So Sometimes I Talk A Lot and
There's an interesting effect I've found about situation and place on the Internet, that echoes a few things I remember hearing about in social theory. Depending on group and context, people develop strategies that can differ to deal with different people. Social cues that shift and change. I don't think this is a strange concept for most people.
I didn't particularly think it would happen on the Internet, but there's always the case of anonymity and the way different people act under its guise. (Which I started trying to research to see what people were saying and abruptly realized I was a little in over my head, although in a hasty google search I ran across an interesting thought at wired.com by Bruce Scheiner that anonymity isn't the problem as much as accountability. The statement is more common sense then new revelation, but proper credit where credit is due.)
But when I made a dreamWidth account, a fresh slate, I noticed my writing style had a professional tone I'd lost somewhere along the way on LJ. A new identity, even if under the same name, in a new context. There had been some shift between there and here, as if without the trail of writing (from a young age) I could more properly try to step into the persona I'd developed for academic audiences. The question is, then, how much does a venue on the internet shape the resulting persona that is developed? Is it linked into the part of our minds that learn social cues. Someone on Wikipedia develops a persona differently then someone on 4chan, but in turn the social rules and cues of identification change the persona as its adapted to fit or communicate effectively. None of these are new ideas or concepts, but I was struck by how strongly I could look at my own examples in different community circles and see the effect!
I tend to clam up a little on the internet because it's a showing room, no matter how anonymous or informal, and I tend to approach such things with an equal measure of shyness and care and 'oh god foot do not go into mouth oh god.' I wonder how much lurking is because of this same feeling of stepping onto a stage gingerly, uncertain of response, and not knowing what to say to the faceless crowd who holds among its ranks names and faces you respect. I recall hearing somewhere that for every comment or fav on DA, there's many more who view an image-- I believe this is why fav'ing over commenting is so popular. It's quick, easy, and expresses appreciation for an image, bookmarks it for later, AND it allows for a lurking individual to escape the need to comment and thus leave any sort of impression negative or else wise. It's a shyness, I think, of a sort. At the very least, it's a shyness I know I have, which is why I refuse to let myself fav anything I do not comment on. If something struck me, the artist probably would like to know how. I know how much that can mean to me, small and old as my gallery is with the small fandoms I tend toward.
But the volatile nature of words, stripped naked of gesture and tone, can make them unwieldy devices. The internet is a place full of people carrying their identity in their fingers and keyboards. How and where, when and what, to say can be a hard balance to learn that changes depending on community, situation, and person. I wonder if there's any other thoughts on this, of if this is an old idea I'm merely briefly visiting.
Goshdarnit I miss my access to internet journal archives!
I didn't particularly think it would happen on the Internet, but there's always the case of anonymity and the way different people act under its guise. (Which I started trying to research to see what people were saying and abruptly realized I was a little in over my head, although in a hasty google search I ran across an interesting thought at wired.com by Bruce Scheiner that anonymity isn't the problem as much as accountability. The statement is more common sense then new revelation, but proper credit where credit is due.)
But when I made a dreamWidth account, a fresh slate, I noticed my writing style had a professional tone I'd lost somewhere along the way on LJ. A new identity, even if under the same name, in a new context. There had been some shift between there and here, as if without the trail of writing (from a young age) I could more properly try to step into the persona I'd developed for academic audiences. The question is, then, how much does a venue on the internet shape the resulting persona that is developed? Is it linked into the part of our minds that learn social cues. Someone on Wikipedia develops a persona differently then someone on 4chan, but in turn the social rules and cues of identification change the persona as its adapted to fit or communicate effectively. None of these are new ideas or concepts, but I was struck by how strongly I could look at my own examples in different community circles and see the effect!
I tend to clam up a little on the internet because it's a showing room, no matter how anonymous or informal, and I tend to approach such things with an equal measure of shyness and care and 'oh god foot do not go into mouth oh god.' I wonder how much lurking is because of this same feeling of stepping onto a stage gingerly, uncertain of response, and not knowing what to say to the faceless crowd who holds among its ranks names and faces you respect. I recall hearing somewhere that for every comment or fav on DA, there's many more who view an image-- I believe this is why fav'ing over commenting is so popular. It's quick, easy, and expresses appreciation for an image, bookmarks it for later, AND it allows for a lurking individual to escape the need to comment and thus leave any sort of impression negative or else wise. It's a shyness, I think, of a sort. At the very least, it's a shyness I know I have, which is why I refuse to let myself fav anything I do not comment on. If something struck me, the artist probably would like to know how. I know how much that can mean to me, small and old as my gallery is with the small fandoms I tend toward.
But the volatile nature of words, stripped naked of gesture and tone, can make them unwieldy devices. The internet is a place full of people carrying their identity in their fingers and keyboards. How and where, when and what, to say can be a hard balance to learn that changes depending on community, situation, and person. I wonder if there's any other thoughts on this, of if this is an old idea I'm merely briefly visiting.
Goshdarnit I miss my access to internet journal archives!