Hiding Behind Electronic Masks? | ||
Individuals and
Communities, part two. In Fragmented by Technologies: A Community in Cyberspace, Mike Davis questions whether the kind of individuality expressed on the Web can provide the proper framework for the building of healthy personal interaction and the development of meaningful communities. Davis writes:
Davis suggests that many theorists may be overestimating the (assumed to be) inherent community building potential of the internet, and that in fact communicating over the internet may disguise problems that are more basic to communication in general. He writes:
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Recall the community-building aspects of independent publishing presented elsewhere in this project. | |
Where Turkle sees potential for personal
liberation, Davis mistrusts the Internet because he sees the potential for "highly
controlled forms of self presentation" which may not be real at all. Along
with pointing out the very real potential for harmful deception, Davis also sees that we
may simply map our current rhetorical prejudices and self-interests onto the web
environment, resulting only in easier ways of enabling destructive, anti-social behavior:
What Davis seems to be asking is: what kind of community is it that allows hostility without the threat of physical retribution, that allows us to work against each other with none of the ramifications this would be present if we were together talking on the street, or in a PTA meeting, etc.? In other words, will we create constructive "virtual communities" on the web? If Turkle is correct, we will find in computer mediated communication new ways of shaping our self-images, and new ways of communicating with each other. But, the new freedoms are a double-edged sword, and so far it isnt clear which is the sharper edge. On the one side, we may feel able to express ourselves in new and constructive ways, on the other we may be freed to lash out and alienate others. As a result of the latter, we may soon see less community building, and more polarization among individuals, and further atomization across societies. Everyone holed up in their rooms "communicating" by lying, deceiving, and verbally attacking each other over a keyboard is not a pleasant idea, to be sure. But, we've had telephones for quite some time, and other than the occasional prank call ( and which do you get more of--pranks or solicitations?) we are mostly polite on the phone. There are also laws against harassment, and other than harassment from professional hackers, it should not be difficult in the future to trace from which computer accounts harassing e-mails originate, and block reception. |
Split Issue: Multiplicity
or Fragmentation? Not only do computer technologies and electronic communication networks theoretically have the potential to reshape the way we think about our individual identities, but they may also affect the way we view others, and our how we shape our sense of community. The single largest issue here is whether the technologies encourage multiplicity and connectivity between individuals and the groups to which they belong, or whether they actually promote fragmentation and division. Viewed from this angle, people will either come to use the web as a way of encountering new and challenging ideas about themselves and others--as a way of celebrating diversity and the richness of community involvement--or, web users will seek out and use only information and ideas with which they are already familiar, to the exclusion of all othersas a way of further isolating and insulating themselves from the rest of society. If use of the Internet, new forms of electronic communication, and electronic publishing fall too far off center in either of the above directions, society and the democratic process will clearly be affected. |
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In terms of implications for independent publishing, again we find an unknown equation. If the web develops--as Davis suggests it might--along lines of "normative understandings from other social contexts," it may end up making it easier for particular individuals to ignore ideas that they are uncomfortable with, or simply misunderstand. For example, independent feminist publishers with a strong desire to find new audiences for their work may find it easier to publish online, but in the long run they will not find any new readers, because the web will make it easier for people to find and read only what they are already familiar and comfortable with, to the exclusion of other, new, and potentially constructive ideas. | ||