The Graduand

Impact of Convergence Review on Australian Television Industry

2012-12-25T21:56:00.002-08:00

Abstract

The final report of the Convergence Review was published recently with many points of contention. While many pundits believe that the television is a dying media and will be over taken by the IPTV and the internet, there has been overwhelming number of research which proves otherwise. The television industry is in fact the medium of choice for Australians and therefore, this paper saw it necessary to analyse the impact that the proposals contained within the review will have on the industry. While it does seem that the television industry will have to meet higher standards, thus favouring its consumers, the paper found it difficult to measure the financial impact on the industry. This is because the review did not specify important information, especially in terms of the exact costs and percentage expenditures required by the industry. Therefore, while the review posts a win for consumers it remains to be seen what will happen once the proposals get implemented in 2013.

Introduction

By 2020, digital television (DTV) will replace analogue broadcasts in Australia. Up till now television (TV) signals have been analogue waves, broadcast from towers and received by home antennas to be displayed on analogue TVs. This form of broadcasting limited the number of channels viewers could watch while taking up a lot of bandwidth. However, with digital technology, TV signals and other information are broadcast more efficiently and with better quality picture and sound. Television stations can also broadcast over more channels using the same bandwidth. However, with the advent of convergence and especially with the internet’s prevalence in Australians’ lives, the Department of Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy saw the need to review out-dated media regulation and thus embarked on the mission of the Convergence Review. The review which took about a year to compile, published its final proposals in the middle of 2012. There are many points of contention with the review and this paper decided to focus especially on the television industry in Australia. This is because television, despite contrary belief, is still the medium of choice among Australians.

In a research done by Think TV, a marketing representative of Free TV Australia, it found that TV pays back more than any other medium, in terms of returns on investments (ROI) and that the sales effect of a TV advertisement continues to be strong for up to about two years, while the effects of other media on sales fade quickly. It also found that when advertisers pull back on advertising on TV, brands may take up to six years to recover their market position (Clift, 2011). According to research firm Ovum, digital terrestrial TV would reach about 5.894 million households in Australia, with an additional 823,000 accessing mainstream TV via satellite, by 2015. Pay TV will also reach 2.175 million households, while IPTV services are expected to grow impressively; from just 90,000 now to 342,000 in 2015 and that figure is still only a fraction of the reach which free-to-air TV will have (Kidman, 2012). Therefore, it is important to understand how the proposals in the review will impact this dominant medium. Hence, this paper will now pick out proposed regulatory changes in the Convergence Review to critically analyse its impact on the dominant television industry.

Convergence Review: Proposed Changes Affecting Television in Australia

Content Service Enterprises

Due to the increasingly convergent nature of media, the review coined the term “Content Service Enterprises” (CSE) to describe media organisations, including print, broadcast and online entities. However, only those CSEs which earn annual revenue of $A50m, generated from professionally produced content, and with a monthly viewer numbers of 500,000, will face the proposed regulations. This means that organisations such as Telstra, Apple, Google and its YouTube web video off-shoot will may be classified as a CSE (Australasian Business Intelligence, 2012). This new classification will not affect the delivery of digital television in any way as television is an industry that has always been regulated and will continue to be while it exists. The new content rules may also make Google re-think the introduction of Google TV into Australia as it will be subject to the CSE regulations as soon as it meets the set threshold (Turner, 2012). Hence, this could prevent Australians from enjoying a brand new technology, which goes against the spirit of introducing the National Broadband Network (NBN) and to decrease the digital divide.

As IPTV will soon become prevalent in Australia following the NBN rollout, this will also present a threat for free-to-air and pay TV broadcasters. This is due to the fact that IPTV services can escape classification as a “broadcasting service” if it is distributed via the internet or provided on-demand on a point-to-point basis. Thus, it does not need a licence under the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), unless is provided over a proprietary network and not on-demand. But that is unlikely to be the case. In fact, IPTV is just like watching traditional TV, except it is delivered over broadband rather than through an antenna or cable. So, it is unclear why it bears less regulation than broadcasters who have to carry the burden of regulations such as content quotas and advertising standards. This would most certainly create an uneven playing field for traditional broadcasters (Bradshaw, 2012).

Content

Content Standards

Under the new content standards, the review proposed that once a particular content has been classified, it would apply uniformly regardless of the platform it is delivered on. However, the review made an exception that:

“Content providers that are not of sufficient size and scope to qualify as content service enterprises should also be able to opt in to content standards or develop their own codes”

It is unclear why the review made such an exception. Does this mean that say a horror movie classified as “PG13” – Parental guidance advised for viewers under the age of 13, could be classified as something completely different just because it is being streamed on YouTube? Another scenario may hold true as well where a young viewer who watches an episode of Simpsons for instance, may not register the variations in content standards when he watches it on free-to-air channels, on a PG (Parental Guidance advised) rated episode on Pay TV or downloaded through Apple TV (Kidman, 2012).

The Push for more Australian Content

One of the major highlights of the convergence review is to increase locally produced television content by regulating the amount of Australian made programs aired on their networks (Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 2012). The review proposes that television broadcasters would keep their current 55 per cent quota for Australian content while increasing the quota for drama, documentary and children’s content by 50 per cent. At the moment, these quotas will not include content shown on digital multi-channels. One of the main reasons why the government has to step in to regulate Australian made content is because, producing locally made content is more expensive than buying content from overseas. Therefore, without regulation, there would no incentive for broadcasters to air locally made programmes. Indeed, in the final report of the review, Price Waterhouse and Coopers (PwC) concluded in its analysis that without existing Australian content requirements, documentaries would plunge by 50 per cent, drama by a staggering 90 per cent and children's content would simply not exist.

This is especially true for children’s programmes, since most of its children’s programming is currently only from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and hence lacks variety. A research into the health of children’s television in Australia found these quotas to be the utmost important.

“The research confirmed the centrality of the CTS (Children’s Television Standards) to the production of children’s television in Australia. In an environment in which Australian adult drama production has been declining, and financing children’s television has been becoming more difficult, the CTS quotas mean the production of children’s television plays a significant role in the overall health of Australia’s production industry.” (Blumenau, 2011)

Therefore, the review was justified in raising the quotas for children’s programmes, although, one may argue that Australian children's content simply does not pay, particularly when there is no junk food advertising (McCreadie, 2012).

In the current state of almost non-existent content regulation, the free-to-air networks' digital multi-channels, have carried next to no Australian content, with the exception of Neighbours (McCreadie, 2012). Not surprisingly, with the exception of Channel 31, which airs only locally made programmes, both free-to-air and subscription television were opposed to the raise in quotas. Julie Flynn, chief executive of Free TV, the industry’s umbrella body, said: local content quotas

“Should not be increased and they should be more flexible than they are”, in light of the convergence of television and digital platforms. (Holgate, 2012)

James Warburton, chief executive of the Ten Network (Ten), also criticised local content rules for not allowing local programs broadcast on the FTA digital channels to count for the quotas. He wrote in an opinion piece for The Australian Financial Review,

“Unfortunately the Australian Content Standard, which sets out the local content rules, was framed well before digital multi-channels arrived.” (Warburton, 2012)

He was particularly referring to Ten’s longest running and successful drama series, “Neighbours,” which airs on its free-to-air channel which would have met the quota requirements if it was counted towards it. Despite these criticisms, a news article by the Sydney Morning Herald, reported that Pay TV has upped their local content spending significantly. However, it was pointed out that most of their investment was put towards expensive sports rights instead of spreading them between the different genres. Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, quickly responded by saying at least 10 per cent of total programming expenditure needs to be put towards drama (Strachan, 2012).

While it is common knowledge that producing local content is costly, the paper found that the three commercial free-to-air televisions have no reasons to complain, bringing in top dollars with a combined annual revenue of between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, while earning more than $2 billion in the second half of last year from advertising alone. They also received a licence fee rebate of $250 million in the past few years and $53.5 million from the government to move off the spectrum they had already agreed to vacate. With figures like these, it is only justifiable that the review has pushed for more Australian content over the television (McCreadie, 2012).

The convergence review also proposed further expenditures by the television industry to support the push for more Australian content. The review proposed a uniform content scheme which will require CSEs to invest a certain percentage of their revenue from Australian drama, documentary and children’s programs. Alternatively, they may also choose to contribute a percentage of its revenue to a ‘converged content production fund’ for reinvestment in traditional and innovative Australian content. In order to better support content production, the review also prosed a raise of the Producer Offset from 20 per cent to 40 per cent. Finally, it also recommended the creation of a converged content production fund, which will get direct funding from the government and may include spectrum license fees from broadcasting services and contributions from content service enterprises under the uniform content scheme. These proposed expenditures caused the current shadow minister for communications and broadband, Malcolm Turnbull, to lash out at the review and claimed that the requirements would impose an additional financial burden on enterprises which in many cases are struggling to remain profitable and viable (Turnbull, 2012). But is the television industry really struggling while research has shown that it is still the medium of choice for consumers and advertisers alike? Or, could it be that when the review finally discloses what the said percentages of contributions are that it would prove to be costly for the industry? This is yet to be unravelled in a few months.

