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A Begining
I’ve always been sort of troubled by the notion of ‘social networking’ websites, and as a result have never bothered to be involved in them – other than once, and that was business related.
I don’t consider space collective to be one, as it’s intention does not seem to be to be a place to ‘hook up’ and show off all of the trendy places where one hangs out, and all the trendy things one consumes. It’s about ideas. Constructing them, exchanging them, building new vistas - all with ideas. If you replace the individual at the centre of the popular networking sites and replace it with the ‘idea(s)’, you pretty much have Space Collective. I have no problem with it working for some people; and I can understand the interesting and useful qualities of these sites, it just doesn’t sit well with me personally.
Aside from the vapidity present in much of the modern internet social phenomena, the thing that has always troubled me the most about it is the construction of personality and image. Going back to Barthes and Baudrillard these are interesting and potentially useful concepts, especially in the realm of art; and when used to give further meaning and illustrate depth, instead of dressing something up as more than it seems. In the social internet universe however, it becomes easy to do just this. Construct yourself, or your profile not in terms of who you are, but as how you would like to be seen, who you would like to be. Everyone’s perceptions of themselves are of course bound to be a little skewed, but in its sheer amount it’s become almost like the third level of simulacra. People cease to be themselves and become something else. When does this virtual image and personality seep into the non-virtual one? Which person is the real one? Is there one at all? Maybe the voice of the person no longer exists and there is security to be found in building oneself in an ‘infinite’ place that is available to be seen by all. Maybe the loss of voice is the byproduct of a world where there are so many confusing and clashing voices free-floating around us, that knowing one’s own becomes a tricky proposition. Does building ourselves in this way legitimize our uncertain existence?
Intentional construction can be a great thing. Allegory and symbolism can be wonderful. An extreme example is the Hindu pantheon of gods. Admittedly built on metaphor and allegory making use of a rich diversity of images that in the end say something symbolically. What the gods describe and represent is very real, and this in turn gives the ‘images’ worth and the gods life. In the virtual world I find that much of the constructed image is the same. In many ways its endless boring repetition, with only slight variation based on the niche the realm it falls into. Sure, there are many different niches, but there all at their base very similar and not as individual as they would like to believe. While this sounds like one of those silly ‘there really is nothing new’ statements…it’s not that. I find that people don’t try. Often people aren’t building things out of ideas, or even using the medium to construct things of meaning, or express ideas. They are building a surface that is based on what is attractive and playing dress up with what is deemed (and by whom?) to be socially relevant.
By no means is the above ‘right’ or fully fleshed out even. It is simply an idea, and is heartfelt. This, I think, is why I’m here. And grateful to be so. Thanks.
I don’t consider space collective to be one, as it’s intention does not seem to be to be a place to ‘hook up’ and show off all of the trendy places where one hangs out, and all the trendy things one consumes. It’s about ideas. Constructing them, exchanging them, building new vistas - all with ideas. If you replace the individual at the centre of the popular networking sites and replace it with the ‘idea(s)’, you pretty much have Space Collective. I have no problem with it working for some people; and I can understand the interesting and useful qualities of these sites, it just doesn’t sit well with me personally.
Aside from the vapidity present in much of the modern internet social phenomena, the thing that has always troubled me the most about it is the construction of personality and image. Going back to Barthes and Baudrillard these are interesting and potentially useful concepts, especially in the realm of art; and when used to give further meaning and illustrate depth, instead of dressing something up as more than it seems. In the social internet universe however, it becomes easy to do just this. Construct yourself, or your profile not in terms of who you are, but as how you would like to be seen, who you would like to be. Everyone’s perceptions of themselves are of course bound to be a little skewed, but in its sheer amount it’s become almost like the third level of simulacra. People cease to be themselves and become something else. When does this virtual image and personality seep into the non-virtual one? Which person is the real one? Is there one at all? Maybe the voice of the person no longer exists and there is security to be found in building oneself in an ‘infinite’ place that is available to be seen by all. Maybe the loss of voice is the byproduct of a world where there are so many confusing and clashing voices free-floating around us, that knowing one’s own becomes a tricky proposition. Does building ourselves in this way legitimize our uncertain existence?
Intentional construction can be a great thing. Allegory and symbolism can be wonderful. An extreme example is the Hindu pantheon of gods. Admittedly built on metaphor and allegory making use of a rich diversity of images that in the end say something symbolically. What the gods describe and represent is very real, and this in turn gives the ‘images’ worth and the gods life. In the virtual world I find that much of the constructed image is the same. In many ways its endless boring repetition, with only slight variation based on the niche the realm it falls into. Sure, there are many different niches, but there all at their base very similar and not as individual as they would like to believe. While this sounds like one of those silly ‘there really is nothing new’ statements…it’s not that. I find that people don’t try. Often people aren’t building things out of ideas, or even using the medium to construct things of meaning, or express ideas. They are building a surface that is based on what is attractive and playing dress up with what is deemed (and by whom?) to be socially relevant.
By no means is the above ‘right’ or fully fleshed out even. It is simply an idea, and is heartfelt. This, I think, is why I’m here. And grateful to be so. Thanks.
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