tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/blogging-636/articlesBlogging – The Conversation2023-09-12T14:14:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2124662023-09-12T14:14:43Z2023-09-12T14:14:43ZAfrican Literature in the Digital Age: new book traces the role of the internet, queers and class<p><em>The first book-length <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781847013637/african-literature-in-the-digital-age/">study</a> of digital literature in Africa has attracted a lot of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23277408.2023.2228648">academic</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23277408.2023.2228649">attention</a>. African Literature in the Digital Age: Class and Sexual Politics in New Writing from Kenya and Nigeria considers the role of the internet and new media in finding and shaping new audiences for literature. We asked its author, former journalist, <a href="https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/olorunshola.adenekan">literature scholar</a>, publishing editor of <a href="http://thenewblackmagazine.com/">The New Black Magazine</a> and <a href="https://www.ugent.be/en/research/explorer/eu-trackrecord/h2020/erc-h2020/yorubaprint">associate professor</a> of African studies, Shola Adenekan, about the book.</em></p>
<h2>What prompted you to write this?</h2>
<p>The book came out of my own experience of the internet, especially my interactions with writers and thinkers who became acquaintances and friends through email listservs (electronic mailing lists) and social media platforms. This began around the turn of this century, when I was working as a journalist in London. I noticed a growing trend of literature being published online by African writers, on blogs, African-owned websites, MySpace, and later Facebook and Tumblr. I decided to set up a website – <a href="http://thenewblackmagazine.com/">The New Black Magazine</a> – to publish, and in some instances republish, some of the new ideas being espoused by these new voices.</p>
<p>Their work seemed more organic than much of what was being published in print at the time. Organic in the sense that their primary audience was the emerging African digital public, and not the traditional publishers like Macmillan and Random House. Some of the pioneering thinkers and writers were women and queer Africans whose works were not deemed worthy by traditional publishers. </p>
<p>I remember Nigerian novelist <a href="https://www.icorn.org/writer/jude-dibia">Jude Dibia</a> had a blog, as did Nigerian activist, photographer and author <a href="https://www.sokariekine.me/bio">Sokari Ekine</a>, blacklooks.org, which is unfortunately now defunct. Ekine’s blog was a cultural and literary network, where queer writers like Kenya’s <a href="https://www.shailja.com">Shailja Patel</a> and <a href="https://gukira.wordpress.com/">Keguro Macharia</a>, British Somali writer <a href="https://www.diriyeosman.com">Diriye Osman</a> and South African photographer and activist <a href="https://time.com/5917436/zanele-muholi/">Zanele Muholi</a> were congregating. Ekine is the ultimate networker, whose activism sheds light on queer Africa and its diaspora beyond the narratives of violence. </p>
<p>Another excellent digital networker was Professor <a href="https://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/wambui-mwangi">Wambui Mwangi</a>, one of the founders of <a href="https://www.kwani.org/editorial/book_reviews/176/after_the_vote__5_dispatches_from_the_coalition_of_concerned_kenyan_writers.html">Concerned Kenyan Writers</a>, a listserv group on Gmail. She was the person who introduced me to many Kenyan writers and encouraged me to do a PhD and write a book about these exciting developments. This is why my book opens with a chapter on literary networks.</p>
<h2>How has the internet shaped Kenyan and Nigerian literature?</h2>
<p>The online space should be a starting point for any discussion of contemporary African writing. For example, some of Nigerian novelist <a href="https://www.chimamanda.com/about/">Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</a>’s earlier works were first published online. Kenyan writer <a href="https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/billy-k-kahora">Billy Kahora</a>’s non-fiction <a href="https://www.kwani.org/publication/kwani-series/163/the_true_story_of_david_munyakei.html">ibook</a> The True Story of David Munyakei grew out of a piece published online on Mwangi’s now defunct blog, the Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman. </p>
<p>Apart from blogs, there were pioneering digital African magazines like African Writers, <a href="http://www.african-writing.com/eleven/">African Writing</a>, <a href="https://www.kwani.org">Kwani</a> and <a href="http://chimunrenga.co.za/">Chimurenga</a>. They provided a platform to grow for many of today’s established voices. They also used listservs to hone their skills. Some African book publishers were active participants in these listservs. Today, there are dozens of online magazines, like <a href="https://www.afreada.com">Afreada</a>, that publish exciting short stories.</p>
<h2>What does this have to do with queer life?</h2>
<p>If it seems that literary networks are somewhat centred on queer activists, it’s because many were at the forefront of digital African networks. Some left the continent for Europe and America due to homophobia, where they have also had to contend with racism and transphobia. Many other queer writers stayed behind to fight homophobia. </p>
<p>The online provides a space to articulate this experience and also to showcase that queer African life is more than violence. Queer Africans love, care and enjoy everyday routine things that heterosexual people enjoy. From blogs to online magazines, digital publications to social media platforms, queer activism in Africa has found a home in the digital space. Some of the most powerful writing on queer bodies and politics can be found here. </p>
<figure>
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</figure>
<p>The queer is arguably at the very core of twenty-first century African literature. The works of Macharia, Ekine, Patel, <a href="https://brittlepaper.com/2021/10/the-role-of-literature-in-preserving-lgbtq-history-interview-with-unoma-azuah/">Unoma Azuah</a> and <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/romeo-oriogun">Romeo Oriogun</a> constitute a starting point for theorising digital Africa. Their writing provides robust insight into the way in which queerness, politics and civil rights intersect. Additionally, privilege, visibility, marginalisation, omission and silence can all be articulated through an analysis of their work.</p>
<h2>And where does class fit in?</h2>
<p>The digital here is also arguably classed. There are millions of Africans who use the internet despite not being part of the educated professional middle class. But most – if not all – of the pioneers of the digital literary communities have a solid middle-class background. One of the main privileges of being middle class and a writer is that one is often asked to be a sort of cultural ambassador for the continent. This privilege also allows writers to speak to themes – such as sexuality – that have become taboo subjects in postcolonial Africa. </p>
<h2>What do you hope you have achieved with the book?</h2>
<p>I hope that the book will inspire others to not only write about African digital life but also to write about queer African life in all its totality. </p>
<p>Finally, let me revisit what I mentioned on in the final chapter in the book: there is a need to study Africa’s quotidian life. In addition to literary studies’ fixation with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2636740">African spectacular</a>, we should also be interested in the everyday rituals that are not rooted primarily in poverty, hunger, and war. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-queer-literature-offers-a-new-way-of-looking-at-blackness-133649">Nigeria's queer literature offers a new way of looking at blackness</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What does the digital space provide Africans beyond the accounts of everyday stigmatisation and suppression? The ordinary and the commonplace need to be privileged, because the quotidian is at the very foundation of African art. On social media, often times, things like dressing up, kissing, wearing make-up, taking children to school, laughing and dancing – things that we may not considered as important – are statements of African humanity, of its defiance and resilience, through which many Africans affirm their Africanness, their ethnic and national identities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shola Adenekan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Digital platforms have birthed a new school of writers and activists in Nigeria and Kenya.Shola Adenekan, Associate Professor of African Literature, Ghent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1862512022-07-18T13:51:19Z2022-07-18T13:51:19ZCiting blogs in academic publications: lessons from urban planning in COVID<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473892/original/file-20220713-18-w1aftx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C0%2C4059%2C2728&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blog art. Shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/concept-blogging-golden-blog-word-bubble-1146206048">www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Blogs are a double-edged sword. These online essays can be produced by anyone with access to a computer and the internet. The writers could be well-informed experts with valuable insights to share, or official government agencies. Some bloggers are outstanding academic authors who have published their work in accessible databases, like Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Others may be poorly informed people simply sharing a biased opinion. </p>
<p>Although readers might be able to comment on a blog, the material doesn’t have the status of <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/reviewers/what-is-peer-review">peer-reviewed</a> academic research. Checks for quality and reliability aren’t built into blog publishing as they are in academic journals. Previous <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/article/123139">research</a> has discussed the role of blogging communities as reference sources in scientific manuscripts. The <a href="https://www.research-integrity.admin.cam.ac.uk/research-integrity/guidance/citing-blogs-reference-sources">University of Cambridge</a> has warned its researchers not to rely on them.</p>
<p>But some blogs still have appeal as sources of information and ideas for researchers because they often deal with new situations that haven’t yet been covered in the traditional academic literature. </p>
<p>The emergence of COVID was a perfect example of a new and fast-changing situation like this. Vast amounts of information were becoming available online — some of it in blogs that were reliable and useful to the public and to academics, some not. </p>
<p>Researchers and students need to know how to balance their data sources.</p>
<p>Little is known about how to identify reliable blog content in our field of study, urban planning. We decided to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02697459.2022.2085352">explore this</a>, starting by looking at which kinds of blogs were already being cited by academics, and what <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02697459.2022.2085352?journalCode=cppr20">criteria</a> they were using to guide their choice of blogs. </p>
<p>We found the blogs cited in academic publications were mostly published by governmental and non-governmental organisations. We analysed the ways in which these blogs had influenced the public dialogue over COVID, and demonstrated that they were founded on unique ideas that had not yet undergone peer assessment. </p>
<p>We also came up with three tips that academics can use for citing blogs in their research. </p>
<h2>Citing blogs about COVID-19</h2>
<p>A lot of academics and researchers of city planning and design turned to blogs during the coronavirus outbreak for information. We conducted a scoping study in 2020, analysing 31 samples from four types of blogging sources cited in 10 publications published in seven journals. We looked at social sciences journals published in 2020 and searched for blogs that were used as references in such articles about COVID-19. </p>
<p>We found that in the year 2020, academics and researchers in urban planning and design used blogs produced by four types of publishers: government agencies, nongovernmental organisations, private groups, and individuals. </p>
<p>Moreover, we found that academics and researchers cited blogs for three reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>collecting quantitative data resulting from statistical analysis</p></li>
<li><p>shedding light on qualitative knowledge related to social solutions like social distancing and lockdown </p></li>
<li><p>confronting the challenges of pandemics through the principles of urban planning.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Criteria for citing blogs</h2>
<p>This analysis was part of a wider study of the use of blogs by academics. Based on this work, we have three tips for finding blogs that publish scientific findings on vital topics like COVID-19 and can be cited in scholarly articles. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>It is possible for academics and researchers in urban planning and design to cite blogs in their scholarly works. This is done by selecting posts that provide relevant analysis, results and findings done by government agencies and nongovernmental organisations. </p></li>
<li><p>For blogs written by individuals or private groups such as <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/">Brookings</a> and
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/citylab">CityLab</a>, it crucial to keep track of bloggers in scientific databases, like the <a href="https://mjl.clarivate.com/home">Web of Science</a>, <a href="https://www.scopus.com/home.uri">Scopus</a> or <a href="https://scholar.google.com/">Google Scholar</a>. Several metrics can help to understand bloggers’ standing, including the number of citations, <a href="https://blog.scopus.com/posts/the-scopus-h-index-what-s-it-all-about-part-i">h-index</a>, and <a href="https://clarivate.libguides.com/incites_ba/understanding-indicators">normalised citation impact</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>Citing blogs can be based on the number of views or reviews, which can indicate the possibility of an open-ended debate about the post. However, it is important to remember that while blog views can seem important, they are not necessarily a reliable metric to cite blogs. Blog views reflect the importance of the topic rather than the reliability of the information provided in the blog.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>By following these tips, academics and researchers can use blogs as reliable sources of information. They can be cited in scholarly publications for emerging issues such as COVID-19 in its early stages. These tips can guide academics and researchers when they tackle topics still under research or not covered in scientific studies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abeer Elshater receives funding from Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hisham Abusaada does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Blogs can be useful sources of data for the urban planning research community if the researchers know how to assess them critically.Abeer Elshater, Professor, Ain Shams UniversityHisham Abusaada, Professor in Housing and Building National Research Center (HBRC), Cairo, Egypt, Housing and Building National Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1395172020-05-28T12:28:22Z2020-05-28T12:28:22ZDominic Cummings: how the internet knows when you’ve updated your blog<p>When Dominic Cummings made a public statement to explain why he drove 260 miles to stay with his parents during the coronavirus lockdown, the prime Minister’s chief adviser made an assertion that initially went largely unnoticed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For years, I have warned of the dangers of pandemics. Last year I wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was, ultimately, beside the point but Cummings seemed to be reminding the public of his value. We are to believe that he is too vital a cog in the machine to be forced out of his job. </p>
<p>However, unfortunately for Cummings, it didn’t take the internet nerds long to find out his claim is not exactly true.</p>
<p>In fact, a quick search and check on the <a href="https://archive.org/web/">Wayback Machine</a> shows only one mention of coronavirus on Cummings’ blog or any other media attached to his name. That mention is in a paragraph that was added to a blog post some time between April 11 and April 15 2020 – several months into the current crisis, when anyone could see coronaviruses were a problem, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52802661">with or without an eye test</a>. The post was originally released on March 4 2019. </p>
<p>How do we know the lines were added later? And why can’t we tell when exactly the paragraph is added? Let me explain. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338046/original/file-20200527-20241-1ozngfn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A comparison between two versions of Cummings’ blog captured on April 11 and April 15 2020 respectively.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wayback Machine</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the last years of the 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) as he was frustrated with how hard it was to find different documents on different computers. His original proposal was a protocol which connects documents regardless of which computer they are stored on and allows readers to navigate between those “hypertext” documents. The first phase of development of the web was supposed to be “read-only”. However, the very first web browser that Berners-Lee released was already a web editor too. Considering the digital nature of the web documents, it would have been stupid to deal with them as “static” objects such those printed on paper.</p>
<p>The web was born as an intrinsically dynamic concept. The network of documents can grow and change and the documents can too.</p>
<p>However, two problems soon appeared. These documents need to be stored somewhere and for many reasons (including scarcity of storage in 1990s) some documents might get deleted. Ironically, the very first webpage ever created seems to have been lost, or at best is sitting on an optical drive somewhere, according to some claims.</p>