Interestingly, this paper could not find the implications that these local content requirements would have in terms of quality of programs produced. One can only assume that pressurising digital television broadcasters as such could possibly force them to produce and air low quality programs in an attempt to meet the standards. For instance, do Australians really want locally produced television programs similar to the “Jerry Springer” show? The review seems to have failed to define what “quality” programming means and this only provides broadcasters a loophole through which they can cut costs while meeting the standards of the review. There is also another question that the review has failed to answer - Will the content standards stifle the development of emerging content service initiatives, even where those initiatives are housed within larger organisations that qualify as CSEs (Corrs Chambers Westgarth, 2012)? This is yet another important question that the review will need to consider before implementing the changes.

New Standards Body

The final review proposed the establishment of two separate bodies – the first, a statutory regulator which will replace the current Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and secondly, an industry-led body which will oversee journalistic news and commentary across all platforms in the media and communications sector.

Communications Regulator

The review recommends that the new regulator would –

“Be independent and operate at arm's length from the Government. Significantly, ministerial control of the regulator would be only through disallowable legislative instruments, not general directions.”

This regulator would take the form of a statutory corporation which will be managed by a board which will have the full powers to act within the limits of the law. It will be interesting, to see the persons who will be appointed to the “independent” board. Despite its “arm’s length” operation from the government, it would still be, according to the review –

“Held accountable for its decisions under existing parliamentary, judicial and administrative arrangements; for example, disallowance by Parliament, merits review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and judicial review…”

With the exception of news and commentary, the regulator would be responsible for all compliance matters relating to media content standards. This automatically begs the question – What would be classified as news and commentary? Does anyone who uploads a YouTube video discussing current affairs become subject to regulation, if suppose YouTube were to meet the CSE requirements?
The new regulator would also define the thresholds for CSEs, administer ownership rules, and ensure Australian and local content obligations are applied. With regards to the above, Free TV Australia addressed some concerns in their submission to DBCDE. Firstly, they wanted the review to give a clearer indication as to the relationship between the new regulator and the DBCDE in terms of policy making and also the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in terms of competition rules. Secondly, Free TV refers to the statement in the review which says the new regulator would not be subject to:

“Unreasonable procedural requirements”

In its report, it wanted the review to explain how it will guarantee that there will indeed be procedural fairness, since the review failed to provide details (Free TV Australia Limited, 2012).

The regulator would also be required to set technical standards which will assist users in managing access to content, such as parental locks or age-verification systems. However it is yet to provide more details. While many details of this new regulator are yet to be revealed, it is difficult to determine the impact of this new regulator on TV in Australia.

News Standards Body

The new standards body would oversee all news and commentary on television and thus:

“Would administer a self-regulatory media code aimed at promoting standards, adjudicating complaints, and providing timely remedies”

However, once again the review failed to specify its reach of the regulation. For instance, would it regulate news and commentary content from overseas news agencies such as British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Fox news, which currently air on free view and if so, how? Does that mean it would monitor news content and engage in censorship?

Because news and commentary play a vital role in any democracy, it is critical that journalistic standards in fairness, accuracy and transparency be applied regardless of the delivery platform. However, it is unclear as to how the news standards board would go about implementing its powers.

Broadcasting Spectrum

One of the benefits that the switchover to digital TV provides is the release of TV spectrum so they may be allocated for next generation mobile broadband services. This will also allow TV stations to broadcast on more than one channel using the same bandwidth. After the switchover, there will be 126 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum, in the 694-820 MHz range, available for use. This is what the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) refers to as the “digital dividend.” Of the 126 MHz, the 700 MHz is the most coveted of all. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which specifies the approved services to be used by certain radio frequency bands worldwide, allocated the 700 MHz band primarily for broadcasting, even though the band could also be used for fixed wireless and mobile services (International telecommunications Union, 2012). Traditionally, the entire 700 MHz band was used for analogue TV broadcasting. But with the switchover, its availability means telecommunications corporations could fight for a slice of the bandwidth as well.

So, why is the 700 MHz bandwidth so popular in the first place? This is because it possesses excellent propagation characteristics, such as being able to penetrate buildings and walls easily, and it covers relatively large geographic areas without unacceptable deterioration of the signal. This means that lesser base stations would be needed to serve a large area, thus providing for an efficient use of wireless networks (Marius, 2012). Therefore, it seems likely that most of this bandwidth will be snatched up by telecommunication companies. Indeed, in a report prepared in 2009, by Spectrum Value Partners for the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA, an association of mobile operators, handset manufacturers, retail outlets, network equipment suppliers and other suppliers to the industry), it indicated that Australia’s economy would be boosted by up to ten billion Australian dollars if at least 120MHz of useable spectrum from the digital dividend were allocated to mobile broadband uses (Access Economics Pty Limited, 2010).

In the final review, existing holders of commercial broadcasting licences would have their apparatus licences replaced by spectrum licences planned for the supply of broadcasting services. The broadcasting licence fees would be replaced by annual spectrum access fees based on the value of the spectrum as planned for broadcasting use. However, this fails to answer an important question – How will the television industry, which will spend a substantial amount on spectrum be protected against inroads made by content service providers who avoid the use of such spectrum (Corrs Chambers Westgarth, 2012)?

Conclusion

In a survey done by Deloitte, of more than 2000 Australian consumers, with 63 per cent, TV was by far the most popular choice for entertainment, followed by the internet at 47 per cent and listening to music at 30 per cent (Davie, 2012). Hence, this paper decided to focus on the impact of the Convergence Review on television because contrary to popular belief, television is still the dominant media for Australians. Therefore, any changes made to the way it functions will impact Australian viewers directly. This paper chose to critically examine the proposed changes that would most impact the television industry, mainly the impact of the new regulators, the coinage of the term CSE, the content regulations and its associated financial contributions and finally the financial impact of spectrum licensing. The paper did not touch on media ownership as the ownership landscape in the television industry will not be as impacted as much as radio or internet will be. While there are many aspects of the review that were unclear, especially in terms of the actual figures associated with expenditures and also detailed ways in which the regulations will be implemented, the paper still managed to speculate on the various possible implications it would have on the television industry. One on hand, proponents of the review claim that the television industry will in fact be doing well despite facing competition from other media platforms and therefore, their expenditures are justified. On the other hand, there are major television networks which have expressed unhappiness with having to contribute to funds and licencing and to produce more Australian content, claiming that they are struggling to survive. Until the review comes into implementation it will not be possible to discuss the review’s impact in financial terms. The review is set to be implemented in three stages; however, no specific deadlines have been set by the DBCDE as yet.

References

Access Economics Pty Limited, 2010. Economic Contribution of Mobile Telecommunications in Australia, Canberra: Access Economics Pty Limited.

Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2012. Allocation of the 700 MHz (digital dividend) and 2.5 GHz bands, [Online] Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WEB/STANDARD/1001/pc=PC_312315 (Accessed 6 November 2012).

Australasian Business Intelligence, 2012. Net giant problem sidestepped, Virginia: COMTEX News Network, Inc.

Blumenau, J., 2011. Save Kids’ TV 2006 – 2011. [Online]
Available at: http://www.savekidstv.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/SKTV-competitor-territory-research-post-final-updated-24.4.11.pdf
[Accessed 30 October 2012].

Boston Consulting Group, 2010. Socio-economic impact of allocating 700 MHz band to mobile in Asia Pacific, [Online] Available at: http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib311973/ericsson_attachment%20a_ifc34-2010.pdf (Accessed 6 November 2012).

Bradshaw, S., 2012. Convergence Review: Meeting the Regulatory Challenge, [Online] Available at: http://www.corrs.com.au/thinking/insights/convergence-review-meeting-the-regulatory-challenge/ (Accessed 2 November 2012).

Clift, J., 2011. TV is still king: Analysis from Thinkbox's Payback 3 study. [Online] Available at: http://www.thinktv.com.au/media/TV_Insights/TV_is_still_king_Analysis_from_Thinkbox.pdf [Accessed 6 November 2012].

Corrs Chambers Westgarth, 2012. Convergence Review Final Report: More Regulation, or More Effective Regulation? [Online] Available at: http://www.corrs.com.au/publications/corrs-in-brief/convergence-review-final-report-more-regulation-or-more-effective-regulation/ (Accessed 4 November 2012).

Davie, M.. 2012. TV and New Media. [Online] Available at: http://rossdavie.com.au/tv-in-new-media-world/ [Accessed 6 November 2012].

Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 2012. Convergence Review, Canberra: Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Free TV Australia Limited, 2012. Submission by Free TV Australia Limited, [Online] Available at: http://www.freetv.com.au/media/submissions/2012_0003_SUB_FINAL_Convergence_Review.pdf (Accessed 7 November 2012).

Holgate, B., 2012. The Australian Financial Review. [Online]
Available at: http://afr.com/p/national/quotas_at_odds_with_tv_digital_age_YxVJJ77m6YbxwFao8qF22I
[Accessed 1 November 2012].

International Telecommunications Union, 2012. Digital Dividend: Insights for Spectrum Decisions, Switzerland: International Telecommunications Union.

Kidman, A., 2011. How Badly Will Convergence Affect TV Networks? [Online] Available at: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/02/how-badly-will-convergence-affect-tv-networks/ (Accessed: 6 November 2012).

Marius, M., 2012. What is so special about the 700 MHz band? [Online] Available at: http://www.ict-pulse.com/2012/10/special-700-mhz-band/ [Accessed 04 November 2012].

