In some communications, the sender is the message. Their identity, preferences, daily activities, and opinions are given. The pressing question of "which marsupial do they most resemble?" is answered. Potentially, their expertise is used to provide useful information (or misinformation) that comes uniquely from them.
This, then, is selfcasting.
This blog is an example of selfcasting, in which I try to exercise my always-in-development quasi-expertise to look at varying issues out in the world, and come up with interesting opinions to think about. A facebook profile filled with feeds from Twitter and Yelp, where the location, activities, and texted conversations of the user are posted, is also an example of selfcasting. The guy at your office who must show you pictures of his vacation is selfcasting.
Selfcasting is done for a whole host of different reasons. From the viewpoint that this blog is tossing around, one of those reasons is universal: People selfcast to get their ideas and language, their views on the world, out where they can be absorbed and interacted with. We share pieces of our identity, ranging from the deeply-considered to the entirely trivial, into a place where those things can spread and be negotiated. And, yes, we're looking for recognition, status, and acceptance when we selfcast - this isn't some special exception from the basic need for social validation.
Online, selfcasters often track the number of people reading or viewing their content (I use google analytics). We care about the engagement of the audience, in the form of comments and incoming links. Some selfcasters pile in advertising and other such on their blogs, adding a money motive on top of this, but the social motives never go away.
So, in a bald bid to see if folks are engaging here, and to give you an opportunity to put your own stuff out there a little...
Do you selfcast?
Where do you do it?
What parts of your identity or expertise are you showing off?
If you do this online in some personalised location, please do toss in a link (or a whole bunch, if you do it in several places).
I do selfcast. I've recently decided to get away from banging my head against the wall of frustration which is me trying to write fiction, and spend that energy writing stuff that doesn't try so hard.
ReplyDeleteThe first is thoughts on the media I consume, as I realized that I consume a LOT of it and thought it might be interesting to record my thoughts on them and see if that might drum up some discussion thereby. My plan for this is to post spoiler-free reviews and later go back and do spoilery close readings of media which I've already reviewed. This blog is horribly behind my self-imposed deadlines, and I'm planning on stepping up production on it immediately.
The second is an attempt to apply the principles of gonzo journalism to my gaming experiences, which are largely centered around the CCG called Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, but which also encompass a number of boardgames as well. So far this has taken the form of session reportage, though I'm likely to branch out into more theoretical essays soon, since my gaming schedule has recently been truncated a bit.
The two sites are, respectively:
johneno.blogspot.com
enoplay.blogspot.com
Excellent. I blogroll you....
ReplyDeleteHello, Levi
ReplyDeleteI'm really very fond of most of your commentary on RPG.net, which is how I found your blog.
I do self cast on my blog: http://wildrote.wordpress.com/
I primarily write about my personal experiences that exist outside what is accepted by the broader society in which I live. I do this for a number of reasons, such as to find other people with similar experiences, to be an objective codification of my subjective experiences and to provide practical and emotional support to other people who are beginning to enter the set of very liminal and difficult experiences I deal with.
A side note is that I usually choose to talk about my self in a cultural vacuum. I invoke the symbols and signs of cultural preferences as little as I can. I do post music and videos occasionally, but I try not to fetishize them with categorization beyond my personal feeling and enjoyment of them. As much as I can ascribe any reason to these behaviors, I think I practice them because I want others to see a human being when they look at me, not a collection ideology and cultural signs that can be dismissed if they do not suit the viewer. I doubt I particularly succeed at this, but I try.
Take care,
cultural vacuum? I call shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy,
ReplyDelete"I doubt I particularly succeed at this, but I try." - Wildrote
What I was trying to convey by that expression is a way of speaking that is, as much possible, derived from directly sensed and felt perception. Culture itself informs and shapes what we directly perceive, so my attempt cannot be complete, but then again no vacuum can be complete either.
Perhaps it's a fools errand to attempt, as a human being, to extricate some of my language from culture, but regardless of my success I have found that attempt very enlightening.