As a dance educationalist I work with a mass amount of young people with challenging behaviour. How I interact with them depends on that individual. It is so important to look at every aspect of a person. We need to listen. We also need to listen to what is not being said. I’ve spoke on many occasions of the importance of body language and that the body speaks a thousand words. As teachers we need to be more body literate. However, in an online environment where we can not read our ‘audience’ how does one know the techniques to use or what that individual is saying to us? How can we cater to the needs of a massive community?  If, people share a false, filtered or fragmented identity can we really identify with them? Without full interaction can we really ‘listen’ to everything that they are telling us?

Kozinets discusses our need to consider the participants relationship between the other person(s) and central consumption activity they are engaged in whilst contributing to the online community (Kozinets, 2010. p 31). We take on other identities during our disembodied online presence which could influence and promote fragmentation of identity.

“communicators are presumed to suffer from a reduction in social cues” (Kozinets, 2010. p23).

References:

Kozinets, R. V. (2010) Chapter 2 ‘Understanding Culture Online’, Netnography: doing ethnographic research online. London: Sage. pp. 21-40.