Self.Net -- Monday 2pm Tutorial (Karen's Group)

Essays

2004-11-10T11:32:00.000+08:00

The research essays can be collected from Tama (in his office) from Wednesday 10th November.
Thank you to everyone for your participation in this unit - I know I learnt a lot from being part of it!
As the unit is now finished, this blog is no longer active (although if you really feel the urge to post there is nothing stopping you).

reflective post - aloy

2004-10-23T22:51:00.000+08:00

weblogs:

the weblog was the thing i was most anticipating with this unit cos i thought that it would be a great way to share ideas and see what people think. and also cos i've seen my friends back in singapore doing modules in uni which require posting on blogs. and i was right. it is a great way to interact. yeah it's not like a tute in general but i think it's way more helpful than an actual tute. like how you're more likely to be more adventurous and stuff like that as your online self than your offline self, i was more into posting stuff on the tute blog than actually speaking in tute. and since stuff that appears in print appears more official, there's prob more thought put into the posts than whatever escapes our mouths in tutes. retrievability is also a big plus factor. i actually have a blog somewhere in blogspot since long ago and so that probably helped to fuel my anticipation for this aspect for the unit.

me a cyborg?:
i still can't really envision myself as a cyborg self. i get what the articles are driving at but to try to reconfigure my hard-drive into thinking im not an organic self but a symbiosis of forms takes quite a leap of faith for me. i know i rely on technology but i guess it's because i have experienced living without technology (not in the strictest sense though but in the electrical and communications sense) and it wasn't too much of a strain. you get used to it pretty quick. humans are adaptable. or at least they make their surroundings more adaptable to themselves. so i still feel that im pretty much still organic and not a cyborg. it would be tough and immensely boring yes, to live without this laptop i'm typing on right now, but it's not something that would kill me. my fingers are tapping the keyboard. not plugged into it.

general stuff:
i feel that this is a really interesting course. something which deals with issues that are pretty current and immersed in everyday life, at least for me. using the internet pre-self.net, i always wondered about the kind of life i'm living as opposed to pre-internet times. and now almost post-self.net, i won't say i've learnt much more in general scope-wise, BUT i have learned a lot more academically regarding cyberculture. and the one thing that i seem to have gotten the most out of this course is the skill of critical reading, which is really useful, and also unexpected. i might be wrong, but i had the notion that we were actually going to use the irc in this course. i thought i read that in one of the posters advertising the unit months back. so well i'm a little bummed out that we didn't get to do that. even if i read/remembered wrongly.

anyway yeah so that's it everyone. i like this unit and i really think more people should be doing it. and here's something to look at and hopefully have a laugh over to end with.

goombye and see you guys next semester. i can't wait for all the essay-writing to be over.

note/reminder to karen/tama

2004-10-23T21:12:00.000+08:00

my "comment on another person's tute presentation" is posted (as you know I missed the last two weeks of presentations). it's in response to kate gooding's and it looks like you'll need to enter thru blogger.com to view it. thanks, duncan

Reflective Post

2004-10-23T18:44:00.000+08:00

Weblogs?

I really like the idea of weblogs as part of the learning process, however I think it would be better if all the students in the unit could comment on each others posts. It isn't really a big step out of the normal university course for me though, because I've had to use the discussion boards on the old 'Forum' website. That participation was purely on a student level though, and was not assessed like our weblog participation was. I would've liked it more if my tute group had've had more (any) discussion going on rather than just the required posts. It would be interesting to include other bloggers (that weren't doing the course) opinions on our posts - make the weblog experience more public.

Am I a Cyborg?

Possibly. When I think cyborg I think of the Borg from Star Trek. Since I don't have any cybernetic implants (and don't need any mechanics to live my life e.g. glasses), my idea of a cyborg doesn't really apply. However, in the more transient 'definition' of a cyborg, sure, I am one. I have a thyroid defeciency and have to take tablets every single day for the rest of my life to make sure my body functions properly. I don't think I could live without electricity (let alone computers/the internet). My mobile phone is an extension of myself and an integral part of my independence/communicability. The list goes on...

Likes?

I really enjoyed the workshops, they were a lot of fun. I think with a unit that is based so much on an accessible format, there is no reason to not be hands on and investigate whats going on first hand. I would've really liked to try out some technologies that I wouldn't normally have access to, or haven't tried before (e.g. supercomputers, xbox/playstation, MUDs). The readings were really interesting and thought provoking. I would've liked the option to write on the 'leading question' (or something similar) from our webliography as our main essay.

Dislikes?

As a new unit quite a few people took this unit not knowing what to expect/knowing anything about the subject matter/content. It seemed half the students knew what was going on so the unit seemed introductory on what they already knew, and the other half didn't have a clue and the concepts were difficult (or they just weren't open minded enough to accept them).

Thanks very much for a wonderful unit, it was really great and I'll definately recommend it to my friends :)

reflective post

2004-10-23T12:27:00.000+08:00

using weblogs: I think using a blog as part of the course was a good idea. It was really interesting and helpful to read other people's webliographies, since it's very seldom that you ever get to read other people's assignments, and I think it's a helpful and useful process. It was also good to get feedback for the weblios and the tute presentations.

being a cyborg: I might go out on a limb here and say I do kind of think of myself as a cyborg in some senses. I see my mobile and my iPod and my spaces on the Internet as extensions of myself (what can I say? I'm a total sucker for technology). My computer too enables me to communicate with friends who live a long way away, so I guess it's a sort of extension of me, too. However, they're not actually a part of me... I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

the course in general: I feel like I've gained a much greater understanding of how people use technology, the Internet especially, as a tool for communication and community building. I've always been a computer nerd, but I feel like I understand what I'm doing a bit better now. I found the lectures to be really good and interesting, and easy to follow for the most part. The assessment tasks were all relevant, too.

Reflective Blog post

2004-10-22T18:40:00.000+08:00

What can i say? Its been an eventful 13 weeks. Firstly, i think that the weblogs were great in generating feedback and critical insight into the assignments and the presentations. Second, do i believe myself to be a cyborg? as said in tutorial, i'm not very sure... probably not in the cyberpunk sci-fi image of chunks of metal meshed with flesh kind of thing but possibly in the use of technology in our everyday; some so subtle that i don't realise its extent such as immunisation and wearing contact lens and the like. I guess i'm a cyborg if you consider the psychological extension of technology on my self, such as the reliance on mobile technology and the internet and the insecurity when these technologies are absent for more than a moment. I have to admit that the course has been a bit trying, simply because i didn't realise that there were so many issues regarding the internet in that respect, the course has been an eye opener and thus that was the best part of the course for me....that and the interesting media clips that we've been presented such as machinima.

All the best for your exams everyone! Take care. c",)

Reflective Blog Post

2004-10-22T16:18:00.000+08:00

I like the use of blogs personally. I think they enhance the connectivity of the students and teachers which leads to a more positive mutually supportive learning environment. It would be nice to see it happen more often.

No, I don't consider myself a cyborg. I'm a human being pure and natural and yes I use technology but i'll be damned if i'm going to accept the label of part technology, or dependent on technology, or whatever. I'm not a big fan of Donna Harroway to be honest. A certain degree of classification is OK but to insist on dividing and defining things into categories male, female, human, technology, hybrid etc is a little bit too much for my right-brain to cope with.

Overall the course has been quite easy and relaxed. It's a fairly interesting field so I'm happy to have been a part of it.

Playin' Politics Workshop Response

2004-10-22T15:59:00.000+08:00

Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the internet?

Yep. The thing about them though is that, generally speaking, they are a case of 'preaching to the converted.' Not many people who aren't already inclined toward the particular views expressed in the games would end up playing. Presumably people would see them someplace on the internet and be drawn to it because they felt the same way, or perhaps they are told about the games by a friend who, more than likely, shares the same views as themselves and the creators of the games.

Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?

The issues conveyed are quite obvious and the games certainly are an effective way to 'drive the message home.' Provided that you take the minimal effort required to understand the game and how it works, the message should be self-apparent. Of course some might be driven to research more what was specifically being said, however I wasn't driven to on this occasion. I'm quite aware already that most politicians are corrupt evil bastards and I suppose I don't feel that my knowledge base in this area requires expanding at this point in time.

If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (just give a very brief outline)

It would be a game about the nature of politics and politicians in general. The point would be that the evil actually gains in influence within. Within a: the greed for power of the politicians, and b: the laziness of the masses. I suppose the quotes "All that is required for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing," combined with "know your enemy" (ie both without and within) would express the communicative thrust of the game.

It would be a game where everyone is given a "karma rating." For the politicians the karma rating goes down when they do things to people without the population's (passive?) consent, for the people the rating goes down whenever they do silly shit like violent protests and voting for warmongerers. In the end the side with the cleanest bill of karma wins. Of course within this game you can play only an individual and must somehow try to align your views sufficiently with the general populace, or find ways to influence them.

Reflective Blog

2004-10-21T17:35:00.000+08:00

I thought that using blogs as opposed to the usual forms of communication and correspondence were extremely relevant to the conceps we were learning about. Having no experience with his meduim whatsoever it was interesting to learn about new forms of online communication, which will ultimately become more relevant to us as the internet continues to advance. It was particularly helpful in that it helped in emphasising the key developments in online communication and indeed in online communities.

Still not too sure whether i would could myself to be a true cyborg. This is something i have continued to think about throughout the course. In terms of "being connected"in a technological sense, i guess the phone, computer, mobile ect would mean i was. I also think the idea of medicine as it pertains to technology is a big issue in that any medical interference whether it be immunisations or pace-makers would make us all cyborgs in one way or another. Before this unit i always thought of cyborgs as something that came out the Terminator, but i truth, i guess scientific, medical, and technological advancements would make us all cyborgs somehow, and if not we are at the very least cyborg citizens.

This has been a really interesting unit mostly because of the current significance of the web. I can honeslty say that as a person who uses computers for studying and little else i have definately learnt that there is much more out there for any user.

Reflective Post

2004-10-20T21:45:00.000+08:00

Weblogs
This area is new to me and it has never occurred to me that it can become a learning resource. In a way it's been good as it allowed me to look at how other people feel about the topic and the different ideas they have, which we don't have enough time to cover in the tutes. And for me, I don't speak up much, so typing is my way of communication.

Being a cyborg?
Like the others, I don't really think I am a "full" cyborg. I still rely on technology and connect to the Internet at least once a day, watch some television programs and listen to music, which are all digitally produced. But there are times when I like to get in touch with nature, with no technology involved. So I'm a "half" cyborg.

Likes and Dislikes about the course
Even after the course, I still think it's very technical. And there're loads of readings to be done each week, which contains jargons, and I have no idea what it's all about. But I do like the workshops and how it's been involved in group works with scenarios and movies to discuss about. Karen and everyone else has been a great help to me during tutes, because I really don't know how to speak up on the topic. Thanks everyone and good luck for exams!

6 required posts.

2004-10-19T01:14:00.000+08:00

hey karen (or anyone who knows).

thought i'd ask here instead of emailing. in case there are people as uninformed as i am.

what are the 6 required posts?

i can think of 6 but i don't know they are the ones that are required:
- online workshop 1
- online workshop 2
- tute presentation
- intro. post (is this counted?)
- unit reflection post (the one tama mentioned in lecture today)
- weblio

are those it? and how many required comments are we supposed to make?

Tute presentation: A Rape in Cyberspace (from week 10)

2004-10-17T22:28:00.000+08:00

"...I'm not sure what I'm calling for. Virtual castration, if I could manage it..."

Months later, the woman in Seattle would confide to me that as she wrote those words posttraumatic tears were streaming down her face - a real-life fact that should suffice to prove that the words' emotional content was no mere playacting ... Where real life ... insists the incident was only an episode in a free-form version of Dungeons and Dragons, confined to the realm of the symbolic and at no point threatening any player's life, limb, or material well-being, here now was the player legba issuing aggreived and heartfelt calls for Mr. Bungle's dismemberment. Ludicrously excessive by R(eal) L(ife)'s lights, woefully understated by V(irtual) R(eality)'s, the tone of legba's response made sense only in the buzzing, dissonant gap between them.

An article about magic, more or less. It describes events that occured in LambdaMOO, an online text-based virtual world. A player called Mr. Bungle violated others, and eventually paid the price.. appropriate punishment handed down (death), he was indeed transformed. Another issue explored: the intimate connection between body and mind. Net sex can be physiologically similar to real sex; feelings expressed or experienced in cyberspace are still feelings.

The article suggests that, in a sense, virtual reality is just as 'real' as physical reality...

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream -- Edgar Allan Poe

Playing Politics Workshop Response

2004-10-17T14:28:00.000+08:00

None from me, I was unable to attend. I have a doctor's note requesting extensions until tomorrow (Monday 18th), and will show this to Karen at the tute. Duncan

Playing Politics Workshop Response - aloy

2004-10-16T17:41:00.000+08:00

sorry this is up late! i saved it on my computer as a .txt file and i forgot to post it up after i finished. and i just realised today.

Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the internet?

to a certain extent, yes. i can imagine these type of games, not just the ones i tried out, to be spread around via forwarded emails or from friends who discover them from other sources. They kind of have a novelty value, and even if you didn't have any knowledge of the reasoning behind the purpose of the game, you'd still recognise that these games play on some big issue that's getting attention currently or some big significant thing. Sometimes, i go to addictinggames.com and in that site, you can find at least 3 different anti-bush type games, or just games using george bush as a character in the game. i've played one or two and the political message was never very clear to me, but it did bring to my attention that something was going on and it wasn't favourable for george bush. Just like how in playing donkey john, it's pretty clear that it's against john howard.

Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?

i'd say it was quite obvious but not immediately obvious. Like i mentioned in the previous answer, you really don't have to know what's really going on to get the vibe of the game. But for the game donkey john, it's not really quite obvious the political leanings of the game if you don't read the instructions, while with a game like kabul kaboom, it really set in after you realise that you can't win. but perhaps that makes it even more resonant cos it makes you try to win and then leaves you empty handed and lacking when you realise you can't. The games are pretty explicit i think in what the message they're trying to convey, but if i discovered the game by an off-chance and not because of this workshop, i don't think i would actively search for information regarding the game. BUT having played the game, if i were to encounter any related information in the future, i would be more interested in finding out more. Even if it's just because of my relating it to the game and not the proper issue at hand, at least it brings about the greater awareness.

If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (just give a very brief outline)

Well i thought for a game like donkey john to get the point across really effectively, you could intersperce moments in the game with real-life quotes from john howard regarding the oil issue (assuming you could find quotes to use to begin with). Like say if you reach set score levels donkey john would say something like "but oil is bad for you" (or something along those lines. i really don't know much about john howard.) that he would have said in regard to this issue in real-life. i think that this would really resonate as it would link it to "reality" much more. Otherwise if i don't bother to follow up the game by clicking on the link or if i didn't even read the instructions and just dived right into the game, i might just totally miss the point of the game.

Playing Politics Workshop Response

2004-10-15T14:14:00.000+08:00

1. Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the Internet?

September 12th: To be honest, I very quickly got bored of this simulation, and started to see how many civilians I could kill to try and fill the entire screen with ‘terrorists’. I think it would be more effective if the ‘baddies’ were called ‘freedom fighters’, as it would challenge the accepted norms regarding our (USA, UK and Australia) views on terrorism.

DonkeyJohn: Donkey Kong is a bit too old for me, so it would be interesting to see how the generation who grew up with those games would think (especially considering the older generations are more likely to be accepting of/vote for John Howard and/or his policies). I believe DonkeyJohn is more effective than September 12th, as there is actually an objective to the game, and it’s rather addictive (and of course, you can win).

The intro to September 12th and DonkeyJohn’s instructions page are the most thought provoking screens as they explain the ideas behind the ‘games’ and explicitly point out the parody/issues.

I think the main problem with ‘games’ like these is that they are only really viewed/played by people who are already aware of the issues (and mostly agree with the view of the creator, i.e. preaching to the converted).

2. Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?

The political message for September 12th was immediately obvious in the start up screen explaining how the game was played, however this was not the case for DonkeyJohn. You had to read the instructions to find out what was going on in DonkeyJohn other than realizing the obvious that John was the ‘baddie’. I thought it was really great that Donkey John had the ‘background’ link, as I didn’t really know much about the East Timor oil situation. The September 12th simulation didn’t really need any further information, as the event was/is so widely publicized.

3. If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (Just give a very brief outline).

a) I think its important to outline what exactly the issues are and what is going wrong (even if it seems obvious) in the way that DonkeyJohn did (mostly in the ‘background’ link). It is not enough just to point out there is something wrong (like in September 12th), you have to make the viewer/player feel that they can make a difference and help fix the injustices.

b) Like DonkeyJohn, there should be a way to thwart the ‘baddies’, or at least attempt to, rather than the futility of the September 12th simulation. It would also be good to have links to groups/activists that are doing something about the situation so you can learn more information or even participate.

Playing Politics Workshop Response

2004-10-15T14:02:00.000+08:00

1. Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the Internet?

I played "Donkey John" and "Kabul Kaboom". Both are effective in communicating with people via the Internet. "Donkey John" requires the player to act as "Xanana Gusmario" and beat "Donkey John" (Howard) before John can take all of East Timor's oil resoucres for Australia. Players have to jump stolen barrels of oil and defeat John. The game presents John Howard as a monkey (and thereofre not very bright) and a bully, taking from the little guy to give to the bigger guy. Assuming this game was made by an Australian, the game is effective in showing that not all Australians agree with the government's policies. Putting the game on the Internet, too, is an effective tool for communication, since it's infinitely cheaper than producing the game in a tangible, "real" format.

"Kabul Kaboom" to presents a view different to those we typically hear in the media. The player becomes an Iraqi in Kabul, and has to dodge American missiles in order to get to the "nice American food". You can't win the game, only lose, which makes a very explicit statement about how the creators of the game see the war in Iraq, which differs to the views of John Howard and George W. Bush, who think we will "win" the "war on terrorism".

2. Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say"?

Yes, the message was obvious in both cases, cringingly so in "Kabul Kaboom". I was driven to find out more in the case of "Donkey John", probably because I already have some knowledge of the issue, and because a link to more information (timorseajustice.org/background) was provided. There also seems to be less dissent about the East Timor oil issue than the war in Iraq, so I don't feel that it has all been said before, as I do in the case of the war.

