Final Assessed Post – MANG2049

I shall start of with an enlightenment that this post doesn’t contain any vlogs, voice-overs or so. I’m saving people from the horror of seeing my face and hearing my voice, haha.

Now, getting to serious mode. I’m sad that the module ends so soon and going to physical lectures again next week. This module has taught me more than what I thought I would be learning in this marketing degree.

Created by Maureen Harend, by Online Chart

It’s amazing how I feel way more confident at all categories in the self-test. This module has proven me that I can do things better when I keep doing them. Feedbacks from the teachers on how to improve also helped me a lot in getting better.

Created by Maureen Harend, by Piktochart

The module covers topics that are really helpful towards my adventure in the digital web. It made me think who I am on it, why and how I am using it.
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Created by Maureen Harend, by Prezi

The module requires me to comment on my friends’ posts and to make a reflective summary on it, which has taught me to give more participation in online communities. Reading others’ posts, commenting on them, and getting replied helped me to have new understanding on the topic and to see problems in different perspectives.

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Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that’s simple, beautiful and fun.

Created by Maureen Harend, by Haiku Deck

This post isn’t going to be the end of this blog! I will share my hobbies and future explorations here too, showing my interests and specialties. To future MANG2049 underclassmen and module mates in UK or wherever they are, don’t be shy to leave a comment when you are here! Or you can mention me on twitter to get advices on the topics!^^

Reflection: Open Access to Online Content

Prior to writing this final reflection, other than my friends’ I’ve also read my seniors’ and fellow module mates in UK’s posts. There are many interesting posts that I’ve observed, for example, in Khairul’s post, I didn’t know that the two creators of World Wide Web had opposing views of Open Access. Upon reading them, I am able to improve my understanding of Open Access’ controversial issues.

My post was focused on academia. However, Holly’s post provides me a different perspective from aspiring musicians, in which free access to their content would increase their exposure and fan bases. Furthermore, with Dawn’s comment, I realise that Open Access depends on producers themselves. Taylor Swift, who was against the idea, pulled her music off free streaming sites. Meanwhile, P!ATD’s Brendon Urie was more supportive and even encouraged illegal downloading if fans couldn’t purchase it (time.com, 2014, twitter, 2013). We have to respect both decisions as there is no right or wrong here. It is simply a matter of differing views, and ethics, in a way.

Researching more, I thought of a better solution to consider. The Open Access society is generally divided into those who can pay and those who can’t. TED has an interesting approach. While TED conferences are all uploaded on Youtube, attendance tickets are expensive and limited. These ticket sales were used to fund their freely-accessed contents (ted.com, 2016). For buyers, attendance is not the only perk, as participants are able to join after-parties and chat with contributors. Moreover, expensive and limited tickets mean only specific people are attending; those interested with the topics. Most importantly, these people have the resources and willingness to spend. In conclusion, I think, as long as there are exclusive features that ‘payers’ could get without essentially harming ‘non-payers’, this method should be effective.

Media created by Maureen Harend by Powtoon

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Commented on:

Teresa’s blog

Xin Lin’s blog

References:

Urie, B., 2013. Tweet. @brendonurie on Twitter.

Tripp, H., 2016. Topic 5: Reflection. themarketingfresher.wordpress.com

How TED Works, ted.com

Bam, K.F., 2014. Digitization, the underlying factor. bamsoton.wordpress.com

Linshi, J., 2014. Here’s Why Taylor Swift Pulled Her Music from Spotify. time.com

Open Access to Online Content

There are two properties of online content in the digital web, Paid Access and Open Access. Like their names, Paid Access represents online content that are only available for users who have paid for it and Open Access represents online content that are able to be viewed for free to all users (Editage, 2015). This post is focused on Open Access’ pros and cons.

Video taken Open Access Explained! from via Youtube

Open Access has been a hot debate in this era of digital web (theguardian.com, 2012). Especially, a lot of end-users have been demanding academic journals to be available for free to anyone, like in the video above. However, the problem doesn’t revolve only around end-users, there are many factors in this case, such as, publishers and authors.

