AUTHOR
Clive Victor Boughton and Malgorzata Alicja Plotka

ABSTRACT

“Might Implement Data report BREAK contracts or agreements with the lecturer?” “Yes, providing bad student survey results could lead to the potential loss of a contract, by a lecturer who had received bad marks” answered one of the students during the SoDIS (Software Development Impact Statement) analysis of his project performed using Software Improvements SPA (SoDIS Project Auditor). This was just one of the concerns identified by students who participated in the inaugural course titled “Social Aspects of Computing” at Gdansk PJWSTK (Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology) in 2010. This new course focusses on professionalism in computing-related vocations, and uses SoDIS/SPA to underpin course goals. The results of our assessment of the course are both pleasing and useful to all concerned stakeholders. So much so that we have come to ask ourselves: If SPA enabled students of Gdansk PJWSTK to identify social and ethical impacts on stakeholders, then how many more important professional and ethical issues could be identified by a more experienced and/or professional analyst of software requirements who also used SPA?

The SoDIS process was developed by Gotterbarn and Rogerson [1, 2] to provide an effective, consistent means to manage project risks from the perspectives of a wide-range of stakeholders. Risk analysis begins effectively by addressing a range of qualitative questions about the impacts of development. Generally a SoDIS question is of the form “Might ?” The question that begins this abstract is a practical example where the is Implement data report, the is BREAK contracts or agreements and the is lecturer. Such questions, which have been derived from international codes of practice and conduct, articulate potential risks, and once formed, they need to be considered/analysed. Risk analysis ensues by considering whether there are any circumstances for which the (potential) risk might actually occur. Description of such circumstances together with any other relevant information/discussion constitutes a concern in SoDIS. An actual risk may have several associated concerns. A concern is an elaboration of an actual risk and as such helps with the identification of one or more risk mitigations which are called solutions in SoDIS. The student’s statement at the beginning of this abstract is an example of such a concern.

One might ask: Why bother teaching students about social and ethical aspects/principles in order to assist and aspire them to become real professionals? We at Gdansk PJWSTK have no doubts concerning the thesis that to be a real professional, in whatever vocation one might decide to embark on, it is not sufficient to merely possess essential knowledge and experience in the chosen vocation. One definition [3] of a ‘professional’ promotes the necessity of the following characteristics: competency, ethicity, knowledgeability, learning ability, care, and pride. Hence, a ‘to-be’ professional ought to become familiar with these necessary characteristics which include the social and ethical aspects connected with his/her chosen vocation. Thus, to be truly bestowed as a professional computer scientist, one should not only be competent with computing-related tasks/research, but also be aware of how what they do affects others both at a personal and a discipline level, and be able to address such affects. That is why at Gdansk PJWSTK, we have decided to enrich our studies program with a course on the topic of “Social Aspects of Computing”. The SoDIS Analysis and Inspection processes [2, 4, 5], as implemented in SPA [6], provided an essential framework for promoting and supporting professional behaviour; it was a very important and independent component of the course.

During the course, students were given four hours of SoDIS Analysis lectures with practical examples of SPA usage. After the theoretical part of the course students were able to verify in practice their understanding of the lectures by analysis of their own projects, such as the ticket reservation system for the Eurocup football in 2012, hotel room check in, electronic access to technical documentation, tourist information portal, and blogs. Students showed they understood the idea of the SoDIS process, and the vast majority successfully completed their project analyses within SPA. They also observed that a SoDIS Analysis in IT projects/software development can be really useful because it enables/compels them to look at every potential concern from the perspective of the stakeholders, the people directly affected by the development and delivery of the IT product. Here SPA comes to our aid by presenting the results of impact analysis in a very clear and transparent manner (e.g. by using colouration of cells within tables to focus users on key information). The ability to identify any potential risks which may arise and then set the probability of their occurrence helps cover any important professional and ethical situations presented to the user and to manage risk exposure from start to finish. Moreover, in the latest version of SPA, new features provide the flexibility to modify the SPA software to our needs.

