Actually, I haven't tried to upload the homeworks to weblog in pervious lectures. This course offers me a new method to try it. Honestly, I think that we need to upload homework to weblog is quite troublesome. However, I find the advantages of weblog after I use it to share my homeworks with my classmates. If we can't get their points in their presentation, we can comment on their post to ask them. It is quite convenient. Also, I can read other's homework to learn from others.
"Cyborg" this term is learned from this course. I am definitely a cybrog! In my life, I always play games, Msn, surf internet, talk phone etc. All these kind of things need to operate with machines. Once time, I went out for dinner, but I did not bring my mobile phone with me. I felt very anxious and inconvenient at whole night! So, I found that I were a cyborg for a long time. It showed that I could not live without machine. One day if I will lose my computer, mobile phone, I can not imgaine that what will I do in my daily life. How can I keep contact with my friends? How can I type and submit my homeworks?
Overall, I can gain some new knowledge from this course. I kown more about the relationship between the technology and us. However, I can not identify what differences between this course and other courses in communication studies. They seem very similar. This course's some theories maybe so difficult to understand, I can not get the main point in some lectures.
This is my first time to use the weblog for learning purpose. Although it is quite time-consuming to upload my webliography and outline of presentation, it indeed serves as a platform for me to know how well my classmates are doing their webliograpy. I can compare and contrast the difference of answering the questions of webliography with my classmates’ work. Moreover, I can have the preliminary notions of the coming presentation by browsing the outline of presentation.
Undoubtedly, I admit I am a cyborg who relies on the technology. I will be very uncomfortable if I forget to bring my mobile phone and my computer loses the connection with the internet. Technology is part of my life and I cannot live without it.
The course in general is quite difficult for me because it consists of many difficult concepts which I haven’t known before. However, the assignments and readings provide me the opportunity to investigate the theories into depth.
In the first lesson, I had been told that the course was difficult to me. I shocked with this message. When we were told to create an account in weblog, I was glad to use it. It was because that was my first time to use such technology. I thought I could do well in the blog. It gave us an opportunity to share our learning process on the internet. It allowed me to establish my own online community.
Nowadays, many people relied on the technology, without exception, I was one of them. I relied on internet, computer, even the glasses I am wearing. Lots of the things I used let me think that: Am I still a “purely” human? It is hard to deny that I am not a cyborg.
Overall, I am quite interested in this course because it told me what is the internet about and it lets me think more about the technologies I used. However, I thought it is difficult for me to memorize those “theorized” things I already knew.
Time fly, we come to the end of our course, self. net, such a difficult subject, we go through many strange and new theories together in these 12 weeks, it gave me a new way of thinking and understand about my identity. This course introduce some new concepts for me, such as post human and cyborg... etc. It gave me an opportunity to rethink the reality and cyberspace.
I gain and earn a lot by doing the assignment and the readings are a good tool for me to understand more about my identity and gender. Now, i am no doubt about i am a cyborg.
Using the blog for virtual communication is a good chance for us to support and understand our classmate. We exchange our opinion toward the course and share the reading outline here, are an effective way for us to learn.
During 12 weeks of teaching, from the first lesson, Introduction to Cyborgs to the last lesson, post human. i think this course is worth for us to study which it can help me to know more about "self" from virtual to reality. And when I come to the discussion of cyborg in the first lesson, Wesley said that people who wear glasses are cyborg, and I looked around I found most of my classmates wore glasses! Are they cyborg? And I think if wearing glasses are cyborg, how about me? I AM WEARING CONTACT LENS, OH they are sticking on my eyes ball...
Also I think this course is interesting as every students of this course need a blog. A weblog for academic use is the first time. But I think beside we post our presentation outline and assignment works, the lecturer can encourage us to post something that is related to this course whenever we find anything interesting while browsing on web or from newspaper, that we can fully use of the functions of weblog.
It is the time we are going to the end of this unit. This unit provide me a opportunity to know more about Cyberspace, Cyborg and online communication. Those readings and material help me to understand the concept within gender, cultural and communication studies which relate to cyberspace and identity.
