The ability to share information with others globally has become possible for almost any every day Joe Blogs because of the internet being a “dialogic” media platform. Practiclly anything can be uploaded, shared, commented on by anyone anywhere. Take me for example, I didn’t even have a blog or know how to use one before starting the BCM112 course at Uni, and look at me now! Boring all you prosumers to death with all my insightful (not) posts! Or even youtube sensation Jenna Mourey’s inspirational weekly posts on life and landsharks (warning there’s a lot of explicit content, highlighting the fact that there’s little or no filter for most content on the internet)
My point is, almost anything can be shared via the internet due to the weakness of “gatekeepers” the controllers of media sharing, or lack there of and there are no filters to the content an individual wishes to share with the world and zero entry cost, its entirely free! It could also be said that the more you post online, say through social media websites or forums, the more you want to keep posting; it becomes addictive to some extent because the user has no limitations. Sounds pretty awesome, right?
The Internet Gatekeeper…
But in this unlimited cyberspace there comes some negatives and downfalls because as I said earlier, there’s no filter or limit to what an individual can say, which leaves some leeway for idiots to post annoying and even offensive material. And this open network of users and sharers makes us question, just what sources are reliable and trustworthy when anyone can share their opinion? What’s the real and true source of information that we’re looking for? Take Wikipedia for example, it is an online database where many authors who know very little publish articles; anyone can post and article on a topic they know some information or edit another author’s article. Seems a bit dodgy, yeah? So when we take a step back we actually realize that there needs to be some level of control over what we are able to say and share in order to maintain quality control and have the peace of mind that when researching a topic, the sources that you access are all accurate.
Don’t be fooled!
In Janey Gordon’s article on mobile phones, she rightly points out their increasing involvement in sharing recent or even breaking news events such as natural disasters and medical epidemics. She suggests that mobile phones have become one of the top sharing devices for said information as they provide an eyewitnesses view directly from the source of news, giving a perspective that differs from that of a news reporter or newspaper article which has been published some time after the event, and mobile phone users are able to do this when capturing visual and aural material by avoiding any censorship surrounding the event that might not be captured by news teams. She concludes that the usage and distribution of events captured on mobile phone devices globally could greatly benefit the general public during a breaking news story.
So next time you plan on sharing something via an online platform, take a moment to think about whether what you’re posting is accurate and write for the appropriate audience, because you never know who could be reading your article or watching your video or even reading your blog post (that’s a scary thought considering the past 7 blog posts i’ve published…) Over and out!
Aiyana Levin 
Love the video!! Very relevant, especially what Jenna says at the end! Keep up the good writing!
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