Cyber bully

Amanda Todd,

Tyler Clementi,

Ryan Halligan,

Megan Meier, J

Amey Rodemeyer...

...are only some of the names that made it to mainstream media. These are all kids, mostly under the age of 15 and what they all have in common is that, their suicide is attributed to cyber bullying. So we have a problem and we need to talk about it. We have spend most of this course talking about the benefits of Social Media as we should do so. However, how do we deal with the dark side of Social Media. There is no doubt that the technology is rapidly growing, the benefits are limitless and there is no going back. Bullying is a real problem and always has been. It is more common in teenager because they are still looking for a place for themselves. They are just wanting to fit in and be liked. When things go wrong and one is subjected to bullying, the social media becomes a very powerful tool to hurt that person even more. However, I still think that we should not yet the hit the panic button. There are now over 1 Billion Users Of Social Media Worldwide, mostly on mobile. Teenagers of today in most modern societies now own a smart phone and access social media on the go. Yet we have a small number of suicides that we can link with cyber-bullying. Please don't think that I, in any way undermine the importance or sadness of the issue but I just think that we should put things in perspective. Bullying persists in Social media platform or everyday life and this is what we should be dealing with. Maybe even use Social Media as a tool to target bullies because they leave a trail of evidence behind themselves when using the internet. Most importantly let's talk about it at schools and educate children. Make them realize that there are ways to deal with it and there is support out there for who may need.

We need to better legislation and we need better awareness! We need teachers, parents and students to work together for a solution. We need support groups for victims. We just need to get creative at protecting young people and most importantly teaching them to protect themselves. On top of that it helps that Cyber bullying is making its way into law books and the incidents are treated with great seriousness by the police. 

What a real subject to finish the course with! Thanks to all who has followed my posts over the last few months.It has been great pleasure to be a part of this online group despite all the personal difficulties that came my way. Best of luck to all of you....

Seda 

Produsage

I admit I never heard this term before until recent. You are more than welcome to call me ignorant for my crime. What a cleverly put together word which serves a great purpose! It was Axel Bruns who recognized the blurring of the role of producers and the consumers in his paper named, Produsage: towards a broader framework for user-led content creation.So he put together the term produsage.

This is how produsage makes sense to me... We were asked to write blogs and comment on other students' blogs as part of our course work with Swinburne. So we started creating with in the network and engaging with other creators. This is produsage. Right now while you are reading my blog and hopefully thinking about commenting on it, I became a produser. I might reply on your comment and this way officially we are taking part in produsage activity.

Why is it matter whether we become produsers? Perhaps because it makes people like me and you more active in media. It is a very positive concept because it has the capacity to offer consumers a chance to have a say. It also allows everyday people to interconnect and exchange information. Perhaps more importantly, it gives us a chance to materialize what is important to us.

Produsage also becomes crucial for its use in education. I as a 'mum' and and 'passionate digital media user' care about rippling effects of the produsage activity. I recognize there will be traditional approaches in some parts of the educational system but I would like to think that most schools will recognize the potential of produsage and use it to their advantage. Axel Burns sums this up really well.

... the need to provide people with the ability to make active, productive contributions to produsage projects to move from user to produser. This is the “leap to authorship” that Rushkoff describes; it ensures that people are able not only to benefit from hearing the voices of others, but also to add their own voices to the discussion.

So the 'people' we are talking about here are our children! We can not expect to do a good job by putting parental control on the use of internet or TV. On the contrary, we need to raise a generation of people who know their way around the internet and understand where and when to trust the information they may come across. The digital age astounds me with its rapid change and opportunities and I can only imagine how hard it will be for me to keep up with all that is happening even in the near future so it is paramount that schools take an active role and recognize the potential.

I strongly suggest you all have a read of this interesting interview by Axel Bruns.

http://henryjenkins.org/2008/05/from_production_to_produsage_i.html