In early
October, while I was surfing Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube, I came across
the news about a young girl who committed suicide due to cyber bullying
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vOHXGNx-E7E). The video was uploaded by Amanda herself to raise awareness to people who have been bullied, and for them to stay strong and stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, this was something that she failed to do. As I
watched the video, I learned more and more about her.
Her name was
Amanda Todd. She was bullied in person and over the internet for several
years and as a result, she moved schools and cities to avoid the people who put
the pressure onto her life. Eventually, there was a breakpoint where she
could not handle it any longer.
Without the use of these social media
sites, I would have never found out as much as I did.
On Facebook, groups were created as a tribute to her and to
combat bullying. Amanda Todd became a symbol of bullying and what results from it
when nothing is done to stop it. The Facebook groups, representing Slackitivism, where
people participate in low-cost activities to encourage activism, are also
shared around Facebook and encourage others to join (Shirky, 2011).
I do not think
that there will be other ways to increase awareness and encourage further
activism against bullies and cyber bullying due to the fact that the issue
transcends geographical territory and is also a persisting problem.
The relevance
of the suicide contributes to an emphasis on a networked society (since cyberbullying requires the infrastructure of the internet), and dependency on social media for news and information
about the ‘real world’. The story she told let us know more about her, but what other people
comment or say on websites add on to this character we artificially created.
This relates to how the knowledge commons also doubles as a shared resource, where
people contributes to and maintains the information (Chan, 2012).
There is technical openness in gaining access to the internet, since there is
censorship on certain websites to control the types of information that go into
the country (Morsi, 2012). As well, there may be issues on Facebook
comments through accessing the information, although it all depends on where
the user posts the text. Depending on privacy issues, comments may not be
findable or linkable (Chan, 2012), or it may not be accessed due to language
barriers (e.g., between English and French).
Cyber bullying
is a worldwide phenomenon, although it is fairly limited to people who have
access to the internet. The internet is the medium for a number of things, and
many of which are related to harm. Technical access to the internet is open, as
it is non-proprietary (Chan, 2012) and the information can either be relayed
individually to the victim or be broadcasted to the online community, making it
difficult to control since the internet’s expanse is wide and there is no
specific censorship on cyber bullying.
Social
openness is also a problem in finding out more about Amanda is limited to the number
of people who have access to social media outlets. The relationship between
Amanda Todd’s incident and ICT and development is that the speed of
transmitting information throughout the country, and even across the world is
increased by many folds and the speed and scope of issues will continue to
increase as ICT develops. As the distribution of general information can be
distributed as quickly as problems of cyberbullying, I am almost certain that
it can be used for other purposes at the same rate, as long as the
infrastructure is set up and there is enough connectivity between people.
Update: On Thursday's Metro (the free newspaper for Toronto), I noticed a short article based on Amanda Todd. It commemorated her and made note that she would have turned 16 the previous Friday if she hadn't passed away. As well, her memorial service will be held this weekend on the 18th, and people who wish to attend will need to RSVP on http://www.xoxoent.com/amandarsvp. The use of the internet to RSVP for events has a dramatic influence on the ways the internet as well as other forms of social media is used by people, and for a variety of purposes.
References
Chan, L. (2012).
Week 8: Open access, knowledge commons, and open development. Knowledge and communication for development.
Lecture conducted from University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto.
Morsi, H.
(2012). Week 5: Social media, citizenship and democracy. Knowledge and communication for development. Lecture conducted from
University of Toronto Scarborough,
Toronto.
Shirky, C.
(2011). The political power of social media: technology, the public sphere, and
political change. Foreign affairs, 90(1), 28.
