Performative Trolling: Szubanski, Gillard, Dawson and the Nature of the Utterance

In 2012 the Australian public witnessed three important examples of trolling play out in the public sphere that are the focus of this paper: the trolling of Julia Gillard’s Facebook page when she attempted to discuss education policy, the anonymous trolling of Charlotte Dawson’s Twitter page, and the trolling of Magda Szubanski on YouTube after she came out on The Project. These attacks may seem similar in that a public persona has been ridiculed and denigrated in flamboyant onslaughts. However, we will argue that there are important differences in the effects of these attacks, and that underpinning these are differences relating to the individual persona, the social medium and the nature of the utterance. The attacks on Gillard and Szubanski are primarily descriptive attacks on a deliberate and somewhat stage-managed public performance of identity, not a call to action. On the other hand, the anonymous trolling of Charlotte Dawson, which led directly to her attempted suicide, is clearly a performative utterance from the start, meant to have consequences on the object of attack. In Dawson’s case, the separation between her public persona and her private self is far less distinct than in the case of Gillard or Szubanski. These instances demonstrate that trolling exists on a performative continuum, engaging in constant disruption, but also lending itself to the production of social action. The kind of impact trolling will have depends, thus, on the affordances of social media, the persona under attack, and on the very nature of the utterance itself

Natural disaster news and communities of feeling: The affective interpellation of local and global publics

This paper engages with contemporary debates around the mediation of distant suffering by examining the ways in which news selection and reporting interpellate audiences into communities of feeling, in which affective belonging is structured by multimodal rhetorical strategies. Concepts drawn from discursive psychology and systemic-functional linguistics (appraisal theory) are used to show how news coverage of natural disasters positions audiences affectively. Analysis of Australian print media coverage of the 2009 Australian bushfires and the 2010 Haiti earthquake will be used to show how this process differs for local and international events. The paper contributes to debates on the “emotionalisation” of public culture by exploring the precise functions of affect within disaster reporting; in particular, how the production of various kinds of affects in the wake of a disaster shapes local and global publics

'Breakfast is now tea, toast and tissues' : affect and the media coverage of bushfires

Print and electronic media coverage of disasters raises a multitude of issues about the media’s role during and after a crisis. This article focuses on a specific issue: the affective dimension of news media coverage immediately following a crisis. The selection and presentation of bushfire stories not only disseminates information but elicits emotion from audiences. I use textual and visual analysis of The Age newspaper’s coverage of the 2009 Victorian bushfires to examine the discursive structuring of affect. Comparisons are made with coverage of earlier bushfire disasters (the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires and the 1939 Black Friday fires) in order to investigate changes in the visual and verbal discourses of bushfire reporting. The article demonstrates that there is an intensification of affect in contemporary media coverage that is not present in the coverage of previous bushfires, and that this has implications for the role of the emotions in public life and for our conception of the public sphere

Community empowerment and trust: Social media use during the Hazelwood mine fire

During and after a disaster, affected communities grapple with how to respond and make sense of the experience. The physical and mental health of individuals is often adversely affected, as is the well being of the community. In early 2014, a fire in the Morwell open cut coalmine adjacent to the Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria burned for approximately 45 days, shrouding surrounding communities in smoke. As authorities struggled to put out the fire, the nearby communities became increasingly concerned about the perceived health risks of exposure to the smoke, particulate matter and gas emissions from the burning coal. The Hazelwood mine fire, initially treated as a fire emergency, 'evolved into a chronic technological disaster and a significant and lengthy environmental and health crisis' (Government of Victoria 2014, p. 28). In response to the crisis, people turned to social media as an alternative space in which to share information, tell their stories and organise for the purpose of activism. This paper takes the Hazelwood mine fire as a case study to examine how a community used social media (specifically Facebook) during a complex technological crisis involving health effects. It examines the issues facing emergency organisations and communities in relation to information and trust, and identifies the strengths and pitfalls of social media use in relation to community empowerment and engagement

Airgraphs and an airman the role of airgraphs in World War II family correspondence

This article discusses Australia’s participation in a Second World War postal system, the airgraph service, which used microfilm and air transport to provide a speedy and lightweight ‘photo-letter’ for correspondence throughout the British Empire during wartime. Through analysing the correspondence of one Australian serviceman and his family, consisting of letters, cables and airgraphs, we consider the specific role of the airgraph in wartime correspondence and its contribution to maintaining morale and a sense of connection to home and family for those separated by war

Collective grief and Australian natural disasters

The Australian summer is framed by a narrative of bushfi re. Southeastern Australia is recognized as one of the most highly bushfi re-prone regions in the world, with fire very much part of the life cycle of the environment. Large bushfire events, such as those dubbed Black Friday (1939), Ash Wednesday (1984), and the most recent, Black Saturday (2009), generate much media coverage, which records and narrates the stories of those caught by these fi restorms. Depictions of devastation and ruin, as well as of grief, despair, hope, and courage, are very much part of a national iconography, 2 and are readily used to galvanize notions of mateship and community as a means to respond to those in need

Why isn't there a plan? Community vulnerability and resilience in the Latrobe Valley's open cut coal mine towns

On February 9, 2014, the town of Morwell in Victoria, Australia, was confronted with several bushfires, resulting in a blaze at the Morwell open cut coal mine adjacent to the Hazelwood power station. For 45 days, the local communities were impacted by smoke, ash, and reports of raised carbon monoxide levels. The duration of the crisis placed an unprecedented strain on the capacity of the community and the authorities to adequately respond. Many see Morwell as vulnerable to future events because it is surrounded by coal mines, power stations, forests, and pine plantations. Drawing on interviews from key stakeholders in the community and a detailed analysis of media reports and social media, this chapter examines the factors that both harm and promote community resilience. It emphasizes the complexity of resilience and the importance of communal narratives as community members react to and recover from traumatic experiences and unknown futures

Getting published: R.S.E.R.C. Seminar 9-5-1997 CQU (proceedings)

Examines methods of getting books and thesis published as well as procedures for submitting articles to journals. The panel members' own experiences in getting published are discussed