The Newest Produser

        As I have had the opportunity to use many different tools on the internet such as Storify, YouTube, Wikipedia, blogs, and podcasts I feel that I have broaden my horizons on the new forms of journalism and have now enabled me to be an active participant in the online world. I have become more inclined to become a produser. I have learnt many new ways of interacting on the web and feel that these experiences will now enable me to be an active participant in uploading my views online.  In the article written by Bird “Are We All Producers Now” he talks about the new forms of produsage. “Key examples for such produsage can be seen in the collaborative development of open source software, the distributed multi-user spaces of the Wikipedia, or the user-led innovation and content production in multi-user online games’ more explicitly equated ‘produsage’ with fan activity, as fans were able not only to communicate amongst themselves about media but also to participate in the creation of digital content, problematizing further the notion of the audience” (Bird, 2011). What he is explaining, is that with web 2.0 we are more inclined to be producers and users of information and knowledge.

            I believe Bird’s statement is accurate with these new forms of journalism we are now able to upload and download information. We as individuals find it hard to put an exact number on the amount of time we spend on the computer because so much of our daily lives revolve around it. “1% of the members of a web community upload material, but no more than 10% of the users comment on or modify that content, and upwards of 90% of the community remains content to download without uploading“ (Lunenfeld, 2007). As we can see many individuals are not active participants in the online world of journalism, this could be due to many reasons as they feel there comments might be judge or that what they say may be impinging on copyright laws if there statement is someone else`s idea. Downloading information is much easier then uploading content. “The demand to participate can become coercive, exhausting the very collective faculties it officially celebrates. While interactivity can be imagined as the “like” or “retweet,” it also encompasses the “agree to terms” button” (Stern, 2012). As stated in this article individuals find the action of getting involved in the online world to be very tiring, and can cause them extra stress to be aware of what is happening in the world around them and on online networks. I to can see where there is added pressure to be constantly interacting with friends and family and acknowledging that you have seen their tweet or read their Facebook message. With these new forms of interacting we can become prisoners of our own devices and forget the world around us.

            There is also the fear of the internet becoming overloaded with information that is false or misleading or the internet becoming infected by a virus and then it becoming obsolete.”These are the intermingled fear of the omnipotence, like the murderous artificial intelligence named HAL from Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001, and the utter helplessness of technological overdependence that manifested themselves in the panic about the Y2K virus at the turn of theMillennium” (Lunefeld, 2007). This quote is explaining that as a society we heavily rely on the internet, and as it becomes more advanced and becomes more knowledgeable the more it may become a robot and take over the world. The internet contains lots of information that confidential as well as public and with information comes power and by putting all of our knowledge into one source the opportunities of something catastrophic happening to the World Wide Web are endless.

            There are many limitations to the fact that we are all produsage of the internet. Some limitations are that the information we may read on blogs or on other web pages could be people’s opinions and should not be consider truth or fact. There is the issue with copyright infringement, much of what we read online is a remix of others intellectual property and this then becomes a debate of where to draw the line between individuals own ideas and valid remix`s of their ideas. The question that we must ask our self is how to mitigate this problem; I believe that for sites that are relied on for valid information should all be sourced with scientific articles and have a symbol on them to say that they are verified sites, something very similar to twitter accounts verification. The government could get involved with intellectual property rights and have internal controls in place to detect when media such as music and media are being uploaded onto the sites that have not been verified. They can put some sort of code into the media therefore if it is uploaded to an illegal site it will notify authorities and they can then be aware of this illegal site and then kibosh the site. These are just a couple ideas of how we can limit the risk of produsage information.

1. Bird, S. E. (2011). ARE WE ALL PRODUSERS NOW? Cultural Studies. 25 (4-5), pp. 502-516
2. Lunenfeld, P. (2007). History as Remix: How the Computer Became a Culture Machine. Rue Descartes no. 55: Philosophies entoilées. Online [PDF]
3. Sterne, J. (2012). What if Interactivity is the New Passivity? FlowTV. 15.10. Online

Picture:

http://produsage.org/files/produsage/produser.png

The Changing World of Journalism

1) What new opportunities for citizen journalism and/or social activism are afforded by social media?

