Video Reflection
14 years ago
Friday, January 30, 2009
"Blogging" a third place?
The characteristics of a third place are : a neutral ground, leveler, conversation, accessibility/accommodation, regulars, low profile, mood is playful, and a home away from home. I think that blogging fits some of the above criteria but not enough to consider it a third place. I think that computers are a neutral ground for most people with the increase of technology and its spread to the public community. I do not consider it a leveler because I feel that you can not control bias from happening over the computer especially when interacting with people you often don't know that well. However, blogging does fulfill the conversation characteristic. Conversation is one of the only things that you do blogging. I believe the computers are becoming more accessible and accommodating, which makes blogging easy to do. For this class, we will be blogging regularly so the same people will be posting (which fulfills the regularity requirement). Blogging is very low profile because anyone can do it and you don't even have to tell people your name! I could be chatting it up with an intelligent six year old and have no idea! I don't think blogging will always create a playful mood. The website doesn't seem that "inviting" and we are all here to share our opinions on various subjects. I feel when a large amount of people converse with different opinions, people tend to clash. It may be a learning experience but I would not necessarily categorize it as playful. Lastly, many people would not consider blogging a "home away from home" because some people may choose to only use their home computers. Many people may not want to go to a library or coffee shop to blog especially if they have a computer in the comfort of their own home.
3 comments:
I definitely agree with this blog... Blogging does fulfill many of the requirements, but it may not fulfill enough to be labeled as a third-place. The biggest disadvantage of blogging is that it is not "a home away from home" I agree that many people would rather use their own computer at their home to blog instead of going out into public to do so. They aren't really "escaping" from their environment and aren't opening themselves as much to new people (which is how we increase our social capital). The only thing that I disagree with in this blog is the point about blogging being accessible and accommodating. I think for us in this University, and others with the same socio-economic status, access to internet and blogging is extremely easy. However, I think minorities have a much more difficult time at having access to internet/computers. Also, if it wasn't for this class, I would probably have never been involved in blogging or know how to do so. I think that without a push from an organization/teacher/etc. many other people would join a blog on their own accord.
I disagree that the internet is not a leveler. The internet provides some anonymity and therefore people do not interact based on biases because they do not know what type of person they are talking to.
That is true, the internet does provide anonymity, however, I feel some people may tend to skew the way they think or interact because of this factor.
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