<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Trebor, and list,<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Just a quick note. Putnam's book is not a particularly reliable guide to civic participation in America. While he bemoans the decline in bowling league membership he gives only passing mention to the dramatic growth in church membership over the past thirty years in the US, especially the emergence of mega-churches and the explosion of Christian popular culture (music, movies, television programming, etc.). This is one of the most significant "social movements" in the US since the 1960s. The statistics are equally dramatic if we consider the penetration of evangelical Christianity into southeast Asia and South America, where it has threatened to displace Catholicism (and forced the articulation of a new, "Charismatic" form of Catholicism to compete). The "technology" of religion is changing global culture today with at least as much force as digital media. In addition, evangelicals are often very savvy first adapters of new technologies (Fundamentalists of all stripes, if you want to include Islamic fundamentalism). We may want to consider what the resident's of the oft-cited "favellas" are actually doing with their spare time (overthrowing capitalism is not always a primary consideration). Theoretical speculation about democratic will-formation and participatory ethics is great, but how about some discussions of social media that are grounded in an analysis of the actual complexity, and contradiction, of social formations on a more global scale? I'm also struck by the extent to which many of the social media arguments on this list reiterate the language around early cable television (which in turn reiterated democratizing claims associated with rural electrification). I have to assume that most posters are aware of this history, so I'm curious about it's perceived relevance or irrelevance in current debates over social media.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Best,</DIV><DIV>Grant Kester</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Feb 9, 2007, at 8:06 PM, Trebor Scholz wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The question of context, which Danah raised, is important. If a teenager writes on MySpace she speaks to her friends and not to a potential employer. That is often forgotten when</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">people read MySpace pages. All topical mailing lists with large subscriber numbers have an aspect of professional visibility that is distinctly different to friends-of-friends</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">environments. In MySpace teens speak for the very most part to their friends. That is obviously a completely different context than speaking to a large group of people (most of</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">whom one does not know).<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The point is not that professional discourse equals closed-minded conservatism. (Where did those who pose as radical anti-academics get their formal education, which now</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">privileges them to this position?) What matters is that different contexts ask for different speech; it is crucial to understand who is addressed in the framework of a social networking</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">site, for example. Professional language has many often-discussed limitations and advantages. I'd not want to "talk shit" on a mailing list (as Danah put it) but on MySpace (where i</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">talk to my friends) that's fine. It's not the same to chat in the pub or talk to a group of a thousand invisible people.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The cyber-archipelagos or ego-islands or cyber-cocoons or whatever you want to call it-- that are based on special interests and exclude difference (the "haters") are not only specific</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">to social networking sites. They emerged all over the sociable web. (Just think of Robert Putnam who was thrown out of a chat room about a particular model of BMW as being</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">"off-topic" when he wanted to talk about BMWs in general.)<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Many of the questions that we raised in this thread about sociable web media and education (social networking sites, educational resources delivered through mobile phones, virtual</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">worlds, new scholarship and emerging forms of publication, massively multiplayer educational gaming and user-generated content) were also cohesively addressed in NMC's Horizon</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">2007 report.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf">http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf</A> (Thanks to Geert for the link).<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I'm curious about Danah's suggestion that<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>"What I think changed has more to do with social organization in networked public life." Danah, you say: "I don't think</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">that the shift is about becoming social." You do point to the history of online group formation (a shift from interest group to ego-type "friend" networks) and agree that they enabled</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">sociality. But you say - "what has changed has more to do with social organization in networked public life." Well, there is a huge step in the scale of networked sociality. That, in</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">fact, is new and that is why I'd call what happens now a "social turn." You, when I understand that correctly, emphasize the shift from clustering around interests to crowding in</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">groups of "friends." You complicate the term friend, of course ("friend"), but even American notions of friendship, which are really more about weak ties, don't really describe the</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">arbitrary looseness of these relationships. Remember Zefrank's rants about "small worlds"? (<A href="http://www.zefrank.com/smallworld/">http://www.zefrank.com/smallworld/</A>)<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">What is portrayed as "friends" is really more often than not, an interest group. I may call people in my del.icio.us network, "my friends," instead of the silly "fan" language Joshua</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">put there. But the Del.icio.us Network is really a loose interest group. And arguably, also in many larger mailing lists subscribers are grouped around their interests rather than their</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">friendships. (In Myspace that's a different story.) <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">And in response to Tobias, yes, I do think that one reason people take to the web is the vanishing of the public sphere. I use Putnam's "Bowling Alone," however problematic it may</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">be, to demonstrate the decline of civic participation in the US, and then show the “massification” of networked sociality. <SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Trebor</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Technology and the changing face of relationships</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.blogherald.com/2007/01/16/technology-and-the-changing-face-of-relationships/">http://www.blogherald.com/2007/01/16/technology-and-the-changing-face-of-relationships/</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity (distributedcreativity.org)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:iDC@mailman.thing.net">iDC@mailman.thing.net</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc">http://mailman.thing.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/idc</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">List Archive:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/">http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/</A></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>Grant Kester</DIV><DIV>Coordinator, Ph.D. Program in Art & Media History</DIV><DIV>Associate Professor, Art History</DIV><DIV>Visual Arts Department, 0084</DIV><DIV>University of California, San Diego</DIV><DIV>9500 Gilman Drive</DIV><DIV>La Jolla, California 92093-0084</DIV><DIV>(858) 822-4860</DIV><DIV><A href="mailto:gkester@ucsd.edu">gkester@ucsd.edu</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>