Dino and Dina's Favorite Insects

Free kids book about favorite insects, design and written by a kid. 
Enjoy!

ONLINE COMMUNITIES AND IDENTITY CREATION

Personas and Identity Constructions in an Online Community

05 March 2014 

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Abstract

Identity construction is an integral part of an online community, the kind of identity you construct shows how you will be perceived and the reputation you will build in an online community. We mostly use the core human identity as a base for all other fragments of identities we actively construct and represent ourselves with in an online community. In the process of constructing our online identities we also give out information about our true self especially when  the identity we create are pseudo and the aim is to disembody ourselves from our online identities. We construct our identities with the expectation of sociability and having meaningful relationships hence the platform affordances and how we want to be perceived plays a major role in our identity construction. In game we construct identities that are true to the identity of the characters we create. In some online communities we put up identities that show our professional self. Some also give the affordance that permits  us to maintain the individuality of private self, while others draws on our fantasies etc.

Introduction

Various online mediums and communities has different ways of helping us construct identities for ourselves and build an online reputation some are more central to who we are than others. Some communities expect us to be true to our identity and give out our genuine identity hence plays the role of extending our core human identity that we have physically into the virtual sphere (for example Facebook). Others spurs fantasies and  expect us to create fictional identities for ourselves which ties more into fictional roleplays, hence the medium itself is aware of the roleplay it requires of the individual therefore its by nature not expecting a true identity from its members or community (In games, Habbo Hotel). Unless users adopt multiple online profiles, social networking sites represent a confluence of identity roles, spaces where users “must adjust their behavior so as to make it appropriate for a variety of different situations and audiences” (Papacharissi, 2009, p. 207). I can relate this context to the art of making a professional CV, depending on the kind of job one is applying for one can alter the curriculum vita in a way that best suites for the job at hand. For example a person apply for a job as a customer service personnel might draw on interpersonal relations skills more in the CV while other persons seeking for administrative duties might draw on writing, filing and general administrative duties instead. Hence the content of the CV is as important as the way it's been structured. When we construct our identities we firstly look out for the affordances of the medium then we use it as a base to decide what kind of identity we would like to portray in that particular community or social media site. A platform like twitter expects a person to have a true identity inasmuch as the user is not bound by any law or conditions its the users choice to show his or her identity. But then considering the second condition that its a professional community hence the identity you create for yourself on such platform goes a long way to serve as your professional identity therefore care must be taken in making choices. Thirdly the kind of tweets you engage with also tells the kind of identity you are putting up. You will be directly linked to the kind of tweets you engage with even if, you just put things out there for fun, your personality will directly be connected to it by others. (working the twittersphere-Papacharissi, 2009,) This is because the platform has very limited way of allowing people to show off their personas or identity so there is this simple yet complex persona analysis that everyone on that platform uses to determine who to follow or not. Platforms like this blurs the real and the virtual in to one context “the professional you” as your virtual identity is an extension of your true self. Hence its a means of edification and must be handled and created with great care to avoid misrepresentation on such a subjective platform. Not only that because there are not right ways of knowing truly who is who and people are aware of the fact that drawing conclusions on someone because of the kind of tweets he or she engages with is very subjective. There is also a dynamic that if popular media houses or famous online professionals act as endorsers, not directly though but  for instance if by chance a well known professional on twitter retweets someones tweet then that becomes an endorsement for the people on the twitter sphere. It is an indirect endorsement yet it gives a sense of authenticness to the person indirectly.  This kind of endorsement is quite vague considering the fact that people pay money to buy twitter followers. Hence even a major mediahouse or a reputable persona on twitter has no way of authenticating the real person behind a mask identity within the twittersphere. Sometimes its rather the fake people that take their time to construct very professional identities and reputations for themselves with a level of consistency that cannot be easily disproved.

