Please discuss these issues, since they are directly related to the two main underlying themes in LIB 290:
- global issues
- social media
- All of you form LIB290 are now aware about the recent shooting in FL.
Not surprisingly, this morning a news emerges that Russian bots (twitter accounts under Russian control) are seeking to exploit the situation and stir controversy in a foreign country (in this case, the US), similarly to the Russian intervention during the US election in 2016. The issue of social media use to affect global affairs has been raised in this class: e.g.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIB290/permalink/728678873997686/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIB290/permalink/717969808401926/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIB290/permalink/713137448885162/
and in previous LIB290 classes, which you have access to
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIB290/permalink/336962353169342/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIB290/permalink/585924368273138/ - A similar “bot” activity occurs not only for political espionage and influence, but also for industrial espionage and influence
https://www.facebook.com/inthenow/videos/815704918579879/
as presented in the case of Chinese bot “factories” to promote certain online businesses. - In addition, certain social media apps / platforms / tools clearly emerge as representatives for specific race, gender, or nationality
e.g., until recently Pinterest was considered a very “female” platform, a place, where women had clear dominance in use and content (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/20/social-media-by-gender-women-pinterest-men-reddit-infographic_n_1613812.html); Twitter, is becoming the platform for expression by African Americans (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/04/the-truth-about-black-twitter/390120/) and we already discussed the fact about social media apps / platforms / tools very popular in other countries and unknown in the US: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIB290/permalink/715074965358077/
You are in your second month of LIB290 information and discussions, and you must have formed an opinion about such activities by social media regarding global issues and the relationship between social media impact on events around the world.
Please share your opinions by considering the following questions:
- Do you think the Russian interference is real? Do you think United States (as recently accused by the Russians) also is interfering? Do you think any other country is using the same methods of employing social media?
Do you think such use of social media is justified and right by moral and legal standards? - If you think such employment of social media is not right, elaborate why. How do you think, it needs to be prevented?
- If you think such employment of social media is justified, elaborate why. How do you think, it can be supported?
- Are these issues important to you?
- If they are important to you, what is your take to resolve them?
- If these issues are not important to you, what issues do you see as important and how do you think you can contribute to their resolution?