Not Playing the "Real Name" Game

Facebook’s policy of users having to identify with their ‘real name’ has made the company stand out from others since the beginning. COO Sheryl Sandburg claims "You can't be on Facebook without being your authentic self" (McNeill, 2012). That seems kind of reassuring, with the amount we worry about real vs. virtual, as I mentioned last week. Yet some people have a big problem with this policy, especially LGBTQ and racial minorities. The reason is that the name on your birth certificate might not be your cultural one, or the identity you have at work (Wikipedia, 2016). Some need a different name for safety. This exposes a wider flaw in Facebook’s humanistic ideology of identity.

In our lecture this week, identity was defined as a story you tell about what happened to your body over time (Kuttainen, 2016). Imagine telling a funny story about a high school party to your friends. You might exaggerate it and laugh together over your stupidity. But how did you tell it to your parents back then? I’m guessing you excluded a few details! If you tell it to your children, it becomes a morality tale about the dangers of drinking. None of these narratives is ‘truer’ than another. The story and your attached role and identity simply changed for different contexts and over time. This is natural.

A graphic of the digital "networked self"
(The Student Affairs Collaborative)

Facebook expects you to have one identity, the same for all your “friends” on the site. But surely having to present the same sanitised picture of your life to everyone makes you less authentic, not more. Your identity is also not created by just you. You can be tagged, get comments on your pictures, and be reminded to post how long you’ve been friends. These all change your Facebook identity.

Far from helping you be your “authentic self”, Facebook makes you become a “networked self”- a cyborg identity made partly from you, the technology and other users' input (McNeill, 2012).

Bibliography

Drake, N. (2015, June 19). Help, I’m Trapped in Facebook’s Absurd Pseudonym Purgatory. Retrieved from Wired: http://www.wired.com/2015/06/facebook-real-name-policy-problems/

Kuttainen, V. (2016). Week 6: Networked Narratives. BA1001: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place. Townsville. Retrieved from Week 6: Networked Narratives: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. In P. M. Database, Biography 35 (1) (pp. 65-82). University of Hawai'i Press.

Wikipedia. (2016, August 12). Facebook real-name policy controversy. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_real-name_policy_controversy

The Student Affairs Collaborative. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://feeds.feedblitz.com/thesabloggers

Instagram and Post Humanity

Every day on Instagram, an average of 95 million photos are posted, and nearly 4.2 billion likes are recorded (Instagram, 2016). Our daily photo posts are a way to communicate with each other through a rapidly evolving medium. We love to see and engage with our friends and family, even if there is no way for us to do it face-to-face. Social media is quickly becoming a post-human phenomenon, with our communication evolving from oral (speaking to each other) to literate (writing letters etc) to this age of social media. Posting images of our holidays, friends or plants has become a network narrative that the entire world actively plays a part in. "Millions of individuals... produce online selves in interaction with both people and software applications" (McNeill, 2012). It is terrifyingly easy to fake an online presence, especially on Instagram, where it is very hard to disprove suspected false images. Google search can produce millions of images that you can use to pretend you went on an incredible holiday, or that you look like a different person. They can help us create a very different persona online as opposed to the real one we have in our everyday lives.

Post humanism criticizes the human ideal, as we are not always singular, rational beings. Our society decides our emotions and who we identify as 'ourself'. It further blurs the thin line between humanity and technology. Our current digital era "complicates the definition of the self and its boundaries... dismantling and sustaining the humanist subjects" (McNeill, 2012).

Sources:

1: McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “i” in network: Social networking sites and Posthuman autobiography. Biography, 35(1), 65-82. doi:10.1353/bio.2012.0009

2: Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 6 notes [powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

3: Instagram Press Page, https://www.instagram.com/press/?hl=en

Inauthentic Instagram

Inauthentic Instagram

Image 1: Person taking a selfie. Untitled, Unsplash. Sourced from pixabay.com (through Creative Commons)

Authenticity is a quality that can only be given to something that is truly original. Instagram is definitely not authentic in its posts, from filters to crafted images. But identity and self-hood is still formed on this social network, as “millions of individuals on a daily basis now produce online selves.” (McNeill, 2012).

On Facebook, the authenticity of users is (mostly) assured, but on Instagram, being authentic means something different. Users can add filters to fix flaws in their posts, and crop out scenes that are otherwise not ‘Instagram worthy’. An authentic self is virtually impossible to achieve on Instagram, because everything seems filtered in ‘Moon’ or ‘Amaro’.

