After showing Fiona our progress on Wordpress, she made some important observations and suggestions to direct us back towards our original proposal (because we've gone offtrack a bit and our blog was becoming too much like other feminist blogs).
Initially, we decided that our blog will focus primarily on how women use online media (e.g. social media, blogs, video sharing websites and forums) to engage in political activism.Other ideas included taking a close look at the circulation of sexist memes, misogynistic views and gendered humour online, and how women are using the internet for information and advice on sensitive or what they consider to be 'embarrassing' health problems.
We were also going to look at debates around cross-cultural/multicultural/intercultural feminism and how the internet has revealed some of the problems surrounding 'Western' feminism - for instance, women in other cultures, particularly African and Muslim cultures have voiced their frustration at western feminists telling them how they should live their lives. They feel that these women are trying to 'save' them and that they don't need saving. Because the internet is globally accessible, women from various cultures are able to reach out to each other more easily and women living in societies vastly different from ours have been able to respond more openly and honestly.
Astha suggested a great idea that we should collect statistical data on the locations from which women (or others) are accessing our blog (whether from western countries or non-western countries); Fiona agreed and suggested using Google Analytics to help organise and analyse our data.
In terms of pages, we re-added a health section, now called "Body Matters" (Thanks to Laura for coming up the with the page title). Here, Astha has agreed to submit an article on plastic surgery and how the internet is promoting extreme solutions to women's beauty and health concerns. Fiona also suggested that we talk about pro-anorexia sites (where young women with body image insecurities and eating disorders exchange 'thinspiration' images - i.e. photos of unhealthily skinny celebrities, etc. and encourage each other to start or continue unhealthy eating habits or the use of medicines such as laxatives, diuretics and ipecac syrup for alternate purposes). I think it will be interesting to talk about forums where women talk to each other about health problems that are difficult to talk about offline (due to lack of anonymity) - such health problems include lack of libido, menstruation-related problems, thrush and other vaginal problems.
Fiona also recommended that we get rid of the 'Links' page because it's static and doesn't necessarily provide anything interesting or new (sorry, that was my idea). Astha thought we could change that page to an analysis of all the blogs we linked. So now, that section is called "Blogs We Love" and will study the various feminist blogs out there on the internet and the ways they've influenced the way women engage in feminist activity.
As per Astha's suggestion, we've also added a 'Forums' page. This will allow our followers to interact with us and each other. I think it will be great to have different categories of discussion topics such as "Women Who Inspire Me" (where people can talk about ordinary people who have achieved and done things that are extraordinary or worthy of recognition). Our followers will also be able to share images and videos on these forums, and most importantly be able to talk to other like-minded people (or at least others who are interested in feminism and online media) about issues that are important to them.
Phoebe has done an excellent interview with Frances Shaw (Feminist Scholar whose PhD thesis focused specifically on Australian Feminist Blogs and Online Discursive Activism). She has also contacted people to contribute to our blog and will be interviewing Mia Freedman, Publisher of Mamamia.
What was previously "Art & Poetry", then "Feminist Art", is now "Art Explored" (thanks again to Laura for coming up with the title). Instead of talking about Feminist art in general, Fiona suggested we focus it on how the internet has allowed women to showcase and be recognised for their art. So far for this section, I've selected some prominent Feminist artists and their artworks to talk about, but I think it would also be interesting to talk about art sharing websites such as deviantART, and how people interact there. I have a fairly large gallery there (built over 5 years) and have quite a few followers, so I can discuss this with them and they'll happily contribute, especially as most of my closest friends and supporters there are strong, independent women.
Most importantly, overall, is that we relate everything back to online media and ensure that we present all sides of feminist debates.
All other suggestions, I have forgotten. So if there's anything else you can recall, please comment.
That's it for now.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Why Feminars? revisited
“Half the world’s population, but not with half the share of wealth, wellbeing and opportunity. And certainly, women do not get half of media attention, or an equal voice in expression – only 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news today are women’s.”
