyd, Ellison, 2002)
Social network site Facebook has demonstrated the ability to create common ground for various causes whether they are fighting the suppression of human rights, the invocation of freedom and political practices, and more generally utopian or dystopian visions (Shafti, 2005) of private individuals. Within a couple of minutes, a person is able to generate and establish a particular 'interest wall' that displays a link to their cause's main web site which a member may visit if they wish. With this ease of access Facebook's utilities has been employed by a growing number of human rights groups. Consumers of the social networking site are able to demonstrate their allegiance by mouse clicking a 'like' button at the top of the wall page. "...Facebook, Human Rights Watch Non-profit 70,226 people like this. Facebook, Human Rights Campaign Non-profit 646,643 people like this. Facebook, Australian Human Rights Commission Government 3,096 people like this. Facebook, Human rights Page 30,100 people like this. Facebook, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Non-profit 25,191 people like this. Facebook, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) Non-profit 2,713 people like this ..." (Facebook, November 15, 2010) No longer are people "...happily oblivious to this social network website ..." (White, 2008)
By demonstrating people's connection to each other on a social networking site (SNS) such as Facebook this paper has shown that strangers are able to connect on the Internet in a common cause and in doing so have created an online community of like minded individuals. In comparing technological advances before and after the Internet's inception, this essay has argued technology's usage to enhance people's options for greater communication in an online environment are able to usurp the traditional structures of power and control allowing people to resist oppression by utilising the Internet's ubiquitous ability to form communities that represent and allow freedom of social expression.
Bibliography
boyd, d. (2008) Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck. Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. (pp.14) Retrieved November 14, 2010 Curtin University of Technology
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
http://www.danah.org/papers/FacebookPrivacyTrainwreck.pdf
boyd, d. m. , & Ellison, N. B (2007) Social Network sites; Definition, History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 13(1) article 11 Retrieved November 14, 2010 from
Eisenstein, E. (1982) The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. European History after 1450. Cambridge University Press. (pp. 1-20 Inc. preface). Reviewed November 14th 2010.
Facebook Human rights heading Search,
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=human+rights&init=quick&tas=0.07180594468679424 Retrieved from Facebook November 15, 2010
Facebook, Human Rights Watch http://www.facebook.com/HumanRightsWatch?v=wall / http://www.hrw.org/ Retrieved from Facebook. November 15, 2010.
Harris, Laurel. (2003) Time, space. In Theories of Media (University of Chicago) Archived by Webcite. Retrieved November 14, 2010 Curtin University of Technology
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/text/futureofreputation-ch2.pdfhttp://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/timespace.htm
Hongladarom, Soraj. 2002. "The Web of Time and the Dilemma of Globalization," The Information Society 18(4), (pp. 241 – 249, pp. 242). Retrieved November 14, 2010 from, Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve
Shafi, "Can a Virtual Community be any different from the experience of a Real Community?" Incoherent Thoughts, December 13, 2005. Archived by Web cite. Curtin University of Technology Retrieved November 14, 2010
http://shafisaid.wordpress.com/2005/12/13/can-a-virtual-community-be-any-different-from-the-experience-of-a-real-community/
Slater, Don. (2002). Social Relationships and Identity Online and Offline. In Leah A. Lievrouw & Sonia M. Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of New Media (pp. 533-546). Cited in paper: McLuhan, M (1974) Standage, T (1999) Retrieved November 14, 2010 from, Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve.
Solove, D., (2007). How the Free Flow of Information Liberates and Constrains Us, in The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet. (pp. 18) Retrieved November 14, 2010
The National Archives, Human Rights Archive
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/humanrights/ Reviewed November 15, 2010.
Please do not plagiarise my work. I am quite happy however for you to quote or cite my assignment. This assignment submitted to Curtin University of Technology for grading.
White, M M., “Facebook Suicide ,"Adbusters, June 4, 2008. Archived by WebCite Curtin University of Technology. Retrieved November 15, 2010
