QotW10: No longer a virgin (gamer)

My first time in an online game and I had quite an experience. Well, first of all, in my 'Second Life', I can fly, crash land, walk off buildings, drive into walls, even come face to face with a fiery dragon, and not die! The following images are snap shots of my first journey into this new world of SECOND LIFE.


This was take at a castle-like place, and I chose it because it seems to be the only time that I can actually get a front shot of myself! Which also gives me a chance to describe my avatar - Andreosity a little.

I used to have shocking pink, spunky hair like hers, and I really liked it. Unfortunately, couldn't keep it for too long, because it was almost impossible to get any acting or commercial jobs with that kind of hair style. Well, at least I enjoyed it while it lasted. And I get to have it in Second Life now too! Like Andreosity, I'm also pretty much a very tank top and jeans kind of girl. The only difference between us is that she prefers to expose her midriff, plus she's got a more (uh-hum!) "ample" chest.

The dragon was probably the next most exciting discovery other than my uncanny ability to fly. Too bad it didn't provide me with much of an adventure in the end because it didn't try to attack me or blow fire at me, despite me trying to provoke it. It just stood there. Well, still it was my first time meeting a dragon...(yawn)

This was my favorite place, because firstly, there was a stage. And I love perfoming, unfortunately, I didn't exactly have a live audience. All there was were these giagantic figurines, and they weren't even standing in front of the stage to be my audience.

Well, the fun began when this guy (in the picture) apparantly from Australia approached me and started talking to me. He was new in Second Life too. It was the only form of 'live' interaction I had throughout my first time there.

I had a good time playing around with creating Andreosity's image. Although it did get frustrating when I went into a building only to find nothing and no one there, and I had to climb the stairs all the way down. Too bad the stairwell was too narrow for me to fly down. I just hope I have the tenacity to continue exploring this other world. I don't really know what I could expect to find...

QotW9: "For the Kaypohs, By the Kaypohs"

What is citizen journalism?

Some have called it networked journalism, open source journalism, and citizen media. Communication has changed greatly with the advent of the Internet. The Internet has enabled citizens to contribute to journalism,without professional training. Mark Glasser, a longtime freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, gets to the heart of it:

"The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube."
(Wikipedia: “Citizen Journalism”, 2007)

STOMP

STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print) is a recent initiative by The Straits Times inviting the Singapore community to provide news by the people, for the people. It integrates content and activities in the three platforms of print, online and mobile. These three platforms will enable STOMP to interact and engage with Singaporeans in exciting new ways. STOMP promises to deliver content which is interactive and which will help develop new communities of Singaporeans bonded together by shared interests. It encourages audience participation through free access to the website, and as for SMS (Short Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), the normal telco charges apply to users.

Does STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print) fit into what is classified by Lasica, J.D. (2003) as a medium for citizen journalism? Of the four types of citizen journalism cited in Wikipedia, STOMP would most closely be categorized under ‘audience participation’. The following are a couple of examples of audience participation found in STOMP: -

E.g. #1 - Photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras

STOMP’s ‘Singapore Seen’ features snapshots of newsworthy images captured in Singapore. More than likely, most of these photos are taken using mobile camera-phones and conveniently sent to STOMP via MMS.
Currently, three of the most talked about pictures / reports (as judged by the number of comments) are “Daily school band practice torturing neighbors”, “What (butt) cheek! Exposure is disgusting, and “Noisy students at library tell others to shut up”.

E.g. #2 - Personal blogs

Six celebrity bloggers pen their thoughts on a topic of choice every Monday. STOMP users even get to interact live with these stars via the comments section beneath their blogs.

STOMP – The ideal form of citizen journalism for Singapore?

In my opinion, STOMP is a fun and innovative channel that introduces the concept of citizen journalism to Singapore; and Singaporeans are still learning to get used to this relatively new form of media. However, presently, many of the contributions (e.g. “’J-pop’ babes walking down the street”) appear to deal with rather superficial matters. The issues that are reported or photos that are captured reflect a certain immaturity of these contributors. These report headlines tend to create sensationalism rather than offer much benefit to other readers (e.g. the exposed butt cheeks and UFO-like sightings in Sentosa. As suggested by Gillmore (2004), “the downsides are plain, including the consequences of erroneous information and potential invasions of privacy” (p.56).

