500 Word Summary - No.2

As my research is developing I am gaining more of an insight into my subject matter and starting to be able to narrow down what exactly it is that I want to look at. I’ve been reading about the psychological impact that over use of social media can have and how this affects our ability to develop interpersonal relationships. I’ve also done further research on the idea of ‘self’ and discovered the idea of multiple versions of ‘self’ and how we create fictitious identities online in order to put across an image that is more socially appealing online. I have also established the idea of social networking sites as ‘networked publics’ a term coined by Danah Boyd. ‘Networked Publics’ explore the idea of social networking sites as spaces in their own right, and spaces that have taken over real-life social meeting points. I feel that from the research done I can start to develop some structure to my essay, knowing that networked publics and the idea of self combine and have a direct impact on how we develop interpersonal relationships. These will be the three areas I specifically focus in on when writing my essay: Networked Publics and Online Spaces, Presentation of the Self and Self Disclosure, and finally, Development of Interpersonal Relationships.

In terms of case studies, I have done some research into practitioners that convey emotion through their work and also different examples of how social media has ben explored via illustration. I’m particularly interested in Victoria Vincents work, finding that her practice encompasses online culture and the conveying of emotion in an authentic and honest way. This aligns to my own interests, and allows room to examine how a practitioner is responding to the problems with social media on a level that delves more into the personal experience of being online rather than looking at the impact of online culture on society as a whole.

When considering my own practical work, I feel that at the minute the idea of self-presentation is something that intrigues me, as well as self-disclosure. I find it interesting that people can be so open and honest online when hiding behind a mask and yet struggle disclosing information in their real life relationships. From the questionnaire I put out, I’m hoping to get enough responses to create a small zine type publication in order to explore my themes. I have also been doing some general visual responses in order to explore my subject area more, and feel that some of these could become images that are made to be posted online in order to get people thinking about how they behave around social networking sites.