W8. Task 6. Disagreements no. 1 Satisfaction and Internet Use

Whilst for the most part I agree with the points that are made in my first article, one criticism I would add is that I think it is based on the assumption that offline personality and online personality are one in the same. However, as suggested by the work of Sherry Turkle, this is not necessarily the case as online we feel safe to carry out “identity play” where we try out personalities online which are extremely removed to our offline selves. This may be because of the safety which comes from the perception that interactions we have online aren’t as “real” as the ones we have offline, as they aren’t as tangible as a face to face conversation would be.

In arguing for the hypothesis that those who use the internet more will demonstrate a greater degree of satisfaction with their school lives, it suggests that those who have an extroverted personality offline will bring this to their online selves. However, there is little recognition of theories such as Turkle’s that suggest that the Internet provides a safe forum on which people can try out different personalities in the process of identity formation for adolescents. I would argue that an alternative way of looking at it would be to suggest that those who use the Internet to create a second personality for themselves which is a stark contrast to their offline selves may very well experience less satisfaction with their offline school life, as they may feel that the persona and life they have created for themselves online is far superior and more rewarding, perhaps if they have built up a network of online friends. These obviously are not able to be transferred to the individual’s offline life, which may create dissatisfaction to the offline live, and a favouring of the online one. I would suggest that this is evidenced in the case of Stewart I mentioned in a past blog.

Article: Liu, X. and Robert, L. (2008) “Does using the internet make people more satisfied with their lives? The Effects of the Internet on College Students’ School Life Satisfaction” CyberPsychology & Behaviour, Vol. 11 (Issue 3), p310-320

Web-site Analysis, asos.com

I have chosen to do an analysis of a fashion retail web-site, asos.com

a.) How is your chosen site structured?

Given the capitalist priority of the site, I would imagine that lots of money and time has been invested into the structure of the site in order to maximize that amount that potential customers would buy on the site and to increase the chances of them doing so. The web-site is therefore a remediation of the more traditional way of buying clothes, which has been renewed from initially simply one shot of the item with a price, to now a much more sophisticated way of displaying the product with multiple shots and other more interactive features such as 360 degree views of some items. For example, the cat walk feature where you can see the item on a model on the cat walk, a zooming in feature to look closer at the garment, and a range of different shots of the items. Therefore, showing that more sophisticated methods are being used to re package the same information in a way which will increase the chances of you buying it.

It is divided off into at first broadly, men’s, women’s, children’s, designer, and then more specifically, down to the type of clothing, and then it is possible to filter by colour, style, price, brand, celebritiy it’s in the style of, or brand. You can also order the clothes by price, therefore providing a greater sense of interactivity on the site, as it is non-linear as you can interupt the section you're looking at to browse another and tailor the structure of the site to suit your specific requirements. I would argue for a techno-deterministic of such new media cultures in that this is making the online shopping experience resemble the IRL shopping experience a lot more, removing some of the early "cons" of this type of shopping (that you don't really know what you're getting), therefore allowing the outside world to come to you, saving you time and effort, which has changed the way in which we look at shopping. For instance, I'll often see a item in a shop and mull it over for a few days, before deciding to buy it from the companies web-site.

The hypertext of this web-site therefore is prioritised with directing me to other items I’m likely to be interested in. For example, when you click on an item you like there is a section of “Other Customers also Brought” directing me to complimentary items. In this way, rather than the hypertext being used in order to help me find new fashion items which would help me express myself in what I wear, I would argue that the purpose of such hypertext is to simply cause me to spend as much money on this web-site as possible. In addition, I am able to “Bookmark and share” the item with friends, which again implies to me that it is being made as simple as possible for me to buy this item, as well as encourage my friends to view it, and as a result the web-site as a whole and buy something. There is therefore a hierarchy of hypertexts, which the author of the web-site directs me to as they sees fit, in a way which maximises their profits. (Bolter p. 35)

Interestingly, the web-site does not use hypertext in a way which will direct me to other fashion retailers who will sell clothes which are able to help me express myself; all the links are internal rather than external. (Lister P. 23) This again suggests to me that the priority is on profit, and this is done by selling a concept alongside with the clothes, which I will discus more in the next section.

b.) What is it about on a cultural level?