<p>The other issue was the need to have access to archives of previous versions of webpages after they’d been changed – say, for legal reasons.</p>
<h2>Building an archive</h2>
<p>To solve these two problems, ideas of regularly archiving the content of the web started to form in the mid 1990s. In 1996 “The Internet Archive” – an American “digital library” – started to “crawl” the web and make copies of the pages. </p>
<p>There are various other web archivers out there, too, but the Internet Archive arguably has the most comprehensive collection. </p>
<p>The core element of a web archiver is its web crawler – a piece of software that navigates via hyperlinks to visit web pages and copies their content. The Internet Archive has made hundreds of billions copies of most of the pages and made the collection publicly available on its service called the Wayback Machine.</p>
<p>Many of the pages on the web do not change much but some change very frequently and many are frankly not important enough to archive. So the archive does not have the whole history of all the webpages, but it has a good number.</p>
<p>The Internet Archive crawler tries to visit “more important” and “more dynamic” pages more often. For example, Google.com was archived more than 5 million times between November 11 1998 and May 27 2020 – on average around 700 times per day. My university profile page, by contrast, has only been archived 48 times over the past seven years. I might point out that when you compare the 1998 version of the Google frontpage to today’s, there is little change to see. My page has been updated and changed many times. But the number of times that crawlers visit a page are much more influenced by the “importance” of the pages instead of how quickly it changes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338057/original/file-20200527-20215-1rjf491.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two screenshots showing the oldest and newest records of Google.com on the Internet Archive (top: 1998, bottom: 2020)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wayback Machine</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the archive we can see that Cummings has been running his <a href="https://dominiccummings.com/">blog</a> since 2013 and the first actual post was released in March 2014 – although someone apparently had the domain name since 2004.</p>
<p>There are some 330 versions of his blog saved on the Internet Archive, with many more snapshots taken in recent dates. The earliest one is dated June 29 2017. And, sure enough, as mentioned above, there were two snapshots taken on April 11 and 15. A <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/diff/20200411090759/20200415092918/https://dominiccummings.com">close comparison</a> of the two shows that the “blue” paragraph in the figure above was added in between these two dates.</p>
<p>Should Cummings’ blog have been more frequently visited by the Archive crawler, we could have determined the exact timing of the change even more precisely. But we at least know that it happened some time during April 2020.</p>
<p>For future reference, <a href="https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/articles/360001513491-Save-Pages-in-the-Wayback-Machine">you can make</a> the Wayback Machine make a copy of a page if it has no records of the page and you think it should. Archiving is something I’m sure Cummings will think about next time. Remember, the internet never forgets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taha Yasseri receives funding from the European Commission (Horizon 2020), Google Inc, eHarmony, Oxford University John Fell Fund, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is affiliated with the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and AI. </span></em></p>The prime minister’s adviser claims to have warned about coronavirus pandemics last year. The internet nerds say otherwise.Taha Yasseri, Senior Research Fellow in Computational Social Science, Oxford Internet Institute, Alan Turing Fellow, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1062962018-11-12T10:12:23Z2018-11-12T10:12:23ZPolitical blogs by teenagers promote tolerance, participation and public debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244796/original/file-20181109-116838-merb3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C8%2C5590%2C3665&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-teenage-high-school-girl-helping-141889615?src=gZZLdVI6TMECH2Qdv86wRA-1-56">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to being politically active, young people typically have a bad reputation. In democracies such as the United States and the United Kingdom, young voters tend to have low turnout rates – but there are early signs that this is changing.</p>
<p>For example, previous analysis by the US-based Pew Research Center indicates that young voters are, on the whole, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/14/younger-generations-make-up-a-majority-of-the-electorate-but-may-not-be-a-majority-of-voters-this-november/">less likely</a> to vote than older generations were, at their age. But <a href="https://civicyouth.org/young-people-dramatically-increase-their-turnout-31-percent-shape-2018-midterm-elections/">recent analysis</a> by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement indicates that 31% of young voters aged 18 to 29 turned out to vote in the recent US midterm elections – up from 21% in 2014. </p>
<p>And although 18 to 24-year-olds still had a <a href="https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-8060%23fullreport">lower turnout rate</a> than older generations at the UK’s 2017 general election, a higher percentage of young people voted than in any other poll in the previous decade. </p>
<p>But, as more young people are making their voices heard through their votes, it is worth considering the teenagers who don’t yet have that opportunity. If the next generation is to have a greater presence in mainstream politics, then they need opportunities to develop their views, and be heard. My <a href="http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/people/julianne-viola/">PhD research</a> suggests that blogging about politics in school gives teenagers a chance to do just that. </p>
<h2>Excluded and unheard</h2>
<p>For my research, I spoke with 46 young people, aged 14 to 17, in Boston, Massachusetts. Maisie – aged 14 at the time of the study – said, “the younger you are, the less respect you get for your opinions and engagement”. Likewise, Kenai – also aged 14 – said that the adults in his family tell him to “stay out of it [politics] until you can vote”.</p>
<p>With experiences like these, young people are often excluded from politics, and feel unheard. In my research, they expressed a need for a supportive environment to develop their political ideas - and to be heard. </p>
<p>Stephen, aged 14, explained that when he does express his political beliefs aloud to others in any setting, “it feels good to be able to get my own point of view out there” but that, in order to feel heard, he would “need supporters and people who understand my view to support me.”</p>
<h2>Online to opine</h2>
<p>The #NeverAgain movement, started by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-survivors-of-parkland-began-the-never-again-movement">on social media</a> after a shooting at their school, inspired Generation Z to take action on gun control by organising the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/24/us/march-for-our-lives.html">March for Our Lives</a>. Leaders of the movement also organised the <a href="https://marchforourlives.com/tour/">Road to Change</a> tour as an effort to register and rally more young voters to fight against gun violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244807/original/file-20181109-35554-1ge7mye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">March for Our Lives, Los Angeles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/los-angeles-march-24-2018-our-1054205105?src=-pIRLxX84hY1r0L4A4O-lw-1-1">Hayk Shalunts/Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So teenagers are already using technology to discuss, organise and participate in politics before they reach voting age. But while social media can provide the opportunity for young people to share their political views, writing political blogs in school gives teenagers support from teachers, as they develop their political beliefs and thoughtfully engage with those of others. </p>
<p>By creating political blogs in school, teenagers can develop more confidence in their beliefs and share them with others in their classroom – and feel heard as a result. The opportunity to blog in school would address what’s known as the “<a href="https://www.issuelab.org/resources/822/822.pdf">audience problem</a>” – the fact that many blogs get few views and responses means that schools ought to find responsive and engaged audiences for students’ blogs by encouraging students to read and comment on each others’ ideas. </p>
<p>When teachers encourage students to write these blogs it also gives students a designated space to explore their political ideas and develop their <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/news-and-media-literacy/what-is-media-literacy-and-why-is-it-important">media literacy</a> – that is, their ability to identify and understand different media and the messages they send. </p>
<p>When teenagers are encouraged to write their own blogs and read blogs by their classmates, they can develop and communicate their perspectives and opinions on political issues with a sense of authority <a href="http://www.civicsurvey.org/sites/default/files/publications/Educating%20Youth%20for%20Online%20Civic%20and%20Political%20Dialogue%3A%20A%20Conceptual%20Framework%20for%20the%20Digital%20Age%20%7C%20Journal%20of%20Digital%20and%20Media%20Literacy.pdf">and ownership</a>, which can help them to feel more comfortable doing so outside of the classroom. </p>
<h2>Learning tolerance</h2>
<p>Blogs can also help teenagers learn the perspectives of others. The online platform <a href="https://www.youthvoices.live/">YouthVoices</a> combines the social networking appeal of social media with an educational aim. Students can share their beliefs through writing and online conversation with others in their schools and elsewhere, and engage with peers who hold different views. </p>
<p>Diana Hess, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education, found through <a href="http://thepoliticalclassroom.com/about.php">her research</a> that talking about political and social issues with people who hold opposing views can foster political tolerance, which can lead to better policy decisions in the future.</p>
<p>When teenagers engage in these discussions with their classmates, they report <a href="https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/ab/dd/abdda62e-6e84-47a4-a043-348d2f2085ae/ccny_grantee_2011_guardian.pdf">positive outcomes</a> including greater engagement in school, greater interest in politics, improved critical thinking skills, and greater likelihood to become politically engaged in the future. </p>
<p>Political blogs by teenagers have the power to enter into and shape public discourse – and, when young people feel heard by the public and elected officials, they get a sense that their voices matter. This can carry into adulthood and inspire young people to <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Participatory+Culture+in+a+Networked+Era%3A+A+Conversation+on+Youth%2C+Learning%2C+Commerce%2C+and+Politics-p-9780745660707">find their voices</a> when they reach the public stage.</p>
<p>In the current divisive political climate, civil discourse is needed now more than ever. The evidence suggests that encouraging teenagers to blog about their political opinions in school could go a long way to help them develop their political views, become better able to engage with and understand those of their peers and lead them to a more active political future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julianne K. Viola does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For teenagers, blogging about politics in school can help them hone their views – and be more tolerant of others’.Julianne K. Viola, Doctoral Candidate, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/663402016-09-30T15:39:40Z2016-09-30T15:39:40ZVogue’s attack on style bloggers shows how much the newcomers have the fashion mags rattled<p>For years, style bibles such as Vogue and Elle have found their exclusivity undermined by bloggers, who – with huge numbers of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers – have won over the designer brands that would normally only deal with major publications. Inevitably, this tension occasionally breaks the surface, as when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/29/vogue-editors-declare-war-fashion-bloggers">Vogue editors recently lashed out at fashion bloggers</a> in their <a href="http://www.vogue.com/13483417/milan-fashion-week-spring-2017-vogue-editors-chat/">Milan fashion week round-up column</a>. </p>
<p>Criticising fashion bloggers for the practice of being paid to wear certain outfits, the Vogue journalists called the bloggers “pathetic”, accused them of “looking ridiculous” and decried the whole affair as “all pretty embarrassing”. Scathingly, Vogue’s creative digital director Sally Singer wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Note to bloggers who change head-to-toe paid-to-wear outfits every hour: please stop. Find another business. You are heralding the death of style.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is not the first of such broadsides from fashion writers. In 2013, the New York Times’ renowned fashion journalist Suzie Menkes <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/t-magazine/the-circus-of-fashion.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fsuzy-menkes">berated the “poseurs” gathered outside fashion shows</a>, waiting for keen street-style photographers to take their picture. It was the first of many slaps in the face for fashion bloggers, who were branded “wannabes” desparate for attention. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139943/original/image-20160930-9475-1wexepd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blogger Chiara Ferragni was even featured the cover of Vogue’s Spanish edition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vogue</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet since then bloggers have only gained in popularity, with the Spanish edition of Vogue even featuring the Italian model and blogger turned fashion designer <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/chiara-ferragni-is-the-first-blogger-to-land-a-cover-of-vogue-10116719.html">Chiara Ferragni on its cover</a> in 2015. For a blogger to reach the cover of Vogue, the very pinnacle of style, suggested that the fashion bloggers had been finally accepted. It seems not.</p>
<p>Perhaps Vogue’s biggest bugbear is that bloggers are invited to sit on the front row at fashion shows – an honoured position previously reserved for celebrities and editors of glossy magazines. Yet bloggers have become a hybrid of the two – part editor, part celebrity – and thanks to their enormous social media presence they have developed the style-influencing selling power built to match both.</p>
<h2>Fashion blogging is hard work</h2>
<p>Certainly, fashion designers and brands were quick to recognise the power wielded by bloggers. If offering a blogger an invitation to sit on the front row wearing their latest designs encouraged sales, why wouldn’t they?</p>
<p>It’s grossly insulting to suggest bloggers don’t work hard for their position. Bloggers often style themselves, take their own photos, attend fashion shows, write their own copy and design and edit their websites as well as provide the constant updates to their social media channels required to keep their audience engaged. Especially when starting out, they will have to do all this for themselves.</p>
<p>Standing in the cold for more than an hour in sky-high heels (because being photographed is part of your job) before sitting on a dusty floor or trying to catch a glimpse of the runway from behind 15 rows of people is a due all true fashion lovers have paid. How much easier it must be to walk straight in from your warm company car with no queue to face – and no heavy camera to carry as your publication will have sent their own photographer. A whole team brought in to report on a single day’s events. </p>
<p>And let’s not forget that running a blog is essentially an unpaid role, and how – or if – the owner chooses to make money from it is up to them. One way of making it pay is to work directly with fashion brands. A brand might gift or lend a blogger some items to wear. The blogger gets to create a new outfit and something to write about, and the brand gets exposure – surely a mutually rewarding relationship?</p>
<h2>Dispersing fashion</h2>
<p>Something Vogue’s writers forget is that the price of the garments we see on the runway make them unobtainable for most people. They are displayed in the glossy pages of Vogue as “aspirational” items. For most, the only experience of the latest fashion designs will be in the trickle-down version produced for the budget-friendly high street. This is how the fashion cycle works – and magazines have played a huge role as gatekeepers. The rest of the world only sees those designer pieces from the runway that magazine editors chose to include.</p>
<p>Fashion bloggers have worked around this filter, by publicising the looks from the shows they choose and by wearing borrowed (or gifted or purchased) garments from the show. The insular walls of the fashion industry have been shaken – and fashion has became more democratic. </p>
<p>With the growing power of bloggers came a decrease in power of the fashion magazine. The magazines now attack the bloggers for the same things that in effect magazines and magazine journalists have always done – albeit not so publicly. In the UK, under <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-Centre/2014/Making-ads-Clear-The-challenge-for-advertisers-and-vloggers.aspx#.V-5qxlJEeZ8">Advertising Standards Authority rules</a> bloggers must disclose any working relationships they have with brands or if they are wearing a gifted item. Yet magazines are not required to play by the same rules. </p>
