cybersoc.com

she likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on...

Toronto based fashion and shopping blog I want - I got picks up on a rather strange advertising campaign for Calvin Klein's new in2u scent.

“We have envisioned this as the first fragrance for the technosexual generation,” said Mr. Murry, using a term the company made up to describe its intended audience of thumb-texting young people whose romantic lives are defined in part by the casual hookup.
Last year, the company went so far as to trademark “technosexual,” anticipating it could become a buzzword for marketing to millennials, the roughly 80 million Americans born from 1982 to 1995. A typical line from the press materials for CK in2u goes like this: “She likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on. It’s intense. For right now.”

I never thought I'd live to see the day when txt sex was deemed to be cool enough for an advertising campaign, even if Beckham does it.

In a NY Times article about the advertising for the fragrance, Lory Singer at marketing agency Coty, says that "technosexuals" are open to marketing messages that other age groups wouldn't respond favourably to by explaining that technosexuals:

"... are much more empowered, but they are unshockable. They have seen everything from 9/11 to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears without underwear. They see everything instantaneously that goes on in the world.”

Well, if you've seen Britney and Paris without knickers...

Now I've got to try to crowbar this post back into cybersoc.com... The NY Times article doesn't just quote people from established marketing agencies and Calvin Klein fragrances, but goes to several bloggers and presents them as experts:

"Youngna Park, 24, a freelance photographer, would seem to be just this kind of individual and consumer. She has been interviewed by companies looking to tap into the millennial mind-set (though not by the researchers for CK in2u). Ms. Park moved to New York two and a half years ago and began taking pictures in restaurants and writing an online food column for Gothamist, a blog for urban markets. Her network of friends and professional contacts was forged partly through the Internet, and she has occasionally dated people she met online.

She would seem an ideal candidate to illustrate the term “technosexual,” if the idea did not immediately turn her off. “That’s such a weird phrase,” she said. “I just imagine kids putting on cologne to sit behind their computers. That’s really weird.”

They also interviewed Zach Klein (no relation) who was a partner in CollegeHumor.com. He told the New York Times,

“What’s most interesting about our generation is that it is very obvious when brands are attempting to market down to us when they use our own vernacular or types of personal technology. It’s very transparent, and I tend to shy away... abbreviating in2u like that is lame,to put it simply.”

It's nice to see the NY Times using blogs and bloggers as a source of content and context within their articles.

Calvin Klein, however, has fallen back on that old build, manage and own model:

"To seem more authentic, Calvin Klein is trying to reach consumers on their own turf by creating an online community, whatareyouin2.com, patterned after sites like MySpace and Facebook. The company has invited students at film schools around the country to submit shorts addressing the theme of “what are you into?” and their clips can be found on the site."

Instead, they could axe a few of those hardcore web developers who like to build complex social software systems and instead use their site to showcase and link out to third party services like myspace, facebook, youtube and flickr - along the way giving users the tools they are used to using and that work, embracing the audiences of those service, and reducing technical, editorial and moderation costs too.

conference on sex in videogames

Getting your boss to spend $395 to send you to the two day Sex in Videogames (08-09 June in San Francisco) might be a bit of a challenge, but imagine the fun you'll have if you do get to go!

(Spotted on the Guardian Games Blog - Thanks Aleks!)

cybersex study

I've always been rather proud of the fact that my website is the #1 link for cybersex on google. I'm not sure why I stay at the top of the google page considering that I don't have any porn here or a chat room. Anyway, in a nod to all those users who find themselves staring at this page over the weekend wondering where the cybersex is, I bring you this humourous report from the Radish about a "Harvard Study" linking cybersex to masturbation.

sex offenders: chat room investigation tactic questioned

The Washington Post reports that "The increasingly common law enforcement tactic of having adult officers pose as children in Internet chat rooms to arrest potential sex offenders came under legal attack yesterday when Maryland's highest court ruled that the law does not allow the prosecution of people who merely believed they were dealing with children."

38 year old Richard J. Moore from Elkridge, Maryland was convicted in 2002 after allegedly engaging in explicit conversations and expressing an interest in having sex with an underage girl - who was, in fact, a Sheriff's Deputy. The ruling was overturned by the Maryland Court of Appeals who felt Moore shouldn't have been convicted without the existence of a "real" underage victim. More at the WashingtonPost

Meanwhile, a report to the EU Commission has proposed the creation of a .kid domain for child safe websites (perhaps a better idea than the .xxx domain approved by iCann). The French MEP who authored the report, Marielle de Sarnez, also suggested the creation of a free telephone helpline for parents seeking advice on filtering internet content and keeping their children out of chat rooms where they could be exposed to sexual propositions.

Some countries already do have such hotlines - ModeratorsNet.com has a list that parents, moderators and site owners can use to report illegal behaviour in chat rooms and other online spaces.

20,000 chatting naked in China

Liu Gang, China Youth Association researcher, reckons that up to 20,000 Chinese Internet users sit naked whilst using chatrooms each night. Gang explained to Shanghai Daily that the "problem" is much larger than they'd originally thought:

"At first, we thought if was merely a game for a few mentally abnormal people... but as our research continued, we found the problem was much larger than expected."

