the challenges of Web 2.0: an analyze of interactivity features and potential
The key feature of Web 2.0 is the possibility to democratize the creation and the share of information and, consequently, "its capacity to empower users socially and politically" (Jarrett, 2008). It is impossible to deny its great advance while enabling mass participation in social activities, e-learning processes and decision-making. The online environment unifies science and a humanistic perspective to force for good in democracies, opening space to new forms of business and empowering work in all creative activities that compose the content of Web 2.0. On the other hand, in a dynamic space known for its interactivity and content generated by its own users, concepts such as fake news, hate speech and manipulation of data to exploit people have stated its place. Therefore, in order to work for advancement in digital citizenship, there are fundamental questions about the transformations that the World Wide Web has made that need to be discussed.
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In contemporary societies, the arrival of Web 2.0 provided a faster and easier way to disseminate information through social media. However, Shu et al. (2017) claimed that "this also generates a large volume of fake news, produced online for a variety of purposes, such as financial and political gain" (p. 22). For instance, the presidential election in Brazil had social media as a major factor of decision, with the spread of fake news through Whatsapp and Facebook. According to a report from the newspaper The Guardian (2019), "WhatsApp executives acknowledged Brazilian accounts were the target of massive spamming operations by digital marketing agencies before the election". Although the Brazilian and world press were frequently propagating this matter, the extremist right-wing party was successful in creating and winning a polarized war between a so-called corrupt media and a populist politician. Even though the fact-checker agencies announced the falsehood of the content, they were ignored by the majority of people who selected Jair Bolsonaro as their new president in 2018. As Davidson questioned in 2008, "who are one's peers when the validity of the sources is determined by community standards enforced by various issues, not by professionals who have been certified as the authorities of the community?" (p. 711).
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As stated by Deuze and Yeshua (2001), "the Internet is particularly affecting journalism and other forms of online content in terms of its credibility (or lack thereof) in an anonymous global communications environment where everyone is both producer and consumer of content" (p. 274). To this extent, its usability and the possibility of interactivity has been used as a compelling tool for governments to control populations. Therefore, the permissibility of Web 2.0 should be identified as a strategic exploitation of power in neoliberal regimes, raising complex ethical and privacy concerns. Jarrett (2008) argued that "interactivity is a technology which enables the reproduction of neoliberal regimes of power by producing subjects fit for the continuation of that system of power and its particular regimes of control". For example, a study revealed a massive operation happening in China, where the government has posted approximately 448 million posts per year to try to persuade its population from political discussions (King, G. et al, 2017). In the US, the company Cambridge Analytica illegally used more than 50 million personal Facebook profiles to construct a software program able to exploit data to target voters in favor of Donald Trump in the elections (Cadwalladr, C. et al, 2018).
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Although it is a great challenge to create coherent rules and make them being completely followed inside online environments, countless projects are fighting to turn Web 2.0 into a space where positive social impact happens. Moreover, in determining moments in History it is also possible to see technology companies acting to respect their community standards in favor of human wellbeing. For instance, during the pandemic caused by COVID-19, Facebook and Twitter decided to delete two of Jair Bolsonaro's posts because it created misinformation that could induce real harm to people (Marques, J., 2020). The president's posts showed him interacting with a large crowd, which goes against the World Health Organization’s recommendation of social isolation. Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, also had a post deleted in which he presented a homemade drink recipe as a solution for the new coronavirus. According to Marques (2020), "Twitter, Facebook and other technology companies, such as Google and Microsoft, signed a joint statement in which they pledged to fight fraud and misinformation about the new coronavirus."
Furthermore, other initiatives are working to guarantee a well-established media literacy for people. For instance, the British project named Be Internet Citizes, designed in partnership with Google, has the goal to build resilience to extremist propaganda and grooming online among young people, running workshops for more than 500 teenagers across the UK. According to the Internet Citizens: Impact Report (2017), to be able to critically evaluate digital content is a strong defense against hate speech and radical groups. It was noted that "participants reported an increased level of knowledge and confidence after the workshops. Particularly notable was the 34 percentage point increase in the proportion of participants saying they felt confident identifying fake news" (Reynolds, L. 2017, p. 18).
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To conclude, as "the explosive proliferation of new technologies has presented incredible opportunities for mankind" (Reynolds, L. 2017, p. 6), it is fundamental to discuss media literacy in Web 2.0 to propose solutions for its questions involving privacy and ethical matters. Along with it, it is about time to take into consideration the true importance of humanists as a defining feature for progress in a contemporary world in which the internet and derived technologies have a primordial spot. Therefore, the route to develop a strong digital citizenship involves a long process discussing World Wide Web problems with a scientific and humanistic perspective working side by side. The internet was intended to bring people together, thus it is necessary to have engaged professionals working in collaboration to take full advantage of online networks, creating a more inclusive landscape on behalf of social development and empowering people.
REFERENCES
Jarrett, K. (2008). Interactivity is Evil! A Critical Investigation of Web 2.0. First Monday. March 2008.
Davidson, C.N. (2008). Humanities 2.0: Promise, Perils, Predictions. PMLA. May, 2008.
Shu, K., Sliva, A., Wang, S., Tang, J., & Liu, H. (2017). Fake news detection on social media: A data mining perspective. ACM SIGKDD Explorations Newsletter, 19(1), 22-36.
Avelar, D. (2019, October 30) WhatsApp fake news during Brazil election ‘favoured Bolsonaro’. The Guardian, Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/
Marques, J. (2020, March 31) Facebook and Instagram Follow Twitter in Deleting Bolsonaro's Posts. Folha de São Paulo, Retrieved from https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2020/03/facebook-and-instagram-follow-twitter-in-deleting-bolsonaros-posts.shtml
Deuze, M., & Yeshua, D. (2001). Online journalists face new ethical dilemmas: Lessons from the Netherlands. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 16(4), 273-292.
King, G., Pan, J., & Roberts, M. E. (2017). How the Chinese government fabricates social media posts for strategic distraction, not engaged argument. American political science review, 111(3), 484-501.
Cadwalladr, C., & Graham-Harrison, E. (2018). Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach. The guardian, 17, 22.
Reynolds, L. (2017). Internet Citizens: Impact Report. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Retrieved from https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Internet-Citizens-ISD-Impact-Report-Dec-2017.pdf