The structure of my essay

Here's the basic structure of my planned essay (2500 words) on self-disclosure and micro-blogging.

Does micro-blogging encourage increased self-disclosure?

Introduction (150)

What it's going to cover, finishing with a claim that micro-blogging tends to increase self-disclosure, although this must be seen in context of people generally feeling more comfortable about the details they publish online

Body

The micro-blogging phenomenon. (500)
What is micro-blogging? How does it relate to blogging generally and to social networking? How is micro-blogging being used (not comprehensive, indicative)?

A look at privacy (1500)
Some definitions of privacy with a focus on self-disclosure. Look at the ways privacy is achieved by controlling self-disclosure. Look at the concept of access control, how privacy is achieved through the control of access of others to our inner-most self.

How is privacy related to surveillance? A look at the Panopticon and Spaces of Discipline (Foucualt), and Societies of Control (Deleuze) and how one informs the other. Link self-disclosure and Societies of Control through the utility that people achieve through increased self-disclosure. Example: giving out post-code in exchange for tailored weather forecasts.

Conclusion (150)

That's my thoughts so far, what do you think? How's your final essay coming along?

I need some help

I need some help narrowing down the thesis question/statement for the major assignment. There's so much that interests me that I could research and write about. It's like being asked to choose a song and not being able to because there's so many. I'm also mindful of time constraints. I read some Derrida yesterday (that's bloody hard going) and it made me realise that I don't have the luxury of the time needed to open up a whole range of inquiry. I'm thinking that I'll do something on either micro-blogging (which is really just a subset of social networking) or web2.0, but these are very broad topics on their own. Perhaps I could somehow link micro-blogging with some of the research I'm doing in some of the other units and come up with something about the way this topic interacts with broader issues of privacy/surveillance which would be my entree into Foucault and Deleuze. It could then look something like "How does micro-blogging change the nature of self-disclosure and privacy?" which narrows the subject down to micro-blogging but then again the word nature is a bit too vague. So perhaps it could be more "Does micro-blogging encourage increased self-disclosure?" with my response being (tentatively)'yes' but that it doesn't matter because privacy is a function of the ability for a person to control the information published about oneself - one person's privacy is another's public persona. That could lead into the commercialisation of our privacy, in that the more open and vulnerable we are, the more people tend to be fascinated by our lives - witness Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Ben Cousins who make public farce a core part of their self-promotion strategy (some more deliberately than others).

How do you think this would go? OK by me to either comment here or send an email.

Privacy and surveillance in computer supported cooperative work

PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK:

"Whenever individuals are being informally watched or listened to, they are somewhat inhibited by what they imagine others' reactions to be. This is how informal social control works in groups. We tend to try not to upset the people around us, especially if they have the means to retaliate in some way. Gossip and other private communications are an ordinary part of both group and organizational office politics. In informal conversation it's one person's word against another's as to what was said and by whom. A private comment can be publicly denied. However, once a conversation gets recorded (for example in a paper memo or in an e-mail message) it assumes a more formal existence. As people begin to suspect they'll be held accountable for their spontaneous utterances, their freedom to express themselves is inhibited. While this may be an improvement in the case of malicious gossip, it also destroys the backstage area where so much of group work is actually done."

This may give us a clue as to why so many organisations are keen for people to blog. Once a blog post is published, it is almost impossible to delete any trace of it from the net, and when people know their comments are "permanent" and they believe they are being read and watched, they tend to normalise their behaviour. Blogs, while being a powerful tool for democracy may also become a Deleuzian "society of control."

If...

If a tree falls in a forest with no one there to hear it, did it make a sound? If a blogger writes a blog post with no one there to read it, was it really a post?

Just wondering if there's anyone out there. Anyone? Hello?