McCreadie, S., 2012. Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. [Online]
Available at: http://www.alliance.org.au/top-making-drama-about-regulation-sur-mccreadies-opinion-piece-in-the-australian
[Accessed 1 November 2012].

Strachan, J., 2012. The Sydney Morning Herald. [Online]
Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/pay-tv-boosts-local-content-spending-20121031-28jdh.html
[Accessed 2 November 2012].

Turner, A., 2012. The Sydney Morning Herald Sun. [Online]
Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/hometech/what-is-google-tv-in-australia-20120711-21uhd.html
[Accessed 31 October 2012].

Warburton, J., 2012. The Australian Financial Review. [Online]
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[Accessed 1 November 2012].

Big Data

2012-12-25T21:31:00.003-08:00

Summary
Whoever said that “information is power” definitely was talking about big data. No one could have predicted that social media sites which were created for mere entertainment and social purposes could become a treasure chest full of valuable data about one’s very existence. However, while everyone knows what big data is, that it exists and where it is contained, there is much confusion as to what to do with it. Experts in the field of research have come to realize that their old methods of collecting and analyzing data is becoming less and less useful and individuals are becoming afraid that their personal information can be used against them. Many industries are also grappling with the fact that they are not equipped to handle the sheer volume of big data.

Despite the confusion, big data is being used in various industries in various ways, although reports suggest that so far, only about eight per cent of big data is being extracted and put to use. In their article, “The 6 Provocations of Big Data,” Danah Boyd and Kate Crawford put big data into perspective by identifying six challenges which social scientists need to be aware of when dealing with big data. Therefore, this paper, endeavors to delve deeper in each of the provocations to better understand the confusion surrounding big data.

Introduction

As more and more data is being collected, curated and analysed, the term “Big data” is becoming the buzz word in every industry and institution today. In simple terms, big data comprises of datasets whose size is beyond the ability of typical database software tools to capture, store, manage and analyse (McKinsey and Company, 2011). However, the term “Big Data” does not merely refer to the size or volume of datasets. The International Data Corporation (IDC) defines big data as:

“Big data technologies describe a new generation of technologies and architectures, designed to economically extract value from very large volumes of a wide variety of data, by enabling high-velocity capture, discovery, and/or analysis” (Gantz & Reinsel, 2011)

Hence, the definition of Big Data also concerns a computational turn in thought and research. With the advent of social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google Earth, data sets now have expanded to include maps and images along with texts and numbers. Facebook for example, allows users to upload an endless amount of photos and videos and with an estimated 800 million users (Hancock, 2012) and Twitter is publishing about 500 million tweets per day, while organising them and storing them in perpetuity (Raftery, 2012), therefore, contributing significantly to creating Big Data. Technological advancements also allow just about anyone to have access to large datasets, which were otherwise made available exclusively to academic and scientific institutions. For instance, just about any type of data is accessible at data.gov, by anyone with an internet connection (Weigel, 2012).

While proponents of Big Data celebrate it as creating value by enhancing productivity, improving organizational transparency, and forecasting models, sceptics see it as creating new social problems. In their article, “The 6 Provocations for Big Data,” Danah Boyd (Boyd) and Kate Crawford (Crawford) identify areas in which Big Data may create new issues in social science research. This paper thus, using those six provocations as a framework, will explore the challenges that big data presents social scientists.

Automating Research Changes the Definition of Knowledge

The scientific method is the process by which scientists, collectively and over time, endeavor to construct a reliable, consistent and non-arbitrary, representation of the world (Wolfs, n.d). To do this scientists built the scientific method around testable hypothesis, which are then tested to either falsify or confirm theoretical models of how of the world works. However, with the availability of Big Data, the theories developed through the scientific method could become obsolete, and in effect change the way the world is understood. The availability of Big Data and advanced technological tools can potentially generate more accurate results than specialists or domain experts who traditionally craft carefully targeted hypotheses and research strategies (Anderson, 2008). But in order to get more accurate results from these data, the scientific method as a whole needs to change. This is because large amount of data means more false correlations under the current types of scientific methods employed. For instance, with Big Data, one can easily get false correlations such as, “On Mondays, people who drive to work are more likely to get the flu.” While this assertion may be true under current scientific methods, it will not explain why it is true and if there is any causality. Thus, scientists now need to step outside their laboratories, to develop new methods of testing causality where they can no longer rely on control for variables (Edge.org, 2012). But, while data is being created in real time, the reality is, knowledge is going to outpace understanding. Therefore, data users are now able to predict outcomes , but without understanding what drove those outcomes (Weinberger, 2012).

Claims to Objectivity and Accuracy Are Misleading

As computational scientists begin to study society using quantitative methods, there is the danger, results from their research, will be accepted as facts rather than being open to interpretation. This is because the quantitative method comes with limitations, particularly with its use in social science. Since quantitative researchers need to carefully design their study even before data is collected, they need to know in advance what they are looking for. With Big Data, however, due to its volume and because it includes both unstructured and semi-structured data, it is impossible to know in advance what to look for. Since quantitative analysis deals with data in the form of numbers and statistics, it also ignores contextual detail, which Big Data is rich in.

Bigger Data Is Not Always Better Data

Bigger data is not necessarily better data simply because not all data is worth exploiting. With more data, there is an increased possibility of redundant data as well. Take for instance twitter updates and/or shares in the form of hashtags. When a particular update gets re-tweeted again and again, it creates a high volume of data in terms of the number of tweets. However, what one gets is more data that is being repeated to create Big Data, while the amount of information gathered from those data remains the same. Therefore, the value of information derived from Big Data is not dependent on the data size. However, one may argue that while a retweet itself gives no further data as it is a copy of another tweet, the number of tweets and retweets brings a lot of insights, as many marketers know, about the popularity or importance of something.

There is also the issue of limitations inherent in sampling. No matter how much data one can gather, it will never be the entire population set. This is because Big Data is being created in real time and therefore, at any point in time, it is impossible to collect the entire population set. Hence, researchers are always going to be dealing with a sample size, even though it may be a relatively bigger sample size. This brings one to the next question which is, “Does a bigger sample size mean better information?” This is not necessarily the case. While a larger sample size may provide better estimates with a lower standard of error, its inherent problem of biasness may skew the results and this may be the case even if the samples were picked randomly. Suppose for example that a company operating in a certain industry has collected 'big data' on its customers in that country. If it wants to use that data to make assertions about its existing customers in that country, then its data may yield accurate results. If however it wants to draw conclusions about a larger population - potential as well as existing customers, or customers in another country, then it become important to consider to what extent the customers about whom data has been collected are representative - perhaps in income, age, gender, education, etc - of the larger population (Brown, 2012).

Not all Data is Equal

Once again, it is simplistic to assume that bigger amounts of data will provide better information using the same analytical tools used with small data. This is because, data is not always interchangeable and with Big Data, context is critical. Traditionally, data sets have generally been structured. So, the “context” of those data can be found within the records or the files which contain those data. However, Big Data includes high volumes of unstructured and semi-structured data. In fact, while an average sixty per cent of the data created today is unstructured, businesses are currently only able to capture just eight per cent of the unstructured data.This is because, the tools and techniques that have proved successful in transforming structured data into business intelligence and actionable information, simply do not work when it comes to unstructured data (Bank of America Corporation, 2012). For example, researchers of social network analysis study networks through data traces in articulated and behavioural networks. But the problem with this kind of data is that even though it provides valuable information, it does not necessarily represent the nature and complexity of social behaviours (Boyd & Crawford, 2011).

Just Because It’s Accessible Doesn't Make It Ethical

Before tackling the issue of ethics in Big Data, it is important to understand what ethics means. The Oxford dictionary defines ethics as,

“the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles, governing a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.”

The definition itself highlights the main issue with the ethics of Big data – the conflicting moral principals of the parties involved, mainly, the people who create the data and the users of those data. A huge amount of Big Data is created by people who do not understand how information about themselves is being used and for what reasons(Boyd & Crawford, 2011). While Big Data is ethically neutral, the use of Big Data is not. In his book, “Ethics of Big Data – Balancing Risk and Innovation,” Kord Davis (Davis) identifies four aspects of Big data ethics – Identity, Privacy, Ownership and Reputation. This paper will thus touch on those four aspects to understand the issue of ethics in Big Data.

Identity

Most social media sites such as Facebook and Google, function on the basis that each user has only one identity and hence, is portraying a mirror image of themselves in the virtual world. The founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg believes in a singular identity so much so that he said,

“Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity…The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly (Newman, 2011).”

Indeed, Facebook and Google have real-name policies, which make it mandotary for its users to only use their true names online, failing which they may have their accounts deleted. For the purposes of using Big Data, real names are thought as being more useful, for example, in terms of advertising, where the advertiser can target relavent advertising if it knew who they are dealing with. It also helps researchers gather more meaningful and accurate data if they knew the real identities of a particular user. However, problems arise where on Twitter for instance, users are allowed pseudonyms and can have multiple accounts. Users of data will find it difficult to back track who the users are to derive any kind of useful information.

