What am I talking about? What is Twitter and Jaiku and why should a cyber anthropologist be interested? How about a way to keep up with people, talk to people, cyber stalk people, and lurk a never ending sms feed where each 'post' is in 140 characters or less. One thing of interest here is it blurs the lines between the 'net' and phone texting, pulling mobile phones and their use more and more into the realm of cyber anthropology as they become another cultural tool through applications such as these.
Though I've lumped these two applications together because their nominal function is much in the same, there has recently been a large 'surface' cultural shift from twitter to jaiku as you can see when doing a google search for the terms. A few big names have made their move from Twitter to Jaiku public and that has caused the blogosphere to notice these applications and now their tug-of-war a bit more. While it is not the technology we focus on as anthropologists, I find it interesting what attracts people to one scene over another as well as how people move online and where their nomadic inclinations take them. I believe this fight will likely come down to community over 'features', but that may be the anthropologist in me talking.
I am not going to say this is the next big cyber cultural 'thing', however, I do think applications such as these that incorporate both the use of computers (browsers/IMs) and phones (texting/sms) are definitely what the masses are attracted to and for good reason. For those who 'live' online, if you can be anywhere with anyone and still in contact with everyone else in a very no strings attached to any one person sort of way, why wouldn't you?
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
Though I've lumped these two applications together because their nominal function is much in the same, there has recently been a large 'surface' cultural shift from twitter to jaiku as you can see when doing a google search for the terms. A few big names have made their move from Twitter to Jaiku public and that has caused the blogosphere to notice these applications and now their tug-of-war a bit more. While it is not the technology we focus on as anthropologists, I find it interesting what attracts people to one scene over another as well as how people move online and where their nomadic inclinations take them. I believe this fight will likely come down to community over 'features', but that may be the anthropologist in me talking.
I am not going to say this is the next big cyber cultural 'thing', however, I do think applications such as these that incorporate both the use of computers (browsers/IMs) and phones (texting/sms) are definitely what the masses are attracted to and for good reason. For those who 'live' online, if you can be anywhere with anyone and still in contact with everyone else in a very no strings attached to any one person sort of way, why wouldn't you?
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
Comments
But on the other hand it's frustrating that I see this evident in myself and others because online I can wheedle out the people of interest/use to me. If I go to university there are many idiots who aren't bothered about anything. Do I go to a sodding book club or something? Even if I find the handful of good people on a uni course or something, it doesn't compete with the potential crop to be found on the net.
Do you study the different ways people talk to each other, form relationships, on the net? I like being able to easily get my voice out to a bunch of people with my interest. You miss out on the unpredictability though. Also I find the layouts of forums nauseating - I'm not gonna bother to compete with the stack of dialogue and information already embedded in there. It's demoralising to click a subject and find a thousand threads already.
These sorts of problems could be solved with a new myspace or something though. I enjoy the filtering, editing of the world on the net. This could be done efficiently with a new wikipedia, myspace or combination. Society in the real world would have to change first, for idiot culture to be put at a lower status, actual discussion and human development encouraged.
Do you think that by narrowing down your group of people based on similar interests you are missing out on more meaningful relationships? As in those you would be challenged more in?
Yes, I do find it interesting the way people form and sustain relationships online.
How would a combination of Wikipedia and Myspace meet your needs better? Are you suggesting that perhaps a bit of moderation on the types of people participating in the social networking sites you frequent would make the type of people you find there more desirable to associate with?
My metaphors are sliding but I think this has something. Different sites have different hooks, some bigger than others, wikipedia is totally accessible, you want that information really, though it is a little too much text (my eyes get tired, computer screens drain me really). But it makes you think that something of fresh interest is just a click away(whole thing about the attention span being lowered with this sort of thing - encourages rambling tangents actually, I'll fight it).
But I'm looking up something about wikipedia because I want to get deeper into that thing! I then feel guilt that I'm not, because it has tempted me into looking at other things. Like my girlfriend when talking to me, she could have taken the time to think of a probing question at that time but there was loads of other people that could be easier to get stuff out of, and likely more gained. It's the POTENTIAL that you care about. In everyday life people merge into one, you have to try so hard to get the smallest bit of goodness out of most and they're doing it with a goofy look. So the first person you ever find on the net who you can start a conversation with about history, or sexuality beyond straight or gay?... you know, is fantastic. But you soon find, very disposable. Don't give a shit in fact, I assume it's mutual now.
It's probably this that makes you miss out on a potential meaningful relationship online, but I think it can only be done in real life now. If only because the way the internet looks and feels just trivialises everything.
Yes, if Myspace now encourages quantity over quality with social things, a different website could do the opposite. But that took off in a similar, if evil twin, way. Something that compiled information resources and organised them accessibly, I have thought. I read a Guardian article on wikipedia, bemoaning the loss of the sense of a 'scoop'. Sure I think there are lots of dangers with the net. And I'm not too sympathetic with the, I think they're called transcendentalists, I think technology's moved too fast for us to get used to, you need to work new things in slowly, learn how it feels, what to tell your children about it.
Twitter sounds horrible, I just read about it. I can't see how it would take on but I don't understand society. I thought to myself that if you think of mobile phones becoming popular, taking away the perhaps nagging curiosity involved with the results of anything a mobile conversation can give, knowing what people are doing is an upgrade on that. It seems so childish, it must be completely born of this facile culture more than of the net. That's all i got, apologies.