You've been Facebooked!

I remember freshmen year, I used to wait with bated breath at my computer, hoping against hope that my Hottie McGorgeous from Dillon Hall would accept my friendship on Facebook. I remember my roommate used to get “Facebooked” by guys across the street that found her in the DogBook and looked her up on Facebook. I remember when the most important goal in my life was hitting triple digits in my friend count. As young, awkward freshmen in college, our most important contacts were made through such sites as Facebook and MySpace. I didn’t know a soul on campus, and these online networks were ways for me to find people and groups that I was interested in.

I kind of miss those blissful days of care-free Facebook. I didn’t care who I friended and being “facestalked” was flattering. However, I now have my profile set so high on the privacy settings that I might as well not have a profile at all. As I have grown older and a little bit more mature, I began to realize that those connections I make in real life are so much more satisfying than those I made on Facebook. My relationships of those I met on Facebook or MySpace never went anywhere beyond a poke or wall post; hardly a satisfying relationship.

Don’t get me wrong, I have tons of friends on Facebook that I know in real life, but I would definitely say relationships with those I friend on Facebook are more solid in real life than they are in cyberspace. Hottie McGorgeous is a fleeting thought to me now. I communicate with my friends via Facebook to wish them a virtual happy birthday, make inappropriate comments on their walls, or to share an inside joke through a virtual Facebook “gift”. It is no longer a way to create my relationships, but to enhance them.

It does seem that some relationships are suffering due to these online networks. I have actually seen buttons and t-shirts that say “MySpace ruined my relationship” before. On the other hand, this blog post argues that Facebook itself is using trust to make advantageous marketing ploys. The duality of online networking systems is a very interesting theme to explore. I know that I personally do not think that Facebook is a base for my relationships, but I do believe that it enhances them. Other individuals, however, feel it has more influence than that.

Dwight is on Second Life!

Okay, for all you The Office fans in the class...did anyone see this week's episode??

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qQGTyc6k4JA

You better believe Dwight is on Second Life! Too funny!

See you in class!
Nicole :)

social networking, how real is real?

I am still surprised by how popular online networking has become over the past few years. Almost everyone I come in contact with has some profile online. In the 'getting to know you phase' of relationships key questions are now "where do you live?", "Whats your phone number" and "Can I look you up online". It is pretty much a guarantee that you can find someone online. But I always wonder, how well can you get to know someone through what they post on the internet? Is the internet really a way for you to get to know other people or is it a means for people to pretend they are something they are not. There really isn't a 'big brother' censoring what you put about yourself on the internet. Sure, there are consequences and nothing is ever private, but for the most part, there is no way to prove what is true and what is false when it comes to online networking. In many ways, social networking allows participants to create the identity that they want, not necessary the identity they have, as seen by other individuals. This became apparent to me in the article about teens and MySpace. In the very beginning, there is a quote from a teen who admits that MySpace allows her portray the identity that her peers in school know nothing about. Social networking allows for self-expression in a way that you might not be able to show in real life with your face-to-face relationships.
This use a social networking is absolutely harmless and in some ways, probably healthy for that shy, new girl with few friends. The main appeal of social networking is that you are able to write whatever you want and be whoever you want. However, this fact only does create a problem, cue the online predator. Which such an opportunity for flighty identities, more and more people are falling victim to online harassment, especially teens and younger. CBS examines the growing interest in social networking, noting its increased probability for online predators here.
With such a vast online community, it is next to impossible to censor it and even more impossible to trust it. When developing relationships primarily online, who is to say what is true and what isn't? Are so many people depending on online relationships because they feel it is safer because they don't have to interact face-to-face, despite the fact that they might never know if they person they are communicating with is really who they say they are.
Needless to say, I am bringing out my untrusting nature at this point. I just cant imagine getting involved in a relationship online with someone, anyone, without knowing them in person to back up what they are saying online. Who is to know whether they are presenting themselves accurately or not.
This fact concerns me even more when I think about all the children and preteens with internet access these days. A good percent of users on social networking sites are children under the age of 18. These children and their parents should be aware of the internet dangers these sites present.
So despite the freedom the internet allows, I cant help but wonder if this is all too much of a good thing when it comes to the more impressionable youth. Who knows what kind of people are out there in cyberland . . . . .

How Private are your Privacy Settings?