For citizen journalism to thrive in Singapore, it has to evolve into serving a greater purpose. Like Gillmore states, “the positive uses are also evident” (p.56). Of the ten topics featured in ‘Singapore Seen’, only three could be deemed as beneficial for the community. They are the reports of the freak car accident, the mysterious massive traffic jam, and the “helmet-less” construction worker. Reports like these inform, remind and warn readers about the importance of practicing safety.

Like I’d already mentioned, what STOMP is doing now is a great start. But continue like that for long and we could probably end up with an online version of the New Paper, filled with gossip, scandal and sensational stories for the ‘kay-pohs’ out there to remain in the know.

STOMP ought to begin introducing elements in its site that educate its users to report on things that matter. Unfortunately (or fortunately), for the moment, the feature I find most didactic to me is ‘English As It Is Broken”. Yay. Tanks to STOMP, now my England can be velly powderful orlaydy.


References

Gillmor, D. (2004, July). We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People. Retrieved March 28, 2007 from http://download.nowis.com/index.cfm?phile=WeTheMedia.html&tipe=text/html

Citizen Journalism. (2007, March 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

www.stomp.com.sg

QotW8: Taboo or not Taboo

Mention the word “politics” and it could cause a stir. While some people are passionate about it, to some it’s taboo, and maybe for others, it unleashes a pent up dam.

What is Democracy?
To answer the question on whether blogs allow for greater democracy in Singapore, let us first look into the meaning of democracy. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, democracy is defined as “government by the people; especially rule of the majority”.

Singapore, a democratic society…?
Singapore claims to be a “democratic society”, (as least it says so in our national pledge). Are we really? Are we, as earlier defined, a “government by the people”? Well, there is a significant segment of Singaporeans who don’t seem to think so, and we tend to find more blogs that present disdain toward the Singapore government than there are those for it.

The battle continues…
In Singapore, the mainstream media is strictly controlled by the government, and one political party — the People’s Action Party (PAP) — has had complete control of all centers of government. And recently, Minister of Communication and Arts, Balaji Sadasiva, announced that blogs and podcasts would be shut down if they ran overt political content in the runup to the May 6 election (bbc.co.uk, 2006).

Immediately, the move was denounced by the free expression rights group Reporters Without Borders. “Once again the Singapore authorities are showing their determination to prevent the holding of a genuinely democratic debate on the Internet,” the group said in a statement. And the Internet crackdown was aimed squarely at two new media platforms — blogs and podcasts — that have been embraced by opposition parties such as the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) to get around censorship in other media (Reporters Without Borders For Press Freedom, 2006).

Silence of the lambs
There seems to be an unspoken fear that if anyone is caught bad-mouthing the Singapore government, they would get arrested by the authorities and thrown straight to jail – like sheep awaiting slaughter.

Braveheart
“Hear ye! Hear ye! - Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble”. This is the headline that screams from Aaron Ng’s blog. He is just one of the many other bloggers who seem to have escaped the plague of “the fear”.

Aaron is a citizen blogger, and is currently a final year undergraduate in CNM Programme, National University of Singapore. The URL http://aaron-ng.info/blog is apparently Aaron’s new site as he addressed “followers” of his previous blog, and introduced this domain to them in his new first entry on 6th April 2006. His URL is not ranked in Technorati, but there are 763 links to it.

In his most recent entry on 23rd March 2007 – “Conflicting Signals from Government”, Aaron questions the government’s new censorship policy - ‘ceremonial censorship’, implying that the government is giving out mixed signals through contradicting responses.

Some readers of Aaron’s blogs may feel that he is not concerned about appearing brutally frank or even insensitive at times. It seems as if he doesn’t really care about making his viewers feel uncomfortable - he would rather be taken at face value.

So, do blogs allow for greater democracy in Singapore?
It may not seem like blogs are making significant enough impact to how the government is running now, but I can confidently say that yes, blogs have grown from making ripples to making waves in getting voices that used to be unheard, heard.

