Emergence of new media vs classic communities

According to stanford.edu, social context can be defined as the environment of people that surrounds something's creation or intended audience. It reflects how people interpret it and how they use it. The emergence of new media has introduced a new pattern of sociality where people tend to do something to enable the to be associated or form a social group having the same interest.

The rise of social media platforms where networks such as Facebook enables us to share and upload videos from various sources(Youtube) to enable people to view it directly on Facebook without actually searching on the original Website. For example, Rahim Pardesi's videos can be watched on Facebook instead of his Youtube channel. Will it affect the pattern of people really tuning into his original channel and really follow up or just randomly shroll through?

Another example would be reading news and articles online instead of the classic paper newspaper. Does it lead to a loss of community who actually reads the paper newspaper or the rise of a new pattern of sociality who depends on Internet articles and e-newspapers? Do give your opinions on this issue.

Communication in the Youtube channel community

One of the Youtube channel I subscribed is Rahim pardesi. It is a entertainment channel own by Mr. Amer who is a Scottish Asian man. The channel mostly portrays how a typical Pakistani immigrant life looks like and habits of a typical desi husband or wife in England. The main languages used in the video are mainly Punjabi, Urdu and English. The main characters are Mr. Pardesi and Nasreen who happends to be an immigrant in the UK and his wife and is played by the same person. Rahim Pardesi uploads his videos weekly and due to his popularity, he some times posts videos of his real family members to be featured in his videos.

Due to the languages used, his fans are mostly from the regions of Punjabi and Urdu speakers. Rahim Pardesi has currently 324,262 followers. The community in his videos are mostly about the fans giving their opinions agreeing or disagreeing on topics in the video.  Affectionate messages are often left by his fans at the comment box complimenting his work. It is common where when there are fans, there are also critics.Although all his videos exceeds thousands of likes, but there also unlike with only few hundred in numbers. Some followers would post requests and suggestions for his next videos.

I am attaching along the URL of his page.

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-awjwg4N6lWu1TSK1ostjQ

Do visit this page and try watching some of his videos although you might not understand them. In my opinion, these videos might be entertaining as they are funny. I believe there are hidden meanings towards some people out there. For example, Mr Pardesi's roles as a overprotective and conservative characteristics where he would expect the wife to wear her shawl all the time, to cook meals and do house chores would give some awareness about gender roles at home. It portrays how a typical desi household looks like and life around them.

However, I also do believe that these videos can somehow give ideas on stereotype to some people who are not familiar to the particular culture. The videos can some times be misleading to judge on a certain issue.

I would appreciate if you would share your own favourite blog or Youtube channel and discuss the pros and cons of these channels. How does the content in the channels or blogs affects us. Do also give feedback on the use of the blogs and channels and the implication of such communication between fans and bloggers on the current society and future society.

Feminism, Technology, and The New Media

Hello everybody,

Most of us must have already know about feminism by now. In short, Of course the meaning of feminism has changed throughout history but the definition of Feminism today is the belief in social, political, and economic equality of sexes which includes tackling the gender stereotypes, sexism, give men and women equal opportunities and rights in all aspects, women are intellectual equals and social equals to men.

In our tech savvy world, more and more people are exposed to the movement of Feminism, their organisation and cause. In this digital age, many new media such as social medias, forums, and blogs are used to reach out and give them a bigger voice. Social media has been one of the great influence of and the spreading of this movement. An example of a famous feminist who uses social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is Emma Watson. The campaign that made known by her is called  "HeForShe",, which managed to reach people all over the globe. Of course, social media isn't that only stage that can be used to spread feminism. There are also blogs, and forums which are used.

These are a few websites or blogs that I found on the internet:
1. Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)
2. All Women's Action Society (AWAM)
3. Everyday Feminism

It would be great if you guys dropped your view on these websites (it can be other websites or blog) regarding the blog or website and identity. Besides that, I think it would be interesting if you guys could give opinions on who these sites are addressing, who and how can people participate, and how do you think these sites deal with dissent and disagreement from both users and guests?

