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| Image 1: St Kilda Flaneur |
Turkle (1995, p 247) discusses Michael Foucalt’s ideas on ownership and power in virtual networks and states that “power in a modern society is imposed not by the personal presence and brute force of an elite caste but by the way each individual learns the art of self-surveillance.” The act of self-surveillance is made apparent in the posts of contributors who are carefully polite and go out of their way to indicate they are not trying to jump the queue.
As an observer of this group (a lurker who does not contribute) I am taking on the role of the cyber-flaneur. Barnes (1997) also discusses power and surveillance in virtual spaces and writes how a cyber-flaneur "knows they are also objects of a continuous scrutiny … creating an internalised sense of powerlessness.” I accordingly feel that to contribute to this page would lead to scrutiny by those who frequent the site more often. This lack of anonymity as a contributor to any Facebook group has lead Morozov (2012) to argue that the cyber-flaneur is dead and that the Facebook platform helped to kill him/her.
It is clear that by watching this group closely you need to map out the territory of contributors before jumping in, just as Dr Theresa Petray had to do with Trigger Fish while diving on the reef in PNG (Petray 2013). Wandering around too freely in this group could see you get bitten.
Reference List
Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the cyber-flaneur. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html
Morozov, E. (2012). The Death of the Cyber-Flaneur. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/the-death-of-the-cyberflaneur.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Petray, T. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives, and the making of place, week 3 notes [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1239821-dt-content-rid-951966_1/courses/13-BA1002-TSV-EXT-SP2/maps%20podcast.pdf.
Turkle, S. (1995).Panopticon, in Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet (pp. 246-249). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Image Credits
St Kilda Flaneur [Image]. (2011). Retrieved from: http://stkildaflaneur.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/what-is-flaneur.html
This is a great post Havva. I love the image :) The point about whether facebook has killed the flaneur is a really interesting one. On the one hand FB is a great enabler of anonymous flanerie (or cyber-stalking perhaps). We can lurk around other's pages, without them even knowing we've been there. However, the illusion of anonymity is broken as soon as we attempt to contribute to a conversation and our contributions are linked to our profiles, names & online identities.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are saying but ultimately aren't we all identifiable, internet or no? Even in the 19th century Parisian crowd, if the constabulary needed assistance with their enquiries a person of interest could no doubt be located, by their features or behaviour. After passing from this plane our mortal remains can be analysed and tell their story of what we did, where we were and what we consumed. We are all identities. I don't think flaneurism is about complete anonymity. It's an attitude, a choice. We have to seek it. We must create the illusion and lose ourselves in it.
ReplyDeleteIf a person is content with utilising Facebook exclusively then that is their choice. They have decided that that is enough for them. They have given it that power. Facebook is the equivalent of the Super Mall. I include the modern shopping mall in my flanerie, as I include Facebook in my cyber-stroll. I check out the big show, keep my finger on the pulse, stay in touch. However it is my diversion from that homogenous product, in solitude, to the streets and arcades with their stalls and curio shops, that brings me my real joy.