Paltalk- Atheist Coffee Club

Tying this back to my online community PALTALK. I have looked at various communities within Paltalk and they all have a standard rule that is age restrictions and a set of norms that members has to follow. Some of these norms are generally what the platform allows for for example raise your hand if you want to speak on the platform, cursing is allowed hence age restrictions applies. Nudity is allowed to a certain degree. However people in the group seem to know each other probably because  they have been in the community for a while.  However this cannot be substantiated  because the medium does not offer the affordance of allowing aspects of the membership to be directly observed. Like knowing how long the community has been in existing or how long one has been a member, or how long or how often one has been online. The level of comfort with which they discuss issues shows a sense of familiarity with the host, administrative and general members, there is a sense of belongingness. This is where dynamics of face to face communication comes to play as the attributes that one associates with knowing someone in the real world is transferred into the virtual sphere. Like inserting names in the middle of conversation, referencing other post or past communications, and level of exposure of ones personal life issues in the community. For example in the middle of communication someone inserts a comment like “Wife is calling its past 12am probably something waiting for me” members respond “definately, go have fun”  yet he is one of the members who have a fairly decent identity in the community, he treat others with respect and he is respected as well. In order to insert that much private life into a conversation there must be a high level of familiarity with the people you are communicating with in the first place. 

In order to create a an identity for myself in the community I have to be very well abreast with the kind of topics they discuss and I have to be an active contributor. Contributing not just by saying something but by saying it with as much drama as possible to make my mark since the platform allows for video, audio and chat at the same time.  I think Americans dominate in the  community so it has allowed for the American style of communication to dominate in the community.  In order not to have a feeling of an outsider I have to adopt and tweak my language a little to make it feel natural and also not to have cultural clashes. Most people prefer the voices and video while having the platform the others just text chat and comment on what the one holding the platform is saying. My personal expression in the community aids in my identity formation. Hence in order to be a member of the community I have to be very active in the community through communication and presence. The medium announces presence once someone joined a room so that helps in making your presence known and helps in the identity creation as well hence the more you visit the room the more your presence will be announced and the more you will be noticed, your mere constant presence tacit a sense of membership but the verbal or textual input pushes more towards being a node instead of just a weak tie.  Though they are a community that are very opened in discussion the name of the community suggest that there is a line one cannot cross (religious discussion) if there should be any kind of such discussion the member always has to be on the side of the community which is the Atheist, otherwise one will not be perceived as a part of the community (basic offline community rule apply online too). I Have not fully constructed an identity for myself there yet, but it is quite easy to construct an identity in that community as long as I follow the four criterias that I see are important in order to be a node in the community. 

A complete profile page with a picture

Show presence in the community room frequently, perform rituals

Contribute,participate  and personally express your thoughts

Acknowledge other members, Audience gratification

These four factors gives a sense of authentication, though The Atheist Coffee room expects members to not show their true identity through their names, to some degree the community expects genuineness of personality and true thoughts. They use the level of consistency in communication  to judge the authenticity of an identity. I got my chance to communicate with the host of the room, I couldn't help but sort of bombard him with question about the community.  Question such as how long its has been in existence? Does he know the people in the community offline? Did he start the community alone or with friends?  This was not my intention when I join the community I just wanted to be there and monitor how they communicate and what makes them a community and make some few inputs. But I ended up exposing my self because being a student am there for a purpose and since I joined the community I haven't met the host so my first encounter with him I intuitively bursted out and I wanted all my questions answered with no discretion whatsoever.  I did get answers to my questions, the community has been in existing for about two years, some of the people in the community are both offline and online friend.  He further explained that he has made quite a few offline friends through the online community. The relationship in the community sort of blends the identities overlapping online and real world context considering the fact that the base of his community were offline friends. He remediated the offline modes (friendship) into the online sphere. His friends were the base upon which the online community was build.  Had the medium or the platform given me the affordance of knowing these questions without having to ask him, I could have kept my online persona that I intended to create.  I feel like they are a bit suspicious about me, can't really tell exactly what they think but I know I am a weak tie, definitely not a node.  I will put in some efforts to see if I could work my way towards becoming a node in the community.