<p>It is well known that <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/fashion-magazines-balancing-advertising-and-editorial">magazines give editorial coverage to advertisers</a> in addition to attending advertiser’s shows. The prestige of magazines like Vogue is jealously guarded, because it is prestige that brands will pay for – and advertising income is increasingly precious as more and more readers move online. This works well for salaried editors and brands with huge marketing budgets, but what about smaller fashion brands or newcomers? Speaking to the New York Times, Philip Oh, <a href="http://streetpeeper.com/">Street Peeper blog</a> photographer, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-street-style-is-often-a-billboard-for-brands.html">made this clear</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most young designers don’t have the resources to hire high-powered PRs or have access to important editors and stylists. So lending their clothes to friends and supporters who will get photographed is a great way to get noticed by both the industry and consumers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was bloggers and street-style photographers that were credited with helping up-and-coming London brand Ostwald Helgason get its break in 2012 when its trademark bold striped pieces were snapped and pasted across street style blogs during London Fashion week. “For us, as a small brand, we would never be able to get that kind of exposure [otherwise],” Susanne Ostwald <a href="http://www.elle.com/fashion/a14349/ostwald-helgason-interview/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Vogue is still the fashion bible for many. Countless newcomers to the industry aspire to work for the magazine one day – but, until then, starting a fashion blog is a way to tap into the industry and share a love for fashion. The question must be asked why Vogue would not nurture and celebrate this enthusiasm and talent. </p>
<p>If “style” is an individual’s innate sense of dress, can an edited magazine such as Vogue ever really reflect style? Style is not fashion – and fashion is only ever style when taken and made personal by an individual, something more likely found on the street than in the professional, paid-for pages of a magazine.</p>
<p>Alexandra Codinha, fashion news editor for Vogue.com, <a href="http://www.vogue.com/13483417/milan-fashion-week-spring-2017-vogue-editors-chat/">said</a>: “The fashion world can all too easily feel like an impenetrable bubble.” An impenetrable bubble indeed – one created by the likes of Vogue. Is it any surprise to see the bloggers revolt, staking their claim and right to fashion?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie McCreesh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Magazines like Vogue are fashion’s gatekeepers, but now style bloggers are democratising the fashion world – and the mags don’t like it.Natalie McCreesh, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Marketing & Communication, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652752016-09-16T16:03:12Z2016-09-16T16:03:12ZFashion’s closed circuit opens up and goes global – next stop cyberspace<p>Fashion season is in full swing. Marc Jacobs closed the 2016 New York Fashion Week with a psychedelic show featuring white models sporting colourful fake dreadlocks – and accordingly <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/649153/new-york-fashion-week-ends-marc-jacobs-controversy">came under a bit of fire</a>. Now London Fashion Week is getting going. All this might seem to follow the well-worn fashion grain, but the ground beneath those sparkling stilettos is actually shifting – fast. Fashion weeks are becoming less about fashion cliques and more about opening up to the masses.</p>
<p>Fashion weeks used to be an industry affair: they were about fashion labels presenting their new seasonal collections to prospective buyers. There were a limited number of cities on the fashion circuit: Paris, Milan, New York and London. Journalists from fashion magazines and newspapers bridged the gap between industry and consumer, providing information about new looks and trends and summarising the ups and downs of the well-heeled world to consumers at large.</p>
<p>Orders were taken, and clothing deliveries took place six months later, in time for the spring and autumn seasons. Mainstream fashion brands and retailers also picked up on the trends, which were reflected in their subsequent clothing ranges. This reasonably well-ordered calendar was driven by the speed of its physical processes, from order taking to distribution to retailers.</p>
<p>But all of these dimensions have changed. Fashion weeks are evolving from an exclusive industry function to participatory consumer events.</p>
<h2>Fast fashion</h2>
<p>There are now many more cities getting in on the international fashion scene, meaning new fashion cities and inevitably fashion weeks, such as <a href="http://www.vogue.com/13433272/sao-paulo-fashion-week-spring-2017-gloria-coelho-herchcovitch/">São Paolo</a> and <a href="http://wwd.com/fashion-news/they-are-wearing/shanghai-fashion-week-street-style-fall-10418467/">Shanghai</a>. Fashion week catwalks are found in increasingly diverse locations, pop-up events and flagship locations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138082/original/image-20160916-10813-14wwlb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">São Paulo Fashion Week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ministeriodacultura/5407574316/in/photolist-9eRerW-9Uma6r-4XczEV-e1mu4A-8anDRT-6xMHxN-8csGsq-4XcpRD-9Uk9VU-4nKzYs-4WVy5J-4Xcr72-4XgKow-9UF597-9U6bzL-4WRR4z-9TdDcZ-9UmmG5-4XyCvH-4XgHGQ-9eN7pz-9eRero-4XyBZM-8aqSsj-4WRcmt-4XgFx3-9UoV1y-4XD9CL-4WW957-8anF96-4XcAce-8anPKH-9TaGL4-4XD4Kd-4nLgRN-4XD5mw-4WR9p4-9TNBm8-4XyHpZ-4WR8Yn-4WVoaE-4XgXhf-9TNho6-9eN7qX-9U8GwL-4WVHbG-9TPBqX-9TSrJq-9Uh2Tn-4WRfPi">Ministério da Cultura/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reflecting the way this sense of high fashion is filtering out into the public sphere, the front row of the catwalk has evolved, no longer accommodating only industry figures but also including celebrities and bloggers. Such bloggers have proliferated with the expansion of social media, which has also enabled more recycling of street fashion, creating many more looks and styles. The timescales for delivering finished clothes have reduced too, so that what’s seen on the catwalk can be delivered to retailers, or directly to customer, within a few weeks.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aron_OCass/publication/235254013_Fashion_clothing_consumption_antecedents_and_consequences_of_fashion_clothing_involvement/links/0a85e52f9436e9d435000000.pdf">Increasing consumer affluence and consumption</a> has been accompanied by growth in fashion retailing. The digital revolution has empowered consumers whose expectations are very different from previous generations. They access fashion information and services, but also make transactions online wherever and whenever they like. This ability to personalise is set to continue as consumers select and follow their own fashion leaders, designers, brands and street scenes from around the world on social media. </p>
<p>Mediating supply and demand, new media and communication technologies have changed both fashion and fashion weeks. “Fast fashion” now describes not only the rapid turnaround of designs, clothing and ranges, but also newer and fresher looks, media commentaries and visuals.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"775337069438730240"}"></div></p>
<h2>Sharing style</h2>
<p>The internet has both changed the way fashion weeks are followed by consumers and the way in which products are acquired. Web 4.0 opened up new communication and shopping channels, particularly mobile, for brands to build an online and offline presence. Interactive software enables the dissemination of fashion, the sharing of looks and styles and the possibilities for style mash-ups. New forms of hardware and more powerful software in smartphones, tablets, apps and social media provide the opportunity to interact and engage with fashion brands at any time and place. </p>
<p>These developments have led to the rapid convergence of the physical and digital fashion worlds. The sanctity of fashion time and space is shrinking as consumer empowerment and choice expands.</p>
<p>The primacy of the visual in fashion highlights the significance of producing and consuming images. But professional photographers, editors and bloggers now represent only a fraction of those commenting on fashion weeks. Social media facilitates the exchange of photos and video and smartphone users can live-stream fashion shows by using broadcasting apps such as <a href="https://www.periscope.tv/">Periscope</a>. Mdels pose for Instagram shots at the end of the catwalk and fashion houses showcase behind-the-scenes images and sneak peeks of their new collections. </p>
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<h2>Global futures</h2>
<p>Looking to the future, fashion weeks are sure to demonstrate the design influence of a more truly global fashion world, accessing inspiration from new designers in Africa to the fast-moving markets of Asia. Cultural heritage, inspired by real or conceptualised pasts, will co-exist with spontaneous and experimental styling. </p>
<p>Fashion cities will have local, regional and international appeal, but will be increasingly undefined by the physical spaces of the city itself. Fashion weeks may become de-located, supplemented or replaced by virtual or merged environments. The opportunity to engage with these multiple locations will be enabled by more powerful, smaller and more convenient personal smart devices.</p>
<p>New forms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/augmented-reality-2801">augmented</a> and virtual reality will enable consumers to enjoy three dimensional and immersive experiences of fashion. These will be facilitated by new versions of the web that will enable more powerful interactivity and sensory engagement. </p>
<p>Consumers to locally create what they experience in the fashion week by use of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/3d-printing-2359">3D printing</a>, but also reinterpret new clothing and accessory designs to their own look. New materials and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesstylefile/2014/05/07/what-is-the-future-of-fabric-these-smart-textiles-will-blow-your-mind/">smart textiles</a> seem particularly promising and may play a more significant role in fashion design, and how clothing is conceptualised and presented. Hopefully, sustainability will have its say as well, with the potential to inspire new forms or alternative fashion weeks. </p>
<p>And the fashion “week” itself may not even be safe. Some other timescale, more flexible, personalised to the rapacious online consumer, seems most likely to engage us in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65275/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Kent received funding from AHRC</span></em></p>Fashion weeks are becoming less about fashion cliques, and opening up to the masses.Anthony Kent, Professor of Fashion Marketing, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/347322014-11-27T06:22:35Z2014-11-27T06:22:35ZWhy product placement on YouTube can’t be regulated like television<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/65622/original/image-20141126-4217-adqdz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The product placement is obvious, but are viewers aware that it is paid for? And do they care?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20D4sMwUlE">AmazingPhil</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Names like <a href="http://www.zoella.co.uk/">Zoella</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/dicasp">Caspar</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/PointlessBlog">Alfie Deyes</a>, and <a href="http://www.tanyaburr.co.uk/">Tanya Burr</a> might not trip off the tongue for the over 35s, but they are among the vloggers (video bloggers, that is) at the vanguard of radical changes in the media and advertising scene. </p>
<p>The typical internet business model is to build viewer traffic and then wrap advertising around it. Try to watch a popular YouTube clip and you’ll probably be forced to see a few seconds of a paid ad first. With up to six million subscribers to their channels, some vloggers can earn a very good living from conventional advertising, not to mention extending their fame to sell books and acquire TV presenting slots, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/zoella-youtube-sensation-zoe-suggs-debut-novel-expected-to-become-overnight-bestseller-9881453.html">as Zoella has</a>. More controversially, they can also earn thousands of pounds <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/28/vloggers-changing-future-advertising">each time they mention a brand</a> in their video content. </p>
<h2>Old issue, new medium</h2>
<p>Until now, this has taken place with a relative lack of regulation by advertising watchdogs. But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has now <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30203816">warned that vloggers need to make it clear</a> when they are paid to promote products in their videos. Vloggers must now change the way they label their promoted videos, by putting the words “promoted” or “paid for” in the title. The ASA insists that viewers should be forewarned when seeing promoted content. </p>
<p>Product placement is, of course, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/literatures-long-love-affair-with-product-placement-34384">nothing new</a>, but since the ASA had its digital remit <a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-Centre/2010/ASA-digital-remit-extension.aspx#.VHWg8CgrgeE">extended in 2011</a>, it has had to take a much closer look at advertising on the internet. The ASA tries to ensure that advertising and editorial content are always clearly distinguished and the distinction is a central pillar of UK advertising regulation. And, in light of the research colleagues and I have done into product placement, it <a href="http://bit.ly/1uHte2d">can be deceptive</a> if viewers are not aware of the commercial intent within content they are viewing or reading. </p>
<h2>Increasingly problematic</h2>
<p>Separating content and advertising is increasingly problematic, however, since the shift to digital media. On one hand there is the rise of “native advertising”, which makes promotional content look like editorial. Sites would argue that the content they promote is clearly labelled for readers to see, but the labelling can be so subtle it is hardly noticeable. More to the point, it is valuable to brands precisely because it is buried within ostensibly non-commercial reporting. So, the labelling might satisfy the regulator, but does it change the meaning of the content if the content looks and reads like editorial?</p>
<p>What is more, we can ask what difference labelling really makes. Paid-for product placement has been permitted on UK TV since 2011, and promoted content has to carry a small logo in the corner of the screen as the programme begins. But does this render the advertising transparent to the typical viewer? And does it change our sense of what we are viewing or reading, by virtue of seeing it labelled? </p>
<p>It isn’t easy for the ASA to police promoted content, especially on the internet. For example, many celebrities incorporate brand mentions in their Tweets, and some have been <a href="http://www.brandwatch.com/2013/10/celebrity-twitter-endorsements-regulations-allegations-and-selling-out/">accused of breaking advertising regulations</a>. But, does this mean that Twitterati are not allowed to mention brands spontaneously? Does the ASA need to censor all Tweets for promoted content? </p>
<p>Turning back to TV, the ASA now has a strict set of regulations for paid-for product placement – but UK TV has been awash with brands in scenes for 30 years, even on the BBC. Brands give their products to product placement agencies who then <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/16/product_placements/">supply them free of charge</a> as props to studio managers and show producers. The agencies take a fee from the brand, and the viewer gets a realistic scene. </p>
<p>The alarm over the start of paid-for product on UK TV in 2011 showed that many people in the UK, including regulators, were blithely unaware of this arrangement. Back in 2009, when regulator Ofcom first consulted over allowing paid-for product placement on UK TV, then Culture Secretary Andy Burnham <a href="http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13378">resisted calls to allow it</a>. But Burnham’s decision was <a href="http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15282&Title=What_product_placement_changes_mean_to_marketers">quickly reversed</a> by his successor.</p>
<h2>Generational divide?</h2>
<p>There may be a generational divide in the assumptions around promoted content. Many young consumers assume as a default position that media content typically has a promotional angle, and they enjoy spotting the ways brands try to outwit them. This is something colleagues and I found <a href="http://bit.ly/1zXZMdp">when researching product placement on UK television</a>. Younger consumers take a buyer-beware position. </p>
<p>So, do they, and we, need a regulator to nanny us? Or should the regulator accept that a new generation of consumers are media literate enough to make judgements on the credibility of branded content? </p>
<p>Policing promoted content is a major problem for regulators. Advertisers can be slippery, and media brands are under huge pressure to monetise content without interrupting the consumers’ online experience. Labelling branded content might seem a way of applying the principle of the separation of editorial and advertising, but it may be less of a solution than it appears.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Hackley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Names like Zoella, Caspar, Alfie Deyes, and Tanya Burr might not trip off the tongue for the over 35s, but they are among the vloggers (video bloggers, that is) at the vanguard of radical changes in the…Chris Hackley, Professor of Marketing, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/339792014-11-20T06:05:17Z2014-11-20T06:05:17ZTeachers tweet truth to power, but will the politicians listen?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64869/original/9swxwm4x-1416324350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers are taking to Twitter.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-220578778/stock-photo-tweet.html?src=Bvo9FyznH9ApqWlszBmDqQ-1-0">Tweet via svariophoto/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the magical month of December 2013 teachers across the UK were given an early Christmas gift from the least expected donor. Twitter buzzed with the news. I first saw it thanks to <a href="http://teachertoolkit.me/2014/01/06/ofstednews-updates-for-all-teachers-grimreaper/">@teachertoolkit</a> who tweeted with great glee: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"415248298404876289"}"></div></p>
