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blue bits. red rocks.
Monday 15 March 2010

As technologists, it’s easy to assume that optimizing a situation is always best. Yet, this tends to break necessary social rituals that help acquaint people with a particular social setting. We don’t go through the niceties of “Hi, How are you?” because it’s optimal for communication; we do it because to do otherwise is rude. In digital worlds, people need to be eased into a situation, to understand how to make sense of the setting. Years ago, a group of engineers realized that people frequently posted “A/S/L?” in chatrooms to elicit age, sex, and location. They noticed that most people responded to this query with information like 32/F/Austin. They thought they’d make people’s lives easier by inviting them to fill out a profile that included age, sex, and location. What they failed to realize was that A/S/L? wasn’t simply about information solicitation; it was an icebreaker. When I respond with 32/F/Austin, it’s entirely appropriate for you to ask, “Oh, do you happen to be at SXSW?” But there’s a big difference between this line of inquiry and you looking at my profile and saying, “So, I noticed you’re in Austin; do you happen to be at SXSW?” The latter feels really sketchy and my immediate thought is: “what are you doing looking at my profile? danah boyd

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