Well, the first idea that popped into my head was of course to write about AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) again. Christine knows that that was my topic for my PWR1 paper so I'm not sure how kosher it would be to do the topic again. That's honestly the aspect of digital culture that influences my life the most I think. I'm currently on AIM right now getting people together to play basketball tonight. Perhaps I can shift my focus on AIM to a different aspect for this project. In PWR1 I focused on how AIM changed college social interaction. One aspect that I wanted to write about but never got to in that paper was the realm of away messages and profiles on AIM. I know a lot of people (of course not me) who regularly check peoples away messages or change their profiles. There are the philosophers, the comedians, the quoters, the notifiers. Everyone does things differently. I know that this area is a little too small to do a whole project on. But I think I could relate it to the creation of "online personas" in general. That is where my second topic comes into play. I'm also a personal blogger in my spare time so I'd be interested in writing about the virtual community of the blog world. On xanga, I find myself letting out my most personal thoughts for anyone to read. I complain, reminisce, and celebrate at the same time. Sometimes I'll post publicly knowing that one person in particular will read it. Just like on AIM, blogs allow people to create a virtual self. They choose what to project and what not to reveal. I think that would be an interesting subject to attack. Maybe do a little psych work but I know how I view things and interviews will always provide the best evidence. I'm actually not sure which one I'm leaning towards right now. AIM is my sentimental favorite but after writing about blogs, I'm interested in that too. Maybe I could combine them to one online persona thing including facebook and other sources too. All good ideas in my book. I guess that's where I'm leaning right now because I think I have a separate persona online than in person I guess. Maybe I'm just a nerd. Yea, I think it's that.
Linx:
IM http://www.bigblueball.com/
Xanga http://www.xanga.com/Default.aspx?
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