But, proponents of annonymity claim that real names deny users of freedom of expression and thus places people such as political activists and abuse survivors at risk (Heussner, 2012). One such proponent is Chris Poole, the founder of 4chan and Canvas, who argues that identity is prismatic, and that one chooses to act out various “selves” to different groups of people anyways and therefore, permitting a user to have multiple identities allows for more accurate information about people in general. Supporting this notion is Universal Mccan’s ex Vice President, David Cohen, who said,

“There’s the use of pseudonyms to mask behaviour that we wouldn’t condone in the world of marketing and the use of masking that is simply another personification of your persona, along the lines of interests and passions.”

The latter, he says, could create additional consumer insights (Heussner, 2012).

Privacy

The next aspect of ethics in Big Data is privacy ,where unlike the above mentioned identities, it is a black and white issue. In fact, the Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Law School, Paul Ohm, describes the issue best by saying that data can either be useful or perfectly annonymous but never both (Ohm, 2009). The harvesting of large data sets from social media platforms clearly indicate privacy concerns. It is still unclear how major social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook use data created by their users, although through their friends’ suggestion tools and targetted advertsing, it is obvious that it is being used in some way. Before technological advancements, one could rely on annonymity, having used pseuodonyms, to have some relief that one’s privacy is still maintained when data about them is being collected. This is because organisations used methods of de-identification such as, anonymisation, pseudonymisation, encryption, key coding and data sharding to distance data from real identities, allowing analysis to proceed while maintaining privacy (Polonetsky & Tene, 2012). However, reasearch by computer scientists found that anonymised data can often be re-identified and attributed to specific individuals, thus causing huge privacy concerns (Narayanan & Schmatikov, 2008).

Ownership

The third issue Davis identifies is the ownership of collected data and a good example to demonstrate the complexity of the issue is Wikileaks. Who does the information released on Wikileaks rightfully belong to? Does it belong to the governments, the general public, Wikileaks or the newspapers which published them? Facebook for instance has its privacy policy set such that any information that anyone puts on their site belongs to them (Facebook.com, 2012). Basically, this means that one holds rights to their information or data until they choose to put them up on the internet which then changes the ownership altogether. While this may seem like a new problem, it in fact is an old one. If someone decides to confide in another about some personal information, then the other person is being given the right to do whatever he wants to do with that piece of information. He may choose to repeat the information to some other persons to pass it on, he may decide to collect that information together with other information that he already knows about that person to derive at some sort of a conclusion or he may simply choose to forget that piece of information. Same problem, but on a different platform and in a bigger scale. This is why many pundits argue that if one is afraid of their private data being misused, say for example in Facebook, then they simply should either not sign up for their service or put up posts that may get “leaked.”

Reputation

The final aspect of ethics in big data has to do with reputation, which begs the question,

“Is data trustworthy?”

In March of 2012, TheMotleyFool.com published its top ten lists of “Big Data Stocks” where LinkedIn.com (LinkedIn) was placed in at the third position (Reeves, 2012). However, in May that year LinkedIn fell victim to hackers and put at risk, the data and privacy of more than six million of its users, thus jeopardising the website’s reputation (Barlow, 2012). With the advent of big data, data security becomes a major issue for data mining companies like LinkedIn. Another problem this brings is that by losing control of their data, LinkedIn users were stripped of their private identities on that site, thus putting their reputation at risk as well. In fact, LinkedIn is known to be the preferred social network for government agencies (Williams, 2012).

Gone are the days where one could act one way to a certain group of people and another to a different group of people without each group finding out. Now, as more and more information gets collected about someone, organisations and even groups of people that someone does not even know can make assumptions about a person. For instance, in 2011, Kurt Nordland was seeking workers compensation from his company and the insurance company paying his claim decided to look him up on Facebook, where they found pictures of him drinking beer and relaxing at the beach. Based on those pictures, the insurance company cancelled his payments, cut off his medical benefits and Nordland had to delay surgery to repair torn cartilage in his shoulder (Romero, 2011).

Limited Access to Big Data Creates New Digital Divides

When pundits talk about digital divide, they are generally referring to the issue of accessibly of technology. Boyd and Crawford argue that big data is not easily accessible. This is because only social media sites have access to these data and they have no obligation to make it available. For example, Twitter has created different grades of access to its data. The Gardenhose access level grants ten per cent of public statuses for free while requiring case-by-case approval by Twitter and the most popular Spritzer level provides any user with just one per cent of the public statuses. If money is not an issue, then the highest level of access called the Firehose grants users access to all of its data, although Twitter varies the price from time to time (Gannes, 2012). This grading system alone proves that not everyone gets equal access to data.

However, the new era of big data also heralds in a new kind digital divide, which refers to a divide between the people who are able to use data and those who cannot. Even if a researcher has access to big data, he must have the technical knowledge to collect and analyse the data – a skill that many in the social sciences lack and inadvertently favours the computational scientists (Boyd & Crawford, 2011).

Conclusion

Using the article by Boyd and Crawford as a framework, this paper made a deeper analysis of each of their provocations. Although big data is generally identified by its volume, it is the quality of the data that truly matters. To be able to sift quality data however, one needs the technical skills and financial capability to collect them and analyse them. With the Twitter example, to have access to its Firehose, one needs to be able to afford to purchase the data in the first place. In addition, because big data includes a high percentage of unstructured and semi-structured data, such as images and texts, the research methodologies traditionally used in social sciences needs to change to suit the new type of data. Researchers also have to contend with correlations of data without understanding the causality as data is created in real time. Therefore, scientists do not have the luxury of time to understand causality. But of course, privacy concerns present a major roadblock to the availability and collection of those data. Creators of big data often do not understand how information about them is used and more and more people are pushing for better privacy policies on social media sites. Another problem is that many people also use pseudonyms to hide their real identity so that information about them cannot be traced easily. However, technological advancements have allowed for the de-anonymisation of people’s fake identities to reveal their true self. The digital divide also presents another problem in that most of the critical data is only available to the financially and politically elite with sites like Twitter charging a huge amount of money to purchase most of their data.

Although their article highlights major challenges with big data, one cannot deny that big data has significantly improved people’s lives. The IDC reported an increase of three hundred billion dollars in potential annual revenue to the American healthcare and a hundred billion dollars increase in revenue for telecommunications service providers. Technology research giant, Gartner, reported a sixty per cent potential increase in net margin in the retail industry while predicting a two hundred and fifty euro potential annual value to Europe’s public sector (DataArt, 2012). Therefore, while the potential of big data is enormous, the task of overcoming the six provocations identified by Boyd and Crawford are equally as big.

References

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Boyd, D. and Crawford, K., 2011 ‘6 Provocations of Big Data’ paper given at Oxford Internet Institute Decade in Time Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society.Oxford, England.

Brown, M., 2012. Big Data Blasphemy: Why Sample?. [Online]

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Narayanan, A. and Schmatikov, V., 2008 ‘Robust De-anonymization of Large Sparse Datasets’ paper given at IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.Washington, United States of America

Newman, J., 2011. Facebook comments Expose a Flaw in Zuckerberg's Vision [Online]. Available at: http://technologizer.com/2011/03/07/facebook-comments-zuckerberg-vision/ [Accessed 4 November 2012].

Ohm, P., 2009. Broken Promises of Privacy: Responding to the Surprising Failure of Anonymization. UCLA Law Review. 57, pp.1701.

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[Accessed 30 October 2012].

The Revolution of Dating Websites

2008-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

Internet dating websites have become the “in” thing of the twenty first century. Millions of people all over the world are meeting their potential partners online. For the lonely, the gay, the bi-sexual, the over-educated, the handicapped, the diseased, the horny, the kinky, the married, the divorced and the whatnots, the internet is their Messiah. Forget traditional dating methods. Any friend of yours who had been set up on a blind date by other friends would tell you what a nightmare it could turn out to be! Think twenty first century and think internet dating. Who needs to be swimming in a fish tank when one can backstroke leisurely in the vast ocean of the internet at the comfort of their home? With relationships having become the focal point in many people’s life, what used to serve as a forte as an information superhighway has now turbo charged to become the most sought after avenue to meet potential partners. While many have dumped traditional dating methods for internet dating websites, there are still those who label dating websites as being “seedy” and for the “geeky” and the “desperate”. Despite the kind of stigma associated with dating websites, one cannot ignore the fact that it is successful. A study conducted by Dr Jeff Gavin, of the University of Bath, proves just that. He said:

This study shows that dating websites can work for many people, leading to a successful meeting for almost everyone we surveyed. Given that the most successful relationships lasted at least seven months, and in some case over a year, it seems that these relationships have a similar level of success as ones formed in more conventional ways. (Gavin, Scott, & Duffield; 2005)

Although Dr Gavin’s research concluded that internet dating websites are successful in building long lasting relationships, it did not elaborate on the attributes behind its success. In another study conducted by the Online Publishers Association and ComScore Networks, it was determined that people in the United States alone spent over 450 million dollars on online dating and personals services in 2006, which ranked online dating as the largest portion of paid content on the internet in that year. (Styles; 2006) Hence, it is very convincing that dating websites are popular among people who want to find their potential partners. However, what are the reasons behind the huge success of these dating websites? Models, such as Cooper’s (1999) Triple-A Engine (Accessibility, Affordability, Anonymity) (Cooper, Scherer, Boies, & Gordon; 1999) have been postulated to explain the lure of online relationships. Based on Cooper’s (1999) model, this paper will explore how the elements of his model are behind the reasons why millions of people around the globe attest to the success of dating websites and are members in at least one at this very point in time.

