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.

AUTHOR
Mario Arias-Oliva, Antonio Pérez-Portabella, Mar Souto-Romero, Leonor González-Menorca and Teresa Torres-Coronas.

ABSTRACT

Political marketing and political communication are growing areas of academic and professional development (Kotler and Kotler, 1999). It is difficult to know when marketing and management techniques began to be applied to the political area. According to Tedlow (2001) it was in the first election in Australia in 1843 when candidates of New South Wales were using posters, leaflets, announcements in the newspapers, banners of brilliant colours, flags and ribbons. Wring (1994) points out that in 1920 posters began to be used for political purposes: Saatchi and Saatchi created the poster “Labour isn’t working”. These are samples of the beginnings of political marketing and political communication. Wring (1997) notes that it was in 1956 when we find for the first time the term “political marketing”. It was used by Kelley (1956:53) to indicate the growing influence of professional managers in the electoral campaigns of the United States.

Some theoretical approaches think that it is possible to make a direct transfer of the marketing technologies and methods in the politics. Other approaches, such us Lock and Harris (1996) contributions, think that there are fundamental differences between the marketing of products and services (or commercial marketing) and the political marketing. Dean and Croft (2001:1197) point that the traditional frames of marketing do not fit in the configuration of political marketing. Anyway technologies and tools from mass communication and from managerial marketing are being increasingly applied by different groups (political parties, politicians, governments, members of parliament, associations and groups of interest) and in many areas of the political scene (deeper understanding of voters, fundraising, strategic design or transmission of messages).

The development of marketing methods based on ICT are provoking important transformations in political marketing and communication. The political activity is changing focus from systems based on the ideology and leadership of persons and/or groups, to systems in which the opinion of the society as its needs are the key dimensions in the definition and execution of political marketing strategies. Political information has become in a service demanded by the “consumers”. In this environment, consumers are lobbying to political institutions in order to respond to their demands (Wymer W., Lees-Marshment J.; 2004:1). The behaviour of political groups has changed. Political organizations do not focus their strategies on a solid ideology that sustain their actions to persuade the masses (Lees-Marshment, 2001a). Nowadays strategies are determined by voters, and political parties try to follow society demands, adapting its ideological postulates to the changing sociological needs. ICT turn into fundamental tool, turning out imperative to analyze the impacts of technology on politics.

In this paper we analyze the complex concept of political marketing, its relationship with other disciplines, and the ICT potential impacts on this field. We will make an exploratory research to know the use and perceptions of online political marketing in local Spanish elections as an exploratory study. We will use a focus group research method to analyse both the use and perceptions of citizens regarding the emerging online marketing techniques that are being used currently. Focus group is a particularly useful research tool for exploratory research, when rather litter is known about the phenomenon of interest (Steward, Shamdadani and Rook; 2007:41).

REFERENCES

DEAN, D. Y CROFT, R. (2001). Friends and Relations: Long-term Approaches to Political Campaigning. European Journal of Marketing. Vol. 35, N. 11/12, pp. 1197-1216.

KELLEY, S. (1956). Professional Public Relations and Political Power. Barimore, John Hopkins Press.

KOTLER, P. Y KOTLER, N. (1999). Political Marketing. En NEWMAN, B. I. (Ed.) Handbook of Political Marketing, Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp. 3-18.

LEES-MARSHMENT, J. (2001a). Political marketing and British political parties: The party’s just begun. Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK.

LOCK, A. Y HARRIS, P. (1996). Political marketing – vive la différence!. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 10/11, 1996, pp. 14-24.

LOCK, A. Y HARRIS, P. (1996). Political marketing – vive la différence!. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 10/11, 1996, pp. 14-24.

TEDLOW, R. (2001). Mass Marketing: The Oxford Companion to United States History. En BOYER, P. S. (Ed.) Oxford Reference Online, Oxford University Press 2001.

WRING, D. (1994), Marketing in British election campaigns: an overview, working paper presented at the British Academy of Management Conference, University of Lancaster, September 1994.

WRING, D. (1997). Reconciling marketing with political science: Theories if political marketing. Journal of Marketing management, Vol. 13, pp.651-663.

WYMER, W. Y LEES-MARSHMENT, J. (2004). Current Issues in Political Marketing. Best Business Books, NY, USA.

