Friday, February 10, 2006

GUbronzeY

[Wow, I did this with a new tool I found, which uses Flickr!]

Digital selfhood is an interesting way of describing the sort of identity performance we do as bloggers online. Reading this article made me rethink some of the ideas on Blogtrax about impression management (I seem to recall we described it as ‘show and hide’, but it could just as easily have been called identity editing). An argument that surfaces in the article suggests that we may be influenced by celebrity narratives in the media – producing a quotidian version of these, a commodification of the self.

The article also refers to the MirrorProject. I don’t think I’ve come across it before, but it’s a fascinating archive of thousands of self-portraits – photographs taken in reflective surfaces. Just performing, presenting me in that vast and anonymous landscape of new media seems important in all sorts of ways. Hence the above outburst (published earlier today) as I discovered a new tool that enabled me to write my name out of other people’s Flickr photos. It felt great, and looks pretty cool, too!

And as if this turn to the self was not enough I subsequently learnt that I can add this programme to my Firefox browser. AttentionTrust allows me to monitor my own attention economy – to understand, in a self-reflexive way, what I actually invest my attention in - as opposed to what I think captures my interest. My oh my, it's a strange new world.



4 comments:

Mary Plain said...

which tool, tell us how?

Guy Merchant said...

Ah ha! Well, if you return to this blog, you'll see how I was soooo excited that I just had to publish without explanation...I've now manicured the post! And it gives the full link.

Clare said...

Have you read Saturday yet? I am on 'part 2' and beginning to be hooked

Guy Merchant said...

Hello Clare, just started Part 3...liking it very much. I love the fine detail and resonate with the unfolding events of that particular Saturday.