The benefits of Open Access to end-users are prominent; things being free will always be a good profit for users. Open Access allows researchers to share their findings online and improve each other (sparcopen.org). Most of researchers’ complaints of Paid Access have been about how the paid content was not the one they were searching and could not get a refund. With Open Access, researches do not need to pay for works until they find the one that they need.

For publishers and authors, however, Open Access possesses more disadvantages than benefits. 12% of authors have to pay out of their own pockets for their articles to be published, others have to find funders (theguardian.com, 2013). Publishers have to pay to publish those articles for users to see. Of course publishers and authors do get benefits, for example, getting more recognition and citations for their works, but the costs of getting their works online may outweigh those benefits (edanzediting.com, 2013).

Infographic created by Maureen Harend, by piktochart, references from edanzediting.com and earlham.edu

A good way of solving this problem is to make some content free to access, while others still need to be paid first. An example is Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ). The site, as of now, has two-third of its content free to access. Unfortunately, this solution is also difficult to implement. As evident in the linked journal, there is barely any parameters to determine which articles should be released for free and which should not.

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References:

Anyangwe, E., Freedman, E., 2012. Open access in research: catch up on the debate. theguardian.com

Directory of Open Access Journal, 2016. doaj.org

Edanzediting, 2013. Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Access. edanzediting.com

Editage Insights, 2015. What are the differences between open access and standard subscription-based publication? editage.com

Piled Higher and Deeper, 2012. Open Access Explained! Youtube, PHD Comics

Sparcopen, 2016. sparcopen.org

Suber, P., 2013. Open access: six myths to put to rest. theguardian.com

 

 

 

Reflection: Ethical Issues in Social Media

Reading most of my friends’ posts, I am now aware that there are various types of ethical issues; astroturfing, privacy, and more; each has been covered for in most posts that I had read. I’ve also come to realize that privacy issue can be closely linked to consent issue.

In response to Klarissa’s post, I have understood that User Generated Content (UGC) is another case in which consent was applied incorrectly. There have been many cases of firms using users’ pictures for products’ promotions without users’ consent (nytimes.com, 2015). The ambiguity lays in whether using hashtags means firms can use the particular photos for marketing or is it just a feed for users to browse in.

In response to Brenda’s post, she discussed how users mostly skipped reading terms and conditions through and click “I Agree” immediately. This is quite problematic as some firms may sometimes use browse-wrap agreements instead of click-wrap agreements, which causes policies to be difficult to find and read (dashfarrow.com). Users are also at fault as they give their consent without fully reading or understanding the rules.

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Presentation created by Maureen Harend, by Prezi

In conclusion, I would like to say that the code of ethics is different among people and often changes over time. A person may feel what they are doing is right, without realizing that it may come off unpleasant to others. However, it is important for us to re-evaluate ourselves when a number of people criticise us. Perhaps we could learn to put ourselves in different perspectives and be respectful when either explaining our standing or admitting if our action is indeed not the most appropriate. There will always be grey areas in the application of ethics, however knowing that one has wronged the majority and reflecting on the mistake is a good ethic that is accepted by most.

Image taken from azquotes.com

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References:

Abrams, R., Ember, S., 2015. On Instagram and Other Social Media, Redefining ‘User Engagement’. nytimes.com

Dash Farrow Law Firm, 2016. Website Agreements: Browse-wrap vs. Clickwrap Agreements. dashfarrow.com

Ethical Issues in Social Media

Oxford Dictionaries define ethics as moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity (oxforddictonaries.com). While humans are granted freedom of speech, in social media there seems to be many misuses by users (nytimes.com, 2015). What’s more important is that networking sites are not responsible for those misfits. Instead, the consequences will all fall to the users. The case of Justine Sacco which had been covered in the previous post is an example (guardian.com, 2014).

An ethical issue that has been particularly causing troubles is consent. The issue can come in different aspects. Cases of consent issue have caused a varied degree of reactions, from angry rants on social networking sites to court trials. Further on this issue will be discussed below.

An interesting article was released earlier today about judges ruling out Amazon to reimburse kids’ in-app purchases without permission (the wall street journal, 2016). With increasing percentage of kids with home internet access—62% in 2013 (childtrends.org)—, parents have not been able to monitor their kids’ digital activities, often resulting kids making purchases on the internet without parents’ permission. While Amazon didn’t agree to the penalty of $26.5 million that the court has settled, they proceeded to allow parents to get refunds for these purchases .

