Selecting A New Source

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-battle-for-the-dark-net-20151022

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/dp59jy/the-social-media-admins-taking-on-mexicos-narcos

While trying to find new sources to use for my next paper, I had trouble. However, on The Electric Typewriter, I found one interesting piece (the first link) that sparked an idea. In “The Darknet: Is the Government Destroying ‘the Wild West of the Internet?'” by David Kushner for the Rolling Stone Magazine, he talks about what the Tor browser is, and how it may be used for reasons other than the more evil purposes it’s known for (the Darknet or Dark Web). He also talks about how the government is trying to combat these bad aspects of it. Although the Dark Web is known for drug and human trafficking, as well as child pornography, hacking, and finding hitmen, the Tor browser can also be used to help remain anonymous in certain situations. In certain political situations people can use this browser to remain anonymous online, when their life may be in danger. A sentence about this, “It’s dangerous to be a social-media activist in certain parts of the world,” in the article led me to the idea for what to write about. I thought about writing about how technology (social media as a big aspect of this) could be used to find purpose as an online activist, despite the possible costs. With this in mind, I looked for another article.

I found the second article (second link) after looking for pieces on the possible dangers of being a social media activist in some places today. This directly relates to the prompt in my opinion, as I would say these people have found their purpose, using the internet to cause change even at the risk of their own lives. “The Extraordinarily Dangerous Life of a Social Media Activist Taking on Mexico’s Narcos” by Rodrigo Rodríguez for VICE Magazine talks about this, following “The Administrator,” a social media activist working to combat the Mexican cartels ravaging the area.

I found that these two pieces could be used in an interesting take on the prompt given to us. As some people find purpose in different ways using technology and the internet, it was interesting to see how some people use it to the extreme. People find ways to find meaning with the internet, even if it involves risking their life. I found that the theme of social media activism relates to ideas in Wasik’s piece, “My Crowd Experiment: The Mob Project.” Although he specifically talks about how there was no activism-driven purpose behind his flash-mobs, they could be used in similar ways. People could use ideas similar to Wasik’s for activist purposes, or even possibly darker intentions (if talking about the Darknet).

I found these pieces to be pretty solid and reliable sources, using the CRAAP test told to us in the library. Both pieces are pretty new, being written in 2015 and 2016. The information is also relevant to the topic, relating to ideas in Wasik’s piece as well as the prompt in general. Both pieces are written for credible sources, as both the Rolling Stone and VICE are pretty well known. The claims in both seem to be backed up by facts from credible sources, either experts or people with first hand experience. Also, both seem to be to inform. They don’t seem to have an underlying bias, they seem to be just straightforward to inform.