The language of perception

 

The language of perception

Language shapes the way that we perceive things (Van Luyn, 2013) and what a person writes or posts has the power, even if only read by one other person, to have an impact. The internet and social networking sites have broadened the horizons for many and has exposed them to different cultures and to a new sense of what is space and place. It has created a whole new form of communication that allows users to not only be influenced by a greater number of people but also given them the ability to express their own thoughts and opinions to a wider audience. This week I delved further into the many groups that reside on Goodreads in an effort to see how people were using these new spaces and how language was being utilized by its participants to express themselves in it.

On Goodreads I can find a review or discussion group on almost any book or topic I desire and most contain not only people’s opinion of books but also their thoughts and feelings on various issues that stem from the subject matter. ‘The unique qualities of fiction have allowed novels to explore moral and social questions’ (Van Luyn, 2013) and it is these questions that many of the discussion groups have started from and then expanded on. The groups provide people with a ‘virtual’ space in which they can discuss anything they like. There are guidelines for what can and cannot be written in the groups and the administrators of the groups and the moderators of the site have the right to modify or remove anything they deem inappropriate.

Being a book site there are a lot of reviews and for one book ‘The Help’ I found a review that complained that the language the author used did not match with the character descriptions and affected their ability to grasp what the author was trying to convey. They felt that if the book stated a person spoke in a certain way then the writing should be done in that style. This showed how the use of language can affect a person’s sense of place and their ability to put themselves where the author is trying to lead them. Taun (1991) wrote ‘language is a force that all of us use every day to build, sustain, and destroy’. I found it fascinating how people responded to the review and how they used their language to portray their feelings. The virtual space they were exploring turned into a place that provided them with the opportunity to do so.

Taun. Y  (1974) Space and place. Image Retrieved 20/09/2013 from: http://blog.sfmoma.org/2011/06/positive-sign-28-29/

 

 Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the      of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696

Van Luyn, A. (2013). ‘Our space: Networks, narrative and the making of place’, BA1002 Lecture: Week 5, retrieved from http://learn.jcu.edu.au

Virtual Stuff

The virtual network of Townsville’s Free Stuff is related to stuff as it is all about stuff.  It is the giving away of free stuff.  Initially, I thought that Townsville’s Free Stuff would not be a part of the global commodity/financial market.  But knowing that commodities are becoming more disposable and more readily available due commodities becoming more financially affordable, then Townsville’s Free Stuff is a part of the global commodity/financial market. As the Economist (2012) explains the various industrial revolutions affect not only how things are made, but where they are made. Factories, in the past, move to low-wage countries to curb labour costs (The Economist, 2012). Costs of commodities were also affected the world’s economy experiencing  enormous  cyclical variation  in  economic  activity during the past 50 years: “the  unparalleled  growth of the long boom lasting from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s being followed by periods of rapid growth interspersed with recession, stagnation and, often, unanticipated  crises” (Dicken, 2007, 437). Over these times, commodities have become more affordable.  Townsville’s Free Stuff allows people to give away stuff to those who may need or want those items, and may or may not being able to afford the items, allowing the giver to make room within their household for the possible upgrade of the commodity.

While the network is not a multinational corporation and caters just for locally focused network, the network of Townsville Free Stuff is a sub-network of a much bigger multinational network corporation of Facebook.  The local network is run by a local private administrator, however Facebook is a publically traded company on NASDAQ (The Economist, 2012 b).  As a result, there is advertising on the outskirts of the page in order gain money to help run the company and pay shareholders their dividends.  This goes against the rules, as members of this page are not to advertise for profit.

One can collect or give away stuff on the network.  Stuff can be virtual or real.  Virtual stuff can be through the creation of other networks or the giving of legal advice.  Stuff can be real and can range from clothing, kitchenware and household items, which linked very much to real life commodities that members can go and collect.

Dickens, P. (2007). Global Shift: Mapping the changing contours of the world’s economy London: Sage Publications

 

The Economist (2012). ManufacturingThe third industrial revolution: The digitisation of manufacturing will transform the way goods are made-and change the politics of jobs too

 

The Economist (2012). That Sinking Feeling; Facebook’s Flotation

 

Facebook exchange of 'stuff'

In this week’s lecture topic Kuttainen (2013) discusses the concept of how networks have impacted trade: as she states that “digital technology has already rocked the media.” The social network of Facebook is global (McNeill, 2012, pp. 103). Facebook is connected to the real life products, goods and exchange. This is evident through the facebook page ‘Mareeba Buy Swap and Sell.’

Within the space and place of the Facebook page ‘buy swap and sell’ you can collect, buy/swap “stuff,” such as furniture, house appliances, car parts and even little things such as kids toys. The buy swap and sell page also intertwines posts regarding garage sales. This creates the allusion that Facebook does influence the community’s trade and exchange corporations (member of facebook). People generally buy or collect “stuff” from the Facebook page and then “turn them into products at home and market them globally from a garage” sale (The economist, 2012); well in this sense take the products to the bigger community outside of the social network of Facebook.

Image 1: Example of garage sale posts on FB

Through the social network of Facebook’s page ‘Mareeba buy swap and sell’ it has developed significant connections between individuals and the community.

References

Kuttainen, V. (2013). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place. Lecture 8: Stuff. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “I” in network: Social networking sites and post human auto-biography. In biography, 35(1), 101-118.

