rough draft

Since the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic has become an enormous threat facing the global community. Worldwide, individuals suffer from the disease, and there is still no cure despite extensive research. Often, AIDS can be quite alienating, as people who are uneducated about the disease become afraid that any sort of contact might pass the disease on to them. With such widespread fear, support groups have become an essential part of coping with HIV/AIDS. One very popular type of group is an online support group, or a blog. There are numerous online communities that connect AIDS victims everywhere, providing them with a means of sharing medical advice and also stories for moral support. Many believe that these blogs are most useful because they connect people who are far separated by distance to enable them to share medical secrets. However, a very instrumental part of these sites is that they connect people who are suffering from the same issues. With these blogs and sites, sick individuals can form friendships with people in the same situation as them. For many, revealing that they had AIDS is a difficult choice. However, in a community existing entirely of peers and in an essentially anonymous setting, the interaction among AIDS victims has become much easier, creating an excellent system of support for the victims.
One of the results of having such a well-defined and tight-knit group of individuals is that the users can create their own rules by which they interact, which includes their own sort of language. One of the most common terms used frequently in blogs for AIDS victims is the word “poz,” referring to an individual who is HIV positive. In a community of people with shared experiences, there is little confusion about what one user is saying to another, and thus people can create their own dialect. In fact, some of the most popular sites for people with AIDS are called “POZ Blogs,” which catalog different blog entries by HIV positive people. The members of this online community have developed their own way of communicating that, to the outsider, may not look familiar. However, having this common understanding of the words they use connects users more, and creates a bond to share, and a common understanding. This specific language is one of the benefits that comes along with the community of AIDS victims in an online environment of support.
Occasionally, the weblogs are used as a means to reach a different audience than the other bloggers who are HIV positive. Some “poz” bloggers use the Internet as a means to access a new audience, one that may be more uninformed. This behavior increases the Internet’s role as a source of knowledge for all. The blogger named Shannon, from Michigan, has a blog entitled “HIV AIDS,” a common and vague enough title that carries little implicit meaning. The length of the blog only runs for one month, and yet every entry is some sort of information entry. The blog starts with entries stating things like “AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome,” and proceeds to define the term. Pictures follow, showing someone bleeding and explaining that bodily fluids spread the disease. The blog continues like this, informing its readers about the dangers of AIDS, showing photos that seem to be more for shock value than anything else. Clearly, this blog is aimed at individuals who are not as aware or informed about the threats and dangers of AIDS. There is little information that is personal- instead it all appears to be a scare tactic, not aimed at a “poz” individual.
The nature of the Internet, however, means that people cannot choose their readership. The predominant number of AIDS bloggers use the Internet as a way to connect with those sharing their experience as HIV positive individuals. Many write about their day to day activities, the challenges they encounter that apply specifically to their condition, and so on. On an aggregate of different “poz” users, a blog simply titled HIV/AIDS, one user posted a poem discussing the nature of using the Internet to connect with other “poz” people. “We chat with each other, we type all our woes/Small groups we do form, and gang up on our foes.” For these users, Internet blogs are a source of comfort in that users need not be afraid of divulging deep secrets. There is also a sense of comfort in the fact that the bloggers form a community. People back each other up in encounters with anyone who may be a “foe.” For all those who have previously offended a blogger in this circle, there is now a whole community of people who are ready to stand behind the victim now.
So why are these users so trustworthy of someone they cannot see? With something as alienating as HIV/AIDS, there is a limited amount of support available in traditional communities. There is a great amount of stigma associated with the victims of the disease, and so not only does the internet provide the “poz” community with a way to defy geographical limitations, but also it also creates a situation in which it is easier to divulge secrets and emotions that may otherwise be embarrassing. As the same poet from the HIV/AIDS blog says,
Why is it on screen, we can be so bold
Telling our secrets, that have never been told.
Why is it we share, the thoughts in our mind
With those we can’t see, as though we were blind.
The answer is simple, it is as clear as a bell.
We all have our problems, and need someone to tell.
We can’t tell real people, but tell someone we must
So we turn to the ’puter, and to those we can trust.
There is a sense of trust in the other users of these blogs that “poz” people may not be familiar with. The anonymity social networks provide emboldens users, creating a sense of security and confidence in the sharing secrets that have been kept so quiet before. These blogs, based on a common bond among users, create trust in the users. Despite the fact that there is no face-to-face interaction, there is a great sense of community and togetherness.
This togetherness is an essential part of the web as a means of communication. In David Weinberger’s book Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web, he devotes an entire chapter to noting the importance of the unifying qualities of the Internet. The web is a unique way of communicating because groups “are often more purely interest-based” (Weinberger 109). Because of this, it is much easier for users to find groups that specifically relate to them and their interests. AIDS victims do not have to turn to other medical support groups to find people they can talk to. Instead, there is a vast amount of communication available online between other HIV positive individuals.
Weinberger also argues that the togetherness the web affords is a completely unique brand, because individuals can be together and yet still maintain their own identities. Users take on personas; they develop usernames and friends, all of which are relatively independent of their true selves in the physical world. According to Weinberger, “the Web consists of a mass that refuses to lose its individual face” (115). With the web, it is possible for people to be part of something larger than themselves without losing their identities. It is possible to be a part of a group while still having individual qualities and characteristics. This creates an attraction to the Internet, for “not only do we live in a shared world, but we like it that way” (Weinberger 120). Support groups, including those for people with AIDS, provide a way for individuals with common experiences to be together without various constraints, such as geography, or even the fear of face-to-face interaction.
These Internet blogs clearly create a system of support upon which users can depend to find peers who share common experiences. However, blogs also help to create a greater sense of understanding and knowledge among participants and whatever audience they may have. One way blogs serve as educational tools is that they can help to disband myths about the disease that have become common and dominant in the eyes of the public. The best example of this is the idea that AIDS is a gay disease. There is the popular conception that AIDS is a disease for gay men, in particular, the many blogs contradict this statement. While there are “poz” bloggers who are gay, there are also many bloggers who are straight. Blogs provide their audience with information and experiences that contradict information that has become thought to be common knowledge. By reading these blogs by people with AIDS, individuals get a fuller picture of the issue and see the larger spectrum of the people who are affected by the disease.