AUTHOR
Isabel Alvarez and Neil McBride

ABSTRACT

Introduction to Speckled Computing

Specks are minute semiconductor grains of around 1mm3 across which can carry out autonomous computing functions. They have their own power sources and will draw power from the environment. They also benefit from nano-scale sensor technology, so can measure selected effects in their environment, including temperature, movement or location. There is the promise of wide sensing ability, for example, of chemicals in the environment. Besides nano-sensors, specks have wireless communication and can receive and process data. A speck is hence autonomous, possessing its own battery, sensors, processing power and communication abilities.

Specks may then collaborate and communicate with other specks to form networks of specks – specknets – which can then be programmed to carry out large computational tasks. It should also be noted that besides the external programming of specknets, such networks will have the capacity to self-organise. These wireless sensor networks (WSNs) will have a wide range of applications, for example in environmental science, health, military and education.

Specks and specknets promise the ultimate ubiquitous computing. They can be sprayed into the atmosphere, onto buildings and onto people. A room with specks painted onto walls could provide a powerful computing environment where users could access the computing power of specknets wirelessly while present in the room.

Since each speck contains its own processes, communication and sensors, the specknets that form do not need base stations or any central control. They are truly autonomous and, depending on how they are programmed can self-organise to deal with complex problems and adapt to environmental needs. The Centre for Specked Computing promises that “Surfaces, walls, floors, ceilings, articles, and clothes, when sprayed with specks (or “speckled”), will be invested with a “computational aura” and sensitised post hoc as props for rich interactions with the computational resources.”

While the hardware technology for specks is progressing rapidly, software approaches to how to manage and program self-organising networks lags behind. Methods are being developed which apply the biological concepts of the immune system in order to enable self-organisation in specknets (Davoudani et al, 2007).

Applications are being developed which use small numbers of precursor specks, in larger formats. These specks may be attached to specific places on the person. For example, a distribution of specks supports gesture analysis such that, for example, the rotation of wrists can be monitored and the social acceptability of the resulting gestures considered.(Brewster, 2009) Specks can aid the monitoring of diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Attaching specks to the chest enables a more holistic monitoring of breathing patterns covering the whole chest, rather than attaching one or two sensors.(Rablinovich, . 2010). Specks may be used in the monitoring of the natural environment. For example, Specknets may allow the tracking of fundamental processes occurring in previously inaccessible aquatic environments, including understanding how oxidation-reduction occurs in lakes using a specknet of REDOX sensors (Spears et al, 2010). Specknets can also be used to evaluate the performance of occupied buildings Hence, most current applications of specknets, still in their infancy, concern the development of networked approaches to gathering sensor information which in then centrally processed. The role of the speck is then no more than an intelligent sensor, communicating its findings using mobile communications.

The Ethical Environment of Specknets

Specknets can be both pervasive and invisible. We could enter a room without being aware that a specknet was monitoring our presence, perhaps by each speck having a heat monitor and a detailed, holistic picture being built up of the environment. We may not be aware that specknets have been sprayed on our clothing such that social behaviour, breathing, or chemical changes in our bodies could be monitored, or that they might have been breathed in and monitoring us internally.

Specks’ ability as sensors might result in information about the human subject being collected without consent. While sensors are nothing new, specks provide added power and hence added possibilities in misuse in that whole populations can be used to gain much more detailed, holistic pictures of human behaviour in an environment than a few fixed sensors in a room or on a road might provide.

Issues concerning the participant’s awareness of the presence of a specknet, and consent to the recovery, analysis and interpretation of sensor data from specknets are clearly of importance. The participants’ autonomy and hence ability to make decisions about what data is release is compromised by the presence of a specknet. There is a requirement for transparency such that the presence of the specknet is clearly indicated and all specks can be accounted for. In such an environment this raises a need for specknet detectors which can reveal the presence of the specknet to participants. Like any ubiquitous computing the embedding of the computing power within the environment requires the provision of knowledge and access methods. This responsibility is clearly placed on the stakeholders who construct and deploy the specknets. The invisible nature of specknets raises issues about their usability which demand the development of interfaces which map the specknet, connect with the specknets and enable it to be interrogated as to both the processes it is performing and the data it is collecting and using. Also an ability to disable all specks in a specknet should be part of any specknet application.