3. If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point?

Ha. I think I'd make a very subtle game about convincing people to vote Labor. You'd have to convince the stick figure people on your screen to vote Labor by trying to click on them as they move around. At the same time, you're playing against the computer, which tries to convince people to vote Liberal. The amount of people left to convince gets smaller and smaller. If you beat the computer, and convince more people to vote Labor, then you get to pay less for your education, have access to better healthcare, and you don't have to move to Sweden!

Political Simulation Games - Workshop Response

2004-10-15T13:25:00.000+08:00

1. Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the Internet?

I played Sept 12th and NY Defender, and found both effective in conveying specific messages concerning terrorism.
In NY Defender, I had to shoot down planes before they crashed into the twin towers. This task was increasingly difficult as the kamikaze planes grew in number and speed. Their flight patterns also changed, flying low amidst other buildings, ensuring some form of damage on the city would be caused by the “defender’s” ammunition. Ultimately ending in failure, the player is left feeling hopeless and powerless in the face of terrorism. Such affect really reverberates with fears surrounding Sept 11 and other acts of terrorism that followed.
With Sept 12th, the images of women and children mourning the victims of my bomb blasts were accompanied by their heart-wrenching cries, enough to move any player to feel incredible guilt and remorse at having taken any life, innocent (civilian) or “guilty”(terrorist). The transformation of mourners into terrorists (again coupled with effectively disturbing sound effects) conveys the futility of ‘the War on Terrorism’, which only serves to breed more hatred and further terrorism. The mourning of both civilian and terrorist deaths also puts an important face on war, that every life taken has ties to family and friends. The collatoral damage and devastation of war – loss of innocent civilians and the destruction of buildings and homes – further adds to the game’s message on the senselessness of war.
I personally found Sept 12th more effective in achieving a greater affective response, and encouraged me to think about the war on terror in a very different light from the US propaganda supporting the war.

2. Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?

The political messages were not immediately obvious to me. I had to engage with the games for an extended period of time before realizing the full extent of the political message behind each game’s structure. The initial desire to “win the game” takes a while to subside, but I think these political games utilize this desire by subverting the ‘pleasure principle’ traditionally employed in videogames. By ensuring the player is denied any sense of personal achievement (as all gaming attempts end in defeat) both political games use the principle of pain to invite the player to engage with the reality and politics of the issues on which the game is based. In both games, the fact that I could not win made me seriously consider the political message each conveyed.

3. If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (Just give a very brief outline).

Title: Forest Friend
The Point: Eco-political message: earth’s environment being destroyed beyond sustainable rate. Must stop logging and de-forestation.
Aim of game: Save the forest by planting new trees and watering old ones.
Game structure: Top view of forest. Click on each tree to make it grow. A logger in a bulldozer comes tearing through the forest, leaving “tree-less” path in its wake. (Birds and animals escape to safety of nearby trees). Player has to replant trees by clicking over uprooted spots. Bulldozer increases in speed and frequency of destruction, and the game ends when entire forest is destroyed. (Dead animals and birds litter the ground). THE END.

Playing politics: Workshop response

2004-10-15T01:23:00.000+08:00

1) I think that political stimulation games do have a great potential to be effective communicators namely because of the immense reach of the internet as well as its uncensored nature. For me, Kabul Kaboom was more effective than the New York defender. Playing the New York defender, it just seemed like a really hard game, and one that looks so simple that initially really believe that you can score pretty well on. I just had to keep on trying, it was only when I read the ‘I lose, therefore I think’ article that I realized that the planes increased exponentially according to how many I shoot, and more importantly that the game was designed so that the player will fail. Kabul Kaboom on the other hand brought the message across both effectively and efficiently, it wasn’t a hard game, it was an impossible game, and in an instant you grasp the gravity and insanity of the situation. I think Kabul Kaboom was a lot better at relaying the message.

2) As mentioned above, I think that Kabul Kaboom’s message was a lot more clear and obvious than the New York defender. As to whether or not I would be driven to find out what the game was trying to say, I think that Kabul Kaboom would stir my interest more than the New York defender. Maybe because I’m part of this course, I am already biased, but I keep thinking that if I asked my brother or sister to play the New York defender, they’d just play it, get frustrated, and move on. With Kabul Kaboom, the lines ‘kids remember you can’t win, just lose’ on the opening page already stirs your interest, I can see my brother asking around as to what the game means after that one.

3) For a game, my message would be that of Bush's weapons of mass destruction excuse for the war on iraq and his sights on iraq's oil. I'd use a pac-man game, with Bush as pac man who has to acquire oil barrels (instead of the usual cherrys pac-man has to eat) from the Iraqi soldiers (the monsters who try to eat pac-man). Pac-man would use his own weapons of mass destruction to stun the Iraqi soldiers allowing him to be momentarily immune to their 'bite'. Because he is president and all, he has an unlimited supply of these (instead of the usual 3 or 4...i can't really remember). Admitedly, its not the best game concept, but most of the time, i can just barely play these games competently (except for pac-man). ideally, a clever description and tagline as in that of Kabul Kaboom would be on an opening page, which would help to bring the message of the game across as well.

Playing Politics Workshop Response

2004-10-13T22:35:00.000+08:00

The simulation, September 12th, gives the player a choice to shoot or not shoot. As the rules suggest, it has no ending. It is impossible to kill everyone in the game. Houses that are ruined will be rebuilt after some time. If the player decides to shoot and innocent are killed, the civilians will mourn for them and in turn, they become terrorist. For those who became a terrorist, they will return back to normal is the player decides to hold fire. However if the player decides not to shoot, there will be no additional terrorists or any changes to the game.

September 12th would be effective via the Internet if the players are patient in looking at the results. It is very interesting to find political games that reflect the terrorism and allows players to simulate themselves into the “terrorist” behaviour. The message was not immediately obvious to me. The instructions “This is not a game. You can’t win and you can’t lose. This is a simulation. It has no ending. It has already begun. The rules are deadly simple. You can shoot. Or not. This is a simple model you can use to explore some aspects of the war on terror” does not state the idea that “Violence generates violence” at the first glance. However, if one pays more attention to the bombing after launching the bomb, then the idea would be obvious. This simulation has drawn my attention to look at the additional information after playing the simulation.

New York Defender has simulated the game into a scenario where the Twin Towers graphic is placed in the middle and the player is the ‘hero’ to protect the Twin Towers from being destroyed by the incoming airplanes. By moving the mouse and clicking on the airplanes, it can be destroyed before it crashes into the twin towers. New York Defender will remind people of the terrorism that has happened and it is effective in promoting the message against terrorism due to the fact that almost everyone knows about this disaster. But this game has not driven me to find out more information on it. Personally, I feel that it is the interest in breaking the high score which ‘keeps’ the player in playing the game, as with the Donkey John game.

I think the main thing in keeping people attracted to the game is the graphics. September 12 had rather colourful, interesting and 3-d graphics whereas the other games such as Kabul Kaboom had static, boring images. If I had to write a political simulation game, I would design it to be in a similar way as September 12, and state the instructions or idea before the game starts. The game can be designed in a short story-based scenario to bring the player into the situation. It does not need active participation all the time, but allow the player to sit back and view the story-like simulation. I feel that these kinds of games would leave a more lasting impression on the players.

Playing Politics : Workshop Response

2004-10-13T16:04:00.000+08:00

1) Both The New York Defender and Kabul boom are created for the purpose of conveying a political message. The simulations, although quite basic in design follow typical video and computer games in that they present people as targets for people to shoot at. They differ in that they offer alternative goals such as "meditative play or off-gaming engagement."
Both simulations are effective in communicating a political message in that they both appear to have a win lose logic, however in actual fact it is impossible to win the game. The New York Defender for example increases the number of planes increases according to his firing, and thus he is unable to prevent the planes from crashing into the towers. This is significant according to Shuen-shing Lee as "gaming within the context of 9-11 and the shadow of terrorism, one easily sympathises with the defender's inability to protect the twin towers…which projects a tragic sense of powerlessness and hopelessness in confronting terrorism.

2) In both simulations it was immediately apparent what the creators were trying to convey to the public. There is a certain element of "shock value" associated with both of the simulations as they depict quit recent horrific events however they are presented in an almost satiric way. However this ultimately emphasises the futility of terrorism and war. Irony plays a big party in conveying the political message, in that the initial reaction is to shoot and see what this action results in, however immediately after doing so, the user is presented with graphic drawings (specifically in Kabul boom) of death and destruction.

3) My initial inclination, in creating a political simulation game would be to create one directly associated with current events. In creating a simulation about an event currently taking place, one would presuppose that there would be an immediate understanding associated with the topic which directly affects the way in which the user responds to it. The subject matter of my own political simulation would relate to issues in the Middle East, some of the most pressing political issues in today's media relate to hostages in Iraq and the issue of terrorism in Israel. As I have personally had little experience with such simulations, it appears that those involving some sort of violence are (whether we like it or not) the most effective. One feature which I would incorporate would be that in the simulation of September 12th which offers the user the opportunity not to shoot or direct any violence at the target.

Workshop X- Week 11 - The Politics of Playing

2004-10-13T13:41:00.000+08:00

Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the Internet?
The games Donkey John and September 12 raise very good points about Australian and American involvement in East Timor and the middle east. Although not at all entertaining, or enjoyable, i believe these sorts of simulations could in fact be quite effective in getting a message across to their audience. These sorts of novel games etc are generally sent as links via e-mails etc around the internet, and therefore because they are of interest a fair number or people would probably end up seeing them. Therefore although i dont think these two games actually educate the player information, or a point of view they were not already aware of, they are at least 'effective' in giving people something to think about in a novel way.

Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?
The political message that was present in Donkey John and Spetember 12 appeared to be quite obvious from the start. Spetember 12 in particular dosclosed the futility of the game itself in the introduction, and because Donkey John was a little more specific it had instructions and a link to a site containing the background of East Timor. Of course, if the point of the game / simulation was not immediately obvious i would have been inclined to look into it more, simply because of the novelty.

If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (Just give a very brief outline).
In designing a game with a similar political point imbedded within it, I would be inclined to parody an event in recent political history. The only other political games i have come across were the anti-Osama Bin Laden games that were ever-present following September 11. Although probably not popular, i think it would be interesting to trace the sequence of events that has led to the current 'state of Terror' that we more a less live within. A simulation that allows the player to donate food, weapons, personell and training to the middle east in order to aid a particular against invasion, followed by the almost inevitable backlash that occurs some years later. This sort of game/simulation would make the point that no matter who you help, it will never be popular and it will eventually simply continue the cycle of terrorism!

Hot Dates and Fairy Tale Romances

2004-10-11T12:15:00.000+08:00

Consalvo brings attention to the sexual content of computer and video games. Although not necessarily graphic, the inferred 'social norms' built into the fabric of such games can provide a lot of information regarding the messages being sent to game players. This paper addresses implicit and explicit sexual messages on the 'surface' of games as well as deeper more cryptic positioning techniques. Consalvo looks at several games both new and old and takes the reader through various parts of her findings. She focuses on Final Fantasy 9 (FF9) and The Sims, which are both very popular commercial games. She reinforces the idea that in each of these games, heterosexuality is continually 'normalized', and that homosexual behaviour is either not encouraged or punished. The characters themselves in games such as FF9 and the 1981 classic Donkey Kong are often very stereotypical, and display heterosexual tendencies. The plots of these games also contribute a lot to the shaping of a gamers interactive experience. Essentially the games tend to assume that the main players are heterosexual people, usually males and therefore they are tailored towards this market. The Sims is one of the few games currently on the market that allows for a gay partnership to exist. However these couples are unable to be married. Issues like this raise the question of whether or not games are reflecting society fairly or not. And if they are 'real' simulations, then who's idea of the 'real world' is actually being imposed. Consalvo makes the point that for many players these games are actually interactive and can affect people emotionally. Therefore, they are not simply a text that can have several readinings but a medium for an 'experience'. Clearly this means that the potential to affect the player is increased.

Tutorial Presentation - "As We Become Machines - Corporealized Pleasures in Video Games" by Marrti Lahti - aloy

2004-10-10T20:31:00.000+08:00

Martti Lahti starts off by clarifying that the term "cyberspace" was coined by William Gibson with video games in mind, and not the internet as we would be led to believe from all the other readings we've done.

He goes on then to outline his argument which is that "video games epitomise a new cyborgian relationship with entertainment technologies, linking our everyday social space and computer technologies to virtual spaces and futuristic technologies" and this occurs basically through the "corporealisation of the experience of playing". He then states that this relationship between the body and technology is separated by an "ambiguous boundary" which is basically the relationship between everything in this course.

He gives a brief history of the evolution of video games which is pretty interesting to me, talking about how the game world went from being limited by the monitor to being "potential[ly] endless", using the video game genre of the first-person shooter to illustrate his arguments.

He talks about the reality of video games and he elaborates on what i deem to be 2 types of reality that video games have. The first being where the realness of the experience of playing the game depends on the the realness of the game, brought about by technologies that provide a "tactle feedback from the computer to the body" which emulate real life. the second type would be the games that rely on the realness of the bodily experience to make up the game's realness, using technologies like the Thrustmaster Fighting Arena bodily control unit which requires players to make whole body movements to play the game. Here the real life physicality of the player's movements would make up the realness of the game.

Regarding the boundary between body and technology, later termed physical and virtual in the article, he states that they are "not mutually exclusive but continuous and complementary" and this fuzzy distinction between the player and the video game, he points out, is the key appeal of video games. He then explains that we identify with the game world through the corporealisation of perception and by having an avatar that represents the player.

Then in the final third of his essay, he elaborates on issues of appropriating the Other in video games, in both gender and race, later on targeting the white male as an example. He talks about how video games not only emulate reality but go beyond reality in allowing players the ability to upgrade, choose and alter their forms in them. This alterability, he argues, is what drives cyborgisation. The player must master the form (of the Other) we pick in order to succeed in the game and a reward system provides a capitalistic drive for success. The player also must become the game by internalising it, becoming an extension of the game, in order to survive or win.

He ends by saying there is an "ambiguous double-effect" in playing video games, of identifying and spectating at the same time, to be one with and separate from the game, "a simultaneous experience of disembodied perception and yet an embodied relation to technology".

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some things that made me ponder while reading the article:

- Why does he use the female pronoun when referring to video game players? (probably just trying to be more public conscious but i thought it was a little off-putting. not that i'm being sexist but he could have used something "ambiguous"(hurhur) like "they", "them" and "their" instead.)
- How being immersed in a video game is an active experience while being immersed in a movie or tv show is a passive experience. and how popular both are. and how logically if more people are getting into playing video games now, shouldn't watching movies be less popular because of the differing experience?
- If video games are popular because of this immersing experience (immersification?), why are cinematic film clips, that would bring about a break in the continuity of being part of the game, such a big draw in video games, like those that act as rewards for successfully completing a task in a game.

Critical Annotated Webliography

2004-09-27T01:55:00.000+08:00

3. Critically assess the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies.

My approach to this question began with, well, more questions. Firstly, how are identities such as race and gender constructed on the web? Secondly, what forms of technologies facilitate the expression and subversion of identity? And how? Sifting through the internet for relevant information proved a tumultuous task. Fortunately the first two articles provided a good starting point in critically analysing the ways on-line identities of race and gender are constructed around dominant ideologies of Whiteness and masculinity. While some of the other sites I came across are definitely less (or not at all) academic, these provided some really interesting examples of ways people utilise the internet and other technological and communication tools to express oppositional identities.

White-washed cyberworld
Kali Tal [1] provides a brief and concise argument about how identities in cyberspace are constructed around the assumption of Whiteness. The utopian desire for the internet to form a site in which differences of identity would merge into one collective, unitary self is contested in this article. Kali notes that this desire effectively creates a world in which people of colour are made invisible, glossed over by constructions of the normative self. This normative self suggests the average internet user is assumed White, male, middle- to upper-class, and educated. Her insights regarding the “illusion of culture” also proves useful in breaking the façade of the internet, which despite its Utopian promise, still rehearses the same biases against marginalised identities as in the world off-line.

Gender Issues: the Body and Embodiment
From issues of race to those of gender, this next article critically analyses the representations of women in the world of internet gaming. As some games, such as Lara Croft, present stereotypically sexualised images of women that are constructed around masculine fantasies, plug-ins and patches provide a tool to subvert these dominant images. By creating their own “skins”, female gamers can create experimental designs of women characters that contest male-dominated ideals and aesthetics of gender. But the issue of gendered representations on-line proves problematic despite the subversive intervention of “skins”. Polsky [2] notes that such technological tools arguably replicate rather than challenge masculine notions of women, by working on the “body” as a site for discourse. Binary constructions of man-woman and the associations of mind-body are thus reified through the application of “skins”. Another important point the article raises concerns the ways in which identity can be altered. Internet-based games allow users to play with gender constructions by choosing whatever gender identity they want. While such options work to break the boundaries separating real and virtual identities, the politics of appropriating another’s identity remains a concern for corporeal feminist. Thus Polsky notably highlights the disembodiment of gendered identities on the internet, which complicates and alters the ways in which lived identities are negotiated.

Cyber Feminism
The issues of disembodiment – its dangers and contradictions – are discussed in further detail in this next site. Rosi Braidotti [3] provides useful information in analysing the problematic constructions of female identity on the internet. One of the major concerns is the proliferation of pornographic material on the worldwide web, which continues to promote violent and degrading images of women. While her cries of “virtual rape and murder” may seem extreme (she suggests that new technological tools might one day provide such an avenue for men to “live out” base fantasies), it is not inconceivable for such abuse and misappropriation of information technologies to occur. Therefore, the freedom of communicating identity created by internet and other technologies also allows for the perpetuation of oppressive and abusive forms of identity construction.

From constructions of identity to extensions of identity, the following sites provide useful examples and analysis of how information and communication technologies have facilitated oppositional identities in expressing their positions of resistance.

Blogs and Minds
Blogs have become a growing tool for which people can express their opinions and views on just about any aspect of their lives. It is in viewing cyberspace as an extension of one’s mind, memory and identity that this article highlights the usefulness of the internet as a “matrix of minds” [4]. By re-imagining the Web thus, accessing information from the internet may be established upon networks of trust; in particular, blogs that provide evaluations and links to particular sites act as filters of information for which others bloggers can access. Thus this article allowed for a different perspective on communication technologies such as blogs, serving as important tools through which minds can connect on-line.

