This is an interesting discussion Ian. I have been thinking about the online/off dualism while reading Zeynep Tufekci’s Twitter and Teargas:

Rather than connecting with people who are like them only in ascribed characteristics — things we mostly acquire from birth, like family, race, and social class (though this one can change throughout one’s life)—many people have the opportunity to seek connections with others who share similar interests and motivations. Of course, place, race, family, gender, and social class continue to play a very important role in structuring human relationships—but the scope and the scale of their power and their role as a social mechanism have shifted and changed as modernity advanced.(Page 10)

I am really intrigued by Tufekci’s discussion of the networked public sphere.