Over to the dark side.... Cyberbullying - no laughing matter.

  

For my final blog post, I am taking a serious tone. Cyberbullying is something which terrifies, angers and saddens me. The saying "sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me" has never rung less true. 

Cyberbullying" is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones (stopcyberbullying.org)

Had I grown up a few years later, I would have been a target.   I got bullied at an all girls school -  girls are twice as likely to be bullied (dosomething.org).

My room was my safe haven, as it should be. I only discovered MSN (messaging) when I was in year twelve,  and I didn't own a mobile phone until then. Now, over 80% of teens own a mobile, and it is the most common medium for cyber bullying (dosomething.org).

What if you cannot escape this -  what if it torments you, morning, noon and night?  

·  abusive texts and emails

·  hurtful messages, images or videos

·  imitating others online to set them up

·  excluding others online

·  nasty online gossip and chat  (cybersmart, 2014)
Cyberbullying allows the bully to be anonymous.  81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person (dosomething.org)

Looking back, Rheingolds theory on collaboration and social media (much like the end of the video, below) , now seems misplaced; "it could produce a more thoughtful society: countless small acts like publishing a Web page or sharing a link could add up to a public good that enriches everybody.'' (Rheingold, 2012)

There are so many theories as to what makes a cyberbully that even experts often misunderstand cyberbullying.(Wiredsafety.org)
1. victims of real word bullying, and go online and bully others to feel powerful. 
2. bullies offline, extending their sphere of influence and power to the online world. 
3. Other cyber bullies just want to show that they can do certain things online to show off. 
Bullying victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider committing suicide (dosomething.org).
I believe the internet has desensitised young people to human suffering and bullying because it is in front of our faces every day, every minute, every second, online.(kidsafefoundation,org) It is essential that adults acknowledge, understand and accept the Internet and communication technology as a viable and real means of relating for young people, to provide guidance and protection (Mishna F, Saini  M & Solomon S, 2009)

Olivia Penpraze committed suicide in 2012 after years of bullying. Reaching out via social media, her parents had no idea. (see below videos)

Parents need to  keep up with social media technologies to better understand their kids, and what they are going through.

 So many campaigns, advice, and websites - yet still no answer...

References:

• Bullyingstatistics.org, 2013, 'Cyber Bullying & Social Bullying', Accessed 8th February 2014, http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying.html
• Cybersmart, 2014, 'How do I deal with Cyberbullying?', Commonwealth of Australia, Accessed 8th February 2014, http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/teens/how%20do%20I%20deal%20with/cyberbullying.aspx
• Dosomething.org, 2014, '11 facts about cyberbullying', Accessed 8th February 2014, http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying
• End to cyber bullying 2013, 'Delete cyber bullying', 20 January, viewed 8th February 2014 <http://youtu.be/bfT2qqrqzgo>
• Kidsafefoundation,2013, [website], 'Are children becoming desensitised to human suffering?' Accessed 8th February 2014, http://www.kidsafefoundation.org/are-children-becoming-desensitized-to-human-suffering/
• Mishna F, Saini  M & Solomon S 2009, 'Ongoing and online: children and youth's perceptions of cyber bullying', Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 31, issue 12, pp. 1222-1228, <http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0190740909001200>.
• Olivia Liv Penpraze tells her story, 2012, [video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjFf8ywk3c
• Rheingold H, 2012, Netsmart, accessed 14th January2014 http://rheingold.com/books/net-smart/
• Sunrise, 2012, 'Cyber Bullying tragedy', [video] accessed 8th Ferbruary 2014, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7eojUV3n7Q
• Wiredsafety.org, 2014, Stopcyberbullying,[Website], Accessed 8th February 2014,  http://stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html

ProdYousage - Good, bad, ugly, funny?

Produsage’, refers collaborative content creation where the user acts as a hybrid user/producer  - Wikipedia, Flickr, Pinterest, Youtube; users act as both producer ad consumer. (Brun, 2007)

Dr Axel Brun(2007)  identifies key principles of produsage: 

1. Open participation, Communal Evaluation - Produsage is based on inclusivity and requires participation as many people as possible. 

2. Ad Hoc Meritocracy - Produsage does not follow any traditional hierarchical structure and leadership is constantly changing, i.e. an 'adhocracy'. Project leaders emerge from the community based on the quality of their contributions.

3. Unfinished Artefacts, Continuing Process: Community based contributions means information is continually evolving. Looking back, threads can present a cultural ‘snapshot in time’.

  4. Common Property, Individual Rewards - Contributors permit community use, adaptation, and development of their intellectual property, and are rewarded by the status capital they gain through this process.

While this free-for-all sounds lovely - sure, everyone has an opinion, and the right to have one - but, how accurate can this many thoughts and opinions be?

 How can we guarantee that what we are learning from is the truth? 

According to Brun, produsage assumes that other users will correct errors, and manage the 'truth'.

Do we trust the random 'others' who just want to give their two cents worth, and do we want this infiltrating down to generations, who may see this information as fact?

Community monitoring cannot prevent mistakes occurring, or inevitable disputes, or even deter the presence of negativity - in the form of  'trolls'. 
I cannot help but think of all of the medical forums (yes, I have tried to self diagnose on occasion - who hasn't) where you find a plethora of answers, none of them good. In most cases your diagnonsense should be hypochondria… Apparently, Generation C (C- content creations) will be even more savvy (Brun,2007) Lets hope so!

But who cares about the truth?? I love the funny videos, memes and gifs !!

Lets just take a moment to acknowledge YouTube:

So…Can produsage hold any real power? 

Stewart (2012) believes it does, but is worried by increasing corporations pushing onto the digital media scape, for money and business reasons and communication possibilities, the little guy (or blogger) is being 'drowned out’.


Produsage communities also have an important place in educating, changing and empowering the world, from YouTube videos which have been used educationally, to empower individuals, bring support and awareness to issues and illness’; to sharing information and updates for natural disasters, missing persons and other public awareness issues which are shared via official facebook, blogs, news bulletin comments and forums. But, navigating the path is increasingly challenging (Stewart, 2012)

References:

• Bruns, A 2007b, 'Produsage: towards a broader framework for user-led content creation', in Creativity and cognition: proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI conference on creativity & cognition, accessed 29th January 2014<http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1254960.1254975>.
• Bruns, A 2007c, 'Produsage.org: from production to produsage: research into user-led content creation', accessed 29th January 2014, <http://produsage.org/>.
• Stewart 2012, 'what produsage is and why it matters', 3 July, viewed 8th February 2014, <http://theory.cribchronicles.com/2012/07/03/what-produsage-is-and-why-it-matters/>