In his review essay, "Youth, Neoliberalism, Ethics," Joe Austin poses some questions that might be relevant to this question of "playbour". I think the most compelling aspect of these discussions of social media are their very indeterminate nature. Sometimes, they are one thing, sometimes another. The sheer lack of hard and fast designations that tends to stifle more orthodox forms of critique, can themselves become an important site of critique (as many have pointed out here). <<a href="http://www.rhizomes.net/issue10/austin.htm">http://www.rhizomes.net/issue10/austin.htm</a>><br>
<br>But, I do think the overlap between "youth culture" and "playbour" (of which Christian reminded me through his discussion of Michael Jackson) might offer a paradigm by which we can understand the power dynamics that govern social media. The consideration of youth has long been (in the United States, at least), that realm which is rigorously policed and reified, characterized as "playful," but charged with an aura of responsibility. In effect, the construction of youth culture itself is the model for playbour. At times, youth bear no responsibility for excesses, provided they be incorporated into some sort of social utility (for example, "children need to play with Legos to improve spatial reasoning" or "video games improve hand-eye coordination"). At other times, play rises to the level of moral panic, particularly when it challenges private property, social norms, etc. <br>
<br>On the one hand, there is cause for concern when we view the prospects for social media through the historic lens of youth culture, which has been policed, not in an totalizing way, but with increasing degrees of severity (consider, for instance, the emergence of "zero tolerance" and "adult sentencing" approaches to youth, and the racial and economic factors that overshadow these "tough" approaches). On the other hand, there is a demonstrable "resistance" embedded in youth culture which contrasts to norms of "adult" behavior (but even these distinctions can become more flexible the higher you go up the economic ladder).<br>
<br>Furthermore, the issue that Austin's article appears in is packed with articles that might be of interest to folks on the list:<br><<a href="http://www.rhizomes.net/issue10/">http://www.rhizomes.net/issue10/</a>><br>
<br>Peace!<br><br>Davin Heckman<br><br><br>