QotW9: Step & Stomp

QotW9: Step & Stomp

?What is Citizen Journalism?
Citizen Journalism is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" ("Citizen Journalism", 2006). Everyone can be a citizen journalist; it is not just exclusive to certain members of the public. Citizen Journalism represents the voices of the public sphere which sometimes fails to catch the attention of the media. To be a Citizen Journalist I believe all you need is just free time, and a natural ‘kay poh’ attitude.

?Stomp ideal form of Citizen Journalism in Singapore?
STOMP with stands for ‘Straits Times Online Mobile Print’ integrates content and activities in the three platforms of print, online and mobile. It delivers content which helps develop new communities of local Singaporean that bond together with similar interests.
It is a great way to offer the community better and deeper coverage than is possible with a lone professional reporter. It creates vigilance among the public and also acts as a social interaction tool, as news is captured and compiled on a website where various members of the pubic are able to view. As Singapore’s culture differs differently from the western cultures where Singaporeans tend to be more old fashioned and conservative, Citizen journalism in Singapore just might be classified an invasion of privacy.
A car crash, illegal parking, couples fighting in the open, public displays of affections (PDA) or even a cat stuck in a tree, these are all different kinds of news but often professional journalist do not always capture it. Professional journalist have to pick their news smartly as not everyone is Singapore would like to see PDA, or a cat stuck in a tree. They want ratings and all this trivial news would not get the ratings they desire. It shows you everything and anything that the other media companies fail to capture.
However, not all the news captured Citizen Journalist is made public. Often political and sexual content will be filtered and left out. Whether or not it is ideal for Singapore remains in the voices of the public eyes, what they intend to use it for and the purpose. Citizen journalism isn't one simple concept that can be applied universally by all news organizations (Outing 2005). I for one believe that news should remain objective without any interference from anyone.

Improvements to be made
Apart from its multi colored and much confusing website with dozens of link and pictures that splash into your face when you go to the website, STOMP Singapore has really made a huge impact on Singaporeans. As news stories are not just covered by the media, but by every single person that walks the earth (Unless your brain dead). STOMP should show the democratic Singapore by not filtering lucid and political comments but allow a free flow of information to pass through, this would truly enable Citizen Journalism in Singapore to take a new leap for our future.

References
“Citizen Journalism” (March 28, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism

Outing, S. (2005) "The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism."
Retrieved March 30, 2007 from http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=83126

STOMP. Retrieved on March 30, 2007 from http://www.stomp.com.sg/

Com125 QotW7: Online Tweet

Com125 QotW7: Online Tweet

Online virtual communities are where people interact with each other virtually without any physical contact. The internet has flourish and the online community has been growing bigger and bigger every single day. Cooley (1983) says that all normal humans have a natural affinity for community. That is the main reason why people tend to be affiliated to online communities. A sense of belonging as the collective culture of the modern day individual tends to be driven by group economics. Strength in numbers as the Romans would call it. Wellman and Gulia (1996) said that a community is “more than the sum of a set of ties” meaning that it not only connects but it also affects.
Like Friendster, Facebook and Wholivesnearyou.com, Twitter is another form of the online community which has recently just sprung up. On signing up I found out that most of the online communities have something in common. Each of them allows you to have a ‘friends’ database and from there you can view your friend’s friends thus making it a global networking community. Twitter is a new improved version of the modern day friendster and facebook, where users are able to log on and actually engage in a conversion via a forum where your actions and shoutouts are recorded for everyone to read and respond. Twitter is not doubt an online community as it brings various individuals together for a common purpose, social networking.
People who have signed up tend to spend most of their time online, chatting and making new friends, finding love and setting up relationships. Their involvement in these on-line relationships, turn them away from real-life relationships with family and friends (Hiltz and Turoff 1993). They lose the physical interaction of meeting people as most of their communication is via the computer. Twitter I find is more like a virtual bridge between 2 individuals, not only can it function like any other social network website but they are able to provide real-time updates of tag boards which are then sent to your mobile phone. A more refined version of the old websites, Twitter truly has come a long way and proved to be more than just an online community but an online nanny. Where friends are able to monitor postings at the click of a mouse.

References
Cooley, C. H. (1983). Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Virtual Community. (2007). In Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_community&diff=115277136&oldid=115277042
Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). Net Surfers Don’t Ride Alone. Retrieved March 15, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/~ccp/references/wellman/wellman.html
title=Reputation_management&diff=113442073&oldid=111797891
Hiltz, Starr Roxanne, Kenneth Johnson and Murray Turoff. 1986. "Experiments in Group Decision Making: Communication Process and Outcome in Face-to-face Versus Computerized Conferences." Human Communication Research 13 (2): 225-252.

COM 125 QotW6: Privacy

“The right to be let alone – the most comprehensive of rights and the most valued by civilized men.” – Louis D. Brandeis

Most people who use the Internet have little idea how vulnerable they are to abuse by online and offline marketers and how the information they provide can be used to exploit them. Citizens in a risk society can no longer rely on tradition or fixed hierarchies to establish their identity or to give them reliable guidance about whom to trust in a society of strangers (Giddens 1998).
From my exposure to the virtual world outside, I am able to be who I want to be not always who I am. When signing up for free email accounts & free trial software, I am always asked for personal information like date of birth, gender, age and home contact information. You also never know who is listening to your conversations online, what may seem as an innocent conversation between friends, turn into a national security issue, as the person spying on your conversation mistook you literally when you said that you were bombing the mall, but merely taking a huge shit in the toilet.
Being a rather secretive person, people do know get to know me online. I do not post personal emotions or any personal data on my social network websites or webblogs. Internet is allowing strangers to observe us even as we observe them (Rosen 2004). I believe that my online identity should be kept private to all unless I decide otherwise. But how many people out there actually respect your privacy? In schools, buses, shopping malls and even parks, cameras watch you’re every move. Some say it increases the security but how much till they go overboard? A recent survey in London shows that the streets of downtown London has one camera per square block.
Juggling Offline and Online privacy is really no easy task. With social blogs and social chat rooms springing up all over are we still able to protect ourselves from the watchful eyes of people. Online, the issue of privacy has become so prevalent that the use of anonymity and pseudonymity have become a need to ensure one's privacy in the online community.
When in the office your privacy might be invaded. Bosses often spies on their employees by using a remote program which allows then to capture whatever is on the employees screen. Even in school the lecturer is able to capture your screen shot and project it for the whole class to see, which I was caught for once.
In conclusion privacy is objective; it varies from place to place and from country to county. Different peoples tolerance to being surveyed and watched changes as more cameras are put into the streets. Who knows as the world evolves and changes we might start to find cameras in our own bathroom. Privacy is just to be left alone (Sullivan, 2006).


References

Rosen, J. (2004). The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age, Random House.

Joseph T., Lauren F., and Kimberly M.(2005). Open to Exploitation: American Shoppers Online and Offline.

Conversations with Anthony Giddens: Making Sense of Modernity, Anthony Giddens and Christopher Pierson, Stanford University Press, 1998, p101

Sullivan, B. (17th October, 2006). "Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care?". Retrieved on 8th March, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/