Networked Publics: New Mediated Space

 “Although many (Social Networking) sites include other common features, the practices that take place through the use of the most prevalent three – profiles, friends, and comments - differentiate social network sites from other types of computer-mediated communication. Furthermore, what makes these three practices significant for consideration is that they take place in public: Friends are publicly articulated, profiles are publicly viewed, and comments are publicly visible.” - Danah Boyd

As we have spoken about at great length in our class Technology in the Classroom, the reality of social networking among teens and the seemingly important role it has taken on as part of their peer interaction and social status is one that cannot (and should not) be ignored. Rather than ignoring it in the classroom, or perhaps even more so banning it in the classroom, teachers should take advantage of their student’s obvious interest and come up with ways in which to incorporate them into a lesson. So often it happens that students post pictures and comments without thinking twice about the fact that once posted online, it can never be taken back - you can “delete” it, but what does that actually mean? Where does it go? Does it ever actually go away? Has anyone ever tried deleting their facebook account? And if so do you believe it has really been erased? I can answer that one. Several years ago I made a facebook account, connected with many friends, uploaded photos, commented, tagged…etc. But after not too long deleted it and thought little of it again until about 8 months later when I received an email saying that someone tried to login to my facebook account! Now, aside from the obvious sketchy fact that someone else had an interest in a account that neither belonged to them nor no longer existed, the fact that I was being notified about an account that had been “deleted” was also somewhat discomforting to me. So, entering in my initial login name and password on facebook I found that absolutely nothing had ever really been deleted, simply silenced. All the people I had added as friends reappeared with their most current statuses and updates…
Slightly disturbed, I once more “deleted” my account.
This past summer it happened again, I received a noticed that someone had tried (or did?) login to my account (my “deleted" account) This time I went back into facebook, changed my password to something so obscure I myself do know (or care) what it was (is), and then for the third time in three years “deleted” my account.
So, to wrap it up, the lesson is folks as Boyd discussed, as we have discussed in Technology in the Classroom, and as should be discussed and learned in every classroom, when it comes to entering information into cyber space the definition for erasing/deleting no longer applies.