Anti-Corruption/ Wikileaks

As a society we desire to live in a world with government transparency, of late this idea has become central to us. Government Transparency mainly occurs via 4 channels:

• Proactive dissemination by the government themselves 
• The release of requested materials by the government
• Public meetings
• Leaks from 'whistleblowers' 

However as we escalate into a 'techsavy' era this idea has become almost effortless. There is now an increasing existence of digital activism, and we are presented with social media in a new light. Individuals are taking the issue of corruption into their own hands. ICT's (information and communication technologies) and social media now have a new role to play in disseminating information and reducing corruption within organisations, corporations and governments. The strengths of these anti-corruption social media strategies are:

• Collaboration
• Participation
• Empowerment
• Real time updates

A campaign called ACT- against corruption today is a global campaign developed by UNODC and UNDP which focus on how corruption holds back the efforts to achieve the international Millennium Development Goals and how it effects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development. This campaign is linked to many social media sites to spread the word, that individuals have the right to say no and act against corruption. Such as a Facebook page- ACT-act against corruption today and Twitter- #actagainstcorruption. 

One of the most influential and well known online anti-corruption activist is Julian Asange. Julian Asange is associated with the organisation Wikileaks. Which is an international online, non-profit organisation which publishes secret information from anonymous sources.This organisation considers itself as similar to investigative journalists who aim to convey transparency to the world. Being used as an online tool it has the advantages of allowing for a faster and wider broadcast of information.

 There is much debate over the cost and benefits of the Wikileaks approach and on how individuals perceive Julian Asange, is he a whistleblower, terrorist, activist or hacktivist? I personally believe he is a combination of them, however I would not go as far to say he is a terrorist. My stance is that Julian Asange is taking a stand for our rights, he is exposing the government and their wrongdoings, revealing it for what it really is and embarrassing the nations involved. There are not many people out there as courageous and brave to publicly take a stand against the government .

WikiLeaks ties in relatively well with Henry Jenkins (American media scholar) view of participatory culture, that individuals should not only act as consumers but also as contributors and producers of published media. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange does exactly that encourages both consumption of the media but to also be involved.

However there is also much contention around the future of Wikileaks and whether it will survive. There has been suggestions that the organisation may not actually be able to continue to exist, because the state combined create so much power and will eventually find a way to eradicate anyone who is willing and capable to expose them and there mysteries.    

References:

Kinsman, J. 2011 ‘Truth and Consequence: The Wikileaks Saga’ Policy Options Institute for research on public policy, Canada <http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/feb11/kinsman.pdf>

Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T. and Grimes, J. M. Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies Government Information Quarterly 27 (2010) 264–271

Images from:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/p480x480/484455_10151103345222331_1856781045_n.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ho1WESN_tI/T5YhptEoNqI/AAAAAAAAAPE/HvclXeJYDBs/s1600/La-saga-de-Wikileaks-III-1.jpg

http://en.trend.az/article_photo/wikileaks_051210.jpg

http://notsosocialmedia.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/assange_movie_wide-620x349.jpg?w=640

DIGITAL ACTIVISM

With the uprise of many digital platforms there is becoming an increase in the various ways in which social and political activists can promote and access an intended audience, but in doing so it empowers the citizens they have a chance too, a more easily accessible and efficient medium to be involved and take a stand. This has seen great progress and is a big shift from more traditional means of 'taking to the streets'. Sure its easy to hit like on a Facebook page showing your support for a current issue you feel strongly about but are we missing something? Is it naive of us to think that by simply clicking like on Facebook that some sort of action becomes of this? I also am guilty of this, every now and then I will be moved reading about an important issue where justice needs to be served and find myself clicking away at that like button along with hundreds of thousands of other individuals hoping to make a difference and change the world.

