vectors

In the public forum "park" discussion presented by Sunstein, people may take many streets to enter the park based on there points of origin and destinations. These represent vectors that bring them in contact with some public expression that is happening. Depending on how accessible/relevant the expression is, they internalize some amount of the performance.

On the internet, these "street" vectors are called by search elements input by users who then follow where they lead. The "parks" on the internet are web pages. For my example, the youtube page is a public forum (park) situated at the intersection of multiple vectors. (this means that there are a lot of parks which would seem to support the notion of technology leading to fragmentation; however, the fact that these public forums operate asynchronously means that the same individual may simultaneously operate in multiple forums.)

Despite the fact that they are intended directions, some search results may lead to unintended (or at least not fully intended) content. For example, someone searching for AMVs may come across an old song they've never heard before or vice versa.

Sunstein was talking about the daily me which accessing pre-set aggregators of links. two points: one, this is not the only way people use the interent. It forgets that users also may use the net to get information (use search engines) which may not be as easily narrowed across a single set of websites (points of view); and two, how rarefied is the content that most of us view?

culture wars

I wonder if the culture wars are an outgrowth of the increased use of psychographics in advertising. As marketers focus on targeting specific groups in their ads, they create language and difference. They accent these divisions across society. When ads exploit these differences, people are exposed more directly to ideas, language, and lifestyles that (conflict) counter their own. In the past, appealing to some common denominator left "everyone" partially involved...or at least they could identify with or fail to reject because it was part of the larger american persona. Now with this fragmentation of media messages, people are more directly confronted by the "other" that is counter to themselves. Not that these divisions were there, simply that they are more visible.

Book to Read

Adrian says read Belhook's imaginations of gay?