Another, albeit late, introduction.

Hello fellow 11pm Wednesday tute participants.

My name is Sam and I thought it was time to type up my introductory post. My first experience of internet accessible in the home was through a friend. I saw the great potential that the internet had and went on a years long petition to gain the internet for my own household. After several years of coercing my parents a deal was struck, whereby I went out and bought a 56k modem (yes, back in the good old dial up days), set up the internet account with a local service provider, hooked everything up at home, and let my parents pay the monthly bills thereafter. I used chat rooms mostly at first, and browsed a few things here and there, but there were still a lot of people I knew that didn't use the net on a regular basis. ICQ however was hot and much fun was had looking up friends and finding new ones.

Since those formative years I've moved out of home, gained a computer or two of my own, and have high speed broad band. Which by the way, as most of you will know, is still a lot slower than many other countries in the world. I dropped out of the chat scene through boredom, perhaps because meeting any of these people in real life was a low possibility, and I wanted 'real friends'.

I find that my net usage waxes and wanes depending on how I'm feeling. I usually always check my e-mails on a daily basis, I love to go to the icanhascheezburger website for my fix of cats with captions as well as the cheezburger sites, which are usually photos of things with or without captions. This site is one of the sources of 'lolspeak'. Stumbleupon is an amazing random website generator that helps me flick through sites on the net that are of interest to me so if I'm bored I can hit a button and it randomly brings up a website for me to peruse. Otherwise as and when things perk my interest I go searching about and following the trail wherever it may lead. Has anyone else looked at a wikipedia article on one topic then hours later ended up on a Wiki article about something completely different? For example, started on the political history of Italy and then ended up with something about Particle Physics? They do say that the internet is a web, so I suppose everything is related somehow.

Of interest to the unit I recently came across the blog of a Canadian Filmmaker, Rob Spence, called Eyeborg. Basically in the one socket where Rob lost an eye due to a childhood accident he has inserted a camera that films everything he sees Terminator One style.

I look forward to learning more in this unit and interacting with everyone in the tute to discuss these issues and ideas. I've not blogged before so I'm also looking forward to doing my posts and reading what everyone else has to say, possibly even commenting! I will leave it there for now and post again at a later date.

=^_^=

Tute Reflections

Hey All

I got called into work today and couldn’t make it to the tute so I thought I would answer a few of the questions posted on the blog by this weeks presenters in regards to JenniCam and Jerry Kang’s article.

JenniCam

In terms of the broad and narrow approach to looking at the idea of JenniCam and which way of seeing has more possibilities and is in use. To me, I think that the broad approach is certainly optimistic and sees technology as empowering and as having positive impacts. However is saying this, I find it hard to go past the fact that this is voyeurism in its most intense form. In many ways whilst being an interesting social experiment, I can’t help put think that this experiment would have been embraced more by those people looking for a cheap form of pornographic material, hoping to see Jenny in a state of undress as opposed to watching the feed for innocent entertainment. It also makes me wonder the type of response if this was a man in the feed as opposed to a women. I also immediately thought of ChatRoullete as I read this article and watched some of the stills from the project because ChatRoulete was hailed as this revolutionary way of meeting and communicating with people, yet quickly turned into a cheap form of pornography, where every second person that appears is a middle aged male pleasuring themselves.

Jerry Kang

As someone who has never been the subject of rational discrimination online I found aspects of this article pretty confronting. As Alison spoke about in the lecture, I think many people hoped and to some extent still think that the internet is a completely democratic arena where things such as race and sexuality don’t matter. I think to some extent it is the anonymous nature of the internet which leads to racial and sexual vilification on the internet, simply because can discriminate and out their prejudices without being caught or without having people know they are doing it. I don’t think something such as abolition would work, simply because some people may wish to be able to identify with their race, gender or sexuality. Microsoft trialed such a thing with their Xbox Live gaming service by banning all online profiles that contained any sort of name that alluded to anything but heterosexuality. By doing this, and by extension any form of abolition, it doesn’t allow individuals to freely express themselves and freely present their identity. Also in the case of abolition, it discriminates against the minority, be it women, homosexuals or coloured people, because it stops them from identifying what makes them “them” but doesn’t stop the dominant group from identifying themselves.

Just a few of my thoughts on the readings.

Namaste,
Luke

Tutorial Presentation

Hi everyone!

