Summary - Hacking book: the difference between telling the truth and telling a story.

Title of article: Hacking book: the difference between telling the truth and telling a story.
Posted by: Roy Greenslade
Author: Richard Peppiatt
Publisher: Guardian News and Media Limited
Date published: March 2012

Theme: Truth
Fiction
Newspapers

Summary of text:

Richard Peppiatt comments on his time as a journalist and the behaviour and reception of the audience as well as the journalists themselves. He states that he wrote articles that were concerned more about the emotional fracture on the audience and actually having any substantial information or real contents of the relevant to their lives.

He states that as soon as an individual and the story that companies them enters the media they leave their assumptions of being an individual behind and automatically become a caricature of themselves. This caricature is emphasised and exacerbated by more and more median notice and attention being drawn onto the subject.

He argues that journalists think themselves of a higher credibility than the rest of society, knowing and seeing all. Yet by the very nature of this the journalists lie and then create their own reality that then themselves become the spectacle of. He argues that this sensibility and disregard for social and moral issues is disregarded for the newspapers a gender to be fulfilled.

He draws light upon society and the journalistic behaviour by saying and concluding that "But until a distinction between the two is recognised I fear the truth-seeking impulse of journalism proper will always be tainted by the excesses of its entertainment-driven cousin, and in doing so public trust will remain in the gutter."

Key points of the text:

• Journalism favours entertainment over truth seeking and informing.
• Once people enter into the newspapers and the journalistic stories they become caricatures.
• Journalists leave moral and social issues and beliefs when writing for a newspaper and adopt the newspapers agenda.

Key Quote 2-3:

"Everything I wrote was designed to appeal to the emotional over the rational, the knee-jerk over the considered, assumptions reinforced rather than challenged and all presented in an easily digestible style that celebrated its own triviality…"

"Entertainment has to some degree always formed part of a newspaper’s output. Crudely, news informed, comment entertained. But today the prerogative to entertain has superseded that to inform, with comment indistinguishable from news, fact indistinguishable from conjecture."

"‘Celebrities are fair game. They make millions off their image, so they can’t just turn it off and claim privacy when it suits them.’ This argument is constructed around the premise that the simulacra and the real are one and the same. The underlying assumption is that the celebrity of the red carpets and chat shows exists beyond a media construct."

Introduction

I have just written my first draft to my introduction (see below). I think I need to refine and improve the structure of the introduction, however I feel that this will develop as I write the chapters for the dissertation.

Here is the first draft of my introduction:

The idea that humanity lives in a state of hyperreality, or state of flux between the real and fictional - where the foundations of society; morals, ethics, opinions and choices are based on (mis)representations and simulacra - is a heated and controversial debate that came to prominence through the writings of Jean Baudrillard and Frederic Jameson. Whereas in George Orwell's "1984", the fictional society has reached the pinnacle of hyperreal, where everything is seemed to be the reality of the time - where nothing is questioned but taken as the verity of the moment, however, aids only the dictatorship of the totalitarian state; controlling and manipulating the proletariat.

It is this two folded argument that I am interested in investigating and understanding - are we, as 21st century society, living in a postmodern state, where we have become so insouciant to the information that we receive from the media that we cannot distinguish between truth and fiction - "holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them" (1984 - part 1, chapter 3). This idea was presented in George Orwell's "1984" as the term "doublethink". Furthermore, is information that is believed wholeheartedly by citizens, a creation by the people in power to dissimulate, falsify and misdirect society to persuade, control and manipulate them - present today similar to that which was expressed in “1984”?

I am interested in how individuals and groups of people act upon and consume media. This is one of my rationales for the investigation - another one is to what extent is the information distributed by the media systematized and exploited. However, the aspect that I want to critically scrutinise is, has society reached a point where it has become so indoctrinated and acquiescent to hyperreality that it cannot escape the cycle?

Summary - The Dark Sides of Our Digital Self.

Title of article: The Dark Sides of Our Digital Self
Author: Steven Handel
Publisher: The Emotion Machine
Date published: September 2011

Theme: Digital Self
Stages of online life.

