Re: deviance and disinhibition
Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Thu, 29 Aug 1996 23:48:55 -0400
The note linking the production of deviance & the disinhibition
effects of cyber-communication came at a moment when I had just
finished reading through a pile of literature on the Fifth
Dimension. Fifth dimension projects attempt to exploit the effects
of a Distant Presence in educational settings by producing, through
written communicative interventions, the wizard, a "powerful, nosy,
fair" interlocutor of children engaged in computer play. It's a wonderful
idea, hard to imagine popularizing, because the wizard needs both
technological & pedagogical know-how, the clinical wisdom of an
analyst, & the knack of translating it all into WRITTEN child-friendly
interventions. Imagine giving advice in a written note that is
provocative & suggestive, maybe funny, but almost always sounding
"knowing" in a way that invites projection (provokes the child's
desire to Know that Wiz - and _please_ that wiz.). I wonder if
a particularly apt Wiz would be able to explicate the principles
in a way that others could follow. Or if the Wiz is ipso facto
the one w/ the knack, how to turn the knack into a credible
object of study....
Judy
....................
Judy Diamondstone diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Graduate School of Education Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place New Brunswick, NJ 08903
Eternity is in love with the productions of time. - W. Blake