@jonronson v @jon_ronson, @weavrs

@jonronson is mad that @jon_ronson is a plausible @jonronson.  

No one has stolen Ronson's identity. @jon_ronson is an infomorph fleshed-out with Ronson's own Wikipedia page by the folks at Philter Phactory*.  Ronson quickly contradicts himself in this piece to camera (and it's interesting that the Guardian let the clip out cut that way, isn't it ;), first saying that "it isn't even very good" but then backtracking "ok, I do have a thing for lemongrass." Yes, and that's the point. He's just annoyed that it's plausibly him.

(image from Comment page Esc and Ctrl, "Jon Ronson v Jon Ronson, Spambot")

Essentially, all the weavr algorithm has done is identify that he's a foodie -- which is terribly mainstream (so what's there to be upset about?).

(image from Comment page Esc and Ctrl, "Jon Ronson v Jon Ronson, Spambot")

I've written about weavrs before and what makes them so interesting to me is how they can reflect back ourselves at us and what we therefore are able to learn about ourselves through that reflexive process. Weavrs can be used as reflective devices:

If you program an "alter-ego" (the weavrs tag line) with your interests and emotions, it will reflect back at you data from the web that is similar. If we look at this data through the lens of 'how mainstream does that make me?' you'd be interested to find out, I think, how many things that you think are 'unique' about you actually aren't. 

Or put another (less depressing) way -- the weavr can explicate how much of your identity is a composite of others interests, identifying for you those touch points that you share with varying communities of interest.** 

If the weavr based on Ronson is based on his Wikipedia page, something he didn't write but others wrote based on the media he has left in the infosphere, then uses the general infosphere to select media to somewhat flesh out a likeness of Ronson in @jon_ronson -- isn't that interesting ;) Who are we but composites of data from society? How much of us is really us, from inside, how much is outside? How much do we actively choose and passively absorb?

No one has stolen Ronson's identity; he's placed who he is in the public domain. Moreover, there's a good argument to be made based on his own argument that he's stolen his own identity.

And therefore, is @jon_ronson less of a persona than @jonronson? 

And that, Mr Ronson, is the point.

*(in the interests of full disclosure, I have worked with them in the past)

**(if it makes you feel better, I can offer you several existential texts that maintain that there's something unified underneath your iterative-self behaviour that is inherently you, eg Christian Smith, What is a Person, for starters)

Comments

[steven]

Its interesting in that they are getting so much publicity from this stunt. I mean yes the bot has an image of Jon Ronson that has been edited and its scraping information from various sites as well as, for some reason known only to the 'developers,' a variety of culinary and food related words but to what end product and result, other than winding up the actual Jon Ronson?

Watching the video and the subsequent interview the developers seem unable to explain anything beyond the fact they find it interesting that Jon Ronson is fed up and angry at having people confuse his @twitter account with that of this bot, not that anyone could believe for a minute that the bot was anything other than an automated posting script from its postings.

I find it more depressing that the developers seem to lack any empathy for another human but instead can only find themselves intrigued and fascinated by the fact they have apparently upset someone.