Spiral of Silence

I came across this interesting sociology term when I was checking out if there was anything new on the Pew Research site.

Social Media and the ‘Spiral of Silence’

My eyes lit up, my mouth went dry, as I read papers on this phenomenon. It was time to get my thoughts down on paper ......

The 'Spiral of Silence' refers to the artificial limiting of public discussion and discourse due to the perceived polarisation of opinions. Community will change their opinions and views of an issue due to what they are reading and listening to in the mass media.

via Flickr 

The example given by Pew was the Snowdon affair and people commenting on Facebook and Social Media.

My history of engaging socially online, a trip down memory lane.

I have started the INF506 elective at Charles Sturt University this semester.

If you know me online, you will know that I have a huge digital presence. My history of engaging socially online started back in 1990. This is from the perspective of someone in Melbourne Australia. If you were in American at this time AOL had a greater presence.

Much to my parents dismay, I used to run a telephone line from my bedroom into my parents kitchen and then dial-up using a modem to chat with people via a Melbourne based BBS - Fidonet. If you were lucky you could connect with a BBS that allowed you to bounce out and find other BBS’s around the world without having to dial overseas.