As we learn the theory of Cyborg in first two lessons. I am wearing glass. So, I believe that I can classify into Cyborg, since glass is type of machine. It helps me to see the thing clear. I cannot live without glass.
This webblog is useful for sharing the ideas in learning this unit. It would help us to know more about other classmates opinions. This webblog is just like the virtual community for us. We would have sharing our feeling, ideas and information via the blog and we do put the time on engaging with the blog and the unit.
Smart mobs the power of the mobile many by Howard Rheingold
Howard Rheingold is the introducer of “smart mobs”. He states that “Smart mobs consist of people who are able to act in concert even if they don’t know each other”. A few worldwide examples are used to illustrate the concept of smart mobs including Philippine, Britain, Toronto and so on. Smart mobs use many of the current technologies to spread out certain idea. It is easily found in protests.
The idea of “netwars” is similar to smart mobs since they are both created by the network. The “swarming” strategies mean many small units work together with some purposes. Wearable news-gathering system is related to peer-to-peer journalism. Swarm intelligence talks about the power of group activity rather than individual.
Questions are raised by the writer at the end: 1. What do we know now about the emergent properties of ad hoc mobile computing networks, and what do we need to know in the future? 2. What are the central issues for individuals in a world pervaded by surveillance devices – in terms of what we can do about it? 3. What are the long-term consequences of near-term political decisions on the way we’ll use and be affected by mobile, pervasive, always-on media?
“Cyborg Citizen: Posthuman Possibilities” by Chris Hables Gray
Within certain technologically determined limits, we can socially construct the future we choose. The process of choosing, however, is profoundly political and therefore it is anything but straight-forward
Subjectivities of posthumanity -Talk about the different attitudes towards cyborgs in different cultures -Bodies can be remade technologically
Carnival Cyborg -Humans have always aspired to be cyborgs and we have always feared that aspiration -Cyborging ourselves is costuming ourselves from the inside out, a disturbing technocarnival with permanent consequences -We are a cyborg society of tools, machines, and organisms but we deny it -Cyborging is something we do to ourselves as well as the world -Cyborgs are invented as new technosciences
The future is not yet written -Cyborg politics are about power, as all politics are. Power is both coercive and constructive -Knowledge is power. Knowledge as power moves from the specific to the general and back again -Knowledge is situated. Specific types of cyborgization have their own histories and implications -Meanings are constructed, which means they can be chosen
Cyborgization will not make us like gods, but we may be able to live better and longer than any human or protohuman has before
The use of weblogs for learning purposes is the first time happened in my study time. I think it is a quite innovative learning experience. However, the posts were assessable and compulsory, seemed not to meet the purpose and nature of blogging. We did not use it as a typical blogger would, such as we did not discuss or give any opinions on current events, but we need to meet the requirement for the unit. The blog was just the medium to submit assignments, not a forum for debate, opinion or even simple conversation. On the other hand, it has been helpful reading outlines of tutorial presentations before the actual in-class discussion.
As I believe myself to some extent of a 'cyborg' after all the theoretical analysis, I have to remark on how prevailing the internet and cyberspace really is. I am also excited by all the virtual communities. I really do consider that the internet is an extension of our physical reality.
I disliked most about the course was that we begun with the early heavy theoretical issues. They were totally unfamiliar to me and frightened me off a bit. But as we continued, I found the topics and theories really related to my daily life, which made it much easier to identify with them.
"As We Become Machines: corporealized pleasures in video games" By Martti Lahti
Suggestion:
A "new cyborgian relationship" between players and technology is attempted to erase the boundary between the virtual and the real.
Claims:
video games as a unique "paradigmatic site for producing, imaging and testing different kinds of relations between the body and technology in contemporary culture."
"games actually anchor our experience and subjectivity firmly in the body or in an ambiguous boundary between the body and technology."
Her argument consists of two view points:
1. the dissolution of the boundary between players and the game world.
3D graphics, rumble packs, joysticks, pedals and wheels produce the physical immersion with the game world. --> "corporatization of perception”.