In this paper we present the outcomes of the course, the teaching, and the evaluation of SPA. Although the usability of SPA was rated positively, both students’ and lecturer’s observations have led to suggested improvements. The Gdansk results will also be compared with earlier assessments of teaching the SoDIS process when it was still under development.

Based on the favourable outcomes of the inaugural course teaching SoDIS Analysis in practice with the use of SPA is to continue. Additionally, Gdansk’s branch of PJWSTK is planning to include the “Social Aspects of Computing” course (with the SoDIS module) in the postgraduate studies programs, and corporate training program, currently being worked on.

The use of SPA in a wider range of applications; e.g., to analyse the impact of software used by stakeholders to determine the required information relating to their engineering process, will be discussed drawing on the practical experience at Gdansk.

REFERENCES

1. Gotterbarn, D. and Rogerson, S. (1998) – The Ethics of Software Project Management in G. Colleste (Ed.), Ethics and Information Technology. Dehli: New Academic Publisher.

2. Gotterbarn, D. and Rogerson, S. (2005) – Responsible Risk Analysis for Software Development: Creating the Software Development Impact Statement, Communications for the Association of Information Systems, Vol 15/40.

3. Boughton, C. (2009) – What is an ICT Professional Anyway? Australian Journal of Information Systems, Vol 16/1.

4. Gotterbarn, D. (2001) – Understanding and Reducing Project Failure: The Ethics of Project Management, Proceedings of NACCQ Conference, Napier NZ.

5. Gotterbarn, D., Clear, T. and Kwan, C-T. (2008) – A Practical Mechanism for Ethical Risk Assessment – A SoDIS Inspection, The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, Chapter 18, Wiley.

6. Boughton, C. and Boughton, C. (2010) – Stakeholder and Risk Management with SoDIS, Softimp Publishing.

AUTHOR
Professor Aaron Ben-Ze’ev

ABSTRACT

The cyberspace era could be considered as the best and worst of times for lovers. This is indeed both a happy and a difficult time for lovers—happy in that available, willing potential lovers are all around; difficult in that maintaining a loving committed relationship is harder than before as alternative romantic options are easier to explore and to realize. The need to make romantic compromises is therefore greater, but making them is more difficult.

Difficulties in long-term romantic relationships

Two major types of difficulties for long-term romantic relationships can be discerned in the cyberspace era: (a) The great role that changes play in generating emotions, and (b) the greater availability of leaving a current relationship and starting a new one.

The first difficulty, which stems from the nature of the emotional system, refers to the fact that intense emotions are typically transient and unstable states, whereas in long-term committed relationships stability is of greater importance. Emotions are usually experienced when we perceive a significant change in our situation—or in that of those related to us. Whereas change intensifies emotions, commitment entails stability.

The second major difficulty for long-term romantic relationships refers to certain developments in the cyberspace era that have increased the availability of romantic partners. Two major developments are most relevant here: (a) the lifting of most of the constraints that once prevented long-term committed relationships from dissolving, and (b) the apparent presence of many attractive alternatives. Both developments began before the cyberspace era (particularly the first one), but are accelerating in this era.

Nowadays, staying within a committed relationship has become a more difficult option—one that requires the partners to constantly reexamine the value of their relationship in light of, among other issues, the presence of love. The abundance of alternatives and the perpetual possibility of achieving something “better” can undermine commitment and happiness.

The role of cyberspace in the new circumstances

The development of cyberspace, and in particular online romantic relationships, has considerably enhanced the weight of the above difficulties. Change, instability, and transition characterize cyberspace. The great availability of online romantic partners enables frequent novel changes, and this makes cyberspace more dynamic, unstable, and exciting.

Cyberspace is an alternative, available environment that provides us with easy access to many available and desired options. One does not have to do much or invest significant resources in order to step into this imaginative paradise.

