Berger adds several concepts to the discussion, including how filters used by individual users of a community can impact the methods of communication used by their community. His work also helped begin the debate on approaching this research for a multi-disciplinary framework, as Berger’s work used elements from history, sociology, anthropology & mathematics to examine how the visual influences interactions (1992). For the self online, Turkle and Haraway will form the base of my theoretical understanding. Turkle’s work on “Life on the Screen” and the “Second Self” Focuses on the individual’s user ability to tinker among his or her environment. Facebook is a bricolage that can be assembled through the abstraction of the virtual arena. Turkle also focuses on the simulation and the simulacra that permeates the online social networks and how it can influence real-world interactions. Haraway, on the other hand, looks at the binary status of offline/online to the broader spectrum of all of the figural interpretation that makes up the user’s identity as an avatar and as an individual. Her work in general looks at the cybernetic organism as it fits into the theoretical discussion of syntax, semantics and pragmatic knowledge of the individual user. Finally, under the conceptual framework of student development, I will focus on the work of Chickering and Guido-DiBrito to form the connections between online social networking and the academic experience. Chickering’s work is the keystone to student development research.