Firstly I'll just give you the link for Barry Deutsh's blog on The Male Privilege Checklist (a take on Peggy McIntosh's The White Privilege Checklist, and a quote from the site : "The first big privilege which whites, males, people in upper economic classes, the able bodied, the straight can work to alleviate is the privilege to be oblivious to privilege."

I found this point interesting as I fall into some of those catagories and in a way have no alleviated that myself. The most powerful and at times concerning thing is that we are oblivious to our privilege. If you do have time to read through the whole checklist there are quite a few interesting ones (that I did not read out in our tutorial today).

Another point I wanted to bring up was about the 'intelligent dolls' Alison talked about in the lecture. Roxxxxy is advertised as the "first life-sized robotic girlfriend" which I found understandably concerning. Its fair enough to label Roxxxy as a doll, as that is what she is, but calling her a girlfriend is taking it another step further. What also concerned me is that Roxxxy snores when she sleeps. How/why do you feel this was added?

In regards to Jerry Kang's article, I found some more of his work and one sentence really resonated with me.."Then, one day in cyberspace, something remarkable happened."

Kang said that cyberspace presents society with three design options:
Abolition "which challenges racial mapping by promoting racial anonymity"
Intergration which promotes interracial social interaction, thus reforming racial meanings, and
Transmutation which disrupts the notion of fixed racial categories "by promoting racial pseudonymity".

Do you think any issues have not been raised?
Do you think these apply to gender, too? Or it is just racial?

I also wanted to ask how Kang's article, and issues of identity (and lack there of) on the internet made you feel? How that had repercussions in many forms, good and bad. For example anonymous bullying, stealing, identity theft etc, but also the ability to talk to anyone, not be judged by looks.


Leura

JERRY KANG - Ruminations of Cyberspace

Hi Guys!

So I have just realised that i was supposed to do this on monday, sorry! However I've snuck it in before the tutorial so hopefully is still ok!

The reading I am in charge of this week is Jerry Kang's entitles 'Ruminations on Cyberspace'. I found Jerry's ideas relating to racial scrutiny in cyberspace really interesting and he suggested several ways to potentially get around the issue.

To get started, the key points in the article.

• Race as a social construction - in society we consistently group people into categories, often dependant on race. Race is no longer just genetic makeup, but we have created societal meanings of what it means to be of a particular race, a societal convention.
• Then goes onto discuss how the rules of cyberspace differ to those of 'real space' and the advantages of each for example no limits of geographical positions means ease of communication, however the interaction may not be as genuine and fulfilling as it is not face to face
• Abolition - this is the approach where online, race is irrelevant, no one is to mention it or give it away through subtle hints
• Integration - trying to integrate all races into a harmonious environment
• Transmutation - pretending to be a race you are not
• Zoning - A combination of the above
• He ends the article by discussing the difficulties of all of these ways around racial segregation in cyberspace and discusses that these ideas would not be appropriate in all situations.

We ask ourselves whether racial criticism online occurs often, as it is a predominantly anonymous environment where people join groups that they want to and not because they are subject to them. Jerry gives a horrific example where he posed as an African American and here is the conversation that followed:

PERPETRATORh:ey nigger

PERPETRATOR: betta watch out we got an eye on you and others do to your reported to the aryan nation KKK mutherfucker!!

PERPETRATORe:ine mine mo catch a nigger by his toe and if he hollers let him go! HEHEHE

PERPETRATOR: KKK

ME: --- why don't you come out to play? [The perpetrator had been sending me these messages privately, after disappearing from the room that I was in. I was trying to get her to reappear.]

PERPETRATOR:run nigger run [This was in response to my leaving the room, in which I was originally attacked.]

ME: Are you afraid to show yourself even in the virtual world?

PERPETRATORw: ere are you at>??

ME: I'm at the teleporter, near Temple St.

PERPETRATORa:nswer monkey boy

ME: So why are you so filled with hate?

PERPETRATORI:m not just dont like niggers thats all

PERPETRATORw: hite power!!

ME: Is it all of us or just some?

ME: Why did you leave?

ME: Have you ever met one of us in the real world?

ME: Do you care whether I'm an American Black or a Carribean [sic] or Nigerian immigrant?12

However he also mentions of the benefits some people find online, he quotes that some people find find relationships built online as absolutely positive, "Internet users who have gone deep into cyber-community report their relationships there as remarkably genuine, deep and significant."

