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ey make for good headlines in case it needed to be said the ways in which my generation acquires knowledge and information have changed i m looking into the transliteracies program at ucsb that examines these changes in information gathering behaviors toward a process of aggregation organization hyperlink hopping public posting and personal bookmarking okay so i m probably not ever going to think about that book again much less read it but i thought i would at least shame the author publicly in the blogosphere for being such a propagandistic sellout straight from the mouths of the dumbest babes speaking of the dumbest generation not to make this an ageist or political debate but i did receive this little gem through virtue of my facebook newsfeed top quality filtering right here the soft edge a natural history and future of the information revolution by paul levinson a brilliant science fiction writer and pop media pundit levinson s book digital mcluhan has been one of the most influential references in my research the soft edge looks to be a fascinating take on the role of communication technologies in shaping the history of man paul levinson embodies everything that i hope to draw out in my own career as a writer as intelligent as he is witty his work as fun to read as it is thought provoking as prone to citing habermas and mcluhan as he is to quote battleatar galactica everything on the syllabus for a course by kristen scott called literature and the culture of cyberspace which includes james joyce hg wells william gibson jorge borges neal stephenoson and ursula leguin posted by tunabananas at 1 25 am 1 comment labels personal reading may 20 2008 the virtual campfire an ethnography of online social networking online i ve been a bad blogger recently and hardly a functional human being this state of total liminality is both extraordinarily liberating and incredibly frustrating i graduate on sunday if you would like to experience the fruits of my yearlong labors i encourage you to check out the electronic version of my thesis which i plan to add interactive features to in the future i m thinking more along the lines of a wiki than this rather average website if you do read it drop me a line and let me know what you think i m always eager to hear fresh perspectives and related stories a thesis submitted to the faculty of wesleyan university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in anthropology based on five years of participant observation on the social networking sites myspace facebook and tribe net the virtual campfire explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine public and private voyeurism and exhibitionism the history of media and our digitized future woven throughout are the stories and experiences of those who engage with these sites regularly and ritualistically the generation of digital natives whose tales attest to the often strange and uncomfortable ways online social networking sites have come to be embedded in the everyday lives of american youth posted by tunabananas at 6 19 pm no comments labels cyberanthropology facebook myspace online social networking tribe virtual ethnography february 20 2008 arranged marriages online social network style several months ago someone told me about social networking sites that function as matchmaking tools for arranging marriages a cultural practice that is common for nearly half the world s population including india china and indonesia as well as hindus muslims and buddhists in a fit of brainstorming for my next research project this conversation came to mind and i quickly discovered shaadi com an indian version of an online dating site curious i filled out a profile of my own to see what kinds of categories one could choose amongst for self representation well first of all it s clear that most of the profiles on the site are filled out by parents who are traditionally responsible for the search for and approval of potential husbands and wives among the more salient identity markers are religion community hindu muslim christian sikh jain parsi buddhist jewish no religion spiritual not religious and other education profession and lifestyle diet smoking and drinking habits arranged marriages are ideally between two members of the same caste or sect and shaadi com certainly covers the gamut potential matches are also frequently judged by education level and profession as well as the aforementioned lifestyle habits which are heavily informed by religious beliefs a few other things i learned about while creating a profile on the site the alignment of the stars at one s birth determines if a person is a manglik and shaadi com inquires as to one is in indian astrology mangliks are destined for difficulties in marriage in order to balance out these negative forces it is often suggested that a manglik marry another manglik based on the idea that two negatives make a positive astrology in general is quite important for many indians especially hindus when it comes to marriage and shaadi com users may incorporate a variety of astrological readings in their profiles like pretty much every social networking site one can fill in an open ended about me box however on this site there is also a significant section called about my family shaadi com offers a few pointers for users filling out this section the first of which suggests describing the family s outlook and approach towards life early on in the registration process one could select whether her family values are traditional moderate or liberal clearly the degree to which one s family embraces more traditional or more liberal attitudes and values has a significant effect on the matrimonial process admirably the site also inquires about users hiv status though figures place the percentage of hiv infected people in india at a seemingly minute 0 36 with the country s enormous population this amounts to between 2 million and 3 6 million indians living with hiv while there is some evidence that the rate of infection is currently declining likely due to successful prevention and awareness campaigns there is also plenty of evidence to the contrary given the rampant fear and stigmatization of hiv positive individuals in communities everywhere marking oneself as hiv positive on the site likely drastically reduces one s chances at finding a spouse however as with both mangliks and special cases another profile category wherein one can indicate mental and or physical handicaps the site makes finding others who share their condition a much easier process in many ways this semester i am taking only one class as i complete my graduate thesis the last class i will ever take at wesleyan nationalism and the politics of gender and sexuality with professor kauanui like most of the classes i ve taken i m to conduct a semester long research project giving me the opportunity to conduct another mini ethnography related to online social networking as such i ll be regularly posting my most pertinent and interesting findings stay tuned posted by tunabananas at 12 33 pm 13 comments labels computer mediated communication ethnography identity performance shaadi social networking february 7 2008 hibernation and the pursuit of brilliance this past month i ve sought to nourish myself through what is for me the most difficult period of the year january and i made it i m okay and i ve written a lot of things in fact i was recently