The consequence of lack of parents’ consent in kids’ digital activities does not end at online purchases. The chart below summarises more dangers and how to avoid them.

Infograph created by Maureen Harend, by Piktochart, references from childtrends and welivesecurity

Children are not the only victims of internet misuse due to lack of consent. Many has expressed sorrows with works online being stolen. A famous case is Sammy Rhodes on Twitter back in 2013. Sammy was a famous twitter user who mostly posted comical tweets. What he didn’t tell his followers was he paraphrased others’ tweets and claimed them as his own. When public caught on to this, the users who made the original tweets Sammy copied were angry at Sammy for not crediting or telling them before recreating their tweets. Later on, Sammy admitted his mistakes and has ever since changed his username.

Screenshots of Sammy Rhodes copying D’Brickashaw‘s tweet via Twitter

The vastly-growing social media has provided limited time for users, both kids and adults, to learn which behaviours are acceptable and which are not. The line between ethical and non-ethical doings online is often blurry as users don’t really understand when is it time to stop before creating further problems.

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Ethical Social Media Behavior – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Presentation created by Maureen Harend, by Haiku Deck

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References:

Childtrends, 2015. Home Computer Access and Internet Use. childtrends.org

Justine Sacco, 2013. #HasJustineLandedYet. Twitter, Justine Sacco.

Oxforddictionaries, 2016. Ethics. oxforddictionaries.com

Ronson, J., 2015. How One Stupid Tweet Ruined Justine Sacco’s Life. nytimes.com

Sammy Rhodes, 2013. @SammyRhodes. Twitter

Theguardian, 2014. Twitter abuse: easy on the messenger. theguardian.com

The Wall Street Journal, 2016. Amazon to Reimburse Customers for In-App Purchases by Kids, Judge says. thewallstreetjournal.com

Welivesecurity, 2015. Why parents must teach their children about internet security. welivesecurity.com

Reflection: Building a Professional Digital Profile

One day has passed and with new information I’ve gotten from my friends’ posts, I’ve come to learn that building a professional digital profile requires a lot more hard work and attention.

In response to Adelene’s post, she has given a point that didn’t come through my mind before, which is browsing one’s name and see which posts from their social media accounts that have to be edited. Browsing is often done by recruiters to have more information on each candidate, be it their merits or faults (Huffingtonpost, 2014). Adelene has made a good point of only deleting questionable posts, instead of the account altogether, allowing recruiters to have a variety of resources to learn each candidate’s personality.

Another thing I’ve noticed on her post is to use sites that match one’s job interests. Employers might think that candidates with too many social networks often slack at work. For example, as I am striving to be a marketer, the sites that my employers would look out for me can be simmered down significantly, like below:

Screenshot of Maureen Harend‘s listography

In response to Dawn’s post, she has made a great point of how employees represent the firm they are working for, that even posts written post-employment influence public sentiment towards said firm. What I’ve come to realize is this could be a double-edged sword to the firms. Cases like Marina Shifrin’s “How I Quit My Job“(2013) has gotten tremendously viral that public has viewed her ex-firm negatively.

To end this post, below is a summary of what I’ve found on building a professional digital profile:

(if embed code doesn’t work, see: https://prezi.com/p90r97kphfxs/copy-of-explain-any-topic/)

Presentation created by Maureen Harend, by Prezi

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References:

Joyce, S., 2014. What 80% Of Employers Do Before Inviting You For An Interview. huffingtonpost.com

Shifrin, M., 2013.  How I Quit My Job. via Youtube (blocked)

Telegraph, 2013. Is this the best way ever to quit your job? Marina Shifrin resigns with Kanye West dance video. telegraph.co.uk

Building a Professional Digital Profile

In these past years, social networks have become a trend in the world. More than one-third of the world’s population are signed up to at least one social network platform (Statista, 2016). That is more than two billion individuals! Unfortunately this phenomenon that often highlights the freedom of speech, goes in hand with increasingly offensive and intolerable acts. One of the most severe cases happened back in 2013 to Justine Sacco (nytimes.com, 2015).

