Comments on: The ethics of real-time social reporting http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/ Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:29:36 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Patrick Thompson http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-463 Patrick Thompson Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:05:55 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-463 Any proposed accomodation to twitter or facebook that assumes human nature will somehow change will obviously not work. Gossip has always been with us and is not going to go away; xenophobia and the need to distinguish 'them' from 'us' is not going away. It may be possible to put breaks into sites like twitter, analogous to the restrictions on automated trading, that mitigate mob effects. It might work to change the way we understand information. Big 'might' however. I recently developed and taught a 9-12th grade (i.e. high school for those not in the USA) curriculum which had the grandious objective of using information science as the basis for the schools techical curriculum. I'm not sure how useful it was in the end, but one thing was very clear: The schools do not provide an environment in which people can learn to evaluate what they hear or what is taught to them. We might change this, we might get people to think about the information they are propagating or consuming. Big 'might' though. Any proposed accomodation to twitter or facebook that assumes human nature will somehow change will obviously not work. Gossip has always been with us and is not going to go away; xenophobia and the need to distinguish ‘them’ from ‘us’ is not going away. It may be possible to put breaks into sites like twitter, analogous to the restrictions on automated trading, that mitigate mob effects. It might work to change the way we understand information. Big ‘might’ however.

I recently developed and taught a 9-12th grade (i.e. high school for those not in the USA) curriculum which had the grandious objective of using information science as the basis for the schools techical curriculum. I’m not sure how useful it was in the end, but one thing was very clear: The schools do not provide an environment in which people can learn to evaluate what they hear or what is taught to them. We might change this, we might get people to think about the information they are propagating or consuming. Big ‘might’ though.

]]> By: Kathryn http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-455 Kathryn Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:50:07 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-455 (Warning: some may find the following comment and link upsetting) <a href="http://twitter.com/neversleep90/statuses/5631281413" rel="nofollow">Jeremy Noble</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/neversleep90" rel="nofollow">@neversleep90</a>) has been in touch to say that he thinks the awful case you may be referring to is that of American politician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Dwyer" rel="nofollow">Budd Dwyer</a>. Dwyer, "on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver during a televised press conference." (Warning: some may find the following comment and link upsetting)

Jeremy Noble (@neversleep90) has been in touch to say that he thinks the awful case you may be referring to is that of American politician Budd Dwyer.

Dwyer, “on the morning of January 22, 1987, committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver during a televised press conference.”

]]> By: Prof G Leonard, SFSU http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-452 Prof G Leonard, SFSU Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:49:17 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-452 Someone has probably already sent this in, but just in case, there was an extensive debate on this subject in the Seventies, after a TV news person-- who had plenty of time to intervene-- recorded a protest suicide instead. Everybody weighed in on it, journalists, philosophers, the works. Just so you needn't reinvent the wheel. Sorry I can't remember the names involved, but it's 35 years ago. Someone has probably already sent this in, but just in case, there was an extensive debate on this subject in the Seventies, after a TV news person– who had plenty of time to intervene– recorded a protest suicide instead. Everybody weighed in on it, journalists, philosophers, the works. Just so you needn’t reinvent the wheel. Sorry I can’t remember the names involved, but it’s 35 years ago.

]]> By: The ethics of real-time social reporting « Chicago Mac/PC Support http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-449 The ethics of real-time social reporting « Chicago Mac/PC Support Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:00:40 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-449 [...] ethics of real-time social reporting Thats nice the thoughts on this subject.  Click here to [...] [...] ethics of real-time social reporting Thats nice the thoughts on this subject.  Click here to [...]

