Virtual technologies as tools of maltreatment: safeguarding in digital spaces

Digital technologies have become an essential component in the navigation of everyday tasks and activities. In the midst of a technological zeitgeist, our ‘real’ lives have become intimately entangled with new media and ‘virtual’ environments. Virtual platforms and technologies have proven to be valuable to athletes, coaches and fans, but with increased connection comes the potential for misuse and abuse within these spaces. The chapter demonstrates how virtual settings can create potentially perilous spaces which can easily lead to the abuse of athletes and other key stakeholders in sport. This is particularly due to the largely unregulated nature of these spaces which allow for varied forms of maltreatment to take place. The chapter considers some of the dangers of negative behaviours within online environments and reinforces the importance of safeguarding individuals in such spaces

The presentation of self in the digital age: Experiences of cyberbullying victims and perpetrators

Virtual communication has become instrumental in the digital age and it presents advantages and risks, including cyberbullying, in the lives of young people. Drawing on Goffman’s (1959) concept of the presentation of self – the study of how the self assumes different roles and behaviours depending on social circumstances – I explore how young people with the lived experiences of cyberbullying engage in the presentation of their virtual and non-virtual selves and how they cope with the consequences of cyberbullying. Using a phenomenological framework for inquiry, the results of this study derive from qualitative interviews and participant-generated visual data. The results of this study suggest that there is no binary identity of a cyber-victim or cyber-perpetrator, and participants’ chosen identity shapes their presentation of self both in virtual and non-virtual settings as a way of coping and/or maintaining their status and appearance. Cyberbullying victimization is a form of online victimization, whereby the former form of victimization can produce digital harm and social inequalities due to the lack of emotional, affective, and mental health support offered to the victims of online bullying. With the recommendations for future research, this study advocates for creating spaces to offer mental health support to young people who experience cyberbullying victimization. Contributing to the growing field of digital criminology, the results of this thesis also suggest that the experience of cyberbullying normalizes the practice of online bullying among young people and shapes their understanding of online communication, victimization, and transgression in the digital age.Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).Master of Arts in Criminal Justic

Female Aliens in Solaris (1972) and Are We Going Crazy? (1994): Mediating Identity Crisis

Source at https://www.ckz.si/en/. The article discusses how depictions of female aliens in cinema can be interpreted as signifiers of deeply existentialist discussions of humanity and identity amidst two defining moments of crisis in Soviet and post-Soviet society, namely the US Moon landing in 1969 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The analysis focuses on the female aliens in the films Solaris (1972) and Are We Going Crazy? (1994), using theories of gender performativity, spatial metaphors and the concept of the Divine Sophia. In contrast to the female cyborg typically encountered in Western/Hollywood sci-fi cinema, the (post-)Soviet female alien downplays the binarism of biology vs. technology and is not concerned with or defined by motherhood. Instead, the function of the female alien is to spur existentialist discussions of (gender) identity, ideal societies and morality

“Girl meets boy”: postcyborg ethics, individual identity and collective rights in the posthuman age

Taking as a point of departure the novel’s setting in a world controlled by online networks and global corporations, together with human beings’ position as decoders of the excess of information in contemporary culture, this essay provides a posthuman interpretation of Ali Smith’s "Girl meets boy" (2007) under the lenses of Rosi Braidotti’s postulates on posthumanity and Heidi Campbell’s postcyborg ethics. Thus, I analyse the ways in which the novel probes into the limits of humanity and individual identity as related to virtual environments, body politics and sexuality. Attention is also paid to the novel’s raising of collective awareness and social struggle against injustice and the oppression of women, homosexuals and third-world citizens as a response to their invisible, naturalized dehumanization by the contemporary global politics of consumer culture

