Web 2.0

How does the internet provide an enormous challenge for regulators?

The internet enables us to share and spread information at such a speed that it is difficult to immediately track down and dispose of the information. An attempt to attack Hackney’s Sunday carnival was posted on twitter and resulted in the event being interrupted by the police. However, there were many other events like this which the police were not able to intervene in time before the attack took place. Furthermore, companies such as Twitter have refused to shut down their services during the London riots as they are an independent company are not controlled by the government.

How does the internet provide a postmodern vision of identity?

Postmodernism categorizes people in a social order and controls their mind by constructing a reality for them. Post modernism is inescapable and impossible to avoid. The internet provides a postmodern vision of identity as people are able to create their own identity and join groups which also categorizes people in a social order.

How does web 2.0 present a change for rioters since the Brixton Riots?

The Brixton Riots began with a police constable spotting a black youth named Michael Bailey running away from three other black youths. Bailey was stopped and found to be badly bleeding. The police did not help in obtaining the medical help quickly enough and because of this the crowd intervened. Rumours were spread by word of mouth that the youth was left to die on the street, and from this over 200 youths have turned on the police. Web 2.0 has drastically changed the way and speed at which the rumours are spread and has also increased the scale, which is shown by the London riots. With the Brixton Riots only 200 youths immediately found out, with the London riots thousands immediately joined in.

How has online press affected us in today’s society?

Online press has become the main way we are informed of the news making newspapers almost obsolete. This can be considered a negative progression in media as by reading online press we are much more easily distracted than we would be from reading a newspaper. Furthermore, through reading online press we have become used to skim reading through the information not necessarily consuming all of the information.

How does it present an area of control for today’s society?

Online press creates a moral panic in society through delivering biased views which in turn create our opinions. A good example of this is during the London riots many articles were created referring to all youths as yobs, brutes, savages and many other discriminatory terms which the public then consumes and creates the idea that all youths are like this. Another examples is the fear of hoodies which has drastically escalated since the London riots.

How must we regulate ourselves as young people due to web 2.0? How is it a form of taking our identity back?