There are different number of types of public sphere on this current life.

Instead of watching News, I personally use Twitter to get any information what is happened in our life, what is fashionable things, how people feel or think about any issues that occurred. Although there are some fake news or wrong information on Twitter, it is possible to check what people think for the tweet, which is enough to check if the tweet is true.

As how to start and use Twitter, it is easy and simple process. Everyone can use Twitter for free and your account can connect with other SNS accounts to share your tweet. This point is suggested as a one of pros of Twitter. Once you post your tweet, the tweet will be analysed by Twitter how your tweet has impacted to other Twitter users. Pros an Cons which has one page of pros and cons of Twitter said “44% of people always turn to Twitter for breaking news than in any other social medium. They can also use Twitter to share ideas with others.” (Pros an Cons 2018) So it is possible to say Twitter is a platform and public sphere. On the other hands, there are some cons of Twitter such as a character limit. Also when you tweet something, you have to  be careful if the tweet has no problem or not because everyone can see your tweet and those people includes someone you are not familiar with. In addition, it is not a rare that controversy unfolds over the tweet due to its feature and the controversy may engage numerous people.

Now I’m going to show the easy examples that everyone can comment for someone’s tweet and become a controversy. That is the Trump’s tweet against North Korea president, Kim Jong Un. (Donald J. Trump 2017)

Trump tweeted:

He tweeted this when he was working to rally global pressure against North Korea’s nuclear weapons program during a five-nation trip to Asia.(Vox 2017) This tweet shared by 245K people and 122K commented. This tweet was picked up by many medias because it was focused on that Trump and Kim Jong-un at that time.

At the end of this topic, I would say Twitter involves everyone who has SNS account and join the conversation easily. However there is also many traps to make conflicts and can be a big incident. On this Internet modern life, Twitter is used as one of the tool to spread information by not only people but also professionals unlike the era that reported on newspaper, TV, and radio.

Reference

Admin 2018, ‘Pros and Cons of Twitter’, Pros and Cons, 1 August, viewed on 8 April 2019, <https://www.prosancons.com/internet/pros-and-cons-of-twitter/>

Donald J. Trump 2017, ‘Why would Kim Jong-un…’, Donald J. Trump, Twitter, 11 November, viewed 8 April 2019, <https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/929511061954297857 >

Ward, A 2017, ‘Trump’s latest tweetstorm called Kim Jong Un “short and fat”‘, Vox, 12 November, viewed 8 April 2019, <https://www.vox.com/2017/11/12/16639462/trump-kim-north-korea-russia-twitter>

Yahoo News which is a global Internet services provider and owned by Verizon Communications since 2017. It was founded in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo. There are some features on Yahoo such as a search engine, email service, and news branch.

It is possible to suggest one big strength on this kinds of Internet news, which is the speed of immediate news. If something big incident or something can make people change happened, Yahoo News can report the news as “quick announcement”. This is the only possibility on Internet news and other physical sources can not do because it takes a long time to publish after getting the launched news.

Although this types of Internet news is convenient and easy to use, not all of Internet News get high reputation. According to Pew Research Center, it is said many online news outlets is not viewed as highly credible. Even so Yahoo News and Google News  only receive high marks for credibility by most of users. Yahoo News marked 46% for THREE which means satisfied and 11% for FOUR which means totally satisfied. The people who said they could not believe Yahoo News is only 9%. (Media Credibility 2008)

I have heard Yahoo News as well as other online news do not have own specific news platform, they use other website and pick up news to publish on own site. This system have positive opinion and also negative opinion. As positive opinion, they can spread many types of news easily and announce immediately, as a result, they have huge number of readers. On the other hand, the reliable is not high. Actually I have experienced Yahoo News had wrong spelling or wrong information. As the cause of the matter, it is said that Yahoo News and other online news sometime publish non-reliable information due to get large number of viewers.

For this issues, Japanese government plans to set up the measures aimed at preventing the spread of fake news, particularly during elections, disaster, and aspect of political things. At the same time, the government also consider to order to Japanese tech companies which includes Yahoo Japan Corporation improve measures to combat the spread of incorrect information on their platforms. (Japan plans to take steps against ‘fake news’ by June 2019)

Although there are still needed to resolve some problems, Yahoo News can be said as reliable source but what thinking of if the information is correct is important.