The most beckoning thing about the internet is its accessibility, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Being so, one can conveniently log in anytime they want from any location. Proximity, hence, is no longer a barrier to communication. All one has to do, is to choose from one of the many dating websites, register his or her profile, and start the selection process. Before the arrival of the internet into people’s lives, they had to make do with their tiny little social circle that would comprise solely of their friends, relatives, and colleagues. Now, people are abruptly faced with social infinity! Anyone can effortlessly establish communication with hundreds of people in a day, from the torridity of South East Asia to the blistering cold of Europe. Certainly, this does not in any way guarantee that they will meet their “dream” partners in just one click. Nevertheless, it sure does bring people closer to their dream partners much faster than before, while exposing them to endless possibilities with others. The large database of people also means more variety. One can get to meet people from all occupations and lifestyles, from highly reputed lawyers to highly successful designers. That is right, dating websites are not seedy! Successful people are hooked on it too because they are so caught up with their career that they barely have enough time to get out there and mingle with the crowd. (Styles; 2006) They are not seedy, they just simply do not have the time, and their only way to find companionship is via the internet when they do get some time off.

Apart from the large database of people one can get to communicate with, these internet dating sites also specialize in various categories of people’s preferences-Ethnic groups (“Shaadi.com” and “Jdate.com”), religion, region, sexual orientation (“Outpersonals.com” and “Curiouslove.com”), and other criteria such as black woman and white man, hefty-sized dates, sports partners, birth dates, star signs, country singles, occupation, advanced degrees and vegetarian. (Dvorak, Pirillo, & Taylor; 2004) You name it and they specialize in it. With the myriads of functions that internet dating sites satisfy, it becomes only natural to wonder, “What else will internet dating sites cater to next?” Now who would have ever thought of this? “Internet dating websites for the HIV positive and AIDS infected.” Well, some brilliant person decided that the diseased should not be spared from the benefits of internet dating too and somehow managed to popularize this radical idea. Some internet dating sites such as “Pozmatch.com” and “Hivdate.com” have seen an overwhelming response to their service and many of these websites are currently running pro bono. Now, you may start thinking that these websites only serve to connect these diseased people to one another for mere support and companionship and that its purpose just stops there. You are not very correct. In a Singaporean magazine, “Herworld”, an article was published about dating services for HIV or AIDS infected people and how it actually helps these people enhance their chance of survival through such companionships. Dr Suniti Soloman, a physician and microbiologist from India, prescribes marriage to “People Living with HIV/AIDS” (PLWHAs) with others just like them, apart from their normal medication. “If they get married, they have a reason to live. They have a companion and a person with whom they have nothing to hide,” says the doctor. (Roy; 2004) She believes that when they get a companion, they are more likely to continue taking their medication regularly and that their CD4 count is good. CD4 is a way of measuring the robustness of the immune system of a person infected with HIV (Roy; 2004). Hence, dating websites have also certainly become a medium to raise social awareness as in the case of HIV positive or AIDS infected people. Of course, the factors that contribute to the success of dating websites do not just stop here.

In Cooper’s Triple A-Engine Model, the next factor works hand in hand with the internet’s accessibility feature to make it a big hit. Anonymity, a very simple but powerful feature of dating websites, is sufficient to lure anyone to use it. In fact, this feature of dating websites, actually encourages its customers to be honest about one’s self, because with anonymity, comes a strong feeling of privacy and security. Contrary to popular belief that people tend to lie about themselves by abusing anonymity, instead, people tend to fearlessly reveal more intimate and personal details about them because they know they will not be identified. (Solomon; 2005) To their credit, many internet dating sites do everything in their hands to protect their customers’ identity, as they too respect the value of anonymity. Most dating websites usually discourage their customers from using their real name and prefer them to use a “handle” or an acronym to protect their privacy. Once people are registered and are done creating an online profile, they have the option of putting up their picture for all members to view or choose to only reveal their picture to their selected members. By choosing a “handle” for their name and choosing whom to give their picture out to, people are able to have control over who gets to know their real identity so that others may not abuse it. In addition, many dating web services provide their customers with an anonymous re-mailer to allow them to correspond with other members without giving out their contact information.

The anonymity feature of dating websites also helps shy or socially anxious people to overcome relationship initiation barriers. In general, the most common barriers to relationship initiation include shyness and lack of confidence in one's appearance. (Roberts; 2001) In dating websites, these obstacles are mostly eliminated as self-representation now becomes completely within one's own control. Those who are shy can now communicate with other members without any fear of rejection and those who lack confidence in their appearance may now also communicate without putting up their pictures, hence bringing focus to their personality rather than their looks. (Roberts; 2001)

The final attribute of Cooper’s Triple A-Engine Model is its affordability feature. Simply put, many people love internet dating because it is affordable! With the existence of millions of dating websites, the supply seems endless and the free-market competitive forces push the prices to stay low. Most dating sites will allow their customers to place a personal ad pro bono and there are many that will also enable people to receive correspondence from other members without having to pay a single cent! On most internet sites, customers only pay when they want to answer advertisements of other members. In case they decide to buy a subscription, the price they will pay is lower than what they would pay for a movie ticket and popcorn. (Solomon; 2005)

Having seen why and how internet dating services have become such a huge success using Cooper’s Triple A-Engine Model, with the strong collaboration of the Triple As-Accessibility, Anonymity, and Affordability, the possibilities of dating websites are endless! Dating websites were created to make people’s lives easier by enabling them to find their suitable companions online. The Cooper’s Triple A-Engine Model, has demonstrated how the trio of Accessibility, Anonymity, and Affordability has significantly caused drastic changes in the way people find their suitable partners via internet dating sites while making it a successful and entertaining pursuit as well. Dating websites have indeed created a revolution in the lives of many people.

The Standpoint Theory and The Muted Group Theory

2008-04-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

Compare and contrast the two theories discussed.

From a sociological perspective, people’s social group memberships tend to affect the way they experience and know about the world and also understand the ways in which they communicate with themselves, others and the world. As such, Sandra Harding (Harding) and Julia Wood (Wood) established the “Standpoint Theory,” that claims that to answer many of the questions about how the world works, one has to look at an issue from the standpoint of women and other marginalized groups in society. According to Harding, the perspective from the lives of the less powerful can provide a more objective view than the perspectives from the lives of the more powerful. Even though this theory can be used in inequalities in gender, race, class, and sexual orientation, Harding and Wood particularly focused on the standpoint of women in society. The “Muted Group Theory” was established by Cheris Kramarae (Kramarae) to show that language reflects worldview. The theory claims that dominant group members in society (Men), formulated language to uphold their perceptions of the world and hence perceive it to be the appropriate language for the rest of society. Therefore, according to Kramarae, language does not serve all of its speakers equally, since those who are marginalized in society, particularly women, did not get to contribute to its development equally. Kramarae claims that this man-made language has been constructed to deliberately discount the thoughts and words of women in society, which in turn puts these women into a muted group.

Both the theories facilitated the development of a model that addresses the communicative experiences of those persons marginalized within the structures of a dominant society. (Orbe, 25) Both theories have also largely been used as a feministic theoretical framework to explore the lived experiences of women as they participate in the larger society while having to battle the problem of mutedness. They are used to see the critical differences between men and women that affect their communication. However, the standpoint theory can be only be said to be more of a method of inquiry rather than a complete theory and hence can help to further investigate the muted group theory in various issues concerning women.

What are the epistemological, ontological and axiological similarities and differences in the assumptions of the two theories?

Axiological Assumptions: The standpoint theory borrowed from the proletarian ideas of Karl Marx and hence claims that the perspective from the lives of the less powerful can provide a more objective view than the perspectives from the lives of the more powerful. It also was influenced by George Herbert Mead’s symbolic interactionism theory and claims that the idea of gender is a social construction rather than a biological characteristic. The postmodernism of theorists such as Jean-Francois Lyotard, which suggests a critique of male dominated epistemologies also lent a hand in developing the standpoint theory, although both Harding and Wood reject postmodernism’s absolute relativistic ideas. Hence, the standpoint theory can be said to be a product of a patchwork of conflicting ideas, with the stitching that is holding them together being the doctrine, that all scholarly inquiry should inaugurate from women and others who are marginalized. Kramarae was driven to develop the muted group theory based on the assumption that women perceive the world differently from men and that men’s political dominance in the communication structure of the society stifles women’s freedom of expression. The muted group theory also borrowed heavily from the works of Edwin and Shirley Ardener who first postulated that women are a muted group. Edwin likened muted groups to black holes, as they are often ignored, suppressed and deemed unimportant in society and hence the Ardners theorized that mutedness was a result of a lack of power within the marginalized society. However, the mutedness theory does not imply that the muted group is always silent. Shirley argues, that the primary issue with the muted group is, whether they are able to say what they want, when they want to say it, or, do they have to re-encode their thoughts to make them understood in the public domain. (Griffin 495)

Ontological Assumptions: In establishing the standpoint theory, Harding and Wood focus on a method of inquiry based on the standpoint of women who are marginalized and the issues that are affecting them in society whereas Kramarae built on the Ardeners’ work and used it to explore the mutedness of women and how to free them.

Epistemological Assumptions: In focusing their research on women, Harding and Wood base their research from the vantage point of the women. In the case of muted group theory however, Kramarae examines how the communication structure developed by the dominant groups (men in general) have enabled the mutedness of women and other marginalized groups in society.