My question to you all would be what you think, of the three options of abolition, transmutation and integration, would be the most likely method to work to help eliminate racial discrimination in cyber-space? Or do you think none of these would work?

Have any of you been subject to racial discrimination online? If so how did it affect you, did you feel like you had lost the comfortable nature of anonymity online?

Can we tackle issues like sexuality discrimination etc with the same approach?

Could anonymity be the problem? Because people can discriminate unfairly and unleash their prejudices without being caught/known?

I found this reading to be really interesting and a complete eye-opener to what really does go on online. Some people are using the internet as a way to vent their racial prejudices and in my eyes it is completely unacceptable and is quite simply ruining the democratic nature of the internet.

I hope you all enjoyed this reading as much as I did and have found something interesting to think/discuss over the coming week :)

·

The Singularity is Near

Hi all,

I'm Christiaan and like Becky forgot to post an introduction over the weekend. So here goes.

I'm a 2nd year Bachelor of Arts student, majoring in Politics, Philosophy and English.

I was quite excited when I saw the title for this unit "Self.net etc" as it sounded much more interesting than all the other units on offer that would contribute to my English major. Reasons I was interested in the course were my understanding of myself as a cyborg (in many senses of the word) and general appreciation of science fiction. Basically I've read bits and pieces around the idea of cyborgs and digital identity in new scientist and in various parts of the 'interwebs', and found it interesting (you could however just say that I'm a sci-fi geek). Its pretty damn cool to be able to get credit points to read, listen and talk about stuff that interests me greatly outside of my studies.

Now for my link (and not the blonde green-tunic wearing, Master-sword wielding elf kind).

Video game puns aside, initially I had little idea of what I wanted to link. However as I wrote this I came up with 3 equally good ideas so I've just decided to link them all.

Firstly I talked about the concept of the singularity in one of our tutes, and while I haven't been able to actually get my hands on the specific book, the wikipedia page on it explains most of what Mr Kurzweil argues. Also, wikipedia is pretty relevant to the sorts of issues we are covering anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near

Secondly, Ghost in the Shell is an awesome anime, and deals with all kinds of issues similar to the ones we are discussing. The main female character is in fact a strong AI (one that would pass the Turing Test). There is a good reference in this scene (from the second movie), I believe the scientist refers to herself as Haraway. Watch from about 2.41 inwards - you'll pick up the reference easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NmvqkQX03A&p=38EFF68C98400ED2&playnext=1&index=23

And lastly. In order to live out the sci-fi geekness I alluded to earlier I will be linking a MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game), but definitely not as bland as World of Warcraft. This game is called EVE and is based around pilots being hard-wired into computers and thereby flying spaceships. So in both the subject matter and what it is as a site of social interaction it has bearing on the course.

http://www.eveonline.com/

Anyway, that's my slightly geeky rant. See you in tutorials.

Chris G

Hi, I'm Becky :)

Just realised I hadn't done my introductory post yet. So here we go...

I'm in my second year studying Arts (Communications) and majoring in either philosophy or Italian - haven't quite figured that out yet. I needed one more elective this semester and originally chose an anthropology unit; however, I decided to change at the last minute. After looking through every possible arts unit I got down to women's studies and made a snap decision. I'm very interested in identity as it seems to me like one of life's big questions, and I love studying the internet/digital age.

Personally, I believe in the notion of no self. That's not to say that I apply this to every aspect of my life... but I certainly try to channel this idea through meditation, art, words, music and life itself. It's probably idyllic of me, but I see the internet as a forum through which this idea can be better embodied. Here's a short paper on no-self by Thanissoro Bikkhu if you're interested.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you on Wednesday.

Peace out everyone!

POSTHUMANIST CYBORG FANTASY 777: I blog. I live.

Cannot sleep! So here goes.

A few hours ago, while discussing the symbiosis between identity and technology over MSN, a friend - and (not) incidentally a 'technophile' - remarked that:

“In the last ten years there have been unprecedented advances in technology.. look at our virtual online identities and how SMS has changed our basic language and communication...”

And so I thought I'd try to blog a counter-argument, for, as Melissa Gregg writes, "generalisations...serve to confirm ingrained notions" (2007), and even if a blog or discussion revolves around opinion; the ideas should (theoretically) be able to be discursively redeemed....in this blog.

