Cyberspace as a social medium for Human Rights/political debates

Human Rights & Economic Discussions Find A New Medium

Cyberspace is also known as the "information highway." this highway has many four way stops that branch out to a wide variety of subject oriented information. The use of the world wide web is always being redefined   In the past decade the internet has become a platform for political debates, human rights discussion and a place to keep with with current events around the globe.  Human Rights activists use social media to connect with others who share the same ideas.  These social media platforms are used as a three-way connection with peers and followers who feel strongly about the issue and can share their opinions with others.

Example of Human Rights Organizations - The World is Thirsty? So Pay It Forward!



Should there be an Internet Bill of Rights?  Get an analysis of the situation in the video below:

Children's Safety Online

Much of the majority of Human Rights organizations that are connecting globally via cyberspace are discussions about gay marriage, abortion, governments around the world, piracy acts, privacy rights, cyber-crime and issues in the communities of third world countries.

One of the biggest concerns online is that in America we have the freedom of speech and digital sharing, but when it comes to child pornography these lines of these rights are crossed.  Cellular devices and laptops with built in cameras are causing a privacy scare with parents of young children.  With online chatrooms these kids are being a target for sickos online.  With Skype and other social media applications, anonymous people can connect with children and talk them into sharing their picture or even hack their camera; taking many shots.  Human Rights activists are buzzing around this subject and trying to form boundaries, but when it comes to inappropriate activity online that involves children, there is no way to block each sexual offender that connects to cyberspace.  Create better tactics and guidelines for children are a must in today school systems; children need to understand how public the internet can be and that not everyone using a chat room is there to be your friend.

Another huge privacy right also concern children using cyberspace for leisure activities while other sources are accessing the computer.  Sexual and porn related pop-ups are becoming a serious problem for parents who have family computers.  Kids as young as six years old are seeing sexual ads while playing online games.

Below is a brief video about Saftey Online with Kids

Gay Marriage

Changing subject to another prominent issue using social media is gay marriage.  Facebook users are changing their profile picture to support the right for gay marriage.  See the video below for a better depiction of the situation:

Social Media and Poverty

Poverty is a huge concern is most of the third world countries.  Social media tools like YouTube and Facebook are used to discuss and inform cyberspace users about their struggles.

Click on the right to see how Christian Aid is broadcasting poverty issues via Facebook and other social media platforms.

Websites like "FreeRice.com" are allowing interactive proticipation in poverty.  Playing a game or questionaire on this website allows third world countries to be feed. Each point a visitor to the website gets right is translated  to  ten grains of rice.

World Hunger Public Service Announcement - How Social Media Can Help!

Politics In Social Media (Local or Viral?)

A New Era : Cyberglobalization

 

Wikinomics, Cyberculture and Global Networking

 

 

In last class we discussed "Wikinomics" a chapter in Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott.

 

 

 

 

Since the creation of Cyberspace, the world's economic systems have been changed.  By changed, I mean the way we handle our money, the way we trade and buy products, the way we protect our identity and find a new medium to discuss the economic situation.  The World Wide Web is not completely global meaning some countries do not have the resources or money to be connected, but while they are not online, other areas around the world have access to information explaining their cultures and norms. Globalization is not a new idea; it has been around since the begining of the Industrial Revolution.  The term globalization has expanded to include a new form of cultural collaboration called Cyberglobalization.  The World Wide Web allows easy spread of cultures and religions around the world.  Globalization is not just how North America affects foreign cultures, but is broader to include how other cultures and subcultures affect one another.  Social tools like Wikipedia allow anyone, anywhere to access information about any culture.  This international access to information is the new way of defining globalization.  Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Zoosk, Socialmediatoday.com, Amazon.com, Ebay.com and Gemm (Global Electronic Music Market) are only a few from the hundrends of tools used to promote, trade, create and consume cultural values and products around the world. Cyberconsumerism is our evergrowing understanding of cultures near and far by allowing us access to art, literature, entertainment, fashion, cuisine, lodging and marketing around the world.

 

Below is a video tutorial on Social Media and how its tool are used for E-Commerce:

 

 

 

Today, the web is not used just for business collaboration, but also for political discussion, human rights, weather, current events, entertainment and self pleasure.  This broad scope of what we use the internet for is not written in stone, but is also evolving with new tools to access information.

  

 Looking back at the chapter on Wikinomics, one can find an example of how social media has affected e-commerce and business growth.  The example given was about Rob McEwen, CEO at Goldcorp, Inc.  Rob  was excited when he went to a lecture about a new type of computer system called Lenux.    Rob turned to his geologist and said, "We're going to find more gold on this property, and we won't leave this room until we have a plan to find it."  This plan involved using social media was quote, "I'd like to take all of our geology, all the data we have that goes back to 1948, and put it into a computer file for global access."  Within weeks, Goldcorp had submissions from around the world about where to find the largest amount of gold.  This use of the internet catapulted  Goldcorp into a $9 billion dollar company; a huge jump upward from $100 million from before using cyberspace.

 

A tutorial on Wikinomics by author Don Tapscott himself:

 

 

 

Through my eyes, I have seen since I was a little boy, the change social media tools have brought to communication norms, consumption and marketing and the way we time-manage ourselves.    At the begining of the enhanced cellphone, the Blackberry and Palm Pilots were the first of  their kind. 