Do you think that the Internet is furthering muted group communication or constraining it?

I think that the internet is constraining muted group communication. From the muted group theory, I learned that language on the whole is a man-made construction that consistently disempowers non-dominant groups especially women. In the case of the internet, I can say that the same applies as the entire communication structure of the internet, is based once again on man-made language. There is also the issue of technological disparity as well. The internet is not available to everyone. Those who are poor or are from undeveloped countries do not have access to the internet and hence are unable to reach out to the larger society and the people who are able to use the internet are either rich or are from developing or developed countries. Therefore, the internet, more than anything, has only strengthened even more, those from dominant groups while pushing the nondominant groups deeper and deeper into mutedness.

References

EM Griffin, “A First Look at Communication Theory,” 6^th Ed

McGraw Hill, 2005, pp. 495

Mark P. Orbe, “Constructing Co-cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication,” Sage Publications, 1997, pp.25

The Spiral of Silence Theory (Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann)

2008-04-20T14:07:00.002-07:00

In your own words, summarize how the “spiral of silence” works in human communication processes:

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (Neumann) defines public opinion as "opinions on controversial issues that one can express in public without isolating oneself." She established the Spiral of Science Theory to explain why people often shy away from revealing their opinions/preferences/views, when they feel they run counter to the majority opinion. Neumann believes that human beings have a natural tendency to constantly assess the present and future public mood and are able to make predictions about those moods with accuracy, most of the time. She likens the fear of isolation to the centrifugal force that accelerates the spiral of silence. She draws on Swarthmore psychologist, Solomon Asch, to support her claim. His research found that in group situations, most people tend to accede to the groups’ judgment when placed under pressure. On the possibility that the fear of isolation is a trait peculiar to Americans, Neumann rejects it. Her reason to do so comes from a study by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram (Milgram). Milgram conducted a study in Europe and found that just like most Americans, most Europeans too could not stand firm in the face of group pressure. Neumann also rejects the hypothesis that people conform more out of a desire to identify with a winner than to avoid isolation. She believes that people would rather be branded as a conformist or a hanger-on, rather than being considered a deviant on value-laden issues. According to her, only criminals or moral heroes will disregard what society thinks.

Neumann is convinced that the suppression of the minority’s opinions in the spiral of science is caused by media. Because of the influential nature of media (Agenda-setting theory), the media tends to set the agenda as to what the public’s opinion on an issue is, although it may not be correct. Hence, Neumann describes a condition called “pluralistic ignorance,” where people have a wrong idea of what the public’s opinion really is. She believes that the television in particular, is one media whose power of influence on public opinion, should not to be underestimated. In an attempt to describe the extent of the power of television, Neumann claims that she has never found a spiral of silence that went against the tenor of that media. In concurring with Stuart Hall’s pessimistic evaluation of the media’s intrusive role in democratic decision making, she suggests, that media in general and the television in particular, is the authority in giving people a sense of what the public opinion on an issue is. Hence, people can tell when they are not in the same opinion with the general public through information received from the media and so those people will tend not to voice out their opinions. Neumann claims that just because those people keep silent, it does not mean that they will change their opinions to suit the public. The German Public Opinion Research Center developed a “train/plane test” that determines whether people are willing to voice out their opinions. It found, very importantly, that those favoring the majority tend to willingly express their views, whereas those in the opposite court do not. Also, it found that the willingness to speak out depends on whether the future trend will be in harmony with their current views. As such, people feel safe to talk to those who share their same views than those who do not. The test also revealed that low self-esteem will cause one not to talk about his opinions and also, males, young adults and people from middle and upper classes find it easier to speak out. Lastly, the test identified that existing law encourages people to express their opinions when they feel they are in the minority.

Therefore, the spiral of silence can be summed up visually, as the prevailing public opinion being at the top most and widest part of a spiral, which then starts to narrow slightly to the willingness of people to speak out and narrowing even further to the people who perceive themselves as having a minority viewpoint. The spiral then keeps narrowing down further and further as those people perceived to be with minority viewpoint delve further and further into silence, right down to the end of the spiral with the fear of isolation.

Given the current discussions and broadcast of certain issues in connection with the upcoming Presidential elections, to what extent does the spiral of silence theory explain public opinion? Discuss two examples.

Example 1:

When Barack Obama’s (Obama) pastor of twenty years, Rev. Jeremiah Wright conducted radical sermons that caused much public outrage, Obama had no choice but to concur with the public. It can be said that Obama was caught in the spiral of silence where if he had supported his pastor’s comments in any way, he would have had a very hard time winning the elections. Obama can be said to be in the minority and at the bottom of the spiral while the public, with their opinions against the pastor, as being at the top of the spiral. Hence, Obama had to give a speech, where he had to declare in public that he was not in agreement with his pastor’s comments, failing which he may not have a chance of winning the elections.

Example 2:

In another example, it is a well known fact that gun control is a prevailing issue in the US. However, the politicians rarely touch on that topic during the elections, especially senator John McCain. Senator McCain has a strong support from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and speaking for gun control will only result in him losing a very critical support for the elections. On the other hand, while it seems as though the general public are divided by being for and against gun control, the other politicians too avoid bringing up the issue of gun control for fear of rejection by the public, just in case the future trend becomes such that most people’s opinions are opposite the politicians’. Hence, once again, the politicians are caught up in the spiral of silence where they have to succumb to present or future trend of public opinion to win the elections.

Cultivation Theory (Gerbner) & Agenda-Setting Theory (McCombs & Shaw)

2008-04-20T14:07:00.001-07:00

Cultivation Theory (Gerbner):

Axiological Assumptions:

Gerbner claims that people who use television heavily tend to believe and perceive the world as scary and mean. Since the television is the dominant force in shaping society, he considers the television as society’s storyteller, which gives society “a coherent picture of what exists, what is important, what is related to what and what is right.” (Griffin) He also claims that the most predominant story that television tells the society is that of “violence.” This made Gerbner concerned that television violence convinces viewers that it indeed is a “jungle out there” and that they will have to resort to violence to survive.

Ontological Assumptions:

George Gerbner established the cultivation theory to show that heavy television viewing makes its viewers perceive the world as mean and scary.

Epistemological Assumptions:

To find out if the level of dramatic aggression is on the rise, Gerbner first did some preliminary research to gather knowledge on TV’s violent content. He conducted a content analysis of violence on TV where he found that the cumulative portrayal of violence varied very little from year to year (Griffin). Gerbner also conducted a Cultural Indicators project that revealed to him that Americans who are at the border of society are significantly understated in their portrayal in television, while their vulnerability to violence is overplayed. He also noted that when these people are characterized in the stories, they are often made to portray as a victim. This is why Gerbner believes that these people are the ones who end up being afraid of violence in real life.

Agenda-Setting Theory (McCombs & Shaw)

Axiological Assumptions:

Piggy-backing on the Watergate incident, Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw believe that “mass media” have the ability to bring forth to public agenda, items of news that are considered important on the news agenda. However, they do point out that such an attempt is not deliberately done by “mass media.” The only reason why “mass media” seems influential is because people in general look to the media to decide what issues they should focus their attention on. Hence, it was these underlying beliefs that spurred McCombs and Shaw to establish the agenda-setting theory.

Epistemological Assumptions:

McCombs’ and Shaw’s established the agenda-setting theory to show that media agenda influences public agenda, particularly during election campaigns. This theory has two distinct features in that it acknowledges the power of the press while still maintaining that individuals act on their free will. The two researchers set off to test their hypothesis that the theory predicts a cause and effect relationship between the content in the media and voter perception.

Ontological Assumptions:

McCombs and Shaw set off to test their hypothesis during the 1968 Presidential race between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. They did so by conducting a content analysis of a mix of nine broadcast and print media that were sources of political news. They then measured public agenda by asking undecided candidates what they thought were the key issues in the campaign. The result of the content analysis and the public agenda were then compared only to find that both the media agenda and public agenda were almost perfectly correlated. However, the problem with this research was that correlation does not mean causation and hence the research did not prove that it was media that affected public agenda. However, a strong research done by Iyengar, Peters and Kinder confirmed that media agenda does indeed influence public agenda, hence validating the agenda-setting theory.

Do you agree with the notion that TV has ‘the power’ to help create a reality of a more dangerous world for a heavy viewer (from Cultivation theory)? Why or why not? Explain.

Yes I do agree. While media literate people may be conscious to effects of media, the same cannot be said about those who are not and are uncritically taking in information from media. There are many people out there who do believe and are influenced by the media. Certainly TV programs like “Everybody Loves Raymond” or “FRIENDS” may not be taken seriously by heavy television viewers. However, the power of news programs and even late night talk shows cannot be underestimated. Let us suppose that CNN were to tell a lie and announce that the world was coming to an end and that we need to be prepared to die, I would think that viewers would not doubt the information they received and would probably act on it and panic. Hence, I believe that this concurs with the idea that TV has the power to create a reality of a more dangerous world, especially for a heavy viewer.

Give an example of agenda-setting in which the media agenda has affected public opinion and priorities. Explain.

