Twitter as Phatic Monologue/Dialogue

Image via CrunchBase

Just recently I was at a learning conference where Twitter came up at our table; we were attempting to generate forms of expressive language activities and microblogging made the list. Not really knowing much about it, the others turned to me and asked what I thought of Twitter. As you know, I'm still a bit undecided on the real usefulness of this web app and have really tried to analyze how this all might be related to personality type.

What I then shared with the group was a comment (see below) I'd found a few days earlier at a post regarding Twitter in the classroom. Of most interest was the term "phatic", meaning "an expression whose only function is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information". Additionally, think of phatic expressions as "words used to convey any kind of social relationship e.g polite mood, rather than meaning; for example, "How are you?"

Twitter makes me paranoid. I've always thought of it as a form of phatic monologue/dialogue - most posts are speech acts which contain little informative substance, and simply prolong the act of communication. Instead of having a specific, utility-based purpose, they reaffirm that the "channel" (in this case, the Internet) works as a medium. Naturally, there's a level of addictiveness that arises as the user continually seeks confirmation that his/her Twittering is "heard" ... comment left by Jess

It is a very interesting thought. I can attest that Twitter can be very "phatic" at times and I thought the resulting addictiveness cycle worthy of some thought. Had never heard anyone put it quite this way.

I'd best not send out a Tweet of this new post. ;)

Fotopedia - Mashing up Flickr, Wikipedia and Google Maps

Turtle on Fotopedia

It's new and hot, and the sneak peak is promising. Introducing Fotopedia! Think of mixing Flickr, Wikipedia and Google Maps and you've got the basic idea of this new Web 2.0 app. While it's not fully functional yet, in just days you'll be able to do the following:

TAKE ANY PHOTO ALBUM AT THE SITE AND TURN IT INTO A WEB PAGE WITH TAGS, ASSOCIATED WIKI INFO, AND IF AVAILABLE, A GOOGLE MAP!

Plus you can comment and vote on the relevance of the picture in regards to the wiki article it is paired with. Once a submitted image receives five positive votes, it becomes a part of the Fotopedia encyclopedia. If it's inappropriate, you can flag it. Sporting high quality images and a clean and simple layout, user-friendliness is evidently a high priority. Those teachers wanting to have students appropriately use web images will be glad to see creative commons licensing pictorially represented on each image (attribution, share-alike, etc.). Additionally, as seen in the above slideshow on turtles, any album can be widgetized and used in blogs, websites or wikis. The widget's sleek interface is, indeed, refreshing. Community features also accompany the site.

Once the door opens to Fotopedia in a few days, users will contribute the bulk of the content; you'll be able to directly upload and then organize images via Picasa, Flickr, and more. Obviously, schools/districts who currently block Flickr will not benefit much from this new app. How will it make money? Fotopedia's mission statement mentions that it aims to allow "photographers to promote and monetize their premium content". Guess this is all yet to fully be revealed.