Interview mit Danah Boyd
Interview mit Danah Boyd
| “In face-to-face encounters, our interactions are "private by default, public through effort." With mediated technologies, the defaults are inverted. Interactions are "public by default, private through effort." |
Phänomene, Szenarien und Denkanstöße
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Die US-amerikanische Medienforscherin und Bloggerin Danah Boyd ist Expertin für Online-Kultur und soziale Medien.
What is the function of the public sphere and what are its requirements in terms of privacy?
The public sphere is where society is created and maintained. It is where people stop being individuals and become part of a society. It is the site of civilization. The public sphere is created through the imagination, ideas, and actions of people working towards a greater good. Privacy is a social process by which people maintain the intimate. Privacy exists only to the degree that people have agency and the ability to control a social situation. The public sphere exists when people have agency and are willing to give up control. Without agency, neither exist. The public sphere does not rely on an expulsion of the intimate. It does not require that everything be made transparent. And, more importantly, it does not mean that we need to erode the agency of individuals. In fact, that destroys the public sphere too. There is plenty of room to carve out privacy in society even when there is a healthy public sphere.
The problem is that these words - public (adj), public (government) public sphere, publics, publicity, privacy, private (commercial), private (adj), etc. - all look like they are the same but they are not; they refer to different conceptions and, of course, even educated folks disagree on their essence.
What information about myself is of legitimate interest to the public?
People are interested in gossip, but that does not mean that their interest is legitimate to the health of a public sphere. But keep in mind that there is a difference between a public and the public sphere. Increasingly, we are seeing commercialized publics where the economics of capitalism are driving the "interests." And we have always seen social publics where people's curiosity and desire to hold power over others drives their eavesdropping. But that is not a public sphere.
What (kinds of) information do you want to make accessible and to whom?
The reason why privacy is confusing at this point in history is that the very idea of access is getting reworked. In face-to-face encounters, our interactions are "private by default, public through effort." Publicizing a conversation takes effort and so we only share the things that we think are appropriate (or the juicy gossip that we want to share even though we're violating social norms). With mediated technologies, the defaults are inverted. Interactions are "public by default, private through effort." In other words, what we share in a mediated environment is easily accessible - either by those we intend or by those who get access through unexpected means. Sharing is much easier because content is easily replicable online. And it is persistent by default. All of this changes how we think about privacy.
But the point here is that access means something very different in a mediated environment than it does in an unmediated environment. And what it means to reveal is also different. For example, I do not have a choice but to reveal my race, gender, height, and approximate age in physical environments. I may try to obscure it or modify it but I do not really have a lot of choices there. Online, I cannot avoid revealing other things...
What information do you want to keep secret? From whom and why?
Secrecy is the process of purposeful non-disclosure to specific people. What I keep "secret" changes depending on the audience. Keep in mind... it is ALL about audience and context for all of these issues.
And what do you want to know about others (curiosity)?
There are many different reasons to want to know things about others. Sometimes, it is a matter of curiosity. Sometimes, it is so that we can find common ground so that we can relate (this is critical for the public sphere). Sometimes, it is to exert power over someone (this is what destroys the public sphere). Our incentives drive the kinds of information that we want to know.
Where is anonymity important to you?
Anonymity has a bad rap these days because it is assumed that it is always about concealing information. Sometimes, it is simply about creating a space where you have the right to be let alone. There are times and places when I love being recognized; there are times and places where it is a pain in the ass. This is true for many people. Personally, I love the ability to be able to be anonymous in public; I can put my guard down, even when all I am trying to do is read a book in a cafe. I do not have to keep a smiley face or be my work self. And that can be a serious relief. That is a mundane reason to want anonymity but it is important to recognize. Anonymity is more politically important - especially when we're talking about the public sphere - when you think about what it means to speak truth to power. Whistle blowing is one that we can never forget.
Weitere Gedanken zu dem Thema finden Sie unter Anderem in dem Artikel “Social Privacy in Networked Publics: Teens’ Attitudes, Practices, and Strategies” unter http://www.danah.org
