Andrushka

In order to post on Wendi's Myspace blog, I had to register and make a profile. Part of that profile is location and Myspace allows you to search by place. So, you can type in a zip code and find the profiles of people within 5, 20, or 50 miles of you. I'll admit, I've done it. I've recognized a couple faces from UNL and Union (speaking of which, you can also search schools). There is a certain voyeuristic entertainment value to the whole thing. You can even filter the results, for example, by sexual preference. Blogger doesn't offer that. Why? Because it's raison d'être isn't to serve as a "meet market." I've never tried to develop a relationship with people online. I mean, if my life leads me to someone, that's one thing. If they have a similar and distinctive interest, I might think about it. But neither existance nor propinquity is enough for me to seek out a relationship with these people. That brings me up to the other day. When I logged in to post on Wendi's blog, I saw I had a message. I read the message. It was from some girl I'd never seen before. She lives in Omaha and had found me by doing a location search. She wants to "be friends." She has rather revealing pictures on her profile. I haven't responded. These online communities are fascinating, and particularly so since one of my classmates did a research share on online identity construction. Just check out whimit.com and tell me it's not a worthwhile site for composition research. But, my fascination is with the medium more than the people. When I view it as a site of research though, that invites a lot of ethical questions into the situation. Since I'm a firm believer in participant research, I really should interact. It just seems like a granfalloon to me though. Anyway, do you think I should reply to this chica, even if it's just to politely say I'm not that interested? Random randomocity: "I've always wanted to be in a band." "Really, what do you play?" "I play with minds. Go home and think about that. Oh, and don't look under your bed."

Posted by Scott on 10 November 2005 at 11/10/2005 11:47:00 PM | Permalink