"Public Access To Privacy"
"As a public experiment, artist Julia Burns (alias: 'rose_burns') decided to blog on twitter in full view of the lunchtime crowd in Martin Place, Sydney, for one hour.
She sat on her living room couch, wearing ugg boots and a comfy sweater, next to her heater, favourite cup, and a box of chocolate mints as she posted tweets about her life in front of the Channel 7 building.
Burns is interested in the concepts of public access to the private sphere and the changing nature of privacy.
Do 'followers' read with the same zest in the real world as they do in cyberspace?
What is it like to follow a stranger's blog entries, while standing in front of them?
Why do individuals increasingly publicize their private lives?
Recognising the immense complexity and power of social networking and blogging sites, Burns does not wish to condemn these tools. Rather she wants to provoke, especially for the younger generation, debate on the integrity of some of their uses.
She is concerned by the increasing need for public acceptance and validation in the social networking scene."
I don't know if I agree right away on the need for public acceptance and validation as 'increasing.'
What has increased is our the ease with which we can satisfy it.
And like most things (read: everything), we come to find that there's an optimal balance, a sort of moderation.
That is to say, it may be privacy/public validation today, but it will most certainly be something else tomorrow.
I wouldn't be too worried about it. (but then, I'm not too worried about most things...)
