Chatroulette

Chatroulette: The exact opposite of a heart-warming story. It's like the premise for a frat-boy-written sitcom: You, a webcam, and all the happiest and darkest parts of the Web on the other end.

"Press Scan to begin," the interface says. It is not so much a scan, though, which implies gazing at a set of possibilities before choosing one. Engaging with the denizens of Chatroulette is more, as the name implies, like Russian roulette: Five innocuous, empty chambers and one bullet.

As we make these texts and they remake us, as we/text become more intertwined and fluid, textuality takes on new forms, new purposes. The Web has brought us all closer together. One might say a little too close.