To post without a filter is seen as brave (especially regarding selfies), in which you are baring yourself and your flaws to all who can see. I mean personally, I avoid filters because I am flawless… Kidding. I use them too. When that sky looks a little dull in the background, or when my cheeks seem a little puffy, a little hint of the ‘Willow’ filter blends the lighting just right.

In posting those selfies or #relatable holiday pictures, we are creating virtual self-narrative, an identity that is written by you and those who interact with you (Kuttainen, 2016). This autobiography/narrative we create on Instagram is crafted, not authentic. Users, as stated by McNeill (2012), “express their approval of members’ SNS performances, and encourage the production of more material." Through liking a manufactured post, we are validated for our fake lives, and this encourages us to continue the façade.

This formation of self-hood and identity through inauthentic means can be detrimental for our real lives, and nudges us to search for that ‘perfect’ picture to post. Walking around constantly plugging in and crafting the right angle can create a real identity we might not want.

References:

Hooton, C. (2015). Photographer zooms out to show the falsity of Instagram photos. Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/photographer-zooms-out-to-show-the-falsity-of-instagram-photos-10507096.html

Kuttainen, V. (2016). Networked Narratives [PPT.] Retrieved from learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. There Is No “I” in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Project Muse, 35(1) 65-82. Doi: 10.1353

Unsplash. N.D. Untitled. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/selfies-cell-phone-sunny-outdoors-1149816/

70% of Australians are cyborgs.

http://amongus.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-07-at-11.38.12-AM.png

Haraway (as cited in Kuttainen, 2016), defines the cyborg as being a hybrid of machine and organism – man and machine – and goes on to argue that the cyborg is no longer constrained to fiction, but is in fact a creature of social reality.  The question of whether or not cyborgs do in fact exist, as Haraway suggests is the case, can be solved by proving or disproving that humans have blended with technology.  

Zephoria (2016) reports that the average user spends 50 minutes a day on Facebook; Heber (2015) state that Australians spend closer to 1.7 hours a day.  While those quantities of time are significant in their own right, they don’t take into account the fact that users are always connected to Facebook, even when they are not accessing it.  As Lessin noted (as cited in McNeill, 2012), “Now, you and your friends will finally be able to tell all the different parts of your story—from the small things you do each day to your biggest moments.” This networked identity quickly merges with your real identity.  As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg proclaimed (as cited in McNeill, 2012), “you can’t be on Facebook without being your authentic self.”  For example, let’s say you were to have a big night on the town with some friends.  During that time, you do not access Facebook.  However, your friends are tagging you at every bar you go to, taking photos of you, uploading them and tagging you in them.  While you are still sleeping off your hangover on Sunday morning, your less exciting friends are waking up to these images, discussing them, and forming fresh opinions of you based on them. 

It is clear then that our connections to Facebook are constant and permanent, indicating that those active users have in fact blended with technology.  If Heber’s (2015) estimates that 13 million Australians – roughly 70% of the nation’s adult population – are active on Facebook each month, then we have truly become a nation of cyborgs.

References
Heber, A. (2015). These Incredible Stats Show Exactly How Huge Facebook Is In Australia.  Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com.au/these-incredible-stats-show-exactly-how-huge-facebook-is-in-australia-2015-4
Kuttainen, V. (2016).  BA1002:  Our Space: Networks, Narrative and the Making of Place, week 6 notes [Powerpoint slides].  Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/
McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Biography 35(1), 65-82.

Zephoria. (2016). The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics.  Retrieved from https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/

[Post]Human? - The Individual is Present

Figure 1. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (Portraits on Flickr, 2010). 

    Depending on what you know about people that work in the hospitality industry, you might know that everyone who works together acts like one, big family. You could even say we are post-human. We work together as a "collaborative consciousness that they call into being - "Hive mind" (McNeill, 2012, p.74), as without this aspect of our work selves there would be no communication. Kuttainen (2016) stated in this weeks lecture, "All narratives are networked in that they are intertextual", which would mean that to know the entire narrative, you must first know everyone else's in the network. It is not surprising to realise that everyone knows everything about each other, down to their private lives, because we spend a lot of time with one another outside of work. Not only does this lead to a panopticon effect, but that we as chefs, are individuals as products of each other; making us post-humans.

