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A Theory of Personality and Technate Style

Technacy is the set of skills and competencies one needs in the age of information in order to decode and code texts in electronic language. The set of activities involved in technate activity includes being able to compose electronic texts for an electronic environment. Weblogs are one of those texts that are specifically built because of the capabilities of electronic language and which requires highly technate people to code and decode them. [See also: Key To Living in the Information Age regarding weblogs.]

Composing is a key technate skill requiring a technate person to perform a wide range of complex meaning making activities. Such is the wide ranging nature of composing as a skill of technacy that it involves not only being able to operate computer equipment to build texts, but it also involves a wide range of intertextual skills, meaning building actions, the presence of a community awareness and political motivation. So wide ranging are the options in meaning making in the context of building a text like weblogs that indeed it would seem reasonable to suggest an hypothesis of there being a relationship between the personality of the composer and the resultant weblog text.

I arrived at this hypothesis from my interest in both technacy and personality assessment. My interest in technacy arose from a study of computers and their use in the age of interconnected computers which culminated in writing a PhD dissertation. Personality assessment has been an interest since operating education courses individually for executives in the 1990s and then now working with executives in group sessions -- in particular looking at how different people react in meetings. The personality assessment theory that has energised much of this thinking has been that of Sharon Livingston and Glenn Livingston and dubbed Snow White Theory.

Snow White Theory

In brief, The Snow White Theory postulates that there are seven different character types, each represented by one of the Seven Dwarfs in the story of Snow White. Checking back into history there is evidence since the Greek times that people have considered there to be seven character types. The Livingston's have taken these postulations further and have developed a coherent and sound theory of character types and how character types interact when participating in meetings.

Essentially, every person is one or other of these character types and reacts, according to the Livingston Snow White Theory, in a particular way in a meeting. A brief outline of each of these seven types is as follows:

Sleepy: Sleepy's primary mode of living is focused internally, dealing with things rationally and logically. He takes things in via five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Sleepys have a compelling drive to understand the way things work. They're good at logical analysis, and like to use it on practical concerns. They typically have strong powers of reasoning, although they're not interested in theories or concepts unless they can see a practical application. They like to take things apart and see the way they work. While off in an apparent daydream, Sleepy's reveries have an adventuresome spirit. They are attracted to motorcycles, airplanes, sky diving, surfing, etc. They thrive on action, and are usually fearless. They are fiercely independent, needing to have the space to make their own decisions about their next step. They do not believe in or follow rules and regulations, as this would prohibit their ability to "do their own thing". Their sense of adventure and desire for constant action makes Sleepy prone to becoming bored rather quickly.

Bashful: Bashfuls are warm and kind-hearted, and want to believe the best in people. They value harmony and cooperation, and are likely to be very sensitive to other people's feelings. Bashfuls have a highly active fertile inner world that is not usually obvious to observers. They are constantly taking in information about people and situations that is personally important to them, and storing it for later use. This tremendous store of knowledge is usually amazingly accurate, because the Bashful personality has an exceptional memory about things that are important to their value systems. Some Bashfuls have been known to recall a particular facial expression or conversation in precise detail years after the event occurred, if the situation made an impression on Bashful.

Dopey: Dopeys live in the world of sensation possibilities. They are keenly in tune with the way things look, taste, sound, feel and smell. They have a strong aesthetic appreciation for art, and are likely to be artists in some form, because they are unusually gifted at creating and composing things which will strongly affect the senses. They have a strong set of values, which they strive to consistently meet in their lives. They need to feel as if they're living their lives in accordance with what they feel is right, and will rebel against anything which conflicts with that goal. They're likely to choose jobs and careers which allow them the freedom of working towards the realization of their value-oriented personal goals. Dopeys tend to be quiet and reserved, and difficult to get to know well. They hold back their ideas and opinions except from those who they are closest to. They are likely to be kind, gentle and sensitive in their dealings with others. They are interested in contributing to people's sense of well-being and happiness, and will put a great deal of effort and energy into tasks which they believe in.

Sneezy: Sneezies are quiet and reserved individuals who are interested in security and peaceful living. They have a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which lends them a serious air and the motivation to follow through on tasks. They are organized and methodical in their approach. Sneezies take pride in their loyalty, faithfulness, and dependability. They place great importance on honesty and integrity. They are "good citizens" who can be depended on to do the right thing for their families and communities. While they generally take things very seriously, they also usually have an offbeat sense of humor and can be a lot of fun - especially at family or work-related gatherings.

