Digital Community Immersion 3

Within The Walking Dead Game subreddit, I noticed Rheingold’s concept of cooperation at play. Rheingold refers to Himmelman to define cooperation on page 154 as “exchanging information, modifying activities and sharing resources for mutual benefit and to achieve a mutual purpose.” This is demonstrated in the subreddit when somebody contributes to a post made by somebody else. When redditors band together and cooperate, they are much more likely to figure out an answer to a question. Or in the event that no one in the thread knows the answer, they can reach outside of Reddit and share their findings. Like seen here:

This redditor poses a question about family sharing, and doesn’t get the answers they’re looking for.

They later return with to share new information they received from an official source, the game developers.

The last concept related to web collective intelligence is collaboration. Collaboration is defined as the most purposeful means of collective action, it combines networking, coordination, and cooperation. This generates collaborators who agree on goals, share responsibility, and contribute resources to share their information and intelligence with one another. This is seen all over Reddit; when a question is posed, that is the somewhat like agreeing to the goal to find an answer. The Reddit community then shares responsibility in this “quest” for an answer. Then they contribute their experiences or information in hoping of achieving the  aforementioned goal. The entire experience is an example of collaboration, and it’s really interesting to see how the process moves along whether an answer is discovered or not.

Digital Community Immersion 2

For this post, I will be focusing on relating what I have been seeing in The Walking Dead Game’s subreddit to two of Rheingold’s four components related to web collective intelligence.

Networking is connecting with and exchanging information with others. In Net Smart Rheingold says this is as simple as hanging out in a chat room or commenting on a blog, among other things. Being on Reddit is a combination of all of these already, with most of the communications and networking occurring through posts and comments. Reddit is also proven to be a great way to exchange information, as like Rheingold states, no one knows everything. But, with networking sites like Reddit, Twitter, etc. we can share our information.

In Rheingold’s own words, coordination is “when all involved parties share information and agree to modify their activities for mutual benefit” (Rheingold 153). An example of this in The Walking Dead Game subreddit is a fairly new thread calling for signatures for a petition to lower the system requirements for the newest addition to the series. This is coordination because it’s a sharing of a document that calls for all the parties (the redditors) to modify their activities (sign the petition) for the mutual benefit; in other words the ability for everyone to run the game smoothly on their computers.

Digital Community Immersion 1

Upon first stumbling into a subreddit, or any forum style website, it is a clear example of virtual community run entirely by citizen journalism (Rheingold 147). Reddit is certainly not a formal news source, but its articles are capable of credibility depending on the redditor (anyone who posts on Reddit).

Back to The Walking Dead Game’s (TWDG) subreddit specifically, during my first few days observing I noticed the “fundamental building block of social cooperation”, attention (Rheingold 149). In Chapter 4 of Reinhold’s book, he states that this is simply looking where someone else is pointing. In the subreddit there are many forums consisting of people just posting videos of new reveals or playthroughs and basically saying “Check this out and tell me what you think…”, like one redditor who just linked to this Keengamer article.

An example of this being the most recent reveal trailer, which was shown at the 2016 Game Awards. There is a lot of buzz around it because a popular character, Kenny, whose fate you can choose in the previous game, is not present in the trailer. This has created a lot of discourse about what choices other players made, and discussions as simple as if they like him or even want him to return.

To conclude my first entry, I drew parallels between the thread creators on reddit and citizen journalism, as well as Rheingold’s concept of attention and redditors content sharing.

Atlanta Asian Film Festival

 

This past Saturday, October 22, 2016, I attended the last day of the Atlanta Asian Festival 2016. The festival was held in different locations depending on the day, and the last day the event was hosted at the Dunwoody Georgia State University Campus. I had purchased a ticket for Noy, Above It All, a Laos movie released in 2015.