Many viewers of the “Oprah Winfrey” show are women. In her show, she talks about issues that are supposedly of greatest importance in our society. One of the episodes aired talked about some women in Africa who after giving birth, did not get the proper medical attention and were deemed sick by the rest of the tribe and were just left to die without food or water. This episode showed many dramatic and tragic scenes that would get to the emotions of many women watching the show. The impact of that episode was that many of her viewers poured in thousands and thousands of dollars in donation to help those people as they considered it to be a very important issue. As much as we would like to believe that the issue brought up in her show was indeed of importance, in reality it may not necessarily be so. Why would you be busy helping people so far away in another continent when there are people who are doing just as badly in our own country? Is it not more important to help those who live close to us rather than those so far away?

Face Negotiation Theory (Stella Ting - Toomey )

2008-04-20T14:06:00.001-07:00

In your own words, summarize the nature of face work and its relationship with conflict negotiation:

Stella Ting - Toomey (Toomey) established the “Face-Negotiation” theory to explain how culture affects the way conflict negotiation is performed. Particularly, the theory relates to conflict negotiation with regards to face work. In order to predict the type of conflict management to be used in a conflict negotiation situation, Toomey identifies the related four concepts linked in a chain. The first link identifies cultures as being either collectivistic or individualistic. Three distinctions are made to differentiate between the two cultures and they are how each member of the culture perceives self, goals and duty. Collectivistic cultures value collective needs and goals (a “we”-identity) while individualistic cultures value individual needs and goals (an “I”-identity).

The next link identifies the types of self construal. Toomey recognizes that people within a culture can differ from each other relative to the importance they place on individual self sufficiency or group solidarity. These differences are termed “independent self” and the “interdependent self” respectively. The independent self is more self-face orientated and is more prevalent in individualistic cultures while the interdependent self is more other face orientated and is more prevalent in collectivistic cultures.

The third link involves recognizing the kind of face works people of different cultures and self-construal use, depending on the situation. Toomey describes face as “the projected image of one’s self in a relational situation.” (Griffin; pp 444) The first is “self-face” which refers to the preservation of one’s own face in a conflict negotiation. The “other-face” refers to preserving the face of the other party in a conflict negotiation. “Mutual-face” occurs when there is equal concern for both parties’ image. “Face restoration” is a strategy that involves repairing the damage to one’s own self image after it has already been damaged. Lastly, “Face giving” occurs when one party deliberately tries to enhance the image of the other. Toomey explains that “self face” and “face restoration” are typical strategies used in individualistic cultures while “other face” and “face giving” are typically techniques used by collectivistic cultures.

The final link in the chain has got to do with specific conflict management styles that can be predicted based on cultural, self-construal and situational contexts. The eight styles are “avoiding” (withdrawal), “obliging” (giving in), “compromising” (negotiation), “integrating” (problem solving), “dominating” (competing), “emotional expression,” “passive aggression” and “third-party help.” Toomey predicted that while collectivistic cultures would prefer the styles of ‘avoiding,” “compromising,” “third-party help” and “integrating,” individualistic cultures would prefer “emotional expression,” “passive aggression” and “dominating.” Toomey’s and Oetzel’s conflict management model also predicts, that in a high “other face” concerned situation, collectivistic cultures tend to use the “obliging” style and the individualistic cultures the “passive aggression” style. In a high “self face” concerned situation, the collectivistic cultures tend to use the “integrating” approach and the individualistic cultures the “dominating” approach. Therefore, in order to understand the type of conflict management styles to be used in a negotiation situation, it is crucial to identify the type of culture, the self-construal and also the context of the situation, and understand the interconnectedness between them.

To what extent does your cultural background and identity affect the way you negotiate conflicts?

Traditional Indians value their face a lot and in any negotiation situations, if I want the other party to oblige, giving concern to the “other face” is extremely crucial. Toomey and Oetzel identified three ethnically aligned conflict management styles and hence, coming from an ethnic Hindu/Indian background, I have found myself having using the third-party help style to manage conflicts in family situations. For example, when I had to negotiate with my father to allow me to pursue further education instead of getting married, I had to convince my mother and also his best friend to try to negotiate with him. Doing so gave my father an opportunity to save his face since it seemed as though he only allowed me to study because my mother and his best friend said so and not because I demanded as such. However, in my university situation where I have to constantly negotiate with people from individualistic cultures, I find myself using other types of conflict management styles. When I have to negotiate work load among group members for a group project, I tend to use the compromising style while when it comes to negotiating with the professors for grades or extra credit, I find myself using more of the obliging style to negotiate. Hence, depending on the cultural and face saving concern of the situation, I would determine the appropriate style of conflict management to apply.

Cultural Studies of Stuart Hall

2008-04-20T14:05:00.001-07:00

Are mass media powerful ideological tools?

Stuart Hall claims that mass media maintain the dominance of the powerful and the exploitation of the poor and powerless. Hence, the primary goal of Hall’s Cultural Studies is to empower people who have been disadvantaged in terms of being able to participate in and/or affect society. Hall defines ideology as “those images, concepts and premises which provide the frameworks through which we represent, interpret, understand and ‘make sense’ of some aspect of social science.” As such, Hall believes that mass media plays huge roles in constructing the very framework which people depend on to make sense of reality. But how does mass media do that? The Frankfurt School theorists speak of culture as being manufactured and sold to the masses by the corporate industry. Hence, in reality, it is the corporations that control the mass media, that create the frameworks through which we represent, interpret, understand and ‘make-sense’ of reality. This certainly does make mass media a powerful ideological tool.

Being communication students, we are taught fundamentally that words and signs contain no intrinsic meaning and instead, we learn meanings through constant discourse. As such, living day to day in this era, there is no way that we can avoid the mass media. Each minute, we are confronted with mass media messages, or rather ideologies, that we may be consciously or even subconsciously be taking in. For example, the media often depicts women as being slim and looking flawless and hence uncritical consumers of such an idea would no doubt feel that in reality, that is how all women are supposed to look like as well. This is very often the reason why many women suffer from bulimia or anorexia while attempting to look like the women in the media. However, even though I do mostly agree that mass media are powerful ideological tools, I also believe that with critical consumers of mass media, the power of its ideologies will fail. And, as more and more people get educated about the mass media effects, there will come a point in time where the mass media will lose its power in framing people’s minds.

In what ways and in what degree is the post 9/11 media coverage (re)producing the chill of constraint?

Many researches have been done to prove that media coverage often interplays with public reaction. For example, a study conducted by McComas, K., and Shanahan, J in 1999 suggests that using media to dramatize environmental problems will be the key to raising public awareness, knowledge and action among people. Their paper titled “Telling Stories about Global Climate Change: Measuring the Impact of Narratives on Issue Cycles,” was addressing the problems with global warming and how they could get people to do something about it by simply dramatizing all the negative effects of the environment on television.

As such, we can apply this very same idea to the coverage of post 9/11 in (re)producing the chill of constraint. Much of the post 9/11 coverage emphasized U.S as being the authority on the international stage and constantly vilified the enemy. Most of the coverage also involved shifting the blame away from U.S and portraying U.S as the victim rather than the transgressor. There was much coverage about the prowess of the U.S army and also much stories about patriotism. The media also portrayed anyone who protested against the war as being not patriotic to their country and hence their coverage was downplayed and degraded. Even though there were varieties of avenues to gather news about 9/11, all of the avenues seemed to be singing in chorus with the same kind of coverage/messages, as Hall put it, “the chill of constraint.” This ultimately left the unthinking consumers of the media messages feeling like that there was no other choice left than to war and to oppose the war would deem them as unpatriotic.

How might one 'decode' the post 9/11 media text in oppositional ways?

One might decode and oppose the post 9/11 media text by being stubborn in resisting the dominant ideology presented by the media and instead translating and consuming the media text in a way that is more agreeable to their own interests. According to Hall, there are three ways this can be done. Firstly, the consumers of media text can coincide the preferred reading with their own reading. Secondly, the consumers can digest the essence of the ideology in general but oppose its application in specific cases. Lastly, the consumers can be media literate and see through biasness presented in the messages and develop an organized effort to find the true meanings of the messages.

Refernces

McComas, K., & Shanahan, J. (1999). Telling Stories about Global Climate Change: Measuring the Impact of Narratives on Issue Cycles. Communication Research, 26, 30-57.

Retrieved February 10, 2008, from SAGE Premier 2007

The Adaptive Structuration Theory (Poole)

2008-04-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Summarize the AST Theory:

Marshall Scott Poole established the adaptive structuration theory (AST) to respond to two issues existing in the social structure of small-group communication. The first is the issue of group stability versus group change and the second is the dilemma of free will versus determinism. Poole’s theory is centered on the idea that every member of a group is responsible for the creation and recreation of the group structure through their interaction of dynamic rules and resources. Poole created his theory based on the key principles in Anthony Gidden’s macrotheory of structuration. Gidden believes that people, in general, act out of free will and that the social structures that they create are dynamic. Poole applied these concepts and named his theory as adaptive structuration as he noticed that members of task groups deliberately adapt social structures to accomplish their decision-making goals.

