Qotw 8: David VS Golliath

"Because bloggers answer to no one, they need not worry if their dispatches cause the chairman of the board of General Motors to stop talking to the publisher—or placing ads. Their independence gives them a subversive strength, one that undermines the cozy relationship the press has with its corporate cousins and government. The unmediated nature of blogs, which frightens so many professional journalists, is really a plus. With so many bloggers writing outside the bounds of authority, they've become impossible to silence or censor and their provocations help keep the national debate going at full tilt."

Blog Title/URL: Alfian’s Secret Wank Shed- http://alfian.diaryland.com
Blogger’s Name: Alfian bin Sa’at
Blogger’s Occupation: Citizen Blog
Blogger’s DOB: 16th March 2001
Technorati Rank: Does not recognize this blog but states 98 links to this URL

There is a perception that getting involved in Singapore politics will get you into trouble. Which is why most most bloggers who talk about local politics hide behind the cloak of anonymity, such as the much acclaimed, Mr Brown. He is not the first. A handful had started penning their views online earlier. An Internet search threw up blogs such as ‘Singabloodypore’, ‘Xeno Boy’ and ‘Vox Leo’. Political watchers and bloggers expect more to sprout up.



Allow me to introduce my adopted blogger for this week’s assignment. Alfian Sa’at is a poet and writer whose pet topics include freedom of expression and Malay rights. He is more known for his literary accolades rather than an esteemed blogger. Unlike most local political bloggers, his profile is easily traceable. Born on 18th July 1977, Alfian bin Sa'at was educated in Tampines Primary School, Raffles Institution, Raffles Junior College and the National University of Singapore.He was the Chairman of Raffles Players Drama Society in RI and RJC, where he received the Kripalani Award for Outstanding Contribution to Creative Arts. He is currently the resident playwright of the theatre group, W!ld Rice Productions.

I must admit I am a green thumb to Singapore politics much less political themed blogs. My first foray to politics only began last year during my virgin vote in my constituency in the General Elections 2006. Researching for local political blogs on the search engine threw plenty of links at me. I skimmed through a lot of them and changed my mind about 3 times before deciding on Alfian’s Secret Wank Shed.

I loved how he was not hiding behind a pseudonym. Not that I have anything against those with nicknames but I personally felt it takes someone with balls of steel to comment on half of the things he mentioned in his blog. Very much like Catherine Lim, the literary success known for her very public jabs at the Singapore government, Alfian Sa’at has written and spoken about many things that a mere mortal (read: moral coward) like myself dared not write nor speak. But what sets his works from other blogs I have come across is that what he had written is important and pertinent to Singaporean, especially if they are young and Malays. As far as I know, there are no other writers in Singapore who are vocal enough to voice out about the adversity faced by the Singaporean Malays. What makes his blog such an attractive read to his entries most were his candid take on gahmen masked artfully under his skill for the language. The fact that he writes particularly about the gripes faced by a Singaporean Malay strikes a chord with me.

To address the question, “Do blogs allow for greater democracy in Singapore?”
Habermas develops the normative notion of the public sphere as a part of social life where citizens can exchange views on matters of importance to the common good, so that public opinion can be formed. This public sphere comes into being when people gather to discuss issues of political concern. (Thornton, 2002)

In Singapore, there is the much talked about “climate of fear” that the government can clamp down anytime. There have actually been very few instances of arbitrary clamping down yet the fear persists and thus, a lot of people in Singapore, including bloggers, self-censor to some extent. With the passage of time, there is increasing confidence that freedom of speech on the Internet is pretty wide.

Positive developments in the new media are expected to continue in 2007, barring any major government crackdown. As more Singaporeans from all backgrounds take to reading, writing and commenting on blogs, online forums, podcasts and vodcasts, the diversity of views on the Internet will also increase. (Giam, 2006) If you can’t beat them, join them. Which is exactly what the Singapore govenrment has done.

The architecture of political blogs allow a lone voice to seek out others and together, they make a unison so loud, Golliath cannot ignore it for long.

References:

Thornton, A. (2002, October). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 24, 2007 from <http://www.zip.com.au/~athornto/thesis_2002_alinta_thornton.doc>

Giam, Gerald (2006). "Review- The politics of Singapore's new media in 2006." Retrieved March 24, 2007 from <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006>

Qotw 7: Twit is In!

An online community is “a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet.” (Virtual community, 2007) Apart from that, different virtual communities have different levels of interaction and participation among their members. According to a survey done by Horrigan (2001), it was found that almost 90 million Americans have participated in online communities. This shows that online communities have found its way into our lives.

