Stop press! There are lots of people using face book.
Comments(0) Two items have caught my attention in the National media this week. The article in The Sunday Times magazine supplement about face-book, and the feature in the digital planet pod-cast from The World Service on the 29th about an ancient Aboriginal tribe and DRM. As a quick aside I have always been quite big on pod-cast, but since I got my iPod touch the other week I have found a renewed ardour. I listened to the BBC in the gym this morning and I’ve been punctuating journeys on public transport with snippets of audio dharma. Isn’t technology marvellous?
The feature about the The Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari project is a fascinating example of the social shaping of technology and a rare example of a non Westernize slant on the whole digital rights discussion. This captured me because it considered deep rooted cultural practices in the development of online content. To my mind a really excellent example of anthropology in practice.
But The Times article… well first off, I was quite surprised to be even reading it. I am not a fan of the paper as it is, but buy it on a Sunday because the style section is one of the unsung heroes of the fashion press. This article struck me as very old hat. I hope they aren’t going to do this every week like the Mail on Sunday / Princess Di thing.
Here are the main points ZZzzzzz….see going all sleepy already it’s so yesterdays news.
• Social networking is really popular I’m sorry, but even my mother a complete laggard is aware of this.
• Online personas may not be the front of an authentic person. People are not always who they say they are, plus there are wierdos on social networks. There is no such thing as an authentic self. Come on.
• We are in the throes of a revolution, (imagine dramatic music in the background here) Who can predict what it’s impact will be? I am so irrated by this I find it hard to type. Article did not include a definition of revolution either. Rubbish.
• Employers are worried about the amount of time people spend at work on social networking sites. Get over it & fyi The Guardian discuss this on a tediously regular basis
• Online relationships dilute real life ones & threaten social bonds, the decline of face to face skills yadda yadda yadda.
• Even if it is in your own time pictures and stuff can get you into trouble if your boss sees or reads about you doing something naughty. Oh my gosh I can not be bothered with this
This revolution “sooth saying” business makes me think of Alvin Tofflers Future shock written in the 70s about the coming of the microchip. I read it last year and in the main it was laughable, but of course only because I had the luxury of hindsight. It is just soooo dramatic in tone. Carloyn Marvin (1988) wrote a book “When old technologies were new” all about the telegraph comparing it to the t’interweb. I had to read during my M.A. It talks about how innovations drastically alter the social world, culture and economy. Personally I favour Fangs (1997) “6 Communication Revolutions” & have used this as a core reading for a module I taught on this last year. The ancient Egyptians were saying all the same things about papyrus and the alphabet thousands of years ago such as “It’s really popular, how do I know so and so really said this/ thought this, it will destroy oral cultures and practices, and social bonds, or people will lose interest, etc etc”
Sadly I’m unable to develop this post any further at this point due to having to write up the history of the Apple brand over the last 3 & a half decades. Busy busy busy!
But alright, alright so there were also a few interesting points in the article, but ones which were not developed very well
• Users are fickle,
• There might be a dot com style bust.
• How open, should open be?
• Google are a bit worried.