Mar 11, 2008
Creating my avatar took a long time because even though it shouldn't seem too difficult, I found myself seriously debating about what items best represented my online "identity" because it was a representation of me. So everything, down to the last detail, was thought out and everything has a reason. I based my identity choices off who I see myself as now and who I want to be. For example, I picked the outfit based on what I love to wear and the colors I like and I picked the purse because anyone who really knows me knows I love purses. My choice in dogs represents that I am an animal lover but also that I want to always have a dog in my home. My background is what I chose based on who I want to be. I'm not a very good cook, but I want to be able to cook for my family someday, and I believe in sitting down together at the table for meals, so the kitchen may not represent me as a person now (because I'm not motivated to cook or improve my cooking skills, but it is something that I want to become important and I think is important).
Mar 10, 2008
Turkle and Nakamura
According to Turkle, computers profoundly shape our ways of thinking and feeling. They also contribute to how ideas are carried by technology and are reshaped by people for their own purposes. Computers these days are not just changing our lives but also who we are. The internet links millions of people in new spaces that are changing the way we think and form our communities. The ‘life on the screen’ permits us to project ourselves into our own dramas in which we are in control of. Turkle also talks about windows. Windows allow us to be in several contexts at the same time. Another thing this articles brings to our attention is to look at a computer as a calculator; inside it could be mechanically unpacked. But with technology today, computers are not as simple as calculators are. Today it is more than just typing a simple command. We now can paint, crop, fly simulated airplanes cockpits. One of the interesting things while reading this article was how children viewed computer games and then the MUDing with adults. Children knew nothing on the computer was real or lifelike. Children who so effortlessly split consciousness and life are forerunners of a larger cultural movement. On the other hand, adults are out their having cybersex with others while married. Mud’s are a kind of virtual parlor game and a new form of community. The Mud players are their own authors and creators. They become who they want to be and can be as many different people as they want.
This part of the article really got to me. I thought it was kind of disturbing that people were okay with their mate having a sexual experience who another human being. Though it is only words and not actually meeting up the person, they are taking time out of their day, along with wanting and thinking about the act. In another case though, it is a good way to experience what it is like to be the opposite sex. If you are an assertive man it is code for being a bastard and if you are assertive women it is code for modern and together. The double standards of what a women and male should be are something ridiculous. Also, the idea of a person spending 40 hours a week on a computer virtual reality identity is just a waste and appalling to me haha. I feel that is someone wants to be that other person so bad or is that unhappy with themselves that they maybe need to seek help, I do not know. I could not imagine wanting to create another identity or several different ones for that matter and spend numerous hours playing with it. It is like the story about Stewart. Finding someone and having an online date or engagement did not help his social issues or anything else for that matter. It actually hurt him and caused him to have more issues. I think sometimes people get too wrapped up in computer stuff and it is a struggle to get away from it.
After reading the Nakamura article I found that internet does one good thing. Your race is not a factor is anything really. No one has to say what they are unless they want too or asked too unlike when your in person you can clearly see if their black, Asian, or white. It actually gives people a chance and not have to deal with prejudice. Overall, I find it kind of disgusting or creepy that people are so trusting that they will tell or do anything and especially with someone they think they know. They have no clue who is behind the other computer. More young kids these days are taking up adult type activities and if you say your 30 but only 13 and talking to another 30 year old in a sexual manner is just wrong to me and unsafe.
This part of the article really got to me. I thought it was kind of disturbing that people were okay with their mate having a sexual experience who another human being. Though it is only words and not actually meeting up the person, they are taking time out of their day, along with wanting and thinking about the act. In another case though, it is a good way to experience what it is like to be the opposite sex. If you are an assertive man it is code for being a bastard and if you are assertive women it is code for modern and together. The double standards of what a women and male should be are something ridiculous. Also, the idea of a person spending 40 hours a week on a computer virtual reality identity is just a waste and appalling to me haha. I feel that is someone wants to be that other person so bad or is that unhappy with themselves that they maybe need to seek help, I do not know. I could not imagine wanting to create another identity or several different ones for that matter and spend numerous hours playing with it. It is like the story about Stewart. Finding someone and having an online date or engagement did not help his social issues or anything else for that matter. It actually hurt him and caused him to have more issues. I think sometimes people get too wrapped up in computer stuff and it is a struggle to get away from it.
After reading the Nakamura article I found that internet does one good thing. Your race is not a factor is anything really. No one has to say what they are unless they want too or asked too unlike when your in person you can clearly see if their black, Asian, or white. It actually gives people a chance and not have to deal with prejudice. Overall, I find it kind of disgusting or creepy that people are so trusting that they will tell or do anything and especially with someone they think they know. They have no clue who is behind the other computer. More young kids these days are taking up adult type activities and if you say your 30 but only 13 and talking to another 30 year old in a sexual manner is just wrong to me and unsafe.