Internet Activism
With harsher laws against activism in place around the world, many are turning to the internet as an outlet through which oppositional identities can be expressed. Increasingly, cyberspace has become the domain of choice for protestors, free from censorship and the constraints placed upon them by governing bodies in the real world. This article [5] provides a working example of how RSS (Real Simple Syndication) technologies have become an extension of identities of resistance – by transposing the site of protest onto cyberspace. Anyone with access to information and communication tools can contribute images, sounds and texts to the on-line protest. Such technology facilitates worldwide participation in protests, whilst simultaneously generating international attention to their cause. This article provided useful in re-imagining space, both physical and virtual, and to see the potentials and limitations those re-negotiated spaces place on identities.

Quiet Riot
The possibilities of new communication technologies for giving voice to identities of resistance are enormously advantageous to activists. However, by displacing the main site of protest from the physical realm leaves the targeted institutions of power free to continue their activities in peace. Sarah Whiting [6] points out how this re-location of voices of resistance onto cyberspace leaves laws and restrictions placed on “free speech zones” in the physical realm uncontested. Perhaps the process of activism and resistance requires physical struggle in order to push for change in the real world.

After reviewing these sites, the internet does appear to serve as a popular means of expressing one’s identity. Marginalised identities and oppositional identities are increasingly turning to the web in providing them with a “voice”. However, its potentials in allowing for freer expression of resistance do little to rectify the constructions of identity which perpetuate dominant structures of power that marginalise and oppress other identities. Thus my main argument would be that the internet and other communication tools operate under ideologies of masculinity and Whiteness, whose constructions of identity, while remaining problematic, are not left unchallenged.

Endnotes

1. “ The Unbearable Whiteness of Being”
http://web.archive.org/web/20020124050915/ http://www.kalital.com/Text/Writing/Whitenes.html (October 1996)
(accessed 25th September 2004)

2. “Skins, Patches and Plug-Ins: Becoming Woman in the New Gaming Culture.” Genders 34 (2001),
http://www.genders.org/g34/g34_polsky.html
(accessed 25th September 2004)

3. “Cyberfeminism with a difference”
http://www.let.uu.nl/womens_studies/rosi/cyberfem.html (last modified 3rd July, 1996)
(accessed 25th September 2004)

4. “Mind Share – Blog Space: Public Storage For Wisdom, Ignorance, and Everything in Between.”
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.06/blog_spc.html (June 2003)
(accessed 25th September 2004)

5.“ Activists turn to Blogging as Art.”
http://news.com.com/Activists+turn+to+blogging+as+art/2100-1028_3-5332518.html?tag=cd.hed (published 31st August, 2004)
(accessed 25th September 2004)

6.“ Quiet Riot – Protest Space: When Speech is Zoned, is it Free?”
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.06/protest_spc.html (June 2003)
(accessed 25th September 2004)

Who Needs Ethics When You Have a Flowchart?

2004-09-09T17:06:00.000+08:00

One take on ripping CDs. [via Boing Boing]

tute presentation: "Diary of a Webdiarist" by Margo Kingston

2004-09-07T16:39:00.000+08:00

Margo Kingston, who works for the Sydney Morning Herald, began a weekly online column on federal politics. At first, she wasn’t into encouraging reader feedback, but feedback turned out to be good, so she published some of the emails. She liked the idea of personal contact between readers and journalists, describing it as “participatory journalism with an attitude” (p. 160) She had total power over what was published on the Webdiary, which brought up for her the issue of ethics. Ethical codes for hardcopy journalism had to be adapted for her column. Webdiary contributor John Wojdylo said: “Webdiary ethics means the moderator’s professional ethics.” (p. 161) Ethics are seen by Kingston as a “tool of empowerment” (p. 164), and they need to evolve as issues arise, which she sees as “ethics in action” (p. 165). (There’s a good example of ethics in action on page 167, where Kingston discusses her use of the word ‘Yanks’.)

Webdiary can potentially give all sides of the story (Kingston talks on page 162 about how when one view dominates, other views balance them). It can offer something different to traditional journalism, since people don’t trust traditional journalists, according to Kingston.

Questions: Can it give readers a voice, in much the same way as blogs potentially can?
The internet is almost famous for having “no censorship and no boundaries.” Are there censorship and boundaries online? Who enforces them? Do they end up just being personal ethics?

urm hi..

2004-09-06T16:12:00.000+08:00

urm hi..
ive just join this blog thing..i know you're wondering..thats really late and all..dun ask..its a really long story! anyway... i mus admit.. this is turning out to be a pretty interesting unit.. not very conventional..hmm..well i dont rea;;y have a fave website persay.. but i do frequent the zodiaczone @ http://www.lionart.com/zodiac.htm alot... urm..yeah i dunno wad else to say.. i dun even know if ive done wad im supposed to have!! well jus keepin my fingers crossed! (yeah im not all that technoligically savy!!) -yeah im one of those....

Webliography Responses

2004-09-06T08:41:00.000+08:00

For guidelines on making your Responses to your peers' Critical Annotated Webliographies, please see details here.

Tutorial: The Ethics of Porn on the Net

2004-09-05T23:20:00.000+08:00

Kath Albury, “The Ethics of Porn on the Net” in Remote Control, (eds) Catherine Lunby and Elsbeth Probyn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp 196 – 211.

I enjoyed the article and I’m very interested in this area, although there are a few points I would argue with, and some important things that were left out. I think it is brave to take a stance on porn such as Albury does; she examines the various views of religious and political groups on pornography (and why it is morally wrong), yet also outlines reasons for why pornography can be good, and that it is not ethically wrong. She doesn’t marganalize any specific group, and is able to give an essentially unbiased open, although limited, view on/of online porn (even though she specifies her view that “Pornographic sex is clearly immoral.” (206)) and invites readers to make up their own decision, but to make sure their decision is based on knowledge rather than prejudice.

The basic view I got of the article is that paying for sex/porn is bad, thus pornography in magazine/video/peep show style is bad. However, since online porn is often reciprocal, and free, it is not (so) bad, as shown by the discussion of porn communities.

The morality of porn
“In summary, pornography is widely considered to be immoral primarily because it:
• makes something ‘public’ that should be private;
• encourages people to exchange sex for money;
• exploits women by representing them as being sexually active and available; and
• represents a limited range of body types as sexually appealing.” (198)

- Maybe if sex is made public there will be less of a stigma about it and people could be more relaxed. Sex isn’t just for reproduction, it’s for recreation and bonding – there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it.
- Viewing pornography does not encourage people to exchange sex for money. Watching porn in any form is used as a form of release and/or pleasure, which does not lead to being/using prostitution.
- What is wrong with representing women as being sexually active and available? We are!
- The representation of a limited range of body types only occurs in commercial porn. I challenge you, go out and see what types can’t you find (I doubt there is any!).

The ethics of porn, and the differentiation between morals and ethics
“For some, the terms ‘ethics’ and ‘morals’ are interchangeable. For others, they represent quite different concepts.” (206) Do you think they are interchangeable? What do you think each word means/encompasses? What are the differences between them?

“The problem with these moralising judgements is that they are generally imposed from the outside, without regard for the context, circumstance or timing. This kind of morality is an all or nothing proposal, which leaves no room for the individuals involved to reflect on their circumstance, and decide whether or not they wish to change them” (207)

Albury manages to explain that viewing or creating porn isn’t wrong ethically, even though it is wrong morally. Very few authors in the same subject area seem to be able to do this; there is either the view that all porn is bad and wrong or that all porn is good and right. Porn is portrayed as being acceptable in some cases and forms, even though it is also ‘morally wrong’. The article allows for people to see view points that they may not allow themselves to acknowledge in other formats, while simultaneously not aggravating pornography supports with a binary of good/bad with no in between.

The bits that were missing
The article doesn’t address issues of legality/under age access to adult material/catering for sexual desires that are ethically wrong, e.g. paedophilia (does the availability of material like this online mean people can be curious and not go out and do things to others? Or is it the cause of people going out and doing things to others?). Surely it is morally and ethically wrong to have porn available for children to view (however laws such as those proposed by Latham that disallow anyone from accessing online porn go too far).

While the article attempts to normalize ‘alternative’ sexual desires, it makes no attempt to normalize the female body. On p198 Albury outlines that porn is immoral because it doesn’t represent a diverse range of body types, but internet porn does! Porn online allows women to see what is normal in body types/sexual organs/sexual appetite/sexual desires. Commercial magazines and videos are airbrushed; through online porn women can actually see what a normal vagina looks like, what the size of the average penis is, the amount of hair normal women have, the bulges and droopiness and shape and colouration of women’s normal bodies, that what turns them on isn’t wrong or naughty and that other normal people enjoy it too, that women are allowed to be sexual creatures – and enjoy sex.

Links
Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl

Labor Bid to Block Net Porn (August 16th 2004)

Fleshbot *Warning: actual pornographic images in this one* “Fleshbot is a frequently updated web magazine which showcases all the porn that digital technology and distribution has made possible. This includes CGI and morphed images, amateur girls, webcam guys, sex blogs, hentai and yaoi, accidental smut, vintage erotica, celebrity candids, and hardcore video.” (El booberino is a rather interesting use of technology)

Critical Annotated Webliography

2004-09-05T22:50:00.000+08:00

Critically assess the ways in which constructions of professional identity such as journalism have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies (ie.weblogs).

The birth of weblogs opened new doors for amateur reporting and personal publishing. This in turn sparked the debate as to whether these weblogs can be qualified as journalism. The themes of interest are firstly what is journalism and how do weblogs fit into this criteria. Second, what can weblogs offer to the practice of journalism and lastly which is the future of the news. My research strategy started from the tutorial blog where I followed a link to Rebecca Blood’s website and from there I found links to other sites of similar interests. Next I went to websites which published some of the course readings for relevant sources. Finally, I conducted a google search under the heading of ‘blogging versus journalism’ and again found relevant sources through the links of related websites.

Rebecca’s pocket: Weblogs and journalism[1]
Rebecca Blood makes the important point that it is the format that defines a weblog, not the content, and she expresses the importance of understanding the difference between amateur reporting and personal publishing. She makes the judgement that weblogs possess similarities to journalism, but cannot be considered journalism because the majority of webloggers do not do original reporting and because a journalist needs to speak directly to experts and witnesses to be credible. Her point that weblogs may not be the future of journalism simply because reporting and personal publishing need not take the form of weblogs, that they are just the most convenient form at present; proved to be thought provoking. Her suggestion that webloggers are more valuable working outside mainstream media is a good discussion point.

Rebecca’s pocket: Weblog ethics[2]
Blood makes an interesting assertion that weblogs’ strength is in being uncensored and uncontrolled is also its biggest weakness. She mentions that the ethical standards set in journalism are there to preserve the integrity of the news which is a debateable concept. She argues for transparency over the journalism trope of fairness and accuracy which is another good discussion point. Transparency is a weblogger’s integrity and her guidelines to ethical weblogging are about preserving that integrity by publishing only truths and being forthcoming about sources and biases. I found this article very useful in suggesting how simply by being more ethical in weblogs, they are better able to complement mainstream media.

J.D. Lasica: Blogging as a form of journalism[3]
J.D. Lasica’s article brings a different perspective to the topic by interviewing three established journalists who are also avid webbloggers. This approach offers the view of people who participate in both mediums and weights their pros and cons. Deborah Branscum expresses features of weblogs that appeal to a journalist, such as creative freedom, instantaneity of publishing, interactivity of feedback and the lack of marketing constraints which did not occur to me. Glenn Fleishman mentions other thoughtful aspects of weblogs which are of significance to journalism like the fact that anyone caught on the bad side of the media has an outlet to publish their side of the story. These features suggest that mainstream media has to reanalyse the structures of their procedures. It breaks down the notion that they are invincible as the masses can now attack back.

Professor Rogerson, Cassie Lancelotti-Young, David Suk: Internet and social change[4]
This article expresses more usefulness of weblogs to journalism, namely that they reach a potentially global audience. One of the ideas I found interesting was their notion that information becomes democratic which does away with elitist reporting. Another useful point of discussion is that weblogs offer a means to report controversial issues which mainstream media might never publish in order to protect themselves as a business. They also point out that because webloggers are constantly being criticised with replies to post, there is an obligation of accountability. The suggestion that new media (weblogs) and old media can be combined to have ‘powerful social consequences’ complements Blood’s idea that they can co-exist.

J.D. Lasica: Blogs and journalism[6]
Lasica gives examples where webloggers have committed random acts of journalism and considers webloggers to be participatory journalism. This mirrors Blood’s ideas and is a fine discussion point. He also suggests that webloggers and journalists form a ‘new media ecosystem’ where the emphasis is on a network of ideas. I find his argument that the relationship between webloggers and mainstream media as symbiotic a significant one. He reasons that weblogs will not replace mainstream media. However, it must be understood that a story does not end in print; the interactivity of weblogs adds perspective and analysis. This is a pertinent idea because it supports Blood’s point that webloggers are more impactful functioning outside mainstream media.

The future of the news is not in either one of both mediums, but in a harmonising of both. Weblogs which are interested in news offer an extension to current models of journalism. The audience have a greater diversity in stories given the absence of structural constraints such as editors, and the interactivity of the audience signifies that news is not static. It also is a great avenue for mainstream media to source for story idea and perspectives. This reflects one of the goals of journalism – to represent the voice of the people and who better to tell what the voice is but the people themselves. However, standards of ethical weblogging need to be observed if they want their reliability to be unquestioned. Both mediums can learn from each other allowing the preservation of the integrity and quality of the news.

[1] Rebecca Blood. ‘Weblogs and journalism in the age of participatory media’, Rebecca’s pocket, (July 2003) http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblogs_journalism.html (accessed 11 August 2004).
[2] Rebecca Blood. ‘Weblog ethics’, Rebecca’s pocket, (2002) http://www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/excerpts/weblog_ethics.html (accessed 11 August 2004).
[3] J.D. Lasica. ‘Blogging as a form of journalism’, Online journalism review, (29 April 2002) http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/p1017958873.php (accessed 30 August 2004).
[4] Professor Rogerson, Cassie Lancellotti-Young, David Suk. ‘Blogs’, Internet and social change, (24 April 2003) http://www.duke.edu/~djs13/pps126/ (accessed 31 August 2004).
[5] Andrew Sullivan. ‘The blogging revolution: Weblogs are to words what Napster was to music’, Wired magazine, 10.05, (May 2002) http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/mustread.html?pg=2 (accessed 28 August 2004).
[6] J.D. Lasica. ‘Blogs and journalism need each other: the transparency of blogging has contributed to news organizations becoming more accessible and interactive’, J.D. Lasica’s home page, (Fall 2003) http://www.jdlasica.com/articles/nieman.html (accessed 31 August 2004).

Annotated Webliography

2004-09-05T17:45:00.000+08:00

From Frankenstein to the Visible Human Project, technological progress has always forced society to re-evaluate the meaning of 'life'. Discuss critically.

Mary Shelley's narrative Frankenstein belongs to a genre of stories based around the creation of life through science. In more recent times, the Visible Human Project has become a reflection of technological development in engineering living systems. [1] Both Frankenstein and the Visible Human Project are a result of the process of technogenesis, given life through scientific advances rather than given life conventionally. In doing so, they represent the new way of thinking, having re-defined the concept of 'life', specifically in terms of creation itself and birth, they are as Catherine Waldby describes them "instruments of life."[2] These are mere reflections of the way in which science and medical technology have advanced, with developments in medicine relating to In vitro fertilization techniques, as well as research into DNA. In a broader sense, they also refer to advances in surgery, both Frankenstein and the Visible Human Project exemplify the way in which procedures such as heart and liver transplants, are a new way of giving life. Although somewhat unconventional such medical advances have forced society to re-evaluate the traditional meaning of life. The nature of the Visible Human Project will be studied, as well as what it meant by creation, as it pertains to 'life' itself.

An article in The National Library of Medicine, entitled "Lacerations: The Visible Human Project, Impossible Anatomies, and the Loss of Corporeal Comprehension, explores the physical process of the Visible Human Project."[3] The article explains that the initial project made use of several computer based technological systems to study the anatomy of the body. The article states that the project gave rise to a relationship between the body and virtual technologies.[4] The article is extremely useful in giving a background as to the procedures as well as depicting the way in which the "the anatomical body is being technically aligned with the capacities of information, so that the practices of anatomical science may be integrated into the digital domain."[5] It is also interesting that the online article differentiates between the 'real body' and the production of the real body which can only exist in virtual space, and this "morphology made possible by an understanding of the body as constituted through information."[6]

Catherine Waldby's article entitled "Revenants: the Visible Human and the Digital Uncanny" [7] is concerned with the idea that the bodies of the Visible Human Project have become eternal.[8] She writes that whilst the bodies have maintained their shape and appearance, and even specific distinguishing factors such as a tattoo, they have transcended into a new state which is never-ending, in the form of "incorruptible data."[9] This article is useful in exploring life in terms of replication, and the way in which there is a potential to have complete control over life, when the force of life is simulated through medical technology. Waldby makes a very interesting point, commenting that the simulation of the Visible Human Project has only been made possible through several exclusions, the key one being that it was a clone of a corpse rather than a living body, thus it can be said that the project in a sense mimics death rather than life.[10]

Catherine Waldby also writes about this idea of life in her article "The Visible Human Project: Data into Flesh, Flesh into Data."[11] Waldby comments "Life here is conceptualised as the force and animation of living bodies, as an abstract, elusive force which exceeds its location in any particular body."[12] It is interesting to note the way in which "life" is now expressed in terms of an organisation of organic matter.[13] Perhaps this is reflective of the way in which technological progress has led society to view life force in this scientific matter, as indeed it has become concerned with the ability to control life. The article is therefore useful in conveying the way the meaning if life has evolved.

An online review of Steven Levy's Artificial Life provides a good insight into this very topic .[14] The article is of interest as it directly refers to Frankenstein. The review comments on the way in which Shelley's narrative was created the concept of this type of genesis, which revolved around Artificial Intelligence, simulating life through computer intelligence. The article is fairly helpful in evaluating the respective significance of artificial intelligence and medical advancements. Had the review included more about the actual novel, perhaps it would have been more relevant in answering the guiding question.

