Vital Pegs

Have you ever seen political news on the Internet that shocked you and sparked a desire to debate with someone about it?  Often there are few opportunities in the real world to discuss the issues, however there are many on the web.  That is why I inhabit a website called volconvo.com in which I can have respectful debates with a diverse group of people over politics, culture, philosophy, and religion.  On this forum popular debate topics and debaters come and go.  I usually debate a topic, become bored with it, and then go on to another topic. 

I do not know the people I debate with very well so our relationships are short and transient.  Some like Z. Bauman may accuse websites such as Volconvo as being peg communities and in most cases they are.  Bauman thinks that peg communities are places where people temporarily discuss things that they are interested in.  Their relationships with other users are ephemeral (p. 257).  Bell argues that we need pegs and such things are good to discuss.  He compares relationships on these sites to the marriage contract.  These relationships are only continued as long as they satisfy the participants (p. 258). 

Having a weak relationship with the people I debate on the forum is helpful because debates are less personal.  It is more comfortable to logically destroy some stranger on the Internet than to it is to shoot down the arguments of people you know personally face to face.  I find that most conversations in real life consist of small talk and can be compared to Bauman's analogy of pegs.  In small talk, topics come and go and people discuss their personal matters and other transient things.  Small talk is worth participating in because it is interesting, fun, and connects you with people.  Small talk is just as appropriate on the web as it is in real life and this is why I take the side of Bell on the issue of peg communities on the web.

In assignment #2, I will be discussing http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.ebay.com/, and http://www.half.ebay.com/.  Because they are great resources to buy and sell.  I compare these sites to buy textbook and have gotten myself wonderful deals.  They have slight differences and it will be informative and fun to compare and analyse them. 

Bell, D. 2007. Webs as Pegs. In D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (Ed.), The Cybercultures Reader (2nd Ed.) (pp. 254-263). London and New York: Routeledge