Leah's Koobecaf AssignmentThis is a featured page

Leah Petty Anthropology Rec: Thursday 9:30 Koobecaf Ethnography Years ago, Nacirema was a place without technology. Communication happened only by way of face to face talking. Then came communication by way of a device which one could hear the voice of another through a cord connected to a box of wires on the wall. Since then, Nacirema has come a long way. There now exists so much technology that communication often does not even involve face to face conversations, or even listening to anther’s voice. Communication often happens through messages on a screen that people can send back and forth. These messages appear on the screen of what they call a computer. This computer has a program accessible to everyone known as “Koobecaf.” Koobecaf is a large network which millions of people belong to. They post pictures and messages for nearly everyone to view. This program has opened a new way of interacting, to the point where people who have never met face to face can get to know each other almost entirely through words and pictures. The program even displays how many friends a person has, making someone “Koobecaf popular” or the opposite. This can be seen on a person’s profile, a page that displays recent pictures the person is in, who they have recently messaged or who has messaged them, and all of the other activities they have been in, such as Koobecaf groups or events. Though there is no actual interaction through Koobecaf, so much can be learned about someone—at least that is the way it seems. Members of Koobecaf often create a profile that gives their very best impression to viewers. They have the ability to put up pictures where they appear the most attractive, or are seen at the most popular hot spots and parties with the best looking people around them. They can also erase their own names from pictures where they appear unattractive, or are seen at a place that may not be considered popular or adequate. They can also request to have as many friends as they like. Though these people may accept the friend request, they may have never even met or spoken before. This can be very deceiving, because someone who may not actually have many friends can appear to have thousands of friends on Koobecaf. A person’s profile can also display information about the person that may not entirely be true. While some people do not wish to share their personal information, others share profile information that seems to be endless. From religious and political views to favorite quotes and songs, someone can nearly put their entire life story in their profile. And though someone may say they are involved in endless activities, this can be deceiving when trying to guess if they are currently involved still or if this was just from an ambitious stage seven years ago. So when someone goes to check out that boy from English class, he may not actually be as amazing as his Koobecaf page makes him appear. Though one can spend hours looking at people on Koobecaf, it just does not seem to have the same effect of good old face to face conversation. The body language, the tone, and the facial expressions we see when speaking to someone in person can say so much about them and the way they are feeling about you. None of this is possible to attain via Koobecaf. A simple “Hello, how are you?” can be interpreted in many different ways depending on expression and tone in person, but it can only be read one way on Koobecaf. So this leaves me wondering. Is Nacirema really better off with the technology of Koobecaf? Or are they back tracking to a way of being insincere and impersonal? As this program continues to be even more widespread, what will eventually become of face to face conversation? The extinction of personal conversation with words may seem far off, but Koobecaf has certainly eliminated a lot of it so far.


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lpetty07 		Latest page update: made by lpetty07 , Sep 20 2008, 3:40 PM EDT (about this update About This Update lpetty07 Leah's Koobecaf Assignment - lpetty07

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