Conversely, an online article by Bill Tomlinson called "Dead Technology" examines whether in fact technology lives at all.[15] He comments that although machines are not actually alive, as we know the term to mean, they have been endowed with characteristics of living things, in order for them to operate more efficiently. Tomlinson explores what he refers to as the "grey area that separated the black and white of living and non-living."[16]. He writes that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein "is an archetypal symbol of technology run amok- it seems alive, and yet it is a human construct.…when created to be a new form of life, he became a monstrosity that triggered the worst kind of revulsion"[17] His article is useful in exploring the other side of the argument, posing three main questions: can machines ever truly be alive, why do we want to create technology that lives, and thirdly, "why is it better that we acknowledge them as alive as opposed to not-alive?"[18]

"What is life? Can we make it?" is an article in an online magazine in the UK.[19] Phillip Ball writes, "Life is not embodied in its molecular building blocks, but it is a characteristic of the way in which they interact." [20] Much of the article goes into great depth about the specifics of molecular biology and the technological advances in constructing living organisms. The is a useful article to sum up the argument, in that it presents both the advantages and disadvantages of "creating life" However as it strictly refers to synthetic biology, it does not cover the scope of the new life as it applies to all forms of technological progress.

It is thus evident that much of today's online research would strongly indicate that medical and scientific advancements are forcing a re-evaluation of the term "life." Most of theses articles in exploring the nature of the Visible Human Project study such developments and how they are affecting modern society. It is however interesting to note the converse argument which questions whether humankind can ever have the power to create life.

[1] Waldby, C "The instruments of life: Frankenstein and cyberculture", Prefiguring Cyberculture, Cambridge & London, MIT Press 2002 p 29
[2] ibid p 28
[3] "Lacerations: The Visible Human Project, Impossible Anatomies, and the Loss of Corporeal
Comprehension.",http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html, (16 August 2004)
[4] ibid p4
[5] ibid,p4
[6] ibid, page 8
[7] Waldby, C "Revenants: the Visible Human and the Digital Uncanny", http://www.mmc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/VID/Uncanny.html , (16 August 2004)
[8] ibid, page 6
[9] ibid, page 6
[10] ibid, page 10

[11] Waldby, C The Visible Human Project: Data into Flesh, Flesh into Data." http;//www.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/VID/wildbiol1.html, (20 August 2004)
[12] ibid, p 6
[13] ibid, p 7
[14]Review of Steven Levy's Artificial Life: A report from where the frontier where computers meet biology
http://www.emcp.com/intro_pc/readong13.html, (24 August 2004)
[15] Tomlinson, B "Dead Technology"
http:// www.media.mit.edu/, (20 August 2004)
[16] ibid, p 2
[17] ibid, p3
[18] ibid, p2
[19] Ball. P "What is Life? Can We make it?"
http:// www .prospect-magazine.co.uk , ( 20th August 2004)
[20] ibid, p2

Footnotes in your Webliography

2004-09-04T22:43:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, I've noticed that quite a few of you have made the same mistake I did when pasting my Webliography; letting it format the footnotes.

While in preview mode the links to and from the footnotes worked, they dont once the post has been published. Please have a look at your links - if it says something like "http://www.blogger.com/app/post.pyra?blogID=7853548#_ftn2" then it doesn't work.

Also, some of you havent actually put hyperlinks into your Webliographies. If you read the "Guide to Blogging" you'll see that this is actually required (and makes for easy clickability, rather than highlighting, copying, and pasting into the address bar).

urm hi..

2004-09-04T16:12:00.000+08:00

Critical Annotated Webliography - duncan

2004-09-04T14:22:00.000+08:00

3. Critically assess the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies.

The topic at hand involves quite a broad area of study, from psychology to technology, information to discrimination. In my endeavours to research this question, I went to my favourite Internet search engine, AltaVista, and entered my search query as +identity +internet +domain:edu. This returned too many pages on the topics of identity theft and philosophy, so I refined my search with the terms –theft –philosophy and was left with nearly 200,000 results. I felt that refining my search further might exclude some good resources from the results, so I explored some of the better-looking results until I had about half-a-dozen. Following this I refined my search to include the term +MUD, and then +"menu driven identities," because I realised there were specific aspects of Internet identity construction to be identified within these topical areas. Fortunately, I found an article that included information about the construction of identity on television in my first search.

Source One
Allyson Polsky’s article[1] was quite informative although it contained a lot of extra data that was not needed for the purpose of this topic. It mentions the role of Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft in shaping a new kind of identity for women, and the use of ‘avatars’ to communicate an identity which may not necessarily reflect the gender or qualities of the person using it. I found the idea that identities used in cyberspace tend to reflect identities in the ‘real world’ quite interesting. Polsky argues that gender dualism and a ‘physical’ appearance are common in cyberspace, even though these things are not necessarily qualities of the mind, which is a prime generator of identity.

Source Two
Kurt Reymers' work[2] wasn’t particularly relevant to the topic, but it brings up some good points. The importance of community and communication as a tool for developing identity, and the idea that our relations with others influence our identity, are stressed. His work contents that emotional wellbeing is dependent on the type of identity a person adopts, and this holds true in cyberspace as well. The significance of the fact that, although physically separated, people still feel the need to ‘construct’ an identity for themselves that may or may not be based on who they really are, is noted. Obviously, the drawback of this article is its lack of information on the types of identities communicable in cyberspace, and how they are constructed.

Source Three
Gender Swapping on the Internet[3] is an article by Amy S. Bruckman which explores MUDs (Multiple User Dungeons) and how people who play them can create a character of the opposite gender, or even a neutral gender. It discusses the assumptions made about people who are playing a certain gender, giving examples of actions of characters in the virtual world, such as that male characters often expect sexual favours in return for technical assistance. The article is good, but does not cover a broad range of ideas.

Source Four
Mark Warschauer’s article[4] examines the role of language in communicating identity. It features quite a lot of commentary about the history of ethnic cultures, and thus isn’t perfect for the purposes of this exploration. However it does feature some good information on language and race on the Internet, and how the identities of certain cultures extend into cyberspace. It talks about how the Internet has reflected a white, wealthy, English-speaking culture, but also how this is changing. I thought this article was quite useful for examining the communication and expression of cultural identities as opposed to individual identities.

Source Five
Kali Tal’s article[5] is a review of Lisa Nakamura’s book, Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity and Identity on the Internet (NY: Routledge 2002). The last chapter of Nakamura’s book explains how we are forced into categories of identity by Web sites and other forms of interactive media. It goes counter to the claim of some sources that race ceases to exist in cyberspace, and in fact suggests that racial differences are accentuated. Tal, however, argues that the "clickable boxes" Nakamura describes are "no more than electronic upgrade of the standard checkboxes that have identified race on forms since at least the turn of the century in the United States." The problem with this article was that it was more a critique of Nakamura than a discussion of her ideas relating to identity.

Source Six
Jonathan Lillie’s thesis[6] looks at U.S. Latino identity and how it is communicated over the Internet and on television. It is a large document that contains a lot of extraneous data that doesn’t relate to the topic, however there is some good information in there. Lillie argues that Latino peoples’ construction and maintenance of their culture has been enhanced by its presence on TV and the Net. He also discusses some of the implications.

I chose these six sources because I felt they would provide a diverse enough background to explore a broad range of ideas relating to identity as expressed through information and communication technologies, while maintaining a suitable depth of information. It is evident that there are many ways in which the notion of identity has been extended or altered by the use of these technologies. There was a wealth of information on this subject available on the Internet, which goes to show that it is an important facet of human experience at the present time. One can only hope that through expressing themselves new and different ways, people will become more and more of who they really are.

Works cited

[1] Allyson Polsky, "Skins, Patches and Plug-ins: Becoming Woman in the New Gaming Culture." (2001) http://www.genders.org/g34/g34_polsky.html (accessed 31/8/2004)

[2] Kurt Reymers, "Identities and the Internet: A Symbolic Interactionist on Computer-Mediated Social Networks." (April 1998 - March 2002) http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~reymers/identity.html
(accessed 31/8/2004)

[3] Amy S. Bruckman, "Gender Swapping on the Internet." (1993) http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/gender-swapping.txt (accessed 31/8/2004)

[4] Mark Warschauer, "Language, Identity, and the Internet." http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/lang.html (accessed 31/8/2004)

[5] Tal, Kali. "Review: Lisa Nakamura, Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity and Identity on the Internet." (2001) http://www.freshmonsters.com/kalital/Text/Reviews/Nakamura.html (accessed 31/8/2004)

[6] Lillie, Johnathan. "Cultural Uses of New, Networked Internet Information and Communication Technologies: Implications for US Latino Identities," (1998). http://www.ibiblio.org/jlillie/thesis.html
(accessed 31/8/2004)

Annotated Webliography

2004-09-04T10:51:00.000+08:00

‘Critically assess the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies’

<>
The continual development of the internet as a dominant communications network has provided for unique social interactions, and consequently the reconstruction of gender, race and sexual identities. The internet, which has just had its 35^th anniversary, is now a mainstream platform for users to interact with others from all over the world. It is for this reason that the internet is considered responsible for the reconstruction of many social, cultural and sexual values that are perhaps different in the ‘real world’. In order to ascertain the degree to which such assertions are correct, it is necessary to review the history of this interactive medium, and the legacy that those with initial access may have left. Many papers document the use and content of the internet in terms of its impact on social relations, while others explore the varying power shifts that some groups experience due to the ‘World Wide Web’ providing them with exposure. The concepts of identity and anonymity are also discussed because they are directly affected by technologies such as the internet.

[1] Hoffman’s article provided some interesting facts, such as the origin and intended purpose of the internet. She talks about the dominance of men on the internet and the sexism women experience as a consequence. Hoffman considers men to have simply ‘got there first’ in terms of establishing a majority, which is also reflected by the content of many websites. She raises the question ‘how do we come to understand our disembodied form’. She queries whether the sexual content on the internet could possibly serve any educational purpose. I found this suggestion to be somewhat optimistic, due to the uncensored nature of the content. However, she indicates that groups such as the gay and lesbian community have significantly benefited from the internet. This is because many people can have an online identity and essentially expose themselves to the possibilities. Hoffman provides a sound, yet brief analysis of some of the issues associated with gender and sex on the internet.

[2] The authors are extremely in depth in their research, including statistics to support their argument regarding Gender and the Internet. They mention numbers to confirm that at least initially, the internet was dominated by white, affluent males. This source tends to focus on the rate of usage among males and females, which would prove to be useful in terms of demonstrating the ‘real’ identities that users take to cyberspace.

[3] Kennedy’s paper was motivated due to negative experiences on the internet concerning her gender. For this reason she created a web space where women could discuss such issues. Essentially, Kennedy’s initiative has provided an avenue for women to reaffirm their identity online. This is clearly a positive alteration of identity by ‘information and communication technologies’. She concludes with a comment regarding the present status of women’s rights on the internet, and suggests more equality has been achieved as a result of support groups etc. that allow women to reaffirm their cyber-identities. Kennedy is to some extent suggesting that when ‘not’ persecuted for gender, women hold a firm presence on the internet, and that as a communications network it has valuable qualities.

[4] Lawley quotes Judith Butler (Gender Trouble 1990) who states gender itself is "never fixed, always fluid." This paper is essentially a critique of several feminist works that would invariably prove useful in the discussion of identity construction. She discusses computer-mediated communication (CMC) in depth, and the potential for global communities which could result in the male dominated managerial positions empowering men further, with a monopoly over technologies. Author contributes much of the inequality women may experience to their lack of involvement during the production stages of CMC. Also explored is the notion of individuals using the internet under false gender and sometimes race identities. This capability provides for individuals who want to experience conversation and perhaps cyber-sexual relations from a different perspective. Clearly the internet as a communications medium has ‘altered’ any stable concept of identity that existed in the past.

[5] The author points out that ‘computer communication’ includes all facets of the telecommunications network, including telephones, chatting, online gaming and e-mail. Meyer suggests that virtual communities that exist, such as bulletin boards and chat rooms online do provide for social interaction. However more official member-orientated web groups often require more information about a user, and therefore identities are not always anonymous. Author uses the example of ‘Multi User Dungeons’ (MUD’s) to illustrate a virtual community that allows for role playing. This point reaffirms that concept that ‘identities are being extended by information and communication networks’. Apart from this site being a few years old, its information is relevant and worthy of inclusion in an essay addressing the changing identity ‘norms’.

[6] Reymers is the winner of a 2002 internet research award, and is therefore somewhat of an authority within this field. His website provides access to all of his papers, which are set out with clearly defined topics which makes navigation particularly easy. He explains several definitions that are relevant to this subject, and although he focuses on the notion of community and social interaction I think he has some good points to add regarding identity construction.

Bibliography:

<>Hoffman, Lisa R, “Gender and the Internet: Sex, Sexism, Sexuality”

http://www.csa.com/hottopics/gender/oview.html (1999) Updated May 1999

Accessed August 29, 2004[1]

Hiroshi, Ono & Zavodny, Madeline “Gender and the Internet”

http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0495.pdf (2003) Updated August 2004

Accessed August 30, 2004[2]

Kennedy. Tracey M.L, “Women and the Internet: An exploratory study of feminist experiences in cyberspace”

http://www.netwomen.ca/research/introduction.htm (2000)

Accessed August 29, 2004[3]

<>
Lawley, Elizabeth Lane, “Computers and the Communication of Gender”

http://www.itcs.com/elawley/gender.html (1993)

Accessed August 31, 2004[4]

Meyer, Chuck, “Human Identity in the Age of Computers: computer mediated communication

http://fragment.nl/mirror/Meyer/cmc.htm#top (1997) Updated June 1997

Accessed August 30, 2004[5]

Reymers, Kurt. “Identity and the Internet: A symbolic interactionist perspective in computer-mediated social networks. http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~reymers/identity.html (1998) Updated March 2002

Accessed August 29, 2004[6]

Webliography

2004-09-03T20:48:00.000+08:00

Critically assess the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies.

It seems clear to me after researching this webliography that constructions of identity have indeed been altered, in some cases extended and in others restricted, by information and communication technologies. I chose to concentrate on personal identities, rather than business, community or other identities. My first step was to use Google [1] to search for ‘identity communication technologies’. One article that Google returned to me that was of interest was entitled “Human Identity in the Communication Technologies of Today” [2]. This article led me to others through its footnotes and bibliography. The next site of interest I found was that of the article focusing on home pages and their contribution to identity. [4] Notions of identity are changing, probably helped along by the internet, from a concentration on finding the one, true identity of a person, to accepting that people have many identities and sub-identities which change on a daily basis. Fernando Flores’ ideas about identity on the internet are largely structured around business and corporate identity, but provide some useful theories that can be applied to personal identity. [5] Flores believes that the internet is as much about identity-building as it is about communication. The article contains a good general discussion of identity, particularly as it has been dealt with by the philosophers Heidegger, Kierkegaard and Hegel, and goes on to say that these theories of identity have yet to be applied to communities and users of the internet.

Trent Russi argues in “Human Identity in the Communication Technologies of Today”[6] that identity has been altered by communication technologies. In fact, he goes so far as to say that, “unfortunately, how human beings communicate is altered by technology almost to the point where they are no longer communicating as humans.” He backs this up by exploring the importance of speech in projecting identity, and how the capacity for face-to-face speech has been lost through the use of telephones, the internet and other communication technologies. (However, as people have been writing letters for hundreds of years, I am not entirely swayed by Russi’s argument.) An interesting question asked by Russi is whether we can accurately express our identity in internet spaces, or whether we lose our inhibitions and become more like ourselves.

“Being Real” by Judith S. Donath of the Social Media Group [7] discusses how we identify people based on the visual cues we receive when we meet them. Donath asks what happens to these cues when this visual element of identity is removed, as it is in internet encounters. We need identity to build communities (an idea discussed by Fernando Flores [8] as well), and communities and communication are what the internet is about, so clearly we are able to build online identities. Donath’s conclusion states that although we are certainly diminished in our ability to judge the credibility of the identities of the people we interact with online (because the visual element of identity is removed), one may also argue that “many of our categorizations derived from physical appearance are misleading and a medium that filters out these cues can in effect increase our knowledge.”

Haya Bechar-Israeli conducted research into nicknames people use in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and how they relate to people’s online identity. [9] Bechar-Israeli explores the notion of an entire identity being represented by nine characters as an IRC nick. The article contains a long and very interesting discussion of names and their importance to identity. Bechar-Israeli echoes the argument put forward by Donath that there are certain aspects of identity that are easily obtainable in face-to-face interactions, but are lost in internet interactions. According to Bechar-Israeli, nicks are an “extension of the self”. The article also deals with a statistical breakdown of the types of nicks used, and concludes that, “only 18 users out of 260 used their real name, or 7% of the group. The remainder took advantage of the privilege of choosing a nickname.” The ability to alter online identity from offline identity (if indeed one can separate the two) is obviously appealing to many IRC users. The most interesting aspect of the article was its ramifications for an internet space larger than that of IRC. Since communication on the internet is predominantly in English, it is natural for users of different cultures to use English-sounding nicknames if they want their nicks to be understood. “On the other hand,” argues Bechar-Israeli, “because a nickname is such a personal thing and so strongly connected to the individual, I would have expected to find more local cultural references in them.” This implies that perhaps the internet is contributing to the globalisation and homogenisation of culture.

“Sexing the Internet”, an article by Danah Boyd [10], looks at how online profiling (related to menu-driven identities; the ways identity is profiled on the internet) affects the behaviours of people and groups online, and marginalizes less privileged groups. The article looks specifically at how sex (that is, male and female) is dealt with online, and argues that the use of ‘gender’, in place of ‘sex’, would “offer online participants a more fluid set of identity markers.” She refers to sites such as Yahoo! [11] who require those signing up for newsgroups to pick either ‘male’ or ‘female’ as their sex. Boyd situates her argument historically, citing the arguments of Donna Haraway, Sandy Stone and Sherry Turkle who imagined the internet as a space to “transcend physical identity and marked bodies”, where identity could be “deliberately and consciously performed”. This has not been the case, according to Boyd, instead, people have tended to reproduce, if not “hypergender” their offline identities.

My argument would focus around discussing identity as a fluid, changing idea, and how the internet allows a greater ease in identity altering. I would argue that the internet can be restrictive in how one can present their identity, citing the articles by Danah Boyd and Haya Bechar-Israeli and their discussions of online profiling and IRC nicks. I would also look at the internet as a potential space for people to take on any identity they find appealing.

