The following is a blog-best-effort transcript of danah boyd in Brisbane on the 6th August 2007. This is not a verbatim transcript.

This blog post, and Flickr images by Nick Hodge are licensed under the Creative Commons License:

Mark Pesce

sharing reinforces social bonds

people are sharing all the time. (eg; funny picture of self on flickr.com)

another page, eg from wikipedia

John Gilmore: the net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it

You can negotiate your privacy. it won’t help; eventually someone will come over the barrier

wiki.markpesce.com  hairball of personal information in our world.

example: mother’s maiden name issue. because of the banking security.

Biggest threat to privacy isn’t the gov’t, it isn’t corporations. it’s your friends

Jennifer Wilson, Head of Innovation, NineMSN

9msn. what are people doing with mobile, online

“generation-C” empowered and always on. 13–27 behaviours

don’t wear a watch

swedes: click-and-go

community/connected/creative/content

network 50–80 people. est 150. core network, can manage relationships in head

digital public spaces: communities are as relevant online, as offline

offline meatpace for online communitiies (twitter meetup eg)

increasingly we travel to meet up with digital communities that have formed

relationships online are as important as any other

we trust the networks we build in ters of recommendations, advice support

29 jobs, 5 different industries. change often

see right to grow as people and employees important

expectations on job/career advancement. companies 20–28, search for more money and career progression. personally strong, confidence. sense of entitlement in a world of full employment. digital industry movement expectations

mid April-June; facebook grew +93%

note, concept of facebook as an alien term.

people will move when their friends, > 23.  ego and self is more important myspace. 17–18 responsibility/life stages — facebook.

facebook has overtaken linkedin in Australia (number of members)

why is community relevant, commercial perspective. people will make decisions 29% no relationship, 71% they will get from network social network.

Why mobile:

Generation-C, own they phones. computer = control by others, phones = yours. most intimate of device.

SMS is the largest data applications on the planet. 1.8b users send SMS

37% of the planet have them. 35% are 3G. As SMS to 2G, Social networking 3G.

3.45b social networking on mobile is going to be big, big, big

moko UK, AU mobile community. alpha users, like all communities. freaks/geeks/queers as alpha users. 92,000 stats per country per day. 100% moderated. chat site telstra, afl. every MNO (mobile network operator)

yourTime: what’s on. user reviews. etc.

jumbuck chat on nearly every carrier in the world. jumbuck island, SL/habbo online. 73minutes per day.

mig33 app; run network from java app on your phone. data over voice. packet model rulez.

bluepulse: designed bluetooth; widgets, buddies, place. have a room. flickr/yahoo/etc/msn IM — run from within bluepulse.

bluetooth: 6degrees, signed up bluetooth; connected. generation-C ringtones, music, videos. wildfire.

podmo: bluetooth discovery. (nb: this whole world is out there. i can see why people hate closed iphone.and I don’t get  the cool stuff. time to go back to nokia, I reckonz. Email sucks. too much work and formal stuff. need to get cooler than that! (I’ve ignored all email 2 day. twittered some)

Bluetooth is the new black. Generation C. SNS are the killer app for 3G

Panelists:

Kristian Simento, St Peters Lutheran College

Elliot Bledsoe QuT/CC AU

Jennifer WIlson

danah boyd

Kristian: internal networking, no external blog that he knows of. myspace user. 6 months. joined because friends are there. peer pressure. 1 hour a day, as he is a moderator for the school. people who are joining in the school are actually from the school. legitimate: not saying something bad about the school. ensuring the digital face of the school is good.

social context: just remove it? include moderators removing the comment, and emailing the sender. most don’t post again.

(nb: he’s a digital censor, he works for the hegemony!)

Elliot: online editor, 4thousand. 900 subscribers from the 5th issue. Brisbane part of 3thousand.

email is about external people through an official pathway. myspace/facebook etc.

Question: Spam: Is it compromising SNS

- Jennifer: facebook friends more genuine in facebook vs. myspace.