Let’s deal with this in two parts.

(A) Technology

What is technology? Notionally, it has been described by the United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organisation as:

“…the know-how and creative processes that may assist people to utilise tools, resources and systems to solve problems and to enhance control over the natural and made environment in an endeavour to improve the human condition.” (UNESCO, 1985)

This encapsulates a fundamentally defining feature of Homo sapiens as a species, namely our ability to make and use new tools, separating our otherwise unremarkable biology from other creatures. Feel free to investigate a wiki-fied history of technology since the Paeleolithic era up until the iPhone 4 software update 4.1. Seems pretty fundamental to our existence, no? Hell! It’s arguable that all we are is technology, because biology itself IS TECHNOLOGY!! I suppose evolutionist theory would perhaps intrinsically dictate these definitional elements of technology: nature’s utilisation of existing resources to improve the human condition.

“Come on!!! Texting is amazing. It’s convenient and it’s changed my English for the better! I now spell good and have gewd th1ngz 2 sai!"

Two words: Victorian Texting. Ie. Since around 1842 garbled messages of no consequence have been convoluting language standards and socially lubricating our relationships. (Also RE: the incestuous nature of technology note that the "Ascending" Nokia SMS tone is Morse code for "Connecting People," ie. the company's slogan.)

(B) Identity

Call me old-fashioned but - technology or no - I've always thought that I am who I am and I am me who is I who is me! This normalised technology doesn't change the game. I don’t believe that identity has been changed at all because of this kerfuffle, for as Locke said, personal identity “depends on consciousness, not on substance” nor on the soul. But maybe I just tell myself that every night as I drift off to sleep so that I don't have nightmares about MSN rendering me a Frankensteinian humanoid. As Waldby discussed in "The Instruments of Life: Frankenstein and Cyberculture", to reject Frankenstein's monster and Haraway's cyborg is to "refuse to engage with the consequences of shifting modes of embodiment, reproduction, and living process". And yet this progressivist discourse is entirely reconcilable with the aforementioned view of the innate technology that has always existed. It's just been tweaked.

Finally...I know it’s late, dear reader, but please - consider the metaphysics of identity! When thinking about the difference between our 'real-world' selves versus our 'virtual' identities, consider the fundamental questions of identity, such as the following:

What does it mean for an object to be the same if it changes over time? If x and y are identical (are the same thing), must they always be necessarily identical?

Etc.

Okay maybe this is a bridge too far and rife with conceptual landmines for us to delve into these metaphysical quandaries. Let’s just say that before you squawk about 'changed identity' in the 21^st century you should know what on earth it ever was. For starters, compare qualitative identity (think two identical Ikea tables। Identical!) with numerical identity (consider yourself without a hat. Consider yourself with a hat. Identical!) and then realise that at the end of the day “I think therefore I am” seems to explain it all in a roundabout and semi-satisfactory way. Therefore, wherever I am, whatever I am, if the consciousness is there…then I guess it’s just me: the slovenly, verbose consciousness I've always been. And it's just you, too.

Goodnight!

Vandelay

(AG)

THIS PAGE HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

My name is Andrew and I thoroughly believe that personal identity “depends on consciousness, not on substance” nor on the soul (Locke, 1689).

And what does this mean in the digital age? Infinite possibilities. As Gregg's article indicates however, pragmatic and sociological restrictions provide real and tangible limitations in the blogosphere. So that's what we're working with/against here...

Andrew

Intro...

Hi everyone,

Apologies for the late introduction. My name is Kate and I'm an Arts (Communications) student in my final year. My major is political science, but I really enjoy english and the more artsy type units so decided to try this women's studies unit as an elective. I am always intruiged by technology and the constantly changing nature of the internet, and am so far finding this unit very interesting.

I have never blogged before but have often thought about it - I don't know what my hesitation in starting my own blog is, but this may be a step in the right direction. I do like to read blogs, generally in the areas of fashion/arts/culture but I'm starting to explore the web and read different blogs on all topics. My favourite blogs include: Girl With a Satchel, a daily pop culture blog featuring reviews of the latest 'glossy' magazines; Go Fug Yourself, a comedy blog designed for critiquing and ridiculing the fashion disasters of celebrities; and The Sartorialist, a pictorial blog that is updated with photographs of notably stylish people from around the world.