Online romantic seduction is just a click away, making seduction far more available than it is offline. This is mainly due to the following factors: (a) It is easier to meet new people in cyberspace, as you merely need a few clicks to find so many willing people; (b) you can choose people who are willing to establish a romantic relationship with you; (c) there is faster and more profound self-disclosure in online communication than in face-to-face meetings; hence, it is easier to identify available and willing people.

Cyberspace provides an alternative world to the actual one. People do not live exclusively in one world; rather, they move from one world to the other. Cyberspace enables participants to explore exciting romantic alternatives without necessarily violating significant personal commitments. Indeed, many online affairs are conducted while at least one of the participants is having an offline relationship with another person.

This greater availability of choices in cyberspace exacerbates the inability to be satisfied with one’s romantic lot. People no longer want to settle for anything less than Prince Charming. If such a prince is just one message away, it can seem emotionally intolerable to leave him there and make do with someone viewed as second-best.

What is next?

Endlessly searching for a better alternative brings frustration and misery rather than happiness. Settling for one’s lot, which is an important way to achieve profound happiness, is even more imperative in the cyberspace era. However, if you compromise and accept something much less than your dream demands, it can ruin your happiness as well. The cyberspace era requires people to make more compromises, since we are aware of more promising alternatives (as compared to our own current situation), but it is more difficult to make those compromises, since the alternatives are easier to achieve.

Future lovers may have to make more compromises and their frustration in not achieving the imaginary perfect partner might increase. But those lovers have also a greater chance of being satisfied with their romantic relationship, in such a way that they will not feel that they are making significant compromises.

The cyberspace era does pose specific difficulties in finding a romantic framework that will suit all lovers. Nevertheless, love itself is flourishing in this era, which can be considered as a golden age for love—even its renaissance. It is more possible now than ever before to find the one you have been waiting for all your life.

Love is on the minds of so many people and its presence is considered as an important need. Love can no longer be dismissed as a silly fantasy; it is perceived as realistic and feasible for more people. However, lovers in the cyberspace age will have a hard time coping with the need to avoid other alternatives and seeing their current relationship as an inferior or temporary compromise.

The view proposed here is optimistic in the sense that our happiness is more within our grasp—either by being satisfied with our own lot, or by achieving the possible and then being satisfied with that lot. But it is a cautious optimism, as the chains of the possible are so hard to release, and the roads not taken often augment our regret. The future romantic arena can be seen then to be bright; however, the paths to romance are full of stumbling blocks.

AUTHOR
Luke Bennett

ABSTRACT
My paper analyses the meaning making practices operating within internet forums for ‘urban explorers’. An influential user guide to urban exploration defines the activity as: “seeking out, visiting and documenting interesting human-made spaces, most typically abandoned buildings…” (Ninjalicious 2005: 4) There is nothing to stop individuals visiting modern ruins and making their own sense of these abandoned ‘”non-places” (Auge 1995), however to participate in the urban exploration community by submitting on-line accounts of visits one has to learn to conform to the ordained ‘ways of seeing’ (Berger 1972) operating within this community. I will present a case study examining the ways in which stable descriptive conventions are created for the signification of abandoned underground nuclear fallout monitoring bunkers within one such internet urban exploration (urbex) forum: www.28dayslater.co.uk.

My study was ethnographic in aim, seeking to learn the ‘rules’ by which accounts of urban exploration forays are constructed and circulated on-line. The self-publishing opportunities for urban explorers on internet blogs and forums has opened up direct access to a rich mass of participant ‘accounts’ readily available for study. In the blow-by-blow exchange and debate of posted site visit accounts on its web forums, the process of operation of urbex as an ‘interpretive community’ (Fish 1980) is laid bare.

Writing and circulating accounts of exploration to unusual (and/or perilous) places is nothing new. Precursors can be seen, for example, in the autobiographical accounts of grand touring and tomb raiding proto-archaeologists like Belzoni in the Nineteenth century (Romer 2005).

