[Air-l] an Ess-ian Q: when does the personal becomes public?

[Paula]

Totally agree. Private convo is private convo.

Barry Wellman wrote:

>Every once in a while, I Google recent and high page-ranking references to
>me.
>
>I was surprised when I did this recently to find my name mentioned in two
>blogs:
>
>-- A purported quotation from me from a dinner table conversation a few
>years ago.
>
>-- A side comment that I purportedly made to the blogger who claims to be
>sitting next to me at another conference.
>
>This has gotten me to thinking.
>
>1. Is it ethical to publish private conversations without the speaker's
>approval?
>
>2. Or has the nature of networked community become such that just as the
>public has become personal, the personal has become public?
>
>Secret police types would concurr: If you have nothing to hide, why worry?
>
>But I have had enough experiences in America, China, Russia
>and Bulgaria to know I don't want to live that way. And neither do my
>friends who have lived in these countries.
>
>Surely there is a matter of private discourse among friends and
>colleagues. Or has blogging by scholars merged with gossip columns?
>
>My own feeling is that my papers, lectures and perhaps even public
>conference utterances are publishable. My side comments over dinner and in
>informal groups are not -- unless I explicitly agree.
>
>Or am I just an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't understand the new world of
>blogs -- even those by scholars?
>
> Barry
> _____________________________________________________________________
>
>  Barry Wellman         Professor of Sociology        NetLab Director
>  wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
>
>  Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
>  455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162
>	     To network is to live; to live is to network
> _____________________________________________________________________
>
>
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