Monday, 12 August 2013

Blog 1 - Horse'n around


For the Virtual Networking assignment I have chosen to participate in a Facebook group called PHARLAP. I decided that I would join this group based on a few things. 
  • Ive been involved in horses and competitive riding for the last 16 years
  • I have a little bit of a soft spot for horse rescue
  • The members of this page, particularly the admin are very interesting characters and to be honest I don't mind sitting back and watching a little bit of drama unfold.
The main focus of this group is horse rescue and rehabilitation by the means of purchasing horses and ponies from sales, this in turn prevents them from being brought by 'Doggers' which are generally the owners of  local knackeries (particularly seen as being shady and abusive characters) that have meat quotas that have to be met in order to supply the pet mince industry. 

During this weeks lecture Dr Theresa Petray said that 'Maps literally inform how we see the world' (Petray, 2013). This reminded me of a topic of conversation that appeared within PHARLAP. The members have decided that they would create a map that located all members and the distances between their residences, so that they could transport horses from location to location by means of floating the animals by members, which in turn would avoid transport costs. However the only people that would have access to this map, and therefor controlling all rescue attempts, was that of the two admin. This reminds myself of the text from Passage of the Flâneur by Gaylene Barnes (1997) where she states when referring to the Panoption Prison design and its influence on power. 'Where the surveiller in a central observation post had supreme visibility over all the activities of the inhabitants, yet himself remained unseen'(Barnes, 1997).

The action of the admin in this instance I believe reflects on both topics of this weeks discussions. One, by creating the map the admin can see the boundaries of their created world. And two, by only allowing themselves to have access to this map and its information they in turn have power of the group, and also control all rescue missions, hence asserting their dominance further, which is reflected in the quote by Barnes. 


References 

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


Pharlap. (n.d). Facebook. Retrieved August 12  from:
             https://www.facebook.com/groups/458404900883326/

Image credits

Image 1: Wild horses running (n.d) Retrieved from:
             jokuci.blogsot.com


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2 comments:

  1. Rhian13 August 2013 at 21:58

    Great post Chole - you make some really insightful connections between the lecture, the reading and your observations in the group :)

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  2. Katiecoos15 August 2013 at 18:12

    Good evening Chloe, it's Kate Williams here.

    Your post provides valuable insight to the "big brother" of the virtual world. Your admins are a modern day example of the Panopticon prison. They can monitor all members, however you can't monitor them. However, by choosing to be a member of the group, you don't mind their surveillance.

    Lastly, they see that knowledge is power, but they choose to keep the member details private so they continue to hold the power. They mightn't realize that knowledge is power when as many people as possible share their knowledge.

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