First person point of view -->representation of their bodies.
The bodily experience will create “a hybrid condition resonant with the cyborg”.
2. video games encourage a merger between perspectives and subjectivities with the onscreen world.
The virtual self can be created and customized
The pleasure-->the ability to control and construct the body we desire, the ability to ‘try on’ different bodies and to ‘trespass or toy with racial and sexual boundaries’.
Conclusion:
Video games focus on an immaterial and disembodied vision in a virtual world but at the same time offer players to rethink our “bodies.
"the body is a site where sensory stimuli are registered"
Video games WILL NOT turn players into cyborgs
but build up a close relationship with each others.
Hot dates and fairy-tale romances studying sexuality in video games will discuss in the following:
Final Fantasy IX and The Sims will be used for case study.
- Players are encouraged position themselves in as the character.
- Different expectation of man and woman in game.
Final Fantasy IX: - The main character( Zidane) is heterosexual. - Potential problems addressed when played by different players. - Woman used for rescue Male from gayness.
The Sims: - More liberate game - Reaffirm social norms - Possible pairing allowed - Different language used in different type of sexuality.
My assigned readings is "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life" by dannah boyd.
My presentation is basically separated into numerous parts in accodance to the readings, and they are:
1. Introduction 2. Methodology and Demographics 3. The Making of Social and Network Sites 4. Profiles, Friends, and Comments 5. Networked Publics 6. Initiation: Profile Creation 7. Identity Performance 8. Writing Identity and Community Into Being 9. Privacy in Public: Creation MY Space 10. But why there? 11. Conclusion
My assigned reading for the presentation is “The virtual community” by Howard Rheingold.
The article can briefly divided into two parts, the first section covered how the author make use of internet, how he interact with the virtual community in his online or offline time, his observation towards the virtual communities, and the potential benefits that the virtual communities can bring to us.
The second part of the article talks about the development of virtual communities. In the beginning there are small number of computers start to form a network for the American Military research institution, then the computer conferencing technology change the way who people communicate. After civilians put a lots of affords to build up the telecom networks, the bulletin-board systems (BBSs) appears and it allows general citizens to make communication through internet. As there are particular number of people formed different kind of virtual discussion BBSs, virtual communities like WELL start to be formed. As the computer technology is improving, virtual community brings revolutionary changes to the way how people communicate to others.
The reading I am going to present is "A Rape in Cyberspace; or How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into a society." written by Julian Dibbell.
The narration of the "virtual" rape.
Background of the criminal and virtims
Punishment of the criminal, Mr Bungle
Different opinions from technoliberstarians, anarchists, wizards and other MOOers
The consequence of Mr Bungle
The changes of the writer toward "virtual" rape and LambdaMOO
We are living in an age which technology dominant our lives. In the past centuries, people’s living standard improved by wisely use of technology. Now, people start to further enhance human life by integrating technology to our body, the concept of Cyborg emerged under the notion of technology integration.
Kelvin Warwick’s article[i] gives us a practical example how to integrate technology with body and experimental usage of computer chip implant. By implanting a chip in his arm, he is able to switch on the light automatically without physically touching the switches when he enters his lab. That is only part of his experiment, he use similar techniques later to implant chip in to human to record bio-electrical signal between brain and muscle, and try to analysis emotion and sensation of human. Such research is very useful in the medical field, for example helping the limb-transplant patient gain the sense from the artificial limbs. In his second experiment, Project Cyborg 2.0, he try to install micro chips into silicon made artificial skin, by scanning the brain activity, the chip can transmit the signals which are possible for people to control computer system just by using their brain
When we talk about “Cyborg”, we may instantly have an image of Terminator, which has steel body and computer brain coated with “organic skin”, a “cybernetic organism”. Dan Sharpe’s article[ii] mentioned ethical problem that may encountered when we enter the age of Cyborg. One positive opinion of being Cyborg is enhancing human lives, take contact lens as example, it improve people’s vision by integrating a lens into their eyes. But the negative opinion is people will lose their will, or “be less human” by under control by technology. The example Dan takes is Borg in Star Trek, using technology to make their body perfect, but individuals do not exist in Borg, it act as collective consciousness. No matter Cyborg is good or bad, Terminator can only be classify as robot because Cyborg must be part of human, or “transform” from human. Terminator also lack of soul of humanity, of the concept of “Ghost” in Ghost in the shell.