However, urbex participants regard the rise of internet based forums as a significant development. Deyo (n.d.) echoes many commentators on urbex who see the rise of self-publishing (initially via fanzine, then more latterly with the rise of internet based outlets for account sharing) as the key differentiator between their hobby being trespass or exploration, for: “Exploration serves no purpose when its results remain obscure…Today, the increased flow of information has uplifted urban exploration, and the discourse that surrounds it. What was once kids breaking into warehouses and smashing windows is now serious research…With Infiltration magazine, then, the urban explorer truly parted company with the mundane trespasser.

Ninjalicious became an explorer when he faithfully published his observations and enriched posterity by them. The trespasser, by contrast, always consigned his story to silence.”

Dodge (2006) has pointed to the importance of studying urbex site visit reports as ‘accounts’. For Orbuch, accounts are “verbal and written statements as social explanations of events” (1997:456), and in particular arise where the actor is keen to explain behaviours that might otherwise be seen as deviant. Accounting thus relates to the performance (and repair) of self: Goffman (1971) and Garfinkel (1967). In this tradition a study of accounting behavior within urbex should investigate the content of the account, the conditions under which the account will be made, and the conditions governing whether the account will be accepted / acceptable, and my study attempts this.

My paper will show how at least this one type of urban exploration is structured by clear representational rules circulated via its on-line community, and (applying Bourdieu 2010, and Foucault 2002) that that culture is reproduced through a mix of conscious and structural aesthetic and epistemic control.

At the conscious level the site’s moderator exercises a subtle form of editorial quality control over submissions to the forum. Elders also guide (and at times chastise or exclude) newer entrants who have yet to master the social conventions of these virtual ‘meetings’.

At the ‘unconscious’ (structural) level the practice of this on-line accounting is shaped by the influence of pre-existing received aesthetic tropes absorbed from mainstream culture – the picturesque, the sublime, the notion of a ‘good photograph’, and it is also shaped by the very architecture of the software upon which these forums are based. Submitted accounts can only become part of the community’s knowledge base, to exist at all, if they can be sorted and stored by urbex genre, site location and alphabetized in accordance with in inherently positivist (scientistic) logic. Also, photographs are held in these accounts alongside text, rather than separately ranked and ordered by purely artistic or phenomenological criteria. The epistemic role of such pre-ordering software structures warrants further investigation – for the database derived platform style in use as the base for the 28dayslater.co.uk site was observed in the study as the base also for many other collaborative forums.

REFERENCES

Auge, M. 1995. Non-places: Introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity London: Verso.

Berger, P. 1972. Ways of seeing Harmondsworth, London: Penguin.

Bourdieu, P. 2010. Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste London: Routledge.

Dodge, M. 2006. Exposing the secret city: urban exploration as space hacking Power Point presentation to University of Manchester Geography Department Seminar, 22 February 2006

Deyo, L.B. n.d. Psychopathology & the Hidden City. Jinx Magazine (on-line) undated but accessed 23 July 2009 (available at: http://www.jinxmagazine.com/ue_pathology.html)

Fish, S.1980. Is there a text in this class? – the authority of interpretive communities. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Foucault, M. 2002. The order of things – An archaeology of the human sciences. London: Routledge.

Garfinkel, H. 1967. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Goffman, E. 1971. The presentation of self in everyday life. London: Penguin.

Nijalicious 2005. Access all areas – a user’s guide to the art of urban exploration. Canada: Infiltration.

Orbuch, T.L. 1997. People’s accounts count: the sociology of accounts. Annual Review of Sociology. 23: 455-478

Romer, J. 2005. Valley of the Kings. London: Phoenix Press.

AUTHOR
Professor Porfirio Barroso and Lucía Tello PhD

ABSTRACT

On the occasion of the publishing in Spanish language of the bestseller Computer Ethics written by the author Deborah G. Johnson, the translators of this work (Porfirio Barroso and Lucía Tello) believe relevant to discuss about the most important topics of this book (Ética informática y Ética e Internet in its Spanish version), due to approach the revision of how the Computer Science has been changed by the different events emerged in the Technological Society Age.