However, unlike fixed ubiquitous computing system where the computing power may be embedded in the environment, perhaps hidden in the wall or as a laminate in a table, Specks have the potential for mobility and to be spread over a wide area. The problem here is that once specks are released into the environment, say through an aerosol spray, their locations cannot be fully controlled. The movement of participants, winds, drift to other garments or spread by animals means that control over the computing power and its location is reduced. An element of uncertainty is introduced into the ethical environment. The distribution of the specknet becomes uncertain and IT asset management of specks virtually impossible. Specks then have the potential to become environmental contaminants, possible interfering with other computing processes.

Does this mean that methods of containment are required? If we restrict specks to closed environments then a significant aspect of the specknet – its ability to spread in environments an monitor whole bodies in health applications or whole ecosystems in environmental applications is lost. Part of the value of specks lies in their mobility and penetration of the environment. Any ethics of specknets must balance the social value of the technology with the risks. A compassionate consideration of an environment or the health of an individual might suggest that the risks of distributing free agents such as specks is outweighed by the value in saving an environment or a life.

But what is also suggested that specks, once distributed remain the responsibility of the distributor. In extracting oil from a forest, the value to helping society and people thrive does not remove the empathic consideration of the environment. Reparation is required.

So ethical reflection suggests that the use of specks in an environment must be accompanied by the development of tools and technology that support their use. Computer simulations should be employed to predict their spread and locations. While there is uncertainty in distributing specks, say through an aerosol. Simulations of the environment should help predict patterns of dispersal. Such information would be essential anyway for the analysis of the environmental data provided by the speck’s nano-sensors. Additionally, technology needs to be developed which can be used in the field to monitor their presence and track their distribution. Also technology should be developed that can extract specks from environmental substrates and return them to the lab. Hence in ethical terms, while there is value in distributing specks and problems with negative ethics which constrains speck technology to fixed, contained environments, the development of supporting technology and the addressing of the communities within specks may be distributed demands the development of simulation, detection and recovery technology. The focus of the research cannot remain just on the specks themselves, but research must be cast in a context. Speck technology involves the community or environment within which they practice /their processing.

Specknets and Systems Ethics

While individual specks may be simple and controllable, their recruitment into networks will result in complex systems. A specknet is effectively a complex adaptive system. Simple rules and interactions at an individual level give rise to emergent behaviour of a higher order of complexity. In simple terms we can imagine flocking, in which simple behaviour by individuals gives rise to more complex group behaviour. A complex adaptive system not only displays emergent behaviour which is difficult to predict from the properties of individual specks, but may be dynamic and unstable.

Self-organisation, which could be envisaged in a specknet, may result in complex coordinated behaviour which includes the differentiation and specialisation of roles by groups of specks. Such complex adaptive behaviour is well documented in biology. For example, slime moulds are aggregations of single celled amoeba. These aggregations arise from simple behaviour in individual amoeba in response to chemical changes in the environment. The cells aggregate to form moving bodies which can differentiate to form specialised fruiting bodies. The slime mould can also exhibit other behaviours such as appearing to farm bacteria as a food source, carrying bacteria around and depositing them in more nutritious environments. Could specknets develop behaviours equivalent to slime moulds?

One problem is that such complex, dynamic , non-linear behaviour is difficult to predict from studies of individuals. And even if we adopt the approach of scientific determination, the complexity of the behaviour, responding to environments and involving a large number of variables will be difficult to model using a computer simulation. In many areas the complexity of dynamic changes in the environment adds to the potential unpredictability of the specknet. Furthermore, changes to specknets resulting from specialisation in purpose by groups may be irreversible.

Hence when specknets behave as complex adaptive system (which they have the potential to do so) in complex changing environments, there will be a substantial level of uncertainty as to what behaviour will occur and what the outcome will be. Preparedness through simulations and consideration of the options for behaviour will help, but at the end of the day, it is in the nature of complexity that unexpected behaviour will occur.

In ethical terms, the resulting ethical issues will be equally unexpected and sets of rules may be either too general or not adaptive enough. It is in the nature of the complex adaptive systems that ethical thinking will be done on the hoof and cannot be adequately served by codes of practice or rule-based systems. Virtuous approaches by the developers are required in which virtues such as empathy and patience are developed through learning and reflection. The role of the ethicist is, then, to encourage the developers and distributors of specks to maintain an ethical awareness, to reflect on the possibilities and to learn moral wisdom which will be adaptable to the outcomes of specknets.

