Talk:Melissa Wu

I couldn't help but think of Wong Fu Production's video, Strangers, Again, and realized at the end that you did draw inspiration from their videos. So here is what I think.

First off, I really like your approach and presentation to this assignment because having a Facebook persona really is like being in a relationship. Just like being in a relationship, it takes time and effort and though there are many highs and lows, it doesn't always work out in the end. And even when you spent hours and hours trying to create the perfect image, in the end, you distanced yourself from your digital self. After reading this and re-watching Strangers, Again, I found that it fit very well in describing your "relationship" with Facebook.

You did a great job in describing your transition through Facebook and how during each stage, your avatar would reflect how your real self was changing. And though you do mention how your past posts were kind of embarrassing, I think that you should have explained in more detail about how they were changing through each stage. I would have also liked to see this in other elements of your paper such as pictures and friends. You only briefly mention your views toward pictures and how as time passed, you started to untag yourself and hid some pictures from people. But why did you do this? What did the pictures of you, show to others that you wanted to hide them? And you only mentioned friending others in Stage 3. I would have liked to see what friending others meant to you during the early stages compared to your thoughts of friending others during the later stages. Along with these factors, you should discuss how these factors make your avatar more or less authentic.

You also did a great job describing your thoughts on anonymity with your avatar. I found that you and I had almost completely opposite thoughts on this matter. While you decided that you had nothing to hide during the early years of Facebook, I barely displayed anything about myself. And as time passed, I eventually opened up more and more about myself and my avatar then became more and more authentic. For you though, as time passed, your Facebook persona seemed to become less authentic because of the increase of ethical issues and security. And I also liked the last sentenced in stage 7. This line really encompasses the idea of temporality. I believe humans to be very fickle in nature and relationships come and go as time passes. Just like with Myspace, people will move on when the newer and better things are created.

All in all, I thought you had a really great paper. I especially find it awesome how your project was inspired by Wong fu!

- Chris

Review by Jordan VanderZwaag

-Melissa

In trying to to determine what I wanted to comment on, I was looking for pieces that took a creative approach to the assignment. I think you did a really good at making your piece stand out by looking at your relationship with Facebook as an actual relationship. The way you broke up your sections into the cliched stages of a relationship gave your piece a unique and engaging style. With that approach in mind, it followed logically that you would track yourself and your avatar over time, which made it easy to see how the theme of temporality affected your online identity. I liked your informal approach to writing each of the section, which you began with the use of the word "y'all" and then continued throughout with the exclamation "Boy, was my digital self great!" and the emoticon smiley at the end. This style goes along way to establish how genuine and open you mean to be in your analysis of your online identity.

Through each stage of you and your avatar's "relationship," you address the disparity that either existed, or didn't, between you and your avatar. You could probably be a bit more explicit while doing this by possibly including a few more concrete examples that allow the change to be seen more concretely. You do include pictures that encapsulate stages 3 and 4 of you and your avatar's relationship, which do a good job of defining your online presence at that point. Also, you're very open about the fact that you do change in time and that, along with it, your approach to handling your avatar has too.

Your whole story reflects how seriously you consider the connection between you and your avatar, especially as you started to limit how much of the real you is can be seen in it. Again, I think some more concrete examples here would be useful to identity how much you've changed. Maybe a more recent type of status or some pictures you've allowed to remain on your profile would be good to include. Also, a discussion of the pages you tended to like during each stage could provide a bit more insight and help the piece be a little more grounded with actual evidence the reader can see.

That being said, I think your piece does an outstanding job of honestly discussing who you are, who your avatar is, and how the relationship between those two entities has changed over time while approaching the question in a unique way.

Jordan VanderZwaag