<p>It was a reference to the news that Ofsted – the schools inspectorate which has developed the status and reputation of an overbearing ogre – had rewritten its inspection handbook. The rewrite was important for teachers because Ofsted inspectors would no longer be looking for a particular way of teaching and, crucially, would no longer be grading lessons. </p>
<p>That the message was conveyed on Twitter by @teachertoolkit was reflective of a new paradigm in the education world. It isn’t through traditional print media, or television outlets, that teachers are getting their news. The @teachertoolkit Twitter account claims more than 75,000 followers – and Ross Morrison McGill, the deputy headteacher behind it, boasts of being the “most influential” education blogger. Of course, these followers may not all be teachers but it is highly likely that the vast majority are teachers, academics and others interested in education. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://ukedchat.com/2014/10/24/why-teachers-are-flocking-to-twitter/">recent survey about teachers using Twitter</a>, UKEdChat received 450 responses in the first two weeks. The respondents were from teachers and educationalists around the globe. So why are so many teachers flocking to Twitter? As UKEdChat found, the biggest reason is continued professional development: teachers are crying out for high-quality, up-to-date training. </p>
<p>But alongside this, the growth of teacher bloggers reflects a desire, or even a need, for teachers to find a voice. For some this is to vent their frustrations at the system, for some to share resources, and for others it is to articulate philosophical and pedagogical positions and explore political issues. </p>
<p>And it’s not just those at the chalkface who are tweeting. The Department of Education’s Twitter account (@educationgovuk) has 140,000 followers, while the official Twitter account for Ofsted (@ofstednews) boasts more than 75,000 followers. But are these accounts merely a proxy for press releases, or are these bodies actually listening to the newly found teacher voice?</p>
<h2>Bringing in the bloggers</h2>
<p>In February 2014 a group of teacher-bloggers and twitterati were invited to a meeting with Mike Cladingbowl, Ofsted’s director of schools. These were the big names in the edublogosphere: David Didau (@learningspy), Tom Bennett (@tombennett71), Ross McGill (@teachertoolkit), Sheena Lewington (@clerktogovernor) and Tom Sherrington (@headguruteacher). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.learningspy.co.uk/blogging/learned-visit-ofsted/">In his blog post about the meeting</a>, David Didau claims that Cladingbowl “began by asking each of us what we were interested in discussing”. There was no hidden agenda? No political motivation for the meeting? Was this really an attempt by the inspectorate to engage with the profession? </p>
<p>There had been hints, of course, that this was coming. Back in 2013, the then secretary of state for education, Michael Gove <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/michael-gove-speech-to-teachers-and-headteachers-at-the-national-college-for-teaching-and-leadership">expressed his admiration</a> for some teacher bloggers, naming Bennett amongst them, along with blogging stalwart Old Andrew (@oldandrewuk).</p>
<h2>Morgan accelerates Twitter outreach</h2>
<p>The influence and power of Twitter in particular has been seen in the “real” world, through events know as teachmeets, where teachers voluntarily give up their weekends to meet and discuss their practice and the latest educational research. Possibly the most impressive event has been <a href="http://www.workingoutwhatworks.com/">ResearchED</a>, organised by Bennett. </p>
<p>Attempts by politicians, civil servants and inspectors to engage with the teacher-blogger community have accelerated under Gove’s successor, Nicky Morgan. </p>
<p>The Department for Education is nearing the end of a consultation with teachers on ways to reduce their workload, called the <a href="https://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storyCode=6088067">Teacher Workload Challenge</a>. When Morgan launched this survey she said that she wanted to <a href="https://news.tes.co.uk/b/opinion/2014/10/21/nicky-morgan-i-want-to-build-a-new-deal-for-teacher-workload-and-i-need-your-help.aspx">“build a new deal for teacher workload”</a> and called for teachers’ help. </p>
<p>The government has conducted such surveys before, but this time felt different. The announcement was tweeted and re-tweeted and, by November 6 <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tens-of-thousands-of-teachers-join-the-workload-challenge">more than 30,000 respondents</a> had already completed the survey. Tweachers seemed to respond favourably to the announcement of the survey: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"531117758071963649"}"></div></p>
<p>However, there was a desire that survey should actually lead to “concrete action”: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"528965278924017664"}"></div></p>
<p>Perhaps there is still some bad feeling following a perceived attempt to ignore or disregard concerns raised by the previous survey:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"439440990131470336"}"></div></p>
<p>But surveys aren’t the only form of canvassing that the DfE is employing. On November 16 the department (@educationgovuk) hosted #SLTChat – a weekly two hour discussion focused around topics voted for by teachers via an <a href="https://polldaddy.com/poll/8446755/">online survey</a>. Last weekend’s was on the <a href="http://nurph.com/SLTchat/replay?chat_id=990">topic of assessment </a> and the need to strike a balance between marking and feedback and teachers’ workload and well-being.</p>
<p>On December, 7 #SLTChat will be hosted by none other than Nicky Morgan herself: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"527785966556418048"}"></div></p>
<p>So, is this the democratisation of the teaching profession? Has Twitter opened up a line of communication, and are those in power really listening? </p>
<p>I’m not so sure. </p>
<p>Norman Fairclough, linguistics expert and author of <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Language_and_Power.html?id=ZRHCNMN3qqUC">Language and Power</a>, lends us an insight into how those in positions of power use language to maintain it. With Twitter and blogs reflecting what Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells called the <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Rise_of_The_Network_Society.html?id=hngg4aFtJVcC">Network Society</a>, we have seen how people, often without political power, can use this technology to self-organise around a campaign – from the Occupy movement to the Arab spring.</p>
<h2>‘Nonsense’ tweet backfires</h2>
<p>With the rising number of teachers joining the online community of Twitter and blogs it is little wonder that politicians and their civil servants want to get in on the action. But they don’t always get it right, as one “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11203931/Education-departments-gay-rights-tweet-sparks-row.html">badly worded tweet</a>” suggested in early November. </p>
<p>This Clarksonesque <em>faux pas</em>, from the Department of Education’s official Twitter account, implied that British Values were a strictly heterosexual affair and said it was: “Nonsense to say ‘schools must teach gay rights’”. The department <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29872287">raced to clarify</a> that it meant schools wouldn’t be forced to teach gay rights. But the affair reflected the reality that policy is still driven by ideologies and political agenda.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"528932962835107842"}"></div></p>
<p>The apparent olive branch of consultation may have the appeal of shared governance, but it may also be an attempt by those in power to move into this new space of digital dialogue, co-opting those voices that wield the most influence and dominating the discourse. The proof of how genuine these moves to engage teachers really are will be in how the government responds to the workload survey.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Lane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>During the magical month of December 2013 teachers across the UK were given an early Christmas gift from the least expected donor. Twitter buzzed with the news. I first saw it thanks to @teachertoolkit…Stephen Lane, Doctoral Researcher in Education, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/323932014-10-31T01:02:41Z2014-10-31T01:02:41ZFive ways to fight online abuse with good manners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63230/original/b2zqr3q3-1414620786.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The abuse unleashed online can be devastating at times.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spyrospapaspyropoulos/13431814265">Flickr/Spyros Papaspyropoulos </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Online and social media’s capacity to enable anyone to communicate their ideas and views is much celebrated. So why do so many people feel nervous about getting involved with online debate?</p>
<p>Too often, the reason is they have had vitriol poured all over them, or seen that happen to others. </p>
<p>This was the experience of one of this article’s authors (Helen), who recently wrote an opinion piece for a popular Australian website, <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/">Mamamia</a>, which ran with the headline <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/is-it-okay-to-let-men-pay-the-bill/">Why I’d never be with a man who always pays the bill</a>. And the public response to what was her first foray into writing for a major website left her wondering if it’s worth repeating the exercise.</p>
<p>Beyond this single anecdotal example – just one of <a href="http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-24-hours-on-the-internet/">the millions of blog posts</a> and articles published every day around the world – why does online incivility matter? </p>
<p>It matters, in part, because recent research has shown that the content and tone of comments on articles can actually affect the way people read and interpret the original article. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12009/full">online experiment</a> examined attitudes to nanotechnology by taking a neutral blog post on the subject and exposing its participants to either rude or polite comments to see if it affected their views. The research revealed the “Nasty Effect”, showing that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] those who are exposed to uncivil deliberation in blog comments are more likely to perceive the technology as risky than those who are exposed to civil comments. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So what each one of us posts online matters. And as we’ll show, there are ways to improve the general standard of online comments and to not let trolls get the better of you.</p>
<h2>Faceless bullying</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/sociology/criminology/incivility-rude-stranger-in-everyday-life">Sociological</a> discussions of incivility have tended to focus on everyday urban encounters between people in spaces such as streets and public transport. </p>
<p>But although urban incivility attracts a great deal of attention and may result in <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-03/woman-facing-charges-over-racist-tirade-on-sydney-train/5569564">action by the police</a>, the practice of aggressively insulting strangers is being given a new lease of life <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2014.940365#.VCz1OPmSxj4">online</a>. </p>
<p>As is common in such pieces of “confessional journalism”, when writing for Mamamia <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/social/is-it-okay-to-let-men-pay-the-bill/">Helen used examples</a> from personal experience to dissect broader social values: in this case, gendered assumptions about who pays for restaurant meals. It was intended to be a critique of gender inequality wrapped in the garb of benevolent sexism.</p>
<p>The response from readers in the comments below the article and particularly on Mamamia’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mamamiablog/posts/10152412375300945">Facebook page</a> was frequently savage. While it was a bruising surprise for Helen, sadly when you look at online comments around the world, the comments she got were not particularly <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/online-harassment/">unusual</a>.</p>
<p>That prompted us to reflect on some examples of how online media can easily function as a vehicle for harshness and abuse, often against – as well as by – women. </p>
<h2>Demanding silence: ‘just eat your dinner and be quiet’</h2>
<p>A favourite technique in the incivility repertoire involves undermining the legitimacy of the author to say anything at all on the subject. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62992/original/8mrbftgn-1414474152.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the public comments from Mamamia’s Facebook page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/mamamiablog/photos/pb.142149825944.-2207520000.1411964673./10152412711075945/">Facebook</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In statements such as “Just eat your dinner and be quiet” and “first world problem”, hostile commenters are essentially demanding muteness. </p>
<p>Telling the speaker explicitly or implicitly to shut up means that there is no need to engage with what they have actually said. </p>
<p>Curiously, this response can be triggered among those who have not read the original article, but have caught the wave of author-baiting – this is incivility by proxy.</p>
<h2>Name-calling: ‘you are just a bitch’</h2>
<p>Several commenters bemoaned the confusion that the article would prompt amongst men, whose embattled masculinity had received a below-the-belt blow.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62995/original/8jmmxjsx-1414474275.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some more of the public comments from Mamamia’s Facebook page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/mamamiablog/photos/pb.142149825944.-2207520000.1411964673./10152412711075945/">Facebook</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By being “bitchy” and “another malcontent female”, the author was confounding men and letting the side down for women who want to be pampered by them.</p>
<p>A “man-hating” attitude – seemingly interpreted as any questioning of men’s conduct – somehow justified expressions of hatred from commenters.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62997/original/nvv3w42n-1414474396.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even more of the public comments on Mamamia’s Facebook page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/mamamiablog/photos/pb.142149825944.-2207520000.1411964673./10152412711075945/">Facebook</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the absence of the constraint of having to look someone in the eye when spitting venom at them, keyboard warriors can unload freely on others with little recourse for the target. </p>
<p>There is a growing back catalogue of experiences of women being the subject of online assaults that challenge not only their arguments, but their <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/15/anita-sarkeesian-feminist-games-critic-cancels-talk">right to speak at all</a>. </p>
<p>It is now routine for incivility to pass for critique when historically marginalised groups such as women freely express their opinions. </p>
<p>The circuits of privilege and power that exist offline are easily replicated in a digital universe, where the heedless slam-dunking of strangers is a sport designed to enforce a code of silence and submission. </p>
<h2>You’re the problem: ‘she should have taken more control’</h2>
<p>Incivility can also masquerade as being ostensibly helpful by not being openly hostile. </p>
<p>Some readers seem sympathetic and suggest remedies that involve behaviour modification on the woman’s part; for example, that she needs to be less complicit, more assertive, and a better negotiator. </p>
<p>Suggesting that it is all a matter of the woman’s individual responsibility, and leaving her date’s behaviour unquestioned, de-politicises and de-contextualises the issue of gender equality that was raised in the first place.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62688/original/4tqshhrk-1414113080.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While it can be hard not to feel bruised if someone attacks you online, many trolls are just taking their frustrations out on you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryan2point0/13919128975/in/photolist-ncZb7k-JKSJU-hamUxh-7gpT3B-564nuQ-fgb5UE-51dY5-P8DNs-cGZ7XE-dJZy9t-nephGR-9yHCbD-9yHC4r-9yHBZH-9yHCtP-9yHBNk-9yHCqB-9yHCfc-9yHBTt-9yLCX5">Flickr/Ryan Tracey</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Five tips for handling incivility</h2>
<p>So what is to be done? While there are many common types of incivility, authors and commenters need not surrender to them. Here are five ways to say no, politely, to online incivility.</p>
<p><strong>1. Take responsibility for a good quality conversation</strong></p>
<p>Online environments can be polluted like any other, and dumping insults on fellow humans can only result in a degraded public culture.</p>
<p>Think first, type later.</p>
<p><strong>2. Remember the human being behind the screen</strong></p>
<p>Authors bleed when cut by cruel words, but uncivil commenters may think they’re just “gaming”. Recognise that the pleasure rush of the snide put-down has a human cost. </p>
<p><strong>3. Apply the in-person test</strong></p>
<p>If as original author or commenter you would not say to someone’s face what you would happily post, you probably having nothing worthwhile to say.</p>
<p>Even <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/25/the-queen-tweet-trolled_n_6046160.html?utm_hp_ref=uk">Queen Elizabeth famously got trolled</a> when she sent her first tweet. But as the Palace later pointed out, for every rude remark there were many more positive responses.</p>
<p><strong>4. Take pity on trolls: they’re often unhappy people</strong></p>
<p>Instead of fretting too much about comments from uncivil, anonymous people, read up on some of the many cases where they have been exposed. Some are funny, such as the case of the <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/curtis-woodhouse-twitter-troll-apologises-1759391">boxer who tracked down his troll</a> and won a grovelling public apology.</p>
<p>There are also many cases where seemingly ordinary people have taken their frustrations out on others online, without considering the harm they could do to others or themselves. </p>