Screenshots of Justine Sacco’s controversial (deleted) tweet and #HasJustineLandedYet hashtag feed

However, social networks don’t only bring misfortunes for the users, many have been employed due to their splendid works using the digital network. An example would be Steven Lim, an originally independent Youtube Vlogger, who is now working with BFMP(BuzzFeed Motion Picture), bringing more than 100,000,000 views to the firm:

Video taken from Steven Lim, How I Ended Up At Buzzfeed via Youtube

Developing an authentic digital professional profile can’t be done in one night and has to be maintained to not bring misfortunes to oneself. The public is critical to what they find on the internet, just like in Justine Sacco’s case. Below are some things to take note on creating a professional profile.

It is important to know which social networks are used for what purpose. The statistics have shown that most employers use LinkedIn to recruit, followed by Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and more (jobvite.com, 2014). Knowing what to post in each site can help to make your online digital profile look more professional. For example, LinkedIn is used to target around business and professional readers, one doesn’t need to talk about how their family meeting ended in the site (quicksprout.com). Here are more insights on what is each site used for:

Image edited by Maureen Harend, references from impactbnd.com

If done correctly, blogging can help people obtain employment (theemployable.com, 2014). Blogging uses one’s effort, time, and creativity. Making an interesting blog for employers to see will definitely give a boost up in the CVs. It is important to know what the employers are looking for, this is why, a candidate should think from the employers’ perspective. What would they want to see in the blog? Here are some of recruiters’ criteria in candidates’ social networks:

Video created by Maureen Harend, using PowToon, references from careerbuilder.com

Linking all of one’s social networks’ accounts together will also be a good way to promote oneself. As a matter of fact, sites like listography or blogs’ sidebar templates enable people to cite all their accounts together. Viewers, who might be employers, wouldn’t have to spend extra time searching for the particular account in each social network.

Screenshot of Maureen Harend‘s listography

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References:

Careerbuilder, 2016. Number of Employers Using Social Media to Screen Candidates. careerbuilder.com

Egan, K., 2016. The Difference Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube & Pinterest. impactbnd.com

Jobvite, 2014. Social Recruiting Survey 2014. jobvite.com

Justine Sacco, 2013. #HasJustineLandedYet. Twitter, Justine Sacco.

Quicksprout. The Complete Guide to Building Your Blog Audience. quicksprout.com

Statista, 2016. Number of worldwide social network users. statista.com

Steven Lim, 2016. How I Ended Up At Buzzfeed. Youtube, Steven Lim.

Ronson, J., 2015. How One Stupid Tweet Ruined Justine Sacco’s Life. nytimes.com

Theemployable, 2014. How Blogging Can Help You Get A Job. theemployable.com

 

 

 

Reflection: One or Multiple Online Identities

After reading most of my friends’ posts, I noticed recurring ideas regarding how individuals implement their online identities. While some people might prefer having a single identity across several digital platforms, others might think otherwise. Of course, each comes with their own pros and cons, which I have summarized as below:

Image made by Maureen Harend

In response to Hui Juan’s post, she has written a really interesting point of the differences in perspectives. As a viewer, a person would like to know who are they conversing with, but as a user, that same person wouldn’t want to share their information, as they are afraid of the security for themselves. If this problem remains unsolved, I think that it will be hard for people to not have multiple online identities; it can’t be helped that humans pertain security as one of their needs.

In response to Wansia’s post, I like that she included the risks of cyber-bullying in the arguments against multiple online identities. Some people would use the ability of being anonymous online to their own advantages such as giving malicious comments, scamming and such. The solutions to this problem can come from 2 aspects, first, for sites to increase their security level and second, for police forces to improve operations in countering cyber-crime.

Personally, I believe that there is nothing wrong with having one or multiple online identities; each has its pros and cons. After all, the safest way to use internet, whether one or multiple identities, is to know what to and not to share with your peers and the public. Do everyone need to know that you partied last week? Are you sure that your post won’t offend anyone?

