Where Cyborgs Go To Die

A ‘talking stick’, also known as a ‘speaker’s staff’, is an apparatus of aboriginal democracy used by many tribes, especially those of indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America. The stick is passed between a group of people, and whomever has the stick has the power to talk. If this idea were incorporated into Tinder, the metaphorical talking stick would be given to those who swipe right last in a pairing.

http://www.yourtango.com/2015251011/10-worst-tinder-dates-ever-witnessed-by-bartenders

As discussed in previous posts, to open a message with a potential match, both parties must have swiped right. This means that the first person to find out that you and your future S/O have matched is the second swipe-er. This gives this person the power to send “The First Message” or in Tinder terms: “The Cheesiest Pick-up Line Possible”.

Because of these specifications, the power of the speaker’s staff goes to the second swipe-er and therefore has nothing to do with cultural groups or demographics. This in itself facilitates communication between diverse groups of people - or more specifically, has the potential to facilitate communication between diverse groups of people, depending on the diversity of your ‘swipe rights’. However, though the power of the speaker’s staff goes to the second swipe-er, access to speech is spread out evenly among users.

So, given that the power of the speaker’s staff is given to the second swipe-er, that person also has the power to direct the flow of conversation by creating their mood with their specific online identity (Kuttainen, 2015), (McNeil, 2012).

For example, should you begin with “I’m an apple farmer who missed out on farmer wants a wife”, the humour gives the first swiper the ability to respond in kind, “You should’ve led with ‘you’re the apple of my eye’”.

OR should you begin with “Hey, how are you?”, the first swipe-er can only respond in kind “I’m fine, thanks.”

However! Unlike with other social media mediums, it is IMPOSSIBLE to maintain a virtual persona that is unlike the IRL persona you have, for one very simple reason.

The idea of the app is to ACTUALLY MEET IRL.

References:

Kuttainen, V. (2015) BA1002 Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place. Week 3 page 3

McNeil, L. (2012) There is no I in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography.

(Marking disclosure: FLOSS! I was trying to put my portfolio together when I realised that this week 6 post wasn't up but it's been sitting in my BA folder since then... so I didn't really know what to do...)