200 students at the University of Maryland when media free for 24 hours. According to survey authors, people felt alone, depressed, disconnected. Students described being disconnected in similar terms that addicts use when withdrawing from drugs.
Lisan Jutras has an article in today’s Globe and Mail about how those pesky Facebook pages for “causes” don’t mean a thing. Labeling Facebook-style list joining as “slacktivism,” she writes:
While it feels good, it basically replaces other, more hackneyed expressions of what sensitive souls we are, such as “I like kittens and walks on the beach.” What it doesn’t replace is volunteer hours or money in the pockets of real charities.
For the sake making an argument, Jutras sets up a helpful straw man: you know, the one that isn’t volunteering or isn’t donating to charity because they’ve smugly done their bit highlighting a cause on their Twitter account.
If Jutras can find said straw man, I would love to see this person say as such in one of her columns. Some research would be nice. Recent DECODE research finds that, contrary to stereotype, people who engage in some form of online activism are, in fact, MUCH MORE likely to donate money or volunteer their time. Our recent Life Stage DNA study of those aged 15-39 found that 56% of those who are “digitally engaged” donated money in the last year. Only 32% of those who were not “digitally engaged” donated money. Similarly, 41% of those who are digitally engaged volunteered for a charity. Only 23% of those were not “digitally engaged” did.
This does not necessarily mean that participating in some sort of online engagement causes people to engage. We don’t know enough about what is likely a complex series of factors that encourage civic engagement.
A more likely explanation, however, is that those who are community-oriented are more likely to be active in both their digital and “real” lives. Joining a Facebook group doesn’t mean that you will also make a donation, or write a letter to an MP, or attend a protest as an immediate result. But it does likely mean that that issue is on your radar and that you might be more inclined - at some point - at least, to do something.
It’s a complex and emerging field of study. If only “lifestyle commentators” would treat it as such.
If there’s anyone or anything TED lectures were made for, its statistics guru Hans Rosling and his fabulous Gapminder charts. Rosling’s latest lecture at the U.S. State Department is up here. Rosling’s major thesis is that human beings in the developed world have made remarkable progress on several key measures. The more sophisticated point is that we too often conflate regions of the world as having similar characteristics, when in fact they are quite different (Yemen is an impoverished volatile country, yet it’s neighbor the United Arab Emirates is stable and prosperous).
Rosling’s clearly loves data. And he’s a very clear advocate for having governing bodies around the world open up and publicize the reams of data they collect on their citizens for independent analysis. This could be a very tangible realization the “Government 2.0″ movement — after all, the policy implications of Rosling’s datasets are enormous.
That’s according to latest figures from Gallup.
More grim news on rising student loan applications in Ontario. Applications for provincial government student aid are up almost 6% this year.
Media guru Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and a plethora of newspapers under his News Corporation mantle) yesterday re-launched a firestorm by announcing that his company will start charging for online access to its news content. It’s a tactic competitor Associated Press has openly considered as well. The New York Times has a helpful roundup of what media watchers are saying.
For young news and media consumers, this remains an interesting moment in time. The easy parallel is that of the music industry’s attempts to fight off online piracy through a variety of online music sales models. Despite the endless speculation, and some notable successes (Itunes), nothing seems to have worked the way the music industry wanted it.
It’s difficult to predict how well Murdoch’s attempts will work, especially with young people. If the music industry has so much trouble convincing people to pay $1 for a song they can listen to over and over again, how will they convince consumers to subscribe to something they’ll likely only read once?
Aside from the general problem about a lack of a viable advertising model for news content creators, our Youth Media DNA studies last year showed that young people didn’t seem to understand the unique function of newspaper-style reporting vs. that of other media. Without that understanding, it’s difficult for newspaper content providers to distinguish themselves, especially online, where the content created by a TV station looks the same as that provided by a newspaper. Compare how CTV covered recent jobless figures with the Canadian Press article on the Toronto Star.
That, coupled with the fact that the objective-style reporting is now easily co-opted and repackaged into snarky forms by aggregators is also problematic, and not only for the newspaper industry.
How then to convince young readers as to necessity of a news gathering organization and the economic model that supports it? News Corp appears to be giving up on this front. We’ll see how strong that arm is.
Fascinating/ horrifying stuff coming from the aftermath of Iran’s most recent elections, largely as a result of micro-blog posts, pictures and photographs being smuggled outside of Iran via Twitter. The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan has been covering the event in real time, posting tweets and videos. The raw, direct nature of this footage is fascinating, especially when you consider how it’s often only a few hours old.
