Reflections

Dear readers,

And with this post, we say goodbye. In the great cinematic classic, Casablanca, Rick Blaine comforts Ilsa Lund with the sentiment, “we’ll always have Paris.” A heartrending farewell indeed.

This blog, however, is made of stronger stuff. Throughout this journey, the blogger has learnt to edit text in rich text format and HTML, upload photos through websites such as Photobucket and through a direct Blogspot.com Photo Uploader.

The blogger has expanded intellectually, learning more theories about transduction, web design and the social semiotics of multimodals: hand-in-hand with those indispensable academics: Kress & van Leeuwen, Schiver, Walsh, and many more.

As a blogger, I have learnt to write ethically, ensuring there are accurate citations to my words. To use gender-neutral and politically correct terminology to ensure tempers are not raised. I have learnt that simplicity and a competent (preferably Z-shaped!) website design are best.

With that, dear readers, I say farewell.

We’ll always have IPD.

Issue#4; Publicity & Privacy on Web 2.0

Dear readers,

With the advent of Web 2.0, the divide between private and public space has shrunk exponentially. What was previously private is now public for anyone with a modem and central processing unit, especially with the aid of search engines such as Google. Who decides what is private and what is public? In the world of Web 2.0, it’s not always the user.

Web 2.0 allows people to personalize and disseminate information in a way that is tailored to their needs and interests. This interactivity makes it simpler to get to know someone without them even knowing, an acceptable form of voyeurism (Boyd, 2007): take the fame of Jessica Rose as lonelygirl15.

As with all new communications technologies, the debate of whether it hurts more than it helps arises. Along with the unrestricted freedom and the easily-personalized platforms (Smith, 2003), Web 2.0 carries with it baggage of a more dangerous sort. Hacking and identity theft, very real threats of the Digital Age, have become more prevalent; as so many sites are free services. With the file-sharing interactivity of Web 2.0, how will profits be garnered?

(Sangrea.net, 2007.)

Information can be found on the Internet, but so can fabrications. Just as there are terabytes of education data to be devoured on Web 2.0; there are people who decide to abuse these privileges. Inasmuch as we have a right to communicate and make use of new technologies for a positive outcome, there will be someone who wants to manipulate the system for their own ends.
The perceptions of publicity and privacy have shifted greatly with the advent of new technologies.

Despite the legal repercussions, the lack of privacy, the blatant consumer-driven social networking – this does not detract from the fact that Web 2.0 and its free flow of information is indispensable to the public. Knowledge is to be shared, as it in itself is harmless.

According to Lange (2007), the idea of secrecy is unsuited to an online world – we see privacy as a more nuanced element: sharing personal information with others is routine.

As responsible individuals and users of Web 2.0, we should aim to be educated about the risks of the Internet. Web 2.0 doesn’t infringe upon privacy: people infringe upon privacy.

References

• Boyd, D. (2008). Why Youth Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. In Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Edited by D. Buckingham. The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts. p119–142. Viewed 21 October 2008 from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.119?cookieSet=1
• Lange, P. G. (2007). ‘Publicly private and privately public: Social networking on YouTube’. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 18. Viewed 2 November 2008 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/lange.html
• Smith, G. (2003). Introduction to Web 2.0. Exforsys Inc. Viewed 4 November 2008 from http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/web-2.0/introduction-to-web-2.0.html