2) Does the emergence of of these new opportunities encourage you to participate more directly in citizen journalism and/or social activism or not?

Journalism and social activism have changed greatly due to the new forms of reporting the news. Only a few years ago were you only able to find out information about national and international news on the television three times a day and through the daily news paper. Today with the emergence of so many social media networks we are able to constantly be connected with the current events of today. As we can see that this new form of media allows us to be in constant communication, ‘‘from the moment 24/7 digital news was introduced the process of verification the beating heart of credible journalism in the public interest has been under challenge” (Hermida, 2012). The large issue with this new form of reporting is the creditability of the information being issued. As most news rooms and news stations all of social media accounts they are able to issue up to the minute news on stories as they happen. “News organizations are developing new online storytelling methods to take account of the real-time flow of news and information on social networks, particularly in the coverage of breaking news events” (Hermida, 2012). Which as individuals with Smartphone’s and access to the internet this new form of reporting is away to reach the customer in more timely basis, and allows for more publications.
This also allows the rest of society to report on stories that are happening in their own neighbourhoods, the problem with all these sources of journalism is that it can be hard to sort through fictitious information. ‘‘A view within the mainstream media that audiences have lower expectations of accuracy and verification from journalists’ and media outlets’ social media accounts than they do of ‘appointment TV’ or the printed page” (Hermida, 2012). As we can see the viewer of blogs and social media are skeptical of the information they read because all of proclamations may not be creditable. This then de-values the creditworthiness of news stations because of the new way they are delivering the message and because when trying to compete with other news stations they may issue a message before having 100% verification on the news broadcast. As a society we believe appointment TV or printed news paper because of many years of creditability they have provided to our society. These publications also take many hours to produce and publish giving them more verification. As mentioned above this new form of journalism offers many new opportunities for all journalists. It allows for faster more up to date information and also allows all individuals to let out their inner journalist. This new form of journalism and social activism does intrigue me to be more active in the world of social media and does encourage me to be a more active participant in current events. I am currently a member of twitter, facebook and instagram and as these networks grow I become more involved with the being a journalist and writing about my personal life as well as my community involvement. I use social media networks to get awareness out about charities I am involved with and to promote events that the foundation is holding and how individuals can get involved. As we can see these social media networks have been a great source advertisement for news stations to get awareness out about their business but are also a good way for promoting within your network. With social media, journalism is contemplating new literacies that ‘‘integrate written, oral and audiovisual modalities of interactive human communication within screen-based and networked electronic systems’’ (Hermida, 2012). After using Storify to produce a issue that had resonance with me I was able to see how these new social media sites have made it much easier for journalists to post stories about current events in the news. Storify would be considered one of these new literacies that now allows us to intergrate different types of communication. Storify’s interface was very easy to use and was a great way to incorporate all forms of popular social media sites and allow you to comment on the posts and create a interesting story that flows. It allows you to not only write about a story but also allows you to incorporate videos and other news articles to give your blog more references and accreditation. In conclusion I would highly recommend this site to any aspiring journalists who want to use social media to captivate their audience.

Hermida , A. (2012). Journalism practive . Tweets and Truth: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification, 6(5-6), 659-668.

http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEyLzEyLzA0L2EwL2hvd3NvY2lhbG1lLmVmSy5qcGcKcAl0aHVtYgk5NTB4NTM0IwplCWpwZw/67047957/a37/how-social-media-s-short-news-cycle-can-precipitate-bad-journalism-aae4768459.jpg

Copyright Legislation Is downloaded content Illegal

I have quoted the book Deviant Behaviour and the article Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line, by K. Steinmetz and K. Tunnell.

 Pirates are a relatively heterogeneous group with differing tastes, interests, nationalities, and, important to us, motivations. There likely are numerous reasons to engage in piracy. But, because of pirates’ attitudes about private property, most of the motivations we discovered have a common thematic underpinning—finances=economy. We identified four motivations for engaging in piracy, namely, (1) to share culture=content, (2) to sample, (3) the inability to afford content and (4) to undermine the current copyright regime.

I have used this passage because I wanted to comment on why individuals defy copyright laws and how they rationalize what they are doing. I wanted to also see if my views on the legislation was inline with other individuals views.  I also wanted to see what the results were for the study and what the study thought should be done about privacy and intellectual property rights. My views were very similar to the focus groups views and I found the study to be very informing.

Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013). Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates. Deviant Behavior. 34 (1), pg. 53-67

Copyright Laws

How can online communities of “producer-consumers” literate in new media work toward building a robust and freely accessible cultural commons in the face of restrictive copyright laws?

 

The internet is an online world where people come together to be social, entertained or find out information. This new world facilitates the free market economy, but is the information on the internet really free? Kirby Furgeson’s video “Everything is a Remix” shows us that everything we view from movies, music and information has been copied. Therefore how can copyright laws be in place if all the information we view has been copied by someone else. We as producer-consumers are no worse than Paramount Pictures for copying their movies and putting them online for external users. If the content of their movies has been copied aren’t we all in the wrong for violating copyright laws. As implied from one of my classmates http://lexxy54.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/is-copying-really-bad/     “It has made copying much more effective in a way that you are just one to two clicks away from using someone else’s work as yours.” As this blog states it is easy to take other peoples work and call it your own.

You Tube has come up with rules and regulations to stay out of the legal eye. You Tube had been in violation of copyright laws; producers were posting information on the site without referencing and gaining the proper rights to upload music and movies. “The fact that clips on YouTube are limited to a duration of ten minutes adds a further complication. While long form programs such as television series can be uploaded in short segments, the upload constraint disrupts narrative continuity”(Rizzo). These new policies have created a friendly environment for online users to share and post media content.

When reading http://ak09dr.wordpress.com/?feed=rss2 blog they had a great opening sentence “the online database of information is mind boggling” is a very literal sentence. This made me realize the current issue we face with trying to build an online media system that is not restricted to copyright laws. It is nearly impossible for all content on the internet to be free from laws but it is also impossible for all the content online to be restricted from users. The problem with restrictions is that once one person is able to access the information they can  make minor changes then upload that content and stream it live for all online users. This creates many issues for enforcing these laws. Due to the issue with enforcing the laws it allows for much of the online content to be free for all users.

Due to the fact that we are in a producer-consumer industry many individuals believe we need to put in place rules and regulations for copyright because millions of people everyday access the internet and use the information and upload new information. “According to 2007 statistics, only between 0.5 %– 1.5 % users of most popular social media sites (Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia) contributed their own content” ( Manovich, 2008). These statistics show us that it is not common for users of the internet to contribute their own content. As consumers we demand more information from the corporate level but have no real interest in posting our own information because we are unaware of what will happen to this information. When reading http://christiansblog91.wordpress.com/feed  blog they informed me that big corporate industries such as Face Book and Twitter take our personal information that we have posted and sell the content to marketing companies. The information they gather is helpful in targeting their target market. Many companies have used the information to better understand what the consumer wants which has now increased the idea of design your own product. “Scion marketing was centered on the idea of extensive customization. Nike, Adidas, and Puma all experimented with allowing the consumers to design and order their own shoes by choosing from a broad range of shoe parts” (Manovich, 2008). Manovich is stating that by being able to know what the consumer wants allows companies to better market their products directly to consumers.  Allowing customers design their own products can cause copyright issues, what if two customers make the same shoe or if they copy a design from another website. All of our ideas are a remix of another product we use our imaginations to vary a product to state that can no longer be considered a copy.

Therefore from reading many articles, watching YouTube clips and reading blogs we can see that most of the content on the internet is a copy of someone else’s work. Since there are variations in the posted work people are able to call it their own, this is why most of the information online does not infringe on copyright laws.

Image one is from iplawforstartups.com

Manovich, l. (2008) The Practice of Everyday (Media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural Production?

Rizzo, T. YouTube: the New Cinema of Attractions SCAN | journal of media arts culture. Vol 5, No. 1, Online journal.