The development of an ethical framework for specknets should be neither libertarian or luddite. The development of a system ethics is required.

Firstly a system ethics will involve the consideration of boundaries. There should be approaches to drawing specks in, to identifying the physical and logical boundaries which will define their sphere of practice. How can the specks be allocated to a physical boundary? How can the logic be defined which constrains them to the problem-in-hand and the practices needed to solve that problem?

Secondly, hierarchies should be considered. Emergent behaviour occurs at a higher level than that of individual specks. At these higher levels, new meanings emerge and detailed information is lost. Hence hierarchies of ethical behaviour may be developed. Understanding the level at which behaviour emerges will enable us to understanding of the ethical issues at that level to be developed.

Thirdly, an ethics of networks should be developed. Ethical issues emerge from interactions between specks within the networks. An understanding of the messages and relationships between specks within the specknet will lead to understanding of possible ethical interactions, since ethics is grounded in relationships and complex adaptive behaviour emerges from relationships.

Conclusion

Speckled computing offers a radically different approach to computing which may result in new emerging ethical problems. These problems go beyond the generally recognised set of problems.

New ethical problems arise from the potential for complex adaptive behaviour which may emerge in specknets. These ethical problems require a systems ethics which recognises the issue of uncertainty and unpredictability which may arise in specknets.

Ethical considerations can help identify technical needs associated with specknets including technology for monitoring and recovery. Additionally wise setting of boundaries can provide environments for creative and valuable use of specknets for human flourishing.

REFERENCES

Briewster, S. (2010) Body-based gestures and social acceptability 9th Workshop of Specked Computing, Edinburgh, 24-25th November 2010

Centre for Speckled Computing (2009) http://www.specknet.org Accessed 17/03/11

Davoudani, D, Hart, E and Paechter,B. (2007) An immune-inspired approach to speckled computing. In DeCastro, L, Von Zuben, H.D. and Knidel, H. ICARIS 2007 Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4628 288-299

Gill, Z and Happlod, B. (2010) Evaluiting the performance of occupied buildings – an opportunity for specks? 9th Workshop of Specked Computing, Edinburgh, 24-25th November 2010

Rabonovicth,ER.A. (2010) Speckled Healthcare. 9th Workshop of Specked Computing, Edinburgh, 24-25th November 2010

Spears, B, Dudley, D and Harley J. (2010) The need for REDOX measurements in freshwater ecology. 9th Workshop of Specked Computing, Edinburgh, 24-25th November 2010

Sayed Chhattan Shah, Fida Hussain Chandio, Myong-Soon Park, “Speckled Computing: Evolution and Challenges,” icfn, pp.181-185, 2009 International Conference on Future Networks, 2009

AUTHOR
Malik Aleem Ahmed

ABSTRACT

People have been making video logs (vlogs) and putting them online since 2000 (e.g. see Michael 2010). The act of vlogging is not bad in itself. In this paper, I explore if there are special circumstances, which make it harmful? Do designers of such systems have responsibility to see to it that harmful events do not occur or does the responsibility lie with the vloggers?

Vlog is a type of blog, which contains video material (e.g. see Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Vlogging is also called video blogging, vidding or vidblogging (Wikipedia, n.d.). Vlogging has been used for different purposes and can be categorized into different types such as educational vlogs, entertainment vlogs, marketing vlogs etc. By family vlogging, I mean making videos of the family, editing them and putting them online to be seen by other users. Some people have been making vlogs of themselves and their family members and uploading it to the video sharing websites like Youtube or Bliptv. Sometimes they can subscribe to the partner programme, e.g. Youtube partner programme – and make money out of it mainly through revenue sharing. The vloggers can make money by allowing relevant advertisements to be displayed with their videos, or by making them available for rental via streaming (see Youtube, n.d.). Does it make a good act or bad? In this paper, I present different examples, which shows that choosing a career of making family vlogs and making money out of it tend to make it a bad thing under special circumstances.

