I am the yellow dot!

I am the yellow dot!

By Markus Zuercher

A Social Network Diagram (Wikimedia Commons, 2009)

Like so many others, at first I was troubled by the hidden power a virtual network holds. Suspicion is human nature; it is like being in the panopticon environment of constant surveillance as described by Turkle (1995, pp. 246-249) until the realisation that this works both ways.

Similar to the nineteenth-century Parisian flanuer, I became a cyber-flanuer as Barnes (1997) describes it in this week’s reading. Initially observing, what I assumed anonymously, in the background of my chosen virtual network. Now, several years after joining the Geneal-Forum, I have become an empowered and consuming cyber-flanuer. What I mean by this is because I have willingly disclosed some of my details to the other forum members; I have now the power to see posts from other members, contribute to the forum and communicate with others. Forum rules have to be obeyed as this forum is moderated and this gives the site operators the power to censor any posts.

This week’s lecture by Dr Petray (2013) on mapping has inspired me to this Blogs title. Becoming a member of this virtual network, opened many virtual ‘doors’ in my quest to map my family history. “I am the yellow dot” represents my family history map with its many connections, nodes and sometimes dead ends.

Reference List    

Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the Cyber-Flanuer.   Retrieved Aug 11, 2013, from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Petray, T. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 3 notes. [PowerPoint slides]   Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet. New York: Simon & Schuster

Image Credits

Wikimedia Commons. (2009). A social network diagram.   Retrieved Aug 13, 2013, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sna_large.png