Doc: As they are prone to let you know, Docs actually are natural born leaders. They live in a world of possibilities where they see all sorts challenges to be surmounted, and they want to be the ones responsible for surmounting them. They have a drive for leadership, which is well-served by their quickness to grasp complexities, their ability to absorb a large amount of impersonal information, and their quick and decisive judgments. They are "take charge" people. Docs are very career-focused, and fit into the corporate/medical/academic world quite naturally. They are constantly scanning their environment for potential problems which they can turn into solutions. They generally see things from a long-range perspective, and are usually successful at identifying plans to turn problems around - especially problems of a strategic nature. Docs are usually successful, because they are so driven to leadership. They're tireless in their efforts on the job, and driven to visualize where an organization is headed. For these reasons, they are natural leaders.

Grumpy: Grumpys live in a world of facts and concrete needs. They live in the present, with their eye constantly scanning their personal environment to make sure that everything is running smoothly and systematically. They honor traditions and laws, and have a clear set of standards and beliefs. They expect the same of others, and have no patience or understanding of individuals who do not value these systems. They value competence and efficiency, and like to see quick results for their efforts. Grumpys are take-charge people. They have such a clear vision of the way that things should be, that they naturally step into leadership roles. They are self-confident and aggressive. They are extremely talented at devising systems and plans for action, and at being able to see what steps need to be taken to complete a specific task. They can sometimes be very demanding and critical, because they have such strongly held beliefs, and are likely to express themselves without reserve if they feel someone isn't meeting their standards. But at least their expressions can be taken at face-value, because Grumpy is extremely straight-forward and honest.

Happy: Happys are people persons - they love people. They are warmly interested in others and tend to watch, listen and pick up specific, detailed information about others. They want to like people, and have a special skill at bringing out the best in others. They are extremely good at reading others, and understanding their point of view. Happy's strong desire to be liked and to maintain a pleasant environment makes him highly supportive of others. People like to be around Happy, because he has a special gift of invariably making people feel good about themselves. Happys take responsibilities very seriously, and are very dependable. They value security and stability, and have a strong focus on the details of life. They see before others do what needs to be done, and do whatever it takes to make sure that it gets done. They enjoy these types of tasks, and are extremely good at them.

Technacy and Snow White Theory

In that technacy involves high skill levels in not only technical functions but also in intertextual skills, interpersonal skills and in political thought processes, it would seem a reasonable hypothesis that perhaps a Doc character might actually compose a different weblog than say a Bashful, for example. We know that when answering an open ended question a Doc can be rather wordy and structure the answer in almost point form because of his/her thinking processes. On the other hand a Bashful is rather spartan in use of words when answering a deep question. Thus, goes the reasoning, there is perhaps also a difference in technate style when completing say a weblog.

For example, this site of mine is composed of articles that has a lot of my own thinking expressed through those articles, even though I borrow heavily from, say the Snow White Site, weblog sites and so on. Another site composed by a bunch of Docs is the End of Free site. This site has a comprehensive list of articles and references to sites that are now either providing news about sites that are charging fees for content, or are actually the sites themselves being analysed and/or are giving their rational for charging. There are some similarities between these two sites:

Both sites have strong themes;
Both sites heavily use evidence from other sites to support their main messaging;
Both sites endeavour to correctly link to other sites and are conscious of the integrity of the site.

In comparison, Paul Nakada's weblogs is rather spartan and has a very different look and feel. Being a Bashful, it is consistent that we do not find much in the way of highly overt and developed opinion like that of the Docs. Rather, words are sparingly used to point decoders (readers) to sites which have taken Paul's interest. This is a reading of what is on the web.

How accidental this is, one can only guess at this stage. However, what I am about to do is to invite several hundred webloggers from the worldwide community of 500,000+ to take the Snow White Test and then let me know both the result of the test and a link to the webloggers site. This should be a fascinating study.

I am also going to follow up on whether personality (character) has anything to do with writing style in the old literate sense. Maybe someone out there already has some answers for me?

Keep following the progress . . .

5:33:34 PM