Jenny Ryan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jenny Ryan
Human No More: Digital Subjectivities, Unhuman Subjects, and the End of Anthropology, Aug 15, 2012
The dramatic rise in popularity of online social networking sites has led to new forms of identit... more The dramatic rise in popularity of online social networking sites has led to new forms of identity performance and interpersonal communication. This article explores the intriguing phenomenon of commemorating the dead through an ethnographic exploration of MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net. Drawing from Edward Casey's (1987) work on the phenomenology of remembrance, these sites are shown to parallel what he describes as the "primary traits of remembering": search, display, encapsulment, expansion, persistence, and pastness. These processes differ between and within the three sites of focus, which are understood metaphorically as "places" within which memorialization is made possible. In this cybernetic extension of our social horizon, new anxieties emerge regarding respect for the dead, the boundaries between public and private, rituals of mourning, and the persistence of individual identity. In conclusion, it is suggested that people engaging with these sites take into account the potential permanence of their online performances, which may evolve upon their passing into sites of memorialization.
The increasing ubiquity of the Internet in the everyday lives of youth has been accompanied by a ... more The increasing ubiquity of the Internet in the everyday lives of youth has been accompanied by a whole new set of anxieties and concerns. While many have worried about how the Internet increases youth access to problematic content—including pornographic and violent content—little consideration has been paid to youth-generated problematic content. This article examines one genre of youth-generated problematic content: that which advocates self-harm practices. Countless websites and online communities are devoted to the topic of deliberate self-harm, ranging from online therapy and support groups to "pro-anorexia" and "pro-cutting" websites, and much of the content on these websites is produced by and for youth. This paper seeks to provide an overview of what is known about the spectrum of self-harm practices and how technology inflects these practices in new ways.
We begin with a brief introductory section detailing a working definition of self-harm based on the most recent published literature, outline the general prevalence and demographics, and note the correlations between self-harm practices, eating disorders, and the media. The latter half of this article summarizes various approaches to handling online self-harm content, ranging from censoring content (through Internet Service Provider (ISP) policies and governmental regulations) to providing support for those struggling with the underlying issues associated with deliberate self-harm (e.g., media literacy programs, online support groups, and grassroots social movements and campaigns). Given that censorship of such content often results in pushing it further underground, we recommend solutions that address the underlying sociocultural forces that motivate youth to engage in self-harm practices, and call for further research into these phenomena."
The psychedelic trance movement grew with the development of the Internet, the shared history of ... more The psychedelic trance movement grew with the development of the Internet, the shared history of which is rooted in utopian visions of a vast, interconnected global community free of the iniquities of individualism and capitalism and defined instead by a return to communality and the gift economy. Equally common, however, are apocalyptic and ominous depictions of a world governed by Big Brother, divided by war and poverty, or destroyed entirely by the ignorance of humanity. Together, these ideologies constitute the foundation of “neotribalism”, a belief commonly found among psychedelic trance enthusiasts. Like the Back-to-the-Land movement of the 1960s, neotribalists seek a return to humanity’s “ancestral roots” through developing local, self-sustaining communities, with an emphasis on creating a global network of interconnected “tribes.” Psytrance subculture in America defines itself in opposition to “mainstream” society, transcending it in the form of a global “underground.” Echoing Sarah Thornton’s theory of subcultural capital, members of the psytrance community acquire “hipness capital” in adopting certain styles and acquiring certain kinds of knowledge and status (particularly discerning music taste, exemplified by the mass popularity of some djs). With its demographic base centered around San Francisco, the online social networking site Tribe.net enables access to this “underground,” where membership is demonstrated through joining certain groups, called “Tribes”, that allow one to remain aware about local events, upcoming parties, new music tracks and artists, and alternative beliefs and ideas. Tribe.net serves as both a facilitator of local “underground” scenes and as a conduit for the spread of a global subculture. The tightly-knit communities that constitute Tribe.net make up a virtual “tent city,” like those found at outdoor psytrance parties. In this liminal space, new connections and reformulations of self-identity are made possible. This paper explores the ways in which those who identify as members of the psytrance subculture affirm their affiliation to local scenes as well as display various markers of subcultural capital.
Based on five years of participant-observation on the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, ... more Based on five years of participant-observation on the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net, The Virtual Campfire explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine, public and private, voyeurism and exhibitionism, the history of media and our digitized future. Woven throughout are the stories and experiences of those who engage with these sites regularly and ritualistically, the generation of "digital natives" whose tales attest to the often strange and uncomfortable ways online social networking sites have come to be embedded in the everyday lives of American youth.
