Social media, ethics and development in the postmodernist Malawian society

The paper argues that in the postmodernist era, there is great likelihood for people to use social media networks for wrong reasons rather than for promoting “the good” as the great Greek Philosopher, Plato, would demand. This is so because the ultimate goal of a postmodernist society is a commercial one, which is chiefly characterized by a high spirit of competition and general loss of holiness. The paper observes that in a postmodernist society, the people are greatly motivated by the trendy and that there is dominance of the non-realistic aspects, which lead them to lose their sense of humanity. In most cases, the people become mechanical in their pursuit of happiness, wealth and power. At the same time, subscription to the non-realistic aspects of life compels them to be continuous seekers of knowledge. As a result, this aspect makes it possible for nations whose economies are largely knowledge based to thrive. Hence, as more and more people embrace social media, development accelerates while the people lose their long cherished sense of virtue. Thus, social media is a necessary evil in the postmodernist era. After all, the end justifies the means.Key words: postmodernism, the queer, hyperreality, sublimation, de-individuatio

Contemporary Media Society in the Age of Hyperreality

This paper will examine Jean Baudrillard’s reflections regarding the contemporary relation of the public with a society that has been seemingly dominated by the hyperrealized function of the media. For Baudrillard, contemporary society’s engagement with truth as it relates to the everyday issues of life is structured, and to a certain extent, manipulated by the hyperrealized media. The masses, however, Baudrillard observes, are far from being simply exploited and controlled by media and may have in fact “adapted” to the systemic indifference of the hyperreal

Sustainability reports as simulacra? : a counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which sustainability reporting can be viewed as a simulacrum used to camouflage real sustainable-development problems and project an idealized view of the firms’ situations. Design/methodology/approach – The method was based on the content analysis and counter accounting of 23 sustainability reports from firms in the energy and mining sectors which had received application levels of A or A+ from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The information disclosed in some 2,700 pages of reports was structured around 92 GRI indicators and compared with 116 significant news events that clearly addressed the responsibility of these firms in sustainable development problems. Moreover, the 1,258 pictures included in sustainability reports were categorized into recurring themes from an inductive perspective. Findings – A total of 90 per cent of the significant negative events were not reported, contrary to the principles of balance, completeness and transparency of GRI reports. Moreover, the pictures included in these reports showcase various simulacra clearly disconnected with the impact of business activities. Originality/value – The paper shows the relevance of the counter accounting approach in assessing the quality of sustainability reports and question the reliability of the GRI’s A or A+ application levels. It contributes to debates concerning the transparency of sustainability reports in light of Debord’s and Baudrillard’s critical perspective. The paper reveals the underexplored role of images in the emergence of several types of simulacra

Use of anonymous social media accounts as self-disclosure media for Generation Z on postmodernism

This paper aims to see how anonymous social media accounts are used as a medium of self-disclosure and by adolescents in the era of postmodernism. This study uses a constructivist paradigm with a descriptive method through a qualitative approach. Data collection is done by using library research techniques. Data sources come from relevant literature, such as books, journals, or scientific articles. Data analysis was carried out by identifying problems that occurred related to the research topic, then analyzed with a postmodernism perspective to reveal social realities that occurred in adolescents in the use of anonymous social media from the standpoint of Jean Baudrillard's simulacra theory and conclusions were drawn. The results of the study show that both the positive and negative impacts of using anonymous social media accounts, in the view of postmodernism, put forward a very subjective truth. In the context of adolescent self-disclosure, limits will be determined by personal will, and the benefits of self-disclosure refer to individual satisfaction. Adolescents are forced to enter into hyperreality conditions that are intended to deceive adolescents in a subtle way, namely deceiving and believing that the simulation is the real reality so that adolescents become dependent on the simulation and possessive

The Cinematic Aesthetics of Digital Virtualism

This dissertation explores the cinematic ontology of digital virtualism in the context of the current trend to digitalisation. I define digital virtualism as the aesthetics of assemblage and configuration in the age of digital images. This definition implies that digital technology strengthens the complex tension between physical reality and imaginary illusion. Based on computer simulation and synthesis, the digital image intensifies the contradiction between cinematic materiality and immateriality. Digital virtualism is the aesthetics of historical hybridity and aesthetic complexity between the actual and the virtual, the indexical and the symbolic, the material and the immaterial, the real and the imaginary. In this context, this thesis examines the aesthetical relationship of filmic virtuality and the digital image. In particular, I assert that the digital image is the new form and expansion of filmic virtuality. While film is always the art of the virtual, that is, the aesthetic imbrication of actual indexicality and imaginary illusion, the digital image intensifies the contradiction of filmic virtuality between reality and illusion. On one hand, computer simulation reinforces the indexicality of film by the principle of perceptual realism. On the other hand, it attenuates the causality between the object and the image by digital manipulation. I argue that digital technology simultaneously intensifies both filmic reality and the manipulation of the imaginary. Thus, the digital image expands the expressive force and aesthetic potential of cinema. After examining the cinematic aesthetics of realism, modernism, postmodernism, and digital aesthetics after postmodernism, this dissertation investigates the aesthetical implications of Deleuzian virtuality in the age of the digital image. Deleuze presents the cinematic aesthetics of virtual conjunction in the monism of simulacra, which implies the indiscernible and inextricable imbrication of the actual and the virtual, original and copy, reality and image, and cinematic movement and time. Following the discussion of the aesthetical ontology of Deleuzian virtuality, this dissertation theorises the assemblage aesthetics of digital virtualism. Consequently, this dissertation proposes the subjective and practical task of digital ethics. Digital technology intensifies the spectacular attraction of images and the interactive participation of spectators in the cinematic process. In contrast, the digital image reveals technological fetishism and aesthetic commercialisation. Based on the ontological contradiction of the digital image, this dissertation articulates the configurative aesthetics and the subjective ethics of digital virtualism

