Information in a Digital Age

In my last blog post, I talked a bit about privacy and anonymity in online spaces.  I'd like to build on that a bit here. While these are topics we will likely talk about more in the last week of the course, I think they are worth thinking about in terms of how we build our networks and develop communities.
In the chapter on Networked Information in Networked by Rainie and Wellman, the authors discuss the changes in how we transmit and receive information as networked individuals.  They spend a good chunk of the chapter discussing how communications technologies have taken us from one-way print media, television, and radio to more independent, bi-directional news sources, and how that has changed the way we evaluate, prioritize, and engagement with information.  They also discuss information overload, which really garnered my interest based on how I'm am feeling at the moment (see three blog posts back).

However, what really interested me was not their discussion of news (in the traditional sense), but their discussion of how personal information is networked.  Whether we like it or not, our personal information is more or less out there for others to find.  People in powerful organizations can find out about us (surveillance), we can find out about powerful people and organizations (sousveillance), and we can find out about each other (coveillance).  That last one is the most interesting.  Facebook stalking is something we all do (admit it!), and I believe that it is a very good.  (Again, I don't want to get into the ethical issues of coveillance here.  I've discussed them a bit already and we will be discussing them more in a few weeks.)

In short, I believe that coveillance has allowed us to become closer more quickly.  When we meet in person, we don't necessarily need to share likes/dislikes, our biography, or what has been happening in our lives recently.  We can go on Facebook and find all of this out. Instead, we can focus on more important things in person, such as collaborating on a project or just having a meaningful conversation.  We can cut through all the crap, so to speak.  Thus, I believe that social networks have had an extraordinarily positive influence on our social relationships.  This is not simply because they allow us to connect with people from all over the world, but because they allow us to more efficiently manage our in-person relationships.  The lack of privacy and anonymity has allowed us to become closer.