Jan 25th, 2010
Study Examines the Internet Bashing of Uwe Boll
Internet Bashing is a form of harsh, hostile attacks on persons or products that often occur among groups of Internet users. Within the scope of a master thesis, Jan-Mathis Schnurr explores its social dynamics. He is a graduate research assistant at the Institute for Media and Educational Technology, University of Augsburg, Germany. The study seeks to uncover the roots behind Internet Bashing – the origin of the phenomenon itself, who the so called Internet Bashers are and what motives drive them to write these things.
Biggest and most intense case of Internet Bashing
In order to achieve these goals, the methods used focus on a prominent and up-to-date single case: the case of the movie director Uwe Boll.
Since his international breakthrough with the film House of the Dead in year 2003, film critics have been less than enthusiastic about the prolific filmmaker’s output. The Internet community has latched onto the name “Uwe Boll” and equated it with everything that is wrong with cinema, making him on of the most antagonized directors among film fans worldwide. This was recognized at the 29th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony in February 2009, at which Uwe Boll received the Worst Director award and the rare Worst Career Achievement award.
It is by far the biggest and most intense case of Internet Bashing one can find today. Based on the high amount of diverse opinions expressed about Uwe Boll in social media on the Internet, it is an ideal case to start with.
Online survey for users of the video sharing website YouTube
One of the central parts of the study, therefore, is an online survey which aims at exploring perceptions users of the video sharing website YouTube have of Uwe Boll. It can be accessed at http://bscw.uni-augsburg.de/survey/index.php?sid=88.
The anonymous survey runs from January 25th to February 7th, 2010. It takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. The questions are targeted to both registered members and unregistered users of YouTube.
The anonymous survey runs from January 25th to February 7th, 2010. It takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. The questions are targeted to both registered members and unregistered users of YouTube.
A video interview with Uwe Boll on the phenomenon of Internet Bashing is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJhEeQI2KE.
Image: sxc.hu | Michal Zacharzewski