Consumer or Contributor to the online world

In the past year I have used the internet everyday for many hours, the internet is a tool that helps me to better perform many tasks. I go on the internet to shop, do homework, work, watch TV and listen to music. The internet consumes much of my daily life. “To incorporate music, theater, animation, recording, radio, TV, architecture, software design, toys, books, heritage, tourism, advertising, fashion, crafts, photography and cinema as portions of gross domestic product” ( Miller, 2004).  Therefore we are able to see that the online world has become a creative avenue of our lives and we are all consumers of the internet. I am a large consumer of the internet, by watching television shows and listening to music, but I am not a producer or a contributor to the online world. The World Wide Web is a very powerful source of social media, and to produce content to go out into cyberspace can be fearsome. Once the content is in cyberspace you can never retrieve all of the links back and delete that information. “Mainstream reporters increasingly scan blogs in search of leads for stories that will then be reported more widely through broadcast media” (Jenkins, 2004). As stated many online sources are frequently searched to find the next controversy or news story, which is then professionally publicized for all to see.  This inhibits me from posting content onto the World Wide Web because it becomes pubic to the entire world. I feel consuming content on the web allows me to do things more efficiently and effectively and is a powerful resource I should contribute to. I believe as consumers we should all help to make the internet a more powerful source of media by contributing our knowledge and expertise. Without the contributors of free information there would be no such thing as the internet.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_8348381_laptop-connected-to-the-world-wide-web.html

Jenkins, H. (2004) The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence International Journal of Cultural Studies March 2004 7: 33-43

Miller, T. (2004) A view from a fossil. International Journal Of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 55-65.

Compelled to use mobile communication

As an individual growing up in the 21 century I feel compelled to communicate constantly, but I don’t. Many would say I am hindering my own opportunities and not using all my easily accessible resources. Growing up in the information age, computers, laptops, telephones and cell phones have always been accessible to me but I have never been one to have the newest and latest technology. I have recently purchased one of the newest Smartphone’s but find it consumes much of my time, I enjoy all the apps and simplicity of it but I become consumed with it. As http://chadgaleblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/iphone-5-6-%e2%88%9e/ mentions, “…iphone is a tool to allow people to essentially control their everyday lives”. The iphone and all other Smartphone’s do control our day to day activities but at times become over whelming and make us want to throw out the device. These little devices that are an extension of us would be very hard to live without (Campbell & Park, 2008).

 As a young adult I am compelled to use technology as a way of communication through texting and social networking.  “Adolescents and young adults are known for their distinctive uses of the mobile phone to establish, maintain, demonstrate, and reinforce social network ties”(Campbell & Park, 2008). Technology allows you to be connected and stay in the loop with social activities as well as school activities. As adolescents we have quickly learnt that technology can be one of your best resources when studying or doing assignments, with the help of peers you can efficiently and effectively cut studying time in half. As mentioned in http://katiebenedict13comm2f00.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/the-virtual-university/ blog being able to communicate with your peers through technology and in person is very important to enhance individual’s education. This compels me to be more active in using technolog to better my educational experience.

            I feel obligated to have social networking applications on my smartphone to update my friend’s family and peers about my day to day activities, by tweeting about my everyday life, or posting pictures on instagram, or updating my status on facebook. I do not use these apps on my phone very often but have them because I feel forced to use them to stay in the loop with my friends. Applications on smartphones have become very sophisticated and have made many daily activities much easier.

“An app can make it possible to imagine and do things with a mobile phone that were previously never associated with the technology. A definitive list would be very long indeed, but apps discussed in the scholarly literature that take the mobile device well beyond its former identity as a phone include: travel apps; virtual stethoscope; bowling ball; meditation device; brain training game; seismic sensors; library discovery tool; obesity prevention; tools for surgeons; steganography (hiding data within data); data interdiction by law enforcement; and many others. Some apps clearly have their provenance in other media forms” (Goggin, 2011).

Showing us that Smartphone’s can be so much more than just a telephone, they are personal computers, which can aid you in your everyday life. As http://raymondsg.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/the-advancement-of-handheld-devices/ mentions a cell phone such as the iPhone provides plenty of other features. These features can put simplicity into your busy life forcing you to be on your phone, so you can use it to its full potential.