In these days, Technology is not a mere tool, but also a value. Every action we carry out online implies new ethical dilemmas born under the aegis of the IT. Recent social networks and communities have not only positive effects as its contribution to socialising, sharing global knowledge, or helping to develop relationships between citizens and to bring together people all around the world (namely, Blogs, wikis, social networks, tweeting, podcasts or social tagging). The author confirms that there are also problems related with basic human rights like privacy or intimacy and property, which result damaged by the action of these new technological tools.

The so called eDemocracy harm some important and inviolable values without the conscience of the users in particular (and citizens in general), who ignore where their data go when they share them without suspicion. This is, precisely, the new point of Computer Ethics 4th Edition: the approach of the sociotechnical computer ethics.

With a profuse and detailed structure of chapters, the readers will find a thematical approach through seven different aspects. The fist one, an introduction to Sociotechnical Computer Ethics, in which Johnson develop three scenarios which reproduce the virtual problems emanated from the use of the Internet, from a sociotechnical perspective and rejecting technological determinism.

In the second chapter, Johnson introduces a descriptive analysis of the different ethical methods of approach to the Computer Ethics and Internet Ethics. Utilitarianism, Dialectic Theory, Deontological Theory and Rights and social Contract Theory, are scanned to have a wide perspective about how to revise properly the Computer Ethics.

Under the title “Ethics in IT-Configured Societies”, Johnson explains how the technology is converted in instrumentation of human action, referring specially to cyborgs, robots and their connection with human beings. Google or Turnitin are two enterprises which are analyzed by the author emphasizing in the importance of their social implications. IT-configured domains of life open the wide world of virtuality, Avatars and Role-playing games, helping we out to discover how can plagiarism be detected in the Net.

Proceed from Privacy, Surveillance and Information flow, Johnson explores the concern of citizens about the importance of privacy. Evaluated as “individual good”, “contextual integrity”, and as a “social good essential for Democracy”, we travel around Email Privacy and Advertising, the Workplace spying, and the Data Mining and e-Business.

Descend from the digital intellectual property, in the fifth chapter we discover how easy results to obtain pirated software abroad, and the difference between free software that follows proprietary software, and the use of Public Domain Software in Proprietary Software. By the way, Johnson explains the philosophical basis of property, which is derived from the natural rights.

In the following chapter, the Wiki network and some Yahoo cases are used as basis of an extensive argumentation relative to law and order on the Internet. Hackers are in this part a significant point about how technology has transformed property and privacy conceptions. Sociotechnical security shows numerous breaches, which need to be mend in IT-Configured Societies. Wikipedia and its new order of knowledge production and the dilemma emanated from the freedom of expression and censorship, are questions studied by the author in the current chapter.

Finally, Deborah G. Johnson approach the study of Professional Ethics in Computing, focused on the state of the profession, and maintaining as crucial the formal organization, autonomy, the establishment of Codes of Ethics and Mastery of Knowledge.

With this paper we aim to explain the fundamental points stated by the author, trying to adapt some of the scenarios and cases into the European culture, given the fact that most of the issues translated into the continental context could seem remote and distant. However, is commendable the effort of the author to consider global cases not uniquely American (as Chinese, German or English) which contribute to a wider vision of the Computer Ethics problems.

This bestseller is, therefore, an exceptional opportunity to discover the dynamic which underlines the IT-Configured Societies, and a superb form of be conscious about what really happens when we share our data into the global Network.

