Don’t feed the trolls?

This article, “Anonymous trolls are as pathetic as the anonymous “sources” that contaminate the gutless journalism of the New York Times, BBC, and CNN,” popped up on my Facebook feed this morning. I read it and thought it might make for a good conversation starter over here. This is certainly not the article I would have written about decorum on the WWW. While I am with the author to an extent – yup, people are heinous and rude and hostile when they can hide behind avatars and pseudonyms – I’m not with him wholesale. I think, for one, that he oversells the uniqueness of internet discourse as a particularly vile form of human expression. I’m more of the mind that there’s a continuity between our digital selves and our material selves. What takes place online might be an amplification of the worst of what we are, but it isn’t something that just emerges when we retreat to the safety of a keyboard. People – individually and collectively – are fantastically hateful and racist and cruel to each other in real life. People – individually and collectively – are also fantastically creative and giving and funny and inspiring. This also gets played out online.

I also depart from the author in his his drawing a correlation between two forms of anonymity. Sometimes people remain anonymous to facilitate behaving like total jerkfaces. And then there’s the role of whistleblowers and subversives who, when journalism is done well, crack open powerful stories about the state of the world and begin processes of transformation. 

What do you think? Is there something really different going on online? Or do you think that this is simply an amplification of things that are already at play in the material world? Also, what are your thoughts on the usage of anonymous sources in traditional media? 

What do you think about this?

hey! watch your digital footprints

I was thinking this morning, as I sailed through Forest Hill on a perfect winter morning, about all things New Years Resolution. And all things Facebook. And all things about how much angst I have about Facebook. It’s a wonder I don’t fall off my bike more often. Then I was thinking about applying the rhetoric of reducing one’s carbon footprint, which certainly has currency, to one’s digital life as well. What if we reduced our digital footprint? What would that look like? What would that feel like? 

This was prompted by two things: 1) I’m researching a paper on pedagogy and the digital divide and it’s come up in multiple places how the iGeneration or Digital Natives or whatever you wanna call kids these days aren’t fully appreciating that what goes online stays online . . . forever and ever amen. The content you flippantly generate as an angsty 16 year old (or angsty 30 year old) is the same content that HR departments will love to ferret out 10 years down the road.  And 2) in the small uproar about Instagram I thought the best comment about it all was, “If you’re concerned about privacy, maybe don’t put everything you do on the internet?” Point well take. 

What would you do to reduce or modify your digital footprint? Cut back on emails and pick up the phone more often? Self-impose guidelines for what you post on Facebook? Any other ideas? Do share!

Digital activism: an Egyptian perspective

Join WACC North America for a free webinar on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 from 11 AM to noon Eastern time. To register please click here. 

Egyptian digital activist, blogger, and WACC member Kamal Sedra will lead a webinar about how social media has influenced—and is influencing—the Egyptian political landscape.

Based in Cairo, Mr. Sedra founded and manages DISC Development, an organization that works in the fields of Human Rights and Freedom of Expression, and provides technical support for other civil society actors. Mr. Sedra also serves as a Senior Technical Advisor for ICT4Peace Foundation, a Swiss NGO that supports global peace through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). He is a well-known digital activist, blogger, and digital media consultant, having served as a trainer with international NGOs in numerous countries on these topics. As an expert on digital activism, Mr. Sedra has presented at conferences around the world, including the Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference in San Francisco (2011), the Internet Governance Forum (2012), and many others.

In 2009 Mr. Sedra’s website www.nazaha-eg.net won the eDemocracy Forum and Politics Online prize as one of the top ten websites how changing the politics and world. To register for this timely and interesting webinar please click here. 

WACC and IFJ launch Resource Kit to strengthen gender-ethical journalism

WACC and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have launched a new resource to promote gender ethical journalism. The kit draws from the insights of media practitioners, educators and communication researchers from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, North America and Pacific. It brings together practical guidelines to enhance women’s representation in media content and encourage dialogue within media structures and self-regulatory bodies together with civil society groups.

Please support the awesome work of WACC Global and IFJ. The Learning Resource Kit available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish may be downloaded free of charge at www.whomakesthenews.org and www.ifj.org.

2013 Communication for Social Change Awards

If you’re reading this blog, you probably know someone who should be considered for these awards. The Centre for Communication and Social Change out of The University of Queensland (Australia) awards “specifically those that have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to using communication to transform and empower marginalised communities.” For more information on the awards and on the nominations process, please visit their website.

“Telling Their Own Stories, Building Their Own Countries”

My most excellent pal and colleague Ali sent this along a few weeks ago (sorry, sorry, this blogger has some time management issues . . . ). But here it is! Check out this groovey website and this groovey article about some of the work that Journalists for Human Rights is up to. It’s a really eye-opening read about what can happen to media outlets during times of conflict and war, and about the necessity of strong media even in peace times. Check it out!

Sexist Media Awards

There’s a great project from The Women’s Media Center and She Should Run called “Name It. Change It“, which seeks to  “work to end sexist and misogynistic coverage of women candidates by all members of the press—from bloggers to radio hosts to television pundits.”

Just a few days ago the announced the awards for the Most Sexist Media Coverage of Women Candidates and Politicians in the 2012 Election (USA). Their press release notes, “With these awards, we hope the media will wake up and smell the sexism that all too often affects political coverage of women candidates and politicians,” said Julie Burton, President of the Women’s Media Center. “Sexism doesn’t have a place in coverage of women candidates and public officials.”

Read the whole story here and find out who “won”. 

Social Campaign Fights Hunger – Webinar, Nov 29

Join World Association for Christian Communication North America for a webinar on Thursday, November 29th, 2012 from 11am to noon Eastern time.

Tiffany French and Jessie Palatucci from the United Church of Christ will lead a webinar overviewing the actions, learnings and successes of the UCC’s MISSION:1 Campaign from 2011.  MISSION:1 was an 11-day church-wide campaign, run via social and digital media channels, that fought hunger and hunger-related social justice issues through advocacy, fund raising and community service.
Tiffany J. French is the Social Media and Marketing Associate for the National Office of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio. She oversees the daily implementation of all the UCC’s social media platforms, as well as marketing and communication campaigns. Tiffany is a graduate of Malone University in Canton, Ohio and is in the final stages of her Master of Communication degree from Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor, Michigan. Tiffany will argue her graduate thesis later this fall.

Jessie Palatucci is the Online Communications Specialist for Justice and Witness Ministries, the justice and advocacy arm of the United Church of Christ. Working out of the UCC Washington Office, Jessie communicates with a network of faith advocates to facilitate social justice advocacy based on the policies of the UCC General Synod. She communicates via social media and manages web content on a number of topics from poverty, to racism, to the elections. Jessie previously served the UCC as an advocate for domestic poverty policy. She is a graduate of the Journalism and Mass Communications Program at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont, and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Communication at Johns Hopkins University.

To register for the webinar please go tohttps://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/955786012985884160 .

There is no charge to attend this seminar but registration is required, as spaces are limited.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Virtually There

It’s no secret that Canada’s a big country. It’s easy to forget this in the cramped urban spaces along our southern border, but for the most part sprawling is a most apt description of our geography. Sprawling and rural and a lot of times cold and wintery. These create serious challenges to ministry, especially with the decline of many mainstream churches.

A few United Churches in northern Ontario have leveraged technology against these challenges and are now bringing multiple locations together virtually for an interactive worship experience. Read the whole CBC article here.

What do you think of this kind of digital togetherness? What impact will this have on our ideas about community and even something like the eucharist? What does communion mean in a digital space? Very interesting . . .