<p>Examples include the 2012 exposure of “<a href="http://gawker.com/5950981/unmasking-reddits-violentacrez-the-biggest-troll-on-the-web">the biggest troll on the web</a>”. He turned out to be a middle-aged man from Texas who begged not to be unmasked and subsequently <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/michael-brutsch-reddits-biggest-loses-job-identity-gawker_n_1967727.html">lost his job</a> over online behaviour including posting “jailbait” images of underage girls.</p>
<p>There was also a tragic case of a church-going Englishwoman in her 60s, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2781377/BREAKING-NEWS-Internet-troll-targeted-McCanns-dead-hotel-room-days-fleeing-home.html">Brenda Leyland,</a> who had obsessively attacked missing girl Madeleine McCann’s parents using an anonymous <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/read-the-deleted-tweets-brenda-leyland-sent-the-mccanns">Twitter account @Sweepyface</a>. Leyland recently committed suicide after her real identity was revealed.</p>
<p><strong>5. Don’t be cowed by cowards</strong></p>
<p>Online bullies, especially those who hide behind pseudonyms and avatars, have all the courage of the playground legends who never pick a fight that they might lose. Your persistence in not giving up your right to join online debates means that they picked on the wrong person. </p>
<p>Online incivility and its ugliest side, <a href="http://fibreculturejournal.org/cfp-special-issue-for-the-fibreculture-journal-the-politics-of-trolling-and-the-negative-space-of-the-internet/">trolling</a>, are seen by some as the norm rather than as aberrant. But it often has consequences. </p>
<p>Calling out online incivility for what it is and insisting on basic standards of respect for others does not impede robust debate – it’s vital for sustaining it. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading</strong><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-i-learned-from-debating-science-with-trolls-30514">What I learned from debating science with trolls</a></em></p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Showing respect for others and taking responsibility for the quality of the conversations you take part in are among the most important guidelines for comments on this site too – all outlined in <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/community-standards">The Conversation’s Community Standards</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rowe is a previous and current recipient of funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Barcham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online and social media’s capacity to enable anyone to communicate their ideas and views is much celebrated. So why do so many people feel nervous about getting involved with online debate? Too often…David Rowe, Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityHelen Barcham, PhD candidate , Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/316402014-09-15T07:06:07Z2014-09-15T07:06:07ZAre bloggers ‘journalists’? New Zealand’s High Court says yes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58980/original/ggnr3zbq-1410747242.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If bloggers are journalists, should they all benefit from the same legal protections?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Ah Kit/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A New Zealand High Court judgment handed down on Friday will have far-reaching implications for journalists and bloggers, as courts around the world consider the rapidly changing definitions of journalism. </p>
<p>At the centre of the judgment was the question: how do New Zealand laws define who is a journalist and what is the news media? In this case, the judge found that under <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2006/0069/latest/DLM393681.html">Section 68 of the Evidence Act</a> a blogger can be classed as a journalist, and a website or blog as a news medium. </p>
<p>In the case of <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/239498524/Cam-Slater-declared-journalist-in-High-Court">Slater v Blomfield</a>, Justice Raynor Asher found that a blogger can be legally defined as a journalist. Likewise, a blog can be journalism, even if the work is carried out for a non-mainstream media outlet. </p>
<p>The definition is particularly important because it affects who the court can grant certain protections to. In Cameron Slater’s case, the issue related to whether he could call himself a journalist and his website news media, and thereby claim <a href="http://www.upstart.net.au/2014/02/18/explainer-the-journalist-and-shield-laws/">“shield law”</a> protection in a defamation case.</p>
<p>Shield laws give the courts discretion to excuse journalists from identifying a confidential source or informant. The privilege shields journalists from contempt sanctions should they refuse. Irrespective of the definition of journalist, though, judges in <a href="http://www.cla.asn.au/Article/ShieldLaws.pdf">most jurisdictions</a> ultimately have the power to force journalists to disclose names if in the interests of justice.</p>
<p>Slater’s case centred on an <a href="http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Decision-of-CS-Blackie-26_9_2013-1.pdf">earlier defamation action</a> in the Manukau District Court in which he was sued for defamation by businessman Matthew Blomfield, a company director of Hells Pizza stores. </p>
<p>Blomfield claimed that Slater had defamed him on this controversial <a href="http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/">Whale Oil blog</a> with allegations that included theft, fraud, bribery, drug dealing and pornography. At that time, the judge ruled Slater was not a journalist, nor was his blog news media. As such, he could not claim the privilege of not revealing his sources. </p>
<h2>High Court Appeal</h2>
<p>Slater appealed to the High Court, claiming: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The rules … do not say you have to be this massive corporate. My website has broken numerous stories … I deal with informants and sources and people who want to provide confidential information on a daily basis as reported in the <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11280154">New Zealand Herald</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Essentially, <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/239498524/Cam-Slater-declared-journalist-in-High-Court">Justice Asher</a> agreed, arguing that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The definition does not impose quality requirements and does not require the dissemination of news to be in a particular format. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He further argued that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Slater’s reports contain genuine new information of interest over a wide range of topics … While criticisms can be made of Mr Slater’s style and modus operandi, Whale Oil is not of such low quality that it is not reporting news. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The law in Australia, the US and Canada</h2>
<p>In making his decision, Justice Asher looked to recent law reform and legislation in New Zealand and elsewhere. In Australia, changes to Commonwealth and state evidence acts have resulted in definitional differences on matters of employment and professional status. </p>
<p>Justice Asher noted that the Australian <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ea199580/s126g.html">Commonwealth Evidence Act 1995 Section 126G</a> defines a journalist as “engaged and active in the publication of news and who may be given information by an informant in the expectation that the information may be published in a news medium”. </p>
<p>Narrower definitions in New South Wales and Western Australia define journalists as someone <a href="http://medialawnorthernireland.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/protecting-journalist-source-privilege.html">“engaged in the profession or occupation of journalism”</a>.</p>
<p>In the United States, shield laws exist in 40 states, with variations in how they define “journalist” and “journalism”. In a case this year in Oregon, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that a blog post deserved the same treatment in a defamation case as <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/01/appeals-court-rules-blogger-press-get-same-protections-181447.html">“institutional media”</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2014/01/17/12-35238.pdf">Obsidian Finance Group v Crystal Cox</a>, the court held unanimously that there was no difference between a journalist who works for a media outlet and a blogger. Justice Andrew Hurwitz said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The protections of the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional news entities, engaged in conflict-of-interest disclosure, went beyond just assembling others’ writings, or tried to get both sides of a story. As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is unworkable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Elsewhere, the <a href="http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/court-cour/judges-juges/spe-dis/bm-2012-01-31-eng.aspx">Chief Justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin</a>, has expressed her ideas on the blogger-journalist issue, commenting: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Anyone with a keyboard and access to a blog can now be a reporter. And who is to say they are not? </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Sting in the tail</h2>
<p>But while the principal issue in this story relates to the definition of a journalist, a secondary issue that applied to Slater in the New Zealand judgment is relevant to all journalists. </p>
<p>Though Slater won the right to be called a journalist, the sting in the tail lay in the fact that the court used its discretion <em>not</em> to afford Slater privilege – just as it could do to any journalist. </p>
<p>Effectively, the judge said there was “a public interest in the disclosure of the identity of those sources to enable the defences to be properly evaluated at trial”. Famously, the trial judge can override shield laws in many jurisdictions, which was exactly the outcome in this High Court case.</p>
<p>Courts around the world will have been watching this case with great interest as they grapple with the changing definitions of journalist, citizen journalist, blogger and media practice.</p>
<p>Many, like the Australian Commonwealth, have yet to test their new definitions. Last year, the Law Commission of New Zealand, in a comprehensive report <a href="http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/2013/03/nzlc_r128_new_media_web.pdf">The News Media Meets ‘New Media’</a>, pointed out how:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>before the advent of the internet there was little practical necessity to consider the question: ‘who are the news media?’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31640/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Johnston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A New Zealand High Court judgment handed down on Friday will have far-reaching implications for journalists and bloggers, as courts around the world consider the rapidly changing definitions of journalism…Jane Johnston, Associate Professor Journalism and Public Relations, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/230602014-02-18T06:09:40Z2014-02-18T06:09:40ZFashion bloggers force journalists to up their game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41711/original/wncs8k27-1392649158.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fashion both on and off the catwalk. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Short/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=london+fashion+week&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB504GB504&oq=london+fas&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j69i60l3j0.4644j0j9&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8">London Fashion Week</a> wows the front rows, the bloggers are in focus again. These style mavens are now a fixture of our fashion weeks. They have caught the imaginations of photographers – often bloggers themselves – and PRs. This new army of fashion writers is now an important conduit for ramping up a designer’s profile on the internet.</p>
<p>And an army it is. The <a href="http://www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/">British Fashion Council</a>, which organises London Fashion Week, has a <a href="http://www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/blogportal.aspx">separate category</a> for accrediting bloggers for the event. This season it has had to limit the number of these blogs in the face of an estimated 3,000 people attempting to sign up.</p>
<p>It’s easy to be snobby about fashion bloggers as untrained arbiters of style. But the fact is that these aficionados of fashion have become important, perhaps the central, 21st-century trendsetters.</p>
<p>Of course, there is a world of difference between enthusiastic teenagers publishing selfies with the caption, “I love this dress,” and the high-profile bloggers that are respected by the traditional fashion media. These write well, articulate extensive knowledge and behave ethically in terms of disclosing “gifting” and their financial relationships with brands when they have them.</p>
<p>The best fashion blogs are effectively part of the established fashion media, no more a threat to established magazines than the swathe of niche independent magazines launched every year. Indeed, respected fashion bloggers are now rolled out as experts to comment on fashion stories across the media. <a href="http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/">Stylebubble’s</a> Susanna Lau is a case in point, and this fashion week she is also contributing her thoughts to <a href="http://www.lfwdaily.com/">London Fashion Week Daily</a>.</p>
<p>These fashion enthusiasts have effectively democratised the catwalks. Once the privileged and exclusive arena for retail buyers and fashion journalists alone, instant availability of fashion images from the runway, not to mention <a href="http://londonfashionweek.co.uk/live.aspx">live streaming of the events</a>, means that traditional journalism has had to change.</p>
<p>The change elicited by this boom in blogging was eloquently described by veteran fashion editor Suzy Menkes in an <a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/the-circus-of-fashion/">article</a> this time last year. She contrasted what she described as the “black crows” of traditional journalism with the “peacocks” – both style bloggers and look-at-me stylists – and described how the fuss around what those outside the shows were wearing was beginning to overtake any fuss about the shows themselves. It is not only fashion writing that has been transformed, but also how we consume it. </p>
<p>This is perhaps why it is no longer the role of a fashion journalist to describe what a designer has sent down the runway. Any member of the public with access to the internet can see that for themselves – and even buy the product online in advance of it hitting the shops. Today, fashion journalists have to take a longer view. They have to contextualise in history and culture and advise how, why and when to wear different trends, looks or individual garments.</p>
<p>As style blogging has democratised fashion journalism it has influenced the content of fashion pages in our newspapers and magazines. Most importantly, it has also moulded online editorial fashion content, whether written or moving image.</p>
<p>And in response to many tens of thousands of teenage selfies showing their latest fashion purchase, and hundreds of fashion bloggers doing the same, fashion editors now parade themselves in the latest looks. No longer able to be aloof from their readers, fashion journalists have to flaunt themselves, taking on the role of model as well as information provider. But will this mean that eventually fashion journalists will need to look like models to get the job?</p>
<p>Anyone can be a commentator now – which means that as well as quality of writing, the show of personality is increasingly relevant. And back at London Fashion Week, the scrum of photographers looking for the most strikingly dressed visitors continues to annoy and delight in equal measure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josephine Collins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As London Fashion Week wows the front rows, the bloggers are in focus again. These style mavens are now a fixture of our fashion weeks. They have caught the imaginations of photographers – often bloggers…Josephine Collins, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Fashion Journalism, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/228642014-02-11T05:50:24Z2014-02-11T05:50:24ZHow GIFs are changing the way we talk science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41043/original/xpnz65w3-1391797176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">GIFs can help show the effects of climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Kelley</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The use of “GIFs” has exploded in recent years. They are used for news, views and entertainment but are most commonly seen as a light-hearted medium. Now scientists are beginning to see how GIFs can be used in public engagement with science and in <a href="https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2014/01/24/how-to-do-things-with-gifs/">science communication</a>.</p>
<p>GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format and these are small moving pictures or animated computer images inserted into web-chats and discussions. They’ve been around since <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/gif">1987</a>, but there are actually examples of <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/25/5027890/the-psychedelic-and-grotesque-proto-gifs-of-the-19th-century">protogifs</a> that date back to the 19th century. </p>
<figure> <img src="http://media.giphy.com/media/nt0C2kH3pG6SQ/giphy.gif"><figcaption>A 19th Century proto-gif.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Most people who spend time online will have come across a GIF at some point, even if we struggle to agree on how the word is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AMn-7qalgw">pronounced</a>. </p>
<p>There seems to be a spectrum of GIFs. They are used as a kind of extended emoticon to emphasise a point and even as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CALhtQzNr0E">artforms</a>. And whole sites like <a href="https://vine.co/">Vine</a> have sprung up dedicated to GIFs.</p>
<h2>Capturing the imagination</h2>