When I walked onto the campus, the festival consisted of the theater, a ticket collector, and a small concession area where they provided food and had vending machines. The movie before us ended up running over so I had to wait in this area with the other viewers for about 20 minutes before moving into the theater. The crowd felt small, no more than about 15 people, but as the audience from the previous movie came out of the theater, some joined us and thickened the crowd up a bit. I suspected that the crowds were probably much bigger at the Atlanta venue on days earlier in the festival.

When we got to enter the theater it was a standard college auditorium, but it did  great job at feeling like a theater premiere. Noy, Above It All was a movie split into two stories.The first was about a boy named Noy who was a medical intern in Laos dating, who his parents believed to be, his “perfect girl”. They had been dating for several years and as a result his parents wanted him to marry her, but he didn’t love her in a romantic sense. He instead was in a secret relationship with his boyfriend, and struggled to come out to his parents and girlfriend. The second story is of Noy’s younger brother, Sack, who is a recent graduate with an Accounting degree, who wants to instead pursue a career in music, to the chagrin of his father. He meets a Hmong girl also named Noy who is graduating with an Economics degree, but instead of a job her parents would prefer her to marry to pay off their debts. She inspires Sack to mature when he falls in love with her and realizes that not everyone is as privileged as he is.

All in all the experience was good, I would have liked to see a movie at the Atlanta venue  for comparison. I would have tried going to both, but my schedule didn’t match up this week. Perhaps I can try again next year.

The History of CNN

(source: https://pixabay.com/en/cnn-building-news-aerial-view-1617354/)

On June 1, 1980 CNN was started by Robert Edward “Ted” Turner, although it was nowhere near as large and esteemed as it is today. Back then news were presented at certain times of the day, most popularly in the morning (sometimes by newspaper) and then in the evening reporters gave a summary of the events of the day (Cramer). For a long time this was the way that news was reported and no one strayed from this formula.

Ted Turner wanted to create a network that would broadcast 24 hours a day, which seemed utterly ridiculous to most at the time. For the first few years they were right, the network lost money and was nicknamed the “Chicken Noodle Network” (“CNN Launches”). Despite everyone else’s lack of faith in his network, Turner remained confident and boasted to any who’d listen about how big it would be one day (“Enter CNN”). Luckily, he was right.

Things really picked up for CNN during the Gulf War of 1991, where they were able to present live coverage of the war. Other stations had to play catch up with news that had already been broadcast hours earlier by CNN, and viewers were noticing (Cramer). From there things continued to get better, as CNN was constantly the earliest source for major news. They escalated to the top and stayed there.

Works Cited:

Cramer, Chris. “Why the World Is Watching CNN.” CNN. Cable News Network, 2005. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <Link>

“CNN Launches.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016. <Link>

“Enter CNN: The Atlanta-Based All-News Channel Begins Modestly But Soon Becomes A Predominant American And Global Information Source. (’80).” Columbia Journalism Review 4 (2001): 88. General OneFile. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <Link>

Georgia’s Entertainment Industry Investment Act

By: Brittani Bowman & Joseph Kimsey

(source: https://pixabay.com/en/news-reporting-crew-reporter-490680/)

With the 7th season of AMC’s The Walking Dead beginning this month and the recent success of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the media sphere of Georgia has been growing with no signs of slowing down. Georgia’s newfound popularity can be explained surprisingly easily, the main cause is Georgia’s film tax credit. Georgia’s first tax incentive, which was a point of purchase sales and tax exemption, was introduced in 2002, but it would only continue to grow. In 2005, the former mayor, Sonny Perdue, signed the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act into law.

