Reader Response Final Draft

In the article “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent communication theories of media influence controlled by the government that often assume a movement toward homogenous culture and a disregard for the importance of understanding the local culture. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media play in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

I agree with Kraidy when he suggests cultural globalization as hybridization that pays attention to the local audience preferences instead of cultural imperialism that promotes homogenous culture. Kraidy assumes that the audience-recipient of media messages have the power to interpret and assign meanings to the imported media message based on their own cultural beliefs and attitudes. Thus, the media eventually have to indigenize to meet the audience’s needs and wants.

This is evident in countries such as India, a country that inculcates strong national culture, and where the government has made the media to act in accordance to the Indians' needs and wants. For instance, the main foreign satellite channels such as Star TV are forced to adopt Hindi-language programming as Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India. The Indian market was estimated to account for 55 per cent of STAR TV’s revenues in Asia at the time (Jacob, 2002 cited by Chang, 2007). Another example is the globalization of the film Spiderman 3, which illustrates how mass media successfully have adapted to the Indian’s local culture. The reason Spiderman 3 became the biggest-ever Hollywood hit in India is due to the indigenization that dubbed the Hollywood film into four main Indian languages (Press, 2007). This shows that mass media hybridized but not completely homogenized the culture.

In conclusion, globalization through media should not be deemed as a process of complete homogenization. Depending on the circumstances, the driving forces behind globalization homogenization can be weak. Hence, I believe that cultural identity is not something that can be easily changed and destroyed by the globalized media. The way imported media works is by adding and mixing the cultural elements without eliminating the uniqueness and dominating the local culture.

 

Words: 421

 

References

Chang, Y.-l. (2007). The role of the nation-state: Evolution of STAR TV in China and India. Globa Media Journal, 2.

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers

Press, A. (28 May, 2007). 'Spider-Man 3' biggest-ever Hollywood hit in India, sinks 'Titanic'. Retrieved from Pravda.ru: http://english.pravda.ru/news/society

Essay Draft #2

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) mentions a few negative issues that the world is facing due to rapid globalisation. One of the main issues face in many countries is the incidents of cyberbullying being amplified by social media. Social media has brought about new levels of global interconnectedness which often result in the rise of a new global consciousness. High usage of social media by teens has allowed cyberbullying to thrive over the recent years which attracted more and more critical attention towards the role of social media bringing negative effects on the victims. It has proven to be far more damaging and difficult to control as compared to traditional form of bullying. Thus, several schools and parents have been adopting filtering or blocking software to control children from accessing social networking sites. However, I believe that it is not effective enough to solve the cyberbullying problem in the long run by solely utilizing the software. Instead, I will recommend an educational approach to solve the cyberbullying problem.

Social media has provided more avenues for abuser to conduct cyberbullying. Incidents of cyberbullying has been increasing through social media such as Facebook and Twitter which negatively impact on victims in the various aspects of their life. For instance, the "share" function in Facebook and Twitter allows people to share comments to the public. It also facilitates mass cyberbullying where many abusers can gather together and attack on a single victim through an interface. In addition, social media allows users to act on their free will; insulting and harassing others online without bearing any consequences. Thus, due to anonymity bullying, victimization is deemed continuous and inescapable. Many schools and parents have been utilizing the blocking software so as to prevent teens from accessing social networking sites. However, Pew Research Center (2010) has done an extensive national study that shows 76 percent of teens are active on social networking sites, proving that Facebook and Twitter are ideal avenues for engagement among today’s youth. Based on this result, teens may find a way to circumvent the blocking software in order to access social networking sites.

Kenneth Wong (2006) discusses that from a web article "Are your kids addicted to the Internet?", Microsoft warns parents, "Although filtering and monitoring tools are helpful, keep in mind that they can be disabled by a savvy computer user". In addition, articles in the popular press such as "Kids will find Web controls easy to beat", Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press demonstrated how easy it was to defeat various filtering and blocking software. Although the software can be effective to younger and less IT savvy children, it may failed to achieve the same effective result for older and IT savvy teenagers. When teens are determined to break through the limits that parents have set, they will find all means to defeat the controls. This often leaves parents with a false sense of security as teens may have already deactivate the software without being noticed.

