Weekly New Digital Media - 15.02.17 (46)

Yahoo issues new warning of potentially malicious activity on accounts

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/15/yahoo-hack-warning-user-data-2015-2016                              

Summary: Yahoo is warning users of potentially malicious activity on their accounts between 2015 and 2016, the latest in a string of cybersecurity problems faced by the technology company. The measure comes two months after the company revealed that data from more than 1bn user accounts had been compromised in August 2013, the largest such breach in history. The number of affected accounts was double the number implicated in a 2014 breach the internet company disclosed in September and blamed on state-sponsored hackers. Yahoo believes that the cookie-forging activity is linked to the same state-sponsored hackers, although the company would not name the state. Security experts have pointed to Russia and China as the usual suspects for these kinds of attacks, although some have questioned whether Yahoo would be a target. It is not clear how many user accounts are affected by the malicious activity announced Wednesday, although a Yahoo investigation has revealed that it involved the use of forged cookies, which can be used to access people’s accounts without re-entering their passwords.

[] Hackers potentially accessed accounts between 2015 and 2016, and the warning comes two months after saying data from 1bn users was compromised in 2013

[] Verizon is close to a renegotiated deal for Yahoo’s internet properties that would reduce the price of $4.8bn agreement by about $250m, following revelations about the company’s security breaches

My opinion: New and digital media is so advanced and some people like to use this in such a negative way and they are the sort of users of the internet that use it for all the wrong reasons. Hackers are setting up the worst examples of the developments that the internet is coming up with, this is something that can scare people to trust the internet and the developments of the internet. It is good that Yahoo is aware of this and are at least trying to do something to prevent it and protecting their users. 

Weekly New Digital Media - 15.02.17 (45)

Twitter loses ad revenue despite gaining 2 million users and Trump 'boost'

                                            https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/09/twitter-loses-advertising-revenue-rise-users-shares

Summary: Shares in Twitter have slumped after the tech company suffered a decline in advertising income, despite a rise in user numbers as Donald Trump’s high-profile tweeting helped to advertise the platform’s influence. Jack Dorsey, chief executive and co-founder, hailed the growing “impact and influence” of Twitter, saying the US president had “boosted the power” of the service. But investors took fright as the loss-making company conceded that its financial growth was lagging behind its increasing popularity among users and would continue to do so in the near future. Twitter has now racked up losses of almost $2.8bn since it floated on the stock market three years ago – at $26 a share – and the latest figures deal a blow to the company’s plan to turn a profit by the end of 2017. The company had reported an increase in advertising revenue in the first three quarters of the year, before the trend reversed in the final three months. This was largely down to a 5% slump in revenues in the US to $440m, a fall that wiped out a 12% rise to $277m in its international markets. The company said “revenue growth will continue to lag audience growth in 2017 and could now be further impacted by escalating competition for digital ad spending”.

[] Investors take fright as company reveals $457m loss for 2016 and concedes its financial growth is lagging its popularity 

[] annual revenues up 14% on last year to $2.5bn (£2bn)

[] Monthly active users climbed from 317 million to 319 million in the final quarter of last year.

[] fall in advertising revenue in the fourth quarter, down to $638m from $641m in the same period of last year. 

[] The number of monthly users had picked up slightly since then, rising 3% in 2016 compared with 1% in 2015, and Dorsey said he believed advertising revenue would catch up.

[[] But there were signs of improvement ahead as cash flow increased to $440m from $5m in 2015

[] company is also making progress in the amount it spends on paying staff in stock, which has fallen to 24% of revenue and is slated to fall to 20% in 2017.

In my opinion I think that advertising is already so hard to make a revenue out of since as some audience do block of the ads making it harder for advertisements company to make revenue out it. From the statistics above, the fall in advertising revenue is still decreasing, but having such a large audience on a big social media platform could still allow Twitter to get some revenues out of it, if users do spend a lot of time on it and more users are joining. 

Identities: Feminist theory and blog task

Feminist theory: key notes
Judith Butler: gender roles

• Butler believes traditional feminists are wrong to divide society into ‘men’ and ‘women’ and says gender is not biologically fixed.
• By dividing men and women, feminists accidently reinforced the idea of differences between the two genders
• Butler believes gender roles are ‘a performance’ and that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology.

Butler and the media

• If gender is a ‘performance’ rather than biological, we then need to think about what is influencing that ‘performance’.
• And that’s where the media comes in. How might the media influence our behaviour in terms of gender roles?