Image taken from azquotes

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One or Multiple Online Identities

Unlike in real world, where a person’s identity is shown to the public without being able to hide it, in the online web a person can create a different identity or maybe multiple identities for themselves. What are the pros and cons for this? Is it good to have more than one identity?

Multiple Identities

 

Image made by Maureen Harend

There can be different purposes in creating an online account; be it to create a professional identity for marketing use or just a place to rant and escape from reality. When you make different accounts for different purposes, this forms multiple online identities.

Video taken from TEDx Talks, How Social Media Shapes Identity | Ulrike Schultze | TEDxSMU via Youtube

Being anonymous online lets people explore their interests without getting judged by the public (theguardian.com, 2012). Managing different accounts would be difficult however, as they have to assign different aspects of themselves to different audience groups (Forbes, 2011).

Creating a professional account for employers is a good solution to market oneself, as 60% of employers are screening applicants by checking their social medias (careerbuilder.com, 2016). Although this means that employees may have to fake themselves at work to uphold the professional identity shown online, or else they would disappoint the employer.

One Identity 

Image made by Maureen Harend

When you only have one identity, a person can be truthful to themselves. The online persona reflects their real selves to the public, therefore allowing them to socialize with other online users more comfortably. A research has found that couples who first met through online dating have lower divorce rate than those offline; 6% vs 8%. (Huffington, 2013)

With one identity, remembering all accounts would be easier—all using the same e-mail address, username, and more—. The downside of this is it would be easier to get the identity stolen. Linking all online accounts to one identity will provide identity thieves an easier access to manipulate all your accounts just by getting in to one. An example is the video below:

Video taken from Duval Guillaume, See how easily freaks can take over your life via Youtube

My Experience

Personally, I do have multiple identities for my online activities. As observed in the identity theft video, exposing one true self online is risky because the confidentiality of our information is not fully guaranteed, at least yet. Perhaps, if there is more development in online security management, having only one identity will be much more practical. However there is never anything wrong with being a little more careful, right?

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References:

Careerbuilder, (2016). Number of Employers Using Social Media to Screen Candidates Has Increased 500 Percent over the Last Decade. careerbuilder.com

Casserly, M., (2011). Multiple Personalities And Social Media: The Many Faces of Me. forbes.com

Costa, C., & Torres, R., (2011). To Be or Not to Be, the Importance of Digital Identity in the Networked Society. Revista Educação, Formação & Tecnologias, n.º extra (Abril, 2011): 47‐53.

Krotoski, A., (2015). Online Identity: Is authenticity or anonymity more important? theguardian.com

Reich, A., (2013). Online Dating Leads To Higher Marriage Satisfaction, Lower Divorce Rates: Study. huffingtonpost.com

Safe Internet Banking, (2013). See how easily freaks can take over your life. Youtube Video, Duval Guillaume

Ulrike, S., (2015).  How Social Media Shapes Identity | Ulrike Schultze | TEDxSMU. Youtube Video, TEDx Talks

Reflection: Digital Visitors and Digital Residents

After reading several posts of the topic from my friends’, I would say that I have changed some of my perspectives in the topic. I’ve no longer thought that Digital Visitors and Digital Residents are 100% right to describe a person, it is more of which one does they represent in one site. A flaw I’ve realized in this framework is, a person’s representation in one site is not able to be fully determined whether if they are 100% a Visitor or Resident, most fall in between.

In the picture below, I’ve labelled what am I on each site that I’ve been using:

Other things that I’ve learned directly by commenting and sharing our opinions are:

In response to XinHui’s post, I’ve learned that the identity can change by personal experience or maturity of thoughts, even for a permanent period. Experiences and thoughts, such as, cyber-bullied or enjoying the real-life moment, might make you to stop being a Digital Resident and choose to be a visitor.

In response to Julaina’s post, I’ve learned that a Resident can influence Visitors. A social media celebrity, who is a Resident, can make a market influence. I’ve also seen a possibility of a Resident influencing Visitors to become a Resident too, by motivating them with a fun web-digital life.

To conclude this reflective post, I think that there should be more research to identify a person’s identity in the digital world. I believe, that there is a better framework that can be found in the future that will help digital users to label themselves accurately, not in the grey areas. Who knows that it might be one of us who found it?

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