The Economist. (2012). The third industrial revolution. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/21553017

 

 

 

Image 1: Example of garage sale posts on FB. Retrieved from http://images.search.conduit.com/ImagePreview/?q=Facebook+garage+sale+posts+&ctid=CT3245481&SearchSource=15&FollowOn=true&PageSource=Results&SSPV=&CUI=UN42257247402125933&UP=&UM=1&start=0&pos=6

 

 

 

Stuff=Money, Money=Power

The software creator InnoGames is responsible for my online network Grepolis. Like many small game developers, what begins as nothing more than a hobby, soon turns into a full time business venture. In the digital age, all that is needed is a pc, internet connection, and a desire to create.  The Economist (2012) explains, "legions of entrepreneurs and tinkerers swap designs online, turn them into products at home and market them globally from a garage" (p .4).   

While Grepolis is free to play, if you want, you can buy "stuff" for real money, known in the game as gold. Gold allows a player to buy added benefits, such as reducing unit construction time, increasing resource production, and allowing a 20% increase in fighting strength. While not vital to gameplay, power within the game is greatly influenced with the inclusion of real money. Just like the real world, players are separated into the haves, and have nots - resulting in an unfair advantage within the network.   

There is no doubt that "[t]echnology is a fundamental enabling force in the globalizing of economic activities" (Dicken, 2007, p. 438). Technology has opened doors to people who would have otherwise lacked the capital required to see their ideas be turned into reality. Kuttainen (2013) points out, "50% of exports in Australia comprise from iron and zink". An interesting question to ponder would be, what if 50% of exports in Australia were online, digital based technologies?  As the world becomes more connected through the digital network known as the internet, so too do the opportunities increase for people to connect on a social and economic basis.

References:

Dicken, P. (2007). Global shift: mapping the changing contours of the world economy (5. ed.). London: Sage.

Kuttainen, V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 8: Stuff. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

The Economist. (2012). The third industrial revolution. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/21553017


Image credits:

Jones, S. (2013). Orbitz to Power JTG online Presence. Retrieved from http://www.travelweekly.com.au/news/orbitz-to-power-jtg-online-presence

Dissemination: The loss of identity, place and power.

Image 1

Lateral violence is effective in keeping the powerless subjugated.  Successive governments, their policies and the lack of appropriate funding produce communities that are debilitated and unable to function.  Community members direct their circumstantial frustration inward towards others in their community and to those with less power than themselves.  Communities, real and online, implode, dissolve and lose identity.  Looking at power through the lenses of socialisation and economics, it becomes clear that lateral violence is a result of transgenerational trauma in Australia’s Indigenous community.

When considering Parson’s argument (as cited by Wilkinson, 2013) that personalities are made through the socialisation process, the frustration of transgenerational trauma is understood.  Socialisation through the childhood experience develops a profound sense of self and endorses accepted modes of behaviours from within their social or community group.  When adult social behaviours are severely contorted and individuals and communities are traumatised from the successive implementation of institutional policies that place individuals and communities into states of powerlessness, the cumulative effects, generationally speaking, are great.  Dr Chris Sarra (as cited by Jens Korff, 2013) observes that the anti-social behaviour of particular Indigenous people is not a part of their culture; it’s not what being Aboriginal is all about, but it is definitely the culture of dysfunction.

Image 2

 Financial and economic exclusion is evidential in the lack of affordable products and services available to Indigenous communities.  When banking institutions have policies and procedures that are not inclusive and fundamentally increase the cost of living for those already on low incomes, financial independence cannot be achieved.  Life and Debt [Jamaican Documentary] (2013) illustrates such economic policies on a developing nation.  In a domestic, regional view for Indigenous communities, financial illiteracy, ATM fees (charged at 10% of withdrawal amount e.g. $10 for a $100 withdrawal), institutional inexperience of servicing Indigenous communities and not understanding traditional customs and circumstances (lack of identification for the Stolen Generations) alienate and perpetuate marginalisation.  As Dicken (2007) argues, it is at this regional level that impacts of the globalising processes are most felt.  Global financial markets impact regions and communities via bank fees, interest rates and cuts in governmental funding to essential services facilitating higher levels of distress upon the communities that can result in lateral violence.

Image 3

Lateral violence has been witnessed on ATSI Grapevine.  The Deadly Awards acknowledge outstanding achievements within Indigenous communities and this year’s Lifetime Achievement award went to Uncle Archie Roach for his work highlighting the Stolen Generations.  There were many voices on the Grapevine who were appalled that Uncle Archie would accept such an award from an institution (Commonwealth Government) that implemented the policies that perpetuated the cultural interruption.  The level of animosity and anger that was levelled at the contributors of this narrative was extraordinary.  Contributors questioned others’ levels of ‘Aboriginality’; levels of pain incurred through the Stolen Generations; and ‘how much did you do to help the plight of our people?’  To try and quantify such is irrelevant and serves no purpose but only to further disseminate fractured communities, in this case, an online community. The contributors were turning on themselves:  Lateral violence.

Powerlessness is a condition that institutions inflict upon marginalised individuals and communities.  The transgenerational impact of ‘ghosts of policies past’ and its potential to insidiously destroy identity and sense of place is great in both real and online communities.

Reference List

Dicken, P.  (2007).  Global Shift:  Mapping the changing contours of the world economy.  London:  Sage Publications.

Korff, J.  (2013).  Aboriginal communities are breaking down.  Retrieved from http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/aboriginal-communities-are-breaking-down

Wilkinson, R.  (2013).  BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 8: Stuff:  Markets and manufacture. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

 

Image Reference

Image 1

Retrieved from http://www.davidairey.com/banksy-on-advertising/ 

 Image 2

Retrieved from http://www.ufunk.net/en/photoblog/banksy-et-la-politique-excellente-piece-de-street-art/ 

 Image 3

Retrieved from http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/files/2011/08/Yuendumu-alternate-blue-nt-inter-sign.jpg