To conclude, I quote an extract from Thornton’s (2002),“Does Internet Create Democracy” :
“Democracy has become the dominant ideology of modern political life. Yet the gaps between ideology and practice are now so glaring that serious observers feel increasingly bound to ask “Are we able to believe even in the possibility of a role for mass communication in the furtherance of democratic ideals?” (Blumler and Gurevitch)”.

And once again, my answer is yes.


References

Ng, A.(2007, March). Conflicting signals from government. Hear ye! Hear ye! - Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble. Retrieved March 23 2007 from http://aaron-ng.info/blog/conflicting-signal-from-government.html

democracy. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy


(2006). Government steps up online censorship in run-up to elections. Reporters without borders for press freedom, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16935


(2006). Singapore attacked over blog gag. BBC News. Retrieved March 23, 2007 fromhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4882746.stm

Thornton, A. (2002, October). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from http://www.zip.com.au/%7Eathornto/thesis_2002_alinta_thornton.doc

Blumler, J and Gurevitch, M. "The Crisis of Civic Communication". The Crisis of Public Communication. London: Routledge: 1.

QotW6: Privacy, Surveillance, Sousveillance

How many times have we given our mailing address, telephone numbers, and even credit card numbers online, without really thinking twice about who may gain access to our information, tamper with it, and ultimately rob us of the millions in our treasury. Well, for me, your Average Andrea (who often books movie tickets online), despite bring very far from smelling my millionth dollar, have wondered if my precious couple of hundreds are at risk of slipping through my fingers (with just a push of the 'ENTER' button).


Fortunately for many of us, we haven't had our money cheated from us. But what about our email inbox that is loaded with spam? How and where do you reckon that came from? Undoubtedly, at some point in time we unknowingly surrendered our email to some wrong website (Sullivan, 2006). Furthermore, Sullivan adds "...the one simple act of surrendering a telephone number to a store clerk can set in motion a cascade of silent events, as that data point is acquired, analyzed, categorized, stored and sold over and over again. Future attacks on privacy may come from anywhere, from anyone with money to purchase that surrendered phone number."


Apart from the instances where we may be required to submit important personal data, such as in making online purchases, there are various other avenues of self-exposure in cyberspace like blogs, social network sites, forums, chatrooms, etc.


Rosen (2004) highlights that "the Internet has vastly increased the opportunities for individuals to subject themselves to the demands of the personality market, resulting in ever increasing confusion and anxiety about how much of ourselves to reveal to strangers." He adds that the logic of Eric Fromm's (1955) "marketed self" into a virtual world where the easiest way to attract the attention and winning the trust of strangers is to establish an emotional connection with them by projecting a consistent, memorable, and trustworthy image (Rosen, 2004).


Being part of Friendster, a social networking site, I voluntarily expose myself (or rather a part of myself) to friends, acquaintances and complete strangers. There are twenty-seven people in my 'Pending Friend Requests' list; and the reason why they are still in the 'pending' list is because either (1) I don't know them personally, (2) I don't recognize them, or (3) I don't believe their identity is authentic. For instance, I don't buy the idea that Leslie Kwok, the oh-so-dreamy former national swimmer, wants to be my 'friend'. Sure, post a group photo with him in it and use "lesliek" in your email address. I am still not going to fall for it. In fact I think it would be more likely for me to 'accept' William Hung as my 'friend', since he is also on that pending list.


Unfortunately, as much as I try to protect myself from the snares of the "virtual citizens", by limiting my profile exposure to what Friendster calls '2nd Degree Friends', I still have 27,257 'friends' (who ironically are yet unknown to me) that have easy access to information about me through this site.


Privacy discourages information sharing between individuals (Wikipedia, 2007). And privacy is precisely the reason why I haven't participated in any other social networking sites, or caught on to the trend of blogging. (Although I do wait in anticipation to see if this course, COM 125, can make me a convert.)



REFERENCES

Fromm, E. (1955). The Sane Society. Reinhart. p141-42


Privacy. (2007, March 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:54, March 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Privacy&oldid=113354124


Rosen, J. (2004). The Naked Crowd. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm


Sullivan, B. (2006). Privacy Lost: Does Anybody Care? Retrieved March 9, 2007, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/


See the Friendster.com website

"QotW5: Online Identity, Reputation, Deception"

Unlike our national identity cards, online identities may not carry even an ounce of truth in it. Everything from the name, race, date of birth, sex, address and blood group can be made up. Unfortunately, since there are just too many Andreas out there, I had to make up another name – andreosity, to open my Yahoo email account. Nevertheless, wherever possible, I would rather use my real name online (eg. Friendster, Blogspot).