I wanted to mention The Sartorialist specifically as it is quite relevant to last weeks topic of gender in blogging. It is a fashion blog written by Scott Schuman, a straight man, who has worked in the fashion industry for a number of years. He travels around the world, most often to fashion capitals like New York, Paris and Milan and photographs people he finds to have exceptional taste. The blog occasionally features words about the subject of a photograph, but is generally just a collection of pictures, from which the reader can create their own analysis. Fashion is a field most often associated with women or gay men, so it is interesting to see that such an influential commentary on the industry is produced by a straight man. Any steps toward transforming this stereotype can only help to break down the gender barriers in blogging. Also, he recently photographed and wrote on a man in a knit cardigan, so I guess this answers the question from last weeks reading "where are all the male knitting bloggers?".

See you all in the tute!

Kate

Introduction...

Hey guys!

My name is Caitlin and I'm studying Arts (Communication Studies) and I am in my final semester of uni. I am majoring in English and after finding it difficult to choose and English unit for this semester, I ultimately decided to do woman2205 as it sounded interesting and I had never done a woman studies unit before.

I must admit I have never blogged before and haven't read many blogs.. But after discussing them in our last tute and reading about them in last weeks readings, I thought I should look online for some blogs that interested me. A fashion blog that I really like is called soluscious so you should all check it out!

See you in the tute!

What an agent!

Kate Millett talking about a better world

Warning: First-time Blogger

eeeekkkkk just realised I forgot a title, see above!

Hi guys!

How exciting, my first blog! My name is Jacquie and I am in my final semester of Arts (Communications) majoring in English. I too stumbled across this unit unexpectedly as I had no idea womens studies units counted for an english major, however when I realised some did I was quick to jump into this one. Being a comms student a lot of the units we do revolve around technology as it y has become so predominant in our communication culture. Long gone are the days where the fastest way to reach someone was via an express-posted letter . Society, I believe, has adapted to our fast-paced lives and has provided cost-efficient ways to reach other people faster than we could have foreseen. Therefore this unit so far has been of great interest to me as I feel like I am expanding, on an alternate avenue, my knowledge in this area.

As I mentioned, I have never taken part in a blog, simply because I thought it would be much harder to do than it is, as well as to be honest, my insecurity that people might find what I have to say boring! However being exposed to all of these sites you have listed and reading about them each week, I realise there is no need to hold back. In the past, I have joined a forum (vogue fashion forum) but never contributed as well as regularly visiting a few fashion blogs such as The Sartorialist and Jak and Jil, both of which seek out fashionistas from around the globe and take some really cool photos of both the people and their gear. It may seem very trivial to a lot of you experienced bloggers, but hey, it's a way to pass the time that should be spent doing uni work! aha

Finally I just wanted to mention one of Wan Jun's questions she raised on this week's readings about male and female blogging. I think it would be an interesting experiment to have a completely genderless blog, where usernames must be gender neutral and no hints at gender can be implied by the bloggers. To me, it would be highly interesting to see what topics were raised and then to only later reveal which genders raised which topics. Would the political discussion be predominantly run by males? Or would a sneaky male drop in that he started knitting last week and wants to know what wool is best? This weeks readings surprised me as I really didn't imagine that the tech savvy women who could use a blog, would then go and use it to discuss knitting, but apparently this is so. It just shows how big a part of our culture technology is. In short, I would love to see whether individuals who knew they weren't being scrutinised as one specific gender, would discuss the same topics as they would in a less anonymous space?

Anyway, that's enough blabbing for now! Look forward to chatting to you all next week!

Jac

Why does everything have to be linked with gender?

Hi everyone, I'm Felicia. I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts ( Communication Studies) and I'm from Singapore.
With regards to Week four's discussion, I believe that blogging can be free of gender bias but it will take time.

Society has come a long way, from dictating men should be the sole breadwinner of the house, to recognizing equal status for men and women, to one now, that accepts house husbands. Change is constant and the recognition of women playing a bigger role is part of that constant.
People tend to blog about things that first come to mind. Therefore, if a women's role were the breadwinner of the house as compared to being a housewife, her first priority would most definitely not be the household chores or looking after the chidren.

As more women put their careers first and house husbands become the norm, the situation will either be reversed to a point where women will be the ones dominating political debates, or the ratio will be equal.I don't see why similar evolution cannot happen for gender bias in the online community, when the bias is based on the topics written by members of the respective genders.It is just a matter of time.

