Virtual Communities

K I'm in a really weird mood... Have an accounting test this avo and a film essay due. rah. Woe is me. So this week was all about online communities. Again, kinda creeps me out but, what can you do? In Holmes' reading he acknowledges that due to the nature of informational culture, the geographical community suffers. I think this is why I get weirded out by the whole thing, the thought of people glued to the computer all day being 'technosocial' as oppose to being 'real-life social' (this is very much a generalization, I know) annoys me. I understand that virtual communication can create life long relationships and strong ties between different people, but I struggle to get the 'emotional investment' side of it all when you couldn't physically recognize the person...
This, however is just me being narrow minded, I'm sure theres much more to it. In our lecture Erika discussed the importance of strong and weak ties in a virtual community. These ties are the social bonds that an online community can create. There is a criteria for determining the strength of these bonds; time, emotional intensity, mutual trust and reciprocity. Heaps of different factors contribute to the success or failure of each relationship, or community as a whole. Language, religion, experiences, upbringing all determine how the ties will come together. The most imperative of these is language, a shared code as a tool for communication. This 'blogger' site involves us all in a virtual community. Despite the fact that my online behavior is probably very different to others in coms205, it is through this assignment that we have all been tied together. Quite nifty.
Cool cool so now I best be studying for that test...how exciting.

Hacking

Another week, another blog. Not my favourite past time but I'm conforming...slowly. So hacking, definitely had the image of a pubescent teenage boy tapping away at the keyboard - pre lecture. I now understand theres a little more to it. I like the fact that ethics plays a major role in the 'hacking' world, it makes the person behind the screen seem a lot more 'normal' slash easier to understand. In this weeks reading Thomas writes of Steven Levy's definition that hackers behaviour is based on the belief that computers could be used for "constructive social change." This meaning that hackers, back in the day, aimed only to access computers to judge on anothers skill and to broaden thier knowledge of other networks to improve the general accessing of information. The same beliefs still stand today as there are two major rules that seperate a 'hacker' from a 'cracker' - to never act maliciously (destroying data etc) and never to hack for financial gain. However, Thomas does discuss how the stereotype of the naughty hacker has come about, because the crimes committed are not physically visible, it can make anyone who isn't tech-savvy wary of a hackers intentions. Erika also informed us of the early interent adopters, one of which was banks - the temptation is blatant.
The whole 'hacking' culture remains very foreign to me (I have trouble logging into blogger...) but I did find it surprisingly interesting. Peace

First Post...

Hi all, my names liv.
Struggling with the assignment thus far as i have always been a little anti of the idea of 'blogging'. I think its rather self indulgent. I guess im being a bit of a hypocrite as i do enjoy the odd browse on facebook or bebo but mainly just for a laugh at photos and what not - not to share my life story. I don't know, I don't want to sound pessimistic but its just not my thing, I'd much rather chat face to face :)
But enough about that becasue this assignments worth quite a chunk, so i best get over it! Just had a read of David Berry's article. Quite enjoyed it. Berry emphasizes how the nature of the internet can very easily blur the boundary between 'public' and 'private' and how these terms apply differently to life online. Everything on the internet is public information, unless its barred by a password (not that that is always effective) because anyone can access it! Bebo, facebook, myspace are all mediums through which people communicate and interact but can also learn things about other people without them even knowing (hence why I'm a tad creeped out by it). I read in the Critic this week an article on John Keys latest attempt at getting the student vote, a facebook profile. So now the National party leader can prowl through face book profiles to get ahead in the polls. Good thing? or bad thing? Not to imply that Mr Keys is by any means a 'lurker' but it just goes to show how easy it is to access a particular group or community via the interent. There is no denying the convinience of this tool, but its also a little scary. Bakardjieva and Feenberg (2001) suggest that "respect for the intent with which online communities have generated content [and that] emerges as a fundamental ethical principle of social life online" meaning that internet browsers should be courteous of online communities. If everyone behaved this way it would be smooth sailing! Give credit where credit is due etc.
Alright I'm starving. See ya in class