Nakamura and Turkle Responses
"Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet" by Lisa Nakamura
The internet offers people endless possibilities for communicating with each other. It enables us to control how we are portrayed and represented. Our "self" online may be completely from our true self. We feel we are given more power with creating our own identities online. I don't think places like LambdaMOO are very healthy atmospheres after reading this article. These places let users create characters for themselves. It seems that people just make up someone else. Is their personal identity so bad that they have to create some false person and sit online in a cyberworld being someone else? It's almost scary that people dedicate so much time to these fake worlds instead of just living in the real world. People create their own description; therfore, no one knows the true you. The idea of not mentioning race at all was interesting to me because they want to cross over racial boundaries temporarily and recreationally. It seems like a good idea, though if you can make everything else up, why not just add in race and make that up too. They spoke of the idea of tourism and surfing the web, and how it allows people to travel from their computer screens. It links people to each other in new, different, exciting ways. I found the idea of the incorporation of computers into the white collar workplace diving the line of work and play to be interesting and hilarious because all day my sisters and dad send me forwarded emails from work. They send those forwarded "celebs in wisconsin" and ones that are scary and trick you. I always question them, shouldn't you guys be working? So that was really funny to see mentioned in the article because it hit close to home for me. I don't think the cyberspace communities will ever really take over because they are so far from reality. Sure they are fun for people to spend time doing, but in the back of their minds people must know that they need to get back to the "real world" at some point.
"Who Am We?" by Sherry Turkle
I found it very interesting that she pointed out how the computer has changed so much even in 15 years. 15 years ago it was only used for typing, nowadays it does anything and everything. I'm sure no matter what you were trying to do, somehow it could be done on a computer. I think that programs like Sims and MUD allow people to belive in non-life. It's almost as if technology has taken over and made us all robots or something. We all rely so much on our computers. If the internet is ever down I'm the first one to freak out about not being able to check my emails. I feel like the internet and these types of programs make us unattached from life. We don't know what's real and what is fake anymore. Our "self" is taken over by these "characters" we create. We begin to want these characters to become real, we want to be like them. We idolize these characters, feeling that they are better than ourselves. I just feel that virtual reality has gone too far and some people blur the line between real life and cyberlife.
The internet offers people endless possibilities for communicating with each other. It enables us to control how we are portrayed and represented. Our "self" online may be completely from our true self. We feel we are given more power with creating our own identities online. I don't think places like LambdaMOO are very healthy atmospheres after reading this article. These places let users create characters for themselves. It seems that people just make up someone else. Is their personal identity so bad that they have to create some false person and sit online in a cyberworld being someone else? It's almost scary that people dedicate so much time to these fake worlds instead of just living in the real world. People create their own description; therfore, no one knows the true you. The idea of not mentioning race at all was interesting to me because they want to cross over racial boundaries temporarily and recreationally. It seems like a good idea, though if you can make everything else up, why not just add in race and make that up too. They spoke of the idea of tourism and surfing the web, and how it allows people to travel from their computer screens. It links people to each other in new, different, exciting ways. I found the idea of the incorporation of computers into the white collar workplace diving the line of work and play to be interesting and hilarious because all day my sisters and dad send me forwarded emails from work. They send those forwarded "celebs in wisconsin" and ones that are scary and trick you. I always question them, shouldn't you guys be working? So that was really funny to see mentioned in the article because it hit close to home for me. I don't think the cyberspace communities will ever really take over because they are so far from reality. Sure they are fun for people to spend time doing, but in the back of their minds people must know that they need to get back to the "real world" at some point.
"Who Am We?" by Sherry Turkle
I found it very interesting that she pointed out how the computer has changed so much even in 15 years. 15 years ago it was only used for typing, nowadays it does anything and everything. I'm sure no matter what you were trying to do, somehow it could be done on a computer. I think that programs like Sims and MUD allow people to belive in non-life. It's almost as if technology has taken over and made us all robots or something. We all rely so much on our computers. If the internet is ever down I'm the first one to freak out about not being able to check my emails. I feel like the internet and these types of programs make us unattached from life. We don't know what's real and what is fake anymore. Our "self" is taken over by these "characters" we create. We begin to want these characters to become real, we want to be like them. We idolize these characters, feeling that they are better than ourselves. I just feel that virtual reality has gone too far and some people blur the line between real life and cyberlife.
Creating My Avatar
I had actually created my avatar about a month or two ago after some serious convincing by my sisters. I thought it sounded really dumb, but they told me it was so much fun. Once I started, I got really involved in creating my avatar. I spent a long time deciding what hairstyle, outfit, accessories, background, etc. to choose. I would pick one and then decide to change it. I can't tell you how many times I changed my avatar around. It was really fun to do. I was really impressed by how much it looked like me.
