User talk:Ruaraidh98

=Welcome=

Hey! Welcome to my discussions page.

Feel free to start a conversation and engage in debate over various topics you come across on my page.

Thanks!

Ruaraidh98 (discuss • contribs) 14:45, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

=Online Screen Time=

Screens have become near unavoidable in the modern digital age, with relevant information and content of interest available across multiple platforms. Their purpose greatly outweighs the negatives, and despite the vast array of screens we see day to day, categorising them into different groups throws up several challenges as to how we define the most important screens we use in our every day lives. Obviously, the amount of screen time varies depending on specific age groups, personal needs such as work or academic study, and through leisure, but even if you take those elements away and factor in the screens we don’t realise are contributing to our total screen time, then that amount is still high and forever increasing as the world becomes much more technologically advanced. One study even goes on to suggest that children will have spent 17.6 years looking at screens by the age of 80 (Sigman, 2012), which is a worrying prospect given how technology is relying on screens more heavily in social settings.

The concept of being ‘Always-On’ relates to the theory that we as human individuals can never fully disconnect from screens and that almost every place we go to has some form of screen that connects us with information. Some of the examples of screens we might not realise we are connected to range from information boards in train stations, to menu notices at McDonald’s, to self checkouts in supermarkets. We are rarely fully able to disconnect ourselves from a screen as many day-to-day activities now rely on us using screen-based technologies. A journal looking at the use of screens for communication reads “The video capability of screens makes them very effective for demonstrating a new product or procedure” (Kelsen, 2013), and this reads every bit true, as there has become a strong reliance on such communications. The discussion of being always on is important to consider therefore, as it shows that when calculating an individual’s weekly screen time, it becomes near impossible to find an accurate answer as there as far too many examples of screens that people are failing to register as they are absentminded to them.



When studying the use of screen times, it is important to categorise screens by their purpose to help outline the differing hours in age groups and genders. For example, younger participants will use games consoles much more than working adults, but in contrast, their hours working in front of a laptop or a computer screen would be significantly higher. The introduction of smartphones and their over-reliance in society is another major culprit for most people in countries that have fully embraced modern technologies. The easiest method of categorising what screens we use the most is by looking at screens that are essential to a person’s day-to-day lifestyle, such as whether they use the television or an tablet device to watch various programmes, or whether their line of work relies on computers. That way, a fair assessment of screen time can be devised and a breakdown of age, gender and lifestyle categories can educate us on other factors of the use of screens.

Screen time will only increase as technology advances, and that has been clear for a number of years following the take-off of modern technology. There is evidence for its dominance in modern day life and it has only built potential to grow beyond its current state and become a more prevalent issue and a benefit for people in the decades to come. There is a case for group study to help learn about the group and get more of an idea about the effects screen time is having on society, but as long as it is executed properly, then it will be worth studying properly as it becomes a more prevalent issue in the modern digital society and in studying their trends and patterns to help diagnose how to handle matters surrounding screen time for individuals.

=Reference List=

Sigman, A., 201. Introduction. Time for a view on screen time, [Online]. 0/0, 1/ Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242222451_Time_for_a_view_on_screen_time [Accessed 11 October 2019].

Kelsen, K., 2013. Digital Signage as an Internal Communication Tool. Unleashing The Power Of Digital Signage, [Online]. 1, 10. Available at: https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2012-0-06168-7&isbn=9781136023866&format=googlePreviewPdf [Accessed 11 October 2019].

02:46, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

Instructor Feedback on Wiki Exercise 1

 * Posts of this standard roughly correspond to the following grade descriptor. Depending on where your actual mark is in relation to the making criteria as outlined in the relevant documentation, it should give you an idea of strengths and weaknesses within the achieved grade band overall:

Merit. Among other things, merit entries will make a clear point in a clear way. They will relate concepts to original examples in a straightforward fashion. They will make effective use of the possibilities of the form (including links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons). They may also demonstrate a broader understanding of the module's themes and concerns, and are likely to show evidence of reading and thinking about the subject material. The wiki markup formatting will be very clear.


 * This work is at the upper end of this grade band, but even so, little improvement will go a long way to attaining a higher mark. I think in order to engage with the wiki exercises a bit more, it might be useful for you to take a closer look at the assessment brief to get more of an idea of how to hit those targets.

Detail:
 * You make use of the wiki functionality and markup, and there’s plenty of evidence that you are trying things out and finding new ways to present material on the platform. Please do continue in this vein. At the moment, there formatting of the text is rather “blocky” (i.e. in rather lengthy chunks). I suspect that, as you become more familiar and proficient with the platform and markup techniques, you will start to find a more aesthetic, user-friendly approach, which will improve things.
 * A very well written, considered response to the brief. Some good pointers to reading which you use to support your argument.

