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Sunday, March 23, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Identity Creation: Food for Thought For Facebook Fans
A week and a half ago at USF, Fred Stutzman (his interesting blog is here) academic/expert on Facebook in particular, talked about the Social Networking Site that has come to dominate teen/young adult social life.
I was interested to hear Stutzman speak for many reasons: Facebook is HUGE; identity creation/formation on Facebook has interested me- like how people create what they want people to think of them, like a sort of self- advertisement, which I thought of as a negative thing; and after reading a few blogposts of his I realized how Facebook is different from other SNSs, because it is situationally relevant, since it is rooted in an offline community (that community first being college campuses).
Danah Boyd, academic/SNS analyst (her interesting blog here), talks a lot of about identity formation on SNSs in her article Why Youth Love Social Networking Sites: the role of networked publics in teenage social life, which we read before Stutzman's talk for our Davies Forum on Digital Literacy class. In this article, she says, "...SNSs are providing teens with a space to work out their identity and status, make sense of cultural cues, and negotiate public life." She continues later on in this essay with, "the process of learning to read social cues and react accordingly is core to being socialized into a society...". The act of creating a virtual presence is surely different from creating one through our bodies- the digital process involves self-reflexivity through its articulation. So this was a new way that I thought about identity creation on SNSs before hearing Stutzman speak.
He said about identity creation that we are "writing ourselves into being," making decisions about what is going to represent us, and "creating commonalities," like hometown, interests, etc. He said Facebook is three things: a directory, a social management space, and a time- waster. He broke down the kinds of relationships SNSs create and what they mean. In our human relationships, we have strong ties, and we have weak ties. The strong ties are our family and close friends. The weak ties are our coworkers, acquaintances, etc. Strong ties are important of course, but weak ties are also important, he said.
He addressed the idea of the Social Network "friend." Who are these friends? How valid are our relationships with them? SNSs are changing the idea of friendship perhaps. Boyd says friends' profiles for teens provide a sense of what types of presentations are socially appropriate, and also that SNS friends are not just people one knows, but "public displays of connections. 'You are who you know'."
One issue users encountered with Facebook is that before the controversial introduction of the "mini feed,"users had one idea of what their "friendships" meant, and an idea of what their privacy was. Now, after the mini feed has been introduced, friendship means 'welcome to the stream of my life' (since the mini feed updates a user on the online Facebook actions of all their friends). So now a person would know everything that all of their "friends" were doing all of the time, even if they didn't necessarily want to.
Another issue Stutzman mentioned that Facebook users have is figuring out how to make the transition from college to the workplace, as far as what is appropriate to have on your profile. I am interested in this, as I have recently thought about the idea of "cleansing" my profile in preparation for job navigation. Stutzman said there are all sorts of "social negotiations" going on as we leave old friends and make new ones. Facebook allows for new opportunities for friendships to emerge as there are all sorts of "vectors for connection." This issue of transitioning social situations online and off is interesting too because his research shows when we create content on our profiles, we conceive that it is our close friends who are looking at our profile the most. But then the question looms in the air, 'what if my boss sees it somehow?' Cleansing is a precaution in these cases. But also, more interestingly, what if you are close friends with your boss?
So the whole idea of identity creation Boyd and Stutzman have a LOT to say about. Stutzman asked the questions, "Are we just ourselves? Are we creating new selves?" And Stutzman's company ClaimID lets you control your Google identity. Don't like what comes up when you google your name? Check this company out. Stutzman ended the talk with an eerie thought, "ID is interesting because it's sort of one of the last unclaimed territories." I encourage you to read more at Boyd's blog, apophena - making connections where none previously existed- and Stutzman's blog, Unit Structures.
I was interested to hear Stutzman speak for many reasons: Facebook is HUGE; identity creation/formation on Facebook has interested me- like how people create what they want people to think of them, like a sort of self- advertisement, which I thought of as a negative thing; and after reading a few blogposts of his I realized how Facebook is different from other SNSs, because it is situationally relevant, since it is rooted in an offline community (that community first being college campuses).
Danah Boyd, academic/SNS analyst (her interesting blog here), talks a lot of about identity formation on SNSs in her article Why Youth Love Social Networking Sites: the role of networked publics in teenage social life, which we read before Stutzman's talk for our Davies Forum on Digital Literacy class. In this article, she says, "...SNSs are providing teens with a space to work out their identity and status, make sense of cultural cues, and negotiate public life." She continues later on in this essay with, "the process of learning to read social cues and react accordingly is core to being socialized into a society...". The act of creating a virtual presence is surely different from creating one through our bodies- the digital process involves self-reflexivity through its articulation. So this was a new way that I thought about identity creation on SNSs before hearing Stutzman speak.
He said about identity creation that we are "writing ourselves into being," making decisions about what is going to represent us, and "creating commonalities," like hometown, interests, etc. He said Facebook is three things: a directory, a social management space, and a time- waster. He broke down the kinds of relationships SNSs create and what they mean. In our human relationships, we have strong ties, and we have weak ties. The strong ties are our family and close friends. The weak ties are our coworkers, acquaintances, etc. Strong ties are important of course, but weak ties are also important, he said.
He addressed the idea of the Social Network "friend." Who are these friends? How valid are our relationships with them? SNSs are changing the idea of friendship perhaps. Boyd says friends' profiles for teens provide a sense of what types of presentations are socially appropriate, and also that SNS friends are not just people one knows, but "public displays of connections. 'You are who you know'."
