danah boyd: the high priestess

This is kind of amusing. The Financial Times does a story about danah called "The high priestess of internet friendship."

From the story:

"As Boyd watched these millions jump on to the networks, she began to develop clearer ideas about what deeper purpose the sites served. A large number of members were obviously still using them as a tool to meet new people. But while some were interested in extending their social network, most were not doing that at all. Instead, they were using it to reinforce existing relations with the group of friends they already had from their offline lives. For them, MySpace had become an electronic version of the local mall or park, the place they went to with their friends when they just wanted to hang out.

“When I have to explain it to parents, I say it is the place kids rush to when the bell goes,” said Boyd."

Nice article and great exposure for danah, who I really like.

Checking her blog today:

"Lately, people have been getting angry at me for not being able to look at their project; others yell at me for not being able to find 15 minutes to talk to them for their news articles; still others go straight for the guilt trip. I've started not responding to email. I find that i've gotten snippy in emails and that sucks; i even read blogs about how overly curt i am.

First, Why I am a Bad Correspondent. Second, My ongoing struggle against "continuous partial attention". I'm nowhere near as cool as Neal but, like him, i need 4+ hours of writing time at a time.

At the top of Neal's description is a quote from Umberto Eco: "I don't even have an e-mail address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages." What does it mean that i'm not even 30 and that's my goal?"

Fame is a cruel mistress, even for a high priestess.