Social Media, Digital Technology and Athlete Abuse.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to examine the presence of abuse enacted through virtual mediums with a specific focus on how athletes can become the targets of online hate. The chapter introduces social media and explores the role it has played in the increasing reliance on virtual worlds. The impact of digital technology on sport in particular is framed in order to demonstrate how digital technologies are now a vital component in our consumption of sport. The primary focus of the chapter is on how virtual spaces can pose significant risk(s). Freedom of speech, shifting power and the lack of safety and regulation in virtual spaces are all presented. Finally, recommendations are made for future research in the area in order to develop understanding of abuse augmented by virtual environments and to develop the focus on virtual safeguarding in sport and beyond. Design/methodology/approach: This chapter synthesises and discusses existing literature from the disciplines of sport, social media and abuse, with a view to understand and address prominent issues encountered by athletes in the virtual world. Findings: By examining abuse through a sociological lens, this chapter focusses on the factors that promote or enable abuse to occur online (often without regulation). The types of abuse experienced in virtual spaces are legion and this adds to the complexity of policing and/or safeguarding online environments. Research limitations/implications: The chapter makes recommendations for a number of future areas of study that will extend the current understanding of abuse in virtual environments. Originality/value: The chapter provides a synthesis of the emerging area of virtual abuse and its links to sociology as a discipline. It offers insight into power in virtual spaces as a critical frame of reference for understanding virtual interactions and parasocial relationships

A Survey of Social Network Forensics

Social networks in any form, specifically online social networks (OSNs), are becoming a part of our everyday life in this new millennium especially with the advanced and simple communication technologies through easily accessible devices such as smartphones and tablets. The data generated through the use of these technologies need to be analyzed for forensic purposes when criminal and terrorist activities are involved. In order to deal with the forensic implications of social networks, current research on both digital forensics and social networks need to be incorporated and understood. This will help digital forensics investigators to predict, detect and even prevent any criminal activities in different forms. It will also help researchers to develop new models / techniques in the future. This paper provides literature review of the social network forensics methods, models, and techniques in order to provide an overview to the researchers for their future works as well as the law enforcement investigators for their investigations when crimes are committed in the cyber space. It also provides awareness and defense methods for OSN users in order to protect them against to social attacks

Queering the cyborg in cyberpunk role-playing games

This thesis seeks to understand how interactive representations of the science fiction staple, the cyborg, create possibilities for embodiment and queering. The cyborg is positioned as a theory by Donna J. Haraway to explore the expansive opportunities to surpass gender binaries by embracing technological adaptation to human forms. I push this concept further to determine how gender is perceived and performed in imagined sci-fi futures. My research focuses on the practice of embracing cyborgian technology through interactive play in role-playing games within the science fiction subgenre, cyberpunk. In examining the works, Cyberpunk Red (a table-top role-playing game) and Cyberpunk 2077 (a role-playing video game), I interrogate the potential for the cyborg to be queered through collaborative and interactive play. By delving into the history and structure of role-playing games along with the themes of the cyberpunk genre, I reflect on the queer potential that this media provides to players and audiences

Watch Me Disappear: Gendered Bodies, Pro-Anorexia, and Self-Injury in Virtual Communities

This project examines the relationship between gendered identities, virtual communities, and material bodies, with an emphasis on eating disorders and self-injury practices. The use of the internet to represent and foster particular categories of material bodies, such as the anorexic, the fitness buff, and the self-injurer, has gained substantial visibility due in part to the proliferation of visual imagery presented through social networks. I analyze written and visual texts within specific social networks to assess their function and potential impact on individuals and larger communities. Drawing from Donna Haraway\u27s cyborg theory, N. Kathryn Hayles\u27 posthuman, Judith Butler\u27s performativity, feminist poststructural analysis, and the notion of augmented reality, this project explores how individuals rely on social networks, images, and technologies to provide supportive environments for, as well as modify and maintain, specific gendered bodies. Applying feminist interpretations of Foucault\u27s concepts of discipline and docile bodies, primarily the research and critiques of Susan Bordo, Anne Balsamo, and Armando Favazza (among others), I examine how image sharing and interactions via social networks and communities affect material bodies and function as forms of social control, normalizing and encouraging ultra-thin bodies and dangerous behaviors, including eating disorders, overexercise, and cutting. I also explore subversive strategies of resistance enacted both within and beyond pro-ana and self-injury communities to counter negative messages and promote positive body image in girls and women