Comments on: digital xenophobia

By: Many-to-Many

Many-to-Many — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 17:38:29 +0000

issues of culture in ethnoclassification/folksonomy

I love the conversations that have emerged recently on folksonomy/ethnoclassification/tagging/ontology (see del.icio.us tag folksonomy for a good collection of them). Of course, i’m particularly a fan of skeptical posts that raise the social cons…

By: Many-to-Many

Many-to-Many — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 17:33:23 +0000

issues of culture in ethnoclassification/folksonomy

By: Many-to-Many

Many-to-Many — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 17:30:15 +0000

issues of culture in ethnoclassification/folksonomy

By: Tom Coates

Tom Coates — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 17:42:48 +0000

I don’t know that I totally agree with you here. I mean there are lots of situations in the world where people form social environments or groupings that aren’t totally open – like for example academic cultures or groups of young mothers. Even our lavatories are often gendered. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to say that a group of people should be able to divide off a space or a time for conversation or implementation between themselves. I think this stuff all comes back to this distinction between a platform or environment upon which everyone must interact and there must be some basic forms of freedom for all to participate and the functionality to control membership to smaller, family-based, friend-based interest-based or professional groupings. If del.icio.us is a neutral substrate then people should just get over themselves. If some of the value that the current members find is lost by having hundreds of other people using the system, then perhaps there’s an argument for allowing people to make arbitrary groupings through the system that help to meet their needs.

By: doctor paradox

doctor paradox — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 16:17:37 +0000

Some nice thoughts to chew on re: diversity and community – thanks. Have been chewing on this same topic myself quite intensely lately.

It seems to me that there is an underlying social philosophy that creates the impression that multiplicity is bad, which is that monoculture is good. In almost every major social realm we see the singular held up as the ideal: monogamy, monoculture, monotheism, monopoly (technically illegal because it is the ultimate ideal for the capitalist corporation). People are generally expected to choose one partner, one career path or major skill to flesh out, and so on.

It’s not really news to anyone that this doesn’t accurately reflect the multiplicity of human nature. But the work required to divest of those social norms is enormous, and that project is not even a blip on the radar screen. Social, spiritual and emotional development seem destined to remain on the back burner until we’ve finished the grand project of sucking out the last remaining fossil fuel reserves from the planet.

By: Mario

Mario — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 14:04:22 +0000

I have to say I don’t understand this. Surely the beauty of del.icio.us is that I only tend to see links that are of interest to me/ members that share similars interests to me. By definition I will hardly come across the people I detest (and they in turn won’t come across people like me they detest in turn). This is very different from usenet.
What’s the big deal?

By: notes

notes — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 18:27:08 +0000

the cluster stitch

i meant to post this as a comment where i first found it, but i get errors about ‘questionable content’ alas and alack. here, digital xenophobia 30 sep 04 danah boyd writes about classist delicious users who are worried about…

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 03 Oct 2004 08:51:34 +0000

Geez, what next? geek born geek space?
Show us the scar from your wedgie for 3rd grade or your first edition D+D manuals, or some code you’ve written for GNU-Unix, and THEN you can get into the club?

I think perhaps, since the geek is the new ‘popular’ after having been blocked out of so much main stream culture – and now seeing themselves closer to the top of the heap, they are — taking on the tools of the oppressors! (crap, it’s too early on a sunday to use that statement) I mean… Instead of the battlecry “I’m married!- I’m Beautiful! (aka Muriel’s Wedding) has the same old rules just started screaming “I Code! I play with Ham Radio!” geezus.

By: D Baird

D Baird — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 00:42:10 +0000

Exactly danah.

Social networking/community tools aren’t about technology. The technology only facillitates/supports interaction. In the end technology can’t change human nature. People will have the same “getting along” issues in virtual spaces as they do in F2F settings.

Last year I taught two online sections in a graduate program. Many people think that the VLE is a ‘neutral’ space. You would not believe the drama that went on in the virtual space of newsgroups, IM, and VLEs. Adults reverting to Jr High School behavior. And because they weren’t F2F there were alot of, what i considered, mean spirited attacks between the students. I doubt they would have felt the freedom to make such attacks in a ‘traditional’ classroom. And gender played a role in the dynamic of the community. Sadly, there were several men who used the “safety” of distance to bully women in the class (but that’s a whole other post).

The promise of online/distributed learning is that everyone is on the same footing because the space is virtual–but human nature, gender roles, and a myriad of other socio-cultural issues need to be factord into the equation. Don’t get me wrong: web-based social networking tools are great, but they are only as good as the members of the group and its ability to allow novices the breathing room to find their ‘niche’ in the community. And their willingness to invest in building human relationships.

Okay. That’s my two cents–for now. It’s late and i’m gunna keel over…zzzzz

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:21:54 +0000

I appreciate seeing someone at your level of technological expertise making this kind of statement. It’s responsible and your’re setting a good example. Decency and goodwill go a long way towards creating space for newcomers and inclusive attitudes.

… without the beginners we’d never have experts