Key points of the text:


The author identifies several negative personality traits that tend to manifest in our e-personality or digital self:
- Delusions of Grandeur - To many, the internet holds great promises of freedom, wealth, power, and opportunity.
- Narcissism - Narcissism is a kind of excessive self-love, and another common byproduct of developing our e-personality or digital self.
- Aggression - This formation of a “digital self” often doesn’t just harm our own self-perception, but also the people we choose to treat while inhabiting this self.
- Impulsivity - The ease of accessibility – and “instant gratification”.
- Infantile Regression and the Tyranny of the Emoticon
- Love and Sex Recalibrated
- Illusion of Knowledge
- Internet Addiction



Key Quote 2-3:


“In fact, it can cause a kind of “digital divide” between our digital self, how we often think and behave online, and our offline self, how we often think and behave in face-to-face, “real world” interactions.”

“Aboujaoude shares a lot of compelling research inpsychology, neuroscience, economics, and sociology that seems to indicate that in many ways the internet is a unique kind of environment that creates a very different kind of self-perception (one which can affect both our online and offline behavior).”

“Why be old, short, fat, and bald when you can create a young, tall, dark, handsome version of yourself in a virtual world, like in Second Life? And instead of having to find a real girlfriend, you can just create an avatar of your ideal girlfriend? Many people are becoming increasingly infatuated with the freedom and customization of virtual worlds, and they are willing to neglect their offline lives in order to dedicate more and more time to their fantasies.”

Summary - "Incantations for Muggles: The Role of Ubiquitous Web 2.0 Technologies in Everyday Life"

Title of article: "Incantations for Muggles: The Role of Ubiquitous Web 2.0 Technologies in Everyday Life"
Author: Danah Boyd
Publisher: O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference
Date published: March 2007

Theme: Social Media
Interaction
Mediation

Key points of the text:
There are muggles who dont engage with their technology and wizards that do.
There are four different states that in life that we chage how we use social media:
1) Identity formation and role-seeking (aka youth)
2) Integration and coupling (aka 20somethings)
3) Societal contribution (aka "adults")
4) Reflection and storytelling (aka retirees)

We use Social Media to engage with:

• Family
• Friends
• Religion
• Play/leisure
• Health
• Property
• Education
• Politics
• Labor
• Hobbies
• Money
• Power
• Attention
• Sex
• Consumption

Mediated publics have four properties that are not present in unmediated publics:
- Persistence - What you say sticks around. 
- Searchability -  If you hang out in networked publics, you're searchable.
- Replicability - You can copy and paste a conversation from one space to the other but can you tell what is the copy and what is the original?
- Invisible Audiences - In mediated public spaces, there's no way to accurately gauge who is present or who will be present as the conversation spirals along.

Key Quote 2-3:

“As we Twitter our way to friendship, scoring ourselves based on the numbers of 'friends' we can convince to subscribe to our existence, perhaps we lose track of what friendship and connection mean.” 

“Perhaps our technologies are nothing more than pitiful efforts to replicate the magic that we do not fully understand.”

“Technologies become ubiquitous when people stop thinking them as a technology and simply use them as a regular part of everyday life.”

Summary - Drones backed by Hampshire chief constable.

Title of article: Drones backed by Hampshire chief constable.
Author: -
Publisher: BBC News (Online)
Date published: October 2012

Theme: Big Brother
Surveillance
Drones
Control

Summary of text:

Chief Constable Alex Marshall of Hampshire Constabulary, wants to create a debate on whether Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Drones, should given extra support of the police. His reason for using the drones are because they can stay in air longer and are cheaper than conventional aircraft.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said: “Nothing will be approved unless safe mechanisms are in place to avoid mid-air collisions.” However Marshall's concern is that the "public need to have a debate and the police need to make sure we understand peoples’ concerns about security and about privacy".

A member of the Home Office (Damian Green) said "Drones are like any other piece of kit - where it’s appropriate or proportionate to use them then we will look at using them."

Key points of the text:

• Chief Constable wants drones because they are cheeper and stay in the air for longer.
• Police want to make should they understand people's concern about security and about privacy.

Key Quote 2-3:

"…the police need to make sure we understand peoples’ concerns about security and about privacy…"

"The use of UAVs in UK airspace has increased with the CAA approving applications from five police forces since 2010."

"Chief Constable Alex Marshall of Hampshire Constabulary said drones stay in the air longer and are cheaper than conventional aircraft."

My Response:

I don't understand why the Chief Constable of the Hampshire Constabulary wants to roll out this idea of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, when the United Kingdom is already one of the most surveyed and watched countrie and society, in the world. In some parts of the UK (borough of Wandsworth) there are four cameras per 1,000 people. Its total number of cameras - 1,113 - is more than the police departments of Boston [USA], Johannesburg and Dublin City Council combined. [1] So when we already have this incredibly high rate of the state monitoring it's citizens, I don't understand why there is a need for drones to be patrolling the air when all they can do is monitor the citizens, they won't be able to arrest or punish them but observe and monitor.