There are limitations to a real life community that an online one can surpass. Although lacking the physical characteristic, the structure of virtual communities allows for communication over vast distances. It also allows for people from different times zones to interact in an asynchronous nature. (Wellman & Gulia, 1996)

According to Rheingold, he believes that people in virtual communities interact for a myriad of reasons. They can engage in intellectual discussions, have arguments, share knowledge on various subjects, play games, conduct businesses, have idle chat, flirt. But, the only aspect that lacks from virtual communities is the absence of the physical characteristic in the interaction. (Fernback & Thompson, 1995)

Twitter was introduced in March 2005. “Twitter is a social networking service that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think. It allows users to send messages via phone or instant messaging. Two SMS gateway numbers are available - one for USA and one UK number for international use. Users can receive updates from other selected users via web, IM, or SMS” (“Twitter”, 2007).

Twitter’s main interface has a theme with the heading, “What are you doing?” Twitter users are able to hide behind a pseudonym as they post messages on what they are currently doing/reply to their friends’ messages. Messages on Twitter, however, are only allowed to be of 140 characters. This makes messages short and straight to the point. In general, people choose to sign up for Twitter using either their real names/pseudonyms. Furthermore, they are able to post short messages with regards to their current activities.

I believe Twitter is great for catching up with your friends especially over long distances. It provides an alternative to MSN or IRC due to the real time interaction. Moreover, with the tagline “What are you doing?” gives a blogging-like vibe to it. As we have learnt, blogging can act as a mean to document your life. Only Twitter condenses this to bite sized information limited to 140 characters instead.

Despite initial differences on the surface, I would still consider Twitter as an online community as it allows interaction among strangers and friends. Rheingold defines virtual communities as “social aggregations” that “emerge from the Internet when enough people sustain public discussions long enough to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace. (Fernback & Thompson, 1995).

Regardless if Twitter serves to bring communities together or to separate smaller communities from larger ones, I believe that Twitter still constitutes an online community. Twitter is like an online community where each of its functions resembles that of other existing online communities. Communication is a key factor in building a community, and Twitter's main function is for friends to communicate with one another. Relationships are subsequently strengthened and fostered through this communication, and thus, an online community is formed.

References:

Fernback, J, & Thompson, B (1995). Virtual Communities:Abort, Retry, Failure?. Retrieved March 17, 2007 from <http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html>

Wellman, B, & Gulia, M (1996). Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone:Virtual Communities as Communities. Retrieved March 17, 2007 from <http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html>

Virtual Community. (2007). Virtual Community. In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March 17, 2007 from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities>

Twitter. (2007). Twitter. In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved March17, 2007 from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter>

Bonus Mission #1: Excuse me officer, you're in my way

Every once in a while, a bright spark in the local entertainment promotions conjures up the magnificent idea of bringing down a favourite band of mine to grace our humble Singaporean shores. Of course, I understand that getting an international act perform here is no walk in the park. Logistics, ticket sales, bands availability are just a few of the gazillion factors that need to be taken into consideration.

However, after witnessing a handful of concerts in the past couple of years, I have come to the conclusion that protecting the band is numero uno. Not only do security comes in part of the bands entourage, the country they are playing in needs to beef up the security coverage; from the starched blue police officers at the airport to the hefty moustached fellas at the concert venue itself. The main idea here is to secure the proximics of the band members from any oncoming threats. (read: overzealous crazed female fans)

I have seen one too many females get manhandled by these officers. Yes, giddy fanaticism plus raging hormones can equate to animal-like strength. Obviously security officers have been subject to plenty of physical abuse. Call it the work hazards but then again, muscles are job requirements in this line.



The Who: Alexander Kapranos, lead vocals of Franz Ferdinand
The What: Autograph signing after concert
The When: 16th February 2006
The Where: Outskirts of Singapore Indoor Stadium

The Why?

As you can see, I have garnered the full attention of the moustached fella’s attention. Although his muscles are questionable, his company’ name printed on the back of his shirt is not. As it is not a video, I will provide an insight to this freeze frame snapshot. Simply put, he was instructing me to quit taking pictures. What irony. Considering the multitude of flashes that was going off, my camera was solely pointed out as the main offender.

Sousveillance is such a new word that my Microsoft Word does not acknowledge the term. But in actuality, sousveillance is merely the opposite of surveillance. It denotes bringing the camera down to human level in which ordinary people are doing the watching. One of the things that brought inverse surveillance to light was the reactions of security guards to electric seeing aids and similar sousveillance practices. It seemed, early on, that the more cameras that were in an establishment, the more the guards disliked the use of an electric seeing aid by the public. It was through simply wearing electric seeing aids, as a passive observer, that it was discovered that surveillance and sousveillance can cause conflict and sometimes confrontation. (“Wikipedia” 2007)

So we have gathered thus far that security folks and electric seeing aids like digital cameras and mobile phones do not go well together. I understand that these people are merely carrying out a job duty but what escapes me is the simple fact why they allow certain people to get away with it but clamp down on those few that they manage to get.

This happened again during the John Legend gig that took place in January this year. I was seated in the upper levels of the theatre where ushers were apparently so free; they shine a blinding torch your way should they even glimpse a digital camera in your hand. Yet the sea of concert goers on ground level got away scot free. I suppose paying 30 to 50 dollars more entitles you to such practices.


References:

Sousveillance. (2007, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 10, 2007 from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance>