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  • Superfluidity Of Information In Social Networks

    SUPERFLUIDITY OF INFORMATION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS
    Samvel Martirosyan

    http://www.noravank.am/en/?page=analitics&nid=2530
    01 June 2010

    The problems of the new information systems

    The appearance of the new technologies of the information spreading
    makes the possibility of the filtration more complicated not only for
    the common reader but also for the editor of the periodical who uses
    the alternative sources. And today the availability of the alternative
    information sources - blogs, social networks, microblogs - is the
    factor that the traditional mass media must take into consideration
    in their everyday work. Alternative media becomes the most actual
    information source both in the periods of serious cataclysms and in
    case of getting information from the regions where the work of press
    is hampered.

    Today the traditional mass media more often face the situation when
    only the cooperation with the alternative sources allows meeting
    competition at the saturated media market. In fact, the modern
    technologies demand from the editors the specialized approach to the
    aggregation of the news in cases when the representatives of mass
    media are obliged to use the information from bloggers and people
    informing about the happenings on the Internet and with the help of
    mobile technologies.

    Superconductovity of the Internet and superfluidity of information It
    often happens that the authorities or other groups of people in one
    country or another have to reduce maximum the news flow. This often
    happens in countries with the dictatorship, or in case of states of
    emergency, wars and other such situations.

    Several years ago the best way to "shut down" the information
    (besides censorship) was to draw special attention to the Internet,
    because through the networks information spreads much faster with
    the help of letters, forums and etc. The solution of the issue of the
    censorship on the Internet was the filtration - blocking of definite
    sites through which information may leak or just the opposite -
    one can penetrate into the internal information field. The issue of
    the content blocking on the net is solved through the control of the
    local providers which are assigned to block these or those web-sites,
    this or that outgoing or incoming traffic.

    Однако, в последнEе несколько лет сEтуацEя с проходEмостью EнформацEE
    через барьеры резко возросла. ПрEчEн для UтоCо несколько:

    But over the recent several years the passability of traffic has
    grown abruptly. There are several reasons for that:

    Despite the growing efficiency of the Internet blocking systems,
    the ways to avoid filtration also develop rather actively. There are
    also many efficient ways to conceal the personality of the Internet
    activist. Many organizations carry out global events to avoid Internet
    censorship; various projects on providing the anonymity of the Internet
    activity are financed. Thus, in 2009 the international organization
    "Reporters without Borders" issued the second, renewed edition of
    "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents"1 which is directed to
    prevent the blocking of information on the Internet.

    Besides, China - the country with the most efficient system of the
    Internet filtration - is not able to close all the gaps in its defence,
    which is often called "Great Chinese Firewall". In spite of all the
    attempts to filtrate the, necessary information, with the due skill
    of the user, leaks in two directions from the virtual Chinese border.

    The number of the virtual social connections has grown abruptly. Today
    the sphere of a separate average Internet user is so broad, diversified
    and global that it allows disseminating information in very short time
    on the broadest possible radius through the receive/transmit links.

    ВозмоOностE распространенEя EнформацEE в сетE становятся все
    более дEнамEчнымE E кросс-платформеннымE. Так, на сеCодняшнEй
    день пользователь Eмеет возмоOность через определенные сервEсы
    мультEплEцEровать свое сообщенEе - публEкацEя в одной соцEальной сетE
    EлE блоCе прEводEт к автоматEческому вознEкновенEю той Oе запEсE на
    друCEх аккаунтах тоCо Oе пользователя, тем самым расшEряя пронEкновенEе
    первEчной EнформацEE. The capabilities to disseminate information on
    the net become even mote dynamic and cross-platform.

    Thus today a user can multiply his message with the help of definite
    services - the publication in one social network or blog bring to the
    automatic appearance of the same blog entry in other accounts of the
    same user thus broadening the penetration of the initial information.

    The other factor is the spreading of mobile technologies. Now anyone
    who has an average mobile phone is a potential social reporter who
    can shoot and put on the Web photos or video about some event which
    the traditional media can not cover or that information was under
    the censorship. Thus, Facebook social network has about 100 million
    users who use the mobile version of the site.

    The contemporary ways of the publication on the Web not only have a
    cross-platform structure and a possibility to multiply but they also
    make the automatic transformation of information types from one into
    another possible. Thus, today many platforms allow clients to publish
    news by sending SMS or letter of a definite content from their mobile
    phones. So even the simplest mobile phone which does not have optional
    features allows spreading important information through the global
    network within several seconds without Internet technologies.

    Thus, contemporary Internet technologies, social networks permit the
    average user who has either a computer with the Internet access or
    a mobile phone even only with the possibility to send SMS to become
    the source of information at places which are difficult of access
    for traditional mass media.

    At the same time the peculiarities of the modern Internet, which
    passes through the stage of hyper-socialization, bring to the
    snowballing dissemination of information of social significance
    filling in information flows fast. The information became superfluid
    and the Internet is close to the situation when it can be called
    superconducting - the speed of the dissemination of the information
    of critical significance through the informal social networks is
    close to the instantaneous one.

    Supersaturation of the social networks Traditional mass media have
    to react somehow to the appearance of such alternative information
    sources. Most frequently the competition brings to the merging of two
    types of media - press more often uses the messages of the bloggers
    who are involved in different networks.