]]> By: Janet E Davis http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-447 Janet E Davis Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:50:29 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-447 Thank you for a thoughtful and thought-provoking post, Kathryn. I forget that not everyone has had the advantage of the type of education I had. Coincidentally, yesterday evening, I Googled for the first time Julian Petley who was one of my lecturers when I was an undergrad, years ago. Professor Julian Petley's specialist area is media censorship. When he taught me, he was probably one of the very few teaching art, design and art history undergraduates to consider and question the nature of censorship in contemporary film and television. The reason why I looked up Julian last night was because the issues of censorship, citizen reportage and broadcasting, and who uses social media for what messages had echoes in my memory of debates in our seminars many years ago. I have been finding myself wanting some more carefully considered views from people on the subject. There are plenty of very personal opinions aired; and there is often a rather rapid knee-jerk response to specific news items or incidents. I have been so disturbed at times by the mob mentality I sometimes see on Twitter, that I have considered whether I should leave the Twitterverse. As someone who has been involved in making or influencing decisions as to what information is made public by public organisations, and how it is communicated, I think that these issues are crucial for our society to consider. I also think that it is time we paused to consider what we do online and how it affects us all. For further information about Professor Julian Petley's work see: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/acad/sa/artstaff/filmtv/julianpetley Thank you for a thoughtful and thought-provoking post, Kathryn.
I forget that not everyone has had the advantage of the type of education I had. Coincidentally, yesterday evening, I Googled for the first time Julian Petley who was one of my lecturers when I was an undergrad, years ago.
Professor Julian Petley’s specialist area is media censorship. When he taught me, he was probably one of the very few teaching art, design and art history undergraduates to consider and question the nature of censorship in contemporary film and television.
The reason why I looked up Julian last night was because the issues of censorship, citizen reportage and broadcasting, and who uses social media for what messages had echoes in my memory of debates in our seminars many years ago. I have been finding myself wanting some more carefully considered views from people on the subject. There are plenty of very personal opinions aired; and there is often a rather rapid knee-jerk response to specific news items or incidents.
I have been so disturbed at times by the mob mentality I sometimes see on Twitter, that I have considered whether I should leave the Twitterverse. As someone who has been involved in making or influencing decisions as to what information is made public by public organisations, and how it is communicated, I think that these issues are crucial for our society to consider. I also think that it is time we paused to consider what we do online and how it affects us all.

For further information about Professor Julian Petley’s work see: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/acad/sa/artstaff/filmtv/julianpetley

]]> By: Kathryn http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-446 Kathryn Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:26:19 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-446 Points all well made. Even if you do follow the moral it tries to tell it leaves more questions than it answers, which I think I realised this morning when I posted the above, but must have chosen to ignore them in return for bright colours and animation, as you rightly comment. Caught red handed! Questions such as: Authoritarianism as an answer to social problems? ie. does confiscating and burning solve the problem? (no) Do the bullies reappear next day? (yes) Points all well made.

Even if you do follow the moral it tries to tell it leaves more questions than it answers, which I think I realised this morning when I posted the above, but must have chosen to ignore them in return for bright colours and animation, as you rightly comment. Caught red handed!
Questions such as:

Authoritarianism as an answer to social problems?
ie. does confiscating and burning solve the problem? (no)
Do the bullies reappear next day? (yes)

]]> By: Antony Mayfield http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/2009/11/08/the-ethics-of-real-time-social-reporting/#comment-445 Antony Mayfield Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:01:28 +0000 http://kathryncorrick.co.uk/?p=1311#comment-445 Re: This American Life. "Seems to summarise..." is right. Seems. Sorry - that video is really hokey. I recall kids at my school standing around cheering on people having a fight and teachers having to come and break it up and we didn't have a news team craze going on.... It may say something dark about human nature, but it has nothing to do with how the urge to be reporters overcomes our instinctive humanitarianism. It may also say something about how some graphics and a pondering instrumental in the background can make a mildly diverting anecdote deeply meaningful when it isn't. maybe. Re: This American Life.

“Seems to summarise…” is right. Seems.

Sorry – that video is really hokey.

I recall kids at my school standing around cheering on people having a fight and teachers having to come and break it up and we didn’t have a news team craze going on….

It may say something dark about human nature, but it has nothing to do with how the urge to be reporters overcomes our instinctive humanitarianism.

It may also say something about how some graphics and a pondering instrumental in the background can make a mildly diverting anecdote deeply meaningful when it isn’t.

maybe.

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