Speaking of Friendster, even though I have a Friendster account, I would never make it on their list of active or loyal users. I personally feel that Friendster was designed primarily to feed our egos. From there, we see and show others how “popular” we are, simply by the number of “friends” we have there. Not to mention the ‘testimonials’ section, where I must admit I have ever resorted to reading through when I needed some ego boosting myself. The testimonials I have received remind me of how wonderful, talented, beautiful, appreciated and well loved I am (blah blah blah…. Get a life, Andrea). And honestly, who really cares what my favorite shows, songs or books are, which by the way have not changed since 2003, when I started the account to quell my boredom at the workplace.


Despite there being millions of cyber users who have online identities, many are still oblivious to the risks of identity theft. According to Schneier, B. in Mitigating Identity Theft, the term "identity theft" itself is an oxymoron. “Identity is not a possession that can be acquired or lost; it's not a thing at all. Someone's identity is the one thing about a person that cannot be stolen.” He adds that the real crime here is fraud, more specifically, impersonation leading to fraud. For example, a criminal impersonates a victim online and steals money from his account. No one's identity is stolen, but identity information is misused to commit fraud.


Schneier also stresses that the crime involves two very separate issues – (1) privacy of personal data, and (2) the ease with which a criminal can use personal data to commit fraud. Personal privacy is important for many reasons, one of which is impersonation and fraud. As more information about us is collected, correlated, and sold, it becomes easier for criminals to get their hands on the data they need to commit fraud. And to illustrate the second issue, is the simple case of applying for a credit card in someone else’s name. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in September 2005 that there had been 27.3 million cases of identity theft in the last five years. And overall, this crime cost U.S. citizens $52.6 billion in 2004 (Forbes.com, 2005).


In Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, Donath, J.S. discusses another aspect of identity – identity deception.

To avoid falling into the web of deceit, Donath advises that it is vital to distinguish between institutional and commercial accounts. Institutional accounts are online addresses from universities, research labs and corporations; they are given to people because of an association with the institute. However, unlike the institutional accounts, commercial accounts do not imply any affiliation; they simply mean that the user has signed up for the service.


“The account name is thus an important, but limited, form of online identification. It is important because it is ubiquitous: all postings must have the account name in the header. It is a key marker of individual identity: although there is not always a one-to-one mapping between an account name and a real world person (accounts may be shared, some people have several accounts), the account name is generally perceived to refer to a single person (or persona). And it may provide some contextual information about the writer, information that, while quite sketchy, may be the only such cues in the posting” (Donath, 1996).


For a tighter safety measure, the domain name needs to be evaluated within the culture of the net and of the organizations that provide access.


Learning of these pitfalls in the virtual world only makes me more hesitant to increase my involvement there. In fact, I’m even considering closing my Friendster account very soon…lest I make a tempting prey.


REFERENCES

Donath. , J, S. (1996, November). Identity and deception in the virtual community. MIT Media Lab. Retrieved on 6 February 2007, from
http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html


Hooked on Phishing (2005). Forbes.com. Retrieved on 6 February 2007, from http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/04/29/cz_0429oxan_identitytheft.html

Schneier, B. (2005, April). Schneier on Security: Mitigating Identity Theft. Retrieved on February 6, 2007 from http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/04/mitigating_iden.html

"QotW4: Give And It Shall Be Given Unto..."

Don’t we all love a free gift?
Nevertheless, with any gift comes obligation. Scholar and writer Lewis Hyde expresses the spirit of a gift economy as based on "the obligation to give, the obligation to accept, and the obligation to reciprocate," (Wikipedia, 2007).

