Ineuqality is a real b*tch

within society the ever present relations of inequality are both a global and local issue, and is even visibly in the majority of virtual networks. Luckily for its users twitter is particularly good at leveling out the playing field so to speak. With the use of usernames instead of biological information, people can use anonymity allowing for gender and race equality. But like the majority of life, bigots and racist will always find a way to belittle those they perceive as different. Like many virtual networks companies use specifically targeted marketing to maximize results. twitter uses this by analyzing a particular user and how they use the network. such as topics that they post about or if their account is linked to other networks. Twitter works closely with Facebook in the situation, for example if a user selects single on their relationship status then twitter will begin to advertise for dating websites almost like magic

References:
Twitter, official website.
BA1002 lecture 8 week 8.

Meat pie, an Aussie tradition.

Who has more power, the company or the consumer. arguments can obviously be made for both, but each couldn't function without the other. They are a symbiotic relationship, functioning together to gain the best results. For virtual networks this is no different, companies such as twitter use terms and conditions to moderate what content is published and who can view it. But unlike that of a local grocery store, where shoppers purchase under guidelines and those who disobey (shoplifters) are punished. Twitter uses guidelines but unless harassment is an issue (and only in extreme cases) nothing is done to limit users when publishing.
Unlike many virtual networks the impact of 'food' doesn't play a big role in twitter. Mainly due to the limitation of a 140 characters per 'tweet', meaning that unless a recipe involves only boiling water food has a limited roll.
Peter Atkins in Food in society discusses the concepts of food and identity are shown to be an instrumental with cultural or ethnic identification. 'food consumption is driven by biological necessity and socio-cultural factors'. for my virtual network some examples of this concept are present, with particular individuals advertising restaurants that celebrate their unique cultural background in regards to traditional dishes. food is a point of self, way to identify yourself ethnically. This concept is easily proven when considering Australia and the local cuisine, when you think 'aussie' you think 'snags' on the barbie and meat pies.
 Speaking of which I'm going to end this blog and get me a pie. have a good one.

References:
Atkins, P 2001. Food in society, economy, culture, geography.
Image: Dirk Davie (pet)

Blog Seven - Week 8

The Network of Advertising

Every product that we use from day to day in each of our lives, holds a significant history of its manufacturing and advertising. From the cooking utensils we use, to the hair products we buy - each item has experienced a journey from being manufactured, to being transported possibly half way around the world, especially for use by ourselves. It's truely amazing when you see the transformations of technology since previous industrial revolutions. An exerpt from "The Economist" states that "Nanotechnology is giving product enhanced features, such as bandages that help heal cuts, engines that run more efficiently, and crockery that cleans more easily." (2012). But sometimes, the money being spent on all of this seems unnecessary. Maybe the motives of our manufacturing industry should be questioned. For example, in this week's lecture, Victoria Kuttainen (2013) referred to a quote that says "Around the world, a billion people do not have access to clean drinking water, yet cities are spending millions of dollars everyday to deal with the plastic water bottles we throw out.". This is when I honestly wander how the financial priorities of the world are formed.

Retrieved from http://byzblog.com

When it comes to the advertising of these products, there are so many ways in which manufacturers are able to share the word about their products. One of the most viewed ways of advertising, is through my chosen social networking site, Facebook. When one logs in to their Facebook account, they are always faced with several advertisement that appear down the right hand side of the "News Feed" page. However, the tricky thing is, these advertisements are not randomly selected. Facebook is able to view your profile information, and choose to display particular advertisements that would seem relevant to you. For example, if you have a relationship status change, from 'In a relationship' to 'Single', you will most like see advertisements for online dating or something similar. As well as Facebook, advertisements are presented everywhere. I even stumbled across a blog that promotes and describes different advertisements and ways of advertising.

References

Digital advertising and marketing: only the best ideas worldwide, since 2003. (2011). Retrieved 2013, from Adverblog: http://www.adverblog.com/

Kuttainen, V. (2013). Week 8 Lecture Notes. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1259064-dt-content-rid-1009787_1/courses/13-BA1002-TSV-INT-SP2/BA1002%20Lecture%208%20Notes.pdf

The Third Industrial Revolution. (2012). The Economist Newspaper .

Facbook as an ecosystem

Kuttainen (2013) states I week eights lecture that a billion people worldwide do not have clean drinking water yet we waste millions dollars trying to clean up the pollution from plastic bottled water. Many campaigns have launched as well as many Facebook pages such as Keep Australia beautiful that promotes cleaning up pollution  and stopping it altogether, but there is only so much one person can do when they are so low on the food chain of society.

 

Facebook can be thought as of an ecosystem of the internet savy and in every ecosystem there is a food chain. As Buchanan states ecologists who think about food webs do not always have in mind how the lion hunts down the wilderbeast just the end result(2002).the same can be said for some studying the food chain of Facebook they see the end results about how popular someone is by how many friends they have but they don’t necessarily think about how they got that many friends.

References

Buchanan, M. (2002). Tangled web, in nexus: Small worlds and the groundbreaking science of networks (pp. 138-155). New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

Kuttainen, V. (2013). BA1002: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 7 lecture. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Picture retrieved from https://www.google.com.au/search?gs_rn=27&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=54VX4C4sC_ZS10DsqjCA7A&cp=6&gs_id=81&xhr=t&q=diabetes&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.52434380,d.aGc&biw=1525&bih=715&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=b5I7UryyC4yFiAezroGwCQ#hl=en&q=food+chains+of+society&tbm=isch&um=1

Blog 6 – There once was a time.

People from all over the world are linked by Facebook. Nearly every continent, culture, and nationality is linked through the social network. In the same way that people are linked to sociality via Facebook or similar social networks, nationalities and cultures are linked via food. “One factor in the origin and persistence of foodways is that they often represent an important expression of our identity” (Atkins and Bowler, 2001, p.273).

Many years ago, the various cultures of the world were proud to call their dishes their own, internationally known foods and dishes were held highly as a representation of a person’s heritage and culture. The Italian’s cooked amazing pasta, the French are well known for their frog legs and snails, sushi in Japan, the curries of India. Initially, these dishes were special to their place of origin; a representation of the nation’s or the regions cultural heritage or narrative. Now however, posting your meals or latest culinary creation on Facebook ‘is a way of establishing distinctions between social groups. Demonstrating a knowledge of other cuisines, other cultures, and of culinary authenticity, thus has a status currency in those social groups who are less likely to be able to compare in purely materialistic terms.’ (Aitkins and Bowler, 2001).

These famous dishes are now no longer as special, because they are recreated all over the world by many different people who are capable of attaining the ingredients to do so. The once famous and distinctive dishes of a culture have been transformed, evolved, recreated, and destroyed by our love of food.

Reference List:

Aitkins, P & Bowler, I. (2001). Food In Society: Economy, Culture, Geography. Great Britain: Hodder Headline Group.