General:
 * 'Reading and research': evidence of critical engagement with set materials; evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material. Merit.


 * 'Argument and analysis': well-articulated and well-supported argument; evidence of critical thinking (through taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, and supporting this position); evidence of relational thinking (through making connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, and supporting these connections); evidence of independent critical ability. Merit.


 * 'Presentation': good use of wiki markup and organisational skills. Merit.

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 12:07, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

=Annotated Bibliography Wiki Exercise=

Hobson, J. (2016). Are All the Women Still White?. [online] Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Y7ErDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA23&dq=social+media+movement+black+lives+matter&ots=nV8Crk38sw&sig=Ckhm_H8m0x7U7WNddeg9pVQtLwo#v=onepage&q=social%20media%20movement%20black%20lives%20matter&f=false [Accessed 28 Nov. 2019].

In Hobson’s book, the treatment of black people in society is brought under review following the protests during the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The aims of the book are to break down the social structures of how black females are treated, and see what modern technologies and separate studies are doing to help their cause. Their research methods rely heavily on the studies of social media campaigns and look at what improvements digital technologies can make.

Hobson primarily looks to decanter whiteness and incorporate gender studies into her research, and this study came in handy to my social movement case study on the #BlackLivesMatter campaign. The main limitation was the focus on one sole gender, but overall it gave me a much wider scope of material for my case study than anticipated. This article will be useful for studying racial and gender divides and the use of technology in the future.

Ruaraidh98 (discuss • contribs) 00:23, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

=Social Movement Case Study Wiki Exercise=

The Black Lives Matter movement took hold of social media following George Zimmerman’s acquittal of the murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida in the United States. Martin, a 17 year-old African-American male, was unarmed when Gate Community officer Zimmerman fatally shot the teenager dead [1], sparking the trend #BlackLivesMatter all across social media. With trend kick started on 13 July 2013, with the aim of raising awareness to the fact far too many black citizens were being unlawfully killed across the US due to Police brutality.

The protests spread quickly across the United States and escalated gradually, peaking in August 2014 in the town of Ferguson near St Louis, Missouri when violent rioting broke out against the Police in three separate waves. The first came in August 2014, the second following that autumn in November 2014, and the third followed up in August 2015. All three events were sparked by a similar event where black teen Michael Brown was shot dead by Police officer Darren Wilson, who like George Zimmerman, was also indicted of their crime [2].



In relation to Goodwin and Jasper’s study The Social Movements Reader (2015: 5), the concept that groups and individuals debate their own futures is very much true in the instance of the black lives matter movement, in which people were protesting for better treatment of black people. Thousands of people took to the streets across America to protest the rights of black people and their treatment by the Police, and the response on social media was astonishing, with millions throwing their opinions online and sharing stories of mistreatment and offence along with opinions and input from celebrity figures.

Marcia Mundt [3] studied the movement and analysed the movement and stated that despite social media’s benefits overpowering the risks, “careful management of online media platforms is necessary to mitigate concrete, physical risks that social media can create for activists”. Given the nature of the protests and how violent they turned, it poses many risks allowing activists this digital space to spread their message given the ease at which distressing content can spread.

However with that said, the message behind the black lives matter movement was seriously important given the way black people were being treated by Police, and the millions of posts showing the harsh reality of Police brutality in America caught the publics attention quickly and left a serious impression that helped put a change to the treatment of black people in America.



The creators of #BlackLivesMatter, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, state in the book ‘Are All The Women Still White?’ [4] that Black Lives Matter is an “ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.”. They later go on to state how by creating the hashtag and starting a movement, they were able to move from social media to the streets of America, which shows just how powerful a tool social media can become in provoking change if it becomes a large enough movement online.

Not only does their efforts in improving the quality of life for black people change the multiple dimensions of American society, but it paves way for other social media movements given it’s success such as the #MeToo movement following the rise in the number of women speaking up against sexual harassment. If these movements can provoke change from a simple hashtag on Twitter, then it can only expected that social media is to be continually used to prompt change in a way that catches the world’s attention in a heartbeat.

Ruaraidh98 (discuss • contribs) 00:44, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

=Collaborative Essay Critical Evaluation Wiki Exercise=

For the group discussion project, my team considered the themes surrounding the freedom of information, for which we looked as factors such as copyright, online privacy, and offence. This topic was interesting for me to study, as I have previously studied freedom of information in the context of journalism, therefore this opened up various pathways for me to take the group discussion given my extensive knowledge on the topic.

Having been given the freedom to write up our discussion on Wikibooks, the platform gave us the ability to work at any time of the day from any location, which was a huge freedom given the pressures some group activities can bring. Wikibooks is essentially a sharing commons for this style of work, where ideas and opinions can be posted online at any time for other users who can access the account to read and respond to. All the digital features Wikibooks provide online do bolster the collaboration aspect, as the ability for users to add images and other digital features make the collaboration as far more diverse aspect given the range of methods users can add to your work.