- danah: spam taking off in different ways. myspace friend requests; phishing requests on myspace. now facebook apps that are spam. its an arms race. no one likes it, but it happens. massive spam increases in SNS as the target becomes larger.

- Jennifer: not that much SMS spam in AU due to charging arrangements; bluetooth spam (eg: dubai) where bluetooth apps are great.

- danah: turning off SMS in the US because of charging arrangement.

- elliot: what is spam? myspace example; useless stuff from their friends that is spam.

Question: attracting generation-C into teaching

- jennifer: recruitment: migration in commercial is different. great age divide. digital and media is a sexy industry. want to transfer prior to skills gathered.

- jennifer: generation C are time tolerant. but expect everything.

- danah: US different; paylevels. career. recc book “Generation Me” rise of narcissism with teens. want it now, they deserve it. how the data plays out, psychologist pov. self esteem movement took people further along than their skills. US skills shortage; no jobs for the working class is a different issue. balancing the belief that you are wonderful vs. skills building.

- elliot: digital technologies in the classroom; research — comes from ambiguous legal framework. teachers. eg: copyright. raft of new legislation. Elliot talking about digital technologies with creative stuff. defamation issues.

Mark Pesce: where stuff is banned in the classroom, you leave the 21st century. nb: hurrumphs in room from teachers.

- kristian: ooh, there are kids who only use wikipedia for their information. going back to the sources. look deeper. points out errors in brittanica and wikipedia online.

- danah: what to do with “keep out sign” on classroom. books are not always true, either history is taught by the winners in a mainstream narrative. Paradigm of rote learning is old school. kids should not be passive accepters of truth, should search it out themselves to do this. must be producers of knowledge. are teachers needing to change?

- elliot: mistakes in wikipedia; all students should be taught to question and analyse the information as it is presented to them.

- danah: experts have a particular view of knowledge. democratising knowledge is upsetting the knowledge cart. not formal qualifications — but many can contribute. Contributing is more important.

Question: how do we manage these multiple online identities

danah — identities — we cannot separate our digital/offline identities. blogging for 10 years. skill to be learned to understand the context. we cannot create walls as easily as we could. people are really drilling into the information are stalkers. cannot erase the past, but can write and write that update the opinions. evolving publically is important. the current is the most important.

elliot — cannot keep roles separate; I am who I am. no longer wearing hats. cannot deny the google history; just gotta keep adding to the google. young people are collapsing the barriers and walls. creating division is from external force. (parent safe myspace, non-parent safe myspace) old generation badder at this.

jennifer- multiple identities online; 4–6 online for years. multiple channels and streams of information. younger generation understands compartmentalisation of their identities.

elliot — different mediums to express different identities. SecondLife identity is different to other places..

mark — email/IM voice

danah — different audiences, different facets of who you are. not multiple identities. different roles. just like real life. search tools can collapse these in surprising ways. language fingerprinting in search engines. visual media searching, etc. doesn’t mean a personal crisis. searchability is continuing

Question: 20yrs from now elliot and kristian are going for federal parliament seat. Parents are up in arms about for their future.

elliot: more representative representatives.

mark: question of trust.

danah: in the future, reality we understand it looks like. will the data really haunt us. (nb: lack of transparency worries me) danah fears those who are 16 now and they think they are going to be president some day. we learn from mistakes, opinions, discussions, conversations etc. people are not static, they evolve. they move on.

Question: healthcare workforce, students: skills usage/learning

elliot: stuff already exists in a different wrapper. technology filters into the workforce over time.

mark: organisations that don’t accept SNS will be out-competed by those that do embrace these.

danah: control of information, transparency is important. why aren’t teachers putting their stuff like syllbus closed? open it up. 66% messages are public wall. default public, private when necessary. this workforce comes from a default public paradigm.

elliot: if you can’t say it publically, why say it? is advocate of public open education.