To me this is just another way for the state to control and survey their citizens, and has an ominous presence of the state depicted in 1984.

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8159141.stm

A survey into the effects of mainstream media on society.

I have created a survey that I hope will support my investigation by giving me dater that I can finally  assess, to judge what extent, our society is in a state of hyperreality that mirrors 1984. I hope to have collected all the data that I need, by the midway through October and at the end of the same month I hope to have a evaluated and analyse my results and methods in which I went about the investigation.

Summary - Icons in the hood - how working-class youths became chavs

Title of article: Icons in the hood - how working-class youths became chavs
Author: Pete Turner
Publisher: MediaMagazine
Date published: September 2012

Theme: Representation
Society

Summary of text:

Turner describes the term chav as a symbolic representation of David Cameron's "broken Britain". This icon represents young people as being hooded, tattooed; wearing trainers and tracksuits with gold jewellery, all of them are uneducated, poor but all in labels and logos and above all, aggressive with their hands down the front of their trousers waving guns and gangs signs around.

Turner argues that the representation of youth in the media can definitely have an impact on people's attitudes in real life. A group of school students when asked to describe a chav classified them as "causing trouble, hanging round the streets, drinking and taking drugs’ (they are) working class, they live in council houses’. Their parents' don’t care, and they don’t work." Turner questions to what extent this attitude comes from the students observing and interpreting what they see around them, and how much of it is a result of iconic representations created and perpetuated by the media?

Little Britain's Vicky Pollard and Catherine Tate's Lauren Cooper are characters that have become symbols of the laddette-ish teenage girls who are perceived to be mouthy, stupid, working class and often pregnant, Turner argues. He argues that a positive representation of young people in society did not arrive until Shameless into 2004 and Misfits in 2009, though this might represent a selfish and stupid group of people, it also shows they love and care for each other, Channel 4 describes their character Kelly (Misfits) as having "a heart of gold and is fiercely loyal."

Turner argues that this representation of young people in society may have already done its damage and audiences are getting confused between reality and fiction.  He discusses that the word "chav" has lost its mainstream media position since December 2004 when a story about a chav reached its peak with 114 stories being published in December alone. However, negative representation of young people in society has not declined, with 71% of articles from a range of tabloids, broadsheets and local papers involving young people in negative tones.

This negative representation, Turner states, has only been made worse since the London riots and with artists like Plan B creating music videos entitled "ill manors" Featuring footage from the London riots appearing to celebrate the stereotype that media portrays about council estate youths.

Turner concludes by saying "what all this current interest in the iconic chav indicates is an interesting polarisation in attitude towards the youthful members of society’s underclass. One writer suggests ‘the C-word actually denotes the mind-boggling revival of privileged people revelling in looking down their noses at the white working class’ (Harris, 2006)"

Key points of the text:

• The representations in the media can impact the lives of real people.
• This representation has already done its damage to audiences as they are now getting confused between reality and fiction.
• 71% of articles within tabloids, broadsheets and local papers involved young people being represented in a negative tone.
• This stereotype is also represented in other forms of media such as music videos and films -  portraying a negative picture of young people in society and perpetuating the stereotype created by the news.
• It can be argued that privilege people are using the word chav to look down their noses at the white working classes.

Key Quote 2-3:

"The representation of young people in the British media can definitely have an impact
on people’s attitudes in real life."

"However, there are concerns that the damage has already been done, and that audiences are getting reality and fiction confused."

"The C-word actually denotes the mind-boggling revival of privileged people revelling in looking down their noses at the white working class"


My Response:
I would argue that this representation of young people in society was once an exaggeration and construction. This can be in the form of Little Britain's Vicky Pollard to entertain society and for privileged people to laugh at the unprivileged (the haves and the have-nots). However, due to its constant representation within the media, especially the news, this representation has become the norm within reality for society and young people in society.

Therefore, as this representation has been taken from the media, who construct and manipulate the truth, and our society is using this on which to base their behaviour and attitudes, then they have become a simulation of the fictional representation, thus entering into a state of hyperreality. However, this simulation has developed and modified itself into becoming a simulacrum of the young people of society as there was no original to copy. Thus it has entered into an uninterrupted circuit without reference or exchanges with the real, but can only reference or exchange with itself. Therefore, the representation of chav for young people in society will remain until another representation takes its place.