<p>But aside from the thousands of GIFs that circulate of people falling down stairs or of cats behaving badly, their use as a way of getting complex scientific information across to a general audience appears to be a growing trend. </p>
<p>In one blog on <a href="http://amyrobinson.me/2013/03/09/awesome-science-gifs/">awesome science GIFs</a>, Amy Robinson calls <a href="http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/11/6-chemical-reaction-gifs-that-will-make-you-a-smarter-person/%20%22),%20%22one%20of%20mankind%E2%80%99s%20finest%20internet%20creations%22%20and%20the%20Smithsonian%20elected%20to%20chart%20what%20it%20saw%20as%20the%20%5Bcoolest%20science%20of%202013%5D(http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-coolest-science-of-2013-in-gifs-180948069/">chemical reaction GIFs</a> in GIF form.</p>
<figure> <img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2013-10/enhanced/webdr06/1/6/anigif_enhanced-buzz-26657-1380623142-0.gif"><figcaption>Setting fire to lithium. Nick Moore.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Many scientific disciplines are also now developing their own GIFs to encapsulate scientific methods, discoveries, objects and so on in succinct and relatively simple and enjoyable ways. They cover topics such as <a href="http://mhrussel.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/metagenomics-exlpained-with-gif-animation/">metagenomics</a> or <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/07/30/5-gifs-of-n-body-orbits/">bodies in orbit</a> in a way that is both useful and informative.</p>
<p>A large selection of science GIFs can be found on GIF search engine <a href="http://blog.betaworks.com/post/45833295813/this-is-giphy">giphy</a>, and you can also now source them directly from Google images, which has added a subsection on animated images.</p>
<p>These images then find their way into science, technology and art communication videos, such as those produced by the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsideachannel/about">PBS Idea Channel</a>, which explores the connections between pop culture, technology and art, and also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPZYQh7TCyU&feature=youtube_gdata_player">explains</a> how it sources the GIFs in the first place. Some science communicators, such as Hank Green, also host their own <a href="http://hankgreengifs.tumblr.com/">GIF blogs</a>. Two beautiful examples of GIFs for science communication were recently posted on twitter. One showed <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/these-gifs-of-birds-in-motion-are-maybe-the-best-thing">birds in motion</a> and the other a series of different types of <a href="http://www.animatedengines.com/">engine</a>.</p>
<figure> <img src="http://boygeniusreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/climate-change-33.gif"><figcaption>A NASA climate change video in GIF form. BGR.com.</figcaption></figure>
<p>GIFs have been particularly embraced in <a href="http://giphy.com/search/climate-change">climate change communication</a>, such as to show <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/9-gifs-that-show-how-climate-change-will-affect-earth">how climate change will affect the earth</a>, or <a href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/34161/5-gifs-that-show-what-climate-change-will-do-to-major-u-s-cities">major cities</a>, or to illustrate how certain <a href="http://www.skepticalscience.com/going-down-the-up-escalator-part-1.html">graphs</a> can be interpreted by various people.</p>
<h2>Keeping it friendly</h2>
<p>GIFs and short videos that appear to have nothing to do with science also crop up in the discussion or comments sections of online articles. One example is a recent discussion on the website <a href="http://andthentheresphysics.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/elements-of-truth/http:/andthentheresphysics.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/elements-of-truth/">andthenthereisphysics</a>, where the comment section was punctuated, so to speak, with very short videos of sketches from Monty Python, among others.</p>
<p>These were used almost as impromptu humorous interjections, apparently to keep the conversation in the comment stream relatively light-hearted. The use and abuse of comments left after online articles and blogs is an interesting <a href="http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2013/10/11/do-online-user-comments-provide-a-space-for-deliberative-democracy/">subject</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2012.00479.x/abstract">in itself</a> so their use in science discussions may serve a bigger purpose than simply humour. </p>
<p>These short movies don’t make statements about a certain scientific issue. They might instead be called “performative” or interactional. They are tools of conversation and and perhaps tools of comment moderation. They are used more like elaborate emoticons and may make online communication more effective, enjoyable and less prone to misunderstandings and misinterpretations. These are all important in exchanges about climate change, where tensions can run high.</p>
<p>Of course, like emoticons, GIFs and other animated and moving images should not be overused, but they can change the tone of a conversation. They may contribute to making online debates less adversarial, as many of them are ironic and self-deprecatory. They are frequently used, it seems, to undermine authority and undercut tradition. </p>
<p>GIFs can both bring science to life for the uninitiated and help those talking about science keep it light-hearted and friendly or avoid crossed wires. I expect we’ll see a lot more GIFs on science sites in the future, doing different sorts of work in and for science communication and public engagement with science. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brigitte Nerlich receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the ESRC.</span></em></p>The use of “GIFs” has exploded in recent years. They are used for news, views and entertainment but are most commonly seen as a light-hearted medium. Now scientists are beginning to see how GIFs can be…Brigitte Nerlich, Professor of Science, Language and Society, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226192014-02-03T00:01:27Z2014-02-03T00:01:27ZMove to block academics blogging is outdated and stifling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40295/original/qzcjcj2p-1391167344.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C77%2C500%2C332&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How to get noticed</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Gideon Burton</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the <a href="http://www.isanet.org/">International Studies Association</a> attempted to regulate the blogging activities of some of its members, the <a href="http://saideman.blogspot.ca/2014/01/are-blogs-inherently-unprofessional.html#more">reaction was unsurprisingly hostile</a>. The row has prompted coverage in <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/29/international-studies-association-proposes-bar-editors-blogging">academic outlets</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/29/blog-ban-academic-studies-professors">mainstream publications</a>, and reignited the debate about why academics blog. </p>
<p>Specifically, the leadership of the ISA, its executive committee, had proposed that the various individuals responsible for editing the ISA’s publications would have to cut ties with any and all blogs. The language attached to this proposal contained a very negative and mostly outdated view of blogging. The idea was that blogging is somehow contrary to professionalism.</p>
<p>Why all the noise? A few reasons stand out. First, universities, grant agencies and even governments increasingly expect scholars to reach out beyond the academic community and translate their jargon-filled work into shorter, clearer messages to the public and relevant communities, such as policy makers. </p>
<p>Blogging is ideal for this. Indeed, there has been much progress made in this effort. The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage">Monkey Cage</a> is a group of political scientists who have become so adept in this act of translation that they are now attached to the Washington Post.</p>
<p>Second, those that edit the ISA’s journals are already making a considerable sacrifice of their time that would otherwise go to teaching, research, and service. Giving up blogging might be a sacrifice too far, as many scholars now rely on blogging not just to share their research, but to stake claims, think aloud and to help with their teaching. </p>
<p>Third, the ISA’s proposal contained a very confused idea of blogging. The possibility of a controversy tainting the ISA is always possible whenever any scholar related to it appears on television or radio, is interviewed by magazines or newspapers, tweets, posts on Facebook, or blogs. The singling out of blogging seemed most strange.</p>
<p>Fourth, blogging, twitter and other social media are particularly useful for those who are not at the commanding heights of academia. Those who have fewer resources or who have been marginalised can use the free resource that is the internet (most major blogging outlets, such as wordpress and blogger are free and easy to learn) to overcome these challenges. </p>
<p>When I started the processes of fighting this proposal, the first individuals that came to my side were those that represent women in the profession as well as those representing the lesbian, gay, transgender, and queer community, those that study the less powerful parts of the world, as well as others who have seen blogging to be a key means by which they can confront the absence of their work from more mainstream debate. </p>
<p>Finally, scholars get very feisty whenever academic freedom seems threatened.</p>
<p>There was much negative feedback via blogs, twitter, email and probably phone calls. As a result, the president of the ISA, Harvey Starr, has asked for the matter to be sent to a committee for consideration. </p>
<p>This is not necessarily the end of the matter, as the proposal will still be discussed by both the executive committee and its <a href="http://www.isanet.org/ISA/Governance/GoverningCouncil/Meetings/2014/Members.aspx">Governing Council</a>, a larger group that includes both the executive committee and representatives of the many sections and regions that help to organise the ISA and its annual meeting. It will also be discussed throughout the upcoming ISA conference, taking place in Toronto at the end of March.</p>
<h2>Blocking constructive debate</h2>
<p>The good news is that this controversy can serve as an opportunity for bloggers, tweeters, and podcasters to educate those who are concerned about the rambunctious nature of internet communications. </p>
<p>The entire episode is laden with irony. The concern that blogging might somehow be contrary to constructive debate has produced a policy that did not reflect a constructive debate. But the ISA’s proposed policy did produce <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57618127-93/blogging-deemed-beneath-the-hallowed-halls-of-academia/">a very constructive discussion in the blogosphere</a> about attitudes to blogging, and about the increased expectations that scholars should be blogging.</p>
<p>The proposed policy has unintentionally helped to foster a community of people who rely on social media in the multiple dimensions of their jobs as professors. That is, teaching, research and service. This newly energised community will be more vigilant in its efforts to fight outdated views about the place of the internet in academia. </p>
<p>To be clear, a small group of people had some legitimate concerns but also some unfortunate misconceptions and little experience. With so much push-back, they realised how much social media has become essential to the business of researching and teaching international affairs. They had to back down and now propose sending the issue to a committee where it might not ever escape. The next steps must to be encourage and promote greater, not less, engagement of scholars beyond the academy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Saideman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When the International Studies Association attempted to regulate the blogging activities of some of its members, the reaction was unsurprisingly hostile. The row has prompted coverage in academic outlets…Stephen Saideman, Paterson Chair in International Affairs, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219052014-01-14T06:42:42Z2014-01-14T06:42:42ZTrolling stays with you, long after the abuse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/38884/original/gndb486m-1389534031.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Caroline Criado Perez has spoken out about her experiences with trolls.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Canadian Pacific</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As someone who researches online behaviours such as trolling, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking, I have, from time to time, ended up on the receiving end of abusive online behaviour myself.</p>
<p>Out of a wide and varied selection, I’ve had a well-educated “independent researcher” delivering tirades of colourful ad hominem attacks while asking for copies of all my publications in comments in between. A second spent some considerable effort constructing an online profile of me, complete with posts, which, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll describe as “not complimentary”. And a third has sent me a catalogue of emails wrathfully explaining how I’m part of a media and pharmaceutical-based plot to censor America. (Just America, apparently…)</p>
<p>What’s especially sad, though, is how many people will read that summary with amusement – or perhaps envy – at how tepid my experience has been. Indeed, when we consider that regular targets for online abuse include <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/academics-face-the-cybercreeps-alone/2009183.article">academics</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/21/mary-beard-suffers-twitter-abuse">women</a>, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25641941">public figures</a>, I’m really only surprised that as a female academic with a public profile, I haven’t had worse.</p>
<p>I shouldn’t feel so thankful – just as no one should feel thankful for crossing town without ending up the victim of an unprovoked shooting – but the sense of miraculously dodging a hail of bullets is frequently reinforced.</p>
<p>In recent years I’ve done all kinds of keynotes and talks for the EU, the House of Lords, Westminster, regulatory bodies, the media, schools, colleges, conferences and more besides. As a result, I’ve met a small army of people – public figures, journalists, MPs, police, students, parents, other academics – keen to share their own experiences of online abuse.</p>
<p>Many have also conveyed just how few people they can talk to about it. Some have been dismissed with answers like, “don’t take it so seriously, it isn’t real”, while others, who have internalised this mindset, even denigrate the problem themselves with reflections like, “I don’t know why I let it bother me”. Either way, the result is a feeling of isolated inadequacy – as though being affected by online abuse is somehow a failing on their part.</p>
<p>Such views are deeply troubling. I suspect that it is a rare person who can’t recall a single hurtful thing ever said to them. Some words are so sharp, they leave wounds that last a lifetime – far longer than any <a href="http://www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm">physical injury</a>, and yet there is almost an unwillingness to acknowledge that words online are as “real” as those offline.</p>
<p>Another classic “solution” often thrown casually about is to tell targets of abuse to just “close their account”. By this logic, why not tell a victim of burglary to just move house? Or a target of homophobic assault to just avoid their attackers?</p>
<p>For some, the online abuse they receive is defamatory and specifically designed to harm their offline reputation, career, or relationships. Leaving damaging rumours to take root as “fact” is therefore not an option. For others, online abuse can have a terrible fascination that drags them into a cycle in which they obsessively search online to see if anything new has appeared. If that seems odd, think of it this way: you overhear someone talking about you. Could you resist staying to listen? And if it turns out to be nasty, could you just forget it? Not stew over it during the long hours of the night? Not recall it every time you see that person? Truthfully…?</p>
<p>The conversations I’ve had with those who have faced online abuse contrast markedly with those who haven’t. The latter often have simple explanations for how they’d handle it, as though facing a boxing match that ends with a final bell and a clear winner.</p>
<p>Those who have experienced it often know better. Online abuse is more akin to a slow poison that continually erodes confidence, security, and peace of mind. Dealing with it is not easy, either for the target or investigative bodies, but we must get better at recognising that it is as “real” as offline abuse. To dismiss it as otherwise is to not only deny someone the help they may desperately need, but worse, to enable online abusers to carry on inflicting misery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21905/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Hardaker receives funding from the ESRC, grant ref: ES/L008874/1, title: "Twitter rape threats and the discourse of online misogyny".</span></em></p>As someone who researches online behaviours such as trolling, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking, I have, from time to time, ended up on the receiving end of abusive online behaviour myself. Out of a wide…Claire Hardaker, Lecturer in Corpus Linguistics, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191052013-11-04T03:41:41Z2013-11-04T03:41:41ZChanging tastes: why foodies are the new food critics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33749/original/hbmbrnfp-1382664688.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Restaurant blogging is not simply an exercise in consumerism gone wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">missmeng</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Smartphones at the table. Food blogs. Photographs of perfect meals posted online before anyone has taken a bite. Amateur restaurant reviews.</p>
<p>Many people don’t just want to cook good food and eat it. They want to review it, blog about it, and take photos of it. This is the age of the “foodie”.</p>
