nervousness - a stream of consciousness post
(Caution, this post may offend)
For the first time I have started to feel nervous about putting posts up that may offend … that I may write something which is unacceptable .
This is a sign of my naivete. The private/public tension is an important dimension of the online world, I have always known that and I thought that I understood it was both these things. But I have had my epiphonous moment a bit late. Guy blogged ages ago that he was shocked when he found out Colin and Michele had read his blog; I have had a little bit of a shock wave go through me and I realise that nuances of what I write can carry across the web with different effects to what I imagined or intended.
Again I have always known that what ever anyone writes, if they put it in the public domain anyone else can do with it what they want, interpret it how they want and so on. They may read into what you have written something that you did not know was there or that you had not realised was there. Once your text is in the public domain, it is no longer just yours. And I guess I have experienced this properly now… and I feel really strange that I have offended someone - especially as in meat space I tend to inconvenience myself not to do so. I think this whole area is more nuanced on the web as most online publishing is instant - not edited or reviewed by others. (Especially blogs of course which are by nature more subjective, reflective, personal etc.)
Maybe in meat space we (I?) am more able to avoid culture clash miscues as I can see who I am interacting with and will adjust what I say, how I say, etc.This is much less easily done online and indeed if we try to avoid offending all possible readers, then what we say may become impossibly bland and non commmittal to the point of not being able to express one’s view. So,maybe online communities, which I have observed to develop mini cultures, need to do so in order to define parameters that are over and above ‘other’ culture affiliations…
So how therefore did I offend someone online? Maybe because the person I offended was not really in my affinity space at all and maybe because global nettiquette is still developing … hmm perhaps I need to think about the notion of micro cultures in relation to affinity spaces.