As individuals you also feel forced to choose a certain commercial brand of phone. If you choose the iPhone you then feel compelled to buy all Apple products because they have made their brand exclusive. By buying their products you are now able to be a part of icloud and hook all your devices together so they work simultaneously with each other. Apple products are only capable with the Apple app store which marries consumers to the Apple store. As a consumer you feel compelled to have the latest and coolest technology but by purchasing into Apple merchandise you are being monopolized into all of Apples products.  “Apple seeks to bind consumers to its handset (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch); which to do basic things such as purchase and upload software or digital media (music) must be used in conjunction with its digital management and rights system (iTunes); which in turn only offers software—‘apps’—approved by Apple, or otherwise these cannot be distributed via the apps store” (Goggin, 2011). As stated in the article Apple has the latest technology and has revolutionized the phone but it has come at a hefty price for consumers.

With personal computers at our finger tips we feel compelled to not only communicate with friends and family but we must always be available for those at work, school and others who may need our assistance. I do not like to constantly be on my phone communicating, I would much rather have personal interaction but as a young adult I feel compelled  to have the latest a technology ,the most recently developed apps and the newest phones allowing me to be in the know with the newest forms of communication and development of information age.

References:

Campbell , S. W., & Park, Y. J. (2008). Social implications of mobile telephony. The Rise of Personal Communication Society, 2(2), 371-387. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/doi/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00080.x/pdf

Goggin, G. (2011). Ubiquitous apps: politics of openness in global mobile cultures. Digital Creativity, 22(3), 148-159

Mobile Communication

Mobile communication has enabled society to be in constant communication and allow all individuals to be informed of the national news. As people in today’s society it is socially unacceptable not to be reachable in some form. Mobile communication is a product of today, and if you want to be accepted by peers and co-works you must have some form of mobile communication. This adoption of technology is not just for adults; school children must also carry a mobile phone to communicate with their peers otherwise they will be ostracized. Children of today have adapted to a new form of social communication called social media. They no longer converse the conventional way they use many new forms of communication, the internet and mobile devices. Children of today use this connected mode of communication; it is compared to the traditional teen practices of passing notes (Campbell & Park, 2008). The connected mode is frequent but brief voice calls and text messaging. The content of the messages is not substantial but the form of communication in the development of teens is crucial for social learning experiences.  It is no longer acceptable to just own a house hold computer, all family members are required to have a means of communication on their person. Constant communication in the form of mobile internet (WAP) has enabled our generation and has made life easier. The iphone was one of the first mobile devices to offer the World Wide Web on your phone and introduced 3G network, this has changed society (Goggin, 2009). Having the internet at the palm of our hands has made everyday tasks faster and simpler. Furthermore it has made an acceptable turnaround response on communication less the 24 hours. Mobile communication has helped us in so many ways to progress and become a technology driven nation, but it has also constrained us from privacy and individuality. We no longer have weekends off from school, work, peers, and co-works, with our mobile devices we are in constant communication and are required to respond immediately. Facebook, BBM and emails have a read receipt option showing the sender the date and time the message was delivered and read by the receiver. This option has obligated the receiver immediately respond once the message has been opened. This option gives the receiver no privacy to read the email and get back to the recipient at a later date. In today’s society we know longer have independence we feel lost and inadequate without mobile technology. Mobile technology helps users make many daily decisions from, reading the weather to determine what to wear to making business informed decisions by watching the stock exchange. It also isn’t enough to just have mobile internet users feel the need to have the newest iphones. It becomes a frenzy when a new phone is launched into the market. Moreover showing that as individuals we are controlled by technology and as much as it has assisted society in developing it has constrained us to be prisoners of our own mobile devices.

Articles:

Campbell , S. W., & Park, Y. J. (2008). Social implications of mobile telephony. The Rise of Personal Communication Society, 2(2), 371-387. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/doi/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00080.x/pdf

 Goggin, G. (2009). Continuum: Journal of media and cultural studies. Adapting the mobile phone: The iphone and its consumption, 23(2), 231-244. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/doi/pdf/10.1080/10304310802710546

