Saunders (1999) discusses the Johari window with respect to Social Learning. Saunders’ comments were pre Web 2.0, so what can we learn by looking on line through a Johari window at social networking sites?
The traditional Johari Window was set on two axes to form four panes. Was the matter known to me? Was the matter known to others?
There are things that I know about me that I am happy to let you know about. These may include my name, age and / or gender in a face to face contact. I may be more reluctant to disclose those on line.
There are things that I would prefer to hide about me both in face to face and on line contacts.
There are also things that you have determined from our interactions that I am not aware of, or at least I am not aware that that is how you see me.
Then there are things that neither you or I am aware of.
When we move on-line our Johari profile changes. I may be less likely to reveal things about myself, because of fears that they may be misused by people I don’t know, or retrieved far into the future by people I do.
To a large extent the posts that we make on line are attempts to expand the open pane. We want other people to know things about us that we know about ourselves. That may range from broadcasting an opinion we hold dearly to claiming a characteristic that we share - for example shyness. We may say on line that we are shy because we want people to understand why we are not prolific contributors.
While our intention is to expand the open pane of the Johari window, others may interpret our statement differently, leading them to conclude something about us that we didn’t intend and that we don’t know. So a statement of our beliefs may lead to someone deciding that we are insensitive or misogynist or uncaring. We don’t know that they have arrived at that conclusion, but they have.
There may also be things that we have decided not to talk about on-line. Our religious or political beliefs, our family life, our ambitions, our history. We can decide that any or all of those are outside the things we share. They remain in the hidden pane.
I find the Johari window a great model for analysing what I am saying in my posts and for analysing what others are saying in theirs.
But I think that the best part of the Johari is the origins of its name. It sound incredibly elegant to me, but in fact is a contraction of the names of its originators - Joe and Harry.
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