Nakamura andTurkle Reading
The Nakamura reading talked about Identity tourism. Going beyond the concept of anyomonity, it gives users the chance to stretch their boundaries on their own identities, crossing gender and racial lines to become anything. This has become an important tool in helping to track down online sexual predators by police personnel becoming different ages and genders to impersonate a minor and lure them to arrest. I don't think race should be a mandatory option when playing these games. I believe that racial tension is stronger than gender tension and that in this "race-free" fantasy, you should be able to remain anonomous and if you choose to describe yourself using race, then you need to be prepared for some tension because you will encounter people who are ignorant and will speak their mind. But you can't impose legislations on things like this because you can't trace it back to one person and that person can certainly enter the game again under a new identity and it would just be time-consuming. I'm not saying that it is right, but the internet is too vast and as the article states, race "should not be "necessary" to socially interact on the community.
In Turkle's article, I really agree with the statment that "computer screens are the new location for our fantasies and are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking." Although I've never had an onscreen MUD or anthing of that sort, I can understand "escaping" from real life to enter a place where anything is possible.......where I can be anybody. I remember first entering a chat room (I think I was around 12 years old) and telling everyone I lived in California or Australia......I never wanted to reveal where I really lived or who I really was (I always said I was older) because to me it was cool to be a different person and have people believe it. The article also stated that "creating screen personae is thus an opportunity for self-expression, leading to her feeling more like her true self when decked out in an array of virtual masks." It is an opportunity to be what you might have been. For example, if you've always wanted to be a writer but afraid to present your work, fanfiction.net allows you to be a writer without the pressure because you can stop or continue a story with ease and it still reaches an audience without the risk of real-life letdowns or embarassments. However, this can also be a negative thing, because too much time spent in this imaginary world only projects what you are lacking in real life with no improvement methods available in the fantasy world. As to the question whether technology is really "alive." I think I, like most people, believe that computers have a certain kind of intelligence that can rival even the smartest person, but for me, in order for something to be alive, it must have its own conscious and its own soul......no technology can replace decisions based on values and morals......technology bases it on facts but the easiest or most logical decision isn't always the right one. Something that is alive must be able to feel pain or remorse and many hard decisions are based on the emotions and morals of a person.......no computer could copy that.
In Turkle's article, I really agree with the statment that "computer screens are the new location for our fantasies and are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking." Although I've never had an onscreen MUD or anthing of that sort, I can understand "escaping" from real life to enter a place where anything is possible.......where I can be anybody. I remember first entering a chat room (I think I was around 12 years old) and telling everyone I lived in California or Australia......I never wanted to reveal where I really lived or who I really was (I always said I was older) because to me it was cool to be a different person and have people believe it. The article also stated that "creating screen personae is thus an opportunity for self-expression, leading to her feeling more like her true self when decked out in an array of virtual masks." It is an opportunity to be what you might have been. For example, if you've always wanted to be a writer but afraid to present your work, fanfiction.net allows you to be a writer without the pressure because you can stop or continue a story with ease and it still reaches an audience without the risk of real-life letdowns or embarassments. However, this can also be a negative thing, because too much time spent in this imaginary world only projects what you are lacking in real life with no improvement methods available in the fantasy world. As to the question whether technology is really "alive." I think I, like most people, believe that computers have a certain kind of intelligence that can rival even the smartest person, but for me, in order for something to be alive, it must have its own conscious and its own soul......no technology can replace decisions based on values and morals......technology bases it on facts but the easiest or most logical decision isn't always the right one. Something that is alive must be able to feel pain or remorse and many hard decisions are based on the emotions and morals of a person.......no computer could copy that.
Mar 9, 2008
Creating My Avatar
Creating my avatar took a long time because even though it shouldn't seem too difficult, I found myself seriously debating about what items best represented my online "identity" because it was a representation of me. So everything, down to the last detail, was thought out and everything has a reason. I based my identity choices off who I see myself as now and who I want to be. For example, I picked the outfit based on what I love to wear and the colors I like and I picked the purse because anyone who really knows me knows I love purses. My choice in dogs represents that I am an animal lover but also that I want to always have a dog in my home. My background is what I chose based on who I want to be. I'm not a very good cook, but I want to be able to cook for my family someday, and I believe in sitting down together at the table for meals, so the kitchen may not represent me as a person now (because I'm not motivated to cook or improve my cooking skills, but it is something that I want to become important and I think is important). Here's the link......I don't know if I did it right....
http://avatars.yahoo.com/
http://avatars.yahoo.com/
Yahoo Avatar
Creating my own Avatar was both fun and exhausting. I found myself taking it really seriously, and trying hard to best represent what I'm about. I don't really know if I was able to fully accomplish that, but I think I did OK for my first try at it.
This helped me to better understand how people can go online and really be whomever they wish to be. It probably helps some step away from the mundane hum-drum of their everyday lives. The options for clothing, accessories, backgrounds, etc. seemed to be never-ending. It really was a neat experience, though, trying to showcase who I am through a computer image.
Here's the link...
This helped me to better understand how people can go online and really be whomever they wish to be. It probably helps some step away from the mundane hum-drum of their everyday lives. The options for clothing, accessories, backgrounds, etc. seemed to be never-ending. It really was a neat experience, though, trying to showcase who I am through a computer image.
Here's the link...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)