Information Age

Living in the information age means that the world around us is adapting to the use of technology in all aspects of everyday life. Technology has created new opportunities for employment but has also impacted many levels of the job hierarchy. Rob Mansell talks about the change in employment in his article “The Life and Time of the Information Society” he talks about how the definition of employment has also changed significantly in the information age. We are now able to work from home, communicate with others across the world and be employed in other countries. This has been very beneficial for the growth of business and individuals but it has decreased job security. Many companies are now hiring only on subcontract, temporary employment or part time work, causing instability in the labor force. This can be unsettling for many employers who rely on a steady income to support them self and family members. After reading Davcity’s blog ( http://davcitylogblog.blogspot.ca/2012/11/what-does-it-mean-to-say-we-live-in.html#!/2012/11/what-does-it-mean-to-say-we-live-in.html )he to talks about the changes in employment. He has looked at how technology has now automated most process and increased productivity in many cases. He says that this has lead to job losses but I believe we can look at both sides of the argument. It has lead to job losses in some industries but has also created many more jobs in the technology sector. This has ultimately proved that the information age has changed many job descriptions and has created uncertainty in employment.

In the article “The Virtual University” by Kevin Robins and Frank Webster they explain how the Information age has also impacted the way universities are being governed, before they were viewed as the ivory towers but are now adapting to what the consumer wants (us, the people). We have all become accustomed to the use of technology in our everyday lives we are now asking the universities to adjust and incorporate the use of technology into our learning. This can be viewed as progression due to the fact the customer is looking for convenience and flexibility or as a diminishing quality and value of our education. We are unable to tell what the effects of new information age education has on the ability of learning but do have decades of understanding on the conventional way of learning and how it has cultured our world.

Technology has affected the political world with globalization, we are now able to communicate with other countries and political figures in these countries helping to set universal and international laws to guide all countries to a certain standard. In the past the process of communicating with other governments was a much slower process and was much harder to get laws and standards into place. The politics of all countries are now internationally displayed were before we were only able to hear about them on the television or the radio giving us a one sided view. Now with the advancements in technology we are able to get the worlds views on political systems, which has helped give the people control over politics and other countries allowing them to create there on views and get involved. There will never be a government for the entire world but with technology we are now able to communicate better with other countries then we were in the past and this has helped avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. Information communication technology as stated above has a large control on our everyday lives and is changing the way we learn, work and how we view politics. We are not satisfied with conventional way anymore we are now incorporating technology into all aspects of our lives. It is taking control of us and there is no way to get away from it. We are always connected through smart phones or computers giving us no release from our duties which is ultimately controlling us and the world around us. The statement “the world never sleeps” has been proven with the use of technology. We have adapted these tools to our everyday lives which then gives us the power to use this advancement how feel.

Technology is taking over

To me information age means the adapting of technology into my everyday life. Technology is everywhere and is no longer just something I use in my free time. I am required to use technology at school and work; it has been incorporated into everything I do. There are no longer any parts of life where you are not required to use some aspect of technology. The government system has been greatly affected by technology and I think it is for the best. With globalization we are now able to stay in communication internationally, allowing us to better understand the countries and be able to set rules and standards to create neutrality between all countries. Technology has affected how politicians communicate their platforms and who this information is targeted at. Politicians are now able to segment the country and concentrate on specific groups of people. This will ultimately generate better polls for the politicans giving these politicians the control over technology. Technology has not just affected the country in election year but the information has reached all countries allowing them to have a say and potentially affect the vote. As stated above information communication technology has control over everything we do from getting an education, going to work or voting for a politician. Technology controls our everyday life but also gives us the power to be connected to our duties even when we are at home.  Therefore we have a trade off between technology controlling us but also giving us the power to also be connected.

Everyday life technology

To me information age means the adapting of technology into my everyday life. Technology is everywhere and is no longer just something I use in my free time. I am required to use technology at school and work; it has been incorporated into everything I do. There are no longer any parts of life where you are not required to use some aspect of technology. The government system has been greatly affected by technology and I think it is for the best. With globalization we are now able to stay in communication internationally, allowing us to better understand the countries and be able to set rules and standards to create neutrality between all countries. Technology has affected how politicians communicate their platforms and who this information is targeted at. Politicians are now able to segment the country and concentrate on specific groups of people. This will ultimately generate better polls for the politicans giving these politicians the control over technology. Technology has not just affected the country in election year but the information has reached all countries allowing them to have a say and potentially affect the vote. As stated above information communication technology has control over everything we do from getting an education, going to work or voting for a politician. Technology controls our everyday life but also gives us the power to be connected to our duties even when we are at home.  Therefore we have a trade off between technology controlling us but also giving us the power to also be connected.