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"Das Überraschende an diesem Video ist nicht, dass es so offensichtlich verlogen ist. (Es ist dafür gemacht worden, um auf sozialen Netzwerken viral zu gehen, und der Typ hat in der Beschreibung auf YouTube darunter gleich seine persönliche Website und seinen Twitter-Namen angegeben-er hat 2.387 Follower. 2.387 Twitter-Follower sind nicht schlecht für jemanden, der schlechte Gedichte darüber schreibt, wie böse soziale Netzwerke sind.)"

Good article. It not only points out the irony of a viral video that rails against the effects of the internet, it illustrates well the nostalgia for the "real", "authentic" way of being that digital technologies have supposedly destroyed. As the article points out though, it's also interesting that so many people seem to find the video interesting and worth sharing, despite the fact that its message is cliched and massively sentimental. I actually had to turn the video off before the end because it was annoying me so much.

Haha, yeah you're right. I've had the same experience and didn't watch it until the end.

A nice commentary on the nature of online discussions, especially dealing with matters of gender and sexism.

On FeministFrequency I found a video from a person who motivates other 'dudes' to speak out against sexist bullying on the web. It's just what came to my mind when I thought about how to change this discussion culture mentioned in the comic. http://vimeo.com/44117178

Thanks Luise. The video is interesting, though I have to say I found the editing a bit annoying, but that's not really the point. I think what he's saying there really relates to issues raised in the Dibbel article, and also connects with some of the things that Postill says in the article for this week's discussion. This is all about establishing the "rules of the game" for internet sociality, which is of course a lot about how to define and deal with anti-social behaviour. The category of "troll" has emerged to categorise a particular form of online a-sociality, but what exactly a troll is still seems pretty unclear to me, and the debate is raging about how to deal with them. Dibbel's "Mr Bungle" is a classic description of a troll -- probably from before the concept of a troll was very widespread -- and his article is precisely about how an online "community" suddenly found itself in the position of having to determine specific rules of socialising, including sanctions for those who break them. In Postill, he is also critical of concepts like "community", which are very idealised and hide the specific processes which characterise the development of particular modes of sociality. He argues that we have to have an openminded approach as scholars which matches the "frontier-like" character of these exchanges. I.e. these are people in the process of establishing the social. They haven't simply inherited it from their elders. I read into the discussion that followed the video and it's also instructive because there are some quite thoughtful comments on precisely these issues of establishing normativity online.

In one way this is just another viral video. In another, I would say it is a nice example of how emotions can be transferred via the web. It is an fake-interview via some skype-like software in which people are being pranked. At the end though, it shows very well how emotions might be carried not only within the video but also to the viewer.

Yes, and it's also a piece of viral marketing, showing how companies are getting better and better at using this format to elicit and manipulate emotions. Which is not to take anything away from the power of webcams to transfer emotions.

Just one example of the political manipulation of social media.

The world's first recognised cyborg.

Anita Sarkeesian reports about the insults, threats of death and rape she is getting for *planning* a series about the representation of women in video games. The video focuses on the women owned game studio Silicon Sisters and the blogger of the harassment collecting website Fat, Ugly or Slutty too.

Thanks for the link Luise. Yes, this is the case that came to mind for me when you mentioned sexism and harrassment amongst gamers. I was particularly shocked by the "game" that one lad created in which users could beat Sarkeesian's face bloody. When called on this he seemed unable to see the violence inherent in the act.

I think one of our girls has mentioned this video, didn't she? Anyway, it is indeed quite interesting, though I would say the topic/ message isn't exactly new. I would rather say it is interesting that someone is doing something like this again.

Thinking of gaming as an immersive, and aesthetic experience.

Following the article above I found another interesting article directly linked to gaming aesthetics and their introduction to the short film genre with the use of in-game footage (the festival was last year): http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-10/16/other-places-andy-kelly The Videos are worth a watch. Other articles on wired.co.uk are also worth a look. EDIT: http://www.otherplaces.co.uk/ ----> For a longer list of short beautiful videos consisting of ingame footage.

One of the current struggles going on in relationship to internet freedoms.

Here's an article from an anthropologist in Holland which touches on the role of social media in recent protests, but is much more about the "mainstreaming" of Fascist politics and ideologies in Spain and Greece.

Short documentary on the rise of professional competitive gaming. Comments by MIT anthropologist TL Taylor.

An animated explanation of the issues surrounding open access publication of scientific research.