The online gift economy, on the other hand, operates somewhat differently. As Kollock (1999) explains, when people pass on free advice or offer useful information, the recipient is often unknown to them and the giver may never encounter the recipient again. Thus, the usual obligation of a loose reciprocity between two specific individuals is difficult or impossible. The relative or absolute anonymity of the recipient makes it all the more remarkable that individuals volunteer valuable information – one cannot realistically count on the reciprocity of the recipient in the future to balance the gift that has occurred. While a balanced reciprocity with a particular individual may not be possible, there is a sense in which a balance might occur within a group as a whole.

This system of sharing entails generosity as an individual provides a benefit without the expectation of immediate reciprocation. But this is also the source of risk. There is the temptation is to gather valuable information and advice without contributing anything in return. If everyone succumbs to this temptation, however, everyone is worse off than they might have been otherwise: no one benefits from the valuable information that others might have (Kollock, 1999).

Why then would someone still want to contribute valuable information to the so-called privileged group? Kollock cites anticipated reciprocity as a reason. It is the expectation that one from within the group will receive useful help and information, and in return, “repay that kindness”. Nevertheless, this kind of network-wide accounting system creates a kind of credit, in that one can draw upon the contributions of others without needing to immediately reciprocate.

Another possible motivation is the effect of contributions on one's reputation. High quality information, impressive technical details in one's answers, a willingness to help others, and elegant writing can all work to increase one's prestige in the community. A third factor that a person contributes valuable information is because the act results in a sense of efficacy, that is, a sense that he has some effect on this environment, that his impact on the group supports his self image as an efficacious person.

A fourth possible motivation is need, that is, one may produce and contribute a public good for the simple reason that a person or the groups as a whole has a need for it. And finally, the attachment or commitment one can have to the group. In other words, the good of the group enters one's utility equation (Kollock, 1999).

Dabbling in a New Economy

As a freelance actor in Singapore, most of my jobs came by word of mouth. It was when I met a fellow actor while working on a local feature film, that I learned about a Yahoo group - ART(S). The following was extracted from the Group’s home page:

“…ART(S), Arts Resources Tabloid (Singapore), also known as SG_Art, where Singapore performance artists & crews gather & network. This is a group intended to unite amateurs and pros in the sharing of useful resources and info for fellow actors and actresses / other entertainers in Singapore. ART(S) is a new and independent group that welcomes member's generous and spontaneous contributions of useful resources like links, info, experiences as well as audition calls. ART(S) is created in hope of helping all members improve their skills, update of info, seek opportunities, as well as playing as a portal of notices about Singapore performance art events. ART(S) also hopes to serve as a gateway for the new enthusiasts to venture into the Performance Art Industry as well as a database / network of talents to ease production crews in their hunt for suitable talents.

In ART(S), you would expect to find info on acting courses / other trainings & audition calls (for TV, Movie, Short Film, Student Projects, TVC, Theatre Productions, Voice-Overs & etc). We in ART(S) yearn for supports and urge all members to be generous in sharing. And if you know of any other actors or actresses / other entertainers who're not in the group yet, you may invite them to join in and expand our pool of database / network too…”.

ART(S) was founded in January, 2004, and to date has 1131 members. This online community could be considered a part of the cyber gift economy as it bears the three structural and basic features, as listed by Kollock, required of any successful online group – ongoing interaction, identity persistence, and knowledge of previous interactions. For instance, if a film production company is casting for its next Channel 5 sitcom, it could post a casting call in ART(S), and automatically every member of the group would receive the audition posting in their email. From there, those who have an interest in trying out for a particular role would contact the production company directly for the audition. This way, open interaction is maintained, and because ART(S) sends out at least one posting almost every day, members are continually kept in the loop. The motivation of running this community could also coincide with the need-motivation described by Kollock. For example, this is the meeting point for a film-maker who needs a crew or cast, and a sound engineer or actor needs his next job.

To quote Barbrook, “…the gift economy … can only expand through mutual collaboration within cyberspace…”.


REFERENCES

Barbrook, R. (2005). The Hi-Tech Gift Economy. First Monday. Retrieved February 5, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/


Kollock, Peter (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace". Retrieved February 5, 2007, from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.html


Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. (2007, February 4). FL: Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://www.wikipedia.org/


Foong, K., Neo, T., Isaac, J. & Lim, K.L. (2007). Art Resources Tabloid (Singapore). Yahoo Groups. Retrieved February 8, 2007, from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sg_art/