The new social media tools and internet browsing technology were merged with the idea of a mobile phone.  Since the invention of the mobile phone, enhanced devices like the Iphone and Android have made communication and business more efficient.  I have witnessed the evolution of the mobile phone and smartphone.  Owning a smartphone  and desktop computer myself, I have witnessed e-commerce and the advancement of social media communication  throughout cyberspace.  In my opinion, cyberculture and being cybersocial (using digital means to communicate) is a positive adaptation the human race is making.  As cyberspace grows and communication advances, I see great progress in consumerism, political collaboration, new medicine, international studies and social abilities.  As the Wikinomics article discusses, globalization and peer collaboration are the keys to success on the evergrowning cyberspace.  The article states, "To innovate and succeed, the new mass collaboration must become part of every leader's playbook.  Learning how to coexist and engage in a diverse lingual and cultural cyberspace is the key for productive business planning." 

 

 

 

Below is a recent chart showing how relevant social media tools are:

 

 

Public Spaces



The World Wide Web itself is an untouchable structure of electronic information that is used for communicate with others.  This cyberstructure is not of brick and mortar, but of accessible information that has no direction or territory limits.   Cyberspace being a body of limitless information is like DNA from our body.  Each website, blog, video, audio source and scholarly article is a strand making up the body of information that is cyberspace.  The endless amount of digital information on the Internet is untouchable. Internet information consists of a language of code, graphics, sound and inputted data.

 

 Soundwaves heard from our radios can be felt through vibration, but the notes heard can not be held as solid matter in the hands.  The same goes for digital information.  We use our eyes for seeing what cyberspace has to offer. 


Cyberspace exists because structures like engineering, labor, marketing, and technological constructions enable it to exist.  The expansion of the web is driven these many structures.  Global cities are information cities (spaces) that are linked to global flows of finance, demographic data, human rights, and social media.    A term increasingly used to describe the wired nature of information cities and societies around the world is Network Society. 

Information Spaces

Information spaces are online social media spaces for information exchange.  Listservs, databases, blogs, email, chat platforms, and newsgroups are examples of information spaces.  Electronic mail came into use in 1970.  Like all forms of communication, email is a social process, a mode of interaction.  Internet Browsers like Earthlink, Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer were early pioneers in cyberspace information surfing.  America Online was one of the first multitasking social media web browsers.   Texting platform software like America Online Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Microsoft Network Messenger opened the door to quick peer to peer conversations.  A symbol system used by these social messengers was Emoticons.  These are small facial punctuation graphics used during texting.   

Connectivity

With the creation of networking, businesses and homes could be linked together regardless of location.  With the more recent hotspot technology, people can carry their laptop and mobile devices anywhere to find a connection.  This idea of the portable Internet excited the masses, creating the need for more hotspot friendly venues (shops, cafes, condominiums, schools, etc.).   Information and Internet web pages were more accessible, but made cyberspace seem more unmeasurable in terms of endless space than ever.  Cyberspace is nicknamed "Cloud" because it is always filled with information like a rain cloud.  Cyberspace is never too full with information because it has no capacity limit. It is endless...

With wireless routers people could be anywhere in the office or home to view and share information with others.  The reliability and connectivity of wireless routers, network servers and hotspots created the need for new electronic devices like tablets, wireless USB cards and Internet apps for an array of mobile devices.  The Apple company were the first major innovators when it came to wireless Internet and smart phones.  Android quickly took after Apple's iPhone, creating a huge line of competitive mobile devices. 

As an aside that I found interesting, the text stated that for women, the "intrusion' of the Internet and Personal Computer has transformed everyday life in significant ways.  "Home office" is the new space for women to occupy where they carry out daily tasks. 

Cybercities are intersections of the material and immaterial, the real and the virtual,  the social and technical, in a world of unpredictable social communication and leisure entertainment.    Sites like Wikipedia, Ask.com, WebMD, Google and Amazon.com, allow us to look up information on a chosen subject regardless of global location, gender or age.  This allows people of all cultures and lifestyles to look up information about a subject that informs you about another culture.  This form of globalization is not just America influencing the world, but the world influencing the United States.  The ease of access to cultural information from around the world has made cyberspace the most interconnecting tool of the past 40 years. 


Below is a video about how the governments make decisions about what goes and stays on the internet.

Accessing Documents, Music, Film and Photography

Cyberspace in recent decades has open the door to digital file accessibility.  Music sharing sites like Napster and iTunes have made connecting with friends a new world fulled with sound and motion picture.  With Microsoft's Windows Media Player, playing your downloaded files while multitasking on  your computer has now been made easier.  iTunes allows you to use your digital MP3 players to create your own playlists.  Sites like Photo Bucket, Flickr, Instagram and Facebook create a way to share and archive pictures online.  This new form of connectivity has its flaws.  The youth of today are stressed as to how they should display their 'real' identities online through Myspace, Facebook and texting.  The use of Avatar profiling has helped us share our musical tastes, monumental photos and stories while hiding behind a digital profile.  Businesses can share work files through e-mail, FTP sites, peer to peer programs and USB thumb-drive.  Google Docs allows collaboration on business and school related projects.  Security systems allow companies to archive activity in a certain business.  Electronic connectivity has come a long way since the beginning of the Internet.

Using Cyberspace as a Reference Desk


There are now more and more sites that allow Internet surfers to search for home improvement, travel, health and fitness, resturant reviews and more.  New sites like Angieslist, Kayak, UrbanSpoon, Zagat and HomeAdviser and Care4Hire let people research this information.  Business now have a closer relationship between consumer and product, archiving opinions of how people rate a service or item.  HomeAdviser lets someone find the perfect plumber, carpenter or electrician, while Kayak shows  you the best hotel rates and airline deals.  The use of websites like Yelp and MashSpots allow Internet users to research the nearest restaurant with reviews from clientele.  The newest website to hit cyberspace is Care4Hire.com, letting someone search for the best rated babysitter in the area with the click of a mouse.