These four properties thus fundamentally separate unmediated publics from networked publics:
1 Persistence: Unlike the ephemeral quality of speech in unmediated publics, networked communications are recorded for posterity. This enables asynchronous communication but it also extends the period of existence of any speech act.
2 Searchability: Because expressions are recorded and identity is established through text, search and discovery tools help people find like minds. While people cannot currently acquire the geographical coordinates of any person in unmediated spaces, finding one’s digital body online is just a matter of keystrokes.
3 Replicability: Hearsay can be deflected as misinterpretation, but networked public expressions can be copied from one place to another verbatim such that there is no way to distinguish the “original” from the “copy.” 26
4 Invisible audiences: While we can visually detect most people who can overhear our speech in unmediated spaces, it is virtually impossible to ascertain all those who might run across our expressions in networked publics. This is further complicated by the other three properties, since our expression may be heard at a different time and place from when and where we originally spoke.
Thinking of this as a teacher...
How a networked public changes/influences my teaching? Thinking beyond tools, how does it inhibit?
Possible art making...
Rhizome
This reading is especially interesting to me because I feel that I grew up with the internet in the way that she is explaining. The big thing in middle school was instant messaging, I would spend HOURS chatting online with my friends who I just saw at school. On top of that if there was ever a sleep over the group of girls I was with would talk to boys and other people online for the majority of the night. Instead of a social networking profile we would constantly update our instant messaging info boxes. Then in high school it became the thing to be on Myspace, now instead of having IMing (instant messaging) as the only thing I was on daily, I had both IMing and Myspace. I'd chat with my friends in real time through IM and check my profile and others profiles for pictures and stuff on the side. When I was a senior in high school was when Facebook turned up and that added one more thing to occupy my time with. I guess because I feel like I lived the evolution of social networking sites, as I grew up the way my generation communicated online evolved with our age, there is a certain level of comfort that I have with online communities.
After that piece of nostalgia... I personally think that it could be beneficial to incorporate social networks and different online communities into school. However, I do understand the problem that a lot of school districts have with allowing students to have access to these sites at school. Unfortunately even with how advantageous the access to sites like Facebook, Youtube, and Flickr could be there are always going to be those that "ruin it" for everyone else. Online bullying is a problem, it was a problem when I was in middle school too, but those conversations were at least private in instant messenger. In the 2000's children have a much higher ability to use computers and online tools and the sites available to them allow for even more sharing of multi-media. Not only could they insult someone on their wall or embarrass them by sharing personal stories, they now have the ability to create videos and photo posts that could be hurtful. I do think this is more of an issue the younger the students are that you work with. Middle school age probably couldn't handle having access, especially with the bullying that takes place within the halls. High school age, more specifically those applying to college, might approach online communities with a more professional attitude and therefore would have less inclination to use it as a tool for bullying. In a college atmosphere it would most certainly be effective, this blog is evidence of that.
In a perfect world I would love to be a professor at the college level teaching drawing or painting classes or teaching at the high school level. In that case I think using social networking sites would be beneficial, even more so if in using one of these sites there was a page dedicated to that particular class. My having a page devoted to a class the teacher would be the administrator and have control over what was being posted. Multi-media assignments could be given that require students to use the internet as a tool for finding contemporary artists, sharing photos of their work, videos of interviews or the artist working. Students would be able to get a more in depth look at the actual world of working artists and the realities that go along with that profession. I guess I see it as more of a research tool.
The ways that networked publics could inhibit I guess I've voiced one major concern about online bullying. There is a lot of things that people will say online that they wouldn't say in real life if they were face to face with that person, I think that is why it can be dangerous. As much as you are connected to a community online there is also a degree of physical separation.
There are ways to bring the networked publics or social networking into art making, one thing that I can think up off the top of my head might be making social networking maps as an art project. It could give students a push into examining how they use those sites versus their real world interactions.
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