Wednesday 29 January 2014

WIKI WIKI WIKILEAKS!

The right to freedom of speech is something we all take for granted. Then Wikileaks, the not-for-profit whistle-blowing organisation, dared to share important and confidential information to the public, and were caught out in 2010 leaking US Military documents (Ellison,2013)
Wikileaks and Assange have been under investigation by the Justice Department and the US Government ever since. The investigation has involved most of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the FBI, the State Department, the United States Army (Hastings, 2012) 

 Wikileaks believes access to information will create a more fair and transparent society, creating stronger democracies by scrutinising the powerful of society. (Wikileaks)

  • Born in 1971 in Townsville, Queensland, "hacktivist" Julian Assange had an unusual, nomadic and unsettled childhood.
  • Spending his early years on Magnetic Island with his mother, before moving to NSW, Julian was largely home schooled, taught ‘not to blindly respect authority figures’.
  •  He didn't fit in with other children, spending ages 11-16 on the run with his mother, and he had moved 37 times before he was 14.(Harrell, 2010)
  • Assange found solace in his first computer at the age of 16, and started hacking under the name ‘Mendax’, meaning “nobly untruthful”.
  • At 20,  Assange helped hack into Canadian telecom company, Nortel. Following police raids, his girlfriend left with their 2 year old son. Assange was charged and pled guilty to 24 charges of computer hacking at 2 universities and 2 telecom companies. He was sentenced leniently.
  • After studying at University of Melbourne, Assange founded Wikileaks in 2007. Based in Sweden, Assange and his team took advantage of Sweden's protective anonymity laws. Thanks to Wikilieaks, In June 2010, the Icelandic Parliament unanimously passed the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI),  a proposal to turn Iceland into the leading media haven with the strongest protections for journalists and publishers in the world  (Beyer, 2014)
  • Assange now acts as spokesperson, editor in chief,  publisher and advisor for Wikileaks and makes public appearances to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism. The Hacker News



 Assange views Wikileaks as a news corporation. Unlike traditional journalists, Wikileaks is not constricted by the fifth estate (time). Knight(2010) describes Assange as ahead of his time, comparing him to Izzy Stone . Assange is a pioneer, suffering for the greater good of journalism. 

 From the political messes of Clinton and Lewinsky, to the corporate GFC, Gen Y has learnt that those in positions of power shouldn't be trusted, and is grateful for the global discussions catalysed by Wikileaks (circle research, 2013). Boundaries have been pushed, and many argue that Assange is a threat to National security. But new policies and awareness will be a legacy for the future. (TED talks, 2010) 



The whole saga that is Julian Assange/Wikileaks is the most epic of modern day tales. 
Like something out of Shrek, Assange has spent many days (since December 2012) locked in a brick fortress (Ecuadorian Embassy) in a land far far away (London) after being hunted down by the scared and angry villagers (ie US Government, Brits, Swedes, and Australians) who chased the 'ogre' with pitchforks, claiming destruction (he has been called a rapist, enemy combatant, accused of espionage)

 So far Assange has not been rescued, and only time will tell who, if any, will be his saviour...


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Saturday 25 January 2014

Gen Y and Politics... do political twits win?


 The 2013 federal election confused me. Who to vote for? It all seemed like a lose lose situation.Facebook status' became ten to the dozen as opinions surfaced after Gillards public ousting ... I was meant to decide between:

                        OR 


                       How ???  The mind boggled!




So this week I investigated social media in politics,  starting with a condensed

 History:
  • In 1960, Americans watched the first televised presidential debate. For the first time, media power shifted public opinion after the public witnessed and awkward Richard Nixon, next to a calm and confident John F. Kennedy. Kennedy won by 0.2% of the votes. (Steele C, 2012)
  • Former US presidential candidate John Edwards was the first person to ever announce his candidacy via an online video posting.  The video was posted on his website however, so very few people actually viewed it. 
  • Leading up to the 2008 US presidential elections, blogging, tweeting and text messages became part of each candidate's campaign. A YouTube presence was seen as essential if a candidate wanted to appear accessible to younger voters. 
  • Twitter became a way to keep track of presidential candidates. Sites like  2012twit.com and @MentionMachine, polling twitter mentions (Steele C, 2012). 
  • By 2012, new media was a powerful force.  A survery in the lead up to the 2012 US Presidential election  found 60%  of social media users expected candidates to have a social media presence with almost 40% saying social media would help determine their voting choices. 

Now, Social media is an integral part of  political campaigns and strategies.


In Australia
Both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott embraced social media, in direct competition for new votes. Rudd's tweets aiming to bring a closer bond and connection with the public by sharing family moments, jokes, and his Cat (..?) and Abbott using his feed to share transcribed speeches and disseminate information, giving a more detached feel. (Visentin, 2013)



So, what about Gen Y? 
Prior to the 2014 September election, in a bid to reach younger voters the AEC launched a shareable enrolment app on Facebook, linking back to the AEC registration portal - where for the first time ever, voters could register online. Facebook and Twitter became rival social hosts as the political debate stirred up. Facebook also launched hashtags, in direct competition with Twitter. The Australian
         Above: Despite losing the 'social media election', Abbott still won the 2013 election...
         http://www.abc.net.au

Above: The election tracker allowed voters to follow the candidates in real time
http://www.marketwire.com

Steele (2012) says "the number of message share's, and attention from external media plays a much more important role in voter's opinions." And I agree. From personal experience, the only real social media that really affected my final vote was intelligent Facebook posts and news report shares, not the sufferings of a politicians cat, or a pair of speedos!
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