In 2008, Georgia changed its tax codes to allow film companies that spend $500,000 or more on production and/or post production in Georgia to receive a 20% tax credit. It’s then possible to receive an additional 10% if the finished product has a state provided promotional logo (“Film, Television and Digital Entertainment”). Recently the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, has been deeply involved in the tax codes and keeping them intact (Bluestein), but it was former Governor Sonny Perdue who originally signed the law to revise the Entertainment Industry Investment Act (Dominey). On July 9th, 2015, Governor Nathan Deal announced “that Georgia-lensed feature film and television productions generated an economic impact of more than $6 billion during fiscal year 2015 (July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015),” while that impact was only $770 million in 2009. According to the Governor’s Budget Report for Fiscal Year 2017, over $504 million dollars was issued as tax credits in 2015’s fiscal year.
By 2011, more than 700 productions had been filmed in Georgia (Wells). The tax code may be the main reason why films are beginning to move east, but there are a number of other states that also offer similar incentives. So why Georgia? On top of our tax incentives we also have other attractions that include the diverse geography, for example we have urban areas like Atlanta, but we also have more rural looking areas in more Southern parts of Georgia, like Americus. We have readily available sets, such as the historic 19th century setting in Coweta County. Also, Georgia is host to film festivals, such as the Atlanta Film Festival, which also helps to bring in people in the film industry (Dominey).

Some wonder if these tax incentives are even worth it, and want to get rid of system. When you look at the revenue it’s been bringing in, and the popularity of Georgia in recent years since the tax changes were enacted, I feel that it’s a positive thing for us. It’s also nice that film makers will often employ Georgians in their projects when they come down here.

Sources

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwhwDNStyAPCSEM1TmVKRkQtWDQ/view?usp=drivesdk

https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/index/north-america

Wikipedia Article (for curation of sources)

Governor’s Budget Report: Fiscal Year 2017

Gov. Deal’s announcement

Bluestein, Greg. “Why Georgia’s Film Tax Credit Could Be in the Crosshairs in 2016 | Political Insider Blog.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 28 Sept. 2016. <Link>

Dominey, Craig. “Film Industry in Georgia.” New Georgia Encyclopedia. 02 August 2016. Web. 11 October 2016.<Link>

Stevens, Tiffany. “Lights, Camera, Atlanta, Action.” AJC Access Atlanta. AJC, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

“Film, Television and Digital Entertainment Tax Credit – Georgia Department of Economic Development.” Georgia Department of Economic Development ICal. Georgia Department of Economic Development, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <Link>

“Production Incentives and Forms – Georgia Department of Economic Development.” Georgia Department of Economic Development ICal. Georgia Department of Economic Development, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <Link>

Wells, Steve, and Mark Ross. “One For The Money, Two For The Show…” Take Two.” Journal Of State Taxation 31.3 (2013): 33-47. Legal Collection. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

 

Publication Theme

In class last Wednesday, we pretty much decided to pursue media in Atlanta as our theme for the publication; with specific focuses on Asian American representation in media and the 2D vs 3D animation argument. Because of this I have decided to discuss the directions we could take that.

Since media is a pretty all encompassing term we could go into various directions including film, gaming, advertisements and even things like music videos. By making our theme “media in Atlanta” we can find ways for each student to be able to write about things that are important or matter to them personally, so this keeps the publication fresh and interesting.

An example of a subject we could pursue would the Asian American representation in media; we could attend the Atlanta Asian Film Festival (October 7-22) and survey around for their general opinions on current representation in American media. Or we could take the animation angle and get in touch with Professor Brasco, as he has ties to Floyd County Productions, and interview them on their stances on 2D animation’s decline in recent years.

The drawback about this would be that the idea of media as a theme may be too broad a subject to cover. We could solve that by narrowing down either the media platforms we are willing to cover or we limit our subject to one subject across various platforms.

Politics & Media

https://screen.yahoo.com/couric-palin-open-000000480.html?format=embed

One of my favorite Saturday Night Light skits the Palin skits in which Tina Fey portrays Sarah Palin. It’s from 2008, but is undoubtedly one of the most iconic skits of SNL. The main premise of this skit (there are multiple others featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin) is an interview between Katie Couric and Palin. The skit pokes fun at Sarah Palin’s answers to the questions she is asked, and to her mannerisms.