There are many opinions/perspectives surrounding digital activism, is it good is it bad? The internet and different social networking platforms do mobilise political campaigns and give it greater scope and gives the potential to reach a wider range of people all over the world (optimistic perspective) however, it also somewhat distracts the general population and encourages laziness, it promotes the idea that 'hey if you hit like a change will happen and our society will benefit'. There is also a fear for anti-demographic control of technology, that governments can gain control over the activists (pessimistic perspective). Unfortunately political and social change hasn't been totally revolutionised there is still a requirement for physical action in the real world (persistent perspective).

 Getup! Action for Australia is an organisation established to hold politicians to account. they are working toward a "parliament with economic fairness, social justice and environmetal sustainability at its core". They run campaigns such as 'end victim blaming, marriage equality, refugee and asylum seekers and many more'. There are currently 628, 624 members of Getup! This organisation also uses social media platforms to promote their campaigns such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.

Here we have a campaign from Getup! Addressing the issues surrounding refugees and asylum seekers. The government has sent Australia's detention centres off shore to Manu island. Below is a video from forgotten children who detained on Manu island.

  Displaying campaigns like this through out the digital sphere, results in greater recognition and it will potentially never leave the internet world, it there for everyone to see time and time again.








Images from:
http://mkrstovic.edublogs.org/files/2012/02/Digital-Activism-1x5h70z.jpg

http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/protestbanner.jpg

Quote from:
https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_3392122_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_142971_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.getup.org.au%252F

Digital devices- smart phones

Digital Devices

I think it would be hard to find someone, particularly young people in the 21st century who do not own a mobile phone. 20 or even 10 years ago we would never have dreamed of where our technology would be today.

I remember my first mobile phone it was big, bulky, had a black and white screen and i used it only to text and call people and hey maybe a game of snake here and there. I thought it was the best thing ever! Little did i know in the next 5-10 years this great phone would be revolutionised. We now can pretty much run/control our entire lives from our smartphone. It actually has become a part of our lives, or even a part of you!

There are so many positive ways smartphones can aid our lives. It is the ultimate convergence, it allows us to maintain multiple connections at any place and any time with anyone on multiple platforms. It is reshaping our communication. In saying that the phone becomes a part of you, when you loose does it do it cause you to go into a state of absolute terror in the same way it would to think if you lost a limb? Perhaps not that extreme but i know personally i freak out at the thought of loosing my phone, i get that mini heart attack when i search my bag anxiously looking and i cant find it.

Even though there are so many advantages and benefits we receive from our smartphones are we being all that smart with them?? Are we all so consumed and absorbed with our digital connections we forgot about our real life ones? Are we putting our relationships in jeopardy, passing off face to face conversations with simple texts? Can we ever actually escape or unplug? Think about jobs in this technological world, having a smartphone enables you to contactable 24/7, are you expected to be accountable every minute of your life? This 24/7 contact with work can cause crisis/neglect in other aspects of your life. Are you sitting down for dinner with your family or in front of screen replying to emails. Another example could be when we are with our friends are we actually with them or playing on our phones, do we actually want to be elsewhere.

I think we use our phones as a distraction or a cure for boredom. I know for example whenever I am waiting in line somewhere i just whip out my phone and have a little check and see what others are up to, if anyones contacted me. I even see parents using their phones are distractors for their children At my work mothers come in looking for new clothes so they shove a phone in front of their child's face to shut them up. It amazing to see they actually know how to operate them!

However once kids get old enough some parents feel a sense of confidence and security in that they can  keep in touch and know their kids are safe. It gives you a wider reach of home beyond the actual house itself. Sherry Turkle mentions how getting a goodluck message from her daughter is like getting a big hug. It also helps parents with organising and communicating etc.


All in all mobile devices like anything has its pros and cons. However either way they do have the potential to change our lives and who we are.



Images from:

http://www.futurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/apps_phone_1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Nokia_3310_blue.jpg/150px-Nokia_3310_blue.jpg

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2012/06/23/1226406/469857-luca-pennisi.jpg