When I read, and re-read this Second Life article not only was I disturbed I was so disturbed I almost didn’t respond this week to the article. I am so angry with the position women take and need to take in a virtual world like this one, according to the creator. As a woman I just think, what woman would even play this game? It’s obvious it’s made by a man- well dog, and for a dog. Even when Daria wanted to find a rabbit, her rabbit had sexual connotations. How disgusting is this? So gross. Just as the introduction of this article points out John Lesters invention is a creative world with no real point. The title should be changed to reality not just knee high boots and six pack abs, but sell sex buy sex it’s that easy. In this paper, we understand gender as being performed through our actions, behaviors, and choices; we do gender.
“But it is a situated doing, carried out in the virtual or real presence of others who are presumed to be oriented in its production... [gender is conceived of] both as an outcome of and a rationale for various social arrangements and as a means of legitimating the one of the most fundamental divisions of society” (West & Zimmerman, 1987, p. 126). Thus, gender is 'achieved, not given' (Eller, 2003, p. 90) within specific social circumstances and power arrangements. Judith Butler (1990) points out that the signs of gender are performed in response to our acceptance of shared discursive constructions. Gendered actions are, according to Butler, not the expression of an “internal core or substance” (p. 85). We might take them as such (which might contribute to their power), but in our understanding they are rather ways of positioning the self within a specific social environment. I see it day to day women struggling with their beauty and what society is beginning to define, and accept as okay. Plastic surgery and new face transplants, I am just scared with games like this, will it become the norm?
This article was disturbing, because it represents a world I do not want to see or hear about in my lifetime.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
step into my office...
My first response to the ‘doctors one liners was, this sounds so CREEPY! The answers the computer responds to the girl in the article were pure guesses. I truly don’t think the computer could answer ANY of the patients questions if a person hadn’t programmed it to do so. I think what’s interesting is I’ve used computer programs that actually ‘predict’ or give advice, much like a palm reader or eight ball. I can’t believe I used them, especially because the computer makes you wait while it ‘thinks’ about the response it’s giving you. So, really I would use this Eliza program once those ‘crinks’ were worked out. The reason I would use it is because what makes us trust a human and not a computer as a response unit? Essentially we assume, well a doctor has a phd. and thus that education makes us trust her responses. Well, a computer is programmed with the same knowledge. Is it body language and eye contact, tone of voice and emotional connection that are missing? I think the article makes a great point, when grappling with the ideas from the 1960’s, about the possibility of computers ‘taking over’. “The concern that machines will take over not just the jobs that provide us income, but also those cognitive and emotional functions we closely associate with humanity, is a particular worry of the computer era-one that was highlighted for Weizenbaum by the way some suggested that Doctor should be employed as an actual therapist.” I am so confused, yet again, as my stance shifts back and forth on my opinion of computers doing ‘human’ jobs. I think if it benefits people, we should embrace the change. If it doesn’t make sense to do so, then we should shy away. However, as the article points out, this was a prediction that programs similar to the Eliza-doctor program would be apparent by 2000, and we have outstretched that with programs like secondlife and interactive videogames. When cell phones first came out I can remember people griping and complaining left and right, but now everyone including grandparents, have a cell phone. Therefore, given time, Im sure people would acclimate, because curiousity cannot be masked for long
Saturday, March 12, 2011
obama backs new attempt to stop facebook bullys
Here is a quote from the article from CNN discussing the new attempt to stop bullying on facebook. "Today's summit is about collaboration and being innovative in the ways in which we address safety," the networking giant wrote on its Facebook Safety page. "We hope these new resources will help all of us -- parents, teachers, kids, safety experts, and Facebook itself -- work together to create safer environments."
I am so happy to read this improvement they have made to facebook! It was scaring me seeing how kids are effected by online bullying. A great point they make is that bullying shouldn’t be reaching childrens homes or phones. The social reporting feature is a private message kids can report on photos or messages. This article could have been better if they included some statistics about the impact social bullying has had on children in the past. However I understand this is a new development they are introducing and was a quick glimpse at what’s to come.
