For the last year I’ve been doing a field work of sorts on Chat Roulette, a website on the fringe of the social networking frontier. The site connects a user with a random stranger, anywhere in world, via live video and audio link. My fascination with Chat Roulette stems mostly from an Anthropology background that was focused in new social interactions and concepts such as “space” vs. “place” in modern society. People have been spending time in chat rooms, forums and social networking circles for over a decade, but Chat Roulette’s live video connection feels more like a “place” to me than a “site”. The experience can in ways be compared to the city street or social event, where you cannot chose to simply observe, but must allow oneself also to be seen. In certain ways it’s more immediate, as the connection is usually between just two individuals, likely in their homes, sharing a view into each others intimate personal spaces.
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