       I also argue that being a chef requires a lot of humanistic aspects as well as post-human ones. Without a strong sense of individual agency it would actually be impossible to become a good chef, because being your true self is extremely important in creativity. It is what gives your cooking a sense of individuality to create dishes with a personal style. A good chef is not just a worker, but an artist. It is not as easy as you might think to come up with new exciting ideas every few months or a menu change. If you watch the remarkable TED talk by Marina Abramovic, a performance artist who has been creating for over 40 years, you will see how her sense of identity was constructed through her art. Just as many different people (including the ones in the photo who were participants to her performance), shaped who she is now, it is because of this network of participants that she has learned how to express her individual agency. 

I draw this connection to show how any artist, regardless of whether they are internationally renowned, or working at your local restaurant, use aspects of both humanism and post-humanism to shape their identity and the world around them.  

References 

Abramovic, M. (TED). (2015, May). An art made of trust, vulnerability and connection.  [Vodcast]. Retrieved       from: https://www.ted.com/talks/marina_abramovic_an_art_made_of_trust_vulnerability_and_connection

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Networked narratives, week 6 notes [PowerPoint slides] Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no "I" in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography. Biography 35(1), 65-82. doi10.1353/bio.2012.0009

Portraits On Flickr. (2010). Marina Abramovic: The artist is present. [Image]. Retrieved from: 

    http://hemi.nyu.edu/hemi/fr/e-misferica-72/levine

Our Post-human Selves and the need for Communication.

Our posts’ that we publish on Facebook are our ways to communicate with each other, to think that Facebook as a narrative that we are able to communicate with about ‘thing’s’ that we humans like on a virtual network that can be seen by anyone around the globe is very post-human in the sense that human beings are no longer communicating by letters to friends and family but now through technology to everyone. Posting on Facebook has become a networked narrative in which most of the world’s population participates in (McNeill. 2012). “ [...] millions of individuals on a daily basis now produce online selves in interaction with both other people and software applications” (Mcneill. 2012. p.65). These posts can be thought of as a way we create our identity and how we wish to be seen (Kuttainen. 2016). The constant reconstruction of the self on Facebook, because of its influence it has on the individual compelling them to become more and more involved in posts, creates post-human life narratives in their digital lives (McNeill. 2012. p.67).

Post-humanism

I worry that Facebook is killing meaningful communication (Jokideo.com (n/d))
 critiques the humanist ideals of the self, that humans are not always singular or rational, and that society determines who we are, how we feel and how we identify ourselves. Challenging the line in between human and technology, stating that we humans have become ‘cyborgs’, metaphorically linking the human relationship with technology, to our daily communication with others in the human population on a networked narrative that is Facebook (Kuttainen. 2016). “The digital era complicates [the] definitions of the self and its boundaries, both dismantling and sustaining the humanist subject in practices of personal narratives” (McNeill. 2012. p.65). While these posts that we publish on Facebook are post-human they are not anti-human because we use Facebook as a way to communicate with others, and not to shut them out.




Reference list:

Jokideo.com. (n/d). I worry that Facebook is killing meaningful communication [image]. Retrieved from http://jokideo.com/i-worry-that-facebook-is-killing-meaningful-communication/

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “i” in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography. Biography, 35(1), 65-82. doi:10.1353/bio.2012.0009


Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 6 notes [powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

The Communal Self

The Communal Self Identity

Just as people use common language and signals to communicate and create a sense of identity, community, and place, they can use a common narrative to create a stronger and even more meaningful sense of place than before. Kuttainen (2016) commented on the idea that ‘communication over vastly larger spaces unites people quickly’, which when applied to the AAFC Alumni network holds true, as the AAFC is split into 8 ‘Wings’ all around Australia and often people will travel to a different wing for a certain Course or event. This means that there are cadets all over the nation with friends and connections that live in other parts of the country. Facebook (specifically through the AAFC Alumni network pages and groups) are able to connect these people and allow them to then share stories and inadvertently create new ones together (many examples of networked narratives) just as the newspaper and train networks did in the time of their creation.

When ex-cadets connect through Facebook, they are acknowledging a single faucet of the self identity they have used Facebook to create as an online auto/biography. This links well with McNeill’s (2012) general view of the post humanist online and how it is a compartmentalized and separated view of oneself. This is the view that we are not simply an independent being, that we are made up of many parts with many contributors to our identity. In this context, being an ex-cadet is simply a portion of someone’s personality and identity.

When Jullian Baggini (2011) explains a person, he follows (loosely) McNeill’s model of the construction of a person and their identity. What Baggini doesn’t mention but McNeill definitely brings to the table is that the parts of a person that Baggini mentions is a culmination of a world of influences, people included.