Angela McRobbie: empowering women

• McRobbie is a British cultural theorist known for her work analysing magazines aimed at women and teenage girls in the 80s and 90s.
• McRobbie highlights the empowering nature of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, taking a different perspective to traditional feminists.
• This idea of ‘popular feminism’ fits into the idea of post-feminism and challenges the radical feminism of the 1970s.

_____________________________________________________________

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’?

The video can reinforce the view of Butler and his theory of how gender roles can be construed though a 'performance' within media texts, the example of it can be shown in Beyonce's video. Within this video, Beyonce plays serval roles, dressing up as a housewive, trying to clean and cook; playing the role of a typical and stereotypical that a housewive would do. This reinforces the thought of them as vulnerable and females that are just there for men's pleasure. The fact that Beyonce is crying and pouring her feelings out for a men that she is questioning why he doesnt love her despite all that she has and can do, can reinforce that men have all the power and the control over a women and females have to have men in their life, this automactially puts a social divide of genders within society.

2) Would McRobbie view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women? Why?

McRobbie could see Beyonce as an empowering role model for women because of the lyrics that are stating that she doesn't need a guy as she can do things herself but she is questioning why he doesn't love her. But her actions are contradicting with what she is saying. McRobbie could also see Beyonce as reinforcing the gender roles.

3) What are your OWN views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey)?

In my opinion, I think Beyonce is reinforcing the male gaze upon herself through her actions and the camerawork that has been done throughout her music video. This is through the fitted clothing that she is wearing and high angles but also her actions that can attract and make the male audience wanting to watch more of the video. These conventions are objectifying females and reinforcing the traditional 'male gaze.' However, it could be also argued that Beyonce can be empowering because the control she has over her body and how she comes across towards the audience, but I personally would argue that Beyonce is inviting male gaze upon herself and doesnt come across empowering at all, instead it comes across as desperate and trashy. 

Weekly New Digital Media - 08.02.17 (44)

IMDb shuts down its message boards

                          

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/06/imdb-shuts-down-message-boards 

Summary: In a statement on its website, the IMDb said it had “concluded that IMDb’s message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide”, and that the decision was “based on data and traffic”. The company said the "shift to social media had made the message boards less vital; users, they said, had “migrated to IMDb’s social media accounts as the primary place they choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb’s editors and one another”. The message boards will be permanently disabled on 20 February, following a two-week transition period.

[] The Internet Movie Database says its message boards are ‘no longer providing a positive, useful experience’ for the majority of its 250 million monthly users

[] the company – which was set up in 1990

My Opinion: Does this go against that audience are able always to voice their opinion on the internet and the internet is democratic? But then in other ways you also see it as, many audience members take advantage of the messaging board and use it negatively which can be then see as a disturbance to the much majority of the people. Or it could be that audience know feel though as if they don't want to comment down below about the movie but elsewhere; social media. 

Weekly New Digital Media - 08.02.17 (43)

Kanye West deletes pro-Trump tweets following travel ban


                          https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/feb/07/kanye-west-deletes-pro-trump-tweets-following-travel-ban-twitter-muslim 

Summary: Kanye West’s career took an unprecedented turn at the end of 2016, when the rapper aligned himself with Donald Trump. West now appears to have changed his mind, deleting his pro-Trump tweets as sources claim he has “turned against” the US president following the latter’s travel ban.According to TMZ, the Trump travel ban, which targets people from seven Muslim-majority countries, was one of the catalysts for West’s social media purge. 

The rapper’s meeting with the US president followed a series of surprising statements West made during a live performance last November. Last month, the rapper’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, showed her support for the Women’s March in Washington.

My Opinion: Kayne West is a well known figure within the public, when he opened his views on Trump to his fans and the general people, many if not all were very shocked about his opinions about Trump. Using a source of social media, with raising his opinions but also then deleting his tweets about pre-trump posts shows how powerful internet can be especially the social media. Many people do use it to voice there opinions but they also feel though as you can delete it like the post was never made in the first place, but not actually knowing it that the internet is so very powerful. Through this, it shows the the internet; social media can be very popular but also a very resource source when people want to take back what they had posted in the first place. 

Identities and the Media: Feminism

Media Magazine reading

1) Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here).

2) What are the two texts the article focuses on?
Pan Am and Beyonce 

3) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?
Pan Am: In the pilot episode of Pan Am, we as the audience are introduced to the starts of the shows - stewardesses - One of the starts being Laura; she is the one of the main characters on the front cover of the magazine. The image was the first of the Pan Am stewardesses being highly constructed and mediated, this image purpose was to be admired and aspired to by women and visually enjoyed by men. The magazine cover was also wanted to acknowledge the image of a air stewardess as a constructed version of femininity, self-consciously acknowledging that this is simply a "glossy" image a fantasy not based on reality. 


