Our book for the class is Networked: The New Social Operating System by
Lee Rainie and
Barry Wellman. So far I have read the first section and I will admit that I have always been suspicious of all of the technology and web 2.0 tools. Partially because of the information overload and that I feel that people are loosing touch with each other or how to interact with real people, face-to-face. The book looks at story about a couple that face some major medical issues and had to reach out to their networks and communities to ask for help. The book introduced me to the idea of generations of connections. These connections can include your immediate family and friends but even expand out further as the coupe found. As people shared their request for help and story it spread within their networks to include work related and love for music like jazz. People that reached out to just offer encouragement and financial help expanded out to those they never interacted with but had some type of connection through their networks.
When I moved here to Hampstead, NC I joined a lot of different facebook communities associated with Hampstead. I have watched many of the different people and watch how they interact and if you as an outsider looked at some of these pages as a taste of this city you wouldn't want to move here. It seemed to be filled with gossip, and alot of hands out asking for things. Many of the people who did post something seemed to always get attacked in some way or another and people had teamed up on one side or another for arguments. I wondered if many pf these people realized how it portrayed them and their town. I also wondered if the would act this same way if they couldn't hide behind the computer but had to face a person. So this is what I was experiencing before taking this class and reading the book.
I wonder if my fear of losing touch with reality or the amount of information that will come at me at once has prevented me from taking advantage of building on the generations of my network. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book, as compared to some of my graduate school text books this is an enjoyable one. I am looking forward to expanding my idea on not only web 2.0 tools but on the idea of networks and communities.
Great insight Ron! I was really touched by the story in Networked as well. Online communities are a new topic to me but they have so much to offer. I am eager to get involved in one these upcoming weeks. I never thought about losing touch with reality but I do appreciate simple human interaction. It really bothers me when I see people on their phones at dinner instead of communicating with each other. Some people might just be "addicted" to the web!
ReplyDeleteHi Ron, I had a similar reaction of distrusting the web...after all, isn't Facebook simply a place where people show other people what they want them to see? "Oh, I'm so happy and my life is so great?" But reading Networked, I began to have a sense of the web as being a place where we were connecting rather than distracting...though to someone who keeps telling people to "be where they are," usually I'm trying to get people to be in their bodies and not their virtual worlds! But ultimately, reality is what we perceive. The first chapter has opened up a possibility of graciousness and generosity in social media (collaboration, connection, mutual support) that I hadn't anticipated. I'm eager to see where it goes. Glad you're on the ride :)
ReplyDeleteHi Ron, I have the same reservations as you do. I wonder sometimes if the Web 2.0 tools have somehow taken the "magic" away from meeting people and sharing meaningful conversations. The book describes how these tools have just given us the capability to handle larger, more diverse set of relationships. Is that necessarily a good thing?
ReplyDeleteI feel like this class will expand our current perceptions of what it means to be in a network or community. I am looking forward to the experience with a little trepidation.
Hi, Ron,
ReplyDeletePeople online could be exaggerated and different from they are in real life, because they think that they are invisible. But sometimes we do find harsh "truth" online, which is often covered by "pretended" interpersonal relationships.
I guess I am a little bias with online personalities since I have know of people who have a complete different life online then in reality. They are smart people but are trapped in a fantasy of a world online. Everything they say from who they are, their work, etc is fake and yet they have thousands of "friends". I wonder how many people do something similar. As Rampantrae mentioned, they post what they want people to see.
ReplyDelete