Much is being made of the groundswell of action and protest stemming from Iran’s lyouth population. Thanks to the actions of an angry and engaged youth segment, we see a side of Iran that is far more secular and globally-oriented than is commonly understood. It seems to pervade the youth experience, right down to the street-level art protest.
Much will be made about the role of Twitter/ mobile phones/ You Tube/ Facebook as platforms for mobilizing these protests. Could this have happened without these technologies? I think Henry Farrell and Matt Yglesias get some things right in viewing the “Twitter made this possible” thesis with a more skeptical eye.
Still, it feels like something profoundly different is going on right now. It’s easy to criticize “Facebook participation” as some sort of easy, empty gesture. And yet? People in Iran appear to be gaining some comfort (and perhaps, motivation) in knowing that the world sees what they see. Communication is central to mobilizing protest.
No matter how this ends (and it may end poorly), it would be interesting to compare this to what little sneaked out during last year’s brutal crackdown in Burma. A few pictures snuck out, for a while there was some interest. But soon enough, Burma’s military leaders were able to choke information seeping out of the country. For some reason, Iran hasn’t been able to (or, perhaps has not chosen to) do the same.
*Updated: Twitter is the few fax machine: how Chinese students kept the world informed via fax.
A Few years ago I had the unique pleasure of creating a role in a sort of amorphous multimedia project which explored the concept of Firsts entitled Orange Clouds. As a culture, a society and perhaps even as a species we are obsessed with Firsts. My experience illuminated quite a few challenges and some outstanding rewards associated with that oft sought position, First. From our historical vantage point we usually elevate the achievement and relegate the all important journey to the footnotes. In tracing the journeys of the pioneers featured in Orange clouds I was struck by the phenomenal risks they took. It seems that road of a trailblazer is necessarily fraught with risk and therefore often connected with youth. My greatest learning was that being first is always a journey defined by fear.
In reading A conversation with Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt I found myself constantly nodding in agreement and again contemplating the miraculous series of firsts that seems to have defined 2009. Management in this environment is unprecedented. Everything in this environment is unprecedented. Earlier this week Samir pointed out that Brian Deese is heading up the monolithic dismantling of GM. Hummer was purchased by a Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer. A development which North American auto industries are watching with the baited breath of an adolescent virgin about to experience his first kiss. One can almost hear Lewenza and his friends giggling as they whisper “Do you think that this means we get to sell our cars there?”
We have allowed ourselves to float along comfortably taking modest liberties thinking someone else is looking out for our best interest, but why should they? In fact often one should question how could they? As I have been known to say you get what you pay for. People always assume that this means that quality costs more and while effectively that is oft true it is not a natural conclusion that cheap is bad. You see antiquated though it may be I am a huge proponent of an apprentice based model of hierarchy. While you may not be most proficient at jobs you hire other people to complete you really need to know how those jobs are accomplished to truly assess if they’re being completed well. I still think that the knowledge garnered from consistent daily practice is invaluable. Translation: if management doesn’t really know how what the make/sell/do gets done they cannot replicate performance in changing environments. Well it seems the economic climate has drastically changed and the pervasive messages for me are elemental. First what an extraordinary time for all of us but young people in particular. We are become like that proverbial phoenix watching the ebb of the flames and preparing to rise from the ashes.The truth is that no one knows what comes next; we’ve shattered our own economic theory models and now we’re faced with that most dreaded of all economic and political woes - instability. The most interesting thing is that the volatility that created this mess is exactly and the fear it spurs is likely what we need to get out of it. From the 31 year old currently effectuating the largest bankruptcy in American history to fledgling chefs walking out on Canadian chef David Adjay over his refusal to source equitable trade coffee the marketplace is being redefined.
Next is the message I hear time and again and it is as old as the hills Keep It Simple Silly. We’re all afraid. Fear is life affirming. The upside of this economic situation is a levelling of the playing field where the experts may well be those people who see the problem and simply have the courage to offer a simple solution to a problem we are all afraid to face. Seems to me those cocky head strong whipper-snappers may have a leg up on that one.
Citizen, Compensation, Employee, Generation Y, Social Networking, Uncategorized, Voting, Young Employees
A profile of Brian Deese in the New York Times. When’s the last time you heard of someone under 35 occupying a senior role in a Western civil service?
This likely would not have happened even 10 years ago. The notion of seniority is essential to how most government organizations in the world organize themselves. Granted younger people are often well-represented in political staff, whose jobs are largely administrative and logistical… But the notion that a young person could guide one of the key economic transformations of the coming years is truly remarkable.
What does this say about the changing culture of meritocracy in the U.S. civil service? Would something similar even be possible in Canada or Europe?
Are there any other examples I’m not aware of?