Virt3C 2010 Presentation

Alternative models for social media networks in malta
Alex Grech
University of Hull
Virt3c@Hull Conference: 20th March 2010

A small island in the middle of the Med. Sometimes mistaken for Club Med.
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It’s here

Key Statistics & Demographics
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National Statistics Office Malta, estimates for 2009

Key Statistics & Demographics
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National Statistics Office Malta, estimates for 2009

As the focus of ethnographic research, Malta provides “disjunctive positions and world-views that are inherently contradictory.”Grixti(2006)
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There are “intricate networks of nepotism, patronage, and political clientelism, the pervasiveness and intensity of which are a function of the country’s small scale, population density and strong family ties.”
Boissevain (1974. 2001: 292-293)
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Social

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Social

“The intensity of day to day contact sustains a sense of ‘common culture’ that is reinforced by emotionally charged rituals & ceremonies such as the village festa, that gives the impression of a simple and integrated community, sheltered from the outside world and impervious to its influences.”
Pisani (2010)
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Cultural

Primary Institutions in Malta
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Political
Size of spheres not indicative of relative power

“You are trained from birth never to question authority and always to obey orders unless you can do something underhand and get away with it.”
Caruana Galizia (2009)
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“The importance of the institutions – the state, the political parties and the Catholic Church – has strongly marked the development of the media in Malta.” Borg (2009)
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Media

Snapshot: Online Media Landscape in Malta
Times of Malta
Political Party Websites
Government Portals
Il-Gens (Church)
Di-ve Portal
Daphne Caruana Galizia Blog
Malta Independent
Other Blogs
Twitter People
Gozo News
Malta Today
Malta Media
J’Accuse Blog
Facebook Groups
Mainstream
Hybrid
Alternative
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Research Focus on Creators & Critics
Publish a blog
Publish your own web pages
Upload video you created
Upload audio/music you created
Creators
Critics
Post ratings/reviews of products/services
Comment on someone else’s blog
Contribute to online forums
Contribute to/edit articles in a wiki
Collectors
Use RSS feeds
Add ‘tags’ to web pages or photos
‘Vote’ for websites online
Read blogs
Watch video from other users
Listen to podcasts
Read online forums
Read customer ratings/reviews
Joiners
Maintain profile on a social networking site
Visit social networking sites
Spectators
None of the above
Inactives
Source: Groundswell, Forrester Research, 2008
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“We are already at a stage where it is not always possible to determine whether a media or communication initiative is mainstream or alternative, is initiated from ‘outside’ or ‘inside’, is part of a development intervention or intrinsic to a social movement, or is distinctly derived from a particular national, cultural or movement context.
As the empowering effects of alternative media and communication become more widely appreciated, as as new methods and technologies become more widely appreciated, and as new methods and technologies become more accessible, they will just become mainstream.”
Petit, Salazar & Dagron (2009)

Alternative Attributes
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Scope for Study
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Example of Citizen Media use on Twitter
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Source: http://twitter.com/alexgrech

Example of Citizen Media use on Facebook
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Source: Facebook

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Source: Facebook

Harassment of Carnival goers by police
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Source: TimesOfMalta.com

Mainstream media reporting of Carnival
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Source: TimesOfMalta.com

Blogger attack on a Magistrate and a Politician
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Source: DaphneCaruanaGalizia.com

Blogger attack on Magistrate and a Politician
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Blogger attack on Magistrate and a Politician
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Other blogs join in…
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Source: MaltaInsideOut.com

Other blogs join in…
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Source: http://www.jacquesrenezammit.com/jaccuse/

Tabloid media reacts to blog attack
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Source: MaltaToday.com

Blogger reported by Magistrate to police
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Source: TImesOfMalta.com

Blogger keeps blogging after police interrogation
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First concrete consequences of blog attack
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Source: www.di-ve.com

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“Maltese youths are still digital immigrants, and in a different category from their European counterparts. However, there is a growing awareness by young people that with the Internet, virtually anyone can broadcast to audiences roughly the same size of those targeted by the traditional mass media in Malta.”
Sant (2009)

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“Whether (traditional) media will still be (important) in the next decade is not easy to predict.
Processes like persuasion, free speech, knowledge acquisition, democracy and citizen have now taken a new dimension and offer new challenges with the introduction of the new media. Ownership of a radio or television station or of a paper still implies power.
However, as a result of an omnipresence of media in peoples lives, the fragmentation of the audience is bound to change how media influence the audience, and in turn, how the audience influence the media.
This does not mean a decline in the power of the media but it implies a change in power structures and their role in a democratic society.”
Lauri (2009)

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Source: Facebook

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Source: Facebook

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Source: Facebook

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The journey is rooted in ethnography
A long term involvement among the people, through a variety of methods, such that any one aspect of their lives can be properly contextualised in others.
(Miller & Slater, 2001)
Virtual Ethnography requires an involvement with the technologies which form part of the setting studied. The ways in which these technical settings are treated require a special approach from the ethnographer, different to the approaches used in more traditional settings
(Hine, 2000).
“..A commitment to engage, rather than forestall action in our mediated communities.”
Senft, 2007

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Malta appears to be poised at a stage where citizens have found new tools that may open up possibilities for social change; but also where “the dominance of mainstream players in online media may impede effective grassroots initiatives.”
(Saeed, S. 2009)

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Alex Grech
alexgrech@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/alexgrech
Visuals:
Albireo2006
Alex Attard
Alex Grech
Aron Mifsud Bonnici
OBS1

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Virt3C 2010 Presentation

by Alex Grech on Mar 27, 2010

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Virt3C 2010 Presentation — Presentation Transcript