On Media Ecology: Meyrowitz and our very own Wesch

On Meyrowitz:

Continuing to think on our discussion during class yesterday, I picked up on Meyrowitz's comment: "Innis argues that different media have different potentialities for control."

Why is it that PostSecret has produced the kinds of interactions it has, while /b/ has produced something so different? Both are 1)online communities, 2)based on anonymity that 3)defy several social norms of speech and behavior.

But the basic medium is different: the postcards, which Warren has described as a unique work of art. These require much effort to make and a bit of effort to respond to, unlike no-screenname-required image boards. While anyone dying to reveal their secret without consequences could hop on /b/ and say, "I would love to drop an anvil on your girlfriend," the result would not even approach the emotional satisfaction of turning that secret into something concrete that in its "artwork" reveals a deeper intention, a deeper secret.

We mentioned in our class discussion that a true contrast to /b/ would be an identical message board that produced positive results like those on PS.

I'm seeing now that this true contrast isn't theoretically possible. The effort required to create a postcard, send it, and see it on the website acts as a filter for thought. It is a different medium than an image board.

Considering this, can we still treat PS as a bright-sided contrast to /b/ over the span of our presentation? Definitely. In the broader context of anonymity and identity, it pulls us away from the emerging mad/smart/bot mobs and back to the "Great American Poets" part where ideas, expression, art, and truth are widely distributed with no biases toward their inceptors. And for the inceptors and those affected by them, a "sense of place" is recreated.

On Prof. Wesch:

In this yet-to-be-published article, Professor Wesch discusses the effects of self-awareness, very similar to my Monday post on Thompson's Ambient Intimacy.

The comparison to our rapidly multiplying new media to that of an indigenous man seeing the first photo of himself is startling: "We are shocked into new forms of sudden self-awareness."

This was exactly my point in the previous post. Wesch gives a beautiful analysis of this increased self-awareness in terms of YouTube vloggers, which often results in a recognition of connection and similarity to others.

This common "we are all one and the same" conclusion is at the very core of the PS community as well, though in a much more specific context. This is because the nature of PS, the "frame" it creates, you could say, is one of, "Cut the crap. There's no reason to fool anyone here. Say what's at the deepest and most hidden part of who you've realized you are. And be appreciated for it."

So maybe through this continual shock that Wesch has noticed, PS functions as a place to pause and deposit the more difficult things. The community members become pack mules for one anothers burdens, saying "I'm carrying that too." As for the order and moderation that Frank Warren provides, that only increases the security that PS members feel.

Who would want to talk about the guilt of a past transgression if they're worried about getting Rick Rolled?

-Katie