The Importance of Multimedia Technology and Visual Rhetoric - Essay Example

Montgomery wondered if the ubiquitous and integrated nature of marketing in digital political engagement practices could serve to connate civic identity and brand identity during this key formative stage it is not Internet use per se, but patterns of use featuring the exchange of information that matters. We leave digital footprints that are ever present, highly informative about us as digital users, and readily available to those seeking the information. As a result, are we entering an era where digital voyeurism becomes highly profitable? How are we to know, for example, the intent of each and every person making use of participatory media? There rightly is a lot of concern over cyber-bullies and cyber-predators. What about those individuals who collect information about user interaction for commercial purposes?

The concern is not a big brother in that the government is highly unlikely to keep pace with, let alone move ahead of, ICT companies’ technological advances. He expressed greater concern about a host of digital little brothers. In this instance, what if I as a marketer cast a wide net on MySpace or Facebook by seeking ever wider and wider social networks and then using my access to individuals’ profiles to create a marketing profile of the digital you? Placing this in an offline context, how would you respond if after watching you go to your usual place of exercise 10 or 12 times I came to realize the brand of pants, shirts, socks, shoes and equipment you wore, what perfume or aftershave you liked, and how you did your hair (or not!), I started posting coupons or ads where you exercised.

While creepy offline, it is becoming increasingly acceptable online. In one sense, up to this point Internet use has been characterized by anonymity, but it is also suggested that we need to consider our off-line selves as distinct from our online or digital selves Besides uploading content, users also willingly and unknowingly provide important information about their profile and behavior to site owners and metadata aggregators. Before users can actually contribute uploads or comments to a site, they usually have to register with their name, and email address and sometimes add more personal details such as gender, age, nationality, or income.

Their subsequent media behavior can be minutely traced by means of data bots. More importantly, all users of UGC sites unwittingly provide information because IP addresses the majority of which can be connected to a user’s name and address – can be mined and used without limit by platform owners. Permission to use metadata for specific purposes is commonly regulated by a site’s service agreements (Terms of Use), which users are required to sign. Metadata can be mined for various purposes, from targeted advertising to interface optimization, but the bottom line is that users have no power over data distribution.
2) The societal role(s)/depictions of the users of this sit

Online networking not only builds social but also commercial, capacity. Marketers speak of recruiting evangelists by influencing members of each social network and turning them into brand breeders or brand advocates for products. Youth are offered incentives to incorporate brands into their user-generated content and distribute their work virally on the Internet, cell phones, and iPods. The rampant commercialization of these nascent digital communities raises serious questions about their future role as sites for political and civic engagement by youth.

While we certainly can debate the appropriateness of such actions, the bottom line is that this quickly is becoming accepted business practice. What are the implications for how we use online sites?

Fifth, as the size and complexity of the Internet increases, many commercial interests are designing sites that provide greater uniformity and more closely regulate and monitor users’ behavior. Interestingly, the situation is akin to the early days of the United States when due to their experience with the British government, many people were leery of a strong national government. Given this lack of a governmental or regulatory presence, commercial interests are filling the void. Consider the excerpt below from Google’s Terms of Use agreement that as a user you electronically sign prior to using many sites in light of point three.

We may record information about your usage, such as when you use YouTube, the channels, groups, and favorites you subscribe to, the contacts you communicate with, and the frequency and size of data transfers, as well as information you display or click on in YouTube (including UI elements, settings, and other information). If you are logged in, we may associate that information with your account. We may use clear GIFs (a.k.a. ‘Web Beacons’) in HTML-based emails sent to our users to track which emails are opened by recipients Read More