Who am I in a virtual space? Last week, we began our class by examining other people’s Instagram feeds, and discussing certain sensory parameters that might help us understand virtual space. On Thursday we used Kate Crawford’s article to think through what it might mean to participate in specific forms of listening. Crawford suggests that we use three forms of listening—reciprocal, background, and delegated—to “analyze the various affordances of online attention, and to assess the ways in which we listen also shape us as late modern subjects” (Crawford 79). In the above quote, Crawford’s use of the word “affordances” is particularly striking. In this blog post, I want to use this word, borrowed from design, to think about what affordances for expression—not listening, but “voicing” identity—the internet might provide.
Broadly speaking, an affordance describes the possible uses of an object. A chair’s affordances, for instance, might include sitting, serving as a footstool, or allowing someone to reach a high object. Making toast, however, is not an affordance offered by a chair. Virtual space offers multiple affordances for expressing an identity. I can post pictures of my cat and my vacation while sending out resumes for new jobs andSkyping with a friend. What are the multiple ways we might describe talking in virtual space that correspond with the multiple modes offered by Crawford?
1. Symbol-Driven Voicing: Symbol-driven voicing describes a passive form of response that requires the speaker to choose only an emoji or gesture (such as the thumbs up in a text chain) to signify engagement.
2. Committed Voicing: This form of speaking describes the ways an individual might engage in a manner that requires some form of identification. Having to login to a WordPress account before commenting on a blog, a tweet that can be identified with a speaker, or a Facebook post are all forms of committed voicing. Committed voicing has consequences, such as when a public figure is castigated for inappropriate tweets, or even a friend sees an Instagram post made by another friend and wonders why they were not invited to an event.
3. Cat-Meme Voicing: The final form of speaking describes communication about neutral, insignificant events. In the physical world, this would be akin to talking about the weather; however, in virtual space this type of voicing is often required to be visually compelling, comedic, or clever, as in a popular cat meme or Bored Panda link.
While these are but three examples of voicing, how might the notion of “the voice” as a key element of internet communication shape our study of sound and virtual space? Are there are any weaknesses to this metaphor? What other forms of “voicing” can we think of?
Citations:
Kate Crawford, "Following You: Disciplines of Listening in Social Media," in The Sound Studies Reader, ed. Jonathan Sterne (New York City: Routledge, 2012), 79-90.
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