What now, Brave Humans?
First off, for those who have tried to visit BraveHumans in the past couple of days only to find a Verio page, my apologies. The glitch was not due to any kind of malicious attack, but rather simply Verio shuffling servers. It turns out they switched things before the news of the changed IP address had time to trickle through the internet. If you are seeing this, everything is back to normal.
But now on to the real topic of this post.
When BraveHumans was started about a year ago, its goal was to provide a space for differing views to be expressed in the hopes that dialogues could be generated between people of differing views. It has met with some limited success, in that views have been expressed and dialogue has been generated. Some of this has been positive, some less so. It has been an interesting year.
In the coming year, BraveHumans could continue along its same course. Anyone who wants a voice can make posts, and anyone who wishes can make comments, as long as it is civil. But BraveHumans could also become something more. Which raises the question, dear readers: what would you like to see BraveHumans become? What type of community would you like to see BraveHumans support? Should BraveHumans try to expand to have greater influence in the blogosphere, or should it fade into the noise?
I have my own ideas, but I’ll add them to the comments. I encourage you to add your ideas as well.
Be Brave. Be Human.
December 12th, 2007 19:12
Hello Brian and co,
Yes, I have enjoyed some of the exchanges here. For me, ‘Bravehumans’ has had a couple of limitations as a discussion forum.
One has been the strong US focus. American political election activity and even the framing of religious debate are local US topics. I have been more engaged with broader topics and issues. (As an aside, I am very interested in politics in general, and would have loved to share with you all the relief and joy we felt here in Australia at the recent change in government. The first act of the new government was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol… YAYYY!!)
Second, I have felt at times that the blog platform has not supported discussion and comment as well as a bulletin board would. On a blog, all comments are listed in a single linear flow, whereas a bulletin board can allow you to place a comment or reply right next to the point you are commenting on. Several threads can emerge from a single starting post.
Third, I would like to have the opportunity to know a little more about the people who participate. A short bio (4 sentence max) of each of the ‘responsibles’ would be very handy. A community of faces. Perhaps the responsibles could have a Facebook profile? Free it up, open it out, be less anonymous. I get the impression that a few of you know each other, either online or in life, but I don’t know. That creates a vacuum and leaves me disengaged.
Oh, and I wonder whether you are wedded to the name ‘bravehumans’?
December 17th, 2007 14:36
Hi Gillian,
You are right about the strong US focus. Much of that has to do with the fact that most posters here are American (okay, American covers two continents, so really I should say U.S. citizens). If the readership drew a wider range of people, that would shift. Still, it does seem to be a self-reinforcing cycle. The mostly American writers write on American topics, which largely serves American readers. Without a large influx of “overseas” readers, I don’t think that will change much, though I think it is great to have contributers who can help break the US reality bubble.
I agree the blog format makes it harder to carry on discussions. The original hope was that a wide variety of writers would spawn discussions, but perhaps it would be better to simply create an open forum.
The incognito aspect is an interesting one. There are pros and cons on both sides. Being semi-anonymous has the advantage of allowing a more free discussion of ideas. I’m not sure how things are elsewhere, but in the US one can lose a job for simply professing an unpopular idea. People have been fired or forced to resign for expressing views (on either side) of evolution, global warming, etc. as well as holding unpopular political views. The concern with removing some level of anonymity is that an employer or potential employer might google your name and not like what they see. On a personal level, I also like having some level of anonymity because I don’t want my students to feel my politics must be their politics. I keep my personal political views separate from my teaching, and I like it that way. But you are right, it does create a false barrier in the discussions. I wonder what other readers think about it.
You are right that many of us know each other personally.
As for the BraveHumans domain, I wouldn’t say we are “wedded” to it. It happened to be a fairly simple domain that caught some of our intent while still being available. With so many domains being squatted on, it is hard to find a decent domain. Do you have a suggestion for a better domain?
Brian
December 17th, 2007 22:58
Brian, no, I don’t have a suggestion for another name. A US-centric anonymous discussion pit is outside my sphere.
I’m amazed to hear that you fear for your employment sufficiently to need to remain anonymous. Land of the Free? Home of the Brave?
Phew!
December 17th, 2007 23:11
For me it is more the desire to keep my politics separate from my teaching. But yes, holding the wrong political or social or religious view can lose you a job in this country, particularly in academic circles if you don’t have tenure.
How much of a concern it is for other posters on the site, I couldn’t say.