AUTHOR
Dr James Banks

ABSTRACT

The explosive growth of the internet as a public and commercial vehicle has provided new opportunities for gambling based activities to take place online. Facilitated by the development of the first gambling software, by Microgaming in 1994, and encrypted communication protocols, which enable online monetary transactions, by Cryptologic in 1995, Antiguan based company InterCasino became the first internet gambling site to accept an online wager in January 1996. By the end of the year, approximately 15 sites were accepting wagers, rising to 200 by the end of 1997, 650 by the end of 1999 and 1,800 by the end of 2002. Today, there are in the region of 2,347 listed gambling sites in existence, including 768 casinos, 524 poker rooms, 430 sportsbooks, 19 betting exchanges, 377 bingo sites, 45 skill games sites, 94 lottery sites, 13 backgammon sites and 16 mahjong and rummy sites. These sites are spread across 661 owners who operate out of 74 jurisdictions, including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Costa Rica, the Dutch Antilles, the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve in Canada, Malta, and the United Kingdom.

This marked growth in online gambling appears to stem from a number of inter-related factors. First, online gambling offers an extremely lucrative business venture for many. The entertainment and leisure industry has recognised that cost effectiveness of online gambling sites, as start-up and operating costs are considerably less than those of their land-based counterparts. Second, significant sectors of the world populace have the potential to access online gambling sites. With computers becoming less expensive, simpler to use and more readily available, the opportunity for consumers to partake in anonymous and effortless gaming from the comfort of their own home or workplace has increased substantially. Third, internet gambling services have continued to enhance the consumer’s online experience, through sophisticated gaming software that combines live remote wagering and increasing realism with multi-lingual websites, integrated, multicurrency e-cash systems and improving customer service, making gambling online an appealing alternative to land-based gambling operations. In sum, the online gambling experience is likely to continue to be desirable to consumers because it offers frequent and interactive gaming that is characterised by accessibility, affordability and anonymity. Moreover, as the popularity of online gambling continues to grow, the market will undoubtedly be an attractive area of expansion for land-based gambling operators, the leisure industry and business investors alike.

However, the development of such gambling technology has not been accepted uncritically. The last decade has witnessed a growing body of research that has explored the deleterious social effects of online gambling. Of particular concern is the ease with which young people and other vulnerable populations can access online gambling sites, increases in gambling, money spent gambling, problem gambling and gambling addiction, public health and public safety. Yet, to date, there has been very little empirical research into internet gambling and crime. This is surprising given that the scale and density of internet gambling sites, the voluminous number of players, and the large quantities of e-cash available as tournament prizes or held in online gambling accounts, provides a marketplace replete with criminal potential. Nevertheless, little is known about the frequency, types, techniques and organisational dynamics of internet gambling related crime nor has there been any consideration of the degree to which such crimes go undetected.

Cyberspace has been depicted as a ‘world wild west’, with the threat of e-criminality looming large over an increasingly globalised world (Sandywell 2010). Unsurprisingly, the significant quantities of e-cash held in online gambling sites and flowing between them and various ancillary organisations presents a digital network ripe for criminal exploitation. Internet gambling sites can operate as source of criminal activity, as a vehicle for crime or support for other criminal enterprise. In such contested spaces, gambling site operators, employees, customers and unwanted ‘third parties’ anonymously intermingle creating the opportunity for multi-various forms of criminal activity and constructing rhyzomatic relations between perpetrators and victims.

This paper seeks to simplify this dense tangle of virtual villains and victims and present a overview of the principal forms of e-crime committed by gambling site operators and their employees, users of online gambling sites, and ‘criminal entrepreneurs’, whom either utilise gambling sites as a conduit for nefarious activities or specifically target gambling operators and their clientele. It offers an initial assessment of the forms, features and organisational dynamics of crimes that take place in and around internet gambling sites. Moreover, the paper identifies the opportunities and complexities in undertaking empirical research in this area, but also outlines a research agenda for this field. In turn, it is envisaged that this paper will act as a catalyst for discussion, debate and exploration into the potential criminogenic effects of online gambling, the victimisation of online gambling operations and their clientele, and the degree to which technological, educational and legal frameworks can reduce the potential for crime and victimisation in and around online gambling sites.

