Thanks, Jill :-) I did come across this in the Ts & Cs when I was looking at using Facebook in a customer service context, but didn't realise that Facebook actually policed it! In that context, I ended up using my personal account to set up a business"fan" page - which will also deliver updates to fan's news/live streams along with updates from their friends. Short of Facebook changing its Ts & Cs, I think the fan page is probably the only way that soap operas could proliferate within the platform. On the plus side, this makes it easier to ensure that everyone is very clear that the characters and events are fictitious. Having said that, I agree that Facebook is the perfect new media platform for soap operas. I didn't originally conceive my project as a soap - more a short piece examining how it is possible for a group to create an identity around a person through gossip... so the character does not necessarily need to have a profile. However, I do very much believe in fitting the story into the conventions of the platform if it is going to be authentic to the audience, so thinking about soaps and looking at your account of your work has really helped :-) Thanks again!

Hi Jess The talk was a keynote at a conference I was amplifying, which was addressed to university web managers. My blog post summarising what was said is at http://iwmw2009.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/summary-headlights-on-dark-roads/ ...there is also a link in the post to the speaker's slides. The event was also live streamed, so I will see if I can find out whether the recordings are being hosted somewhere :-)

I agree, Christine, "read" is a very broad word and encompasses a lot. We have the word "interact" in there as well of course. My observation is that aside from music scores, "reading" does not really apply to "orality" - it is really connected with visual literacies. I'm just aware that although most of the literacies we look at and think of are visual, there are literacies that do not rely on sight at all, so it is more difficult to apply the word "read". We probably need to find a way of addressing this, although you're right, the word "read" probably needs to be in there. Not sure what the answer is.... :-s