Identity documentary

Judith Butler makes an apperance in Jimroglou's " A camera with a view: JenniCAM, visual representation and cyborg subjectivity."

There is an excellent documentary on the web which deals with both Butler's life and her theories which you may be interested in. Parts of it are in French but the majority of it is in English. It's divided up into 6 parts

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

the fifth decade of the internet

Some of you may be interested in this lecture at Murdoch by Gerard Goggin.

Introducing....Me!!

Hey everyone,

My name is Jasmine and I'm doing an Arts Degree, majoring in Anthropology. I've done a few women's studies courses over the past couple of years so I chose this unit because it looked interesting. I'm really intrigued by way in which technology (especially the Internet, mobile phones etc.) has become such a huge part of our lives. Part of the reason I have decided to undertake this unit is because I hope to gain some insight into how and why we have become so dependent on technology and how it is changing how we view ourselves and the ways we interact with friends, family and strangers. I recently went to Malaysia with a friend who has a strong attachment to her Blackberry and found it quite amusing that despite being surrounded by so many new experiences she couldn't help but constantly text and update her facebook page!

For me, the Internet is a place where I like to spend my downtime. I have never written a blog myself but there are few that I like to read up on, I also watch television shows that don't air in Australia and of course catch up with friends on facebook. When I'm tired of reading up on academic articles I like to have a good laugh on Lamebook, this website really proves that anything you write on the Internet can be seen (and laughed at) by millions of other people. I also like to check out fashion blogs like that of Monica Rose when I'm procrastinating.

Anyways I will see you all in the tutorial tomorrow :)

Posting with passion: Blogs and the politics of gender

Hello! Well, I'm back!

For my presentation this week, I have decided to focus on the reading "Posting with passion: Blogs and the politics of gender". Just an overview of this article:

This article focuses on the notion, obviously, blogs and the politics of genders. It explores the argument that women's blogs are less noteworthy compared to men's blogs. It argues that most women's blogs often use domestic and personal sphere of reference. They normally revolve around their personal issues and their lives experience. It is more self-edifying. On the other hand, man's blogs are often more engaged in political debates. This is actually very evident in the two blog links that I provided in my previous post.

Mr Brown's blog talks about many issues the Singapore government face and discusses them in greater details. XueXia's blog is solely for entertainment purposes, where she talks about her daily life, the people she meets and what she's been up to. XueXia also extensively posts pictures of herself on her blog.

Thus, here's just some question I would like to post:

1. Exactly, what is the relationship between blogging and women? Can blogging actually be gender-free?

2. Also, the article argues that technology used mostly by women tend to have their values within society lessens (ie. the iron, sewing machine V computers), do you agree with this statement?

2. I also want to explore the transition between audience to public mentioned in the first article. (Focusing particularly on Mr Brown and XiaXue's blog)

I hope this gets you guys thinking about the article in more detail. Thanks! (:

Introduction!

Hi, my name's Wan Jun and I'm in my final semester of Arts, majoring in Communication/ English. I did this unit initially because there wasn't any other units that were as appealing to me as this. But once I started doing this unit, I realise how much it actually makes you think about our relationship with technology, and how we are as humans which is really interesting.

Just a bit more about myself so that it'll make a lot of things I talk about more in context. I am an International Student from Singapore. I moved to Perth when I was 17 and it is my fourth year in Perth already! Although I did kinda pick up some Australian culture, my Singaporean culture is still deeply embedded in me. So when I start talking about stuff that is happening in Singapore and people can't understand, my apologies!

So Mr Brown and XiaXue are two Singaporean bloggers. Their blogs are extremely well read by many locals for various reasons. However, the two blogs are extremely different. Mr Brown is a political writing who voices his opinions on many political issues in Singapore while XiaXue's blog talks generally about her own life experience. I will discuss this further in my entry on my tutorial presentation! So KEEP READING! (:

I'll see you guys in tute!

introduction

Wow. There are a lot of people here who seem to be new to blogging.

Hi, the name's Paddy, and well I'm used to the internet phenom, I guess you could say. I've spent plenty of time trawling online forums, using the email constantly throughout the day and have a few personal blogs of my own. The main reason that I was interested in Self.Net was because it relates to a great deal of what I experience. Paring down my day to day interactions with strangers, the compulsions and the community that a global connection creates, is fascinating. I wanted to know what the theorists say about the living process that I'm a part of, and also the temptation of creating a weblog and receiving marks for it was too good.

