As I look at or read all of this week’s content I am becoming increasingly aware of this feeling of people’s need to reconnect with each other in a real way. It seems to be one common thread throughout everything we have looked at so far this term. In answer to this there are a lot of new media sites that focus on telling people’s stories in a meaningful way. I have to wonder if this is because although we now have more contact with each other than ever before through sites like Facebook, this contact is superficial. Its like people are so sucked into the web and sitting in front of their computer, that they have forgotten about real human contact and what it means to really connect with someone. Evidence of this is found in all of the content from this week. On the CDS website it claims part of their mission statement is in helping people “rediscover how to listen to each other.” And on the Interview Project site David Lynch says his site is a chance to meet people, “its something that’s human and you can’t stay away from that.” And on the Mapping Memories site it says “Every person has a story, and every story is important. At the end of the day, we’re all human.”
One thing I thought was a great tool that we learned from this week is mapping. Its really cool to see, for example, the route map on the Interview Project site. It really does provide a context for each person’s story when you know where they are coming from.
There’s something about actually hearing someone speak as opposed to just reading and clicking. I wonder how it would change the dynamics of Facebook if, instead of just having people interact by reading and clicking, you actually have to talk to them first. I don’t know how many “friends” I’ll still have left. Now that they have an audio and video chat there already, you’ll notice that the real friends you have are those whose voice you hear and live images you see.
There seems to be more of an emotional investment in the act of actual one-on-one listening and talking. It’s a richer form of communication of course because the nuances of speech communicates as much as the actual text of the speech.
I completely agree! I was thinking that especially while watching the Interview videos. There is just something about seeing who is speaking, seeing their body language, the way they look, where they are sitting or standing, the way their mouths move, and hearing their voice, the tone of it, the way it sounds, that makes it feel more intimate and real. There was nothing really visually compelling about these videos in the traditional sense, yet I still enjoyed watching them.
The thing about social media sites like Facebook and Twitter is that while connection is ultimately the goal, accessibility is the driving force behind why people use it (marketing aside). It is easy to use, and if that was not the case no one would be on it. It is totally true that we are now more connected than ever before, but I would be willing to bet that it has not led to our face to face interaction becoming more superficial (not saying you said that it had become superficial mind you). 🙂
I bring up the ease and accessibility only because adding a audio/video aspect would put a layer of complexity on top of something that doesn’t need to be any more complex (as an optional tool it would probably be cool though), incorporating short snippet video and audio as a way to engage directly (like embedding an interactive Instagram video) could possibly drive some fun connection, but I would hesitate for it to be the standard means of communicating on the platform.