Question: teaching to write essays; better skills of communications, better than essays.

kristian: teachers must help the students critical analyse their work. and why their work was not good enough.

elliot: new ideas are hard

danah: how many have created a 5 paragraph paper. not 1000 words! standardised ed checkboxes killing education. synthesize, thesis, defend. adapt. don’t just regurgitate, educate. what are we trying to teach when we teach writing? what is debate in a secondary oral society

(close)

This blog post, and Flickr images by Nick Hodge are licensed under the Creative Commons License:

1. Where are geeks/freaks/queers now?

• gay men still on friendster
• tribe.net / myspace for “freaks“
• geeks whatever is the coolest newest thing. twitter etc.
• segmentation: US split based on class lines; danah mentioned media taking the wrong perspective of her recent postings
• world where the culture is of celebrity to get out of current “class“
• in AU, split more on age

2. where are those who are not online?

• 93% US teenagers have internet access (of various speeds/feeds/modes)
• 7% know what it is, but are restricted (eg: evangelicals in US)
• the digital divide is method of access (school/library only)
  • hyperconnected, basic, (and a few others)
  • evidence that with connectivity, digital society has reduced young gay suicide
  • (danah noted: doing ethnographic studies, worried about kids with no friends, online or offline)
  • hanging around with friends is important; SNS is US/English based vs. mobile culture (nb: mobile phones now advertised with myspace logo in AU on the weekend)

3. Virtual Worlds

• immersive virtual worlds such as WoW, gamer sites: another place to hang out with friends (more WoW than SL)
• Second Life: educators watching educators watching educators…
• SNS when kids use it for fun
• “is this technology something general users use?”

4. Libraries in myspace, OK?

• most teens know that you exist
• when non-profits/politicians/etc are there, but they need to converse, not just be there. need to digitally shake hands
• some people in the SNS will use the link as a marker

5. Addicted to MSN/WoW (what to do with kids “addicted”)
• online is a place to interact with friends, and avoid schoolwork. this has been common for many generations where homework existed
• WoW/MSN is hanging out with their friends
• more worrying are those who have no friends
• problem deeper than “the technology” if there is no communication and understanding
• question on how society acts in the “digital street” to look out for kids who need help.

6/7. SNS, use within schools?

•  works when teachers respond online, not just “appear”
• remember, SNS is for fun/friends. not school work
• engage in the conversation, don’t be judgemental.
• worst thing is forcing “deception” where kids create shadow indentities — are we forcing kids to do this?

8. Generation “Y” in the workplace

• lifestages; online vs offline; and use of SNS changes when life interferes
• mobile; out and about greater importance with professionals who are not at their desks
• email is NOT social; its work. it’s hell. spam, parents, corporate emails etc
• IM is the new email. more important than email. Phone is a jarring interruption

9. Property/ IP holding back?

• remix generation; kids mixing pointers (URLs) rather than base content
• ownership is interesting in a world where copying is easy

10. education: in schools, cyberbullying etc == ban on access to SNS

• kids route around censorship; proxies, etc. ask them how they do it
• mobiles change the ground rules
• teachers must push back

11. future of SNS?

• mobile
• 10 years all this will be natural and therefore calmed down
• embrace the new digital publics.

The following is a blog-best-effort transcript of danah boyd in Brisbane on the 6th August 2007. This is not a verbatim transcript.

This blog post, and Flickr images by Nick Hodge are licensed under the Creative Commons License:

10:00am start. Rec’d tag, http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/feed/

new policies, 68yo PM use youtube.com to announce policies (nb: cheaper than full advertisements, but same commentary = cheap). Software alone doesn’t fix stuff. its about good teachers (true)

explosing of flickr,myspace,facebook,youtube: self publishing: live work and learn?

Intro danah boyd: expert on social networks. yahoo, tribe, google. online identities, communities, how people represent themselves online and to each other.

Generation MySpace

History of social networking, why big, interesting

Why youth are using these sites

education: thinking about, how used and applied.