One issue users encountered with Facebook is that before the controversial introduction of the "mini feed,"users had one idea of what their "friendships" meant, and an idea of what their privacy was. Now, after the mini feed has been introduced, friendship means 'welcome to the stream of my life' (since the mini feed updates a user on the online Facebook actions of all their friends). So now a person would know everything that all of their "friends" were doing all of the time, even if they didn't necessarily want to.
Another issue Stutzman mentioned that Facebook users have is figuring out how to make the transition from college to the workplace, as far as what is appropriate to have on your profile. I am interested in this, as I have recently thought about the idea of "cleansing" my profile in preparation for job navigation. Stutzman said there are all sorts of "social negotiations" going on as we leave old friends and make new ones. Facebook allows for new opportunities for friendships to emerge as there are all sorts of "vectors for connection." This issue of transitioning social situations online and off is interesting too because his research shows when we create content on our profiles, we conceive that it is our close friends who are looking at our profile the most. But then the question looms in the air, 'what if my boss sees it somehow?' Cleansing is a precaution in these cases. But also, more interestingly, what if you are close friends with your boss?
So the whole idea of identity creation Boyd and Stutzman have a LOT to say about. Stutzman asked the questions, "Are we just ourselves? Are we creating new selves?" And Stutzman's company ClaimID lets you control your Google identity. Don't like what comes up when you google your name? Check this company out. Stutzman ended the talk with an eerie thought, "ID is interesting because it's sort of one of the last unclaimed territories." I encourage you to read more at Boyd's blog, apophena - making connections where none previously existed- and Stutzman's blog, Unit Structures.
Sweater Day
Mister Rogers, who believed YOU are special, would be 80 today. We should all be wearing sweaters today in honor of him. go here to find out more.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Photo of the Day
probably refreshing for some- graffiti across from the Adam's Morgan metro stop in DC
Monday, March 17, 2008
Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega 5B
Here's the plane Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic, and across the United States, both solo in 1932. Both were the first times a woman had made the flight. I was excited to view the plane at the National Air and Space Museum because for my voice for performance class I'm performing Amelia's acceptance speech for a medal awarded to her by the National Geographic Society after making the flight across the Atlantic.
"At 11:30 (pm) I plunged into the storm and met the roughest air I have ever encountered while flying completely blind. By blind I mean I could not see out of my cockpit at all. I had light there which of course, did not cast much illumination beyond the windowpane, anymore than a lamp in a house casts its glow far outside. For about an hour I could not keep my course absolutely. I was tossed about to such an extent that accuracy was impossible," Amelia said about her flight across the Atlantic, which took 15 hours.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Emira Woods and the Global Womens' Rights Forum
Tuesday night at USF, Emira Woods, native Liberian who works at the Progressive Think Tank- The Institute for Policy Studies- In Washington, D.C., spoke about the Firestone Tire company in Liberia, Africa.
In Liberia Firestone has their factory, because this is where rubber trees are. What is happening is that there is exploitation of workers in what can be seen as modern slave labor. The Institute heads the campaign against Firestone , which started in 2005, and has already made a difference, but is still waiting on a court date to see Firestone face to face.
Liberian Firestone workers are not paid enough for the work they do. They are given a quota to meet every day (in scraping trees' bark away to let the rubber drip out, letting it drip down, and then carrying 150 pounds of the rubber liquid in buckets for sometimes a mile). In order to meet this rate the workers bring in their children and wives to help them work- for no extra wage. Firestone is being charged with child labor and modern day slavery.
Their rebuttal to these charges is that they pay their workers the highest wage in the country. But this is no fair reply; there is no other company in Liberia that compares to Firestone. "It's an unequal lense," said Woods. Meanwhile, managers in the Firestone company live in Villas, and across from them live the workers in shantys with no running water, electricity, or plumbing. After being accused, Firestone has built houses for ther workers. They look great on the outside, but on the inside are not much different than their shantys. No running water or electricity or plumbing, and just one big room divided by a wall to make two rooms.
Woods was happy to be in the Bay Area, which she said is a special place for activism. For example, the Berkeley City Council, after hearing about this, voted unanimously to not support Firestone, and called the Institute to tell them this. The Institute did not even have to approach them, which is usually how it works.
Woods' speech was inspiring, hitting home about many important ideas. "Do we succumb as corporations gain more and more power? No!" She spoke about fighting corporate America, and understanding that: a different, better world is possible, where people are put first!; we are agents of change!; we have power as voters!; we can work together, seize our power as consumers to live our values (for example, can I see a diamond really as a symbol of love?) ; and mainly, Power to the People!
She said, "Governments are there to negotiate; they have to be pushed-which is the power of the people."
Among all these ideas is the important one of -connection-, a theme to this blog, and this semester, it is starting to seem. With stuff like this going on in Liberia, we have to make the connection to ourselves and be able to relate all as one people.
This is difficult seeing as how Liberians near the Firestone factory have only one place they can access the Internet: an expensive wireless cafe. But, in keeping contact with the institute, they do utilize other technologies such as: texting; Skype, in which they have a bi-monthly teleconference; podcast technology; a filmmaker (who made a short film about this); classic broadcast networks like CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera; and Youtube. "Youtube is huge for us," Woods said. You can view youtube clips of news reports on Stop Firestone's myspace page.
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