The AST suggests that whenever members of a group interact, they have an effect on the group structure. This is not intended to mean that interaction causes change in the group structure since the very same interaction could occur to keep the structure of the group unchanged as well. AST also goes on to explain how group members are akin to skilled and knowledgeable actors who tend to raise issues of morality, communication and power in every group action. Poole notes that even in small-groups, communication does matter and that the AST has a critical edge as well. The AST suggests that groups go through a process of appropriation based on its members’ personal relationships and topic expertise so as to arrive at a decision. Poole went on to apply the AST on how groups use computerized group decision support systems (GDSS) to make group decision-making more effective and efficient. He believes that GDSS gives all members of a group the equal opportunity to participate and allows for anonymous idea generation and balloting, hence avoiding the issue of group-think. However, Poole warns that while the GDSS should ideally be used to fulfill the goal of the group, it could also be abused by some members to thwart task accomplishment for personal goals.

Compare the AST with the Cultural Theory:

The cultural theory can be compared to the AST in terms of how group members interact and achieve goals. If the cultural theory were to be applied in a small-group setting, it would suggest that groups interact symbolically, rather than verbally. Hence, by creating shared meaning and beliefs through the use of metaphors, narratives and/or rituals members of a group would be able to work for the interest of the group rather than indulging in group-think. The adaptive structural theory however, suggests the importance of verbal communication instead of symbolic communication. There one aspect that both these theories can be said to be similar would be that both suggest that rules and proper structures do exist in any group situation although; in cultural theory they are established symbolically rather than verbally as in the adaptive structuration theory.

Cultural Theory (Geertz and Pacanowsky)

2008-04-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

In your own words, describe what is the main contribution suggested by the cultural theory of organizational communication.

Through his extensive research, Clifford Geertz, a Princeton anthropologist, pictured culture as a spider web of shared meaning, shared understanding and shared beliefs. Michael Pacanowsky found good use for Geertz’s work and found that Geertz’s symbolic approach towards culture could be used to understand and explain behaviors within organizations. The cultural theory of organizational communication helps us to understand and explain behavior within organizations, by describing how members of a group live and make sense of their world. It provides a lens through which members of an organization can come together and interact and identify themselves as members of an organization.

Through Geertz’s extensive research on culture, Pacanowsky was able to apply Geertz’s cultural insights to organizational life. In his initial research, Pacanowsky came to a shocking realization that the analysis of corporate culture required both interpretation as well as observation. This meant that he had to take into consideration not only the material visual of culture in an organization (e.g., copies of office memos, transcripts of meetings.), but also every intricate detail of the behaviors of the members of the organization as well. In his research, Pacanowsky focused his attention on three aspects of communication that aided him in understanding the shared meanings within the organization. The three aspects were the use of metaphors, the use of narratives and the use of rituals.

Pacanowsky used metaphors to describe the corporate culture at W.L. Gore & Associates, where he first started his research on cultural theory. He described the company as “a cluster of peasant villages” or as “a large improvisational jazz group” and described its workers as “factions in Colonial America.” Usage of such metaphors can easily illustrate the culture in an organization rather than trying to explain it empirically. Narratives also throw light into how employees in a company know how they are supposed to be working to become a cohesive member of the organization. Pacanowsky identified three types of narratives that guide employees of an organization. The first is the “Corporate story” where the story carries the corporate vision and policies. The second is “Personal story” which is a story that an employee tells of himself to form some kind of identity within the organization. Lastly is the “Collegial story” which is a story told about other employees in the company and can be positive or negative.

The final aspect of shared communication within organizations is the use of rituals. The purpose of rituals in organizations is to articulate the multiple aspects of its corporate culture. Examples of corporate rituals can include the “Best Employee of the Month” award and the company’s “Dinner and Dance” function. Hence, together, the corporate metaphors, narratives and rituals, encompass the corporate culture of an organization that helps bind its members into a cohesive organization.

To what extent do you think a cultural approach to organizational communication is useful?

A cultural approach to organizational communication has its pros and cons. One advantage of the cultural approach would be that it can provide an organization with a competitive advantage. For example, Google was voted in the “Fortune” magazine as the best employer to work for. The reason for its success was majorly due to the level of employee satisfaction that it created by providing its employees with a motivating environment to work in. For example, it provided its employees with a huge café where everybody, regardless of their position in the company sits with each other and converse freely. The company also provides its employees with other perks such as access to recreational facilities, snack rooms, and also wonderful decors in the office areas. This really helped in heightening the loyalty level of its employees, who in turn increase productivity due to job satisfaction.

A disadvantage of such an approach would be that a culture can also be a form of suppression in terms of letting an organization progress. While all businesses are currently thriving and competing in a dynamic environment, it is important that culture does not become an obstacle to an organization’s progress. An organizational culture that is too stringent and does not have any flexibility will start to lose its competitive advantage over its competitors. Especially with the advent of computer mediated communication (CMC), it is now important to incorporate CMC into the cultural approach as well.

The Social Penetration Theory (Altman and Taylor)

2008-04-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Key Points of Social Penetration Theory:

Altman and Taylor established the Social Penetration Theory as a step by step methodological process of developing close interpersonal relationships. Their theory suggests that in order to achieve closeness in a relationship, there is a proper orderly way in which it has to be done, failing which closeness will not be possible. Altman and Taylor suggest that one’s personality is multi-layered just as an onion is. They use the onion to illustrate the outer layer of the onion as a representation of a person’s portrayal of oneself in public and the deepest layer of the onion as the person’s so called “secrets” of his/her personality that he/she would never share with anyone, no matter how close they get with anyone. The theory states that social penetration only becomes possible when certain boundaries are relaxed and that the main way in which to attain deep social penetration is through self-disclosure. However, just as each layer of an onion gets thicker and thicker as we peel deeper and deeper, a person would seem to find it easier to relax and self-disclose the first few layers of his personality before he/she starts to have difficulties or doubts.

Although the theory seems to focus more on the depth involved in self-disclosure, it also acknowledges the issue of breadth in self-disclosure as well. At the initial stage of self-disclosure, a person may not necessarily deem every segment of his/her life to be appropriate to be shared with the other person. Just like the depth, the breadth too takes a similar route to be penetrated to attain closeness in a relationship. But, if you have heard of the saying, “It is not how long you know the person, but how well you know him/her” Altman and Taylor too believe that the depth of the penetration is more important rather than the breadth in predicting intimacy. Hence, they concluded that the depth of penetration (self-disclosure), signals the degree of intimacy between people who are trying to get close to one another. The deeper the penetration, the deeper the intimacy, be it verbal, non-verbal and/or sexual. Lastly, Altman and Taylor’s theory also briefly suggests that as a person progresses from one level of self-disclosure to another, he/she analyzes the cost and benefits before becoming encouraged proceeding taking the next step. If the costs outweigh the benefits at any level, a relationship withdrawal starts to occur in the exact opposite fashion as a relationship bonding would.

Compose a scenario in which this theory may operate and/or predict communicative behavior and/or outcomes (in Micro/Meso/Macro levels of everyday life).

I feel that the speed-dating phenomenon would best illustrate the key principles of the Social Penetration Theory. In speed dating, couples are given only about five minutes with each one of them before they get matched up with a different date. Within the five minutes, one has to be able to tell about themselves on a more impersonal level. Some typical information would include their names, their profession and their hobbies and interests. During this short period of time, participants of the speed-dating will have to decide, based on the little information that they have gathered, with whom they would like to go on a next date. This would ideally illustrate the initial stage of self-disclosure in the Social Penetration theory.

When a couple decides to go on a date, then, that is where opportunity for further self-disclosure is created, with more time on their hands. During their date, they would most probably elaborate on their jobs that they do and also their interests. However, it is a known thing in the dating scene that one does not discuss about their past relationships at that time. Hence, doing just that would not only be inappropriate but also may cause the other party to start to withdraw his/her level of self-disclosure and may even not want to date that person again.

Provide your own comments and analysis of the theory

I personally do not feel comfortable with the theory as it seems to imply that all close relationships are built in the same orderly and deliberate manner. A situation that such a theory would not apply is in an arranged marriage. In such a marriage, intimacy is forced onto the married couple the moment they tie the knot and there are no progressive levels to it. In fact, because the couple has a role, husband and wife, attached upon marriage, there are many cultures (E.g. Indian) that start of the couple on their marriage journey by letting them consummate their marriage. This, I feel, is in one of the deepest levels of self-disclosure in my opinion and it proves quite contrary to the Social Penetration Theory.

I also feel that to suggest that everyone in an intimate relationship constantly weighs their cost and benefits before allowing deeper penetration to be quite precarious. We have sometimes heard of stories in the news where a mother refuses to pull the plug on her son, even though she knows that he will remain a vegetable throughout his entire life. The costs do outweigh the benefits in such a situation but the mother does not start to terminate her close relationship with her son. There are indeed situations that the theory still does not fit as far as I am concerned.

The Graduand - The Start

2008-02-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Its only conventional that I start off by introducing myself and what my blog is gonna be about. I am Tharini Iyengher, a 26 yr old female, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The chief purpose of this blog is to put up whatever writings that I've submitted in school for public viewing or grading , if you will. I believe that this will be a good platform for me to personally judge where my writing skills stand and help me improve on my weak areas. I also hope that there will be sufficient exchange of ideas on the subjects of my writings so that I may expand my knowledge. I will also appreciate it if readers out there will give me a grade (yes yes..and so I'm a typical student :P)...on whatever scale you wish to.

I'm always open to to criticisms as well as compliments and it will really make me happy if you will be generous with both. Hope you guys like my blog! Have a good day everyone!