Kony+and+Social+Media

Directions for posting articles on your group's page:

Post a link to two article/videos/sources you've found that provide interesting, relevant, detailed, and significant evidence about your group's topic. Write a 5-6 sentence paragraph below your link summarizing the key points of the article and also assessing the source's legitimacy. Use the example below as a model

When assessing a source's legitimacy, you want to consider if it is current enough for your topic, if the writer has experiences/education that qualifies him/her as an expert , if the perspective presented is balanced or biased , AND if the article provides relevant/important information.

Example of what you will post for each of the two sources you will contribute to your group: === __NPR story arguing why space exploration is still important--Sybenga__  === []

National Public Radio interviewed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about his new book titled: //Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.// Tyson argues that the idea of space exploration can motivate the best and brightest of future generations to pursue careers in science and math, which will lead to innovations in all fields within science and technology. Because space captures the imagination of the general public, a renewed investment in our space program will cultivate a renewed commitment to the disciplines of science and math. Tyson claims that NASA is severely underfunded, citing the fact that right now, one year of military funding is equal to fifty years of NASA's budget. He also argues that studying problems on other planets (global warming on Venus and the depletion of water on Mars) will help humans to develop creative solutions to similar problems on planet Earth. He also insists that it is imperative to understand the cosmos because Earth is intimately enmeshed in the universe. To illustrate, he notes the relatively small probability of an asteroid crashing into the earth in the next twenty years. Tyson is an expert in the field who recently published a book on the topic, although he takes a strong perspective in favor of the merits of space exploration, without exploring its risks.

=  Please compose your summary and critical review offline, and then cut and paste the text below, as only one person can "EDIT" the page at once. =

[] This article contemplates the Kony 2012 movement's potential to be corrupt and earmarked, but explains why it is probably not. It also offers differing opinions from Nigerian American author Teju Cole and director Jon Turteltaub on the KONY 2012 phenomenon. It juxtaposes the two views, one in opposition and the other in support of the internet's role in spreading the word about Invisible Children and Joseph Kony. Overall, this article does a good job of staying fair and balanced in coverage of the two opposing ideologies. However, it seems to lack detail in portraying the scope or magnitude of the number of people who believe in either side.

-Aaron Tian

[] This video as well as article beneath it are fantastic in proving the superficial nature of the KONY organization. First of all, the video acts as if the Ugandan government is not engaged in tracking down KONY at all and do not care about their people which is false- especially because the president mentions that KONY is not even in Uganda at the moment. Moreover, Uganda does not "need a slick video on YouTube...to take notice” of their people. It is ridiculous that American celebrities randomly choose a menacing figure in their world to step up against and show humanitarian values because true help comes from the people and the internal desire to help. If the Ugandan government needed assistance, they would ask for it, otherwise American citizens should stick to helping those children who need it most. (not ignorantly intruding on an unkown country with its own established rules and procedures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc This is the video itself- the 30 minutes of advertising and persuading that began this entire revolution (a revolution that has now simmered to mere oblivion.) Upon watching the video, there are many aspects that can be debated as well as critiqued. Was it justified to include his young son in the propaganda? Where are all of the images of KONY awareness and poster spreading taken? and why of all things to include did Jason Russell omit Uganda's stance on the issue. The entire video came off to me as the "grandfather" stereotype of governmental interference- not only did it not mention Uganda's stance herself, but it is completely unknown to whom the money is going to and why all of those materially ignorant artifacts are needed- if people care about stopping KONY, truly care, not just about the tshirt, then they will stand up to fight the cause. It is frustrating to me that people get warped into all of these false idyllic dreams of "helping" when in reality nothing but a two minute havoc is accomplished. True support comes on a very primordial level, from hands to hands and heart to heart.

[]

This is a summary of the Ugandan government's official response to the Kony 2012 movement which swept the world. The video portrayed Uganda as a helpless country in need of international help, and some Ugandan officials found the portrayal to be "neocolonial." Uganda is trying to regain its image and take advantage of this seemingly negative situation by drawing in tourism with a youtube video response to Kony 2012. Unfortunately, the video did not receive many views. This article is helpful because it reveals the many dimensions of impact that social media can have. This video by the Invisible Children had such a large impact upon the Uganadan government and the international political field.

-Aaron Tian

Geneva Batista

Article: @http://www.nai.uu.se/press/articles/2012/03/09/145947/Kony-2012_LongVersion_ConnorCavanagh.pdf In the article Kony 2012 and the Political Economy of conflict representation, addressed the question of NGO’s misrepresenting facts and the raise of revenue for campaigns. This article shows logical and important facts that affect the media and how extensive social networks like You Tube, Face book, and Twitter can be biased, interesting to the public eye. The topic the person is arguing is the wide range of criticism along with comparing the media to playing a major role with videos like the Invisible Children a short documentary of children from Uganda and the social media, overall the article explains the misconception of media

Khadija Jones

@http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism/kony-2012-is-not-a-revolution

Thesis: Social Media can over-simplify and have heavy basis of bias in their messages persuading the audience to bit into the hook, line, and sinker.

Social media definitely has the power to bring attention to terrible problems but there is a downside if the “call to action” is wrong headed. According the TMS Ruge, co-founder of Project Diaspora, social media mobilizes grassroots. For example with the Arab Spring revolutions, social media became an important tool to not only spread the message but inform others around the world. The problem with social media especially in the case of KONY 2012, is that the message is over-simplified. Hence, KONY 2012 is not a revolution. However, “In this case, one organization set the goals and put a huge effort behind simplifying the message for mass adoption -- and that audience bit into it hook, line and sinker.” The campaign said: "If you care enough to send $30 and wear this here bracelet, we will go and get rid of this evil for you. Trust us," But the world is not that easy to fix.

Anthony Woo http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ This is not a specific article but it is the people in charge of the Kony 2012 movement. Through this website they have posted numerous videos and updates on statuses on Kony. Kony 2012 was created by a non-profit organization called Invisible Children. Invisible children was founded in 2004 by three college students Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole intending on filming a documentary about the war in Darfur. They went to Uganda in hopes for a stunning video to bring back to the public about Darfur but after seeing a gunman shoot at a truck on his way to northern Uganda they accidently discovered a secret war. This site is useful for providing information on how this all started and what they are trying to accomplish.

http://today.ninemsn.com.au/videoindex.aspx?uuid=10bdefd2-956d-4d7a-8d06-8eeebe3b5da8- anthony Woo

This video provides questions and concerns about Kony and answers to many questions dealt with from the video created by invisible children. This video answers misconceptions about the issues at hand and what is going to be done after they catch Kony if they do. Eventually It became invisible childrens mission to show as many people the video they made as possible. Through the past 8 years the organization has had their own global night commute in many cities and campaigns to help better the life for people in Uganda, whether that be improving schools or making a communication system for the people to rely on for warnings of the LRA. This also talks about their adventure in Uganda finding out about the situation with Kony. They talk about how social media has helped people hear the issues at hand with Kony.