Week 3 Blog 1: Plant Swap

 

It is common knowledge that one should give a plant what it needs: water, sunlight etc. but it is not common knowledge that it also needs to be able to receive feedback from it's local environment via the resources it is given to maintain a good sense of Homeostasis, much like it needing to receive a map of it's environment.

Speaking of 'localized', Barnes (1997) talks about how cyberspace is not localized but exists in an 'inner map' we make for ourselves. This is quite different than what plants need but it reminds me of the artificial environments they are put under. Plants may seem to thrive on these artificial or domesticated circumstances but are actually put in a jeopardized position where they become dependent on humans. Our relationships between ourselves and the ecosystem including our plants could tell us of the cyber networks we use and how they may affect us. It could become quite easy for us to separate ourselves from real feedback from our local environment for artificial communities that may seem beneficial to us but which we are becoming all too dependent upon.

The more we separate from our local environment the more we have our personal power taken away from us, the same goes for plants. In her lecture Dr Theresa Petray (2013) speaks of how maps reflect their creators who tend to be the powerful. This is what happens with humans interactions with plants and plants too are shaped by the maps we give to them of their environment.

We often provide plants with a map of our social environment when we try to meet their needs. Soil that originates from this place and minerals that originate from another place. Plants are aware of more than what we give them credit for, they too are forming relationships to their environment. The plants often don't get a chance to adapt to a stable environment formed from natural causes.

For my network I chose to do a Yahoo Group called Plant Swap where people swap the seeds they've collected from the plants they've grown, this helps with biodiversity. I'm interested in how the people have come to see themselves in correspondence with the plants and if their views of themselves reflect the way they see their plants. If by meeting their own needs through networking they can meet the needs of the plants at the same time.

Plant Swap has an interesting power dynamic where people must post on the listserve and not to each other privately else they'll be banned. I thought this was a positive use of power getting everyone to participate in public, it feels safer knowing all that's going on in the group. If I'm in an online group that isn't local there is less I can be aware of what's going on so the more that is out in the public on the listserve and can be monitored the safer I'll feel.

Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the Flaneur. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp

Petray, V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 3.1 Maps: Seeing and shaping the world. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.edu.au
  
Clematis & Lilies, Pat Gravel. Retrieved from: http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/139073/homepage/name/604303?type=sn