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| Little man communicates with the world online Retrieved from: http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-little-man-communicates-world-online-image29874345 |
White man got no dreaming.
Him go 'nother way.
White man, him go different.
Him got road belong to himself.
(Stanner, 1979, pp.24)
As the above quote denotes 'white man' has no dreaming, but they have a different road that is their own. In this day and age everyone is finding a new way to tell their own story or to make their own identity and to have it known to the world. O'Shaughnessy & Stadler (2012) state that narratives are a basic way of making sense of our experience and that humans understand and relate experiences through stories. Essentially no matter who we are we have the need to tell our stories and to have them heard, and with the development of social networks through the internet, it is now possilbe for anyone.
Van Luyn (2013) expalined in the lecture that in a virtual network you are not the only person constructing your identity. On my chosen virtual network, StumbleUpon, this concept can be seen in action. Random sites are chosen by the network for you based on your interests. Although you chose the interests, you don't necessarily choose the website. For example one of my interests was cartoons, and what i got wasn't exactly what I was looking for. (you can see the page here http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3cqLoL/xkcd.com/1040/large/) But StumbleUpon does give you the option to like or dislike the page, which in turn will help to narrow or broaden what websites are shown to you.
Even though you are given the option to like and dislike websites, you still don't have full control over making your profile. This can be explained by understanding that "the design of these sites.. means that at the same time users are reading the sites, the users themselves are being written and 'read' by the network, which consists of both members and the site itself". (McNiell, 2012, pp.66 - 67) All that relates back to the like and disliking of sites and the random generation of sites from interests. When using StumbleUpon there is a section that involves the option of choosing to follow people. (see here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/discover/stumblers) Chatwin (1987) explained that Dreaming-tracks layover the land as ‘ways’ of communication between most far-flung tribes. It works the same way with the following of people on StumbleUpon, people are recomended based on how close your interests coincide with theirs.
Until next time,
Aaron.
Refe Reference List
O'Shaughnessy M., & Stadler J. (2012). Media and Society (5th ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press
Stanner, W.E.H. (1979) WHITE MAN GOT NO DREAMING: Essays 1938-1973. Canberra, Australia: Australian National University Press
McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Socail Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Biography, 35(1), 65-82. DOI: 10.1353/bio.2012.0009
Chatwin, B. (1987). The Songlines. London, UK: The Spartan Press Ltd
Van Luyn, A. 2013. BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Week 4 Notes (PowerPoint). Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Little man communicates with the world online [Image]. (2013) Retrieved from http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-little-man-communicates-world-online-image29874345
Hi Aaron,
ReplyDeleteI was every interested in what you said about self-identity, and how many of us tell our own stories through social networks. I found your blog easy to follow as you had tied it well within this week’s lecture and readings. You mention that on your network, StumbleUpon, you are not the only person constructing your identity. I found that when you had said this it reminded me of the same concept that Ariella was explaining in the lecture, “that your virtual network isn’t the only place that constructs your identity” (Van Luyn, 2013), which you mentioned earlier on. Though, by what you have described so far within your network appears that you still hold some power over how you can construct particular things, which allowed me to think of what McNeill’s (2012) had mentioned, “that the networked self must be searchable, able to be found on the network”. So maybe our construction of our self-identity can be found through certain points where many can find it useful to research? Though I am not familiar with you social networking site so I look forward to seeing how you relate it back to each, weekly content.
Reference List:
McNeill, L.(2012). THERE IS NO “I” IN NETWORK: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND POSTHUMAN AUTO/BIOGRAPHY. Biography 35.1. Biographical Research Centre
Van Luyn, A. (2013) BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, week 4 notes. [PowerPoint Slides] Retrieved from: http://learnjcu2013.jcu.edu.au