Women in the News: Gender Wire, IPS
This infographic by DigitalFlash NYC shows how differently women use the world's two most trafficked social media services:
In the past, the feminist cause has inspired to fight for change through the story telling of tales of social injustice. In the 1970s, consciousness raising was all about sharing stories.
Nowadays, the Internet allows women the opportunity to participate in feminist debate and discursive activism without feeling restricted by their gender as online feminism works as a thriving hub of contemporary feminist action. It pushes the envelope for how to even think of feminism across the globe: from North Africa to Australia, storytelling is now uploaded to millions through online media in helping women prevent harassment, mobilize campaigners, discuss policy or lobby the government. Online media is the medium; women’s issues are the message.
However, modern markets require modern strategies to capitalize on ways of sharing information on online media. Women have been connecting and sharing online for years, yet it can be a struggle to keep pace with the constantly changing social frontier. Web activists are creating online communities that encourage women to voice their opinions, and then pointing those women towards ways to take direct action. In this way, online media acts for ‘web activism’ as a funnel to organise.
Feminars seeks to examine how online media acts as this funnel. We are especially interested in doing comparative analyses of the active online movement through social media and blogging sites as tools for voicing women’s issues. Online media tools include:
- - Facebook’s role in social networking, discussing women’s issues though ‘pages’ and ‘groups’ and how Facebook has been a hindrance
- - Twitter’s role in allowing women to share their opinions, links and starting campaigns
- - Blogsphere- how it has started a surge of feminist discussion
- - Websites like Jezebel, Feministing, Mama Mia and The Dawn Chorus: their role in reshaping contemporary women’s issues to be more accessible and relatable to all genders.
- - Youtube’s role in shaping Women’s issues through videos and links
- - Other content includes: Articles, Interviews, Transcripts of Scholarly Talks, Links, Images, Polls and Questionnaires, Forums, Digital Art and Animation
Some of the topics we will explore in our feature include:
- - Cross-Generational and Cross-Cultural Feminism, Post-Feminism and Anti-Feminism
- - Feminist Humour
- - Women’s Health
- - Media Representations of Gender
- The purpose of Feminars is not just to talk about feminist topics, but to explore how the online media space can actually enhance this discussion through media tools. We want to encourage critical thinking, self-examination and changes in broader social discourse through an insight into how online media encourages or perhaps hinders this process.
We hope to engage with our target audience of primarily young women, and then on a broader scale, all women and men, to reflect on the Internet’s ability to touch on issues relevant to the community as a whole. Though we do analysis, in the end we hope to see how online media sends people away from those sites rather than trapping them there!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Blog Topics
In our "Thoughts & Discussions" page (the main area where we will post our articles, discussions, short essays, etc.), some of the subject matter we will touch on are:
- Women's use of Online Media and Online Feminism (general)
- How women use the Internet to discuss health concerns
- How film, feminism and the internet can work together to promote events and pique interest
- Music, feminism and the internet's role in connecting the two
- Online circulation of gendered humour
- Multicultural and Intercultural Feminism
- Feminist Art Movement
- Sexism in the 21st century
- Anti-Raunch Culture Revolt
Feminars Wordpress Pages Update
A few changes have been made.
Firstly, "Woman of the Week" has been renamed "Women in the Media", but the content of the page will remain the same (i.e. discussing most talked about women in the media).
Secondly, there is no longer a "Women's Health" page. Instead, we will have "Innovative Women" or "Inspirational Women". This is meant to be a page dedicated to highlighting some of the achievements of Australian women.
Thirdly, "What Women Think" isn't quite the right title for that section. Most of our blog posts (if not all) will be available to view on that page. That page will also have a subsection dedicated to the content submitted by our readers. So, the title's been temporarily changed to "Thoughts & Discussions" until we can come up with something better.
Firstly, "Woman of the Week" has been renamed "Women in the Media", but the content of the page will remain the same (i.e. discussing most talked about women in the media).
Secondly, there is no longer a "Women's Health" page. Instead, we will have "Innovative Women" or "Inspirational Women". This is meant to be a page dedicated to highlighting some of the achievements of Australian women.