<p>I’ve spent a number of years <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/food-and-the-self-9780857854223/">researching 50 foodies</a> in Melbourne and I’ve discovered that these new food enthusiasts are best understood not as hobbyists who just like to cook and eat, but as amateurs. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33752/original/pqyntpz5-1382665081.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BevGarvin</span></span>
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<p>As amateurs, foodies are defined by the professional-style approach they take to shopping, cooking, restaurant dining and, for an increasing number, food blogging. It’s through the latter endeavour that foodies are making perhaps the most visible impact on our public dining scene.</p>
<p>As foodies take their pursuit ever more seriously a new power struggle is emerging: in one corner, professional food critics, brandishing their experience, legitimising authority and traditional media credibility; in the other corner, amateur foodie bloggers, armed with their smartphones, digital SLRs and free blogging software. </p>
<p>Food blogging has become increasingly popular in recent years, so much so that the international blogging awards, the Bloggies, have a separate category for the <a href="http://2013.bloggi.es/">Best Food Blog</a>. The blog indexer Technorati lists <a href="http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/living/food/">more than 20,000 food blogs</a> in its directory. </p>
<p>There are more food blogs than blogs devoted to sport, science, fashion, celebrity, travel, TV, music or film.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33751/original/pg9jvm7m-1382665030.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">byteorder</span></span>
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<p>Entries on amateur food blogs fall into two main categories: recipes and restaurant reviews. Interestingly, it is only restaurant reviews that have attracted significant concern and criticism, particularly from traditional media and professional critics. </p>
<p>One key criticism directed at restaurant bloggers and amateur reviewers is that they lack the credentials and expertise to judge restaurant cuisine. What such arguments fail to acknowledge is that there aren’t any established qualifications in food criticism to begin with. </p>
<p>The only qualifications most professional food critics hold are in journalism – and some can’t even claim those. </p>
<p>So expertise in judging food – for professionals and amateurs alike – is based on experience, rather than formal training and qualifications. That’s why restaurant blogging has become the site of such contention in contemporary food cultures. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33750/original/stqc7k5t-1382664972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">knitwick</span></span>
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<p>By contrast, recipe blogging has not been seen as posing a threat to its professional counterparts because there are qualifications in cooking; most culinary experts are credentialed chefs, which distinguishes their expertise from amateur bloggers. </p>
<p>But the worry about amateur bloggers and restaurant reviewers from within traditional media doesn’t just turn on whether amateurs <em>deserve</em> the power to make or break restaurants and influence consumer tastes. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33753/original/z6cdhhtr-1382665137.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are also concerns about how they use this power. Amateur bloggers have been criticised for a perceived lack of ethics. Their mode of reviewing gets compared unfavourably to the way professionals go about it. The pros often wait for new restaurants to get established, visit on more than one occasion, spend their employers’ money, and account to an editor. </p>
<p>The thing is, the amateur blogger’s experience is far more representative of that of the average diner. They visit the restaurant once – for new restaurants, often as soon as they open, pipping professional reviewers at the post - and spend their own money. </p>
<p>Despite insinuations that amateurs can easily be “bought off”, not one of the foodie bloggers in my research accepted free food in return for reviews. They were also anonymous to restaurateurs – unlike well-known professional critics. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33754/original/hn5jfr6n-1382665178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">grogotte</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, while they were not accountable to an editor, those bloggers did believe the ethical responsibility of restaurant reviewing to be very important. Indeed, the ethical burden of publishing a negative review weighed heavily on them. I encountered a general awareness of the potential impact a bad review could have on a restaurant’s reputation, and an avoidance of making such an impact. </p>
<p>Another common perception is that all amateur food bloggers aspire to become professionals. The bloggers who do make this transition attract most of the attention in traditional media – most famously America’s Julie Powell whose blog <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021217011704/http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html">The Julie/Julia Project</a> led not only to a book deal but also a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_&_Julia">Hollywood film</a>.</p>
<p>Most of the food bloggers I spoke to respected professional critics but none were seriously pursuing a career in food journalism. They may have had occasional daydreams of being a professional critic, yet most were happy to keep their reviewing as a leisure pursuit. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33756/original/rqvvh5g5-1382665300.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">mallydally</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So if not to launch a professional journalism career, why do foodies blog? </p>
<p>On one level, it’s because they enjoy sharing knowledge and advice about food with others (and having people follow it is even better). </p>
<p>On a more personal level, it’s about creating gastronomic memoirs for themselves, documenting their relationship with food, which is fundamental to their foodie identity. This is particularly important given the ephemeral nature of food: photographing or writing about a gastronomic experience fixes it in time, and gives the foodie something enduring to which they can return. </p>
<p>Overall, I found the main attraction of blogging for foodies is that it functions as a form of what I call “creative production” – that is, it’s about finding everyday ways to express a sense of creativity and to have the feeling of making something in this postindustrial world where most of us no longer have an opportunity to make things or be creative in our paid work. </p>
<p>Restaurant blogging, then, is not simply an exercise in consumerism gone wild. It’s more a way of taking a consumer activity and making it productive and creative, turning it into a craft activity. </p>
<p>That’s something worth considering the next time you’re forced to wait patiently as your friends snap and post their meals.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>Isabelle de Solier’s new book on foodies, <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/food-and-the-self-9780857854223/">Food and the Self: Consumption, Production and Material Culture</a>, is published by Bloomsbury.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle de Solier received funding for this research from the Australian Government through an Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p>Smartphones at the table. Food blogs. Photographs of perfect meals posted online before anyone has taken a bite. Amateur restaurant reviews. Many people don’t just want to cook good food and eat it. They…Isabelle de Solier, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural Diversity and Wellbeing, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/173342013-08-22T09:09:31Z2013-08-22T09:09:31ZForget tweeting, meet the birds who blog<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29695/original/wygnjnb7-1377100940.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">#timeforlunch brb.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sean Gray</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers in Aberdeen and the RSPB have set up a project that enables Scottish birds to write their own blogs.</p>
<p>Readers will be able to track the daily lives of red kites as they travel around the Scottish Highlands by visiting a <a href="http://redkite.abdn.ac.uk/new/blog/">website</a> set up as part of efforts to ensure the species is successfully reintroduced to the area.</p>
<p>The four blogging kites have been fitted with satellite tags that relay their position up to six times a day. This location information is automatically linked to weather, habitat and geographical data. So readers can hear from Millie about where she has been over the past week or catch up with Moray’s roosting habits. They’ll find out about the kind of food Moray has come across and the habitats she has visited by checking for weekly updates. If the birds come across each other during their travels, that information also makes it online. The kites’ personal website comes complete with author biographies, a map that charts their movements and links to flickr images of their daily commutes.</p>
<p>All the blogging birds are from the Black Isle near Inverness, one of two areas in which attempts to reintroduce red kites to the UK began in 1989. While the birds managed to set up a viable population in the other location in the Chilterns (southern England), they struggled in Scotland. To work out what happened to the birds, some were equipped with a satellite tag and monitored by the RSPB.</p>
<p>The RSPB has long been working to monitor the birds and inform children in particular about their progress. In recent years, an RSPB kite officer has been writing blogs about their whereabouts using information from the tags. After a while, though, that proved a tedious task given the complex nature of satellite tag data.</p>
<p>But the birds are now going it alone with technology developed by the <a href="http://www.dotrural.ac.uk/">dot.rural</a> research hub at the University of Aberdeen. Their blogs will come directly from the skies using Natural Language Generation. </p>
<p>The kite blogs were developed through collaboration between computing and ecological scientists at Aberdeen University and conservationists at the RSPB. Raw data from the satellite tags are automatically analysed to detect patterns which are ecologically interpreted and directly converted into a blog. This automated blogging system is the first of its kind and enables large amounts of data to be instantly converted into readable text. Simply by flying around with a tag on its back, a red kite is allowing a computer to write the story of its life - through weekly blogs about how and why it explores the landscape around it.</p>
<p>Red kites were persecuted from the 18th century right up until late in the 20th century as they were viewed as a threat to farming and game-shooting. By the 1940s they were extinct in England and Scotland, while fewer than ten pairs remained in Wales. However, since then, the species has been successfully reintroduced to ten sites around the UK including on the Black Isle. Millie and her fellow bloggers are part of what the RSPB would like to become a permanent community in the Highlands.</p>
<p>The hope is that the blogging birds can help us better understand the lives of red kites and particularly how they recolonise a landscape that has been kite-free for well over a century. Opening up the information to the public in a new way should also get people engaged with the conservation efforts that are aimed at helping this majestic bird make a comeback.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The website <a href="http://redkite.abdn.ac.uk">http://redkite.abdn.ac.uk</a> was developed by scientists from the University of Aberdeen working together as part of the dot.rural RCUK Digital Economy Research Hub in collaboration with the RSPB.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Advaith Siddharthan receives funding from EPSRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Robinson receives funding from dot.rural Research Councils UK Digital Economy Programme</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Mellish receives funding from RCUK through the Digital Economy programme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danny Heptinstall is a PhD student at dot.rural, University of Aberdeen and receives funding from the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Programme Hub grant to Aberdeen.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kapila Ponnamperuma conducts research supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Benn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers in Aberdeen and the RSPB have set up a project that enables Scottish birds to write their own blogs. Readers will be able to track the daily lives of red kites as they travel around the Scottish…Rene van der Wal, Reader in Ecology, University of AberdeenAdvaith Siddharthan, Lecturer in Computing Science, University of AberdeenAnnie Robinson, Ecology Research Fellow, University of AberdeenChris Mellish, Chair in Computing Science, University of AberdeenDanny Heptinstall, PhD student, University of AberdeenKapila Ponnamperuma, Computer Science Research Fellow, University of AberdeenStuart Benn, Conservation Manager, Royal Society for the Protection of BirdsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109912012-12-04T03:33:11Z2012-12-04T03:33:11ZSleaze, smear and social media: how citizen journalists drove the AWU story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18229/original/tyw7y88h-1354491816.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Twitter users are using the #auspol hash to pursue allegations against Julia Gillard.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Twitter</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent opposition attacks on Julia Gillard’s ethics have been underpinned by an unprecedented underground online campaign prosecuted on social media. The questions raised by Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop were foreshadowed in the Murdoch press, which in turn was informed by blogs maintained by right wing activists operating on the margins of the mainstream media.</p>
<p>All this has happened beyond the rarefied gaze of the press gallery, which has become a target for speculation and abuse itself.</p>
<p>Untroubled by ethical codes or even laws covering defamation, contempt of court, racial vilification and even sexual harassment, partisan websites habitually describe government ministers as criminals, repeatedly presenting unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoings as fact.</p>
<h2>The Twitter vanguard</h2>
<p>Postings have been promoted by Twitter accounts such as <a href="https://twitter.com/LaborDirt">Labor Dirt</a>, maintained by a Gold Coast IT specialist, who recycled tweets around the clock on the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23auspol&src=hash">#auspol</a> hashtag at the rate of one per minute.</p>
<p>Comments are re-tweeted by a chorus of mostly anonymous supporters who confuse personal attacks with political debate. Name calling included “Slagillard”, “Juliar”, “bignose”, “dillard”, “adulterer” and “husband stealer”.</p>
<p>“Gillard more slippery than a bar of soap in a gay sauna” Irving J <a href="https://twitter.com/irving_berlin/status/272933955601313794">tweeted</a> on #auspol. He’d <a href="https://twitter.com/irving_berlin/status/272589303740260352">earlier written</a> that there was no need for those he labelled criminals to actually have a criminal record because socialists were by definition “criminals”. He tweeted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When the grubs r running country, they get what they deserve! thieves & socialist filth to boot.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Pickering’s posts</h2>
<p>The internet campaign has been spearheaded by <a href="http://pickeringpost.com/">The Pickering Post</a>, edited and apparently entirely written by retired News Limited cartoonist, Larry Pickering. Pickering was made famous in the 1980s for his naked caricatures of Australian male politicians depicted with either very large or minuscule penises. More recently, he was <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national-old/cartoonist-banned-from-facebook-for-obscene-gillard-pic/story-e6frfkvr-1226396495741">banned from Facebook</a> for three days for posting a lewd drawing of the prime minister, which featured a naked Julia Gillard talking about the carbon tax.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18234/original/4sp48p8j-1354493571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1196&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blogger and cartoonist Larry Pickering has led the charge against Gillard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dave Hunt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pickering <a href="http://pickeringpost.com/article/gillard-set-to-tough-it-out/794">wrote on his blog</a> that he ignored journalistic conventions to ensure the story about the prime minister, who he clearly despises, was broken. “I copped plenty of flak because I told the story in a different way in order to get the traction it deserved,” he said.</p>
<p>Without citing evidence, or perhaps assuming that it was self-evident, Pickering claimed the story had been suppressed by a government PR machine which defamed opponents; a drip-feed of “feel good” policies, subtle control of the media through press conferences, repetition of the party line and denial.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, he claimed mainstream media political correspondents were also engaged in a conspiracy to ignore the story, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=427233017330862&id=236991276355038">writing</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bongiorno, Grattan, Oakes and minor Gillard sycophants Pascoe, Murray and van Onselen are still in embarrassing denial … Welcome to the real world of investigative journalism, fellas, you have all been asleep. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But Pickering’s form of “investigative journalism” is one that most investigative journalists would not recognise.</p>
<h2>Shock-jocks gone rogue</h2>
<p>Joining the charge with Pickering is Michael Smith, a former shock-jock and retired policeman, who has merged the roles of commentator, publicist and prosecutor. Smith had earlier been prominent at a public rally staged against the carbon tax which was highly critical of the PM.* </p>
