Continuing the conversation from class about trying to make the internet less of a place for insulting others, I really do think that the best way to get to that point is not only to have etiquette taught as a more prominent part of society, but also to change the medium of communication online. I recall someone bringing up the idea of a sarcasm font, but other methods could be added in as well. Emoticons are a good start, but perhaps the idea of using a Skype-like program for communicating on forums could work. Record a video of yourself speaking your response, then post that. Using a video as ones way of speaking on the internet also has the advantage that you actually can see hand gestures and facial expressions, as well as people knowing who you are, without necessarily knowing everything about you. Using your own face would negate the requirement of giving a name (though you still could), as well as make you more recognizable on and off the web. There can be a thousand John Smiths in the world, but once you can put a face on a particular one, it is more personal.
Also, maybe the first step is to get people to realize that even when you are posting stuff online with a mask of a screen-name or anonymity, it is still a part of who you are, and that fact matters, or at least should. And maybe that is all we would need to do: convince people that the Internet really is personal, and that it should be treated as such.
I think perhaps, rather than a font, it wold be more convenient to devise a punctuation mark to indicate sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea of video forums. All participants in a discussion would be able to see one another as human beings instead of text, which I think would encourage much greater civility.
I see endless possibilities. How about flirtation marks?
DeleteMost public forums seem constructed to support opinions of an immediate nature. Professor Silliman’s suggestion of a 10 minute interval before posting is a good one, though I think the danger is that some folks won’t sit out the waiting period. I’d like to see instead of “opinion”, a format that signifies a formal argument with premises and a conclusion.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent suggestion, and we could start such a forum ourselves -- all views welcome, but always supply your reasoning for each assertion. That could be really powerful.
DeleteI liked the ideas discussed in class, as well as the ones on your blog. With that being said, I wonder how practical and/or feasible these provisions are. I probably have a slightly more pessimistic view of social networking than the average United States citizen, but I think, at best, these waiting periods, video responses, and specialized fonts are possible at best within a structured educational environment, such as this one.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the only way to really buck the culture of anonymity and impolite behavior in the social networking realm is to change the mindset to accountability and humility. Many technological gurus that pioneered websites like Google, Yahoo, and Facebook genuinely thought an online world would lead to some sort of enlightenment of the masses, where only truthful ideas would pass through the gauntlet of scrutiny of millions of surfers. Some of them now realize how wrong they were.
Though most of them are just happily making millions from the uncontrolled experiment they helped launch, social consequences be damned.
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