The online social network Goodreads was first created in 2007, now a decade later the site has fifty-five million members and more than 1.5 billion books added to the website. If you are not a familiar or an experience user (like me) than it’s okay because Goodreads is easy to navigate and operate. This network allows members to create a personalised account that generate recommendation books based on the genres you select. From there you can track the progress of books that you read, mark books that you may want to read in the future and give a rating of the books after you have finished reading them. The CEO and Co-Founder Otis Chandler (Goodreads,2017) develop this online network “in his living room, motivated by the belief that there was a better way to discover and discuss good books.”
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| Image Credit: http://funnyand.com/book-reading-addiction/ |
Goodreads allow readers to build a network or online
community to create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable or safe to share
their thoughts about a particular book or author. (Kuttainean, 2017) this week
explained, ‘genre is a way of making meaning’ members of Goodreads make meaning
of this online network thorough the concepts of form and function and style.
This allows users to start to create an online persona for the rest of the
fifty-five million members to view. In Yi-Fu Tuan ‘Space and Place- The
perspective of experience’ it explores the concepts of space and place and how
these in particular relate to online social networks. Tuan (1977, p.3) states
that ‘place is security, space is freedom.’ In terms of Tuan, Goodreads as a
place is where you feel secure in sharing your favourite book genres and
joining in those discussion groups by sharing ideas and beliefs from one user
to the other. The network also allows for privacy so that you can customise
your account in a way which you feel security to use it. Goodreads exposes
users to a space where they feel the freedom to browse any book genres, join an
online forum and a secure place where you can indulge into books that you wouldn’t
normally check out in your local library. This link is to a TEDTalk
that relates to the idea of computer security and the fast-growing
technological changes that are allowing more hackers to access these devices.
Avi Rubin shows how hackers are getting access to different devices ranging
from medical devices to cars, these examples may not apply to online social
networks but it showcases devices that you would think are unhackable being
easily access. The question to think about is if these devices are no longer
have proper security are you going to feel safe using them? The same notion
applies to the online world, anything can be hack in this modern era. These
actions puts into question Tuan notions about space and place, when technology
is developing at the high rate it is today are we going to keep feeling freedom
and security or are any technological devices going to become a place of danger
and uncertainty?
Reference List;
Greg, Alex (Artist). (n.d.). In Book Reading Addiction.
Retrieved August 11, 2017 from http://funnyand.com/book-reading-addiction/
Goodreads. (2017). About Goodreads. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/about/us
Kuttainean, V. (2017). BA1002: Space and identity: genre and transformation, week three notes [PowerPoint slides].Retrieved
from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_2846467_1&course_id=_84764_1
Rubin, A. (2011, November). Aui Rubin: All your devices can
be hacked. Retrieved August 11, 2017 from https://www.ted.com/talks/avi_rubin_all_your_devices_can_be_hacked
Yuan; F.Y. (1977). Introduction. Space and Place, The perspective of experience (pp.3-7). Edward
Arnold Ltd.
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