On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 6:57 PM, hellekin <[email protected]> wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA256 > > On 12/31/2012 08:41 PM, André Rebentisch wrote: > > > > What do you think about F2F networking models? > > > *** In the GNU/consensus Manifesto[1], I wrote the following: > > Social Networking > > "Some people conflate social networks, which are the aggregate of > relationships that humans have, with online social network services > such as Facebook and, arguably, G+" > ? Howard Rheingold > > Too often, the term social network is used interchangeably with social > network services, implying that the services themselves provide the > social network. But that's plain wrong: the social network is a human > cultural phenomenon, and a network service can at best facilitate it. > The Oxford Dictionary is the only one I can find who still uses the sociological definition as the first entry (American and Brit/World editions both). They tend to look from the ivory tower out. The rest look from the popular media in. I think that branding war has been lost. It's like trying to explain to people outside of computer security why when I say "anonymity" in regard to Tor it means something other than someone posting anonymously on a web forum, and it has nothing to do with Anonymous. If you try to be insistent, you are going to be a bar to communications in general, and our job is to facilitate them. I think we sometimes have to look back to our foolish sages on terms of art: Lewis Carol, pseudonymous bard, gave us Humpty Dumpty's "A word means what I *want* it to mean!" which Alice found quite silly. A language is a living document, and the words mean what people say they do. We do struggle for hearts and minds, and I would be the last one to say that words are unimportant -- but we need to pick our battles and stresses. :) Happy New Year all! May it bring more peace and engagement where appropriate. ;) -- Shava Nerad [email protected]
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