On a cultural level I think that this web-site is concerned with the fashion conscious. I think it promotes the ideology that you are able to express who you really are and your personality through your clothing. For example, the features section includes a Top 10 of the newest up and coming trends, a phrase which is a bit of a buzz word on the site. Everything is either “in” or “out” or the “latest trend”. For example, “I’m working the colour block trend to the max by wearing these over coloured tights.” Asos Top 10

In addition, I think another main cultural message of the web-site is rather contradictory to the first, whilst it seems as if individuality through your clothing is encouraged, the title itself (ASOS, As Seen On Stars) suggests an aspirational message. You are encouraged to buy clothes in the style of Victoria Beckham or Agyness Deyn in order to replicate their styles for yourself, selling the types of lifestyles associated with these celebrities along side a handbag or a pair of shoes, hardly the definition of individualism and creating a sense of self. I would argue that this is part of the way in which the Internet is encouraging the Massclusivity trend in that it allows you to feel as if you are part of the exclusivity of this celebrity culture, however in fact this same opportunity is offered to the masses on a web-site everyone can use. Raising the question of whether people are buying into a lie, these clothes really won't make you anything like the celebrities that originally wear them, so why do so many people buy and wear them?

Having said this, I think that this similarly can be seen as being part of the way in which you can try out different selves online, as mentioned by Lister et al. in reference to Sherry Turkle. They talk about the “computer programming’s potential as a therapeutic ‘working through’ of personal concerns, we see instead an ‘identity workshop’.” (Lister et al. p. 248) I think that this can be applied to ASOS.com in that you are able to look at a range of different identities you can create for yourself via the clothes you wear, seeing what is out there, allowing you to make an informed decision about the perception of yourself you can put out buy wearing a particular style of clothing. Therefore allowing you to experiment in a safer environment, for instance if you did not have the confidence to walk into a shop and try on similar items, you are able to virtually do it sitting in front of your computer.

c.) What is the appeal for you as a user?

As a user the appeal of asos.com for me is straight forward, they offer a wide range of fashionable clothes which are usually reasonably priced, and saves me the trouble of marching around the shops.

In addition, the fact that they replicate styles which are seen on celebrities, and are popular amongst the high-priced designers means that you’re able to buy into more fashionable items, which usually you would need to have an extremely large bank balance to get a hold of and are rarely available on the high street.

I think that asos.com is part of the movement which is making fashion more attainable for all, as well as using the web as a tool in which to do this, breaking down the things which would have before made designer clothing exclusively for those who could afford it. In this way it is giving out the message that the images you see in magazines of celebrities dressed well and looking fabulous are achievable for everyone, providing a link between this life style and yourself via online mediums. Something which the internet is proving to achieve in lots of other areas than fashion.

Bolter D. (2001) Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print

Trendwatching.com http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/MASSCLUSIVITY.htm

The story of Stewart

Within Sherry Turkle’s Who am we? She discussed the case study of Stewart, a socially awkward Physics graduate in America who has developed a strong social anxiety. He has had problems with his heart since his childhood and, as a result of living a live “on a small compass” (Who am we? Page 5), he has very few friends, his life revolving around work. However, the identity he created for himself on a MUD was the complete antithesis to this, a confident character named Achelles who had lots of friends and was successful with women.

Whilst this could again be seen as experimenting with different identities, I would argue that in the case of Stewart it was more of an escape. He admits that his online persona was too removed from his offline self for him to be able to apply any of it to his real life, and the improvements were too exaggerated for him to achieve in his awkward, shy offline life. This leads me to the conclusion that whilst experimenting with different selves can has positive effects, as you are able to “test” personalities to see if they work and then apply these to your offline life, this is not the case 100% of the time. In the case of Stewart it is hard to see any benefits that this online MUD had created for him as to me he seems to have spend an awful lot of time creating a rich identity online, which has offered him few benefits when he could’ve spent this time more productively trying to overcome his social anxiety in real life.