Posting hesitancy

[see: Benfield, 2000]

This is a paper I read during the Digital Environments assignment, and this is a quote I want to retain, and reflect on later. I want to think about the informal writing style that the blogoshere encourages bloggers to adopt, and whether students (as bloggers, or potential bloggers) are also hesitant/nervous about writing in this medium... as they evidently are about writing in a course discussion board.

"This may mean that, for some students anyway, threaded discussions are not conducive to thinking out loud, to tossing out ideas for testing, to speculation. Students may be initially more inclined to weigh what they say, to be more 'guarded', than perhaps they would in ordinary conversation. Others may find that the time they get to reflect and compose their comments invests them with a power they don't ordinarily feel in face-to-face communication."

[tag: community]

Cyberhome

To have value weblogs only require the input of the blogger. If no-one reads them, or comments they still retain intrinsic worth in the form of a place in cyberspace where the blogger can retreat (or act out). A place owned and maintained by the blogger. A Cyberhome.

If however your weblog exists for the express purpose of being read and responded to (i.e. adoration by your public) - then lack of visitors/interaction will be de-motivating for the blogger. But nevertheless a weblog which isn't visited or responed to (however much it is desired that this happen) still retains value. An unused discussion board or chatroom, by comparison, does not.

[tag: concept]

A way of making sense of?

Weblogs are a way in which the blogger can make sense of their world? Bloggers posit questions and in so doing are cognitively organising the subject matter... trying to make sense of it. By constructing questions you can determine where the gaps in your (self) knowledge or understanding are. You unravel your world.

[tag: identity]

Limited by literacy

Original (*) weblog posts are textual evidence of the blogger's thinking. Writing will be limited by the blogger's literacy, vocabulary, imagination. You cannot write with words/ideas you don't possess.

* Original = written by the blogger, and not derived (copied) from another source.

[tag: writing]

Alone with your thoughts

A Private Weblog may offer the blogger an environment for the elegant unfolding of ideas. Ideas may subsequently evolve which would not have been possible under the glare of a public discussion, or within a public weblog (i.e. one in which commenting was enabled). Because weblog posts are indelible the blogger can feel secure that their free train of thought will not be interrupted - posts are not edited/moved/deleted by a third party. So, the weblog can provide the luxury of permanence needed to ruminate in safety.

The ruminations of a private blog, will swirl in ever decreasing circles until you reach your conclusion. They are safe from the rude intrusions of Readers Who Comment. Readers can look, but not touch.

[tag: concept]

Weblogs... The Fear

Q: What is The Fear of weblogs for the Extrovert, and the Introvert?
A: Extrovert: no-one will read his posts?
The Extrovert desires adoration.
A: Introvert: no-one will understand his posts?
The Introvert wants attachment.

Perhaps. However, if we apply the dictum "The opposite to love is not hate, but indifference" then things look quite different.

The Extrovert instead would fear having their entries read... and the reader subsequently walking away, indifferent, unaffected, bored. Their quest for adoration would therefore be cruelly rejected.

The Introvert on the other hand would fear that their thoughts, ruminations, musings would not be read... that they are instead alone, a captive within their own head without attachment to other people.

[tag: personality]

All things to all people

The weblog becomes what you want it to be? The extrovert believes that he will be adored, the introvert hopes that he will form an attachment?

When the weblog entries are written all things are equal: the entry goes live... and people may or may not read it... people may or may not form some sort of attachment to it. The weblog is all things to all people because it can be (regarded as) public or private... i.e. it can be used as a rumination, or a communication. It depends on what the blogger believes (hopes) it to be.

Ultimately it fulfills an innate need to be heard, to be listened to, and for our private thoughts to be shared (and either adored, or an attachment made to).

[tag: personality]

2 - Who is The Reader?

There is a self-consciousness when writing a blog - because we all think about who The Reader might be.

For the Extrovert this could be quite stimulating, perhaps even sexually so, to have their thoughts observed, read, revered. The extrovert pushes their thoughts into the web? The Introvert perhaps, rather than actively push their thoughts out - they instead uncouple themselves from them... and let them float into the public arena? The Introvert focuses on the written word (in the present), and blocks out their destination? The Extrovert uses the written word to bring the destination closer to himself (focuses on the future)?

Indeed I recall reading somewhere that Introverts focus on the past, whereas Extroverts focus on the future.

[tag: personality]

1 - Who is The Reader?

Who is the weblog Reader?

1. the third person
   
2. God**
   
3. a God
   
4. an accidental tourist
   
5. the confessional
   
6. oneself**
   
7. Hope**
   
8. Faith
   
9. a sponge
   
10. a brick wall
    
11. a voyeur

**my preferences

[tag: concept]

The Unwritten World

In a text-based environment, the unsaid, unexplained, poorly-worded - leave gaps in our understanding. And misunderstandings, and confusion, and uncertainty - in its wake. These missing words (i.e. the words needed to provide clarity) can assume proportions greater than those words which were written. The Unwritten World is limbo.

[tag: writing]

Environment & personality

We are each complex and multi-faceted, with a wide repertoire of possible responses to any given stimuli. We respond differently to different stimulus. Is it reasonable to assume that we have a large number of personalities to draw from, to cater for the different environments we find ourselves in. My guess is that those people who struggle with the diversity of the virtual world are those who's personalities are less plastic. Hence they respond to the face-to-face world in a limited (though possibly effective) way.

[tag: personality]

Multiple online personalities / facets

Barbelith wiki entry on fictionsuits:

"actively encouraged using multiple fiction suits on the board as a way of presenting different aspects of yourself without worrying too much about the contradictions".

Similarly AOL invite you to create an online personality by choosing wallpaper, icons, smileys and sounds.

"Once you've chosen what you want, you have a Personality. You can create additional personalities as you choose.".

Being online liberates opportunities for expressing the multiple facets of your personality. You can adopt a new personality by changing your name (Barbelith) or your online appearance (AOL). These separate facets of your personality are referred to by Sherry Turkle as multiple selves: 'the Internet is redefining human identity, as people explore the boundaries of their personalities and adopt multiple selves.'.

When online a distinct facet of your personality can become an entirely distinct online personality... in other words... a distinct online self.

[tag: personality]

We are who we pretend to be

[from: Introduction: Identity in the Age of the Internet (Sherry Turkle: Life on the Screen)]

"we are dwellers on the threshold between the real and virtual.... inventing ourselves as we go along"
"... the self is constructed
"... you are who you pretend to be"

When writing in your weblog you create a self of your own choosing. Your entries may highlight events/thoughts which reinforce the You you wish to project to your readers. Likewise your omissions hide those bits you wish to keep to yourself. These selective highlights/omissions may effectively distort The Truth. However the truth, from the perspective of an individual, will always be distorted... because we can only ever be subjective... and this implies seeing things through the lens of Our Own World View.

[tag: identity]