I am so happy to read this improvement they have made to facebook! It was scaring me seeing how kids are effected by online bullying. A great point they make is that bullying shouldn’t be reaching childrens homes or phones. The social reporting feature is a private message kids can report on photos or messages. This article could have been better if they included some statistics about the impact social bullying has had on children in the past. However I understand this is a new development they are introducing and was a quick glimpse at what’s to come.
Friday, March 11, 2011
“It is never quite true to say that in modern societies, when a social need has been demonstrated, its appropriate technology will be found. This is partly because some real needs, in any particular period, are beyond the scope of existing or foreseable scientific and technical knowledge. “
With inovation we create new technology based on what has already been invented in the past. We develop this technology based on what is neccesary. For instance, the more people need to commute to the city for work the more they will need their phone to receive email and go online. As we define time in turn we define our needs in technology.Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a societies techonology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Reading this article reminded me of the evolution of media article from the first week of class. This article was hard for me to disect however I can appreciate the idea of technological determinism. “A key idea that technological determinsm carries is that technology has ‘effects’ on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced. “ WE work around technology, it doesn’t work around us.
“Strict adherents to technological determinism do not believe the influence of technology differs based on how much a technology is or can be used. Instead of considering technology as part of a larger spectrum of human activity, technological determinism sees technology as the basis for all human activity.”
With inovation we create new technology based on what has already been invented in the past. We develop this technology based on what is neccesary. For instance, the more people need to commute to the city for work the more they will need their phone to receive email and go online. As we define time in turn we define our needs in technology.Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a societies techonology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Reading this article reminded me of the evolution of media article from the first week of class. This article was hard for me to disect however I can appreciate the idea of technological determinism. “A key idea that technological determinsm carries is that technology has ‘effects’ on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced. “ WE work around technology, it doesn’t work around us.
“Strict adherents to technological determinism do not believe the influence of technology differs based on how much a technology is or can be used. Instead of considering technology as part of a larger spectrum of human activity, technological determinism sees technology as the basis for all human activity.”
“It is never quite true to say that in modern societies, when a social need has been demonstrated, its appropriate technology will be found. This is partly because some real needs, in any particular period, are beyond the scope of existing or foreseable scientific and technical knowledge. “
With inovation we create new technology based on what has already been invented in the past. We develop this technology based on what is neccesary. For instance, the more people need to commute to the city for work the more they will need their phone to receive email and go online. As we define time in turn we define our needs in technology.Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a societies techonology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Reading this article reminded me of the evolution of media article from the first week of class. This article was hard for me to disect however I can appreciate the idea of technological determinism. “A key idea that technological determinsm carries is that technology has ‘effects’ on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced. “ WE work around technology, it doesn’t work around us.
“Strict adherents to technological determinism do not believe the influence of technology differs based on how much a technology is or can be used. Instead of considering technology as part of a larger spectrum of human activity, technological determinism sees technology as the basis for all human activity.”
With inovation we create new technology based on what has already been invented in the past. We develop this technology based on what is neccesary. For instance, the more people need to commute to the city for work the more they will need their phone to receive email and go online. As we define time in turn we define our needs in technology.Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a societies techonology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
Reading this article reminded me of the evolution of media article from the first week of class. This article was hard for me to disect however I can appreciate the idea of technological determinism. “A key idea that technological determinsm carries is that technology has ‘effects’ on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced. “ WE work around technology, it doesn’t work around us.
“Strict adherents to technological determinism do not believe the influence of technology differs based on how much a technology is or can be used. Instead of considering technology as part of a larger spectrum of human activity, technological determinism sees technology as the basis for all human activity.”
