Readers: Undisputed net vet Robert Pondiscio has now also commented on our repost from he and Marian Salzman's definitive text, The Ultimate On-line Homework Helper. What's more, he actually used our blog to communicate electronically... with Marian!
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Hi Marian!
Were you aware we'd written a "definitive" text? Me neither!
I think your post is spot-on. These rules hold up because while technology changes, people don't.
Cheers,
Robert
Hey Robert, All I learn is that I know less every day. I am sitting here reading blogs thinking I am just glad I don't have to grow up in the age of social media, or maybe not:) Laughing, m.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing as well. And I think the hosts of this blog are laughing too. At us. Net vets? Definitive text??
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about growing up in the age of social media is that you don't *have* to grow up. I like to say you're only young once, but you can be immature forever.
Robert
P.S. In the picture above, I get to be Tiger Woods. You're the other guy. Sorry. I called it first.
It appears from these comments that even net vets can learn something from the "youngsters" on the worldwide web today:
ReplyDelete1) sarcasm is fun for everyone;
2) people write web logs; they don't "host" them;
3) "grown-ups" talk to other "grown-ups" like "grown-ups" even when the "grown-ups" usually communicate with children between the ages of 8-12.
1) Although Salzman & Pondiscio's ground-breaking work in net-based educational activity and netiquette remains foundational, the netscape has certainly changed a bit, along with the prevailing sense of humor in the national media, since the publication of The Online Homework Helper. In the 10-15 years (?) since the publication of S & P's definitive work, television shows like the Colbert Report have taught us that sarcasm based on exaggeration is an acceptable form of comic relief both self-deprecating and other-focused forms (even when the others on which it focuses are authors of canonical works of neterature). We now know that sarcasm is A-OK and fun for everyone!
2) Once again, although Salzman & Pondiscio's ground-breaking work in net-based educational activity and netiquette remains foundational, the nature and extent to which people other than the authors of web logs participate in the web logs was not fully established at the time of the publication of S & P's crunk debut. This is an important point for IECW readers, if I may just put in a "***" and "NB" of my own here. It's tricky, but key to remember that people don't "host" web logs as one of our net vets stated, but in fact, people write them. They are not meant as a forum for net vets to carry on conversations about the import of their published works, as interesting as that may sound. Rather, they are platforms for the *authors* to say essentially anything they want about anything. People respond via the comment function, but in a matter that engages the authors and the readership on the subject matter of the posts on the web log, not just a single reader.
3) Immaturity is an interesting concept, sometimes invoked to deflect (or reflect) hurtful remarks made by the individual to whom the invocation is directed. While insults and jibes are intended as hurtful, sarcasm based in exaggeration is humorous and harmless (acceptable(!) - as we know from part 1 supra). Sometimes former or current elementary school teachers feel as though the concept of immaturity should be invoked at any opportunity, even when it seems misplaced or inappropriate.
-Jim Stephens
Perhaps I should explain my immaturity comment, since it clearly rankled Jim Stephens. I tend to think that in informal settings like social media, certain aspects of one's personality dominate or are magnified. While I take my work seriously, I tend to be somewhat lighthearted in informal conversation. Thus that tends to be my default "persona" in social media. There was no value judgment intended in that tone. If anything, I felt the authors of the blog were dressing me in borrowed robes in presenting our work as somehow "foundational" (a lovely notion, but I have my doubts). My sarcasm, if you want to call it that, was a signal that I'm in on the joke and not insulted, per your point.
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, I'm going to disagree with you, Jim, about the word "host" -- both in the choice of words and what it implies. I "host" an active education blog and I do indeed see myself as the host -- I'm self-consciously trying to put out an interested and appetizing mental buffet that invites comment and conversation. So yes, a blog may be a place for the author "to say essentially anything they want about anything" (indeed, many or most blogs are) but ultimately I think that's self-indulgement and self-defeating. Writers want to be read and they want their readers to engage. If a blog does not encourage conversation and commentary, then it's not using the medium to its full power. You might as well write a book.