Comments on: #TOEthno: is Twitter a "place"? http://copernicusconsulting.net/toethno-is-twitter-a-place/ Design Research and Strategy Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:29:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: yellowsubmarinequal http://copernicusconsulting.net/toethno-is-twitter-a-place/#comment-728 yellowsubmarinequal Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:00:01 +0000 http://designresearch.wordpress.com/?p=110#comment-728 It appears to be a place for me also. And as all places, it imposes on its inhabitants. A mouse cannot do anything else than go through the labirinth. If the architect puts a wheel in the maze, the mouse has the ability to use it or not or even to some extent to change its designed purpose (let's say use it as food tray). But it cannot make that wheel fly does it? So it is a place that offeres some freedom but only to a limited extent essentialy stipulated by the architect. This is somewhat link to my post http://yellowsubmarinequal.wordpress.com/ It appears to be a place for me also. And as all places, it imposes on its inhabitants. A mouse cannot do anything else than go through the labirinth. If the architect puts a wheel in the maze, the mouse has the ability to use it or not or even to some extent to change its designed purpose (let’s say use it as food tray). But it cannot make that wheel fly does it? So it is a place that offeres some freedom but only to a limited extent essentialy stipulated by the architect. This is somewhat link to my post http://yellowsubmarinequal.wordpress.com/

]]> By: Brad Ovenell-Carter http://copernicusconsulting.net/toethno-is-twitter-a-place/#comment-727 Brad Ovenell-Carter Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:54:48 +0000 http://designresearch.wordpress.com/?p=110#comment-727 Intriguing question. To be sure, the architecture or the tool sets the stage for certain types of interactions, as you say: I have different sorts of conversations, if that is the term, on Twitter than I do on the phone, in a meeting, or in bed with my wife, for that matter. But on a first take I don't think Twitter is a place; no more than the telephone or piece of parchment and a quill are places. Speaking just for myself, I certainly don't have the feeling I am anywhere except at my desk when I'm "talking" to people on Twitter. And I don't think anyone I'm talking to is anywhere but at their desk. Moreover, I don't sense any of the people I'm following acting in any other way than what would be covered by rules of common courtesy and decency such as would be used in a face to face conversation. That must mean I believe Twitter is a technology. (I'm not even sure the virtual worlds of 2nd Life and so on could be called places.) Intriguing question. To be sure, the architecture or the tool sets the stage for certain types of interactions, as you say: I have different sorts of conversations, if that is the term, on Twitter than I do on the phone, in a meeting, or in bed with my wife, for that matter.

But on a first take I don’t think Twitter is a place; no more than the telephone or piece of parchment and a quill are places. Speaking just for myself, I certainly don’t have the feeling I am anywhere except at my desk when I’m “talking” to people on Twitter. And I don’t think anyone I’m talking to is anywhere but at their desk. Moreover, I don’t sense any of the people I’m following acting in any other way than what would be covered by rules of common courtesy and decency such as would be used in a face to face conversation.

That must mean I believe Twitter is a technology. (I’m not even sure the virtual worlds of 2nd Life and so on could be called places.)

]]> By: avi http://copernicusconsulting.net/toethno-is-twitter-a-place/#comment-729 avi Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:55:44 +0000 http://designresearch.wordpress.com/?p=110#comment-729 Iit seems to me to be like a cocktail party or an agora or a 'local' (pub). Lots of one-to-one; one-to-many; and one-to-many-disguised-as-one-to-one exchanges. Lots of unintentional and intentional 'overhearing' and shifts of focus. Primarily a means of communicating/meta-communicating with people you know and those you don't. Is a party a place? An event? Don't have the right word at hand. Prisons, malls and casinos all have ostensible functions or rules of entry/access. An empty prison would be identifiable as a place of incarceration. Access to Twitter is unrestricted (relatively) and its functions malleable. Whatever the API, Twitter relies on its (social) content. Great question. Iit seems to me to be like a cocktail party or an agora or a ‘local’ (pub). Lots of one-to-one; one-to-many; and one-to-many-disguised-as-one-to-one exchanges. Lots of unintentional and intentional ‘overhearing’ and shifts of focus. Primarily a means of communicating/meta-communicating with people you know and those you don’t.

Is a party a place? An event? Don’t have the right word at hand. Prisons, malls and casinos all have ostensible functions or rules of entry/access. An empty prison would be identifiable as a place of incarceration. Access to Twitter is unrestricted (relatively) and its functions malleable. Whatever the API, Twitter relies on its (social) content.

Great question.

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