Thursday, March 10, 2011
japanese love their avatars
This article examined second life avatars- a digital representation of a material body, without limits of time and space. It reports how various cultures chose their avatars looks, and what characteristics seem to denote world beauty (if any) I was so elated while reading the article Just like me only better this week! It was so interesting on so many levels, at times obvious at other times startling and verging upsetting. Something I found interesting was that during the process of making their avatars, people chose mainly human avatars (over animal choices) and almost all very closely resembled the makes actual look. One Chinese avatar had eleven ears, which I found hilarious, and when glancing at the tables it seems Japanese rank high in creating avatars. What was a bit upsetting was reading that practically all the women’s avatars had longer hair and were slimmer than the actual people creating the avatars. The men made their avatars with large biceps and shirtless, showing the ‘typical’ standard of beauty from both genders.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
“In short, an individual will be motivated to use the Internet if he or she believes it will help serve his or her objectives to socialize with other people. The vast majority of participants stated they use SNS because they are an efficient way to communicate with friends. One participant stated, “if you want to spread news quickly about an event or something, you can do it very easily on MySpace.” Many users take pleasure in this capacity for dispersing messages to multiple friends at one time. As one participant put it, “with MySpace I can tell the same thing to everyone, which prevents a million questions being asked.”
IT seems from reading the article that the main reasons the subjects used myspace was out of laziness, not wanting to have a long conversation, to communicate to large groups of people and avoid questions. It seems ironic that the social network actual can limit socialibility! I am a phone person, and never turn down a long conversation, so this must be why I am not so into facebook! There were also responses like using facebook to check up on people from high school, use myspace to avoid an expensive long distance phone bill, or to stalk crushes! We know the obvious that myspace can be a great way to network for jobs, or meet new friends.
Another interesting purpose users mention was to check up on roommates and who they were friends with prior to the housemate renting from them. I was looking to rent a room from a couple and when I went to check out the room for the first time, they had my myspace profile up on their computer! They said “”Oh we looked you up online, just to see if we knew any of the same people.” It turned out we did, I didn’t know if I was disturbed that they were investigating me or thankful they were trying to bond with their new housemate. Unlike most people, I never saw the film Social Network, however the information about how Facebook first began as a Harvard-only social network was interesting. ).” In 2005 Facebook opened access to high school students and in 2006 opened the site to the general public and introduced communities for commercial organizations (Smith, 2006). By 2007, Facebook was reported to have more than 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views a day”
I also looked up the statistic on http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics and found that the current number of facebook users is over 500 million! Some new information I gained after reading the article is that in less than four years facebook has jumped from having 21 million users to over 500 million! That means an 25 fold increase!!!! Wow.Also, approximately 50 percent of those users log in everyday. Seventy percent of it’s users live outside the United States! This information was so interesting and I really really enjoyed this weeks topic! Thanks for reading my lengthly disperse J
IT seems from reading the article that the main reasons the subjects used myspace was out of laziness, not wanting to have a long conversation, to communicate to large groups of people and avoid questions. It seems ironic that the social network actual can limit socialibility! I am a phone person, and never turn down a long conversation, so this must be why I am not so into facebook! There were also responses like using facebook to check up on people from high school, use myspace to avoid an expensive long distance phone bill, or to stalk crushes! We know the obvious that myspace can be a great way to network for jobs, or meet new friends.