The Cinematic Aesthetics of Digital Virtualism

This dissertation explores the cinematic ontology of digital virtualism in the context of the current trend to digitalisation. I define digital virtualism as the aesthetics of assemblage and configuration in the age of digital images. This definition implies that digital technology strengthens the complex tension between physical reality and imaginary illusion. Based on computer simulation and synthesis, the digital image intensifies the contradiction between cinematic materiality and immateriality. Digital virtualism is the aesthetics of historical hybridity and aesthetic complexity between the actual and the virtual, the indexical and the symbolic, the material and the immaterial, the real and the imaginary. In this context, this thesis examines the aesthetical relationship of filmic virtuality and the digital image. In particular, I assert that the digital image is the new form and expansion of filmic virtuality. While film is always the art of the virtual, that is, the aesthetic imbrication of actual indexicality and imaginary illusion, the digital image intensifies the contradiction of filmic virtuality between reality and illusion. On one hand, computer simulation reinforces the indexicality of film by the principle of perceptual realism. On the other hand, it attenuates the causality between the object and the image by digital manipulation. I argue that digital technology simultaneously intensifies both filmic reality and the manipulation of the imaginary. Thus, the digital image expands the expressive force and aesthetic potential of cinema. After examining the cinematic aesthetics of realism, modernism, postmodernism, and digital aesthetics after postmodernism, this dissertation investigates the aesthetical implications of Deleuzian virtuality in the age of the digital image. Deleuze presents the cinematic aesthetics of virtual conjunction in the monism of simulacra, which implies the indiscernible and inextricable imbrication of the actual and the virtual, original and copy, reality and image, and cinematic movement and time. Following the discussion of the aesthetical ontology of Deleuzian virtuality, this dissertation theorises the assemblage aesthetics of digital virtualism. Consequently, this dissertation proposes the subjective and practical task of digital ethics. Digital technology intensifies the spectacular attraction of images and the interactive participation of spectators in the cinematic process. In contrast, the digital image reveals technological fetishism and aesthetic commercialisation. Based on the ontological contradiction of the digital image, this dissertation articulates the configurative aesthetics and the subjective ethics of digital virtualism

ICT to Disempower? A Perspective on ICT as Postmodern Agent

The wholesale implementation of Information Technology (IT) has brought with it a host of unintended and unforeseen consequences. Through a literature review and an examination of both Postmodernism and IT, it is proposed that the influences of IT have acted and continued to act to promote Postmodernism. These influences amongst others include displacement of space and time, its promotion of the Information Society, its ability to create digital hyper-realities, its destructive influence on tradition and culture, and most of all its revolutionary impact on the identity. Through these influences this reflective paper seeks to demonstrate that the agency of IT (unintentionally) supports a Postmodern deconstructed societal structure

The Marketing Philosophy and Challenges for the New Millennium

The world has changed a lot during this millennium and it still keeps changing. For this reason it sounds logical, that together with these changes marketing faces a lot of challenges which need to be overcome. That is why the second purpose of this paper is to define the challenges for marketing in the new millennium. Both theoretical considerations will be applied to the selected practical cases from international and Lithuanian markets.marketing, marketing orientations, philosophy, millennium challenges, Starbucks, Coffee Inn, the USA, Lithuania

The case of online trust

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright SpringerThis paper contributes to the debate on online trust addressing the problem of whether an online environment satisfies the necessary conditions for the emergence of trust. The paper defends the thesis that online environments can foster trust, and it does so in three steps. Firstly, the arguments proposed by the detractors of online trust are presented and analysed. Secondly, it is argued that trust can emerge in uncertain and risky environments and that it is possible to trust online identities when they are diachronic and sufficient data are available to assess their reputation. Finally, a definition of trust as a second-order property of first-order relation is endorsed in order to present a new definition of online trust. According to such a definition, online trust is an occurrence of trust that specifically qualifies the relation of communication ongoing among individuals in digital environments. On the basis of this analysis, the paper concludes by arguing that online trust promotes the emergence of social behaviours rewarding honest and transparent communications.Peer reviewe

Narratives of Enfoldment: Multi-linear and Parafictional Storytelling in Media Art

Narratives have been witnessing a state of enfoldment within the virtual world(s) since the proliferation of transmedia story worlds and new media art works. The aesthetics of enfoldment are discussed by Laura U. Marks within different trends in media art. She follows a genealogy of media art that has its roots in premodern Islamic concepts. Enfoldment is therefore situated as the broad framework of this paper’s discussion. Since the prevalence of the concept of transmedia storytelling, coined by Henry Jenkins in 2007, different franchises (be it in entertainment and others) have adopted certain narrative tropes to create a transmedia presence or universe. One of these tropes is the usage of multi-linear storytelling. Multi-linearity is one of the forms narrative storytelling that liberates a story from its temporal structure, making the consumption of narrative open to the end user. Parafiction, on the other hand, denotes instances when the lines between fact and fiction become blurry creating contemporary artworks where story worlds are essential for the dissemination of the works themselves. According to Lambert-beaty (2009) “the slew of recent writings trying to describe or explain this condition ranges from philosophical explorations of ‘the ethics of the lie’, to moralist warnings about our entry into ‘the post-truth era’” (Lambert-beatty, 2009). The following article aims at disseminating past scholarship on multi-linear and parafictional storytelling in trans and new media art in an attempt at shaping the theoretical framework of my doctoral thesis project; a podcast series intended for online dissemination that features conversations between a fictional character and non-fictional historical figures