[1] Google, http://www.google.com/
[2] Russi, T., 2001 Human Identity in the Communication Technologies of Today [online]. Available from: http://www.troatie.com/papers/humanidentity_pr.html [accessed 24/08/04]
[3] Social Media Group, http://smg.media.mit.edu/
[4] Doering, N., 1995. Personal Home Pages on the Web: A Review of Research. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [online], 1 (3). Available from: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol7/issue3/doering.html [accessed 24/08/04]
[5] Flores, F., 1998. Information technology and the institution of identity [online]. London, London School of Economics. Available from: http://is.lse.ac.uk/staff/whitley/onlinepubs/heideggerspecialissue/heidegger06.pdf [accessed 27/08/04]
[6] Russi, Human Identity in the Communication Technologies of Today.
[7] Donath, J. S., 2000. Being Real[online]. Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available from: http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/BeingReal/BeingReal.html [accessed 24/08/04]
[8] Flores, Information technology and the institution of identity
[9] Bechar-Isreali, H., 1995. From TO : Nicknames, Play, and Identity on Internet Relay Chat. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [online], 1 (3). Available from: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue2/bechar.html [accessed 24/08/04]
[10] Boyd, D., 2001. Sexing the Internet: Reflections on the Role of Identification in Online Communities [online]. Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available from: http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/danah/SexingTheInternet.conference.pdf [accessed 24/08/04]
[11] Yahoo!, http://www.yahoo.com/

Bibliography
Bechar-Israeli, H. “From TO : Nicknames, Play, and Identity on Internet Relay Chat”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [online], 1 (3), 1995. Available from: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue2/bechar.html [accessed 24/08/04]

Boyd, D. Sexing the Internet: Reflections on the Role of Identification in Online Communities [online]. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. Available from: http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/danah/SexingTheInternet.conference.pdf [accessed 24/08/04]

Donath, Judith S. Being Real [online]. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. Available from: http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/BeingReal/BeingReal.html [accessed 24/08/04]

Doering, Nicola. “Personal Home Pages on the Web: A Review of Research”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [online], 1 (3), 1995. Available from: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol7/issue3/doering.html [accessed 24/08/04]

Flores, Fernando. Information technology and the institution of identity [online]. London: London School of Economics, 1998. Available from: http://is.lse.ac.uk/staff/whitley/onlinepubs/heideggerspecialissue/heidegger06.pdf [accessed 27/08/04]

Google [http://www.ggogle.com]

Russi, Trent. Human Identity in the Communication Technologies of Today [online]. 2001. Available from: http://www.troatie.com/papers/humanidentity_pr.html [accessed 24/08/04]

Social Media Group [http://smg.media.mit.edu]

Yahoo! [http://www.yahoo.com]

EDIT: Just fixing my footnotes.

Critical Annotated Webliography

2004-09-03T15:15:00.000+08:00

Q3) Critically access the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies.

Lisa McGerty’s article states that the virtual identity can bear as much or as little relation to the “real” self as the user desires[1]. Online identity has always been defaulted as “white” and “male”. However the construction has slowly changed as technology is slowing opening up to more groups. Reading through some of the blogs discussed earlier in tutorials has allowed me to have a broader view on the topic. Using two of the widely used search engines, Google and Yahoo! with keywords such as “constructions of identity extended or altered by information and communication technologies” and “identity extended or altered by internet” has amounted to thousands of search queries. From there, I have selected six articles, ranging from online relations to chat rooms, on the kinds of identity in the technological aspect.

Cyd Strickland’s article[2] focuses on online relationships, relating to her experience from an online seminar ElComm, learning to communicate within a virtual community with unacquainted people. Community identification is described as one of the ways in which people differentiate themselves. Strickland assumes an identity of a man by one of the facilitators judging from her name and non-feminine style of writing. Although all modes of identification were not mentioned within the community, the facilitators managed to recognise her during one face to face encounter. Strickland’s argues that offline meeting has completed the “missing social cues” of the online world. Living in different areas and having different cultural background and personality did not stop them from communicating effectively online. Instead it has brought them together, through a common ground in interest and work.

Ellen Baird[3] discusses on the Internet and a web-based chat room for American Indians. The chat room is open to two distinct groups, namely Indians and non-Indians. Stage name would be one way to identify the person’s ethnic group since both groups’ naming convention is different. Language and style can also identify a person, in terms of ethnicity and gender. Several categories of speech including Racism, Personal Networking, Commercialised Spirituality and Indian Humour are found. The chat room allowed Indians to bond online as well as offline and it is also a place where their ethnic background is identified, accepted and strengthened. One drawback about the article (which I feel) is Baird uses too many quotes from the referencing materials.

Mark Warschauer’s article[4] places emphasis on the use of language in both Media and the Internet. There is a saying which implies that no matter what kind of identity we hold, no one is able to find out until we start to communicate. Although English in the earlier days of technology was widely distributed, other languages are also opening up to the world of technology. Re-localization by corporations is occurring quickly so as to spread the market. The case of race-passing by Onaona brings a different light to Nakamura’s argument. It describes Onaona of using the Internet to bring out her ability to express a part of her ethnic heritage, which she was unable to do so in real life.

Sandy Zipp[5] starts with the MCI Commercial and introduces the group, Youth Outlook (YO) and Plug In, and their views on race relations. Race issue, that happens frequently offline, now appears as much online in chat rooms and newsgroups. However, some youths still retain the hope in meeting people and finding out more about the different cultures. MCI’s racial anonymity is one way to stop racial discrimination, but it might attract predators that are simply there to harass others using anonymous identities. Racial bombings would be something uncontrollable as it is a creation of the real world into virtual world, even if anonymity is brought into the picture as most youths are unwilling to hide their real identities.

Sherry Turkle’s article[6] provides an insight on Multi-User Domains (MUDs). Assimilation of media (television) settings of a bar is applied to the real and virtual world, where it is seen as a “neighbourhood place where everyone knows your name”. One user in MUD comments on the identity as “free” and “real” as MUD is the virtual world which they have created, to allow them to be themselves. Identity is re-formed as some group of young people claims they can better voice out in cyberspace than in the real world. Although virtual gender-swapping and abuse of MUD occurs, it has not deterred people from going back into the online world to find their “true” identity.

Gianna LaPin discusses on how a user’s identity can be affected by the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC)[7]. Gender questions are often one of the popular questions staring with a/s/l (age, sex, location) when chatting with a stranger online. Nick names are part of the process to a virtual identity and sometimes users give names which answers the a/s/l question. Identity can be intentionally portrayed while it can also be unintentionally giving signs to the real self. LaPin states the two cues which gives assumptions to the real identity are email address and communication style. There are two possibilities to users who intentionally hide their real gender and takes on the opposite gender’s status. First is to communicate effectively with the community and another is the curiosity to “the other half’s life”. Women sometimes are forced to take on a status of a man for the first reason.

In the above examples, we have seen a variation of the different types of identity that can be perceived in the digital world. Gender and race will always be a topic which most people will put their emphasis on. Identity of portraying ourselves can be hidden intentionally yet given away unintentionally. A popular way of identifying an online user is through the writing style as well as nick name. If the user takes a neutral stand on both, he/she will most probably be seen as the masculine counterpart. The virtual space is also acknowledged as a “safe haven” for those who are unable to voice out in the real world, due to gender or racial issues. As the saying goes “Nobody on the Internet knows that you're a dog[8]”, that is, until you give yourself away.

Footnotes:
[1] Joseph Turow & Andrea Kavanagh (eds), The Wired Homestead, Cambridge: Mitpress, 2003.

[2] Cyd Strickland, “A Personal Experience with Electronic Community”, CMC Magazine (June 1998) http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1998/jun/strick.html(accessed 30/08/04).

[3] Ellen Baird, “Ain’t Gotta Do Nothin But Be Brown and Die”, CMC Magazine (July 1998) http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1998/jul/baird.html (accessed 30/08/04).

[4] Mark Warschauer. "Language, Identity, and the Internet". In B. Kolko, L. Nakamura & G. Rodman (Eds.) Race in Cyberspace. New York: Routledge, 2000, pp.151-170. http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/lang.html (accessed 31/08/04).

[5] Sandy Zipp, “What Color Is the Net?”, The Netizen (March 1997) http://hotwired.wired.com/netizen/97/11/index2a.html (accessed 31/0/04).

[6] Sherry Turkle, "Virtuality and Its Discontents", The American Prospect vol. 7 no. 24 (December 1996) http://www.prospect.org/print/V7/24/turkle-s.html (accessed 31/08/04).

[7] Gianna LaPin, “Pick a Gender and Get Back to Us”, How Cyberspace Affects Who We Are (May 1998) http://www.fragment.nl/mirror/various/LaPin_G.1998.Pick_a_gender_and_get_back_to_us.htm (accessed 01/09/04)

[8] Mark Warschauer. "Language, Identity, and the Internet": Language In Cyberspace (2000) http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/lang.html (accessed 01/09/04).

webliography - aloy

2004-09-03T13:56:00.000+08:00

Critically assess the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies.

In the past few weeks of the course, we have gone through the topic of identity and its constructions on the internet. The main issues that were focused on have been the issues of race, gender and sexuality. Searching up these terms on Google, I was able to find many articles and essays touching on the topic of identity on the internet and have selected the following six to make up this webliography.

Marjorie Kibby’s article[1] was a useful starting point that stated some general ideas and opinions concerning the topic of identity on the internet. She states that there is no physical body to which identity can be attached and limited to, thus identity online is “arguably free of cultural markers such as age, race and gender”. She also states that these identities are not constant and that the “context of the communication influences the degree to which the identity constructed is determined by the gendered, sexed body”[2], focusing on issues of sexuality. I find this useful as she starts off by giving a broad explanation of the issue first before going into the details of her essay. She goes on to talk about transmitted images of self and how it involves both linguistic codes and visual codes to convey identity. She then describes the scenario where female users on MUDs “downplay their sexuality” and that the “highly-sexualised female characters” in the MUDs are usually created by male users. But contrastingly, women on their individual homepages “emphasise their sexuality as an integral part of their identity”[3]. I think this contrast is interesting as it highlights a contradiction in the construction of female identities online. Overall this article is useful in that it put across the main ideas and issues in a clear and simple manner, but this simplicity makes the essay seem to be lacking in detail and proper critique.

Susan Herring’s speech[4] also touches on issues of gender differences online. But unlike Kibby, she focuses on both sexes. She elaborates on the different styles of communication used by males and females on the internet and then goes on to explain how males and females have “different communication ethics”[5]. This is interesting to me as stereotypical aspects of the different genders are shown to be what is distinctive about them. Males tend to be more assertive and domineering and adversarial while females are supporting and attenuant in their communication styles[6]. This would be quite a clear example of how gendered identities are extended onto the internet by information and communication technologies, albeit stereotypically.

Lisa Nakamura’s article[7] focuses on the issue of racial identity in MUDs and touches a bit on gender identities as a contrast to the main issue of racial identity. She talks about how in the MUD game LambdaMOO gender is a required choice players must make in creating their characters whilst race is not. Interestingly, there are four gender options, with two options being “on the theme of ‘neuter’”, the other two being male and female[8]. I think it is interesting that these choices are made available but the players in the game force other players who pick either ‘neuter’ gender to make gender decisions other than those of the ‘neuter’ variety. Players can still mention race on their self-descriptions and Nakamura argues that making the choice not to mention race is in fact making a choice as “in the absence of racial description, all players are assumed to be white”. She goes on to describe how white players of the game appropriate other races, focusing on Asians. She also mentions that the choosing of a minority race is a privilege of the majority race, and that the “maintenance of this fantasy…of a race-free society, can only occur by suppressing forbidden identity choice”[9]. This is a very detailed and informative article on the constructions of race and to a smaller extent, gender.

Mark Warschauer’s paper[10] touches on the issue of language on the internet, the dominant one being English, and its implications on race and ethnicity. He focuses on the Hawaiian efforts to “preserve and strengthen [their] indigenous language”[11]. I think this is a useful paper to reference as it describes the general success of Hawaiians in their efforts, contrasting with the majority of critical papers that tend to focus more on the detrimental effects of the internet on identities on the internet. Hawaiians are a good example because they are ethnically diverse, due to “high degrees of influx and inter[-racial] marriage”. He places importance on using the Hawaiian language in interactions on cyberspace to provide the opportunity for users to “explore and strengthen their sense of individual and collective Hawaiian identity”. He also put importance to the two aspects of “will” and “transmission” to preserve languages, thus preserving identity on the internet, emphasizing the importance of “will” more[12]. This places the impetus for racial identity preservation on the individual, which I think is the right area to focus on.

Loong Wong’s journal article[13] focuses one the diasporic identity of the Chinese and its presence on the internet. Essentially he states that “ethnicity cannot be merely defined in terms of ancestral claims nor packaged territorial boundaries; they are instead mediated lived experiences of a community”[14]. This definition is useful as it reflects the community spirit that internet communities have, where users of the internet from any part of the world can congregate at a specific location and claim this location to be their community; or in a more ‘physical’ sense, how on the internet, people of similar ethnicity in a community can be at one with and at the same time separate from their ancestral roots.

Duncan Timm’s paper[15] focuses on the issue of community identity on the internet. He states that “there is a close connection between personal identity and group identity” and that “the use of the Internet by local communities is an effective means of enhancing community identity”[16]. This is a useful idea as it creates links between personal identity with that of the community the person resides in and it would seem that as internet enhances community identity, the personal identity of the individual will too be made less ambiguous.

Webliography

Dr Kibby, Marjorie. Media International Australia No 84 May 1997:39-45. hosted on University of Newcastle – Australia webpage.
“Babes on the Web: Sex, Identity and the Home Page”
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/discipline/sociol-anthrop/staff/kibbymarj/babes.html (accessed 31/08/04)

Herring, Susan. transcript of speech on Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. “Gender Differences in Computer-Mediated Communication: Bringing Familiar Baggage to the New Frontier”
http://cpsr.org/cpsr/gender/herring.txt (accessed 31/08/04)

Nakamura, Lisa. University of California School of Humanities.
“Race in/for Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet” http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.html
(accessed 31/08/04)

Warschauer, Mark. “Language, Identity and the Internet”. in Race in Cyberspace (New York: Routledge). eds. B. Kolko, L. Nakamura & G. Rodman .
essay hosted on University of California, Irvine – Department of Education website http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/lang.html (accessed 31/08/04)

Wong, Loong.“Belonging and Diaspora: The Chinese and the Internet”.
in First Monday Vol 8 No. 4, (April 2003)
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue8_4/wong/#w4(accessed 31/08/04)

Timm, Duncan. “Identity, Community and the Internet”.
in Odeluce Virtual Observatory.
http://www.odeluce.stir.ac.uk/docs/Identitypaper26Aug.pdf (accessed 31/08/04)

Webliography

2004-09-02T21:31:00.000+08:00

4. “From Frankenstein to the Visible Human Project, technological ‘progress’ has always forced society to re-evaluate the meaning of ‘life’.” Discuss critically.

Catherine Waldby’s article “The Instruments of Life: Frankenstein and Cyberculture”[1] does not attempt to define ‘life’, although does question what is and is not considered ‘life’ or ‘living’. The questions I wanted to answer, or try to answer, are; ‘What is the meaning of life/what is alive currently, and how might this change in the future?’, ‘How/Why does the Visible Human Project prompt questions about life?’, and ‘What technological progress has occurred in robotics/cloning/prosthetics that echoes the construction of Frankenstein’s monster?’. Using Google[2], I entered the search phrases “what is life”, “meaning of life” (after filtering out references to Monty Python) and ‘post humanism’. To find more analytical and in-depth culture based articles I searched the Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture[3] database for “visible human project question life” and “technological progress”. Many of the results from Google[4] were in language too technical to be accessible, although articles that were understandable and approached the topics of life and post humanism adequately were eventually found. Reconstruction[5] was more helpful in looking at the issues from the perspective of society, while Google[6] looked at the more scientific and historical aspects of technological progress and the meaning of life.

Brig Klyce’s article[7] defines ‘life’ as cells that have three distinct properties. However, some things that are not alive can also have these properties, but never all of them. Klyce also makes the important note in parenthesis “(Some creatures cannot reproduce, but every creature comes from reproduction.)” to ensure that infertile humans are still considered ‘alive’. This notion is rather interesting in relation to the Visible Human Project[8], as they do not consider the Visible Female to be ‘normal’ as she is post-menopausal, and thus does not have the ability to reproduce. Klyce uses many analogies to describe his definition; the prime example is a computer. The latter half of the article describes certain types of cells and the differentiation between them, however does not add to the argument as it is difficult to understand for someone who dislikes science (such as myself).

Duncan Graham-Rowe’s article[9] takes the opposing view to Klyce, stating that ants and infertile humans are not alive. The article is based on research by Bernard Korzeniewski (Institute of Molecular Biology at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland), who defines life as “‘A network of inferior negative feedbacks subordinated to a superior positive feedback.’ In other words, it's a system that tries to regulate itself to preserve its identity.” Korzeniewski’s definition allows for an ant colony to be alive, but not singular drone ants, as they let someone else ‘preserve their identity’ through reproduction. Apparently the same applies to infertile humans (at least it is both infertile men AND women that fall under ‘not-alive’ by this definition).

“The Meaning of ‘Life’”[10], by Stephen M. Potter, takes the literal sense of the title, and demands that scientists figure out a definition, and stick to it, rather than working on a case by case basis. He looks at dictionary and encyclopaedia definitions and comes to the conclusion that they all contain specific criteria that must be met to distinguish life from non-living objects/dead organisms; growth through metabolism, reproduction, and responsiveness to the environment. Potter, as Klyce, points out the many deficiencies in the definition he discusses, in that many living things do not comply, and many non living things do. However, Potter’s main intent is to make the reader think; lawyers are able to carefully define words, why can’t scientists? And what happens when lawyers have to define life?

The legal definition of life comes into play when technologies such as organ transplants, prosthetics, and designer babies are in use. Andy Coghlan’s article[11] briefly comments on the UK’s decision to allow families to select genetically matched embryos to harvest stem cells from the umbilical cord to help a sick or dying sibling. What would happen if a child was conceived, so it could grow up to later donate a kidney, or bone marrow? The ethics of designer babies is troubling, where do we draw the line on what to allow or disallow? Are humans with prosthetic implants still alive? And if so, how much of their internal organs/workings need to be replaced before they are considered ‘not alive’? The same might be said of organ transplants, as the previous owner was brain dead, which alludes to ideas raised about Frankenstein’s monster, and further issues of identity.