    Thus during the encounters between the authorities and opposition
    in Iran after the presidential elections many Western mass media
    used the messages of the Iranian users at Twitter where messages
    from the streets came as a source of information. The immediacy of
    such information cannot be compared with anything because it comes
    directly from the witness of what is happening who covers the events
    with the help of his mobile phone (especially under the restrictions
    of the activity of foreign correspondents which were imposed by the
    Iranian authorities at that moment).

    On the other hand, the online active flows of information about the
    events bring to the exaggerated interest of the users from all over the
    world. The insistent interest to the events, i.e. the drawing in of the
    huge audience to the definite flows, makes those flows vulnerable on
    behalf of the groups pursuing their goals. Thus, in case of activation
    of the events where the bloggers or social networks users who cover
    the happenings online are present, the situation causes the abrupt
    growth of the information flow in one direction (e.g. encounters in
    Iran, revolution in Kirgizstan and etc.).

    Correspondingly, a huge number of people appear who are interested
    in obtaining information in a frantic rush. Besides, often the second
    party to the conflict who aspires to conceal information also exists.

    Taking into consideration all what was said about the difficulties
    of blocking information, today new methods of censorship appear.

    Today the snowballing increase of information flow causes not only the
    simple linear growth of the sources grading works and finding out most
    trustworthy once (let us mention that the increase of the flows is
    directly connected not only with the rising opportunities of Internet.

    The factor of increase in activity also works: e.g. the strengthening
    of the censorship causes the increase of the number and the quality
    of the social reporters - common people who want to bring the
    trustworthy information to the world's notice). Today for editors
    of the traditional mass media (as well as for the users who want
    to find information through the social networks) the most essential
    problem is the huge increase of the quantity of information and the
    difficulty in finding the reliable sources.

    Besides the common large information flow, the verification is also
    hampered by:

    The huge number of users copies the news in order to help to spread
    them. On the one hand, it is a positive factor. On the other hand,
    among those republications the original source is lost. Often the
    active "passer" may be considered as a source of origin.

    The spammers also show great interest in this; they place on the Web
    the information on an important topic while the link takes you to the
    site which is not connected with the topic at all and which receives
    additional traffic.

    Through the active topics the hackers spread a large number of
    viruses. Taking into consideration the interest to the topic the users
    very often click in a hurry on the links supposedly connected with
    the topical issue and go to the malicious sites. This is especially
    topical for Twitter where the services which generate the short links
    are used and because of this the user does not see where exactly he
    goes when he clicks on the link.

    The huge number of republications of the unverified information
    appears. People often confuse the events; the shots appear on the
    Web which are not connected with that particular event and etc.

    The other essential peculiarity is the appearance of the new censorship
    method (which, however, is based on the old elaborations put on a
    new platform). Even during the events in Iran it became clear that
    the information flows are essentially deformed. On the one hand,
    several dozens of people with mobile phones worked at the streets.

    Then their messages were republished in huge numbers. But it was
    noticed that besides spam, viruses and just republications at some
    moment the huge amount of disinformation was put into circulation on
    the Internet. There were many suppositions that the disinformation
    was spread on the Web by the special services of Iran.

    It is possible neither to confirm nor to disclaim that information.

    But the fact is that on the first days of encounters the special
    services of Iran did not manage to block all the ways of information
    leakage - the activists managed to send the information which was
    later republished by the tens of thousands activists all over the
    world. That is why the most efficient way to block information was
    not the direct blocking of the sources but their discrediting by the
    quantity and quality of the disinformation spread.

    Thus, today several factors which are still difficult to control and
    demand special preparation (for the editors of mass media who use
    those sources or for experts and etc.) are considered to be the main
    problem of spreading information through the alternative mass media:

    The quantity of information in a time unit during the serious events
    which cause global interest becomes critical, which, in its turn,
    makes complicates the analysis and even makes it impossible.

    The amount of spam, malicious programmes, information "noise" becomes
    critically large.

    The controlled spreading of disinformation by one of the parties to
    the conflict covered makes the issue of the information verification
    extremely difficult. Especially, taking into consideration the
    anonymity of the Internet (which in such cases is often compelled
    - e.g. the dissident cannot openly cover the events because he
    jeopardizes his security).

    1http://en.rsf.org/spip.php?page=article&id_article=33844

    Other issues of author INCREASING OF THE ROLE OF THE SOCIAL NETWORKS
    ON THE MEDIA FIELD [19.04.2010] PROPAGANDA MACHINERY OF AZERBAIJAN:
    NEW TENDENCIES [08.02.2010] INFORMATIONAL CONTEXT OF THE POSSIBLE
    OPENING OF THE TURKSIH BORDER [21.12.2009] CONTEMPORARY INFOGENIOUS
    CHALLENGES [18.05.2009] INFORMATION SUPPORT TO THE SOUTH OSSETIAN
    WAR [13.09.2008] ISSUES OF ARMENIA'S CYBER SECURITY [10.07.2008] THE
    ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE AS ISRAEL INSTRUMENT OF PRESSURE [15.05.2008]




    From: A. Papazian
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