Saturday, January 20, 2007

Media Integrity: Pt. 2

Coming back to my original argument: It is important to realize that specific media seem more meaningful to the members of a semiotic domain than they do to others outside that domain.

A great real-life example I have that shows that individuals communicate in meaningful ways through Facebook involves someone who I am particularly close to at this point in my life. Last night I was talking with her, and we reminisced about the first message I had sent her via Facebook. Now, I don't think that particular message was ripe with deep meaning, but it did lead to other messages that were more meaningful.

The culmination of these meaningful messages had to be a couple of nights ago when I sent her a message in a quasi-Socratic dialogue form. I wrote the whole Facebook message as a discussion between Socrates and Thrasymachus. This may seem bizarre (and it was, slightly), but it also had deeper statements strewn throughout the message. It was probably the most creative thing I have done for her, and it wasn't a very quick venture.

So did it lack meaning because it wasn't in a mailbox with a piece of candy?

No.

As Bob Dylan might say, "The Times They Are A'Changin'."

I am part of a new, young semiotic domain known as Facebookers, and we are able to communicate in meaningful ways via the Internet.

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