I have taken every possible precaution to make sure that every profile on every online community I have is as private as possible. My profile is blocked on MySpace. You cannot even search for me on Facebook if I haven’t already added you as a friend. I don’t even have anything written on my Second Life profile. However, I recently discovered that putting all of your privacy settings on “stay the hell out” doesn’t always work. Here is an article describing some of the problems this conundrum has created.

I won’t go into details, but I had placed something on my supposedly private Facebook profile that I did not want the entire world to see, just those people that I know. However, one of my supervisors at Notre Dame hacked on to my profile and found it. I was reprimanded by about 73 different people about 86 different times that day. My scholarship was even threatened.

I felt so betrayed by my good friend, Facebook. That day I even stripped half of my profile. All the pictures that were tagged of me, my interests, I was tempted to delete my entire wall as well. I am frightened to know that even if I place all those protections on my profile, people can still find me and people can still see things I don’t want them too. Does that make me naïve to think something as expansive as the internet is not private? Or is it wrong of those communities to lull me into a false sense of security?

Even administrators seem to be having a problem with online communities and their reputation. However, it does seem that employers are being pressured to stop this type of behavior.

(Just incase that last link does not work: http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/18848.asp)

Online communities - a breeding ground for hate?

I love online communities. I love Facebook, I love blogs, I love Second Life. Connecting with people from all over the world makes me feel worldly. However, I recognize there is a danger in the internet. There always has been. I remember when I was in middle school, my parents gave me unsupervised unlimited time on the internet. Of course, I spent it chatting with boys on AIM, but my one rule was "No Chatrooms." I'm sure my mom had a vision of some creepasaurus rex stalking and abducting me (she, like many of us, has a horrible fascination with Dateline's To Catch a Predator). But after many years of scouring the internet and "meeting" new people, I realize that, if I play my cards right, I'm not going to encounter the elusive internet predator. However, I feel that if I identify as an "other", or what Slack identifies as the "marked", I open myself up for relentless harassment. By "other", I mean by identifying as a woman.

Sexual harassment and threats are not new to the internet. The anonymity of the virtual community is a breeding ground for hate. You think The Observer is bad? Check out some of the comments on youtube. It's downright hateful. And because it's so rampant and so anonymous, it can't be pursued legally.

Which begs the question.... do you all think the internet should be monitored?



(Note: I've lost my toolbar. This seems to be a site-wide problem, according to Blogger.)
Here are the links I wanted to add: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/apr/12/misogyny_in_our_midst

Connectivity Across the World

In Smart Mobs: The Power of the Mobile Many, Howard Rheingold presents a case for the emerging importance of technology, specifically the use of Short Message Service, in the formation and coordination of unified masses. Despite the fact that these groups – termed “smart mobs” by the author –demonstrate a plethora of diverse objectives, they are united by the (radical) ways in which (coordination) is achieved. Rheingold presents several examples of significant smart mob movements, such as the assembly of tens of thousands of anti-Estrada Filipinos in 2001 or the highly-tactical maneuvering of demonstrators at the “Battle of Seattle” in 1999. The outcomes of these gatherings – the peaceful overthrow of President Joseph Estrada and the disruption of World Trade Organization talks – indicate that today’s technologically-assisted methods of “swarm strategies” are indeed important considerations for politicians, militaries, organizations, and citizens alike.
In the modern world, the cell phone has become one of the most effective means of communication. The cascading effect of this, of course, has been the implementation of cell phone technologies into countless facets of everyday life. From joke-sharing to advertising, the cell phone has changed the ways, and speed, in which we live our lives. Rheingold captures this in his article, highlighting SMS’s effect on an abnormally large scale. As he indicates in the latter part of his article, the emergent properties of swarm systems is potentially reflected in the evolution of the cell phone into an instrument of massive social networking – both for good and for bad. In essence, the development of cellular technology has progressed far beyond the visions of its creators based upon the morphing cultural climate of our world today.
Whereas the author focuses on events that are, to some extent, outside of the individual reader’s life (such as the use of global positioning for the military or the utilization of SMS for the organization of a protest group), he does not fail to mention emerging technology’s presence in the day to day lives of people around the globe. For example, he briefly discusses “interpersonal awareness devices” such as the Lovegety keychain device that was introduced in Japan in 1998. Since then, the world has witnessed the invention of diverse applications that enhance communication, such as the introduction of GPS technology or the growing force of SMS marketing. Today, a cell phone user can employ an application such as Loopt to determine her friends’ positions to within thirty feet – a capability that one could hardly have dreamt of years ago. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/14/BUGMMMC1KE1.DTL) Another possibility over which advertisers have lusted is the potential for SMS marketing; from coupon distribution to the notification of special sales, companies are taking advantage of the cell phone’s proximity to its user. Already, text messages have been used to send offers and promotions to potential customers in malls or small localities.
Finally, Rheingold’s reflection on the cell phone’s ability to coordinate group behavior is epitomized by the inception of emergency text message alert systems at college campuses across the country, including the University of Notre Dame. Similar to the ways in which text messages were used to coordinate movement during the “Battle of Seattle,” these systems alert students of danger on campus in order to prevent their usual congregation in classroom buildings and other structures.
As the use of cell phones continues to grow across the globe, it is no surprise that its capabilities are expanded and developed to enhance the ways in which we live. The quickest and, arguably, most reliable form of communication, it is the perfect instrument for transmitting a message; whether that be the announcement of a promotion, the warning of a danger on campus, or the disclosure of a time and place for a protest, SMS and related technologies surely indicate a dramatic shift in the ease of connectivity across the world community and the ways in which such changes affect every aspect of our lives.

