I like the layout and design -particularly the 'Features and Analysis section', where links to Features are accessed by clicking on images of the riots- let's do something similar!!
I also like the 'background section'- we could use something similar to make our unique angle applicable to a broader context.
Questions we will investigate in our web features and opinion pieces:
(Based on themes mentioned in my last blog)
In what ways is social media being used as a tool to incite social change/unrest?
In what ways are social media's roles being framed differently in the context of Egypt and London by the government and media?
How have governments and media reacted differently depending on whether the unrest was abroad or at home? (Looking in particular at the English government and media
Is social media being used as a scapegoat for underlying problems in society? Is this just moral panic?
How do social media transform conventional ideas of privacy and censorship?
How has social media been used to reveal rioters? In what ways does this relate to concepts such as Boyd's (2008) concept of 'the privacy trainwreck'?
Should social network sites be closed to curb riots? Is closing them a violation of freedom? (perfect for an opinion piece)
Focusing on England for a moment...
One of our web features will explore the riots in England solely, investigating both the positive and negative role of social media..
Activity being co-ordinated through the use of BBM, using 'group chat' sessions.
Gang members able to post live updates of their location and activity on Twitter.
Trophy pictures of rioters
It is suggested that the use of BBM was one of the reasons police were unable to keep up with the moving riots, and were unable to reach areas before looting and violence occurred.
News of the disorder appeared on Twitter before mainstream news outlets, apparently giving those involved time to act by following the feeds under the #Tottenham hashtag.
Positive:
Just hours after the rioting began in Tottenham, the hashtag #Riotcleanup emerged on Twitter. This gained 87 000 followers, and as a result groups of people gather in an effort to clean up the street.
According to David Cameron in his statement 'A fight back is under way', whilst the riots have shown "the worst of Britain", they have also shown "some of the best of Britain- the million people who signed up on facebook to support the police"
'OperationCupOfTea' - an anti-rioting page, started as a Facebook group asking people to post pictures of themselves enjoying a cup of tea rather than going out onto the streets. It then turned into a website to raise funds for those whose businesses and homes were damaged during the riots.
Police are using Flickr in their attempt to identify rioters and looters.
Police are also using Twitter and Facebook and the trophy pictures which were posted to track down rioters and looters, and to use them as evidence against them.
Our target user group will be educated, critical 18-30 year olds, interested in investigative journalism.
Why would they be interested?
As our web feature will be a (slightly) informal, investigative critique into the role of social media in the riots in London and Egypt, it will offer them an informed analysis of recent event, whilst remaining laid back and tackling questions 18-30 year olds would be interested in. We will offer an online opinion poll and forums for each feature, giving them an avenue to participate and voice their opinion.
Beyond comparing the situations in Cairo and London, however, we will look at how social media's role has been framed very differently by the media and governments across the two events.
Taking inspiration from this week's Online Media lecture, which explored how one of the consequences of social media is the 'death of privacy' , and that when you engage in social media use, you are assigning rights to the information you publish to the service provider, which raises issues such as, Who looks at your data?.. We will explore issues such as
Privacy
Censorship
Whether governments have the right to shut down social media sites during periods of civil unrest, or exclude people thought to be orchestrating violence.
These topics will be of great interest to 18-30 year olds, as knowing, for example, whether Facebook could be shutdown is directly relevant considering that these forms of social media play such a significant role in the majority of this groups' lives.
Last week's riots in England have left many pondering the role of social media during times of civil unrest. This is not the first time over the past year that this issue has sparked debate.. just think back to the recent riots in Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya.
Facebook and Twitter were claimed to have been used to gain support for the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East in late 2010/ early 2011, with social media even being deemed by some to be 'a tool for revolution'.
Being particularly newsworthy in the aftermath of the riots in England, we have decided that 'the role of social media in times of civil unrest' is an issue worthy of investigation for our web feature for Online Media.
Although we will investigate the role of social media more broadly by exploring its use in the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, The London riots will be an intriguing point of focus, considering both the positive and negative ways in which social media was used, and the debate which has emerged.
We will be taking a critical look at how social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry Messenger was used to orchestrate the riots and accelerate the situation, as discussed in this ABC News interview with Social Media Consultant, Tom Tudehope:
Yet we will also explore how it was used positively to raise funds for people whose homes and businesses were damaged, to identify looters and to organise the cleanup effort through twitter:
The riots in Cairo, in January 2011, will be our other point of focus, and our unique approach will be offering a comparison of the use of social media in London and Egypt. Whilst in Egypt, social media was deemed by many to be a 'tool for revolution' given its role in being used by Egypt's youth to overthrow a government, its role in England has been framed quite differently.. a tool for chaos.