Social network site: 6degress: 1997, flittered away

Hundreds emerged for many

Networked publics: publics in a networked society. eg: parks, civic places. SNS online publics.

usenet first of the networked publics; first hierarchy. geeky space. eg: comp.lang.perl. create networked publics. interests outside computer stuff.

social norms; in hierarchy, talk related. rec.pets.cats.  Ruptured by spam, not geeks.

alt.tastless invade rec.pets.cats » attack; spoilers: Harry Potter. ruining social expectations of another group.

people fled usenet to mailing lists (yahoo! groups) mailing lists have moderators, kick people off. vouching via email address. not as public as usenet. what are the rules?

web=? community, conversation, commerce?? tech boom, crash. things got worked out.

rethinking through on blogosphere based people, based on “friends” — who are you friends, audience is. not on common interest, about people.

different narratives on web2. companies use as label. is it technology? business? make us feel better of the crash.

web2 is about reorganising the web around people, friends.

friendster; earliest days of web2. web geek make greater than match.com; better version. more purposeful.

3 key earlier adopter domains: self-describes geeks/freaks (eg: burning man) / queers. They thought it was their site. 20–30 somethings, not working, jobs clicking on the web. negotiatiing the narrative of friends. concept of play.

technology reflects the values of the creators: deep desire on friendster to get as many friends as possible. someone become icons — burning man, ali g (blogger culture). friending them to make them bigger. more fake characters. harvard university. jesus with a baseball bat. artistic : salt and pepper, love letters. people didn’t have jobs.

friendster: whack-a-mole, rid of popularity game, fake characters. kill the fun. technical difficulties: outside US, friendster still around.

myspace: people who friendster didn’t want. kicked off friendster, rock bands — onto myspace.com. no kicking off. features around music; indi rock music — appeals to young crowds. 21+ indi band followers, down the ages. 18yo 16yo 14yo. ignore younger because they don’t SNS.

Cool in LA region, worked down. teenagers where there as a place to hang out. If you are not on myspace you don’t exist (late 2005) everywhere else in the world, mobile phone.

myspace US == mobile phone outside.

55% online us teens 12–17 have a profile; 70% girlds 15–17. using to hang out with friends they see every day.

social networks,. not meeting people, its communicating to your network.

profiles: unique URLs, age/sex/location. made up as its fun.

friends list: public list of people I care about, and I hope care about me and listen to me.

wall/testimonial: conversation to the (wall ==write all) friends

myspace: copy+paste, make it loud and obnoxious. like the bedroom. same feeling, personal expression of self. who is the audience. remix culture, says who you are.

SNS where people hang out. shooting the shit, dealing with status. done in different environments (park, malls) for many years. friends to gather in a larger collection.

properties online different to physical space. in 20s, the pub. hung out, came together. have important values.

what properties: 4 key

persistence: what you say sticks around. ephermeral publics, vs. for ever.

searchability: where are the teenages. searchable. all sorts of audiences, parents, teachers, bosses.

replicability: copy-paste, original/modified? teenage breakups online. gets out of he said/she said game. eg: IM text into blog. who got the final say. delete someone as friend. not being in control. bullying. 3 way calling, bullying example

invisible audiences: assumptions, education, context: visible audience. no idea who is recording, and where it will go. context: adjust what we are saying based on context. society instructs us. to break the rules, we’ve got to know them. mediated environments control how we converse.

teenagers: invisible audiences, social scripts. how to speak to the unknowns. generation growing up and dealing with stuff that only celebrities and famous people had to deal with. everyone is famous for 15 people. myspace. Top 8 passive/aggressive social acceptance.

performing to people you know, this is how it will effect you.

high schools: age segregation from 1930s. deeply culturally embedded in the US. mentors friends 2 yrs around their age. No good reason to interact with people older than you.

US, other english speaking world: age segregation.

US, children are locked in doors. hypercontrolled. few places to chill. fear of abduction. communities don’t exist in suburbia. no places to hang out. primary socialisation, at homes. parents regulate; parents are responsible. tension between teenages and adults. kids locked down.