James John Bell’s article[12], has one main point in his article; singularity. Vernor Vinge coined the term ‘singularity’, where “accelerating technological progress becomes near infinite and thus unknowable” (p 6). If it is unknowable, does that mean that we can not know how to re-evaluate the definition of ‘life’? As we can not know what technological progress will spit out next, we can not define ‘life’ if it needs to be changed with every new ‘invention’.

The review of Waldby’s Visible Human Project: Informatic Bodies and Posthuman Medicine by Stuart J. Murray[13] could be more accurately describes as a summary and explanation. Murray seemed to simply extract Waldby’s main points and elaborate on them. Although, there is a point where Murray reflects on life, and echoes some of my questions raised from Coghlan’s article;

“If the body is inseparable from the technological, what horrors arise when we imagine our body entirely replaced by other, more reliable, hardware? Does ‘life’ or human value exceed the sum of these parts? Is subjectivity itself -- our uniquely reflexive nature -- merely epiphenomenal?” (p 8)

Murray believes Waldby places too much emphasis on the ‘post’ of posthuman, implying that there never was a ‘just human’ (without/before technogenesis or cyborgism). This poses the question; ‘what is posthumanism?’.

Robert Pepperell’s “Posthuman Manifesto”[14] attempts to answer this question. Post humanism seems to be the dominance of the technological. Humans are no longer the most important being, and technology is surpassing our intelligence; “these developments awaken deep-rooted anxieties about the threat to human existence from technology we cannot control or understand.” Technological progress is forcing society to re-evaluate not just its definition of ‘life’ but of everything, as technological progress “is geared towards the change of the human species as we currently know it.” (General Statements; 2).

To address the statement, we first need to determine what ‘life’ is. The definitions of ‘life’ given were numerous and contradictory; life as cells with a comparison to computers; life as the ability to reproduce; and life as growth, reproduction, and responsiveness. The definition of life as reproducibility links to the lack of users of the Visible Human Project’s[15] Visible Woman, as – when alive – she could no longer reproduce. Pre-pubescent and post-menopausal women can be defined as ‘not alive’ by some definitions. There is a great need for an actual definition, scientific or other, for ‘life’, especially due to legal ramifications of abortions, cloning, and designer babies. The concept of singularity is an important one in the ability to actually define life, let alone re-evaluate what it might be. If one cannot know what might need to be included in the definition in the future, how can one re-evaluate a word that does not even have a definition currently? Post humanism seems to envelop whole idea of technological progress and the need to re-evaluate not only ‘life’, but everything.

Bibliography

Bell, James John. “The End of Science Fiction: When Technological Extrapolation Hits A Wall Across the Future”, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (Summer 2003 3.3, 16 paragraphs). www.reconstruction.ws/033/bell.htm (accessed 26/7/04 and 30/7/04).

Coghlan, Andy. “‘Saviour sibling’ babies get green light”, New Scientist Online News (22 July 2004). http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996195 (accessed 28/7/04).

Google (2000). http://www.google.com/ (accessed 23-29/7/04).

Graham-Rowe, Duncan. “Living Dead: Ants and Infertile Humans Are Not Alive, but Parasitic DNA Is, According to A New, Universal Definition of Life”, New Scientist Online News (16 May 2001). http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id+ns9999748 also at http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/science/cells_recycling_may_yield_clues.htm (accessed 25/7/04 and 29/7/04).

Klyce, Brig. “What is Life?” Panspermia. http://www.panspermia.org/whatis2.htm (accessed 25-26/7/04).

Murray, Stuart J. “Review of Catherine Waldby’s The visible human project: Informatic bodies and posthuman medicine”, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (Winter 2002 2.1, 14 paragraphs). http://www.reconstruction.ws/021/revVisibleHP.htm (accessed 25/7/04 and 30/7/04).

National Library of Medicine, “The National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Project” (11 September 2003). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html (accessed 30/7/04).

Pepperell, Robert. “Posthuman Manifesto” The Posthuman Condition: Consciousness Beyond the Brain (Intellect Books: 1995). Revised Online,
http://www.stem-arts.com/Posthum/cont.htm (accessed 29/7/04).

Potter, Steven M. “The Meaning of ‘Life’”, Ibiblio (March 11, 1986). http://www.ibiblio.org/jstrout/uploading/potter_life.html (accessed 25-26/7/04).

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture. http://www.reconstruction.ws/home2.htm (accessed 25-26/7/04).

Waldby, Catherine. “The Instruments of Life: Frankenstein and Cyberculture” in Prefiguring Cyberculture, eds. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson & Alessio Cavellaro (Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2002).

Footnotes

[1] Catherine Waldby, “The Instruments of Life: Frankenstein and Cyberculture” in Prefiguring Cyberculture, eds. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson & Alessio Cavellaro (Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2002).

[2] Google, (2004). http://www.google.com/ (accessed 23-29/7/04).

[3] “Search”, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (20 September 2001) http://www.reconstruction.ws/search.htm (accessed 25-26/7/04).

[4] Google, (2004). http://www.google.com/ (accessed 23-29/7/04).

[5] Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (20 September 2001) http://www.reconstruction.ws/home2.htm (accessed 25-26/7/04).

[6] Google, (2004). http://www.google.com/ (accessed 23-29/7/04).

[7] Brig Klyce, “What is Life?” Panspermia. http://www.panspermia.org/whatis2.htm (accessed 25-26/7/04).

[8] National Library of Medicine, “The National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Project” (11 September 2003). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html (accessed 30/7/04).

[9] Duncan Graham-Rowe, “Living Dead: Ants and Infertile Humans Are Not Alive, but Parasitic DNA Is, According to A New, Universal Definition of Life”, New Scientist Online News (16 May 2001). http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id+ns9999748 also at http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/science/cells_recycling_may_yield_clues.htm (accessed 25/7/04 and 29/7/04).

[10] Steven M. Potter, “The Meaning of ‘Life’”, Ibiblio (March 11, 1986). http://www.ibiblio.org/jstrout/uploading/potter_life.html (accessed 25-26/7/04).

[11] Andy Coghlan, “‘Saviour sibling’ babies get green light”, New Scientist Online News (22 July 2004). http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996195 (accessed 28/7/04).

[12] James John Bell, “The End of Science Fiction: When Technological Extrapolation Hits A Wall Across the Future”, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (Summer 2004, 3.3). www.reconstruction.ws/033/bell.htm (accessed 26/7/04 and 30/7/04).

[13] Stuart J. Murray, “Review of Catherine Waldby’s The visible human project: Informatic bodies and posthuman medicine”, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (Winter 2002 2.1). http://www.reconstruction.ws/021/revVisibleHP.htm (accessed 25/7/04 and 30/7/04).

[14] Robert Pepperell, “Posthuman Manifesto” The Posthuman Condition: Consciousness Beyond the Brain (Intellect Books: 1995). Revised Online, http://www.stem-arts.com/Posthum/cont.htm (accessed 29/7/04).

[15] National Library of Medicine, “The National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Project” (11 September 2003). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html (accessed 30/7/04).

(Edit: Sorry Tama/Karen, my attempt at linking the footnotes didn't work so I had to edit the post)

Menu-Driven Identity Workshop Response

2004-08-27T16:46:00.000+08:00

3.
With Lavalife, the description of the user are delivered in a strict non flexible format which makes the users seem to have personalities that are as flat as a piece cardboard. The “I’m (age), (gender), from (location) etc.” structure of the website presumes the searchers to be of a somewhat superficial level, concerned with only physicality. And since the physical aspect is what is needed to get the attention of the searchers, it puts forth the idea that physical traits are more important than personality. I find it unfortunate that the individual user’s personality is not the salient point in finding a partner. Is something like race really fundamentally important in choosing a partner? I mean, if you like a person, you like them regardless of what race, they are right? That is not to say that I do not think that race is important to the context of identity. The site suggests that being black or white or everything in between is to subscribe to a general identity, like all blacks are the same for instance, but the reality of the situation is that one black person is vastly different from the other black person and the same goes for people of other races. In the profiles that I saw, ALL of them were female, mostly female, coming from the US, which presumes that the searcher is male and coming from the US. I guess you could also say that this suggests that the preferred “type” is American white female.
What changes can be made to Lavalife? Probably do away with the physical description using the big categories, such as race, body type, star sign…and have instead, a description of likes, dislikes, insights to personality. Even a description that is not limited by a format can give hints to a person's personality and identity. This is important because I feel that identity is not linked with categories, it is hard to put any one person into one category, as we have seen identities function more as cross categories. I also feel that this way, it is easier to avoid stereotypical interpretations of the users.

4.Are any of the websites racist? I’m not very sure, I see being racist as degrading someone because of his/her race, and I guess that one could consider categorizing someone’s race as “other” as a pretty degrading thing. I do think however that Lava life, by having people state their race makes it possible for discrimination to take place. Not every body has an equal chance of getting a match, but the same issue goes to having to state your body type as well (weight discrimination?).

Menu-Driven Identity Workshop response

2004-08-27T01:11:00.000+08:00

What sort of 'identities' are visible in the profiles on Lavalife? How are they displayed? What presumptions does this display make about both the people reading these profiles and those users who made them?

The identities on Lavalife consist of age, bodytype, smoking and drinking habits, race, age, height, religion, income and more including an 'opening line'. They are displayed as though the person is writing it themselves but actually it's just a computer-generated paragraph based upon a questionaire. It's all written in English.

It's like a meatmarket. The only thing truly individual to the person in the initial profile is the 'opening line'. You have to click on their name to find out what they've written about themselves in their own words. There's a heavy focus on body and money. Beliefnet's Soulmatch on the other hand has more of a focus on the internal characteristics of the person, and even includes a category of 'spiritual but not religious' - something which Lavalife doesn't.

How people can choose to embark on a 'committed relationship' with someone they don't even know is beyond me. People must be really insecure if the dating category isn't a sufficient enough place to seek out those prospects. But anyway, Lavalife recognises this and makes a category for it. What a f***ed up society we live in.

How much of the "identity" that we can see online for the users on Lavalife is restricted by the overall design of the website? What changes would you suggest in order to "improve" the sorts of identity Lavalife users can construct?

The first half of this question is similar to the previous question. Very little of the person's 'real' identity is portrayed in the profiles. It seems to be more a case of what you are rather than who you are.

You are given the option to 'refine search' but this only allows such things as confining search to people with videos, pictures and 'backstage' areas. Other than that you have to view a whole bunch of em. So for example if you want someone who doesn't have kids, or who isn't black, then you have to sort through a few of them who do have kids and who are black. Not impressed about that.

Interestingly enough there's no option for bisexuality. Perhaps the church's claims that you're either gay or straight have infiltrated Lavalife. Suggest that be changed pronto.

Other suggestions for improving quality of Lavalife identities: more info on internal characteristics, an option for taste in music would be nice to see, philosophical views, political orientation, number of hours of TV watched per day, sense of humour: wet or dry, pet peeves, the list goes on...

Workshop Response : Menu-driven Identities

2004-08-27T01:10:00.000+08:00

1. Which categories are available for users to choose from when signing up for Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or in order to use the Second Life gameworld? What presumptions do these categories make about users, and what does the absence of certain categories of identity say?

Something really interesting happened to me as I sat down to seriously analyze the categories these sites offered – I had to consciously remind myself to approach it from the perspective of a Singaporean-Chinese Woman (of which I am). Thing is I’ve been in Australia for a little over 3 years now and have just realised how much I’ve adapted to and maybe even adopted a western approach to doing/viewing things; even something as simple as filling out a form.

The first category on all of the sites asks for the user’s first and last name, a seemingly innocent question that I easily glanced over. Then I remembered how confusing this question was for me the first time I encountered it on a form. I had to ask someone if by first name it/they meant my surname. For a Chinese person, one’s first name would actually be one’s family name. So my name, Tham Ee-Lin, is made up of my family name= Tham followed by my ‘real’ name= Ee-Lin. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of this golden rule, choosing to call me by my surname to which I am not accustomed to respond to. Of course, I could join my many compatriots and adopt an English name to make life a whole lot easier. Alternatively, I could just swap the two names over, a simple “correction” if you will. After all, what’s in a name? Does it really matter if my family name comes first?

I decided it does.

The presumption of a western user seems evident in the above-mentioned example, in which the positioning of names and the questions asked are catered to a western perspective. Another interesting point is how different sites approach the identity of Nationality. While Hotmail offers a comprehensive list of countries and regions to choose from, Yahoo! Mail opts for a location of national identity within language itself. Yahoo’s pop-up menu for “Language & Content” reads like a map tracing colonisation – with Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and India under the English language, but for some peculiar reason placed much further below its coloniser: English-United Kingdom. Though generally listed in alphabetical order, the first two options place the English language before Chinese; and places United States above United Kingdom. This positioning does appear to privilege a specific language and certain nations over others, and is an obvious indicator of power situated in language and identity. On Yahoo! Mail, the US is definitely set as the norm, privileged over and Other-ing all other identities- with Chinese, Spanish and Russian languages linked to “US & other”. Of course, many Asian countries lacked representation under Yahoo! Mail, with many S.E. Asian nations like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia absent from this category. I wonder what option an Indonesian student would (be forced to) choose on this site?

The Second Life game site asks for very little information – nothing on language or nationality. Barely anything personal or any ‘real’ investment is required in this world of re-imagining one’s self and identity, which probably sets up a clear premise for the game – that one’s race, nationality and gender do not matter, and that its characters are not demarcated by such boundaries.

2. What sorts of 'identities' are visible in the profiles on Lavalife? How are they displayed? What presumptions does this display make about both the people reading these profiles and those users who made them?

The first thing I noticed on the Lavalife site was how the image clearly displayed the women, with the men mostly obscured by the ladies standing in front of them and the logo etched over their faces. The default male setting seeking a female companion explains the foregrounding of women in the image, and the obviouse heterosexual coupling. The only other prominent feature of these singles are that they are predominantly white, again speaking to the “Whiteness of being” assumed of its users and date-seekers.

The categories of relationships offered are ‘Dating, Relationship or Intimate Encounters’, each featuring images of mainly white couples. The image under the ‘Dating’ heading shows a couple at a bowling alley, which I understand to be a popular American social activity, and which suggests to me that the target "seeker" is white, heterosexual, male and American.

After picking a category/area of interest, a list of ‘choices’ or profiles appears with each person’s name, age, race/skin colour, nationality, height, smoking and drinking habits indicated beside a photograph (if made available). The interesting thing about the ‘default’ setting is that a list of women’s profiles are mostly linked with a tag line promising some kind of sexual, flirtatious persona behind each profile (even under the relationship category) while most of the men’s tag lines dangle the possibilities of each being ‘the one’. Most of the men also choose to state their income per annum. All these elements, coupled with the point of both sexes to describe their body shape seems to endorse a superficial and stereotypical view of the sexes, each disclosing information that stereotypically appeals to the opposite sex – emotional commitment and financial security as needs for women, and, well… a nice time for men. The site appears to market individuals as commodities, revealing information that would appeal to the consumer's needs and desires whilst leaving out other "undesirable" characteristics like weight. Of course, I presume the idea here is to encourage less specificity so that seekers will find a larger pool of "compatible" users in their search. So the site is effectively creating opportunity through some form of ambiguity, so as not to pre-emptively strike out potential matches for their users, and creating a higher probability for interest to be sparked and the dating to begin.

Menu Driven Identity Workshop Response

2004-08-26T16:31:00.000+08:00

Which categories are available for users to choose from when signing up for Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or in order to use the Second Life gameworld? What presumptions do these categories make about users, and what does the absence of certain categories of identity say?

Hotmail, Yahoo and Second Life all offer the categories of "Gender" and "Age" (DOB). Hotmail has the category "Nationality" which has the 'default' full listing of several nationalities found on most sites that require registration but interestingly Yahoo does not have a "Nationality" category, instead lumping nationality together with language in the category "Language and Content". This really raises a lot of questions as by putting language and nationality together, you might in a perfect situation be able to represent the diversity of languages spoken in the world and in a country. BUT Yahoo fails to do this by only providing a very limited variety of choices. A lot of countries are not represented and some exclusions are puzzling. One point to note is that USA is the most represented country, being tied to English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. But probably the most glaring thing is that Russia is not listed as a Nationality. There is the choice of "Russian- US & other", which puts Russia in the category of "other" for its own native language. Another thing to take note of is the representation of Asia in the choices. Singapore, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are represented under the languages "English" and "Chinese". Looking at all the choices i assumed that the availability of choices probably depended on a country's economic power or internet presence. But just by considering the exclusion of Japanese and Japan did away with that assumption. There probably are other points to pick on in Yahoo's choices offered. But these two bits are the more obvious ones to me, being Asian (something only made more clear to me being in perth) and also being more exposed to the anti-america propoganda. I don't want to be anti-america, but it does seem the Yahoo registration site is US-centric. Perhaps it could be argued that Yahoo.com is by default the American site for Yahoo while other countries have their own suffix at the end for their "own" Yahoo websites, like .sg or .au. You could probably make a case about how all America-based sites are .com and sites based everywhere else have the country suffix at the end after .com. American superiority? Americans the default and more privileged users of the net? Well...maybe, but then the internet DID start off in America so it would be reasonable that they didn't think to place a suffix ".usa" because no one could have predicted the global spread and use of the internet and world wide web.

Second Life has a bare registration page with no categories for Nationality or Language. Nationality is probably left out to keep in line with the philosophy of the game, that you can change your identity as and when you like, and that nationality doesn't matter in the global village of the game. But actually typing that out now, it seems a little nonsensical, because nationality will still matter in the game even if you are not required to state your nationality upon signing up. It's hard to tell looking at the screenshots of the game on the site whether you can design your character to be anything other than a Western Character. I find hard to tell whether certain characters are white characters or of another race. Maybe this ambiguity is purposeful to not show too clearly the boundaries of race. But still the clearest character race, as can be seen from the screenshots, is white. The only language used seems to be English. So that would result in the usual criticisms of how there is a lack of representation of other languages and all that. But i think if there were a community of language users in the game that made the choice not to use English, they could communicate with each other in the language they choose to, but of course within the restrictions of the western alphabet, unless the game can support other language fonts. But still, it is a requirement that players of the game know English in order to be actually able to sign up for the game.

What sort of 'identities' are visible in the profiles on Lavalife? How are they displayed? What presumptions does this display make about both the people reading these profiles and those users who made them?