AUTHOR
Ryoko Asai

ABSTRACT

Information communication technology (ICT) made it possible for people to communicate beyond national borders. In particular, social media play an important role in making a place where people communicate each other, for example Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and so on. ICT and various types of architectures have developed and prevailed in many areas of the world since 2000, and those technologies have made it easier for users to send others message and also to find what they want to know by searching on the internet. Some people use social networking services (SNSs) as their social occasion in a virtual world. Some access blogs on the internet to write in the diary every day. Those know, to a lesser or greater degree, that others might check and see their information or message posting on websites. Moreover, there are many active users those expect to receive a reply and communicate with others positively through social media. In other words, under these circumstances, social media function as the third place (Oldenburg, 1999). People have two essential and indispensable places in their lives: one is home and another is working place. Further to those places, people have one more place where they could have relationships with others informally in public (what Oldenburg called “informal public life”). And the third place contributes not only to unite people in communities but also to know how they contribute in various problems and crises there. Therefore the third place would nurture a relationship with others and mutual trust under the unrestricted access condition, and also it would be open for discussion and ground for democracy (Oldenburg, 1999). In this context, social media can provide the third place to users in some cases. This study explores that how social media affect people’s behavior from the perspective of communication theory. And this study considers how online communication has an impact on real life focusing on the process of political change in Tunisia, in order to see its impact more clearly and practically. Additionally it looks at the process of enhancing solidarity through social media by citing the case of the massive disaster in Japan 2011.

Social contexts of communication are defined by geographic, organizational and situational variables, and those variables influence the contents of communication among people (Sproull and Kiesler, 1986). And, in order to discern social context cues, communicators observe static cues (physical setting, location etc.) and dynamic cues (non-verbal behavior like gesture or facial expression) in communicating with others. Communicators’ behavior is determined based on social context cues and they can adjust their behavior depending on situations through the process of interaction between them. However, in online communication, it is more difficult for communicators to perceive static and/or dynamic elements compared to face-to-face communication. Because in many cases social media limit the number of characters and the amount of data that they can post while making it possible for users to communicate regardless of physical distance, national boundaries and time difference. On the other hand, participation is seen as the key element in the recent trend toward democratization and in real numerous users send and receive a huge amount of information via social media to cultivate a relationship with others and strengthen mutual exchange beyond borders. In general, it is recognized that social media advance participation through exchanging information with minimal social context cues. Furthermore, the social impact and power of social media is paid great attention in the wake of political turmoil and rebel campaigns in Islamic countries.

Tunisia is now going through a critical period in which Tunisian people require the interim government to create a new, free and transparent government. In January 2011, Tunisian president Ben Ali was deposed after his 23 years presidency period and fled a country with his family. In the process of Tunisian political change, Tunisian people shared information on what happened in the country and when and where anti-government protests were held, by social media such as Facebook and twitter. In other words, social media seemed to support political change in Tunisia. Behind it, the number of the internet users is 3.6 million, which is 34% of the population total, and there are 1.6 million users of Facebook roughly equivalent to 16% of the population (Internet World Stats, 2010). The penetration of the internet is very late in African countries. Among those countries Tunisian people enjoy relatively good standard of ICT and internet literacy. On the other hand, Tunisian government has blocked particular websites by the internet censorship based on URL and keywords because of political reasons. The government has censored not only pornographic or terrorist websites but also political opposition or human right websites. In actual, websites such as YouTube, Dailymotion, Le monde, Liberation had been prohibited by the government since 1990’s. Facebook was one of the few social media free to access in Tunisia, and which provided the people with information and opportunities to share it with others. Even at the early stage of political change, the government tried to block access to the internet to upload any movie. Little information was diffused by Tunisian media. Under these circumstances, for the people living abroad, Facebook functioned as primary source of information to have direct access to daily events in Tunisia. They followed these events through Facebook and YouTube and shared interesting movies or information with their friends, sometimes giving comments and opinions.