“mum doesn’t let me out, so I am on myspace” — hang out on myspace

sexual predators: evidence shows not a real issue; teenagers: want to go somewhere their parents are not. (ref danah’s site)

teenagers: deception so not searchable. technology put in place to be really easy searched. comp.lang.perl vs alt.sex.bondage

privacy: having control over who has access to your data. those of have control of teenagers, leechers etc.

pretend like it doesn’t exist doesn’t work. How do we deal these kinds of publics.

education of youth: not how they learn about maths and history. how to deal with social works. they have a public life; with confidence, willingness to make mistakes.

mistake: ban these sites in english speaking. they are evil. we don’t understand them, so they are wrong. broad data doesn’t reflect this.

how do we rethink this. they are publics, different architectures. request to teachers: learn from the students. they can teach you unbelievable things. youth populated.

why is this important.

we want our youth to be civically engaged. to be civically engaged, need to be public.

US: civic life, age segregated: not a part of civic and political life.

must be socialised in the public life; not tranditional civic lecture, what is happening now. negotiating publics. only school/after school activities. why do people outside their school matter.

US young people written out of immigration protest: teen based a few days later, March 2006. walk to civic space. IM/phones. 15000 LAX alone. Adults covered: “skipping school”.

Must engage: they understood that their parents were going to get kicked out of the country.

Sep2006: newsfeed in facebook. in-SNS out-rage 700,000 college kids joined a group to make a statement; company 72 hours to implement a feature. Users say its unacceptable. newsfeeds stayed, by privacy added. political activity (ignored)

public/private: privacy doesn’t look the same anymore. education around this: rather than saying they are bad because they are public. one assumed youth had no public face/no public life. now they need to know what is public/private

companies questioning how we deal with this new public.

proposals: profile, how would you feel if? situational role playing on profiles. there is no write/wrong/easy/hard answer. what is the consequence of what you are doing (editor: I like this)

visual literacy to understand degrees

everyday space mirrored and magnified. some good/some bad. offline problems, online problems. a reflection.

digital street outreach. why are we looking online only for tagging/grafitti get kids into trouble?

why are we not helping kids in their online streets?

SNS are not good tools for educating. Politicians. not even doing a good jobs. not engaging.

Not used in the classroom; education around them.

Blogging good tools. public/private tensions. essay that everyone in class can see. how about everyone in the world. education paradigm. what is your audience.

Wikipedia. US/AU ban it. its terrible. its bad. teens told its bad, but they using it? why are we not using this in schools for public knowledge.

Israeli/Palestinian conflict; wikipedia; thinking about different views and voices. Talk: page, history. who is invested in this process. Educators understanding these technologies.

education students on who knowledge is produced. I am not hte only voice on this matter?

rethink what public life is about.

one is information, information access.

its about community and communciation.

socialising teens into adult life; education is more than what is a standard model.

The above is the sunset-view from my room. To the left is the hinterland, and to the right is the beach itself.

On Location, at the Gold Coast preparing for a busy, educational week at Microsoft TechEd. Being my first TechEd, anything could and probably will happen. I do know I will leave more educated than I arrive.

Whilst I watched the SBS TV series on the making of the Crowded House album, Woodface, there were much revels going on around me. It seemed to be a beer bash-come-stag party. So I turned up the TV with Neil Finn hopefully calming the din. Neil gets the impact of his music. The mercurial Finn brothers.

Up at 9am this morning thanks to a fire alarm. I could smell the smoke, but thought it was someone smoking on a non-smoking floor.  By the time I got my important items (pair of pants on, room key, wallet, camera, phone — in that order) ready to stroll out — the firemen were looking around for the smoking culprit. No one seemed ultra alarmed, so stayed put.

Today, it’s about planning. To quote Uncle Mike: “Piss Poor Planning Precedes Poor Performance”. Checking the camera equipment comes first.

Having installed the new Adobe Production Premium Suite, I tried out OnLocation. And this piece of technology Adobe purchased rocks. It essentially turns your Firewire/Laptop into a hard disk recorder and monitoring station. No more capturing slowly in post-production. Straight into Premiere, encode and you’re outta there.

Tomorrow it starts: danah boyd in Brisbane.