“I’m So Much Cooler Online”

This is a song title from the new Brad Paisley CD. The song lyrics are all about the different personalities that one can acquire through online chatting and profiles. The lyrics are both funny but scary at the same time. http://www.elyricsworld.com/look/b/Brad-Paisley-lyrics/Online-lyrics.html

These lyrics remind me of the days when I was younger and just starting out with the whole instant messaging thing. When my family first got a computer, My mom would talk online to my family in Germany and my aunts and uncles. She started by using AOL instant messaging, which I also wanted. My first screen name was emmylousallysue. That is a name that my dad and uncle call sometimes and I needed a screen name that no one else would have. I talked to the kids that were from school and occasionally when outsiders to me would IM me, I would respond if my mother wasn’t looking because she was totally against it. One of the things that I remember most was the beginnings of the short hand words like lol for laughing out loud. I also remember when random people would IM me they would say, a/s/l which meant age, sex, location. I always said the truth about my age and sex but I remember my location changing all the time. Sometimes I was from California, others I was from New York and sometimes I was from another country. I don’t know why I did that, I guess it was because I didn’t want to give out all my information but I felt that if changed my location, I would be able to be myself and yet feel the securities of knowing that me as a person from that state didn’t even actually exist.

After AOL IM, it became a craze in my middle school to have MSN messaging. It was the hotmail account messaging and everyone had it at school. There were ninety three kids in my middle school class and I probably had 75 people on my list of friends that spanned not only my grade but the other kids in higher and lower grades that I knew. This was the first place where I discovered emoticaons, which began to make regular appearances in all of my messages to people. I do not think that I had anyone on my friends list that was not from Dillon where I am from. Everyone I talked to on there was less than two miles away talking right back. I do not feel like my identity changed at all through MSN messaging because everyone who was on my friends list knew me.

When I got to college, I realized that everyone here has AOL instant messaging so again I took on that role. This time, I changed my screen name, emmamt5, and only have friends on that list that are students at Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame. I only get on when I am bored or need something from someone who frequents their computer. They all know me as well so there is no need for me to lie about where I am from or who I am.

I also have facebook and myspace. I have facebook because everyone has it and it is a way to talk and learn about other people at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s as well as entertain me when I look through everyone’s pictures and comments. I have Myspace because my mom and my sisters do not have facebook and I want to be able to communicate to them through some sort of technology other than the cell phone. I have a few friends on myspace and am very apprehensive about adding people I do not know who request to be my friend.

I think that the reading Culture and Identity is a great reading and a reassuring article about the need for self protection when it comes to information on the internet and instant messaging. Dateline has been doing installments of their investigation into child predators through the internet. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11152602/ This address is a link to the site that talks about the work that dateline has been doing to catch these sick freaks.

I think that this is a definite problem that people face while chatting on the internet and everyone should be fully aware of the risks. Anyone can say anything about their location, their age, and their attributes because there is no way of knowing for sure the actual truth. It is so easy to make up things about yourself online and no one ever has to know that you are lying. People find it easier to confront each other through messaging, and predators are able to seduce and corrupt youth into believing they are someone they aren’t or that they are who they are and their motives for chatting are not what they actually are.

I think this article does a lot for the sense of real identity being corrupted by the possibilities that lie within the wave lengths of the internet and the ability one has to completely change themselves and every quality true to the self. That is both intriguing and scary at the same time.

Emma