Commonplaces

I would define a commonplace as a space to collect phrases and images you find important and meaningful and then adding your own thoughts and ideas intertwined with those of your social community. I think that more and more social media sites are becoming commonplaces, especially Facebook since MySpace has kind of gone to the wayside. It seems to me to fit all the criteria for a commonplace: shared discourse styles and goals, background knowledge, and creation of community. My nieces are constantly on Facebook, putting up pictures of themselves and their family, and in my one nieces case, a ton of pictures and descriptions of gaming characters. On the internet, in the (relative) privacy of home, girls can construct and edit their public profiles, take the time to determine how they will respond to things and put forth the face that they choose to, not the one others may construct for them outside the internet. And while I recognize that Facebook is mostly composed of viewers who know you in real life, I still think it is a construction, complete with favorite quotes, personal philosophies and outlooks, as well as daily opinions and observations. I really think this is an excellent example of what Lockridge described as when the “public self is rehearsed in this intensely private arena provided by literacy” (Lockridge, 338). On Facebook, girls are allowed to 'practice' being their public selves, able to change and delete and modify as they choose, while still participating in a larger social community of peers.