In general people’s mind, Cyborg is the enhancing solution for many purposes. Military soldier cyborgs[iii] is not a new concept for us. There are already many projects about how to enhance the combat ability of soldier by integrating technology into their body. Some of them are aim to improve the communication ability: real time video and body status transmit, some are aim to re-engineering human body to make soldier gain more muscle strength and recover more quickly, and some projects are researching the way that make soldier can stay awake and remain alert for 7 days. These are not new concept for us, many movies has imaged such kind of super soldiers. However these projects are actually exist, funded by government and some of them already entered field-test stage. The article show us that Cyborgs are not only appears in our imagination, there maybe practical prototype cyborgs existing.
As mentioned before, Cyborg technology can be used in Military purpose, such technologies also can be apply in medical purpose. Samuel Dokko’s article[iv] give us some examples that Cyborg technology enhance our lives. In his article, he mentioned the Cyborg technology-artificial body parts can be implant in to human body, to “restore lost function, organs and limbs.” Artificial organs are not something new to us nowadays, we have commercial artificial heart invented in the last decade, which extend the patient’s life let them survive until they found the suitable organ donor. There are also researches which aim to invent a fully functional artificial limb to restore human limbs. The article give a detail example of a artificial hearing device which is implanted to restore the hearing ability to the deaf people, such technology enhance human lives greatly in physical way.
Except the “hardcore” cyborgs mentioned above, some people think that we are already become cyborgs since our modern lives have close relationship with technology. Amber Case’s Blog[v] has suggested that human are becoming cyborgs through uploading hypertext, or constructing their identity on the internet. This weblog entry are mostly talk about the cyborg anthropology, but his article gives us some online social interaction examples that how people using internet to construct their identity and build the power relationship to order people: “On facebook, identity and value is constructed through images, on Twitter, power is constructed through text, retweeting, link exchange, etc.” As we entered the digital age, such kind of social interaction is becoming part of our life. Under the current situation, we are all cyborgs existing both online and real life.
When we come across the identity on internet, we may have whole new experience because of the variety of identity we can choose to be on the internet. Jennifer Breen’s article[vi] give us details that why sex swapping is so common on the internet. While we can not choose being male or female when we were born, and it is difficult for people to take gender reassignment surgery, sex change online is relatively easy. The article suggested that under online environment, male would like to become female to express their woman aspect opinion, which they would not do it in actual life. Females also like to become male to experience “the feeling of a guy” or to see how other women interact with man. There are also interesting examples about gender changing in online game, the male players may tend to become female characters to gain the help from other male players, and the female players would like to become male character to get higher levels by helping the female characters. The essential element of gender changing online is not just take a opposite sex name or choice opposite sex character, the most important thing is to make other people sitting in front of the computer believe that you are a woman/man. The way to do so is the pretend the way how woman or man behaves, how they talk to others, and how they present themselves. This may solidify the stereotype of gender, but we can understand the way how the opposite sex thinks, such gender relationships cause a significant change in the way that we think about gender.
To conclude, as human are more depends on technology, if cyborg are figures that integrating technology into human bodies, people living under digital age can be classified as cyborg no matter they are “hardly” or “softly” technology integrated.
example: Nike used a billion-dollar advertising budget to force you to consume their products but offer bad conditions to their employees
- About Adbusters
a not for profit organization mainly for anti consumerism
- What is cultural jamming? aim is to to create a large contrast between the corporate image and the real consequences of corporate behavior
- What are adbusters's campaigns?
Blackspot campaign An Anti- megacorporation (mainly is Nike) campaign The shoes is designed to resemble the Nike-owned Chuck Taylor All-Stars. 100%made from organic hemp and recycled car tires
