The real nature of online communication:

social networks, blogs and emails

Arts7000 Academic communication for PostgraduatesThe University of Sydney

Nicola Giusto

Monday, 4 October 2010

Generally speaking email, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Msn, Icq

are:

• virtual

• immaterial

• invisible

• placed in the online space

• CLOUDS

Monday, 4 October 2010

Monday, 4 October 2010

This idea seems to entail that:

• online vs offline

• they are ontologically different (they do not share properties)

• online world does not affect the real world

• human beings cannot look to the online social space in the same way they normally do with real stuffs e.g. apple, pen, people

Monday, 4 October 2010

Is it true?

Monday, 4 October 2010

NO, because:

buying online affects your wallet

split up with your partner by email changes your life

Monday, 4 October 2010

How to re-think online social space?

Mapping it!!

• nodes - tie - flow (interaction)

• town, village, city, transport infrastructures (Castells, 2004)

• multilevel theory (Djik, 2006)

• client - root data server (Moglen, 2010)

Monday, 4 October 2010

Online Social Networks are not different from:

- physical (ecosystem)- organic (nervous system, blood circulation, strings of DNA)- neuronal networks- social networks- technical (roads, mobiles, mails and computers)- media networks

Monday, 4 October 2010

Monday, 4 October 2010

Thank you

Monday, 4 October 2010