[Air-L] snide, cute, ignorant, surprising

[Heidelberg, Chris]

Danah:

Don't worry about it! The day is young, and I live in the Washington
area and The Post sometimes misses the real point! Your work is great,
and there will always be critics or "haters "(as my interns vividly
point out to me on the set). Your research is cutting edge and I have
spoken at professional conferences about blogging, podcasts, and social
networking for exactly the purpose of spreading knowledge. Everyone will
never love what you do, and you will have your critics like everyone
else. Besides, there is a great side to this: you now understand why the
news and entertainment world makes our world seem tame. I know I live in
both worlds. I will take this one first because at least I can help
spread new ideas and knowledge. Let's not get into verbal gymnastics, no
one has a corner on inventing knowledge. Keep your head up, remember the
lessons learned, and move on!!! Contact me offline seeufilms at gmail.com

I know one or two of the folks higher up at The Post.

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of danah boyd
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 9:26 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] snide, cute, ignorant, surprising

::hands over face in horror::

I'm sooooo sorry for whatever role that I played in the creation of the
article.  I have to admit that I spent the bulk of the day wavering
between being pissed off and being downright depressed. I'm sure it
won't surprise any of you that much of this was taken out of context
(and another chunk is outright wrong).  I was particularly horrified by
how she framed my deceased advisor as a fool. But I'm also sorry to
everyone here who implicitly got framed poorly. Yuck yuck yuck.

As for receiving threats, yes, I received multiple after my essay this
summer, although none from academics (that I know of).  This (along with
the folks who photoshopped me as a cutter) was documented in my response
to my essay this summer:
http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ResponseToClassDivisions.html

I'm also annoyed with the implicit comment about my blog being my
scholarship. Just in case it wasn't clear, I don't by any means consider
my blog scholarship.  At most, it's fieldnotes and musings.  
After the mess this summer, I considered taking it down, but the fact is
that writing musings and getting feedback really helps me think through
things.  I just never thought that they would ever be assumed to be
final publications, but conversation starters.

Also, as Nancy has said, I do *not* take credit for creating this field
(or internet anthropology or many other things that press folks claim).
The odd thing is that she tried to force me into claiming that I
invented this field and was the reason for the creation of social
computing at RIT and UMich and I was like oh god no.  It seems as though
she put things in my mouth even when I explicitly rejected them.

There are so many other issues with that article... I'm not even sure
where to begin. But I'm super sorry and ashamed. I'm trying to do my
research and make it public because I think that's important (and it's
in my activist nature), not because I want to pick fights with fellow
academics or make anyone look bad. One of the reasons that I wanted to
put together that JCMC issue with Nicole was to highlight others' work
in a collected way, not to send negativity their way.  (And,
incidentally, not all articles on SNSs cite my work.)

If there are indeed folks out there who feel "seething resentment,"  
please let me know how I can help. Cuz omg is this not something that I
want to make people feel and I'm so sorry if I do. I feel terrible.  
I'm so sorry.

danah

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