The current model of mitigating cyberbullying by blocking access to social networking sites only controls the actions of students when they are at school or at home. This control model does not prepare students when faced with a potentially dangerous environment for when they leave the safety net provided to them. It is impossible for a student to know how to navigate through without danger when the protection is no longer around. Thus, it is important to conceive that cyberbullying education is needed to develop students with the relevant skills when encountering any incident of cyberbullying. One of such skill is the ability to filter and evaluate information found in social networking sites. This can be achieved through workshops and classroom discussions conducted by the educators during school curriculum. Students will then undergone a process of reflecting, evaluating and making their own decisions regarding the sources they authenticate and information they choose to share about themselves to others. Next, the ability to withstand critique by others is also the most critical skills that students should have. A strategic approach will be more effective compared to the informed educational approach to help teens recognize and control their emotions when engaging social media.  After all, with this cyberbullying education approach, students can still interact with different people through social media if they are acquiring skills that they feel is relevant to protect themselves.

In conclusion, the increasing usage of social media among teens and sharing more content than ever before has raises the need for eliminating cyberbullying. I believe that the existing solution to combat cyberbullying by solely relying on the blocking software is not effective. It will be better to manage them through cyberbullying education approach rather than just block them completely. Although it often feel that the problem of cyberbullying will never go away, the alternative of not solving the problem is not a viable option either.

 

 

References

Centre, P. R. (2010). Cyberbullying statistics. Retrieved from Pew Research Centre: http://www.pewresearch.org/

Enough Is Enough. (2006). Youth and general internet use. Retrieved from Enough Is Enough: www.enough.org/inside.php?tag=statistics#7

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania. (2006, August 17). 1 of 3 teens &1 of 6 preteens are victims of cyber bullying. [News release]. Retrieved from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania: www.fightcrime.org/releases.php?id=234

Gottesman, B. (2006) A hardware solution in the software-dominated world of parental control. Retrieved from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1948981,00.asp

Microsoft (2004) Are your kids addicted to the Internet? Retrieved from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidwebaddict.mspx

Riccardi, K. (2013). Cyber Bullying: Responsibilities and Solutions . Retrieved from Digital Learning Environment: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/teaching_learning/cyber_bullying_responsibilities_and_solutions

Robey, T. F. (2008). Cyberbullying. Retrieved from National Association of Secondary School Principals: http://www.principals.org/tabid/3788/default.aspx?topic=58057

Sheppard, M. (2012). Cyberbullying Resource Centre. Retrieved from EdgeWave: http://cyberbullying.edgewave.com/

Wong, K. (2006). How Tech Savvy Teens Defeat Parental Control Software . Retrieved from Parent Support: http://www.pcmoderator.com/pcmoderator_021.htm

Essay Draft #1

In his TED talk, Goldin (2009) mentions a few negative issues that the world is facing due to rapid globalisation. Over the past decade, the ability to connect across the world through social media has led to an increase in cyber-bullying making the connection between cyber-bullying and social media an important area of study. Social media provide a context where people can communicate and share ideas or knowledge with each other regardless of the distance that separates them. High usage of social media by teens has allowed cyberbullying to thrive over the recent years which attracted more and more critical attention towards the role of social media bringing negative effects on the social, emotional and academic functioning of the victims. It has proven that cyberbullying is far more damaging and difficult to control as compared to traditional form of bullying. Several schools and parents have been adopting filtering or blocking software to control children from accessing social networking sites. However, the effectiveness of this software is doubted in the long run.

Social media provides more avenues for abuser to conduct cyberbullying. Incidents of cyberbullying has been increasing through social media such as Facebook and Twitter which negatively impact on victims in the various aspects of their life. For instance, the "share" function in Facebook and Twitter allows people to share comments to the public. It also facilitates mass cyberbullying where many abusers can gather together and attack on a single victim through an interface. In addition, social media allow users to act on their free will; insulting and harassing others online without bearing any consequences. Thus, due to anonymity bullying, victimization is deemed continuous and inescapable. Many schools and parents have been utilizing the blocking software so as to prevent teens from accessing social networking sites. However, Pew Research Center (2010) has done an extensive national study that shows 76 percent of teens are active on social networking sites, proving that Facebook and Twitter are ideal avenues for engagement among today’s youth. Thus, teens may find a way to circumvent the blocking software in order to access social networking sites. Kenneth Wong (2006) discusses that from a web article "Are your kids addicted to the Internet?", Microsoft warns parents, "Although filtering and monitoring tools are helpful, keep in mind that they can be disabled by a savvy computer user". Furthermore, articles in the popular press such as "Kids will find Web controls easy to beat", Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press demonstrated how easy it was to defeat various filtering and blocking software. Although the software can be effective to younger and less IT savvy children, it may failed to achieve the same effective result for older and IT savvy teenagers. When teens are determined to break through the limits that parents and schools have set, they will find all means to defeat the controls.Therefore, it would be difficult to keep the software fully updated which leaves parents with a false sense of security.