(Source: Associated Press via The Boston Globe)

Cybersociology Magazine - relaunch?

I still get a lot of people emailing to ask about submitting articles for Cybersociology, the webzine I edited from 1997 to late 1999. I've been thinking of reviving the project, maybe as some sort of group blog with a few editors, rather than just me, finding and selecting suitable content. What do you think? Would you read it? Might you contribute an article? Are you interested in being one of the group editors?

Here's a list of the articles, site reviews and book reviews that have appeared in Cybersociology (http://www.cybersociology.com):

Issue One Cyber-Romance, Cybersex, and Cyber-Eroticism. Published Online 10 Oct. '97. Contents: Feature articles -- Researching Cybersex in Online Chat Rooms: the Ethnographic Approach (Robin Hamman); Erving Goffman, Dramaturgy, and On-Line Relationships(Nikki Sannicolas); Cyber-Charade (Cara); New To Cyber Liaisons (Sue). Site reviews -- Sandy Stone, Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies. Book review -- Sherry Turkle, "Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet" (Jennifer Jannuska)

Issue Two: Online (Virtual?) Communities Published Online 20 Nov. '97. Contents: Feature articles -- Introduction to Virtual Community Research and Issue Two of Cybersociology (Robin Hamman); Seniors and the Internet (Joyce Philbeck); IRC on AustNet - an example of a virtual community (Cyberrdewd); QUAKE-ING IN MY BOOTS: >Clan: Community < Construction in an Online Gamer Population (Mary Anne Breeze) Special Feature -- British Universities offering courses on cyberspace (Robin Hamman). Site reviews -- Electric Minds, High Noon on the Electronic Frontier Online. Book review -- John Seabrook, Deeper: A Two-Year Odyssey in Cyberspace

Issue Three: Digital Third Worlds and Questions of Net Access Published Online 07 August, 1998 Contents: Feature articles -- Introduction to Digital Third Worlds and Issue Three of Cybersociology (Robin Hamman - USA/UK); The Changing Face of Society (Kirsten Smith - South Africa); The New Eldorado, or a Ticket to the First World (Nellie Lejter - Venezuela) Site reviews -- Olu Oguibe, Crash Media. Book reviews -- Disconnected by Willian Wresch (Andy Oram - USA).

Issue Four: Open Topic Published Online 01 December, 1998 Contents: Feature articles -- Cyberpunks: A Sociological Analysis With Special Interest In The Description Of Their Online Activities (Markus Wiemker - Germany). Net Ideologies: From Cyber-liberalism to Cyber-realism, (Francisco Millarch - Brazil/UK). Will the Technobabble Bubble Burst?, (Rachel Collinson - UK). What Is A Geek? (Mike Sugarbaker - USA). Interview with Sci-Fi Author Bruce Sterling (Zana Poliakov - Serbia). Ken Wilber and Cyberspace (Michel Bauwens - France). There Are No Last Words Online (Radhika Gajjala - USA). Trace Online Writing Community (Sue Thomas - UK). Bringing The Net To The Masses: Cybercafes In Latin America (Dr. Madanmohan Rao - India). Report: Manchester's Temporary Media Lab -> Revolting (Micz Flor - Germany/UK) Notes from the Exploding Media Symposium (Robin Hamman - USA/UK) Net Art -- 24 Hour Jpeg Project (Brad Brace - USA). Site reviews -- Portal on Global Digitalization / The Hoechst Triangle Forum (M. Alan Kazlev - Australia). Book reviews -- Knowledge Societies (Ravi Srinivas- India).

Issue Five: Grassroots Political Activism Online (co-edited with Micz Flor from Crash Media) Published Online 01 April, 1999. Contents: Feature articles -- The High Tech Gift Economy (Richard Barbrook - London), Labour@Cyberspace: Problems in Creating a Global Solidarity Culture (Peter Waterman - Netherlands), Internet Against Censorship (Drazen Pantic - Belgrade), Cyberpower and the Meaning of Online Activism (Tim Jordan - London), A Few Points About Online Activism (Jon Lebkowsky - USA), Punk Science (Rachel Armstrong - London), Cyborg Film-Making (Rachel Armstrong - London), The Borg: A Critique (Dave Gordan), ¿Roam-Antics on the Cyber-Horizon or Home-Wrecking for a New Millennium? (Judy Hempel - USA), Admirable Utopian World (Eduardo Duarte - Brazil), LESSONS LEARNED: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF ON-LINE COMMUNITY NETWORKS (George Hunka - USA), Study of Men and Women's Gender Display in Text-based Communication (Sema Nicole Seyedi - USA) Field Reports -- INDONESIA: The Net as a Weapon (Tedjabayu - Indonesia), Introducing Radio Free Monterey (Barbara Steinberg - USA), Online Community Builders Toolkit for Activists (Robin Hamman - England), The Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Introducing the Panel Discussion of the Counter-Strategies Corporations Employ Against Campaigns (Eveline Lubbers), Computer Aid International (UK). Book reviews -- Cyber-Democracy: Technology, Cities and civic networks; Processed Lives: Gender and Technology in Everyday Life; Technology of the Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator and Women's Sexual Satisfaction; Communities in Cyberspace; Virtual Futures: Cyberotics, Technology, and Post-Human Pragmatism; Station Rose First Decade: Ten Years of Native Multimedia Art.

