[Sigia-l] Two worlds apart?

[Frank Shepard]

There is some category confusion at work when we start comparing the
aesthetics of a city with that of a group of furniture stores. A more
accurate comparison might be between a planned community and a frontier
town. The relevant factor is the degree to which the aesthetics are
regulated on the two sites. Facebook offers very little flexibility, while
Myspace encourages its users to do whatever they want so long as they don't
block the ads.

Another problem is the assumption that people don't have accounts at both
sites. Just like the idea that people who shop at Pottery Barn don't like
Vegas. After all, both Vegas and Pottery Barn figure into many weddings.

Frank

On 6/27/07, Minkó Misi <misi at nexum.hu> wrote:
>
> This reminds me to an ancient problem of the philosophy of aesthetics:
> is there a relation between aesthetic value and moral value? I mean what
> if the Myspace design just would be improved (i know it is impossible
> because of the variety of customized pages)? Would it have some effect
> on these youngies' life? Can moral values be transitioned like this
> throughout web design or more, IA or interaction design? (i guess yes)
>
>
>
> Ziya Oz írta:
> > In "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace" Danah
> > Boyd writes:
> >
> > The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now
> going to
> > Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education
> and
> > going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society.
> They
> > are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes,
> > looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after
> school
> > activities.
> >
> > MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens,
> > "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths,
> gangstas,
> > queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school
> > popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college,
> who
> > are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the
> teens
> > who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who
> are
> > really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of
> the
> > kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks,
> freaks,
> > or queers.
> >
> >
> >
> > This is even clear in the blogosphere where people talk about how gauche
> > MySpace is while commending Facebook on its aesthetics. I'm sure that a
> > visual analyst would be able to explain how classed aesthetics are, but
> > aesthetics are more than simply the "eye of the beholder" - they are
> > culturally narrated and replicated. That "clean" or "modern" look of
> > Facebook is akin to West Elm or Pottery Barn or any poshy Scandinavian
> > design house (that I admit I'm drawn to) while the more flashy look of
> > MySpace resembles the Las Vegas imagery that attracts millions every
> year. I
> > suspect that lifestyles have aesthetic values and that these are being
> > reproduced on MySpace and Facebook.
> >
> > <http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html>
> >
> > Pottery Barn vs. Las Vegas. Is the dog wagging the tail here or vice
> versa
> > with respect to the two sites' design?
> >
> > ----
> > Ziya
> >
> > Business = Design = Business.
> >
> >
> > ------------
> > IA Summit 2008: "Experiencing Information"
> > April 10-14, 2008, Miami, Florida
> >
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> ------------
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> April 10-14, 2008, Miami, Florida
>
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