The Twitterverse and the Federal election

Mamadonut.blogspot.com 28/8/13

With the Australian Federal election around the corner the prevalence of Political Microblogging is quite relevant. As a relatively new aspect of the World Wide Web and Mass Media, Twitter and any other forms of Microblogging have great potential to increase the participation in political matters by previously unengaged citizens (Castells, 2007 as cited in Larsson and Moe, 2011), when it is used by Politicians, Journalists and voters, as a platform for Political communication.

Technologies are often viewed as key drivers "of change in the electoral arena" (Gibson et al., 2008, as cited in Larsson and Moe, 2011) and the current use of Twitter in Australian Politics, and around the world is, in my opinion, no exception to this. Being Generation Y I do not actually remember (or at least was not old enough to pay attention) an election being held where Twitter, Social Media, and new technologies alike were not used by Politicians, Journalists and everyday citizens to supply us, to an extent (considering the Techno-legal Time Gap), voters with any information they and we want. 

Twitter provides a relatively democratic Public sphere that would otherwise not exist in Politics. The successful use of Twitter in Obama's US Presidential Campaign in 2008/9 helped to establish Social Media "as an integral part of the political campaign toolbox" (Tumasjan et al., 2010). While in theory Microblogging should allow the Public to communicate with Politicians who are active on Twitter, and vice versa, I would argue that it is naive to think it is possible to carry civilised conversation through medium. An example of this is when Joe Hockey, Shadow Treasurer, asked for his followers opinion on the Governments Emissions Trading Scheme. The replies inevitably moved towards attacks on both Labour and Liberal policy, and not surprisingly didn't really provide a great deal of insight into the actual thoughts on the ETS. Dare I say though, that tactics such as this are simply a ploy to seem engaged with the Twittersphere.

Despite this, I feel that Microblogging on Twitter during an election is a positive. I would call myself a semi-engaged voter, I occasionally watch Q&A (occasionally!) and I do follow Politicians on Twitter. I also, though, follow Journalists. And this is where I see the benefits. Journalists like Latika Bourke, a Political Reporter from the Canberra Press Gallery, use hashtags like #AusVotes, and links to further details to provide everyday Twitter users with information as they scroll through their daily, or hourly Social Media fix. I cannot think of another avenue that allows voters this much readily available information, even when Tweets are limited to 140 characters.

References

Larsson, A.O., and Moe, H. (2011). Studying political microblogging: Twitter users in the 2010 Swedish election campaign. New Media & Society, 14(5), 729-747. DOI:10.1177/1461444811422894 

Tumasjan, A., Sprenger, T. O., Sander, P. G., & Welpe, I. M. (2010). Predicting Elections With Twitter: What 140 Characters Reveal About Political Sentiment. Social Science Computer Review, 30 (2), 229-234. Retrieved from http://danielschiffman.com/learning/ICWSM10_Predicting_Elections_with_Twitter.pdf

Creating what I'm consuming

A Prosumer? That's me.
Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010) discuss the aspects of Prosumption, but what I tend to be consistently drawn to is the term "user-generated". I spend considerable amounts of time using Social Media; Instagram, Facebook, Blogs, etc. and so it is clear to me that I am a Prosumer, creating what I am consuming. As a student I am a producer of both society as a whole and of my own identity, and it is this production and consumption that creates my identity.

For many students, like myself, Social Media is the height of where we 'Prosume'. Everything on the likes of Facebook and Instagram is 'user-generated' - we are creating the Status updates, the Photo's, the Check-in's that we are all consuming. We are both generating Fashions by producing what we like and simultaneously consuming what we enjoy, channelling our Identities in particular directions and defining who we are. This blog is a classic example...
When I finish this Post I will visit other Student's Blog's to gain their insight into the idea of Prosumption. I have already visited CloudDeakin (Our Student Portal for all those non ALC215er's, and I'm sure there are SO many!) and consumed the questions and sentiments that have been produced by my fellow Student's, to help guide me on this Blog Post.

Ritzer and Jurgenson do highlight that the growth of the Internet and Social Media has allowed Prosumption to flourish but that it was "clearly not invented on Web 2.0", this makes me think, had it not been for my generation and our obsession with all things 'Web' would I still be a Prosumer? And then I think, ahhh YEP!
I go to Lectures and I contribute to the atmosphere of being at a live lecture, whilst I consume that same atmosphere, that's Prosuming, no? I am no Fashionista (I wish) yet I follow Fashion trends by purchasing the next big item and in doing this I help to create that Fashion trend (so technically, I guess I am a fashionista...that's what I'll tell myself anyway). Just two examples but the list goes on!

All in all I think I am very much a 'Prosumer', and what interests me the most is that I am probably more of on than my Parents, and their Parents, so I can only imagine how much Prosuming will following generations partake in.

References

Ritzer, G. & Jurgenson, N. (2010). Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of capitalism in the age of the digital 'prosumer'. Journal of Consumer Culture, 10 (13), 13-35. doi: 10.1177/1469540509354673

Innovators or Pirates - mutually exclusive?

This is a difficult question to answer.

I find myself torn between the legitimacy of the concern over illegal downloading of MP3's and the right for all to use and enjoy music. Innovators or Pirates, cannot be held mutually exclusive.

The main feature of a 'Mash-up' is that it mixes two or more songs (usually copy-wright protected sound recordings) together without the owners opinion (Potter, W., 2010). In terms of the law this is Piracy, but it is here that the ever present Techno-legal time gap seems to emerge again. MP3's changed the face of the Music Industry (Martin et al., 2010) and since then the law has been playing 'catch up' per se.

In my experience, I have found that most 'Mash-ups', remixes (the list goes on) that I have encountered have given much credit to the original Artist. The Mash-up version will have the original song name or artist in the title and the terms versus or ft. are frequently used. 

The Mash-up 'Call me Greyhound' is an example of this. The name itself contains a mix of the two original songs 'Call me Maybe' and 'Greyhound' and the title of the Youtube clip contains both original artists names - it is noteworthy that the page also contains a link to purchase the original song on iTunes.

Wellet Potter (2012) states that "often the sole motivation for the creation of a music mash-up is a creative and artistic one, as opposed to economic incentive" and I thoroughly agree with this sentiment. Most creative artists do what they do because they enjoy it and the people who listen to the music, myself included, enjoy it. They are innovators in their area, and they take what Music they enjoy and make it, what some would say, even better.

While Piracy is clearly an issue within the Music Industry, I don't believe that Mash-up artists deserve the title of Pirates. How to control the issue legally, I do not know, I guess that is for "The Man' to eventually decide, until then, I will continue to enjoy the abundance of remixed music that is available to me.

References

Martin, B., Moore, C. and Salter, C. (2010). Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry, First Monday, 15, (12). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680 

Potter, W. (2012), Music Mash-ups: The current Australian Copyright implications, Moral rights and Fair dealing in the Remix era, Deakin Law Review, 17 (2). 349-384. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e7c12aff-c83a-4e0e-b914-f5fb544458c9%40sessionmgr11&vid=2&hid=7