hired to join a team of bloggers helping to create the meat of a pre beta social networking site iggli you can check out my blog here or by clicking on the title of this post it s where i ve been writing regularly these days original writing at that having shaken myself free from the noxious syndrome of reading research and creating headers beneath which i can conveniently categorize the perspectives of others into anxieties and utopias i have now reached what will be the butter on the bread of my thesis that is that which makes the dry foundation delicious not that ethnography is ever dry my first chapters are rife with the stories anecdotes personalities ideas that propelled me to do this research in the first place but now allow me to be indulgent i embark on a chapter i ve hesitantly entitled a phenomenological exploration of online social networking this is where i tell my own story where i deeply investigate my own integration of anxieties toward and utopic visions of the internet and its potentials and failures and everything else the past week has consisted of moving into a new apartment where i will no longer bother touchy neighbors with my entirely nocturnal rhythm and proclivity toward human interaction and god forbid music sleeping 10 12 hours a night and battling the obvious onset of ill health with my finest vegetarian cooking isolation and relaxation i sit before the screen now resolved to put forth a testimony founded on inner truths desires sadnesses attempts to bridge the increasing divide i see between individuals and community the internet for me is the final frontier in which we may remake ourselves and in so doing contribute to the remaking of this severely damaged world though as severely damaged as it is it is because of my overwhelming love of the stories personalities and lives of others that i have become so enamored with the potential for anthropological research to promote human understanding empathy and that elusive yet all empowering ultimate pursuit community connection the sense of belonging and the extension of selfhood this has been a manifesto posted by tunabananas at 7 41 pm no comments labels cyberanthropology ethnography personal research methods december 13 2007 intercises of cyberspace and subjectivity it has become clear to me that the value of this ethnography lies not in my description of experiences but rather in elucidating the myriad shifting possibilities that emerge in the highly intersubjective field of discourses as my research has deepened the one thread that ties these discourses together is the pervasive feelings of anxiety evoked by the blurred boundaries between subject and object voyeur and exhibitionist human and machine reality and imagination all technologies extend the possibilities of humankind and in turn they become humanized and embedded in everyday experiences however at times technologies may seem alien and incomprehensible instigating fear and a sense of powerlessness the sense of agency felt as one types oneself into being through the creation of a publicly viewable online profile can quickly be negated by the discovery that this personal freedom comes with the cost of possible persecution by unintended audiences such as potential employers and legal authorities what occurs is a split of selfhood a temporal shift of identity from intentional author to victimized object of the gaze despite the existential anxieties that arise frequently in everyday discourse many celebrate the internet for its potential to democratize information the perceptual difference between the democratization of information and the invasion of personal privacy lies in the degree of power individuals perceive themselves as having over the medium as well as the extent to which they feel the medium has power over them a common way of regaining control and agency when confronting one s own powerlessness is with words and thoughts projecting apathy or distaste and finding affirmation through others feeling a loss of connection my friend described her adolescent brother as consumed by myspace his gaze never turning from the computer screen for her brother it is likely that myspace conveniently fulfills his youthful desire to hang out in a space safe away from the judging gaze of his family to reject or criticize is to reclaim one s subjectivity or at least portray oneself as the author of one s own meanings years ago i endeavored to learn swahili and travel to zanzibar for fieldwork as i became engaged with the actual practice of writing ethnography however it became clear to me that writing the other would always feel somewhat wrong condescending when i wrote my first paper on facebook back in the spring of 2006 i was struck by the way in which my own experiences resonated in my writing how the words of others challenged and complicated my perspective with layers of meaning in other words i realized the ethnographic authority in my own position as a native of an emergent other eventually the real struggle became that of subverting such a perceived authority in pursuit of deep listening of practicing empathetic temporal re interpretations of my interpretations it is easy to say in theory but difficult to show in practice as such i have concocted plans for a website that would ideally bring to life the co constructive nature of this project by enabling further co authorship in the form of a wiki rather than simply purporting a native interpretation such an ethnography incorporates the voices of other natives as well as others as for now i no longer have a working title that too must emerge out of the thematic coalescence of the many stories and experiences that demand still further interpretation posted by tunabananas at 7 36 am 2 comments labels discourse ethnography identity performance privacy december 12 2007 facebook is evil whatever the following was initially a comment on danah boyd s recent post discussing facebook s slippery slope of betraying its users most recently with project beacon please share your thoughts if you have them trusting facebook users are generally older folk i think they re more open to publicizing their online profiles because they re seeking to make connections they re gaining from the public exposure and excited by all the novel possibilities my ethnography of social networking sites primarily re presents the voices of college students particularly veteran facebook users the site started out as being a great little niche environment so people could exchange intimate messages and upload photos from that crazy party where everyone was on a ton of drugs and so on then it opened up everyone was pissed and that s when attitudes toward facebook started to shift most first generation facebookers have some degree of distrust disgust for the site often a great deal of it yet they continue to use it because it s become so firmly integrated into campus social life it s a way to easily invite people to parties and share photos from said parties to visually organize one s social network and keep track of alumni and old high school buddies to find out the sexuality or relationship status of that boy you ve been admiring from afar it s crucial if you re not on facebook you re going to be somewhat out of the loop such important social practices generally take precedence over the egregious invasions of privacy that most are highly suspicious of the trend is not abandoning facebook it s far too useful however the site ...