Cpetruz1’s Weblog

I feel that Warren Sack and Jill Walker look at the phenomenon of online conversation in two completely different manners, yet there are similarities within their arguments. In both VLSC’s and Walker’s interaction with Online Caroline, the individual is able to communicate their thoughts and feelings with other people-every person has a voice. However, the difference between the two articles is whether or not that voice is actually heard. Sack emphasizes the importance of reciprocating with others; you don’t just visit one of these conversations to talk at people, but rather to talk to them, to generate a continuous flow of ideas. When this happens, everyone is heard and actual conversation takes place. However, Walker looks at the way conversations can actually prove to be simulations, and the way these simulations can “play” you. With Online Caroline, Walker would try to converse and state her opinions and ideas, yet they didn’t actually matter in the greater scheme of the simulation. She even created a second identity completely opposite of the one she had already established online, yet discovered that “Caroline” would still send her a generic response, regardless of what she actually had to say.   I think Online Caroline is a perfect example of how the level of interactivity on the part of the participant can actually determine how real they find a game or website to be. In Sack’s article, he discusses the interaction between actual people online-how they use this new format as merely another means of communicating ideas. However, Walker looks at a newer concept: interacting with something that was before only ever used as a means of entertainment. I mean, there are multiple times I have read a book or watched a movie and yelled out loud at a character for something they were doing. It’s hard to believe that we have reached an age where it is actually possible to interact with these once-fictional characters. I say once-fictional because I believe that as soon as we begin to interact with them, they are no longer fictional to us. Walker herself even addresses her level of investment in what happens to Caroline, despite the fact that her voice isn’t actually heard. It’s easy to see how a website like Online Caroline can become an instant community-it’s not just about the interaction with Caroline, but the relationship that may develop between her followers. I see it as the same as fans of a television show: each individual will interact with Meredith Grey in their own way, yet everyone’s mutual interaction and investment in the show ties them together into their own community.