When looking at Joyce Walker’s “Narratives in the database: Memorializing September 11th online,” I was especially struck by the same quote as Chris. It reads as follows:
“The space of the Internet, with its connective elements of database, hierarchy, and hyperlinking, is nevertheless constrained by the categories we create and into which we place its discrete elements,” (Walker, 139).
I find the relationship between social norms and activity on the internet particularly interesting, especially with the creation of anonymous apps like Yik Yak. I would agree that for the most part people’s activity on the internet is bound by social norms. You don’t very often see people post extremely controversial things on public domains such as Facebook or Twitter. When I read this quote I immediately thought of Yik Yak and the controversial things that are posted every day. The key here is the anonymity associated with Yik Yak. If you post something controversial on Facebook people will connect you to your beliefs. On the other hand, there is no way of tracing a particular Yik Yak to a specific person so there is a sense that there are no consequences associated with “yakking” whatever comes to mind.
I then thought about how most of the outwardly inappropriate or hateful yaks get taken down soon after they are posted. Each person in the Yik Yak network has the power to influence what content is removed and what stays so in this sense social norms are still enforced on anonymous venues like Yik Yak. When a yak is taken down in a certain area it could be seen as a reflection of the beliefs of that region of yakkers.
Thus, this enforcement of cultural and social values on the internet brings up the question of bias. Are the things you read on the internet really expressing both sides to the story or is the content inhibited by social norms?