Under these restrictive access conditions, social media like Facebook provides users with opportunities to communicate with others and also to state their opinion, in order to overcome constraints and the old regime. In this context, social media serve as the third place and users develop solidarity and reinforce identity through online communication. In fact profile pictures in Facebook showed clearly how social media foster solidarity and identity as Tunisian people. After anti-government protests came to the fore, many Tunisian users changed their profile pictures to the same icon which represented Tunisian flag simultaneously. One Tunisian interviewee said that it was just part of his feeling of home-ownership and national identity. As is obvious from the statistical data on the internet users mentioned above, it is estimated that the number of in-country users of Facebook are fewer than the number of users living abroad. Many users followed with bated breaths what was going on in Tunisia sitting in front of computers in foreign countries. In other words, they showed in-country users that they were all caring about political change as the Tunisian even they lived abroad, by the way of using the symbolic flag icon. And this phenomenon is recognized as a kind of participation to collective movement through social media regardless of physical distance or time difference.

However, communication through social media has some problems. At first, exchanged information via social media is minimized social context cues under severe restricted conditions, and decreasing social context cues leads to remove restrictions on communication substantively (Sproull and Kiesler, 1986). Therefore information tends to be extreme and there is a risk of group polarization. Second, information receivers gather fragmented information in social media and rebuild it as simulated experience based on their experience in real life. In other words they make much of information plausible to understand easier in the light of their own experience or to relive the experiences of its senders. And, through this process, users develop a sense of solidarity and share expectation as well as norms organizing them as one community. That is, social media could be the important tool for people to get information under serious conditions, for example, under rebel campaigns as I stated above or under massive disasters.

In terms of developing solidarity through social media, we can observe it in the case of the massive disaster in Japan. Under severe social conditions, it would be very difficult for people to use conventional media such as TV, radio or phone. When the massive earthquake attacked to Japan, in severe damaged areas, some of conventional media were destroyed by tsunami and many people were stranded in many places. What is worse, the tsunami took away everything and destroyed almost all buildings and houses including TV towers and phone cables. People had no tool to find out about the safety of their relatives and friends and to get information about what happened to Japan. However, under that difficult situation the internet still worked and people used it to check their safety and gather information about the disaster by using emails and social networking service. People including both victims and non-victims exchanged much of information to survive or to support others through social media. Especially twitter was useful to inform where victims were and who needed rescue. And many people encouraged others by exchanging messages posted on social media. In those processes, many messages were very conscious and emphasize that Japanese survived surely and Japan would recover from the disaster in the future because of people’s solidarity and great efforts. For example, many people tweet “we are the Japanese, we can overcome the disaster”, “We believe Japan’s power”, or “Ganbaro! Nippon!! (Make the best! Do overcome the disaster! Japan!!) on twitter. Those messages reflect Japanese cultural characteristics, for instance industrious and conscientious worker, and based on those messages people enhance their identity as Japanese and develop solidarity among them.

Therefore, it could be said that social values accrete influence on users in particular communities and advance self-stereotyping among them as solidarity and social identity are enhanced. On the other hand, emphasizing particular identities and norms is fraught with social risk of exclusion of others. In the case of Tunisian political protest activity, some people call Tunisian political change as “Facebook revolution” or “twitter revolution” on the internet. Are these descriptions really pertinent? Indeed, social media has played the important role as “hub for information” and the third place in political change. In this respect we have responsibility to develop and keep social media in a good shape because it can contribute greatly, not only to people’s personal need but also society’s need for solidarity, freedom and democracy. However combination of multiple factors raises a revolution as we all know. Things are still ongoing in Tunisia and affecting other countries like Egypt. We need to carefully observe subsequent developments and discern the impact of social media continuously.

REFERENCES

Internet World Stats (2010) Tunisia: Internet Usage and Marketing Report, available online: http://www.internetworldstats.com/af/tn.htm (access on February 7, 2011).

Kiesler, S. and Sproull, L.S. (1986) Reducing Social Context Cues: Electronic Mail in Organizational Communication, Management Science, Vol.32, No.11, pp.1492-1512.

Oldenburg, R. (1999) The Great Good Place, Cambridge: Da Capo Press.