Like others have mentioned, this idea of “context collapse” was interesting to me and I think one of the reasons I’ve shied from my online presence these last few years. I used to blog all the time and, as far as I can recall, it’s probably been 8 years since I’ve made a personal blog post. A part of it was simply retreating from a life surrounded by complete technology (I worked remotely in web development for many years) and another was trying to keep some kind of control over what was represented about me online. I tell my kids to consider anything they’ve put out online to be permanent and fully represent them in any misconstrued context that could possibly be imagined. It’s the most pragmatic way to proceed. All that said, for the past couple years I’ve been subtly reaching for a way to send something back out there, to reestablish a necessary connection, and I think our cohort will be very helpful in that endeavor (So, thank you, again!). Along these lines, Pasquini’s notion that our online presence is as ‘real’ as our tangible, physical existence is an interesting one that I plan to pursue and consider in the coming weeks.