References  

Baggini, J. (2011, November). Is there a real you? Retrieved from TED.com: https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 6: Networked narratives. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no ‘I’ in Network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto-biography. Biography, 35 (1), 65-82. doi:10.1353/bio.2012.0009

Nacada web Events . (2016, April 06). Retrieved September 02, 2016, from https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Portals/0/Webinars/documents/DW68%20Intersectionality%20HANDOUT.pdf

Authenticity is Key

Image1: Businessman select mask in work a day

Humans for centuries have imposed narrative structure to the real world to give it meaning (White, 1997, 170). But as humans we have ventured into the digital age, we have come to see advancements in technology; which have influenced the narrative structure.  Applying this week’s lecture and readings I have come to see how my virtual network, Reddit, has used network narrative as a form of communication.

Memes are one of the most common narratives found online, they go viral with ease and spread rapidly through networks. People don’t need to be within the same place to contribute to the narrative. Similarly, to the way memes are a narrative Reddit uses a wide range of outlets to create narratives; gifs, videos, text posts, and music are predominately the tools that create narrative. Through the use of these narrative tools Redditors can freely express who they are and shape their own self-identity.

Although throughout our weekly readings and lecture discussions the idea of if our narratives on virtual networks are authentic in creating a true representation of our self-identity. R.Kay Green over on Huffington Post talks about how we perceive our ideal selves and express this through the use of “likes,fans,comments,posts, etc.”(Green,2013) .

Within Reddit many people abuse the anonymity that it has created within itself. Unlike many other social networks Reddit does not make users “fill in blanks or check boxes as mandated by the site’s program” (McNeill, 2012) but allows them to create their own self-identity through the use of a flair system. The flair is used to give a brief description about one’s self in context to the Subreddit the user is in. This masks the user’s identity and doesn’t truly show their real-identity but an incarnate representation of their true identity.

References

Green, K. R. (2013, August 7). The social media effect: Are you really who you portray online?Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-kay-green/the-social-media-effect-a_b_3721029.html

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 6: Networked narratives. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved fromhttp://learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no ‘I’ in Network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto-biography. Biography, 35 (1), 65-82. doi:10.1353/bio.2012.0009

4, D. Businessman select mask in work a day.Vector. Retrieved September 2, 2016, fromhttp://www.shutterstock.com/pic-250556059/stock-vector-businessman-select-mask-in-work-a-day-vector.html

Is your identity authentic?

Image: Instagram user sharing only a part of his/her life (Dhyani, 2016)

Authenticity is something we constantly hear about in our world. People seem to have this constant worry if others are being authentic or not. But are we right to worry?  Are the people we know in real life or on social media showing their authentic identity to us?

In this week’s reading it mentioned how Zuckerberg believes people are authentically themselves on Facebook. McNeill however agues this and states that generic questions are asked and it is hard to determine users ‘authentic identity’ by having the limitations of drop down menus (2012). It is difficult to say when one is being authentically themselves as one has many different states to their identity. Everyone shows different parts to different people but this doesn’t mean they aren’t being authentic. It just means that they are open about different parts of themselves with different people as their level of comfort varies.

Moreover, as Instagram allows users to share pictures, it gives them the ability to share different parts of their lives, from the big things to the small things (McNeill, 2012, p.71). The person that users choose to represent themselves as online to their followers may not necessarily be who they are with everybody as there is “this blurring of public and private” in the social media world (Kuttainen, 2016). People share intimate moments of their private lives that they usually wouldn’t share with people in their everyday lives. They choose which parts of their lives they want to share but that doesn’t mean they are being any less authentic. Our selfhood may seemed reduced online as we create these filters which stop us from sharing every detail of our lives, whether it be our religion, our interests, etc. The reality is that no one can really show a perfectly authentic representation of their life on social media. Life is too big to share every moment. We are able to show pieces to try and best represent the lives we live (Haley, 2014).

                                             

Bibliography

Dhyani, P. (2016). Half Cooked Half Truth: Reality behind the Instagram Images. [Image] Retrieved from Clickker: http://clickker.in/2016/08/25/instagram-photographs-image-filters-photography-food-reality-wren-kitchens/

Haley. (2014, September 12). Instagram envy, being authentic on the internet, and when it’s time to break up with a blog. Retrieved from Carrots for Michaelmas : http://www.carrotsformichaelmas.com/2014/09/12/instagram-envy-being-authentic-on-the-internet-and-when-its-time-to-break-up-with-a-blog/

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our space: networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 6: Networked narratives. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no ‘I’ in Network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto-biography. Biography, 35 (1), 65-82. doi:10.1353/bio.2012.0009