Talks by Jenny Ryan
The toxic effects of neoliberalism and globalization have culminated in a wave of revolutions beg... more The toxic effects of neoliberalism and globalization have culminated in a wave of revolutions beginning with the Arab Spring of 2011 and evident today in the global proliferation of the Occupy movement. Previously separated sociocultural spheres come together in novel interactions rooted in the shared struggle to reclaim the commons, create public spheres through the cultivation of open spaces, and enable direct democracy through principles of federation and open source or Read/Write culture - as well as community practices such as General Assemblies, nonviolent communication, self-representation and consensus-based decision-making. Working together with hackers, makers, communalists, activists and technologists, a new kind of ethnography founded in co-creation, mobility and multimodal documentation is now emerging. Hackerspaces, intentional communities, and Occupy camps share fundamental core values of free and open source culture, horizontal organization, alternative / gift economies. communality and experimentation. The organization emerging over the course of this project is therefore biomimetic in design, cultivating autopoetic, self-organizing systems working to reconstitute the current hierarchical system in the shape of the heterarchical principles of nature.
Our current efforts are directed towards building the digital infrastructure for the project, as well as preparations for a 6-9 month multidisciplinary field study, in the course of which we hope to initiate direct collaboration with primary partners and establish a network including all involved parties. The co-awareness tech platform provides the tools necessary to engage aligned communities of practice and cultivate resilient networks through community asset mapping of available resources in open spaces - "community laboratories" that will then be documented through a mobile multi-sited ethnography.
This essay explores practices of commemoration and memorilization through an ethnographic analysi... more This essay explores practices of commemoration and memorilization through an ethnographic analysis of the online social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net. These new forms of remembrance elicit the primary traits of remembrance articulated by Edward Casey: search, display, encapsulation, expansion, persistance, and pastness. Online shrines dedicated to the deceased arouse a unique set of conerns and possibilities regarding respect for the dead, the boundaries between public and private, and rituals of mourning. Ultimately, I suggest that the very notion of "embodiment" must be reconfugured in light of these new technologies, and suggest that we take these possibilities for "living on" through these mediums into account when we choose to represent ourselves through them.
My discussion focused on the overarching themes of my thesis, beginning with the social origins o... more My discussion focused on the overarching themes of my thesis, beginning with the social origins of language and tracing these themes as they are exhibited in online social networking practices today. Aspects of the "virtual campfire" can be seen as alleviating some of the alienation wrought by the conditions of modernity. While I contend that meaningful interactions are just as likely to occur online than off, online interactions differ in the manner by which they encourage and enable the persistence of individual identity.
Human No More: Digital Subjectivities, Unhuman Subjects, and the End of Anthropology, Aug 15, 2012
The dramatic rise in popularity of online social networking sites has led to new forms of identit... more The dramatic rise in popularity of online social networking sites has led to new forms of identity performance and interpersonal communication. This article explores the intriguing phenomenon of commemorating the dead through an ethnographic exploration of MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net. Drawing from Edward Casey's (1987) work on the phenomenology of remembrance, these sites are shown to parallel what he describes as the "primary traits of remembering": search, display, encapsulment, expansion, persistence, and pastness. These processes differ between and within the three sites of focus, which are understood metaphorically as "places" within which memorialization is made possible. In this cybernetic extension of our social horizon, new anxieties emerge regarding respect for the dead, the boundaries between public and private, rituals of mourning, and the persistence of individual identity. In conclusion, it is suggested that people engaging with these sites take into account the potential permanence of their online performances, which may evolve upon their passing into sites of memorialization.
The increasing ubiquity of the Internet in the everyday lives of youth has been accompanied by a ... more The increasing ubiquity of the Internet in the everyday lives of youth has been accompanied by a whole new set of anxieties and concerns. While many have worried about how the Internet increases youth access to problematic content—including pornographic and violent content—little consideration has been paid to youth-generated problematic content. This article examines one genre of youth-generated problematic content: that which advocates self-harm practices. Countless websites and online communities are devoted to the topic of deliberate self-harm, ranging from online therapy and support groups to "pro-anorexia" and "pro-cutting" websites, and much of the content on these websites is produced by and for youth. This paper seeks to provide an overview of what is known about the spectrum of self-harm practices and how technology inflects these practices in new ways.
We begin with a brief introductory section detailing a working definition of self-harm based on the most recent published literature, outline the general prevalence and demographics, and note the correlations between self-harm practices, eating disorders, and the media. The latter half of this article summarizes various approaches to handling online self-harm content, ranging from censoring content (through Internet Service Provider (ISP) policies and governmental regulations) to providing support for those struggling with the underlying issues associated with deliberate self-harm (e.g., media literacy programs, online support groups, and grassroots social movements and campaigns). Given that censorship of such content often results in pushing it further underground, we recommend solutions that address the underlying sociocultural forces that motivate youth to engage in self-harm practices, and call for further research into these phenomena."
