Week 4: New Media, Beliefs, Politics & Ethics
The development of New Media has dramatically changed communication and connectivity, developing from what was once restricted to a limited physical location to something of a global scale. Meaning users are able to be heard all around the world through the power of YouTube, Facebook, and many other platforms.
This radical departure from previous systems has meant that users are also able to far easily become involved in important political affairs in almost any country they desire. In fact, the recent Libyan protests could never have been so widely publicised if it weren’t for the massive utilization of Twitter and Facebook, social networking websites that helped closely follow all the major details of the issue (Johnson, 2011).
Similarly, the recent disasters in Japan were all over the internet in a matter of minutes, with dozens of YouTube videos and blogs immediately reflecting the massive effects of the event. Social Media offers people the ability to play an important part in up-to-date political and cultural issues as they happen, contributing to an element of transparency regarding potentially controversial issues: something that, for better or worse, seems to be here to stay.
References:
Hamelink, C. (2006). “The Ethics of the Internet: Can we cope with Lies and Deceit on the Net?” In Ideologies of the Internet, K. Sarikakis & Daya Thussu, pp. 115-130. New Jersey: Hampton Press.
Johnson, K. “Inundated with News” Last accessed March 27, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/27overload.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Shirky, C. (2011). “The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change” in Foreign Affairs. Volume 90, Issue 1; pg. 28, 15 pgs
Tags:
Chosen Blog, New Media, Beliefs, Politics, Ethics, Internet, Networking