Thirdly, "What Women Think" isn't quite the right title for that section. Most of our blog posts (if not all) will be available to view on that page. That page will also have a subsection dedicated to the content submitted by our readers. So, the title's been temporarily changed to "Thoughts & Discussions" until we can come up with something better.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Feminars Wordpress Structure
PAGES
We will have the following 9 pages:
1. HOME - here all the 'Latest' posts will show up in summary (in the bottom of the box it will say 'read more'), surveys/polls will appear on this page as well as Quotes, Archives, Social Media and Site Contributors which will be on the right side menu.
2. ABOUT - this page will discuss what Feminars is all about in 3 succinct paragraphs.
3. WHAT WOMEN THINK ON - here, we will be posting content submitted by our target audience.
4. ART & POETRY - here we will showcase art and poetry that focus on feminist topics and women's issues.
5. WOMEN IN THE MEDIA - this page will discuss the most talked about women in the media on a weekly basis, we need to have at least 4.
6. WOMEN'S HEALTH - this page will discuss women's health issues and how women are using online media as a way to understand and talk about 'embarrassing' health problems.
7. WHAT'S ON - here we will be posting women-related news on what's happening in each capital city in Australia.
8. LINKS - this page will provide links to other feminist blogs.
9. CONTACT US - this is for our readers to submit questions, or their opinions or any queries relating to the subject matter of our content.
DESIGN
In terms of design, so far I've created a few different Feminars logos. Our slogan is 'Pro-thought, Pro-discussion'. This reflects what Feminars is (i.e. online seminars discussing feminist issues and ideas). I've also purchased images from Shutterstock that we can use on our blog - women using the internet, online doctors, vector images to distinguish every page, and many more. We agreed so far that we should use colours that represent Spring - lime green, orange, yellow, etc. I quite like the design of Mamamia. It's simple, while at the same time eye-catching because of the bursts of colour on the pages.
On Wordpress, I've purchased the custom design package because none of the free nor premium themes were quite right for us, so it's best that we design our blog right from scratch and try to be as unique as possible.
We will have the following 9 pages:
1. HOME - here all the 'Latest' posts will show up in summary (in the bottom of the box it will say 'read more'), surveys/polls will appear on this page as well as Quotes, Archives, Social Media and Site Contributors which will be on the right side menu.
2. ABOUT - this page will discuss what Feminars is all about in 3 succinct paragraphs.
3. WHAT WOMEN THINK ON - here, we will be posting content submitted by our target audience.
4. ART & POETRY - here we will showcase art and poetry that focus on feminist topics and women's issues.
5. WOMEN IN THE MEDIA - this page will discuss the most talked about women in the media on a weekly basis, we need to have at least 4.
6. WOMEN'S HEALTH - this page will discuss women's health issues and how women are using online media as a way to understand and talk about 'embarrassing' health problems.
7. WHAT'S ON - here we will be posting women-related news on what's happening in each capital city in Australia.
8. LINKS - this page will provide links to other feminist blogs.
9. CONTACT US - this is for our readers to submit questions, or their opinions or any queries relating to the subject matter of our content.
DESIGN
In terms of design, so far I've created a few different Feminars logos. Our slogan is 'Pro-thought, Pro-discussion'. This reflects what Feminars is (i.e. online seminars discussing feminist issues and ideas). I've also purchased images from Shutterstock that we can use on our blog - women using the internet, online doctors, vector images to distinguish every page, and many more. We agreed so far that we should use colours that represent Spring - lime green, orange, yellow, etc. I quite like the design of Mamamia. It's simple, while at the same time eye-catching because of the bursts of colour on the pages.
On Wordpress, I've purchased the custom design package because none of the free nor premium themes were quite right for us, so it's best that we design our blog right from scratch and try to be as unique as possible.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Also....using the internet to promote feminist film festival:
Follow this link to see how film, feminism and the internet can work together to promote events and pique interest
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