For the purposes of this paper, different vlog channels such as Shaytards, MrArturoTrejo and Phamdamily on Youtube.com were reviewed. During the reviewing process it was observed that many times the vlogger makes vlogs while driving holding camera in one of the hands with divided concentration, with the little children sitting in the back of the car (e.g. see Shaytards, n.d.). In other instances, children are instructed to do stupid things so that video counts are higher like telling them to smell toes and putting toes in their mouths, or asking them to jump from one wooden bed to another and in the process, they fall and are injure themselves. In other instances, it can be observed that children become camera shy and act differently in front of camera. In this paper, I argue that making and posting family vlogs to make money out of the act can be considered as morally wrong under many circumstances. I defend argument based on the following points:

• Child labor
• Children’s privacy
• Parent’s responsibility
• Psychological issues with children
• Harming others
• Bystanders privacy

In the end, I explore who bears the responsibility for these acts. I claim that not only the vloggers but also the designers of vlogging systems and programmes are morally responsible to see to it that the occurrence of harmful events are minimized. If the vloggers sign for the partner programme and make money out it then they can be considered as freelancers if not the professionals. Being freelancers make them agents of responsibility (e.g. see Ahmed & Van den Hoven, 2010) and hence they bear special responsibility. They are liable, accountable, blamable, and causally responsible for their vlogs and actions.

On the other side of the table, the designers of the systems and programme are also responsible. One suggestion is to develop a code of conduct for the vloggers and design a system in such a way that the viewers can report of the violations, just like the infringement system, if the vloggers do not follow the code of conduct. Secondly, the stakeholders have to think where do the issues associated with children stand in this evolving family vlogging world.

REFERENCES

Ahmed, M., & van den Hoven, J. Agents of responsibility—freelance web developers in web applications development. Information Systems Frontiers, 12(4), 415-424.

Michael Sean Kaminsky. 2010. Naked Lens: Video Blogging & Video Journaling to Reclaim the YOU in YouTube. Organik Media Press.

Merriam-Webster, n.d. Available online at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vlog. Last Accessed 5th February, 2011.

Shaytards, n.d. Available online at http://www.youtube.com/shaytards. Last Accessed on 5th Feburary, 2011.

Wikipedia. n.d. Available online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_blogging. Last accessed on 5th Feburary, 2011.

Youtube, n.d. Available online at http://www.youtube.com/t/partnerships_benefits#qualifications. Last Accessed 5th Feburary, 2011.

AUTHOR
Malik Aleem Ahmed

ABSTRACT

Internet is a new context and vehicle of delivery for marketing products, services, and political views. Firms have found different ways to market their products and services on the Internet. One of the ways is to use friendship for online marketing of the products, services and influencing the political views. This paper would discuss about the moral issues when people use online resources especially the social media to get benefits and credits by inviting their friends to do something or use the social computing for influencing the political views of associates. This paper would build upon the discussion of Kennett and Mathews (2008) that friends can be directed and interpreted by their friends. Kennett and Mathews (2008) argued in their paper that friends do things that they usually do not perform because their other friends are doing it. So when friends receive invitations from friends to fill a survey or to buy a product, it can be argued that they are influenced and interpreted by the sender friend.

This paper would identify some of the cases, which have moral issues associated with them especially from the corruption of friendship point of view:

• Friends inviting their friends for some incentives

Organizations have been using people to give members some incentives when they invite their friends to contribute in the social media systems. Incentives include but not limited to online credits, free samples, and free access. I will discuss the examples of online credit scenario, professional networking scenario and online surveys scenario to identify the moral issues.

• Forwarding emails or posting items on walls without verifying the information

Moral issues arise when people receive emails and forward them to their friends without verifying the contents of the emails; or people share links, videos, stories, and news on the social networking websites with little knowledge about the authenticity of items. This does not only result in increase in spam mails but also poses moral problems e.g. disinformation. “Negative Online Buzzing” is a term used when a person receives an email from a friend describing something negative about a product or a person. I will discuss different scenarios of negative marketing, hoaxes and using ethnicity or religion to influence people in making their decisions.

• Use Blogs and epinions to influence friends.

Companies hire bloggers to write good things about their products and services. Another case is the hiring of bloggers for spinning for certain political parties. Other times people make and use funny videos for viral marketing. When the friends of the blogger read about the opinions or view the vlogs of their friends then they are influenced by them and are directed to buy certain products or services or to vote for certain political candidates.

