#online expression

China and Myanmar have the ‘worst environment’ for internet freedom #censorship #China #Elections #FreedomHouse

Can you tell how old a person is online by the smilies/emoticons/emojis/expressions of actions in their text?

I was told my use of :: to indicate doing something like ::grin:: was old fashioned the other day.

I have a "real" blog — one I host on my own domain, where I blog about work. I briefly blogged about personal things on it but I received a comment about it one time that made me reconsider the wisdom of doing so. People wanted to read what I had to offer on conversations about technology policy, not my struggles with mood or self-esteem. Despite having interacted with and being aware of many people who tackle those topics in the public eye with their blogs, I've always been aware of the tension and ambivalence between two positions on this topic: that the work and personal online presences ought to be, or can be, one and the same; or, that they ought to remain separate but also ought to be public.

It's taken me a while but I'm realizing that my inability to properly engage with this line of thought is actually a part of the pattern of thinking I'm seeking to overcome at the moment. The mere recognition of this fact is making me feel... a little less constrained, because there is an awful lot I'd like to be able to talk about, publicly and without fear.

When looking for trends in the way social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are being used, it’s interesting to find out just how represent themselves between not just the different sites, but in different contexts within those sites as well. Donath and Boyd highlighted an interesting point saying “We may use the network to extend the range of people we can contact; we may use it to limit the people who can contact us.” (2004, 81). With the flow of information user-controlled by the invested parties, a democratic, decentralised and highly interactive representation of an individual is created.

On the other hand, the feeding of this information is somewhat transparent whilst still remaining in the hands of the individuals. Erika Pearson (2009) used the metaphor of The Glass Bedroom, to describe the release of information on a social networking platform as “a bridge that is partially private and public, constructed online through signs and language”. Inside, “private conversations and intimate exchanges occur, each with varying awareness of distant friends and strangers moving past transparent walls that separate groups from more deliberate and constructed ‘outside’ displays.” The online platform for self representation is still not as good as the real life you.

  References

  Donath, J. and D, Boyd. (2004). “Public displays of connection”.   BT Technology Journal, volume 22 (4): 71-82. Accessed March 12, 2011. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/.

Leong, Susan. "KCB206 New Media: Internet, Self and Beyond: Week 2 lecture notes." Accessed March 12, 2011. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/.