Issue Six: Research Methodology Online (Published Online: 06 Aug. 1999) Contents: Feature articles -- The Digital Ethnographer (Bruce Mason & Bella Dicks, Cardiff University); Behaviour in Public? : Ethics in Online Ethnography (Allison Cavanagh, University of Manchester); Virtual Corporeality: Adolescent Girls and Their Bodies in Cyberspace (Kerrie Smyres, Arizona State University); Among the Internauts: Notes from the cyberfield (Nils Zurawski); Cyborg Diaspora and Virtual Imagined Community: Studying SAWNET (Radhika Gajjala, Bowling Green State University); Cyberspace as Everyday Life (Stephen Webb, University of North London) ; Interview with Richard Stallman, Founder of the Free Software Foundation (Geert Lovink); BIG BROTHER IS ON-LINE: Public and Private Security in the Internet (Javier Bernal, University of Lincolnshire & Humberside, England.); The Web of Life in the Life of the Web: The Philippine Internet Experience (Benjamin M.Wage, Jr.) ; Book reviews -- Doing Internet Research; Researching Online for Dummies.

Issue Seven: Religion Online and Techo-Spiritualism Guest Co-Edited by Michel Bauwens. 01 Sept 1999. The Spirtual Cyborg, by Erik Davis, a San Franciso-based writer, culture critic, and independent scholar who recently published "TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information" (Harmony Books, 1998). / Is Cyberspace a Spiritual Space?, by Margaret Wertheim, is a regular contributor to numerous magazines and is the author of "The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet" and "Pythagoras Trousers" / Dialogue on the Cyber-Sacred and the Relationship Between Technological and Spiritual Development, by Michel Bauwens and Father Vincent Rossi. / Techno-Spiritual Quotes, Collected by Jeremy S. Gluck, the founder of Spiritech UK, an association that strongly believes not only the function of technology as a mirror of human consciousness but in the eventual unfolding of an original machine consciousness that will be a partner to humankind. / Cyberspace: the New Frontier for Religion, by Lin Collette, Brown University, USA. / Big Brother is Online, by Javier Bernal, University of Lincolnshire & Humberside (UK). / Is India on the Brink of a Digital Abyss?, by Venkatesh Hariharan, Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. / Cyborg Selves: examining identity and meaning in a chat room, by Marcus Leaning, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. BOOK REVIEWS: Holding On to Reality:The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium (1999) By Albert Borgmann Review by: David Rieder, Univ. of Texas: Arlington / How We Became Posthuman : Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics (1999) By Katherine Hayles Review by Nathalie Muller / Cyberville: Clicks, Culture, and the Creation of an Online Town (1998) By Stacy Horn Review by Claire Shearman

Dating Through the Network

A few years ago anyone who told their friends they were using an online dating service, or that they had met someone through a social networking site such as friendster, may very well have faced laughter, warnings about personal safety, questions about how one could be sure that the person they met online wasn't a 14 year old geek, whether your date lived up to expectations, etc.

Nowadays everyone seems to be openly discussing online dating and I'm actually starting to be surprised when I encounter couples who didn't meet online. In fact, some, including BBC News Online, reckon there is a "surprisingly high" success rate for couples that met online but maybe that success doesn't always come easy - Amazon.co.uk currently lists 37 how to books about online dating.

Capitalising upon the online dating industry are Online Personals Watch , a sort of industry insider report site, and iDate 2005, a conference series making stops in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Prague, and Miami.

I once worked at a wireless start-up company where one of the services I was involved with was anonymous SMS chat. The most popular of our various rooms was, by far, the "on the pull" room. Just about anyone with a GSM phone has, at one time or another, flirted with someone via text message. Recent research by Ruth Byrne and Bruce Findlay in Australia looks at whether gender affects users preference to initiate romantic contact via SMS in comparison to by voice call.

Then there was "toothing", one of those social activities that thousands of journalists write about but no one seems to actually have seen for themselves. In fact, Steve Curran, who dubbed the term, may very well have made it all up and duped the media at the same time. Dating via 3G mobile services, which offer streamed video calls (as well as other downloadable media rich services), also seems likely to be a non-starter.

The other day I came across a blog entry by Alexander Paine in which he describes "flirting via iTunes".

Then there's the other side of the coin - paedophiles are increasingly utilising digital networks to find children to abuse, as was seen in a recent UK court case.

In addition to the usual journalist and student interest, I probably get one or two emails a month from people who have discovered that their partner is having cybersex with someone else. Usually they ask if they should consider it cheating although sometimes it's the cheating party who comes asking if it's "normal". [Note: I'm not a counselling service but there are plenty of articles about cybersex infedelity that, more often then not, maralise about this type of thing.]

Of course, if you do find out that your partner is cheating on you online, via xbox live, iTunes or whatever, you might want to move to Malaysia where it's possible to divorce someone (well, for a man to dump his wife anyway) via text message.