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| Figure 1: r/censorship banner (Reddit, [n.d]) |
The internet has been regarded as a new frontier; a space
that is, “...full of opportunity but also threat” (Kuttainen, 2016). I think of
myself as an internet savvy person, who knows the ins and outs of many
websites. I can even tell you what URL means. Nonetheless, when it comes to
social networks and interacting with people online, my knowledge is limited.
Joining Reddit, a message board site made up of forums where users can post
images and articles for group discussion, was daunting, and revealed power
dynamics in the network that are strikingly similar to real life.
The Panopticon theory,
as applied to the internet, is mentioned by Sherry Turkle in her book: “Life on
the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet”, and is present in Reddit. Like
the warden in the Panopticon, Reddit has “moderators”; users who are given
special privileges and the ability to moderate any discussion on the site. They
are there to make sure users stay within the site’s rules, filling the role of
the always watching authority.
Moderators exercise a large degree of power over
the users, as they are able to selectively govern the discussion and ensure it
goes a particular way. This power may be instrumental, censoring dissenting opinions,
or associational, allowing interesting ideas to flourish.
Individual users, however, are not powerless, nor do they necessarily
feel disempowered by the moderator’s presence.
The site’s comment system ensures the content with the largest number of
“upvotes” (similar to “likes” on Facebook) is given
prominence by being shown at the top of the page. Because the users can control
the site’s content this way, they are utilising power to elevate their points
of view.
Reddit is a complex network of space, place, and power and
cannot be analysed effectively in one post. Join me as I investigate the inner
workings of the website.
Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of
place, lecture 3, Space and Identity: Genre and Transformation. (PowerPoint
slides). Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.edu.au
Panopticon.
(n.d). In UCL Bentham Project.
Retrieved from:
r/censorship
banner. (n.d). In r/censorship. Retrieved from:
Turkle, S. (1995). Life
on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon and
Schuster Paperbacks.
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