First of all, everyone on the front page is white or a white vision of a coloured person. I'm probably not in the position to say so but to me even the black people on the site in the banners and images look like the kind of images of black people that only appear on prime time tv. The kind of black people who have sold out to the man and become part of white man's society. That kind of image. But then I'm also just basing this opinion on things that are presented to me through popular culture, so I could be totally wrong, and many black people actually do look like that.

Anyway, what is visible on the profiles in lavalife is basically the things that are assumed to important aspects in choosing a friend/partner. I tried registering to see how the process is like (really, i don't do online dating) and i found out that those short little paragraphs that describe the individual persons are actually Lavalife's way of doing a write up for you according to the choices you have made during the registering process. Things like how many children you want, if you want chidren, how often you smoke if you smoke etcetc are all categories that you pick a choice in. Even race under the category "ethnic background". There are a few races to be chosen from, also the choice of "mixed" and the usual "other". Mixed seems really interesting to me cos you can't specify what mix you are and there's a pretty wide range of ethnicities. These short automated paragraphs are probably Lavalife's way of making the individual profiles seem more human and engaging at first glance, instead of looking at a list of aspects which would probably make it really seem like you're choosing an object instead of a person.

There is also the choice of "prefer not to say" for every category you are asked to make a choice in. This seems to give the people using the service the privilege of privacy but then i would think that if you revealed less about yourself in a service like this, you would be "losing out" as everyone else is making themselves as well known as possible in order to let people reading their profiles make the "best choice" out of the thousands of profiles online.

Although it seems that things such as race are a huge issue when choosing the ideal Lavalife match, i think it could be much worse if Lavalife made its search engine much more detailed and concise. If they didn't just have the age range and region option and they included every category that you had to fill up in the search engine itself, it would make your search result much smaller and also more accurate. But it would also really make it obvious that these things are really important. I guess by making it so that the variety of the search result is as wide as possible is Lavalife's way of trying to expose users to much more alternatives, and in a way it's also fostering diversity through this "forced" exposure.

Menu-Driven Identity Workshop Response

2004-08-25T22:07:00.000+08:00

1. Which categories are available for users to choose from when signing up for Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or in order to use the Second Life gameworld? What presumptions do these categories make about users, and what does the absence of certain categories of identity say?

There are some fields which are necessary to fill in, which includes Name, Gender, Password, Security Question & Answer and Date of Birth (in US format).

In Microsoft and Yahoo! Mail, the language and country are set by default, English and United States, whereas in Second Life there is no need to enter language. However, country is displayed in the Billing Information part, where the user is required to enter a state and city, regardless of the country they select. Microsoft has implemented the function when the country selected is not US, it will automatically refresh the entire webpage to add in or delete the state as well as ZIP code. Yahoo! Mail requires the user to enter a ZIP code regardless of the country chosen.

For the security questions, it is gendered. Microsoft and Yahoo! Mail favors the masculine gender, where the questions include “Father’s middle name”, “Favorite sports team”, “First car or bike”. Second Life’s security questions acts more towards the feminine gender with questions like “Mother’s maiden name”.

I assume that although Microsoft and Yahoo! Mail allows the user to select the language and country which the user belongs to, the default is set to the categories of “White” and “Male”. There is an interesting part about the plans in Yahoo! Mail, where the basic / free category has the image of a female while the paid plans shows images of white and black males.

However for Second Life, no language is chosen (I’m unable to try out to game as I don’t own a credit card =( ) but it’s presumed that the general language is English (the website is in English). Last Name of the user name is bounded by the category which is given, but there were some last names which seem to select the gender, for example relating Baggio and Cruyff to a famous football star. Second Life has a more general category with no relation to race or gender shown deliberately.

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2. What sort of 'identities' are visible in the profiles on Lavalife? How are they displayed? What presumptions does this display make about both the people reading these profiles and those users who made them?

Lavalife has 2 kinds of search categories, (i) Heterosexual and (ii) Homosexual. In these categories, it is split up into 3 types, (1) Dating, (2) Relationship, and (3) Intimate Encounters.

Depending on the region which the user has selected, the search will generate a number of people with the users who signed up and are within the search range. The ethnic background that is most commonly seen is “White”. However there are other ethnic groups such as “Black”, “Asian”, “Other”, “Mixed”, etc…

Under the Dating category, the information displayed shows the Age, Gender, Location, Ethnic Background, Horoscope and Religion. Information on Height and Body Type are also included. Here are some examples on the category Dating:

(1) 24 year old Female, located in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. I'm White, a Pisces and Catholic. I'm 5'6" tall with a few extra pounds. I don't smoke. I drink socially. Last changed Oct 14, 2003.

(2) 26 year old Male, located in New York, New York, USA. I'm mixed, a Leo. I'm 5'11" tall with a fit body. I'm a social smoker. I drink socially. Last changed Aug 5, 2004.

I presume the profile allows readers know the general idea on the people who made their profiles online. Under the different categories and regions, they will be able to look through their profiles and send a message to the person who they are interested in. Some of the users post their photos allowing the general public (people who sign in as Guests) to view them whereas some put as Backstage, which requires an acknowledgement from the user to allow the requester to view it. The general idea is the Ethnic Background, Age, Gender and Location that they belong to.

One interesting thing to note about the images on the 3 categories (Dating, Relationship, Intimate Encounters) are:
(1) Man seeking Woman: All images show only white people
(2) Woman seeking Woman: All images show white and colored people
(3) Man seeking Man: All images show only white people

Menu-Driven Identity Workshop Response

2004-08-25T21:31:00.000+08:00

1. Which categories are available for users to choose from when signing up for Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or in order to use the Second Life gameworld? What presumptions do these categories make about users, and what does the absence of certain categories of identity say?

Yahoo has three options for different email accounts, free – which has a young Asian woman in the picture, ‘Plus’ for $19.99/year – with a white middle-aged man, and ‘Personal’ for $35/year – depicting an aging black male. Do these pictures correspond with the users of each different account? Apart from these, race is not asked for in any of the three sites, although is mentioned in Hotmail’s privacy statement when listing details they will not disclose under any circumstances. Race doesn’t seem to be important when getting an email account (or signing up for an ORPG), especially when demographic distribution can be determined from location. The lack of certain demographic categories (race, income) may simply be due to unimportance in advertising, or to reduce/remove litigation.

In all three sites there is a place to enter your first and last name, however, on Second Life the ‘last name’ is a list box with 145 options. I assume this is so certain users will be of the same family/clan in the game. All sites ask for your date of birth in the American style of month, day, year – although the format is specified to ensure mistakes are not made. Hotmail is the only site that asks for the country/region you are in, Yahoo and Hotmail ask for your zip/postal code, and Second Life doesn’t want to know these details. It seems superfluous to add your country if your zip/postal code is there, as most countries can be placed by looking at the zip/postal code. Hotmail and Second Life have a male/female option for gender, while Yahoo has a third option; ---. Occupation is asked for in Hotmail and Yahoo, and reinforces the norm of getting to know someone by asking them “So, what do you do?” and then judging them on their choice of work.

In Yahoo and Hotmail the secret question has 9 options, with one of them asking “Father’s middle name”. Second Life (6 options), however, goes with the more common question of “Mother’s maiden name”. I know Hotmail used to have the mothers maiden name as a secret question in the past, so why have they changed it? Does the knowledge of your mother’s maiden name/father’s middle name say something about your identity? Personally, I know both, but I think this may be knowledge that daughters would know and not sons (am I right or wrong guys?).

Security: Note that in both the Hotmail and Second Life URLs they both have the prefix https, which means the website is secure, while the Yahoo site doesn’t. Yahoo and Second Life both have options for paying for accounts, by credit card, so it is surprising that Yahoo does not have a secure site, especially as Hotmail does without obtaining the financial details the other to sites collect. There is nothing to prove/assure what you enter in any of the fields is correct (except of course your email address, and your billing details – and even then they may not be yours, regardless of their validity)

3. How much of the "identity" that we can see online for the users on Lavalife is restricted by the overall design of the website? What changes would you suggest in order to "improve" the sorts of identity Lavalife users can construct?

Q2 asks how the profiles are displayed, and people have mentioned how age, gender, race, star sign, and religion are first. However, this is simply due to the way the website is laid out. Most dating services give you a big list, just like the sign in screens for Yahoo and Hotmail, to fill out – but when members are viewing your profile is displayed in a paragraph so as to seem more normal/friendly/personable. I think it would be great (and would ‘improve’ on the site) if users had more options to include – somewhat like the options or Orkut (for those who are not acquainted with Orkut, some of the options include; body art, turn ons/offs, perfect first date, etc). The identity Lavalife users seem to be constructing is purely a physical one, and sure physical characteristics are important, but what’s the point contacting someone purely on their looks? especially if it’s only on their looks and their personality sucks/clashes with yours? I like the option users have of having their photos available ‘back stage’, however this is made trivial by the availability of a ‘slide show’ to flick through photos of attractive women (yes, only women in the slideshow, no men) and pick someone you think is attractive and THEN look at their profile.

Menu-Driven Identity Workshop Response

2004-08-25T17:10:00.000+08:00

Menu-Driven Identity Workshop Response

2004-08-24T21:19:00.000+08:00

Menu Driven Identity - Online Workshop

2004-08-24T16:06:00.000+08:00

What sort of 'identities' are visible in the profiles on Lavalife? How are they displayed? What presumptions does this display make about both the people reading these profiles and those users who made them?
How much of the "identity" that we can see online for the users on Lavalife is restricted by the overall design of the website? What changes would you suggest in order to "improve" the sorts of identity Lavalife users can construct?

It appears as though in order for sites such as Lavalife to exist and remain popular, they must fully emphasise the sexual nature of meetings that can eventuate. Firstly, anybody searching or signing up must initially disclose their sexual preference, which will immediately transfer you to the corresponding database. I think an interesting feature to note was the captions underneath the 'Intimate Encounters' photo when searching in either male for female, female for female or male for male. The diversity in the obvious aims of the captions is fascinating. Secondly the user’s profiles seem to almost 'dehumanise' them, by categorizing them and essentially reducing ones personality into a few words about age, location, income, feelings about children smoking and drinking? These are pretty superficial sort of 'markings', even in the extended list of hobbies etc there is nothing that would allow a reader to really have any idea what the profile would actually be like in 'real' life. In order for this site to actually work to allow people to meet other people with actual ideas and views and real personalities, it needs to shift the emphasis from the fast 'another name in the database' approach created via the drop down menus with standard responses, to a more interactive intelligent platform.

Elektronik – Supersonik, communicating the identity of Molvania

2004-08-24T15:43:00.000+08:00

"The tiny Eastern European republic of Molvania was disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest this year.

"Zladko “Zlad” Vladcik was to perform his very popular techno-ballad, “Elektronik – Supersonik” - described as “a melodic fusion combining hot disco rhythms with cold war rhetoric”."

click here to view

hmm

2004-08-19T21:38:00.000+08:00

ok i missed the workshop this week (profuse apologies) and now everyone's writing about gattaca? can someone please explain to me what's going on? it doesn't say anything in the 'guide to blogging' about writing about gattaca. is this going to be assessed? aargh!!

Changes to this tutorial blog

2004-08-19T14:13:00.000+08:00

Hi Everyone,

New Link
A couple of changes to your tutorial blog. Firstly, you will notice I've added a link to the main Self.Net blog; this contains occassional posts from myself or Karen focusing on items which may be of interest for all students. Also, a number of curious people have found my own personal blog. Since some of you have found it, I may as put a link here, so if anyone else wants a read, you're most welcome (but do keep in mind, this is my personal blog, so isn't always 100% academically orientated!).

Blog Navigation Bar
I'm sure you've all noticed this new Navigation Bar at the top of the blog:

This adds some functions which might make using the tutorial blog easier:

The orange Blogger button will take you directly to Blogger.com.

Entering a search into the empty form box (the white box) and hitting search will search this blog (or whatever blog you are viewing). This should make finding earlier material much easier (only 15 posts remain on the front page, the rest go into the archive, accessible via the links on the side).

Finally, the BlogThis! button will automatically open a window to let you write a blog post.

FollowUp Comments for those Introducing Readings
Just a quick note: most of you who have already introduced readings this week in tutorials have gone back and published your reflection upon the tutorial after it finished. Those who haven't (and those presenting in the coming weeks) please remember that part of your tutorial presentation is to go back to the post you made before the tute and reflect on how well your presentation went (how well the ideas were received; what sort of conversation happened; any ways your ideas about the reading might have changed/expaned). Ideally, this should be done as soon as possible after your tutorial presentation (but really should be before the next meeting of your tutorial). Others are reminded, that they are always welcome to comment on any posts in their tutorial blog and are also welcome to post relevant links/ideas whenever you find things! (oh, and for those of you who've never read other people's comments, give it a go; there are some really interesting dialogues taking place in the comments!).

A reminder:
Before clicking the 'Publish Post' button, if you place the cursor inside the window where you have written your post press either Ctrl+A to select all and then Ctrl+C (on a PC) or Apple+A to select all and then Apple+C (on a Mac), this will place the text you have written in the memory of the computer (this is referred to as placing text on the clipboard). If something goes wrong during the attempt to publish, all you need to do to make the post a second time is place the cursor in the post window and press either Ctrl+V (PC) or Apple+V (Mac) to paste the text from the clipboard into that text box. (Occassionally blogger does 'hang' [which means not finishing the posting function], so it is useful to make this quick backup in order to avoid typing out the entry a second time!)

Gattaca - response

2004-08-18T16:47:00.000+08:00

'Does genetic screening and manipulation as presented in Gattaca evoke a new eugenics? Does this scenario seem credible given the current scientific trends?'

Eugenics has been common to some degree, throughout history. As mentioned in the handout it was a particularly widespread procedure during Nazi Germany, however the manipulation of the gene pool in terms of social constraints if nothing more has always existed. For this reason, the 'new age' eugenics portrayed in Gattaca appears to be nothing more than a natural transition to an ability / policy that is perhaps inevitable with our ongoing technological advancements. The ability to clone and regenerate body parts has already been explored, and no doubt movies such as Gattaca gather their information from the 'current' or proposed / possible trends. As with all issues regarding the manipulation of life in terms of bettering it, or peacefully ending it, a lot of controversy and moral and ethical issues are associated. I have not seen the entire film, but I would query whether it does provide for some sort of conflict regarding the immediate disclosure of a child's vulnerabilities and so on, due to the psychological impact it may have.
From the opening scene in Gattaca it seems as though while a mastering of the genetic code has occurred, the female is still required to physically give birth to a child. For this reason I do not believe a 'liberating' effect has occurred, and serious consequences could arise from such manipulations. For instance in many cultures of the world a son is the much more sought after offspring. If this is the case, would female children become obsolete and therefore bring about a problem in a lack of females and then an issue with the role of reproduction?

Gattaca - Screening, Manipulation, Credibility and Needs

2004-08-18T16:32:00.000+08:00

Does genetic screening and manipulation as presented in Gattaca evoke a new eugenics? Does this scenario seem credible given current scientific needs?

Yes it does if you just look at the handout and its explanation of eugenics. What was eugenics then was just the elimination of 'imperfect' beings and the sterilisation of 'imperfect' beings so that they could not reproduce, on the assumption that they're more like to produce genetically similar offspring. In Gattaca, its having made-to-specifications offspring. And of course any parent would want their child to have 'the best possible start', especially if every other parent is doing the same thing. You wouldn't want your child to lose out to other children and be left behind. The eugenics represented in Gattaca seems to me as immoral as the eugenics of the past. The one factor that probably makes it acceptable is that it doesn't involve the killing of a life. You get a 99% chance of getting the ideal child even before you get down to giving it life. But if i remember correctly, the doctor showed 4 cell clusters on the screen and he said here are 2 boys and 2 girls? I assume that this means depending on the parents' choice of number and gender of offspring, at least 1 of these 'living' cell clusters will be be rid of. Would that be the destroying of a life? This seems to me the kind of topic that would be debated about forever on forums, just like the issue of abortion and whether the foetus is considered a human being or not.

I should think that this scenario is credible at this moment in time. But i can't really think of any scientific need that would warrant this, that would take advantage of this type of eugenics.i think right now, what with the issues surrounding the ethics of stem-cell research, about whether it's ethical/moral to be growing embryoes just to harvest them for stem-cell research benefits, the human race isn't really ready for this kind of eugenics, especially when there isn't a need to justify the means. well no need that i can think of anyway at the moment.

GA-T-T-A-C-A response

2004-08-18T16:26:00.000+08:00

"Human Beings - the next genetically modified product; tailor-made to suit all your parental needs. Satisfaction guaranteed."

This is the suggested future of humankind in Gattaca - reduced to a product of scientific manipulation, and deemed perfect through the refinement of DNA patterns. I think the film does claim that advances in science and technology will inevitably fuel a desire for a "pure" human race and result in a new eugenics. This certainlyseems plausibe, to reach such a state of scientific advancement, but as the film suggests, humanity is not built on genetics alone. The "natural-born" son eventually defies all expectations in being smarter and stronger than his "purer-bred" brother. To view science and biology as the only fundaments of improving the human race is to negate the resilience of the human spirit and the sheer will of mankind for survival and self-betterment. (I guess this boils down to the nature-nurture debate and the equally important role of experience and environment in shaping an individual.) Gattaca suggests a near future that is overly dependent on scientific projections of an individual's survival rate, innate abilities and propensities. But these are merely numbers and statistics of likelihood and inclinations - not certainties. For a society to be governed around such an ideology is not only morally and ethically wrong but also limiting the advancement and furtherment of the race itself. This new eugenics suggests a future that is limited by some governing principle in which a pre-disposition is taken for fact and a medical/scientific certainty. It filters out the notions of free will and choice in shaping one's own life and future, and basically violates basic liberties and freedoms an individual has in choosing his own destiny, as such. I certainly hope that this will not be the case in our not too distant futures.

introduction blog

2004-08-18T15:56:00.000+08:00

Hello all,

Due to my absence at the actual blogging workshop, this is infact my first posting. So yeh, I guess one website that i read regularly would have to be slashdot.org which is really just 'news for geeks'. However my motivation to reading it initially was to learn more about some of the latest technologies, as i think we can all see how prevelant and intergrated into daily life they are becoming.

cheers

Genetic Screening and Modification Response

2004-08-18T15:35:00.000+08:00

Does genetic screening and manipulation evoke a new eugenics? Does this scenario seem credible given current scientific trends?