<p>In a much publicised <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/host-smith-reaches-settlement-to-leave-2ue/story-e6frg996-1226193141083">falling out</a> with his Fairfax media employers, he objected to being told not to broadcast material contained in an interview about Gillard. Since then, he has maintained a media profile with a [blog](http://www.michaelsmithnews.com.au], through <a href="http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/07/alan-jones-interviews-michael-smith">radio interviews</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_BGGuYJIbg">video monologues</a> distributed on Youtube.</p>
<p>After failing to get a response to questions put to the prime minister’s office, Smith <a href="http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/11/note-to-editorsjournalists-julia-gillard-is-currently-facing-very-serious-allegations-and-victoria-p.html?cid=6a0177444b0c2e970d017d3e27050c970c">wrote that he</a> “reported the Prime Minister’s conduct in the matter of the Power of Attorney to the Chief Commissioner of Police, Victoria Police Force”.</p>
<p>When later contacted by a Victorian Police Fraud squad sergeant, Smith said, “I furnished further and better particulars to him as well as some further documentary evidence.”</p>
<p>“The detective then asked me if I could contact Ralph Edwin Blewitt [to become the star witness against Gillard] and if so could I invite him to attend on Victoria Police to make a statement. It’s now widely known that Mr Blewitt did in fact return to Australia as a result of the detective’s request.” </p>
<p>Indeed, Smith could be seen hovering in the backgrounds when Blewitt presented himself for mainstream television interviews.</p>
<h2>Kangaroo court</h2>
<p>So how did Smith get onto the story that ended his mainstream career?</p>
<p>The creator of <a href="http://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/">Kangaroo Court of Australia</a>, Shane Dowling, has claimed that a <a href="http://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2011/08/07/australian-prime-minister-julia-gillards-criminal-history-and-her-hypocris-with-wikileaks-and-julian-assange/">post he made in 2011</a> led both Michael Smith and news.com.au columnist Andrew Bolt to pick up on Gillard’s personal history. </p>
<p>He <a href="http://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2011/09/05/has-julia-gillard-blackmailed-the-media-to-cover-up-her-corrupt-past-the-fairfax-media-and-news-corp-scandal/">claimed</a> the government had blackmailed Fairfax and News Limited to keep silent.</p>
<p>Dowling has unsuccessfully sought a press pass for himself to federal parliament.</p>
<h2>The gallery left behind</h2>
<p>Blogger Grogs Gamut <a href="http://alanknight.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/the-twittering-classes/">has observed</a> in his book The Rise of the Fifth Estate that the press gallery is seen by many as an inward-looking group of insiders. He writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many journalists in the press gallery will interact only with other members of the gallery, and those who do interact with non journalists seem more likely to do so only to argue with critics. For all the concerns about not being allowed to tweet stories outside their area, few do so. Most tweet links to their own stories or to others in their own newspapers. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This isolation, and dependence on politicians’ handouts, has contributed to a gap between the media and the public now claimed by social media activists. As the Youtube hits to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihd7ofrwQX0">Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech</a> showed, there is a huge audience that is disconnected from the gallery’s view of politics.</p>
<p>But citizen journalists such as Pickering, Smith, Dowling and the leagues of Twitter users on #auspol ignore the niceties of the ritualised dance between political reporters and politicians.</p>
<p>The AWU affair shows how new media has created unimaginable opportunities for free speech, but at a cost to civil political debate, politicians’ sensibilities and often the truth itself.</p>
<p><em>*An earlier version of the piece referred to “Ditch the Witch” banners displayed at earlier anti-carbon tax rallies. This reference has been removed as Mike Smith has informed us that no such banners were present at the rally at which he spoke. We apologise for the error.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Knight ran the national disinformation for the Labor Party in the 1983 elections. He was subsequently sacked and blacklisted for questioning a senior Senator's links with organised crime. He currently blogs about Online Journalism at <a href="http://alanknight.wordpress.com/">http://alanknight.wordpress.com/</a></span></em></p>Recent opposition attacks on Julia Gillard’s ethics have been underpinned by an unprecedented underground online campaign prosecuted on social media. The questions raised by Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop…Alan Knight, Head of the Graduate School of Journalism, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90452012-08-24T01:29:10Z2012-08-24T01:29:10ZMisogynists and nut jobs: Gillard stares down blogosphere<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/14587/original/7vk9m7xt-1345763373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=462%2C0%2C4817%2C3396&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Julia Gillard yesterday blasted those on the internet for recycling rumours about her, part of what she calls a sexist campaign.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime minister Julia Gillard took aim yesterday at the “misogynists” and “nut jobs” on the internet posting about her conduct 17 years ago while working as an industrial lawyer.</p>
<p>The Prime Minister said claims in The Australian that she had been involved in setting up a questionable trust fund while at Slater & Gordon (since retracted) had been fuelled by internet rumours. She then gave an
<a href="http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/transcript-press-conference-canberra-30">hour long press conference</a> to confront the issue.</p>
<p>Ms Gillard said the claims aired in The Australian were “false and highly defamatory”, but they came from a “sexist smear campaign” that started on the internet, and should have been ignored by the mainstream media. </p>
<p>Putting aside the claims and counter-claims around her conduct, what Gillard rightly points to is a new kind of news cycle – the recycling of unchecked material on the internet which then feeds into the mainstream media and back again on an endless loop. </p>
<p>This loop has no end in sight, as Gillard said, “In terms of people who continue to circulate these claims, will the misogynists and the nut jobs on the internet continue to circulate them? Yes, they will.”</p>
<p>But what role does misogyny and sexism play in this – and what, if anything, can be done about it?</p>
<h2>Misogyny and the internet</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/nussbaum/">Martha Nussbaum</a>, Ernst Freund Distinguished Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, has spent a lot of time examining the boundaries of morality and decency. Lately, she’s examined communication on the internet.</p>
<p>When asked last night about Gillard’s assertion, Nussbaum said the Prime Minister was absolutely accurate about those who post on the internet: “She is entirely correct and [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Offensive-Internet-Privacy-Reputation/dp/0674050894">our book</a>] discusses many examples of internet misogyny,” she said. </p>
<p>The word “nutjob”, sadly, is not a word with which too many Chicagoans are familiar. But take the ethics professor’s story of one particular website: “[It] existed only to defame named female law students by writing pornographic stories about them, and which caused serious employment problems for them, was protected from all liability. Only the posters were liable, and they were anonymous.”</p>
<p>We don’t have the same – legal – problem in Australia. After all, courts have used mechanisms to make internet hosts cough up the IP addresses of those who post. But professor of journalism at Bond University and author of <a href="http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=305&book=9781742378770">Blogging and Tweeting without Getting Sued</a>, Mark Pearson says it’s rare. “Thousands of messages are unactioned every day.” And embedded in those thousands – thousands - of messages is unadorned hatred of women. </p>
<p>Tory Maguire, editor of The Punch, remembers the night of the Rudd spill. Maguire, a meticulous comment moderator, was up late into the night, sifting through the river of posts that were coming in. “The comments coming in, the torrents of misogyny, were quite shocking to me,” she says.</p>
<h2>Easy sexism</h2>
<p>For me, this misogyny is not new. I’ve always had hate mail. Even the kind where the author is so keen to preserve their anonymity they’ve cut out individual letters and then pasted them on to sheets of paper. I’ve had those, threatening to kill me and my kids. </p>
<p>But the effort of putting together anonymous origami hate mail is great, it takes time and so there was never much of it. </p>
<p>These days though, the comments flood my email inbox, my Facebook messages, my Twitter feed. It can be just as anonymous and takes far less effort.</p>
<p>A column I wrote about the obscene funding of Olympic athletes had this response in my Facebook inbox from someone called James “Bolo” Gurr: “All you achieved in your article is making yourself come across an angry, bitter and ignorant woman who either had no dreams, or never came close to achieving them … for people as ignorant as yourself, here is your cut: a middle finger from, I can almost guarantee, every athlete who dared to be great. Throw in a laugh at [your] profile picture, I can see why you are angry at the world.”</p>
<h2>Policing piled on hatred</h2>
<p>Greg Jericho, blogger and author, has documented internet misogyny in his new book <a href="http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9781921844935/rise-fifth-estate-social-media-and-blogging-austral">The Rise of the Fifth Estate</a> and he even has a word for what happens. For example, when Mia Freeman <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/mia-culpa-cadel-my-week-from-hell-20110730-1i59n.html">couldn’t gear herself up</a> to thoroughly endorse Cadell Evans’s victory in the Tour de France, she was the victim of what Jericho calls a “pile on”. Freeman <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/mia-culpa-cadel-my-week-from-hell-20110730-1i59n.html">said</a> she was “called every name you can think of - bitch, dog, skank, mole, idiot, loser, cow, slut”.</p>
<p>The comment explosion might, he says, just be a response to what he describes as political correctness – what men can no longer say in public, they say anonymously on the internet. Jericho, of course, is not endorsing it, just observing it.</p>
<p>So what can be done about this “piled on” anger and sexism?</p>
<p>There’s no question, it’s hard to police – if policing is what we want. But maybe the internet needs the kinds of policing we expect in the rest of our civil society. </p>
<p>Sometimes it’s up to individual bloggers. William Bowe, wrangler of Poll Bludger, says he won’t stand for misogynist posts and moderates assiduously. He won’t allow the use of the word “bitch” – but as a general proposition, he’s all for free speech. “It’s up to the marketplace of ideas,” he says.</p>
<h2>Internet misogyny or just misogyny?</h2>
<p>Gillard’s comments come in a week where the Chief of the Defence Force, David Hurley, has <a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/defence-to-set-targets-for-more-women-20120822-24lql.html">acknowledged</a> he and other senior military officers will have to make serious changes to the way our armed services operate, in order to attract and make it safer for women to serve. And Gillard’s comments come just two weeks after the Financial Services Institute of Australia released figures showing it only takes a tiny percentage of women in management positions for men in those organisations to think women have equal representation. </p>
<p>Australian writer Eva Cox says it’s not internet misogyny. It’s just misogyny. Ann Curthoys, ARC Professorial Fellow at the University of Sydney agrees. She says the anonymity of the internet just allows misogyny to be expressed more freely.</p>
<p>Is anonymity the new marketplace?</p>
<p>That’s where Michael Sandel, professor of government at Harvard University’s new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Money-Cant-Buy-Markets/dp/0374203032">What Money Can’t Buy</a>, might offer some explanation. At the end of his discursive analysis on how we might protect moral and civic goods, he concludes: “Markets leave their mark.”</p>
<p>And in this market, in this marketplace, the mark we leave on women is that they are ugly and old; criminals, sluts and whores.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenna Price is a feminist, journalist and academic at the University of Technology, Sydney.</span></em></p>Prime minister Julia Gillard took aim yesterday at the “misogynists” and “nut jobs” on the internet posting about her conduct 17 years ago while working as an industrial lawyer. The Prime Minister said…Jenna Price, Senior lecturer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/18342011-06-15T04:30:15Z2011-06-15T04:30:15ZGay girl in Damascus or straight bloke in Scotland? It’s the internet, stupid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/1666/original/PIC_-_lesbian_bloggers_Tom_MacMaster.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tom MacMaster was revealed as the author of the Gay Girl in Damascus blog.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Unlike politics, unlike sport, literature doesn’t appear an obvious candidate for scandal. Most literary controversies can’t be easily packaged along the Camillagate, Zippergate, Weinergate lines; can’t be easily explained by inflated egos and reckless libidos.</p>
<p>And yet, the gentlest scratch of the surface reveals that a deluge of scandals accented by intrigue, deceit and treachery have _long _plagued the published word.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprahs-Questions-for-James">James Frey even embroiled Oprah</a> when his exaggerated tale of substance abuse was exposed as less fact than fantasy. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/books/04fake.html">Margaret Seltzer earned notoriety</a> when her elaborate yarn, <em>Love and Consequences</em>, about life as a half-white, half-native American gang-banger was exposed as folly. </p>
<p>Native American Nasdijj won kudos and awards a’plenty for his Navajo tales of abuse and hardship only to later be <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1154221,00.html">exposed as the alter ego</a> of whiteboy erotica writer, Timothy Barrus.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/03/08/albert">Laura Albert birthed “JT Leroy”</a>, a transgender, drug-abusing, former prostitute, and Australia contributed its own dirty tale with the Helen Darville/Demidenko brouhaha.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1868982_1868981_1868978,00.html">Literary scandals are <em>nothing new</em></a>. So when a couple of middle-age men impersonate lesbians in the modern day memoir known as the blog, my immediate response – replete with a sigh - is “big deal”. </p>
<p>People go online and pretend they are somebody else <em>all the time</em>. People we know in real life demonstrate all kinds of delusion and absurdity on Facebook. Craggy paedophiles routinely go into chat-rooms and pretend to be adolescent skaters and both single and married folks rapidly drop kilos, years and play up the pep _constantly _on dating websites.</p>
<p>The internet is all about anonymity.</p>
<p>The lesbian hoax debacle has prompted feminists to suspect <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/14/weird-world-lesbian-hoaxers">insidious motives</a>; compelled <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/14/lesbian-bloggers-revealed-men">gay activists</a> to cry foul, predicting fear and suspicious.</p>
<p><em>Really</em>?</p>
<p>Since when does one lone blogger – be they a heterosexual a magician or a Philadelphia philatelist – ever get to speak on behalf of an entire community?</p>
<p>Since when does a reader assume that _everything _they ever need to know about a topic is encapsulated in the musings of one lone blog?</p>
<p>Nobody likes to be duped. Nobody likes to be tricked or deceived or feel that they’ve been sucked in. I get that. What I get a whole lot less, is that anybody is really surprised by this story.</p>
<p>For me, the only real newsworthy thing to emerge here is that media have cherry-picked _this _as a story worthy of attention.</p>
<p>The number of blogs is incalculable. I’m relatively sure that investigations aren’t this afternoon being conducted to reveal whether that food blogger _really _made his own pastry. I doubt that anybody is out their probing whether that sex blogger _really _did the deed in all of those terribly risqué places or whether that parenting blogger is _really _raising the next Picasso. </p>
<p>As a writer, my only real grievance with false memoir is that novels – novels which might never otherwise have seen the light of day – were published exclusively because of a seductive backstory. </p>
<p>But that’s just my own bitterness talking and is an argument irrelevant to the free-for-all world of online publishing.</p>
<p>Sane people approach blog content with varying degrees of curiosity, joy in the written word and the simple appreciation of a good story. That’s not to say that we can’t be captivated, can’t be touched, can’t be disturbed, angered or inflamed, but being able to read and be moved is something completely different to thinking you need to be assured that every word is gospel. </p>
<p>Blogging is a platform where good writers and bad writers, confessors and charlatans each have a platform. Read it, don’t read it. It’s an effortless choice.</p>
<p>Outrage that a “fake” blog made you care about something – _somebody _- that isn’t real is symptomatic of gross naiveté about online content and an unreasonable expectation for truth in a forum renowned for fabrication. </p>
<p>Hardly worthy of the “gate” suffix.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/1834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Rosewarne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unlike politics, unlike sport, literature doesn’t appear an obvious candidate for scandal. Most literary controversies can’t be easily packaged along the Camillagate, Zippergate, Weinergate lines; can’t…Lauren Rosewarne, Senior Lecturer, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.