Another interesting purpose users mention was to check up on roommates and who they were friends with prior to the housemate renting from them. I was looking to rent a room from a couple and when I went to check out the room for the first time, they had my myspace profile up on their computer! They said “”Oh we looked you up online, just to see if we knew any of the same people.” It turned out we did, I didn’t know if I was disturbed that they were investigating me or thankful they were trying to bond with their new housemate. Unlike most people, I never saw the film Social Network, however the information about how Facebook first began as a Harvard-only social network was interesting. ).” In 2005 Facebook opened access to high school students and in 2006 opened the site to the general public and introduced communities for commercial organizations (Smith, 2006). By 2007, Facebook was reported to have more than 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views a day”
I also looked up the statistic on http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics and found that the current number of facebook users is over 500 million! Some new information I gained after reading the article is that in less than four years facebook has jumped from having 21 million users to over 500 million! That means an 25 fold increase!!!! Wow.Also, approximately 50 percent of those users log in everyday. Seventy percent of it’s users live outside the United States! This information was so interesting and I really really enjoyed this weeks topic! Thanks for reading my lengthly disperse J
Friday, March 4, 2011
Community Media
“Disinterest in politics means that interest has shifted to other domains-to the private world, to community affiliations and networks, to the activist domains where citizens feel as though they do have power.” I think of the recent riots in Egypt and the role facebook played in the process of communication amongst the citizens. It was a media form that they had control over, and allowed them to communicate with one another.
Youtube comes to mind as I read this quote from “Community Media.” Another interesting point I found was “if communication was not just one way from politicians to the people, but from the people to the politicians, then the dynamics of politics would change in such a way that politics would (hopefully) become more responsive.” As I read this the question comes to mind, who would control the mass numbers of emails, videos and hits per webpage once this was implemented? Additionally, it’s been hundreds of years this form of democracy has ruled the US, although I see changes in the way we are involved in politics as a whole, I do think it would take a miracle for politicians to allow community talks on decision making process’.
“Community media also shows us that not everyone thinks the same way we do. It brings to the surface opinions and activities that we may not agree with. We might not want to know the people who think differently from us, but if we are able to see their thoughts and opinions on a more regular-and personal-basis, we might be less surprised by the world. And the democratic process would at least appear to be working, even when it didn’t go our way. Can community media democratize democracy? In many respects, it is already doing its part and showing us what is going on at the level of the individual and community. “ This quote from the reading really made an impact on me. It is so true that if people are forced to see other peoples way of life, it will allow us to be more open minded, but being close-minded is a sort of self preservation humans have done for ages. I think of my great-grandmother and when she found out my first boyfriend was African American, her reaction was “Oh no.” She was from Italy, and she was very close-minded in her thinking of mixing races. I think that democracy Is the choice to view what we want, when we want, however the news we are subject to now, unless bbc, world news, it is fairly limited to local happenings.
“Disinterest in politics means that interest has shifted to other domains-to the private world, to community affiliations and networks, to the activist domains where citizens feel as though they do have power.” I think of the recent riots in Egypt and the role facebook played in the process of communication amongst the citizens. It was a media form that they had control over, and allowed them to communicate with one another.
Youtube comes to mind as I read this quote from “Community Media.” Another interesting point I found was “if communication was not just one way from politicians to the people, but from the people to the politicians, then the dynamics of politics would change in such a way that politics would (hopefully) become more responsive.” As I read this the question comes to mind, who would control the mass numbers of emails, videos and hits per webpage once this was implemented? Additionally, it’s been hundreds of years this form of democracy has ruled the US, although I see changes in the way we are involved in politics as a whole, I do think it would take a miracle for politicians to allow community talks on decision making process’.
“Community media also shows us that not everyone thinks the same way we do. It brings to the surface opinions and activities that we may not agree with. We might not want to know the people who think differently from us, but if we are able to see their thoughts and opinions on a more regular-and personal-basis, we might be less surprised by the world. And the democratic process would at least appear to be working, even when it didn’t go our way. Can community media democratize democracy? In many respects, it is already doing its part and showing us what is going on at the level of the individual and community. “ This quote from the reading really made an impact on me. It is so true that if people are forced to see other peoples way of life, it will allow us to be more open minded, but being close-minded is a sort of self preservation humans have done for ages. I think of my great-grandmother and when she found out my first boyfriend was African American, her reaction was “Oh no.” She was from Italy, and she was very close-minded in her thinking of mixing races. I think that democracy Is the choice to view what we want, when we want, however the news we are subject to now, unless bbc, world news, it is fairly limited to local happenings.
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