Published in May 2019, this issue of the Arganee Journal will featured sections written by students and participants Spring 2019 class of Networked Narratives.
Each piece of writing is a review of one specific issue of concern about the internet of 2019, following ones we studied, e.g. the surveillance economy, digital identity theft, fake news, digital redlining, toxic data, self expression, bots. Writers were not asked to “fix” or “solve” these big problems, but offer suggestions for individuals how to better thrive in these environments, hence the idea of a “field guide”.
They are written as a dialogue between the students and their invented digital alchemist mentor and will include links to the “notes in the field” left as web annotations.
Please read and comment on the field guide sections authored by our 2019 class.
“Blackfishing”: Unfolding the Issues of Online Appropriation - If you know what 'Catfishing' is, then be prepared for what I'm going to talk about next. 'Blackfishing', is the new online phenomenon when a person on Instagram or Twitter (specifically a woman) who is not of color, changes her physical appearance (e.g. hair, skin color, etc.), in order to be perceived as a specific… more...
A Voyage into “the Digital Sea” and Discovering the Whirlpool of Dualism and Augmentation - “...saying that there is no difference between online and offline is like saying there is no difference between our minds when awake and when immersed in fantasy or dreams.” -John Suler It is a curious thought that our minds function in two different states; one is awake and the other is asleep. The general consensus… more...
Death by selfies - Death by selfies By Janet Maison Apollo Mistralis Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMistralis Hypothesis: https://hypothes.is/users/Amistralis History of the selfie Robert Cornelius, an early American photographer was the first to take a selfie in 1839. By using one of the earliest cameras, Cornelius set up the camera and ran into the shot. In the 20th… more...
Fandom & Obsession: Searching for the Line Between Connection and Intrusion - So here we are. No better way to really get into what this massive monstrosity is gonna be than to just… jump in. So, without further ado, I mean, after all, I’ve got an omniscient being waiting on me to post this before she goes back into her library hibernation. Simply put, for this journal,… more...
Fearing the F-Insta - Introduction Here, you are going to learn all about whether or not real life can take place both online and off, along with the dangers of using online spaces to shape ourselves, specifically F-instas. This topic is important as teenagers today are finding themselves having to navigate these years more and more in online spaces.… more...
Job Scamming from the Scammers - Introduction I chose to work on Job scams. I chose this topic because I have been a victim as well as several people around me to job scams. This is a huge issue because people are asked to spend money before even stepping foot into the workplace. When someone is desperately looking for a job… more...
Screen Time and the Children - The Struggle with Screen time and Children -Leighann Soto Screentime and children have been a major concern in todays society! One of the main questions would be how much screen time should a child have between the ages of 2-13 ( I’m focusing on) Introduction I am personally writing about this topic from a… more...
Thoughts From Within the Panopticon: Social Curation & You~ - Introduction So, most people are probably more familiar with social curation than they may know. In fact, many may be surprised by just how ubiquitous and, at times, invasive pervasive social curation is in their lives. In many ways, social curation describes the creation of pop culture as much as it describes the creation… more...
To Love or Not Love a Catfish - Okay, so you've been catfished. They were someone else online, and turned out different in reality. But they soon come to love you! Now what? Introduction This documented dialogue is an informative insight to a current phenomenon taking place in our dating-online spaces (primarily on applications such as, Tinder, Zoosk, Hinge, ect..). Catfishing is… more...Field Guide Specifications
Much latitude is provided for how a field guide entry is constructed as it is meant to be a creative project, but should include the following items.
But what you are being asked to compose may be thought of as a lengthy blog post, infused with media, and intensively hyperlinked.
- The field guide is written/published as a dialogue between you and your digital alchemist mentor. The creative task is representing this as a conversation, e.g. in letter writing, embedded tweets back and forth. There ought to be some level of question and answer or even disagreement. Use twitter too as a means for your interaction to take place. The conversation should also include others.
- In the opening, the topic is be presented as a “problem”, that it is more than just “interesting.” What makes it a danger? to whom? what are the implications of not paying attention to it? How does it characterize the less benign state of internet in 2019? Make a strong case as to why this is important.
- The research content must include multiple references (attribution, citations, and extensive hyperlinks) that are woven into your dialogue. Some of those references can be “counter arguments” (not all references need to be supportive of your argument).
- You are your avatar must leave Hypothes.is field notes “out in the wild” on your sources; We suggest 3+ minimum per source and link to them as needed in your guide. Also use tag
fieldguidein all annotations. This provides a way to link to all of your annotations, e.g. https://hypothes.is/users/rebeg?q=tag%3Afieldguide - Include several forms media in your field guide, embedded video, original memes / GIFs
- The field guide must include have specific reccommended steps– actions people can do in response to the issue and/or to better aware. You are not tasked with finding solutions to the problem, just the ways individuals can more safely and sanely participate in the Internet of 2019.
- Credit your digital alchemist mentor. Include an end section that includes information about your alchemist- image, a general description, link to the profile doc you created, link to twitter account, link to hypothes.is account– see below for one example.
Thanks to an Alchemist
With great thanks to my digital alchemist mentor Rebeg Maestro (see profile), re-shaped this year on Twitter as Vulpes Internetus. Rebeg appears in form of a fox, but known as a shape shifter, sometimes seen as a wizard like cartoon character. They are skilled at hacking, media production, reading code, finding links, communicating in lost languages. Rebeg sees things to the end and is able to dig for the things not known by others. Yet, also Rebeg is impatient and tires of people stuck in apathy. Sometimes overly sarcastic and appears to be dismissive. But Rebeg is very generous alchemist as shown in the annotations left for me.
Featured Image: Modified text on cover to make relevant to NetNarr from Staining Field Notes (#5673) flickr photo by regan76 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