The sharing aspect gave us the option to provide content to each other that could then be incorporated into our own chapters of work, such as website links and journals referencing issues worth debating for our topic. As well as this, the collaborative research that could be done with other groups who were writing about similar concepts and themes was a huge plus for our group. The freedom of information aspect came up in several other topics, and being able to feed off other ideas as well as share them helped give our research a much more collaborative feel to it.

Timestamps on Wikibooks were a massive help to the group, as we were able to see what work was done and when it was uploaded to the page. This not only gave us an idea as to what our group were writing about, but also other users on the site who were commenting on our work, making Wikibooks feel much more communal than other sharing platforms. The added visibility of what other users were doing underneath our work or to add to our discussion did make people far more visible, and it’s a useful aspect to have given that you want to maintain control over your pages on Wikibooks.

I personally believe Wiki platforms do offer online emancipation because the aspect of freedom of speech reigns heavily on Wikibooks users who can share opinions and comments with the knowledge that they can safely share their reactions to posts online. The comfort for users that they can stay within the laws of the website and share their opinions with various other members on the website is one of the best elements of the page given that it is an educational platform that encourages the sharing of knowledge.

Ruaraidh98 (discuss • contribs) 00:25, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

=Wiki Exercise Reference List=

[1] En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Shooting of Trayvon Martin. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

[2] En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Shooting of Michael Brown. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

[3] Mundt, M. (2018). Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter - Marcia Mundt, Karen Ross, Charla M Burnett, 2018. [online] SAGE Journals. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118807911 [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

[4] Hobson, J. (2016). Are All the Women Still White?. [online] Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Y7ErDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA23&dq=social+media+movement+black+lives+matter&ots=nV8Crk38sw&sig=Ckhm_H8m0x7U7WNddeg9pVQtLwo#v=onepage&q=social%20media%20movement%20black%20lives%20matter&f=false [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019].

INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK: ESSAY DISCUSSION PAGE
Students should be engaging at least once a day, for the duration of the project. The following points illustrate how this engagement was evaluated.

Evidence from contribs to both editing and discussion of content (i.e. volume and breadth of editorial activity as evidenced through ‘contribs’). These are primarily considered for quality rather than quantity, but as a broad guideline:
 * Each item on a contribs list that are 1000+ characters are deemed “substantial”: none
 * Items on a contribs list that are <1000 characters are important, and are considered in the round when evaluating contribs as a whole because of their aggregate value: certainly not for the duration of the project, and not near the level, standard, nor quantity advised in the wikilabs. Only 4 contribs in total across the period of the project is not the expected standard here.
 * It is expected that you will make at least one contrib per day, for the duration of the project: the project assessment period lasted over three weeks, even most of the edits made on the essay page seemed to occur on the very last day - all in contravention of advice given in labs and briefs

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 13:03, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

Instructor Feedback on Wiki Exercise Portfolio
Posts of this standard roughly correspond to the following grade descriptor. Depending on where your actual mark is in relation to the making criteria as outlined in the relevant documentation, it should give you an idea of strengths and weaknesses within the achieved grade band overall:
 * Merit. Among other things, merit entries will make a clear point in a clear way. They will relate concepts to original examples in a straightforward fashion. They will make effective use of the possibilities of the form (including links, as well as perhaps copyright-free videos and images, linked to from Wiki Commons). They may also demonstrate a broader understanding of the module's themes and concerns, and are likely to show evidence of reading and thinking about the subject material. The wiki markup formatting will be very clear.


 * This work is at the lower end of this particular grade band, so there’s clearly room for improvement here. I think in order to engage with the wiki exercises a bit more, it might be useful for you to take a closer look at the assessment brief to get more of an idea of how to hit those targets. Making more use of the wiki functionality and markup would have gone a long way to improving fluidity and functionality of posts. I suspect that, if you become more familiar and proficient with the platform, that this will make a considerable difference.

General: In addition to the common marking scheme, there are three broad criteria widely employed in the Division, which are used to help assessors evaluate your work in a more general sense:

Reading and research: is there evidence of critical engagement with set materials?; is there evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic and peer-reviewed material? For this element, your work has been evaluated as: Merit Argument and analysis: Is argument well-articulated and well-supported?; is there evidence of critical thinking (through taking a position in relation to key ideas from the module, and supporting this position)?; is there evidence of relational thinking (through making connections between key ideas from the module and wider literature, and supporting these connections)?; is there evidence of independent critical ability? For this element, your work has been evaluated as: Merit Presentation: academic writing style and structure, and organisational skills For this element, your work has been evaluated as: Merit

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 13:49, 19 December 2019 (UTC)