Thank you.

The Relationship Between New Media and Identity

The Relationship Between New Media Technologies and Identity

Identity

Identity in simple terms is basically what we know as something that is used to describe or differentiate each individual distinctively, or your own personal information card. In other words, development of ourselves which has grown and became the product which is ourselves. Henri Tajfel had a ranging terms of personal identity to social identity. Personal identification comes from the individuals personality trait or characteristics, and interpersonal relationships such as being organized, introverted, sensitive, masculine, or even strong. Meanwhile social identity comes from derived membership or so to say what you identify yourself as in the society. For example, being a man, woman, or transgender, the race you identify yourself as, or even your nationality.

In our lecture we learned about identities from three main scholars which are Foucalt, Karl Marx, and Giddens. Foucalt argued that the way we became unique individuals is through identity that are constructed through rigorous practices, or certain techniques which he refers to as 'technologies of the self'. This simply means that our identity is made by our own life experience which includes almost everything from our speech, writing, behaviours, and personality. Basically saying that we are who we are because of the interactions we've made with other people which affects us through the stages of our life. His theory or "'technologies" includes self discipline, contemplation, and disclosure.

Karl Marx instead stated that the identity that people has is their own identity but an identity which is not chosen by themselves. He argued that what makes our identity are the incredibly specific socio-historical circumstances that we find in ourselves.

Giddens on the other hand, argued that it is a dynamic and continuously growing, never ending, changing and evolving process. He also said that self identity is linked to modernity whereby it was thought that identities were given and static in pre modern era but in the late modernity it is said that identities are constantly modified and updated.

 With the emergence of the New Media, people are able to construct their identity with the help of social media and many other sites such as blogs, forums, online community

I'd like to know your thoughts on these three perspectives of identity with The New Media:
1. Gender
2. Ethnicity
3. Religion.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Digital devices and Relationships

Respondent Demographic Analysis

 There are in total 69 respondents collected. Out of them, 48(69.6%) of them are females while 21(30.4%) males. Our respondents are dominated by youngsters aging from 20-25 which comprises of 16 males and 36 females. The minority group are the youngster aging 10-20 with only 4(5.8%) respondents.

There are in total 50 respondents who met their friends both online and face to face socializing who are 33 females and 17 males. Respondents who socialize in both ways are the majority comprising 72.5% from the total. From our data obtained, only 2 females met their friends online. The respondents met their friends socializing outside with 13 females and 4 males which makes up 24.6% in total. 

Apparently social networks bring people closer where 76.8% agreed to it and only 23.2% denied. Out of the 48 females, 36 females answered yes that social network is able to bring people closer while only 12 females responded no. 17 males agreed that social network can make people closer while only 4 males responded no. 

According to our data, digital devices slightly affects personal relationships by 4.4%. There are 36(52.25) respondents in total who agreed while 33(47.8%) respondents answered that digital devices do not affect personal relationships. 

When further asked how personal relationships has affected the respondents, it has both positively and negatively affected them which comprises of 61.4%. 27.3% perceive that digital devices have positively affected them while only 11.4% of the respondents are negatively affected. 

Whether digital devices has affected our lifestyles, 17.4% of respondents replied that they are not affected with digital devices. 23.2% of our respondents answered that digital devices might have affected our lifestyle whereas majority with 59.4% of our respondents agreed to the fact that digital devices has affected our lifestyles.

There were several opinions on the justification on respondents' answers. Digital devices affected many people various ways. Some were affected negatively where they were unable to focus on their tasks whether doing assignments or having meals. They will tend to multitask, having less focus on their work. Some became so dependent on their smart phones they became less sensitive towards their environments. It makes them lazy to meet people in reality. It can also lead to many social issues.

However, despite the negative reviews, there were also positive how digital devices eased their lives by cutting short their time consumption and make it easy to completes tasks. Digital devices keeps us updated to the latest news and activities of their relationships, makes their lifestyle more stylish.

