Mini-Project Post #3

In Cairncross', "The Trendspotter's Guide to New Communication,"he mentions many different ways in which he believed the future modern world would operate under new communicative technology. He thought that due to the widespread use of the internet throughout the world, people would start connecting with each other through similar interests instead of through proximity which he termed "Communities of Practice." For so long in history, people have connected together because of how close they lived to one another. There are so many different unique cultures in the world that emerged because people grew up in the same area and therefore developed similar interests and experiences. However, now that there is a technology that allows anyone from anywhere in the world to communicate, people can form communities based on their own unique experiences. Lawrence J. Kirmayer, Eugene Raikhel, and Sadeq Rahimi are all authors who wrote an article about how the internet has affected communities and they claim that, "[t]he networking afforded by the Internet is forging new social processes and new types of community founded on common interests and emerging identities, leading some to speak of a new tribalism" (172). They are stating that the internet has allowed people to network with others who share similar interests and values with them which creates new identities for communities. Throughout history, community typically meant people all dwelling within the same area; however, now through the internet communities no longer are held within the definition of proximity. Especially through the use of social media and blogs, people can find others who share the same interests, like hobbies or entertainment, and those people are connecting with others like them and creating little communities. For example, if someone loved the movie series Harry Potter, they could create a blog dedicated to their passion for the series. Other fans of Harry Potter could see that blog and decide to join because they want to connect with another devoted Harry Potter fan. Eventually that blog has the potential to garner thousands of other Harry Potter fans from across the globe. They can all communicate with each other through the blog and can even decide to meet up together for a movie premier or another Harry Potter event. What makes them a community is the fellowship they share for their interest in Harry Potter. Although people have always had their own individual characteristics and interests, before the internet they were never afforded the opportunity to connect with other people who shared their likeness. Therefore, I believe that Cairncross was right about future "Communities of Practice," because now there thousands of communities on the internet that hold people from many different countries across the world. 

References

Kirmayer, L. J., Raikhel, E., & Rahimi, S. (2013). Cultures of the Internet: Identity, community and mental health. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50(2), 165-191. doi:10.1177/1363461513490626

Cairncross proposes another element that he believes affects our society now. He states that there will be a shift from government policing to self-policing in the digital world. He thinks that there will be to much information on the web and too many people posting in order for the government to regulate content and therefore people will have to police themselves and others to keep the internet aligned with American morals and laws. I believe that Cairncross was accurate in his prediction that government policing would become impossible on the internet, and I also think he was correct in identifying that our society would start regulating our own content. One of the ways in which I think we have started to police ourselves is through social pressure and norms. With the emergence of social media and comment sections of blog posts and articles, authors of content are now held accountable for what they post and write. If someone is writing an offensive article or posting an obscene video online, other people can view it, share it, and then publicly bash him online. Daniel Villatoro, an author of an article that examines self-policing states that, "on the contrary to institutional rules, the responsibility to enforce social norms is not the task of a central authority but a task of each member of the society"(Villatoro255). He is stating that social norms are not enforced by the government, but instead by each member of society, especially online. We are beginning to self-police are selves and others on the internet because we have transferred social norms into the digital world. Although the government cannot provide regulation of all web content, I think that self-policing through social pressure does a good job of regulating the obscene and offensive content online.

When assessing Cairncross's "Trendspotter's Guide" in comparison to the two web content genres I chose, I realized that he was correct in a lot of his predictions. I first compared the entertainment genre today to his idea of the,"Increased value of brand." He predicted that products and personalities would become even more popular and that they would increase greatly in value without changing the cost of producing or promoting them. I think in many ways he was correct because of whats happened with the emergence of social media. Nowadays people treat their personal social media accounts like they are brands. Everyone wants to gain likes and followers so they can get interest from sponsors. Entertainers are especially good at gaining sponsorship and with all the money they receive from doing promotional work, their personality is now seen as a lucrative brand. It is amazing to witness how some people who are not traditional entertainers, such as singers or actors, have gathered a large following and are now seen as celebrities. Social media has allowed ordinary people to gain extraordinary attention and the following and support they get from their follows enables them to be seen as valuable to other brands. Some celebrities who have started out with a low following have been able to increase their celebrity value and status through social media. A perfect example of how Cairncross's idea of,"Increased value of brand," has played out in modern times is the rise and popularity of the Kardashians. The family first started out on reality television and were only famous for their step father who is a gold medalist from the 1977 Olympics. However, through social media, the entire family was able to elevate their celebrity status by sharing so much of their lives that people felt like they knew them and wanted to follow them. Now each family member is invited to the most upscale and luxurious celebrity events. They wear the highest fashion and are constantly paid by brands to sponsor their products.

Above is a picture from Khloe Kardashian's Instagram account where she mentions the brand of a protein drink in a very obviously sponsored post. Every Kardashian sister has posts that feature sponsorships and they get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do them. Their social media brand is what has caused them to become ultra rich and ultra famous. Therefore, Cairncross was very accurate in his assumption that the entertainment business would become the most lucrative individual activity. 

I have decided to pick option 2 from mini-project 1 as my topic for mini-project 2. I have decided to pick entertainment and blog as my two genres of web content. I will be applying them to Caincross's "Trendspotter's Guide."