The issue of Identity is a prodigious problem in our online world. In online games people who have build good reputation for themselves in the game world, gamers sell their online ingame identities.  Some game platforms forbid gamers to sell their ingame identities. But the ingame identity is for the individual he or she has spent time, energy and sometimes money to build that identity so its only natural if he want to sell it for capital gains (business) sometimes its not just business If a player seems fed up with the game he has to hand it over to someone else or delete his account, but looking back and knowing the amount of time devoted into creating that identity its hard to just throw it away so the option will be to give it to someone else but as a gamer you want to give your personality to someone who cares about the game and is a good player as well, hence the act of selling the identity goes beyond capital gains. In order for someone to buy a game identity the person must be passionate about the game and also have some expertise at least in playing the game this fulfills a gamer who want to quites wish so the selling of the account becomes a good option for a gamer.  But I think the refusal for selling of ingame identities is because the game owners equate ingame identity to selling ones real world identity which is illegal. This  even further blurs the line between our metaphoric characters online and our real self in a physical space and raise a more complex question such as if I create a reputable persona for myself online who owns that persona? Is it myself or the platform? Perhaps a converging technology that allows us to put all our online identities  in one portfolio could be an authentic identification mechanism that will help in curbing the complexities of identity and persona authentications online.

Citation

www. paltalk.com

Papacharissi (2009) Network self: working the twittersphere

FILM DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Online Movie Streaming-Netflix  

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Introduction

Online movie streaming and technological innovations are eradicating the use of DVDs and Blu-rays, movie watching is no longer confined to the living room, as new technological devices do not have the capabilities to view DVDs or Blu-rays. Online movie streaming is a way of watching movies online through movie streaming companies that has emerged with a wide array of Hollywood and alternative movies. Hollywood movies are one of the viable, sustainable entertainment proposition even in today's digital age. They get very large fiscal earnings  from global dispensations, with a wide array of commercial entertainment movie streaming on diverse online platforms through streaming companies. Some of these movie streaming companies are very successful while others are not quite as successful.

The major subscription based movie streaming companies as of second quarter 2014 are Netflix, Amazon and Hulu arranged in chronological order. However the position of Amazon and Hulu are interchangeable in most cases, but Netflix undoubtedly is recognised as the leader in online movie streaming. My focus is on Netflix since they are the market leader in online Hollywood movie streaming with over fifty million subscribers and over  hundreds and thousands of  movies in their repository as of second quarter of 2014.[1]

This topic is relevant to my digital culture and communication program because it reflects on how digitalization, technological innovation and changing spaces or context affects user interaction with content. The moment the movie is moved from the physical space into the virtual space it brings up new cultural practices and challenges.

These challenges though constitutes a practical dilemma to those who deal with the older media, they are still a herculean problem, because a transition from a DVD kiosk into a virtual streaming company is not a very viable business, as resources and materials required are mostly beyond the reach of the ordinary DVD kiosk and also the quantity and quality of movies it can engage with in its repository in order to fulfill customer requirements are very high. There are also much tougher legalities associated with having movies in the virtual space than in the physical space. For instance  movies online has protections that the streaming company offers, the consumer watches the movie online and does not own a copy personally so any defect that allows for a consumer to own a copy of the movie is considered illegal and the streaming company is held responsible for it. Whiles in the DVD kiosk such burdens does not exist, the consumer buys and owns the movies relieving the DVD kiosk of any illegal action that might arise from the consumer.

Considering a company like Netflix, they have DVD rentals online alongside the streaming services, so for such companies transition from older media into the newer media form will be quite smooth because they are already working within the virtual space so there might not even be any losses in that regard. There are greater chances that monetization from the DVD will easily be transferred to the online streaming services.[2] However some are left with no choice but to change their entire business due to the fact that the shift in media is rendering the older media to be unattractive and difficult to negotiate business wise.

Background History of Movie Streaming (Literature Overview) 

The first online VoD platform was Ifilm and was launched in 1997. Online distribution pioneers like Ifilm, Atom films, Entertainers disappeared as the market was not ready for their innovation at the time. Then came the second wave  comprising of  major Hollywood companies like Movielink (originally branded MovieFly), a joint-venture between Sony, Paramount, Universal and Moviebeam (Disney) joining in on the movie streaming services, but they also failed.

These earlier distribution channels didn't make it on the markets because the market was not quite ready for it due to high bandwidth usage which makes it not so affordable and also the newness of the technology and service is something consumers were not acquainted with. The masses were not ready for that transition. However they brought about popularity in the movie streaming services, which in a way helped the third wave to be successful. Online streaming is back in service with varying high demand  on the movie market. Online streaming gives the affordance for movies to be sold directly to individual consumers, it’s ubiquitous connectivity is undermining the traditional distribution companies and has completely revolutionized the DVD and Blu-ray markets as they are on the downward trend  and struggling to keep their heads above water. Sales of DVD and Blu-ray is expected to dwindle further down by 38% within the next four years.

The change in movie watching medium is quite evolutionary to the movie industry in general. Not only are streaming movies online affordable, the level  of comfort it gives the consumer is quite phenomenal. The third wave of online players set in, that is Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Itunes.1 They are the market players today with Netflix being the market leader followed by Amazon and Hulu, in that order.[3] There are other numerous ones that have crawled in afterwards like Viaplay among others.

Distributions

Consumer freedom is key to emerging dynamics of online distribution in the digital arena, no wonder other distribution channels are slowly dying off.  Proximity is closely linked to consumer freedom being when, where, quality, quantity and affordability conglomerates.  These are the five factors that are behind Netflix great success in dominating the market. Unlike their competitors such as Amazon and Hulu who have fail to have all these five factors in its entirety. Hulu for example does not have an extensive movie library as compared to Netflix however the quality of content is as good as Netflix. Hulu also does not allow account sharing up to five person like Netflix does. Amazon on the other hand has tons of titles that are included in a search though they are not for free  which frustrates consumers.

Trans device streaming are making online movie watching even more simplistic and handy for both consumers and streaming companies as well. As mentioned by  Stuart Cunningham & Jon Silver- Palgrave(2013) in their Screen Distribution and the New King Kong of the Online World, “The proposition that we are in the middle of a rapid process of change which is seeing established or “old” media being challenged for primacy in audiences’ and users’ attention by new modes and types of production, dissemination and display.” Hence the change is so rapid as companies are charged to alter their structures rapidly in order to go with the flow of current market trends.

What Make Netflix the Market Giant 

Netflix is said to offer an “à la carte” service to its customers as in comparison to its competitors. Netflix is the winning company in on demand online streaming as of today, they deliver niche content to multiple audiences through multiple screens. A users account can be used on television, computer, and even on mobile devices. By not restricting consumer mobility, location or devices, Netflix business model keeps the consumers interest very high. “The power and profitability in screen industries have always resided in distribution”- Jonathan Knee (2011). The success of Netflix resides in its distributions trans devices which is linked closely to the flexibility offered to consumers, and makes the various levels of distribution key to consumer satisfaction. Netflix content also keeps the consumers eyeball on them because it has a fairly well balanced content, with a huge repository  ranging from new releases to old time classics. Netflix strategically offers even more consumer satisfaction by introducing the creation of a profile. The profile page allows up to five members of a household to have their own personalized Netflix experiences within a single Netflix account. Each profile allows for its own: Personalized movie and TV show suggestions, recently watched list, ratings and reviews, taste preferences, my list” It is a more holistic approach, it explicitly allows for more flexibility and reduces the chances of illegal streaming within Netflix platform. Inasmuch as the content plays a major role, the distribution and its innovativeness goes hand in hand with it. In order for Netflix to stand out from the crowd, the quality of content and number of titles on its shelves played a major role. Lately there are trends of interest in alternative movies like the  Bollywood movies[4] and even Swedish movies, for example "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" The demand for such movies are also growing quite tremendously.[5] It is no news that Hollywood movies are the kings when it comes to movies and the making and breaking of a streaming company is largely based on Hollywood movies globally. Though there are limited number of scholarly studies of Hollywood digital distribution because most tend to emphasise predominantly on production rather than distributions-Parren and Petruka (2012). Deciphering which services is the best among the major movie streaming companies is no task at all, it is quite clear Netflix have it all right, right timing, right content and right channels. Though affordability is becoming problematic due to a $1 increase in subscription fees during the course of this research.[6] However its quite natural to experience such downturn at the time of the increment more so, the amount involved is not substantial. Subscriptions are expected to bounce back to normal in due course. “Reference to industry history indicates that, like all large-scale corporations, they are likely to use market power to seek to limit competition and corral users inside walled gardens.”- Stuart Cunningham & Jon Silver- Palgrave(2013). Being the market leader in movie streaming they are already aware of how consumers will react, but it is a tactic on their part because they know the commotion will cool off in due cause.  The increment also was very minimal it is a strategy to keep the consumers very close even if they are not happy with the increment they will still stay and not leave because of such insignificant amount thereby keeping the consumers in a walled garden.

Conclusion

As the world progresses steadily in the digital age, even reluctant digital immigrants (Persons born or brought up before the wide spread of digital technologies) are slowly but steadily joining in on the  digital arena. Thus in the nearer future, DVDs will completely be in the past even in places where digital divide (being the gap between those with internet access and those without) is a formidable problem because more and more third world countries are putting in extreme measures to minimize or obliterate the digital divide in its entirety.[7] Not only the developing countries but also developed countries like the USA still have issues of digital divide though in that context it is mostly linked to the reluctance of the digital immigrant  to join in on the digital arena (Technophobia) and sometimes also linked to issue of poverty.[8] Just like the video cassette vanished from the system so will the Blu-rays and DVDs because movie watching in today's terms is not an activity confined to a living room, most of our electronic devices like the Smartphones, Tablets and even the Laptops do not have DVD players. Online movie streaming is the future, its going to be bigger and better because it addresses almost all the needs of the consumer. It is flexible, it is cost effective and also have a wide array of movies to choose from, all at the comfort of one's own location of choice. There is also a greater desire for movies by consumers today as they get to stream countless amount of movies on trans devices regardless of location or time. This is paving way for consumers to develop taste for other movies other than the Hollywood productions. The trend is opening up greater opportunities in the movie industry that will help smaller and unpopular movie industries to also get a share of the fame of the movie industry. For Hollywood being the King in the movie industry, is going to be for quite a while but they would have to let go of a much larger portion of  the market share  than they have now, for the emerging taste of the new digital consumer. As recognised by Stuart Cunningham & Jon Silver- Palgrave(2013)“When it comes to the sale or rental of film and television programming to online audiences, Hollywood content, as the saying famously goes, has been king. There was, until recently, little evidence of a critical mass of online viewers willing to pay for alternative fare” this shows a showing a trend in emerging taste of online viewer, and will opened up opportunities for alternative movies in a broader spectrum.  
  

References

Screen Distribution and the New King Kong of the Online World:(2013) Stuart Cunningham & Jon Silver- Palgrave Macmillan

Remaking the Movies:(2008) Digital Content and the Evolution of the Film and Video Industries-OECD

Netflix global streaming domination

1.http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2014/07/21/netflix-eyes-global-streaming-domination-as-it-crosses-50-million-subscriber-mark/  

Swedish Institute-Swedish film in summary- Retrieved 2012-10-23

2.http://ir.netflix.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1065280-14-6&CIK=1065280

Netflix dominate rivals

3.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-07/netflix-dominates-streaming-rivals-with-growing-web-video-share.html  

Growing demand for Bollywood movies

4.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-17920845

Demand for Swedish films

5.https://presentingsweden.si.se/material-by-theme/film/information-and-inspiration-fil/  

Netflix subscription price increase

6.http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2014/10/15/netflix-price-increase-curbs-subscriber-growth

7.http://www.un.org/press/en/2013/gaef3374.doc.htm

Digital Divide in the US

8.http://www.citylab.com/work/2014/02/stubborn-persistence-americas-digital-divide/8280/

 

LIFE OF THE AFRICAN STUDENT IN SWEDEN

 