Reference

‘Japan plans to take steps against ‘fake news’ by June’ 2019, The Japan Times, 14 January, viewed 4 April 2019, <https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/14/national/japan-plans-take-steps-fake-news-june/#.XKanTi8ZPdc>

‘Media Credibility’ 2008, Pew Research Center, 17 August, viewed 4 April 2019, <ttps://www.people-press.org/2008/08/17/media-credibility/>

What do you think about this image or what do you feel from this image?

This advertisement is from Benetton.

As you can see (denotation), there are two kids. One is having the flag of the Stars and stripes and trying to kiss the other kid, another kid is having the red flag of Soviet Union.

What is connotation for this image?

As the background of this advertisement, it was during the Cold War which is the war between America which alleges capitalism and Soviet Union which alleges communism and socialism. So it is easy to imagine how people feel of this image. The people who are involved in the War may claim or feel uncomfortable because the things is really sensitive for qualified people. Also the left kid dose not smile, which can be cause of making people anxiety or fear. However one article that mention this controversial advertisement started this one sentence “Clearly, Benetton has never been afraid to address highly political themes.”(Rediff Business 2011) And one PDF essay form Benetton group mentioned about this campaign’s purpose as “Benetton aimed to create a feeling of world peace and harmony” and they also launched similar themed advertisement for other political battles such as Israel and Germany, and Iran and Iraq. (Benetton group 2002)

So the big vision of this image is peace of world however it may not make sense on the people who do not have the knowledge of the Cold War.

Actually what I can think of this image advertisement is the complex of different culture. Each countries has different cultures like American often kissing or hugging when they greet but Asian culture do not do those things. So we have to consider the own culture can work on other culture and we also have to respect of others. When we consider these things, it can be easier to connect with different countries and develop our WORLD. These things are what I get from this image for the first time.

Although my understanding is not connected with the aim of Benetton, my interpretation can be right as well. What different people think and feel different things is CONNOTATION so the controversial image in this time has several persuasive power, which can be success of Benetton.

Reference

Benetton group 2002, ‘Unconventional advertising’,Benetton group, viewed 1 April 2019, <https://www.academia.edu/5520802/Benetton_Article_PDF>

‘Benetton’s most controversial ads’ 2011, Rediff Business, 18 November, viewed 1 April 2019, < https://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-benettons-most-controversial-ads/20111118.htm#8 >

When I am attending artist lives, it is possible to say I am absolutely part of an audience. I had several times to go to my favourite artists’ live and I can suggest one particular live that I was able to  feel as an audience. That live was for one of Japanese famous idle and they had announced that they would have an active break for a few years after the coming live.

According to one article from Schubert Club (Schubert Club 2014), there are five points why people attend live concert. The five points are:

1. Spiritual Reflection
2. Discovery
3. Much-loved music revisited
4. Sense of occasion
5. Sense of belonging

In this case, the fifth points is effective to make people feel AUDIENCE. It says “People attend concerts because they enjoy belonging to a community with similar interests.” Also it says they can share the live experience with their friends, which makes the live preferable.  This is connected with my live experience and I will mention that next paragraph.

The most interesting point in this case was everyone can be one group as a their fans. Especially the idle has a common greeting to say thank everyone, everything, and today at the end of the live. That is everyone hold hands with the people next to you and try to make a big cercle. When I do this one, I always feel a member of them.

Unfortunately, there are some negative points of attending lives. If there are some people who do not have manner or have bad behavior, it is easy to break the bond made by everyone. Actually some fans of some artists have bad reputation for aspects of manner. Other people seeing those bad behaviour people recognise that they are breach of manner and those may be shared on SNS or report to police sometime. If those accident is happened, the responsibility must be taken by not only the qualified person but also the sponsors.

What I thought that most importance from this experience is thinking about other people and behaving right way to enjoy the time otherwise the dreaming time will be broken especially live events having hundreds people. At same time, live concert is suitable to feel “a member of an audience” and make audience united. This is a fascination of attending live concert and that live is still remaining in my heart.

Reference

Kempton, B 2014, ‘Why do people attend live concerts?’, Schubert Club, 17 November, viewed 30 March 2019 <https://schubert.org/blog/2014/11/17/why-do-people-attend-live-concerts/&gt;