Matters of perspective

As we learned in the week 4 lecture, no flat map is correct. The Mercator projection world map first created in 1596 allowed for easier navigation by sailors who could draw straight lines instead of having to adjust for a flat map of a spherical object (Kuttainen, V. 2015). This distortion can lead to confusion as to the true dimensions of the world and assigning more value to the uppermost countries on the map rather than the smaller southern countries. We can apply a similar idea to our own social networks. In my social network of Facebook the people with whom I have close relationships in the real world would be represented on my map as larger and more important than the people who I do not see much and thus do not interact with. While Facebook does connect the whole world as shown in this map that was created by a Facebook intern the world on Facebook as I know it would be a small bright dot on Townsville Queensland and maybe one or two strands leading to the rest of the world. So while I am aware of the size of the space that Facebook is there is only a tiny place within it that I have any familiarity with.

Image credit Paul Butler retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/visualizing-friendships/469716398919

Something else worth mentioning is the design of Facebook. While the urban planning within Paris as discussed by Pouty (2009) was aimed at preventing crime through the anonymity of large crowds, giving people the glass roofed arcades to walk through as they traveled through the city, the planning of Facebook is designed to get you to abandon you anonymity but through posting things and becoming apparent to your Facebook friends. That being said you can still be like the flaneur, anonymously drifting through Facebook watching all.  

References

                               Butler, P. (2010). Visualizing Friendships. Retrieved on 21 August from

https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/visualizing-friendships/469716398919  

                               Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Maps.

                              

                                Prouty, R. (2009). Turtle On A Leash. Retrieved from

http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html