The current model of mitigating cyberbullying by blocking access to social networking sites only controls the actions of students when they are at school or at home. This control model does not prepare students when faced with a potentially dangerous environment for when they leave the safety net provided to them. It is impossible for a student to know how to navigate through without danger when the protection is no longer around. Thus, it is important to conceive that cyberbullying education is needed to develop students with the relevant skills when encountering any incident of cyberbullying. One of such skill is the ability to filter and evaluate information found in social networking sites. This can be achieved through workshops and classroom discussions conducted by the educators during school curriculum. Students will then undergone a process of reflecting, evaluating and making their own decisions regarding the sources they authenticate and information they choose to share about themselves to others. Next, the ability to withstand critique by others is also the most critical skills that students should have. However, the educational approach may not able to impart such skill that involves emotional control exhibited by students when engaging social media. Although installing filtering or blocking software may help protect children from inappropriate content and reduce the risk of their children being bullied on social media, it should not replace education and supervision. Students can still interact with different people through social media if they are acquiring skills that they feel is relevant to protect themselves.

The increasing usage of social media among teens and sharing more content than ever before has raises the need for eliminating cyberbullying. The existing solution to combat cyberbullying by solely relying on the blocking software has deemed to be not effective. It will be better to manage them through cyberbullying education approach rather than just block them completely. Although it often feel that the problem of cyber-bullying will never go away, the alternative of not solving the problem is not a viable option either.

 

References

Centre, P. R. (2010). Cyberbullying statistics. Retrieved from Pew Research Centre: http://www.pewresearch.org/

Enough Is Enough. (2006). Youth and general internet use. Retrieved from Enough Is Enough: www.enough.org/inside.php?tag=statistics#7

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania. (2006, August 17). 1 of 3 teens &1 of 6 preteens are victims of cyber bullying. [News release]. Retrieved from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania: www.fight crime.org/releases.php?id=234

Gottesman, B. (2006) A hardware solution in the software-dominated world of parental control. Retrieved from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1948981,00.asp?

Microsoft (2004) Are your kids addicted to the Internet? Retrieved from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidwebaddict.mspx

Riccardi, K. (2013). Cyber Bullying: Responsibilities and Solutions . Retrieved from Digital Learning Environment: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/teaching_learning/cyber_bullying_responsibilities_and_solutions

Robey, T. F. (2008). Cyberbullying. Retrieved from National Association of Secondary School Principals: http://www.principals.org/tabid/3788/default.aspx?topic=58057

Sheppard, M. (2012). Cyberbullying Resource Centre. Retrieved from EdgeWave: http://cyberbullying.edgewave.com/

Wong, K. (2006). How Tech Savvy Teens Defeat Parental Control Software . Retrieved from Parent Support: http://www.pcmoderator.com/pcmoderator_021.htm

Reader Response - Draft #2

In the article of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent theories of media influence that often assume a homogenous culture and disregard the importance of understanding the local culture. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media play in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

I agree with Kraidy who perceives culture globalisation as hybridization that pay attention on the audience local preferences instead of culture imperialism that promote homogenous culture. Kraidy assumes that the audience-recipient of media message have the power to interpret and assign meanings to the imported media message based on their own cultural beliefs and attitudes. Thus, the media eventually has to indigenize to meet the audience’s needs and wants.

