Chatroulette.. Yay or Nay??
So I was reading "The Sheaf" today, they had an article about the newest social networking platform called Chatroulette. I've heard some stuff about this site. I decided to look up any news stories regarding it. From what I've read, many people see the potential use of it. I tried going on the site today and it kind of scared me. You're essentially signing off your anonymity to a random stranger.
This is how it works, if you have a computer and a webcam, then you're good to go. You go on to the site without any login and click the Play button to turn your camera on. The site automatically assigns you a random stranger in any part of the world. You are basically suppose to begin to strike up a conversation with this person. If you find the person dull or boring, you can click Next and be paired up with another stranger. So from it's name it really is a roulette with chat. I think the purpose of Chatroulette is to connect with someone in another part of the world and see the differences and similarities you and the stranger share. Of course, "Not every Chatroulette conversation is notable for its tame entertainment value." From what I've read, some people have shared stories about wine tasting and others have found someone hanging unconcious in their room (fake attempt to scare people of a suicide). The realities of it is that you could be talking to someone who could be living down the street or sitting in a jail cell.
That's what scared me the most, what if they find me? Chatroullete has virtually almost no monitoring of its activities. So your pretty much unprotected. Do I see the positives of it? Kind of, I mean in this corrupt world, we'll always get those people who will always make it worst for everyone else. But on the other spectrum, there are people who do want the same thing you want, a conversation or a friend. The randomness is the thrill of it, being able to talk to someone that is in Germany, and then zip across the globe to someone who is in Turkey, that's kind of cool. In this crazy, fast-paced world of technology and social networking, it doesn't seem surprising to me that someone (Andrey Ternovskiy) would have the idea to connect people with video.
When I did try it, I saw myself sitting in the Education library and a guy sitting infront of his computer on the couch. I didn't even try talking to him. I quickly closed the window, it really freaked me out. Based on the articles I've read, it seems that many people try out Chatroulette in groups before doing it by themselves. If I had to do it again, I think I'll try in a group as well. I'm not fully supporting Chatroulette right now, I think it needs some more development, security, and privacy gates established before I dive in. But I'm excited to see where this goes, I would love to have a conversation with someone in Scotland or something about their lifestyle and how it compares to mine. It's sort of like instant pen-pals, isn't it? But with the dangers shot up to another level.
So you decide, Chatroulette, Yay or Nay?
Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/weekinreview/21bilton.html
http://www.tuftsdaily.com/students-take-a-gamble-with-chatroulette-1.2179465
