Vernacular Web and Project Ideas

The essay spoke of the early days of the web as though it was a physical place, like some old downtown shopping center where the business have slowly started disappearing, becoming outdated, torn down for newer things.  I remember the graphics she speaks of (the "enter" button, "under construction" etc.) and it is true that whenever I run across one now, something in the back of mind thinks "that's a bit of throwback."  But I guess it's interesting to think of the change webpages have undergone recently in terms of design and what a sites design says about who runs it or who made it. 

As for my web intervention project, I was thinking about what I use the internet for most and how power structures might exist in those sites.  Facebook is the most structured of any of the sites I frequent.  In essence, the site provides users a template with which to construct their online persona.  Social interaction among users is strictly controlled to the functions of writing on someone’s wall, sending a message, etc.  But before any of the social aspects of Facebook come into play, you must “friend” the person.  The legitimacy of Facebook lies in the belief that the social interactions are based in the real world.  You are supposed to actually know or have met or anticipate to meet the people who are your “friends.” The concept of “mutual friends” on Facebook further sets up the structure of Facebook’s formulaic social rules.  If someone you had never met requested to be your friend, but you saw that you had 30 mutual friends with this person, you would likely assume their identity is legitimate and accept the request.  People behave under the assumption that an online persona is truthful if verified by the structure of Facebook. Well, what does someone’s Facebook actually say? Is the online representation of someone accurate? What if that person seems real in every online sense but in reality doesn’t exist? What does that say about the power structure of online social networking?