The psychedelic trance movement grew with the development of the Internet, the shared history of ... more The psychedelic trance movement grew with the development of the Internet, the shared history of which is rooted in utopian visions of a vast, interconnected global community free of the iniquities of individualism and capitalism and defined instead by a return to communality and the gift economy. Equally common, however, are apocalyptic and ominous depictions of a world governed by Big Brother, divided by war and poverty, or destroyed entirely by the ignorance of humanity. Together, these ideologies constitute the foundation of “neotribalism”, a belief commonly found among psychedelic trance enthusiasts. Like the Back-to-the-Land movement of the 1960s, neotribalists seek a return to humanity’s “ancestral roots” through developing local, self-sustaining communities, with an emphasis on creating a global network of interconnected “tribes.” Psytrance subculture in America defines itself in opposition to “mainstream” society, transcending it in the form of a global “underground.” Echoing Sarah Thornton’s theory of subcultural capital, members of the psytrance community acquire “hipness capital” in adopting certain styles and acquiring certain kinds of knowledge and status (particularly discerning music taste, exemplified by the mass popularity of some djs). With its demographic base centered around San Francisco, the online social networking site Tribe.net enables access to this “underground,” where membership is demonstrated through joining certain groups, called “Tribes”, that allow one to remain aware about local events, upcoming parties, new music tracks and artists, and alternative beliefs and ideas. Tribe.net serves as both a facilitator of local “underground” scenes and as a conduit for the spread of a global subculture. The tightly-knit communities that constitute Tribe.net make up a virtual “tent city,” like those found at outdoor psytrance parties. In this liminal space, new connections and reformulations of self-identity are made possible. This paper explores the ways in which those who identify as members of the psytrance subculture affirm their affiliation to local scenes as well as display various markers of subcultural capital.
Based on five years of participant-observation on the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, ... more Based on five years of participant-observation on the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net, The Virtual Campfire explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine, public and private, voyeurism and exhibitionism, the history of media and our digitized future. Woven throughout are the stories and experiences of those who engage with these sites regularly and ritualistically, the generation of "digital natives" whose tales attest to the often strange and uncomfortable ways online social networking sites have come to be embedded in the everyday lives of American youth.
The toxic effects of neoliberalism and globalization have culminated in a wave of revolutions beg... more The toxic effects of neoliberalism and globalization have culminated in a wave of revolutions beginning with the Arab Spring of 2011 and evident today in the global proliferation of the Occupy movement. Previously separated sociocultural spheres come together in novel interactions rooted in the shared struggle to reclaim the commons, create public spheres through the cultivation of open spaces, and enable direct democracy through principles of federation and open source or Read/Write culture - as well as community practices such as General Assemblies, nonviolent communication, self-representation and consensus-based decision-making. Working together with hackers, makers, communalists, activists and technologists, a new kind of ethnography founded in co-creation, mobility and multimodal documentation is now emerging. Hackerspaces, intentional communities, and Occupy camps share fundamental core values of free and open source culture, horizontal organization, alternative / gift economies. communality and experimentation. The organization emerging over the course of this project is therefore biomimetic in design, cultivating autopoetic, self-organizing systems working to reconstitute the current hierarchical system in the shape of the heterarchical principles of nature.
Our current efforts are directed towards building the digital infrastructure for the project, as well as preparations for a 6-9 month multidisciplinary field study, in the course of which we hope to initiate direct collaboration with primary partners and establish a network including all involved parties. The co-awareness tech platform provides the tools necessary to engage aligned communities of practice and cultivate resilient networks through community asset mapping of available resources in open spaces - "community laboratories" that will then be documented through a mobile multi-sited ethnography.
This essay explores practices of commemoration and memorilization through an ethnographic analysi... more This essay explores practices of commemoration and memorilization through an ethnographic analysis of the online social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net. These new forms of remembrance elicit the primary traits of remembrance articulated by Edward Casey: search, display, encapsulation, expansion, persistance, and pastness. Online shrines dedicated to the deceased arouse a unique set of conerns and possibilities regarding respect for the dead, the boundaries between public and private, and rituals of mourning. Ultimately, I suggest that the very notion of "embodiment" must be reconfugured in light of these new technologies, and suggest that we take these possibilities for "living on" through these mediums into account when we choose to represent ourselves through them.
My discussion focused on the overarching themes of my thesis, beginning with the social origins o... more My discussion focused on the overarching themes of my thesis, beginning with the social origins of language and tracing these themes as they are exhibited in online social networking practices today. Aspects of the "virtual campfire" can be seen as alleviating some of the alienation wrought by the conditions of modernity. While I contend that meaningful interactions are just as likely to occur online than off, online interactions differ in the manner by which they encourage and enable the persistence of individual identity.