Extended Interactivity: User-Generated Content - I Stand With Ukraine

 Good evening, gentle reader. This week, we were supposed to, quote, "Do some research on new start-up companies that provide user-generated content and write your blog posts about them." Considering I do not know what "new" or "start-up" mean in this context (how new? Pre-launch? Within the last 5 years?), I started to do research anyway, and ended up called to do something else with this topic. It is laid on my heart to talk about the Ukraine, and about what is currently being coined "the TikTok war". User-generated content has never been more important, or more scary.

On February 24, 2022, 5 days ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including bombs. The stories so far have been incredible. NPR has been consistently speaking on the war. Currently in technology, without turning this post into link spam, the headlines read: "Apple Pauses Sales in Russia and Stops All Exports"; "Facebook and TikTok Block Russian State Media in Europe"; "Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter Remove Disinformation Targeting Ukraine"; and "Facebook, Google, and Twitter Limit Ads over Russia's Invasion of Ukraine". This invasion, this war, has been livecast to the world in real time. I have been watching just as surely. (source) 

The president of the Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been a president like we've only seen in movies, and yet he's actively generating content designed to bolster his country. A former television comic, he was elected and continues to serve. However, his determination to stay put, refuse to evacuate, and famously ask for more ammunition has cemented his place in history, along with the live stories from thousands of his people. 

I normally conceal links behind a source tag. This time I won't. This leads to President Zelensky's public address through TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skynews/video/7068603944460750086?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id6901285488897984005 .

Technology is changing war in many, many ways. User-generated content means very few rules, which means live, first-account information is side-by-side with mis- and dis-information. The services are trying to weed out the disinformation as fast as they can, but Russia has State media, which is a bulldozer of a problem. (source) (source) (source)

Look, I know I'm supposed to talk about the study we were given (source) about what's done well or done poorly in content generation affected by COVID 19. I should be writing about little startup companies that are trying to fill a content gap - Facebook is in disfavor with many younger audiences, and there is an extremely limited capability with both TikTok and Snapchat. But I don't care this week. And neither should you. People are literally dying while I write this blog post, and streaming it live on a ridiculous cosplay/meme site, and the world is seeing them suffer in real time. There is nothing in technology more important than that right now. 

Go watch it. Follow Ukrainian creators. Write letters, protest. Do what you can to make this stop - we have a ringside seat now. 

I Stand with Ukraine. You should too. 

I'll be in tow.

 


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