The screening and manipulation of genes can be argued to be a new eugenics. By definition, eugenics involves modifying and altering the gene pool so as to create a perfect human being. In its most prevalent form we think of Eugenics in terms of the Nazi experimentations on Jews, the purpose of which was to create a 'perfect race.' Although in Gattaca, we witness a different implementation of this idea in essence it is very similar. I would argue that genetic manipulation and screening is new stream of eugenics which has evolved.
Having the ability to pre-determine any disabilities or diseases of a child before it has even been born thereby giving the expecting parents the option of whether or not they wish to actually have the child, the purpose of which is to create the perfect, faultless child. This scenario does not seem that different to the initial motive of eugenics.
In Gattaca, the Doctor comments that the child is still a complete product of the parents- rather it is the creation of their best features combined, what then happens if parents are able to discover every single possible disease and disorder that their child may suffer from? This issue raises a question of ethics, it is not so much a question of having a child with faultless genetics but rather is it morally correct to not have the child because of its genetic faults. With new developments such as IVF enabling thousands of parents to have children, the idea of this new stream of eugenics appearing in the not too distant future is not so far fetched. Although it may not occur to the same extreme, it is foreseeable that parents will one day be able to have more involvement in the genetics of their children .

Gattaca: Eugencis?

2004-08-18T15:11:00.000+08:00

Does genetic screening and manipulation as presented in Gattaca evoke a new eugenics?

Yes it does, like the good doctor said, you could reproduce a thousand times and not get as good a result. But even then, it does not seem like the science is a 100% accurate, while they can control for gender it seems like the important thing for the doctors was that they eliminate any predisposition for fatal illnesses. It also seems however that what might have begun as an effort to prolong the human life had evolved into a marketable comodity. Thus being able to choose the gender of your baby, and even things like controlling for baldness. Which i find really sad. Where's the joy in raising a child if you know exactly what he's going to look like and what he is going to die of?

It is interesting though that vincent's dad marked being worthy not as the sum of your experiences like getting good grades and what not, but by physical strenght? not sure if physical strenght is the right term here, but its the only one i can think of at this moment. Antione (sp?) is worthy of his father's name only because he has the ability to be the "perfect" human being physically. The blood test did not mention anything about intellectual predisposition, or any other features that might consitute the 'perfect' human.

Does this scenario seem credible?

I'm undecided. On the one side, i do think that one day technology will be able to tell us when we are going to die and what we are going to die from seconds after our birth. But i also think that the world will not be so shortsighted as to think that just because you are not born as perfect as science says that you can be, you are not able to amount to anything. Like in the clip, vincent eventually proves to himself and his brother that he is not as weak as he thinks he is, and that his brother is not as strong as they once thought either. Vincent's will and hope seems to have enabled him to overcome the 99% probability that he was going to die at 30+. And jude Law's character as one of these near perfect people is confined to a wheelchair due to an unforseen accident. Bottom line, you can still die young even if were not one of these perfect people. In any case, the issue as today's society might be concerned with is whether it is ethical or not, which opens up a huge debate.

Gattaca: gender and reproduction

2004-08-17T23:13:00.000+08:00

Does the prospect of scientific manipulations of genetics have to be a negative thing in terms of gender? Is there something to be said for 'liberating' women from reproduction?

Manipulations of genetics only seems to be negative in terms of gender because of the stereotypes we attribute to certain characteristics. Take for example (physical) strength - this is normally seen as a masculine trait, where as empathy/sympathy are seen as feminine traits. Strength is normally seen as a positive and generally sought after trait; but because it is also seen as masculine, to genetically enhance a person to have this trait would seen as negative to females/feminine traits. The ability to emp/sympathize with others can be seen as positive, though is often seen as a sign of weakness. Is this because it is assigned to females/femininity? Again, to genetically enhance a person to not have these traits (because they are seen as a sign of weakness), it would again be seen as negative to females/feminine traits (because no one wants to have these traits). Realistically, genetic manipulation is a negative thing in terms of gender.

But of course there is always the other side - if we didn't assign gender to specific traits, especially those that are desirable, then gender manipulation doesn't have to be a negative thing. Another interesting point is the way males and females differ in their thought patterns - one tends to think spatially and mathematically, while the other[1] thinks linguistically and socially. I believe that in this way, the desirable traits are both masculine and feminine, so it could be a positive thing to choose which traits to have (in this case). This is demonstrated later on in the film with the character Irene (Uma Therman).

With regards to liberating women from reproduction, I am somewhat torn on this issue. As Lise pointed out, it may allow for women to be free from the encumbrance of pregnancy and labour/birth to do other things. Alternatively, as Tama pointed out, why bother with females if they aren't needed from reproduction (as the neo-Nazis seem to agree with - women as 'baby making machines'). However, what neither of these arguments take into consideration is childrearing. While genetic manipulation may mean there is no need for humans before birth (except for conception), what happens after birth? In Gattaca the mother still carried the baby (Vincent) to term and cared/raised him as most mothers would. Women have historically been the ones that took care of children and ensured they were safe and educated etc. If a couple with young children divorce the mother tends to get custody[2]. Why would it be any different (in most cases) that after the child is born the mother would take care of it? Pregnancy and childbirth only really stop women from doing whatever they want for 10months at the most, and generally a female can still do most things up to 7-8months into pregnancy. It is the next 18-21years (perhaps even more) that the mother (usually) has to put her life on hold to cater for her offspring.

Another issue to raise; most men think women are brave/strong/massively impressive/etc for being pregnant for 9months and then pushing the bloody (literally) big thing out of such a tiny little hole. Why would any woman want to be liberated from such an achievement? Again, it is during pregnancy that the mother bonds with the child because it is part of her.

Does liberating women from reproduction mean the physicality of pregnancy and labour? or is it more of the deterministic aspects of what makes the child? It is the sperm that determines the sex of the child, however it is equally the male and female gametes that determine the characteristics of the child. Although, it is the females responsibility to not do anything to harm the child while pregnant (e.g. not drinking, smoking, ingesting caffeine, taking drugs, etc).

[1] Why did I automatically use 'the other' in reference to the female thought patters? Why did I list the male thought patterns first?
[2] Not always a good thing, I fully support the Dads who are fighting to gain custody of their children, it is not fair that the mothers get custody simply because historically mothers are the ones that take care of the children.

Gattaca - Genetic Screening and Manipulation

2004-08-17T23:10:00.000+08:00

Does genetic screening and manipulation as presented in Gattaca evoke a new eugenics? Does this scenario seem credible given current scientific trends?

Yes, upon the birth of Vincent, just by drawing a drop of blood, they have determined the health problems that he will be likely to have in later part of his life. However for the second child Antonio, he has the "best" of both parents' genes, minus the negative traits such as heart diseases, as compared to Vincent.

In the short clip of Gattaca, Vincent is found to be "protected" by his parents, so much that even for the slightest illness like a cold, it is also seen as "life-threatening". However for Antonio, he is the "stronger" and "more perfect" sibling out of the two. Unlike Vincent who has 99% risk of heart disease, Antonio does not suffer from the same fate as his brother, due to genetic manipulation even before his birth.

In current scientific trends, genetic screening and manipulation is possible. One advantage is it allows the removal of hereditary diseases.

There are two categories of genetic manipulation - (i) Somatic (ii) Germline

Here are some links if you're interested to find out more information:

Ethical Issues in Genetic Screening

Human Germline Manipulation and Cloning as Women's Issues

Inheritable Genetic Modification

When do Doctors Recommend Genetic Testing?

Gender and genetic manipulations in "Gattaca"

2004-08-17T17:13:00.000+08:00

Does the prospect of scientific manipulations of genetics have to be a negative thing in terms of gender? Is there something to be said for ‘liberating’ women from reproduction?

If the main bodily function that separates male and female, ie. the ability to carry and give birth to a child, is replicated by science, then it could (potentially and in theory) lead to a greater equality, since one function that separates us now would cease to do so. Also, women are often associated with children and care giving, and if children can be created without women, then that association could (potentially and in theory) diminish, leading to a greater equality, and perhaps more acceptance of women who pursue careers which take them out of the home or choose not to have children. I do not, however, think this is very likely, given where we’re at in terms of gender equality in 2004.
There is something to be said for “liberating” women from reproduction (for reasons discussed above) (so only really potentially and in theory), but it could, as Tama suggested, completely negate the need for women altogether (this is assuming that the people who are given the power to manipulate genes are male, as they were in Gattaca). The clip we saw of Gattaca didn’t seem to explore any of this potential, since both male and female genes were needed to create children, and women still carried and gave birth to the children.

Rave/LAN poster

2004-08-16T20:47:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: this isn't an advertisement, I'm not getting anything out of this, I'm not even attending the rave/LAN, I just thought there were some interesting issues to discuss in/about this poster

Click here for the poster
(Edit: sorry guys, the poster was way bigger than I expected so I'll just post the link so you can look at it in a different window)

I have a few questions to put to you:

- Why are the females draped over the male?
- Why is the male in control of the computer (keyboard/mouse)?
- Why was the male not credited as a model (the females are, and he was paid as a model, you might also recognize him from our lectures!)?
- What type of message is sent by the outfits/hair styles of the females?
- What type of message is sent by the outfit/accessories (especially the glasses, as he doesn't actually need/wear them) of the male?
- If the females are cybergoths (like they are dressed to be), why do they need a male to mediate their usage of computers?
- If the male is such a geek, why does he need females hanging off him (most gaming geeks aren't interested in females when gaming because they're distractions)?
- Would/Do females hang off geeks (Are geeks attractive)?
- Does the scripting (the style the details are written in, used to program various computer software) restrict the target audience?
- Does the gender stereotype/portrayal restrict the target audience?
- Are LANs (Local Area Networks; networks of computers, usually used for gaming) seen as masculine or feminine?
- Are raves seen as masculine or feminine?
- Is roleplaying seen as masculine or feminine?

I'll leave this for people to comment on for a week or two, and then will post my answers to the questions. Enjoy :)

mp3 bloggers

2004-08-16T19:56:00.000+08:00

I found this article on the New York Times website; Warner's Tryst With Bloggers Hits Sour Note

It seems confusing to me that the companies that are so imbedded in the legal battles about artists copyright to music and mp3s as stealing are promoting the very thing they are trying to fight against.

Perhaps they have finally realized they will never win, and the internet is the best way for new/small/unheard of bands to become popular.

One of the arguments mp3 downloaders give is that listening to music online (or downloading it) is like sampling an albumn, which if they like, they will then go out and buy. Warner seems to be approving, and to an extent condoning this practice (or is it an excuse?).

What do you think? Would you go to a blog for advice on what to listen to? Is this the commercialization and mainstreaming of another alternative culture? Do you think bloggers will 'sell out'? Do you think it is ethical for people to promote/advertise online without informing their readers/viewers that they (might be) getting something out of it?

Tutorial Presentation1 - "Nobody lives only in cyberspace"

2004-08-15T22:50:00.001+08:00

Lisa McGerty’s article puts forth the idea that in considering gender issues within the internet, one cannot disconnect the offline self with the online self. As the title of her article says, “Nobody live only in cyberspace”, she maintains that the offline interactions or processes leading up to the actual use of the internet itself are just as important in analyzing gender processes as their online interactions. McGerty says that the dichotomy of online and offline is inherently false they have to be studied together, not in isolation.

She also puts forth the idea that identity both offline and online is performative, is there then a line where “reality” and “virtual reality” begins? Is an online identity necessarily different from the offline identity? If they are, can they still be considered as another facet to a person? Like a cross-catergory, one of those hyphenates? Since one is no longer necessarily more real than the other, I am no longer sure.

She asks us to analyse how everyday gendered processes impact the use of the internet, which made me realize that the use is gendered even before the user is on the internet. As she puts it, “gendered, raced, and classed identities continue to have salience in online interactions,” however as yet, its does not seem like internet really challenges certain power structures, rather it renders them invisible.

McGerty’s article seems to raise more questions than to answer them. She proposes a strategy to looking at issues of gender and gender process on the internet; which is to consider online and offline as an intergrated whole and not to assume that one has to end before the other begins. She also stresses the importance of these issues in assisting us to understand how gender dynamics influence our daily lives, and in so doing redress inequalities and exclusion.

Tutorial Presentation 1: Cyberstalking – Gender and Computer Ethics

2004-08-15T21:41:00.000+08:00

The article looks at two aspects: how new computer ethics discipline could benefit from insight into feminist theory and how feminist theory could be used to make a more extended analysis in discussion of computer ethics through examples of cyberstalking.

Feminist ethics applied to computer ethics provides three major alternatives. First is a possibility of countering the technological determinism. Next is continuing inequalities in power and how these are “gendered”. Lastly, an offer to alternative, collective approach to the individualism of the traditional ethical theories encapsulated in computer ethics.

Alison Adams focuses on new analysis of examples from cyberstalking, arguing that the traditional liberal ethical response does not get to the heart of the problem whereas feminist theory may offer a more promising alternative.

In developing various woman-centred approaches to ethnics, the overall aim of feminist ethics is ‘to create a gender-equal ethics, a moral theory that generates non-sexist moral principles, policies and practices’ (Tong 1998).

In all three cyberstalking examples, the female victims felt unhappy about the level of protection that law offers to them. The perpetrators impersonate the victims in anonymous Internet postings, where they defame the victim, sent out postings containing pornographic invitation thereby causing others to display threatening behaviour towards the victims.

Although men can also become victims of anonymous, defamatory postings, the features of the case (Godfrey) shows differing results as compared to the above three examples. This case is not seen as a case of cyberstalking. It revolves around the idea of a consumer winning the lawsuit against the Internet Service Provider.

Tutorial Presentation 1 "Margins in the Wires"

2004-08-15T11:26:00.000+08:00

David Silver's article entitled "Margins in the Wires" explores the nature of race, gender and sexuality and the way in which it is represented through the internet. In order to represent the way in which these concepts are constructed on the internet, Silver discusses the Blacksburg Village, a specific example of the way in which the internet has been utilised as a central means of communication and congregation in a small community in Virginia USA. The Blacksburg Village refers to a group of residents who use the community network not only for correspondence purposes, but also for issues relating to the community itself as well as for consumer purposes.
Referring specifically to the Blacksburg Village, Silver describes the way in which the internet has the ability to exclude specific groups, stating that "the net nation deploys shared knowledge and language to unite against users." He comments that the internet ostensibly coded its users as white male and heterosexual, and thus the village, has missed out on the opportunity to "foster a more diverse network." Silver argues that diversity should be acknowledged and included within the community.

Journalism

2004-08-11T08:55:00.000+08:00

For those people that were interested in blogging and/as journalism, this article from Rebecca Blood might be of interest - it looks at what blogs are, what journalism is, and how the two do and don't coincide.

hi

2004-08-10T13:18:00.000+08:00

greetings,
this is my first blog
go to www.signs-of-the-times.org
k thx

2004-08-10T10:27:00.000+08:00

hey there,
This is all pretty new to me. Im not really the most computer-literate person... but I'll do my best. Have a nice day!

Blog Fiction

2004-08-10T10:26:00.000+08:00

Having raised the issue of using blogs to create (fictional) narrative in yesterday's tutorial, the www has come up with an example for me this morning (via jill/txt). How might blog fiction challenge traditional notions of narrative, or how might it remain within that model?

Newbie to Blogs

2004-08-10T10:22:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

Blogs and Macs are really new to me. *still trying to explore*
Macs really seem cool, compared to what I have (IBM -_-").
This interface seems familiar to the msn group which I used to go to, but everything seems so different?
Oh, is it a must to use Mozilla?

If you would like to know more about Japan, this would be a good site to go to --> Japan Guide

my first blog! (ever!)

2004-08-10T10:19:00.000+08:00

hey there!

the most recent site that i've been to thats really interesting (though not really relevant to this course i must say) is www.prisonexp.org . Its about the standford prison experiment, should check it out, it offers some explanation as to the controversial abuse of iraqi prisoners scandal.

hmm... about bloggers as journalism, i still have my doubts, because of the issue of authenticity and ethics. but i understand the point that blogs are a great watchdog for checking the media and i fully support that. like its been said before, journalism's ideal is to be objective, but its hardly been that way these days, its wonderful to have people out there to remind them what is important, worthy of the news and what is not. I think that blogs work as a great forum as well.

gen. c",)

hello tutorial

2004-08-10T10:13:00.000+08:00

Hi.

This is Lise. The only interesting thing I have to say is that it's my birthday today, hoorah! I don't have a favourite website so Google will have to do.

I am not a Technophile

2004-08-09T15:19:00.000+08:00

Greetings.

Ee-Lin here.

Technology is the bane of my existence. My computer hung during the course of setting this up.
But I shall strive continually for a more harmonious coexistence with machine-kind.

My favourite website: rottentomatoes.
Has fun commentaries on movies.

signing out

this is my self.

2004-08-09T15:18:00.000+08:00

hi. i'm aloy.

er one of the favourite websites i go to is achewood. it's an online comic and it's probably best to read it from the start to get more acquainted with the characters. the creator just recently created blogs for all the different characters in the comic itself. so well i guess that should of at least a little relevance to this unit/blog.

why are we forced to use macs? this is confusing.

yeah so that's it for now.

Bloggers as Journalists?

2004-08-09T15:17:00.000+08:00

This is the article Tama was talking about in the lecture today; Year of the Blog? Web Diarists Are Now Official Members of Convention Press Corps

The New York Times actually requires you to subscribe to read the full article, but registration is free

We actually touched on this topic in our tutorial today...

I think it's great that bloggers and livejournalers (which I am one of) are able to get press passes to events such as these. The media is supposed to be unbiased, objective, and representative of all view points, but this hardly ever happens. I believe it is up to us (the public online) to point out the issues the mainstream press fails to touch on, and to criticize them like the cynical geeks we are!

Welcome to Self.Net everyone! I hope you enjoy the unit that my life seems to be based on and around.

My name is Kate, I am a geek :)

I'm in my third year of of my Arts degree, which is part of a combined course with Education... in other words, I'm going to be a highschool English teacher in a couple of years!

Welcome again!

2004-08-05T10:22:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

I hope you haven't had any problems with joining this blog! If you are signed up, can you please reply to this post so I can get an idea of how it is going (and you have a chance to get used to how things work). If you are having problems, feel free to email me.

Welcome!

2004-08-04T14:03:00.000+08:00

This (we)blog is intended for the Monday, 2pm tutorial group (Karen Hall's group) in the unit Self.Net: Communicating Identity in the Digital Age.