Beyonce: Her music video for "Why Don't you Love Me". Beyonce parodies the stereotype of the 1950's housewife look. The music video gives the details and costumes within the period of the 1950's. One of the many examples that are provided of the 'male gaze' is how Beyonce she plays at being a ‘housewife’, humorously burning dinner, parodying mopping floors and dusting, all the while playfully gazing at the camera providing the audience with knowing winks in her ‘sexy outfits’. This all together allows Beyonce to be objectified and welcome the male gaze upon herself. 

4) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form?

In my opinion, I think it could mean both because, for example, from Beyonce's lyrics of 'Why Don't you Love Me' she does say things that women do have and can do all the things men do but yet then in the music video, her body language suggests different; as she is looking down at the camera playfully and winking at the audience,as some would argue that she is controlling the 'gaze' as others would argue that she maybe welcoming the male gaze upon herself. As for Pan Am, it seems to suggest that episodes/show represented awareness of sexism and how some women have to go through because of it. Although the women do show some sort of empowerment through there appearance, making them and the audience appreciated in their own bodies. 


5) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.

• Post-feminism – An ideology in culture and society that society is somehow past needing feminism and that the attitudes and arguments of feminism are no longer needed.
• Third wave feminism – Was a movement that redefined and encouraged women to be dominant and sexually assertive.
• Patriarchy – An ideology that places men in a dominant position over women.

No More Page 3

1) Research the No More Page 3 campaign. Who started it and why?

2) What reasons did the campaign give for why Page 3 had to go?
-  ‘huge slap in the face. A reminder that it’s a man’s world’ - Lucy-Anne Holmes ; this then made her wrote to the editor at the time. He never responded so she start a petition and a twitter and Facebook page about this.
- upbeat and positive as we could, avoiding wherever possible getting drawn into arguments or negativity.
- shared survivors’ stories and stories of inappropriate behaviour and verbal abuse involving Page 3 or similar images, as well as highlighting some terrible depictions of sexual violence and violence against women in the press.
- looking at promotions and advertising and intermittently approaching or lobbying the businesses that were linking themselves with the sexism of this feature.
- promote the campaign through media, celebrity endorsements and in person.
-built up networks of letter writers and student activists and made links with other campaigns - some people also made arguments through social media - Facebook and twitter.

3) Read this debate in the Guardian regarding whether the campaign should be dropped. What are Barbara Ellen and Susan Boniface's contrasting opinions in the debate?
Susan Boniface argued that the campaign had to be ended - it was outdated and pointless. She had said that in the early days of page 3, girls considered they were sexually empowered and celebrating the female from. But now, its a dinosaur, tasteless, demanding to many and unnecessary in an era where lady parts are all over the internet for free; like a showcase. The only problem with the campaign was that it had happened in the wrong time - society was just evolving. 

Whereas, Barbara Ellen, she was against the campaign, she said that Page 3 should not be abandoned just because the Sun decided to "blow a last-minute raspberry at supposed PC mores". Barbara believes that you can not base this subject on if there are 'worse things' - women are bring institutionally sexualised and in her opinion it is wrong. 

4) The main campaign website has now been replaced by a site calledSexist News, designed to highlight sexism in the media. Give an example of a recent story the website has highlighted. Do you agree with the view of the website?

5) How can the No More Page 3 campaign and Sexist News website be linked to the idea of post-feminism?
Within the campaign, it seems as though females are more happy with what they are standing for because of the respect they have felt and equality they have gotten for the removing the page 3. This is defiantly something to be proud of and nothing other than good things.

6) What are your OWN views on these campaigns? Do you agree with their aims? Is there still a need for these campaigns in the media?
I agree with the no more page 3 campaign, as i believe that women should never be sexualised and feel as though if they are an objective to someone or to a group of people. I understand some may think that page 3 can be done to celebrate the female form or they feel empowered but i feel though it is disrespectful and a stranger should never have the opportunity to have that gaze upon a women. Nowadays, society is very open about topics such as this but it is just weak in my opinion.

7) Finally, do you agree that we are in a post-feminist state or is there still a need for feminism?
In my opinion, I think it would take a very very long time for us to reach at a post feminist state as there would be a division between male and females and how females would never reach the level of the males. Females would never the get the satisfactions in the public like how males do, even if society says otherwise. They may have been opportunities for females and more rights but in my opinion, it would never be the other way round or even the same for a very long time.

