After reading the articles, one perfect example comes to my mind immediately is a website called Renren.com. It is basically a Chinese version of Facebook. The essential functions are almost the same. However, there are several other functions in this website which are also good examples to illustrate some theories of new media studies I want mention here.I would like to discuss how these functions relate to the attributes which given by Turkle, Jenkins and Manovich.
Turkle is an ethnographer and psychologist who does not only study what the computer was doing for us, but also study what it was doing to us, “including how it was changing the way we see ourselves, our sense of human identity.” As Turkle argued, “the tools we use to think change the ways in which we think”. In this information technology era, computer has been the most powerful technology which can impact our habits of mind. Morover, today, students learn new ways to think about what it means to know and understand during the process of using e-mail, word processing, computer simulations, virtual communities, and PowerPoint software. As a matter of fact, Renren has successfully created a virtual community. It allows us build self-image, make new friends and share images and videos with friends, play multi-player online game, keep a pet, etc. In this process, we will create a sense of new value towards to the world and also a new way to deal with others. For example, when some of my friends haven’t show up for a long time, the first thing come to my mind will be go visiting his Renren account rather than calling him by phone.
From another perspective, according to the principle of modularity of Manovich, Renren itself as a World Wide Web is completely modular. It consists from numerous Web pages, each in its turn consisting from separate media elements. Every element can be always accessed on its own. Manovich defines: Media elements such as images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors are assembled into larger-scale objects but they continue to maintain their separate identity.”
Problems caused by this website are also very clear. Privacy is certainly one of the considerations of Turkle. While blogging, browsing WebPages and showing your personal information on the website, we may not even be aware of the privacy issue. But, it is a fact that we are now “accustomed to electronic surveillance as part of their daily lives.” Take Renren as an example, it was first owned by a Chinese company two years ago, but in 2008, a Japanese company bought it in 400 millions RMB. Later, reporters argued that Renren also sold customers’ personal information that company. The news was a big hit at that time, however, people forget about it very soon.
Another interesting point raised by Turkle is that technological venues offer us a moratorium, “a time out or safe space for the personal experimentation that is so crucial for adolescent development.” Such illusions will weaken someone’s social ability, however, at the same time, for those who are lonely yet afraid of intimacy, information technology has made it possible to have the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship.
Finally, I would like to quote what Turkle claimed in his article as the end. “The new culture would make it easier, not more difficult; to consider life in shades of gray, to see moral dilemmas in terms other than a battle between Good and Evil. For never has our world been more complex, hybridized, and global. Never have we so needed to have many contradictory thoughts and feelings at the same time. Our tools must help us accomplish that, not fight against us.”
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