Virtual Boundaries
There is a conversation currently happening on the digra/gamesnetwork mailing list that discusses the pros and cons of delineating the boundaries that make up an academic field. Although this, in no way relates to the particular topic at hand, it is the root of it.
This conversation led me to think about boundaries. We all have them. In our relationships and social interactions, our parents gave us boundaries when we were kids, cities have boundaries too. But one of the unique features of the internet was that the boundaries were as vast and wide as the internet itself. That one can click and click and click in endless, boundariless virtual world. I anticipate the comment that indeed, there are boundaries online - such as password protected sites, or pay-for access memberships, but that goes against the point im trying to get at..
i have realized, that in my daily online routines, I have drawn my own boundaries. My online neighborhood consists of a small web of sites that i can access through each other, or, from my home (favorites). I turn on my computer every morning, grab a cup of coffee and click through my sites, read an article here, check the weather there. But lately, I have been getting bored quickly. The blogs that have replaced the morning news have not been overly active latetly, and there has been little else in my neighborhood to look at.
But when i think about venturing outside my 20 site neighborhood, i get a sense of 'leaving home'. A sense that i am crossing a boundary that i made out of routine. And i question what it is about my routine, my neighborhood of sites that makes me feel like i'm (uneasily might i add) chartering new territory. And in times of anxiety, I always come back to the same old sites.
Guess this is more of a rant then a thought out, point laden post, but with all the talk of online community, recent conferences about solo play never really being solo (due to the interaction of man and man created machine) and boundaries, i have been thinking about how i have created my own 'safe space' online - and why i dont like to leave it.
There is a conversation currently happening on the digra/gamesnetwork mailing list that discusses the pros and cons of delineating the boundaries that make up an academic field. Although this, in no way relates to the particular topic at hand, it is the root of it.
This conversation led me to think about boundaries. We all have them. In our relationships and social interactions, our parents gave us boundaries when we were kids, cities have boundaries too. But one of the unique features of the internet was that the boundaries were as vast and wide as the internet itself. That one can click and click and click in endless, boundariless virtual world. I anticipate the comment that indeed, there are boundaries online - such as password protected sites, or pay-for access memberships, but that goes against the point im trying to get at..
i have realized, that in my daily online routines, I have drawn my own boundaries. My online neighborhood consists of a small web of sites that i can access through each other, or, from my home (favorites). I turn on my computer every morning, grab a cup of coffee and click through my sites, read an article here, check the weather there. But lately, I have been getting bored quickly. The blogs that have replaced the morning news have not been overly active latetly, and there has been little else in my neighborhood to look at.
But when i think about venturing outside my 20 site neighborhood, i get a sense of 'leaving home'. A sense that i am crossing a boundary that i made out of routine. And i question what it is about my routine, my neighborhood of sites that makes me feel like i'm (uneasily might i add) chartering new territory. And in times of anxiety, I always come back to the same old sites.
Guess this is more of a rant then a thought out, point laden post, but with all the talk of online community, recent conferences about solo play never really being solo (due to the interaction of man and man created machine) and boundaries, i have been thinking about how i have created my own 'safe space' online - and why i dont like to leave it.
posted by Kelly at
16:05
1 Comments:
Your intellectual nemesis suggests that you get yourself into Linux if you want to break out of that M$ matrix ;)
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Anonymous, at 13/4/05 9:34 p.m.
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