Post-colonialism - bonus reading and tasks

MM58: Social Media and Black Identity

Open up MM58 from our Media Magazine archive. Go to page 66 and read Social Media and Black Identity then complete the following tasks:

1) List three theorists discussed in the article and what they believe regarding black identity.

- Aisha Harris: This theorist argued that social media plays a negative role in the construction of black identities. She has said that the rise of social media has created a culture where in black people are often subject to process of a "memeification,' where their likeness becomes a decontextualised internet meme. One of the examples were of a African-American women, closing a line in at a interview; "Ain't nobody got time for that" this went viral on social media and it quickly became a catchphrase in the public. Harris believes that this process is an unconscious reflection of a deep-rooted desire to see black people perform and entertain, creating an environment where black identities are fixed, and dominant attitudes towards blackness are reinforced.

- Giddens: This theorist argues that social media can be an arena for the construction of positive black identities. "The Blackout" campaign was one of the examples a campaign that originated on the social network ‘Tumblr’, and involved a systematic ‘re-imagining’ and celebration of blackness. It involved black people posting pictures of themselves and sharing pictures of others, commenting and attaching positive hashtags, such as ‘#Goddess’, ‘#Queen’, ‘#Melanin’ and ‘#BlackExcellence’. This, seems to suggest that black people have used social media as a tool to inspire, and to construct an image of black identity that is often misrepresented (if represented at all) by the mass media.

- Henry Jenkins: would argue that social media is an arena wherein ‘participatory cultures’ can be established: online, interest-driven networks that allow members to creatively channel the skills they gain online into political activism and the voicing of
marginalised viewpoints. An example of this is ‘BlackTwitter’ (#BlackTwitter), a socially-constructed community that actively challenges negative representations of black identity in the mass media and wider society,and reaffirms positive views of black identity through humour, art, activism, and education. Jenkins argues that participatory cultures have the power to influence politics and to positively shape the world around them. An example of this is ‘#BlackLivesMatter’, a campaign spearheaded by Black Twitter, established as a means of calling out police brutality, institutionalised racism, and racist prejudice in wider society.

2) In your opinion, is social media a positive or negative force when it comes to issues of black identity? 

In my opinion, i wouldn't say its either when it comes to issues of black identity. The reason for this is because social media is so powerful but also it doesn't really reinforce to the black community because within social media, all communities find it a way to make it their identity too, this is mainly by "memes" or just general posts. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the issue of social media and black identity?

Alvarado: Alavardo's theory of 'dangerous' reinforces the representation of black identity/their community through the internet. Whenever we hear things in news or the newspapers about the crimes black people have commented, we as the audience automatically think of them as danger, this builds negative representations of them even though it doesn't represent all of their people. 
Fanon: The points of 'Decivilize' and 'Essentialize' are reinforced when it comes to the problem of social media and black identity because the black community are often pushed aside and not taken seriously ever - famous or not. 
Said: I think that Said's theory doesn't go along with social media and the black community because the black community are very involved within social media mostly for good things associated with them; they would be posts of them that people would repost and find funny but not in a malicious or mean way. 


A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media

Now turn to page 6 and read A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media. When you have read the article, complete the following tasks:

1) What examples of different representations of refugees in the media are offered in the article?
- Refugees are often labelled as migrants, to create the impression that they are travelling by choice, rather than fleeing a genuine disaster.
- refugees are a dangerous and threatening mass, parasitically living off the settled countries of the West.
- which refugees are described as a swarm, horde or tide, marauding and invading their way across the world.

2) In your opinion, is the documentary genre more or less biased than the news media? What examples can you provide from the article to support your view?
I think that that documentary genre is less biased than news media because it doesn't need to represent their channels values/ideologies but they try to undercover "the truth" for the people - "knowledge" is reinforced through the documentaries. As for news, they are based as Alain de Botton would argue, they don't not represent the truth or provide their own opinions - they are just feeding the audience with information. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the representation of refugees in the media?

    Alvarado: Pitied is reirnforced as Eastern culutre is shown as they are looking for help from the West, as they are desperate to be away from war and be in peace. 

·    Fanon: The point of 'Essentialize' is challenged since those from the East are not all the same; as some of them have decided to join in the war whilst the innotences and helpless people are wanting to escape the vicious environment they are put in.

    Said: His theory is reinforced because the East and the West are shown completely different, the culture and the community of the two are reinforced differently. As the East is represented as "different and uncivilised  from the west rather than focusing on the innocent people who really need help and trying to escape the environment that they didn't chose. 

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