I would discuss that these systems use the people as “Online Buzzers” to make a buzz for the web system, product, service or ideology. It is easy to blame the organizations which are using these tools but the question in which I am interested in this paper is that if it is morally right for the people to influence their friends for their vested interests? I argue that my answer tends to be no. One of the reasons being that they use their friends as means towards achieving their own ends. Do their actions mean that the systems and incentives used by the companies or parties to ask people to lure their friends towards a certain direction means the corruption of the friendship?

REFERENCES

Jeanette Kennett and Steve Matthews . 2008. What’s the Buzz? Undercover Marketing and the Corruption of Friendship, Journal of Applied Philosophy.

AUTHOR
Malik Aleem Ahmed

ABSTRACT

Developed countries have been using Information and Communication technologies to improve their education system and delivery. They have been experimenting with the Internet and web tools and systems to improve practicum and internship opportunities and experiences for pre-service and beginning teachers. As in other sectors, developing countries have been lagging behind to capitalize the Internet and the web for improving the practicum and internship opportunities for pre-service, beginning as well as in-service teachers; although some developing countries like India (Prakash, VP. Sinha, M. 2006), Malaysia, Brazil (Isabella, R. 2006) have been using different technologies like TV, Radio, teleconferencing, Educational Videos for distance learning. This paper identifies and briefly discusses the Web 2.0 applications and systems, which can be used to improve practicum and internship experiences of pre-service and beginning teachers by expanding their information capabilities in developing countries

Pre-service and beginning teachers face different problems during practicum and internship experiences. These include but not limited to isolation, emotional problems, classroom management, discipline and lesson planning. ICTs can be used for mentoring, field placement, creating electronic communities, socio-emotional support, discussions about different issues and getting feedback (Bodzin, AM. 2000). Studies shows that pre-service teachers appreciate the use of Information and Communication Technologies e.g. in one study pre-service teachers acknowledged the fact that they had, without delay, useful advise and feedback related to the situations they encountered (e.g. see Bodzin, AM. 2000).

One of the services of the Internet, which quickly evolved and became widely acceptable in 1990s, is the World Wide Web. In the past 20 years, the web has become the most popular service of the Internet. For the last five years, the term web 2.0 has been becoming common. Web 2.0 is the popular name of a new generation of web applications, sites, and companies that emphasize openness, community, and interaction (David, 2006). Web 2.0 includes blogs, wikis, trackback, podcasting, video blogs, and different social networking tools (Alexander, 2006). Web 2.0 is also referred to as social web or social media because of its emphasis on community, social interaction and user generated content.

If used properly social web 2.0 applications, also called social computing applications, can not only help in the placement of pre-services teachers but can also help in building the online virtual community for the improvement of practicum and internship experiences in teachers education in developing countries. In this paper, I examine different social computing applications, e.g. – wikis, blogs and social networks – which can be used to improve practicum and internship programs for pre-service and beginning teachers. I discuss, using the concepts of Capability Approach (see Sen 1999), how different social computing applications can assist in improving the practicum and internship programs for pre-service and beginning teachers by expanding the information capabilities (i.e., freedom of realizing functionings of acquiring, using, and disseminating information) of the pre-service teachers.

In the Capability Approach literature (e.g. see (Sen, 1980, 1985, 1999, 2002), the term capability refers to the freedom of realizing various functionings. Functionings are things a person may value doing and being (Sen, 1999). Thus, capability means the freedom to do things and/or to be which a person values. By information capabilities, I mean the freedom of realizing functioning of; 1) acquiring, 2) using and 3) disseminating information. They are also connected with the functioning of communication and interaction. Freedom of realizing implies that certain background conditions have to be met in order realize the potential functioning into an actual one (Ahmed forthcoming).

I also indicate that the applications and systems can also be used for expanding the information capabilities of teaching institutions / universities, schools, governments, overseeing agencies and others. Direct beneficiaries of social computing initiatives in this area include practicum director, placement officer, pre-service teachers at the teaching institutions / universities; school placement officers, supervisors, cooperating teachers and students at the schools. Indirect beneficiaries include governments, overseeing agencies and other stakeholders.

REFERENCES

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Bodzin, AM. (2000). Preservice science teachers and internet telecommunications tools: Issues to consider. Proceedings of the 2000 Annual International Conference of the Association of Teachers of Science. [online] http://www.ed.psu/CI/Journals/2000AETS/35bodzin.rtf.

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