An article i just read refears to problems that people might have with some internet sites -specially social network sites like MySpace and Facebook- publishing and sharing their private information.
In real “offline” life, people spend a lot of time and effort in the “presentation of the self” –the author quotes sociologist Ervin Goffman's contributions to the understanding of social interactions - which consist of the different things people do to present themselves to others and to the world as personalities. This process of building and showing personality is based on sharing information about the self by the clothes you wear, the music you listen to, the places you go, the way you talk, and so on.
The article proposes that the same happens in “online” life, especially considering these social network sites where people present themselves through other mediums of information –photos, comments, and so on- but, here there isn’t the mechanism people use in "offline" life to choose who this information will be shared with. That could be dangerous, specially when your girlfriend’s father logs in.
("One Friend Facebook Hasn't Made Yet: Privacy Rights" by Adam Cohen. New York Times, February 18, 2008)
3 comments:
What an interesting article! Even more considering the whole Facebook fever...you never know who's reading your stuff...
"That could be dangerous, *especially* when your girlfriend’s father logs in." :)
Nice. I would have liked to have heard what you personally think about this topic of online self-presentation and the threat it poses to privacy. Where is your commentary?
"This article I just *read*"
The only other thing is that you should give us Goffman´s whole name and tell us who he is before quoting him. The name of the article would also be a good thing to include at the beginning of your summary.
I think facebook is part of a new moment in the "dispossitive" of the self, a new movement between the public and private space, Another aspect through which people explain -to themselves and to others- who they are, and in the way, they are created. It could be interesting to think of internet as a "technolgy nof the self"
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