A short documentary about how the African student finds Sweden. What are the interesting things in Sweden? the food, the people, the culture and What are the basic requirements as a foreigner in Sweden. These are told from the perspective of the African living in Sweden. I was inspired to do this documentary out of curiosity about a lot of things in Sweden which I didn't find easy answers to instantly. Though these are basic norms and everyday things for anyone living in Sweden, It may be quite foreign to anyone living outside Scandinavia. Had I known all these basic information before or just after coming to Sweden I would have done a lot of things differently. I think this documentary could benefit people aspiring to come to Sweden. I wish to do a follow up documentary on other aspects that were not captured in this part very soon.  Enjoy and share your comments.

 

 

 

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Summary 

Aspects of Xenophobe's Guide

The Canadians

Canadians have a sense of decency, honesty, integrity in the sense that a good reputation and virtuous character are principal features of a Canadian society. They have a high level of tolerance that can become a weakness, their lives are about peace and order. Trust in politicians or good governance are not credible enough.  They naturally do not like being mistaken for Americans however they are very easy going and their life worth is mostly portrayed in travels. They link well being, happiness and their wealth to how often they travel.  They are extremely fond of nature and natural reserves and also prefer spacious homes. They do not brag neither are they arrogant, they spend their wealth on intangibles. They allow for religious freedom, marriage is not  a necessity in the broader sense hence there is a low reproduction rate.

The Aussies

Aussies are believers in their own individuality and are keen on non conformity. There is a clear division in suburbs diving the old and the young. Aussies desire to pursue pleasure which is mainly to surf,  in between which they have drink, eat, sleep, love, and work, these leisure time sometimes can compromise work but its still ok.  This is one idiosyncratic characteristic of all Aussie and they hold it dear.   Classism among Aussies is mostly based on character except in the more affluent areas. They spend what they have without being penny-pinch about it. They prioritise on how one's wealth is made in order to give credibility, hence a typical Aussie have no trust for entrepreneurs they  are perceived as crooks and dishonest people though their spending power makes them powerful. The right way to acquire huge money is by winning it. Aussies take pride in the display of tangible assets in an extravagant way in the exterior of their yard to be seen by all while the inside get a perfunctory attention.

The English

The English relates any attitude to common sense whilst in actual fact the common sense mean forethinking or planning in anticipation, this also shows inventiveness and handiness of the english. To have a sense of englishness is to be enduring of uncomfortable situations with calm  and without complains, thats why the english suspect that all foreigners tend to overreact and make big issue out of nothing.  The english are lovers of sports, and yearns for a sense of belongingness hence reason for so many english clubs and society.To the english its better to be a part of a team even if it’s without any greater purpose. The focus is on the association and the togetherness or sociality. They are not deeply religious, hence they do not believe in soul searching  which makes them least introspective of other races. Class is an important aspect of the english society, accents can easily be used to place individuals in the english society.

The Americans

The American is flamboyant filled with pride and hold money in high esteem. An american without work is a nobody and living the American  dream entails  showing off wealth in the  form of automobile along with house and a garden. The kind of car reflects the owners personality and social status. They have high interest in the use of gadgets, manually doing things are almost forbidden, hence the use of gadgets also ties into the social status.  They have a phobia for growing old and looking fat but then 15 million Americans are morbidly obese. the family is nuclear, children are raised to be independent but cautious. The best years of most americans lives is their teenage years due to low responsibilities and lots of spendable income.  The American is opened about sex and frowns on adultery publicly.

Work Cited

Miall Antony & Milsted David. The Xenophobe’s Guide to The English (Oval Books, 2008)

RosteVaughn . The Xenophobe’s Guide to The Canadians (Oval Books, 2002)

Hunt Ken & Taylor Mike. The Xenophobe’s Guide to The Aussies (Oval Books, 2004)

Faul Stephanie. The Xenophobe’s Guide to The Americans (Oval Books, 1999)

African Oil

Political ramifications of Ghana oil finds.  

http://www.svtplay.se/video/1821387?type=embed

A Collection of G. K. Chesterton's Essays

Enjoy reading.