When I first saw the skits 6 years ago, I had not seen the actual interview footage. At first, I thought that they were exaggerating Palin’s roundabout answers, and her incompetence. After viewing the interview, I was surprised to see that the parody wasn’t that far off, and some of Palin’s responses were almost word for word. Although this is an incredibly entertaining video; it does worry me that some of our politicians are this inept at expressing their own ideas. And I think that this was the point of the skit, not to ridicule Sarah Palin, but to give the audience that doesn’t pay attention to politics a glimpse into what our politicians are saying. Sometimes when we don’t pay attention to what the people who want to run our nation are saying; do we want people in office who are unable to articulate their ideas and explain themselves? How about people who seem to have a different response for every interview they do?

Comedians have always made it a point to bring light to important issues by making jokes out of them, and this skit is a great example of this tactic. After watching the SNL skit I had to see the real interview to see if Palin’s responses were anywhere close to what had been used in the skit. In my opinion, the information/confirmation I received from researching more into the political jokes in this skit keeps me informed, and thus is a useful resource. Now when I see political jokes, I’ll make sure I know the story behind them.

Mean World Syndrome

Mean world syndrome is a condition; I guess you could call it one, developed by George Gerbner. Mean world syndrome is when the public’s perception of the world is much worse than the world actually is; usually their opinions have been affected by media. This is a bad thing because it creates and perpetuates stereotypes about various areas and people around the world. When the sources of these stereotypes is something people consider credible, like the news or other media (on TV or online), it makes it worse because the audience finds these statements to be fact.

An example of mean world syndrome is how people who watch crime shows such as CSI, NCIS and Law & Order believe that the crime rates are rising, and have a fear of becoming a victim of a crime. More is detailed in this article (http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2011/02/08/you-are-what-you-watch-peoples-thoughts-and-fears-depend-on-what-tv-crime-shows-they-like).

The article talks about how they interviewed people who frequently watched crime shows. While there were many people that exhibited the above reaction to crime in reality, there were also a number of people who didn’t change their opinion of the crime rates or fear becoming victims of crimes (more than they usually do). But, they did believe there was a higher need for the death penalty; the reasoning for this being that they see the gruesome murders committed on the show and in real life and seek a means of justice (eye for an eye). This is the perfect example of mean world syndrome in my opinion.

Mean world syndrome could be the kindling for some cases of racism. When most movies and TV shows throw stereotypes into our faces, people begin to see them as being true. They think that Italian Americans must all be part of the mafia because of their portrayal in media. The same for black and Hispanic people and gang activity; some of the audience believes that all black and Hispanic people are criminals.

Framing Stories

Earlier this week in California, police were called when neighbors heard crying coming from a house. Police arrived and after some investigation found that a woman, Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa, had gotten stuck in the chimney of a man who she had met and began dating online. Police then had to take the chimney apart to rescue her. The article that I retrieved this information from can be found here (http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/us/woman-stuck-in-chimney/).

Genoveva being rescued from the chimney

This story is being framed to make Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa look like she is mentally unstable, which could be true. The story explains how she was conscious of her actions and had made similar attempts at home invasion in the past. The unnamed man, later identified as “Lawrence”, also seemed to imply that something was wrong with Nunez-Figueroa, by saying that he thought she was okay until he found her on his roof one day. He also says that he hopes she gets help, so I assume he believes she isn’t a stable person.

The story reports the story accurately as far as we can tell; a woman breaks into a man’s house and gets caught. But, the article focuses on everything but Nunez-Figueroa. I think the story could be framed differently by including some more of Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa’s motive. Maybe an interview with her on why she wanted so desperately to be in this man’s house that she’d sneak in through his chimney. Or a statement from some neighbors; did anyone else ever encounter her before this time? Why hadn’t anyone done anything until now? The story was covered well in my opinion, but I think more information on Genoveva would make it more complete.

I believe that there are ethical implications in how stories are framed; most of the time we see stories that are partially reported to make the story appear different than it actually was. This may be because a friend or acquaintance of the people reporting was involved, or it may because of a bigger issue like perpetuating stereotypes to make a story more interesting.