This is evident in several countries such as India, a country that inculcates strong national culture, has made the media to act in accordance to the Indians' needs and wants. For instance, the main foreign satellite channels such as Star TV is forced to adopt Hindi-language programming as Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India. The Indian market was estimated to account for 55 per cent of STAR TV’s revenues in Asia at the time (Jacob, 2002 cited by Chang, 2007). Another example is the globalization of Spiderman 3 that illustrates how mass media successfully adapt to the Indian's local culture. The reason Spiderman 3 becomes the biggest-ever Hollywood hit in India is due to the indigenization of media that dub a Hollywood film in four main Indian languages (Press, 2007).

In conclusion, globalization through media should not be deemed as a process of complete homogenization. A cultural identity is not something that can be easily change and destroy by the globalized media. The way imported media works is by adding and mixing the cultural elements without eliminating and dominating over the uniqueness of local culture.

Word Count: 381

References

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers

Chang, Y.-l. (2007). The role of the nation-state: Evolution of STAR TV in China and India. Globa Media Journal, 2.

Press, A. (28 May, 2007). 'Spider-Man 3' biggest-ever Hollywood hit in India, sinks 'Titanic'. Retrieved from Pravda.ru: http://english.pravda.ru/news/society

 

Reader Response - Draft #1

In the article of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent theories of media influence that describe individuals being strongly impacted by media messages in favour of industrialized countries. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media plays in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

I agree with Kraidy’s idea about the globalized media serving as a powerful tool in cultural hybridization. It often generates new forms of culture in combination with the tradition culture. For instance, the Disney production of Mulan, one of the hybrid cultural product illustrates a “Chinese-looking” girl who has an “American-individualistic” character. This film production involves transferring and mixing American and Chinese culture that give rise to cultural reformations.

However, in my opinion, it seems to me that Kraidy is trying to convey an idea that people hold a more pleasant perspective of globalized media towards globalization as compared to cultural imperialism. People who support the idea that globalized media is cultural globalization view mass media as a process of localizing and hybridizing the traditions and cultural forms. On the other hand, in the perspective of cultural imperialism, these supporters view mass media as a “dangerous tool” that may invade and damage the national culture. It seems like the mass media is causing the negative effect of cultural imperialism. However, I believe that the audiences who are the recipient of the media message play an important role in this process. They indeed have the power to interpret and assign meanings to the media message based on their own beliefs and attitudes. Although media can control the content of the exported information, but not the way the audiences shape the imported information. Thus, the audiences are also the key element that determines the characteristics of the information flow in which the media has to consider and respond to them.

In conclusion, I agree with Kraidy that global media plays an important role in intensifying hybridization. Nevertheless, I believe that the audiences who are the active recipients do play a part in the process of defining the characteristics of information flow.

 

Word Count: 397

 

References

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media.

Summary of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”

In the article of “Globalization of Culture through the Media”, Kraidy (2002) discusses the idea of the diametrical perspectives between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. He states that at one end, cultural imperialism is the enlargement of the prevalent theories of media influence such as the “magic bullet” theory that describe individuals being strongly impacted by the media messages in favour of industrialized countries. On the other end, globalization is conveyed as a process of exchanging information freely among individuals who can create infinite meanings from the actual cultural product. With the use of existing theories and research results, Kraidy concludes that the middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization recognizes the critical role that global media plays in the process of hybridization, in terms of intensity and speed.

An event that has shaped my life and the person I have become

My life changed after I moved to my grandfather's house. My grandfather doted on me but was very firm with me as well. He was more than just my grandfather. Till today, I respect him as my mentor and I will never forget what he  taught and did for me.

I remember at the age of 7, my grandfather never failed to bring me to the neighbourhood playground that we used to visit after my school. Besides spending time with me during his free time, my grandfather would play Chinese Chess with his neighbours. Although my grandfather was good in playing Chinese Chess, I refused to learn from him whenever he offered to teach me. Thinking back, I regret not appreciating his hobby and refused to learn and play with him.

What I looked up to him for was his patience and unconditional love to people. My grandfather was faithful to his religion and job as a church volunteer. He never failed to attend church every weekend and would share his experiences as a volunteer with me. He also taught me to appreciate whatever I had and not to take things for granted. However, at the age of 89, he passed away. All of a sudden, I felt a sense of emptiness without him in my life as I was so used to seeing him everyday.

Today, there are still memories of him whenever I went back to my grandfather house. He was the most influential person who played a major role in shaping my life and the person I have become. His attitude towards serving people motivated me to participate in various local or overseas community services.

Words Count: 284