RANT: So Much Left Unsaid
I have several friends, colleagues that I see on a daily basis. I also follow them on Twitter, joke with them on Facebook, etc. But we rarely if ever mention these virtual encounters and relationships when we are face-to-face. Do they think about our virtual conversations when we hang out? When a friend looks me in the eye do they think about the library of imagery in my Flickr feed. I do. Does this imagery become part of the memory we shape about the people in our lives?
It's a new, unspoken relationship dynamic. These dynamics have always existed. Our observations of those around us help us to form a perceived identity but we rarely share the most critical aspects of this perception with others. These are observations are based in sense data, what someone is wearing, how they smell, the volume of their voice and so on. What kind of data is a Twitter feed, or a YouTube favorites list? Do these add to perceptual identity and memory the same way a smell does?
If you have ever had a friend who is a published author, or artist, musician, etc. you probably have come to the understanding that those aspects of their personality (good and bad) are a professional projection, meant to be distributed as an experience to a unspecified audience. They are not direct communications to you, or a close network of friends.
I believe that when we write as an interaction we think differently. I never knew him personally, but I would guess a conversation with James Joyce did not feel like a page out of Ulysses. We have different, deeper access to grammar, vocabulary, imagery when we write. We can project a new identity that is not always accessible in physical interactions. Does this social interaction data (like a Twitter feed) require a sixth sense? How do we incorporate this third layer of virtual identity data?
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