There were respondents who said they get to balance and control their digital activities and other activities because it is up to them to decide whether they want to use the devices or use the traditional way and are not affected where they still live the same lifestyle. 

So, looking that there are dual perspectives regarding how digital devices has affected our respondents, how about you? 

Internet and smartphone usage

How many hours do you spend online surfing in a day?

1-3 hours = 21 people

More than 9 hours = 12 people

6 – 9 hours = 18 people

4 - 6 hours = 17 people

Less than 1 hour = 1

What do you usually do with your smartphones?

IM = 64

Games = 18

Surfing the internet/Search location/ = 4

Music = 37

News , education = 4

Online shopping = 7

Social Media = 4

Where the internet is being used

Mobile phone = 53

Home = 49

Library = 29

Café = 27

Class = 29

Office =  18

Statistics shows that, most youth around the age of 20-25 would spend around 1-3 hours online. Second is from 6-9 hours, 17 people said they go online for 4-6 hours and only 1 person said they go online for less than 1 hour.  where 12 respondents spend most of their hours in the internet, which is more than 9 hours.

Only 4 respondents said they look for news and education while using the internet, 7 use the net for online shopping while only 4 people said they use it to go into social media.  Most of the times they use IM and listening to music when they are on their smartphones.

Although internet started off with computers and laptop, according to survey, with the emergence of smartphones, most respondents would prefer to use the internet by using their smartphones. Assume that the home usage, the users are using their desktop or laptop to surf the internet; only 49 respondents said they use their internet at home. 27 respondents said that they are using the café internet line and 29 students said they go online while they were in class. 18 respondents said they go online while they are in office.

1. .As you can see, looking at the numbers of hours people spend on the internet, most of the respondents said that they go online for less than 3 hours. Is it true or is it possible that when they go online, they actually have lost track of time, and it feels like as if they only go online for few hours while actually they are using the internet for a longer time?
2.   Looking at the statistics also, most of the respondents use their mobile phones to go online and most of the users use Instant Messaging apps (IM, such as whatsapp, imessage, telegaram and wechat). As compared to the old times, communication have been made faster and convenient now. What do you think?

Internet Safety Analysis

Hi friends.

Here is the analysis on the internet safety from the survey we have distributed.

From our survey, majority did not have prior education on how to use the internet and how to stay safe on the internet, receiving feedback at 72.5% and 56.5% respectively. However, concerning those who took lessons, the lesson on how to stay safe on the internet is more popular among the users as 43.5% of the respondent took lesson on it compared to lesson on how to use the internet whereby only 27.55% of the respondent took it.

                            

In regards of entertaining or accepting friend request from stranger online, majority (52.2%) are unwilling to do so. The most common justification for their unwillingness is to not risk their privacy and safety. Only 8.7% of the respondent is willing to entertain and accept because they are keen on finding new friends. The rest of the respondent responded maybe, depending on the mutual friends they share with the stranger or by doing a background check first.

On whether they would meet any online acquaintances in real world, the result follow the same pattern as on entertaining or accepting request from stranger online. Majority (42%) would not want to meet online acquaintances in the real world. Another common justification, apart from privacy and safety, some of the respondent says that they are not interested in meeting their online acquaintances. Only 27.5% of the respondent said yes because of curiosity, wanting to know them better or for business purposes. The rest said maybe depending on the necessity of the meeting or after establishing trust and good relationship.

         

The survey also shows that majority of the respondents have online contacts that they have not met in the real world (55.1%). The same goes for having met people whom they initially met online initially (56.5%).

As we can see, although many did not have any lesson or education on how to use the internet and how to stay safe on the internet, most of the respondents are very concerned on their privacy and safety. Therefore they take the necessary precautions to protect themselves online especially from strangers. Yet many of them have online contacts which they have not met in the real world. Moreover, they also met with people whom they befriended online.

 Share your thoughts on these findings as well as on the staying safe on the internet.