In keeping with subject, I've linked everyone to Soul Pancake. The site itself presents a lot of uncomfortable questions to challenge your boundaries, while indulging in discussion from all across the world. The provided link leads you to one of their Big Questions, about technology catching up with us, which I thought mind be of interest.

And for those of you who are more or less interested in seeing more about journals, I've added Livejournal, which was mentioned in the lecture as one of the leading sites for journal-creation and maintenance. As noted on it's front page, it's got close to 30 million journals, some of which are easily viewed by exploration.

I look forward to seeing everyone in the tutorial!

Tute presentation...

Hello again,

So this week it's my turn to do the tute presentation and i've chosen to focus on the first reading, "rebecca's pocket" by Rebecca Blood.

Blood presents a particularly positive view of technology as liberating and empowering the individual. Blogs, she argues, provides a space for the individual to explore her/his own identity through recording and reflecting upon one's own thoughts. In this media-saturated culture, individuals must embrace online self-expression to 'remember what it is to be human.'

If you have a spare few minutes in your day with nothing else to think about but resorting to uni work to curb your boredom, here are a couple of questions to think about for the tutorial:

-Why do people blog?

-What does it mean to be human? Can blogging allow us to be more human that we can ever be in the real world? OR Is the current obsession with technologies such as blogs causing us to forget how to be human?

Hopefully I will think of some more questions in the next two days.

See you all on wednesday!

Marina

Introduction, and "WHY ARE YOU SO UGLY?"

Hi everyone! :)

I'm Miguelle and I'm in my third year of Arts/Education. I did this unit because I'd like to find out how we are changing as technology changes the world around us. I'm particularly interested in how the internet is creating new social situations that probably wouldn't exist if not for the accessibility and anonymity that cyberspace allows.

One example of this is PostSecret, a site that regularly collects and posts postcards with anonymous people's secrets written on them. I see this website as giving people an outlet for their innermost thoughts without necessarily sacrificing their pride or reputations. I assume this started out as a blog and just grew from there, and I know there are now published PostSecret books of the most creative and memorable ones.

Another is Formspring. Since I haven't made--and don't intend to make--an account of my own, I've just linked the main page, so it might seem a bit boring at first glance. But the actual pages are fascinating! When you create an account, people ask you questions anonymously, and once you answer them, both the questions and the answers are posted for anyone viewing your page to see. I've seen questions as trivial as "What's your favourite movie?", as personal as "Why did you and [insert name here] break up?", as suspicious as "What do you look for in a partner?", and as offensive as "WHY ARE YOU SO UGLY?"

Sometimes people don't even ask questions at all. They just post statements like, "Hi, I'm your secret admirer. I see you walking around [insert uni building here] all the time." ...And that's just scary, but I'm just interested in the possibilities the site gives. Thanks to Formspring, so long as people can type and have internet access, they are capable of finding out the most personal things about someone and of comfortably expressing feelings that they otherwise wouldn't. Too easy?

Miguelle

Introduction

Hi everyone, im Alexis. Im a second year doing communication studies and im majoring in politics. I must admit that im pretty new to this blogging stuff, even though i was a myspace turned facebook addict! The only blog that i have ever really heard of or looked at was the raunchy Belle de Jour's blog called 'Diary of a London Call Girl'. The only reason i came across this blog was after i had watched the tv show and then i read the book and came to realise that they had only come about from the blog!

Heres a link to Belles blog, in case you want to look it. I must admit its a pretty interesting read, but its quite rude haha. Enjoy ;)

Belle de Jours Blog

Intro...

Hello,

My name is Blake and I am currently completing my final year of Arts, majoring in Visual Art History and English. This my second attempt at blogging, and am so far finding the process at times complicated. Nor do I have a Facebook...

I look forward to discussing the unit topics further both on the blog and in the tutorial sessions.

Blake.

response to last week's discussion

last week in class e were talking about how technology often causes more harm than good and also the idea that technology is causing the natural types of verbal and face to face interaction to be phased out by texts at twittering our lives to the world. I have agreed with this for a long time until a couple of days ago i saw the new iPhone advert (don't get to watch much TV so its probably been out for a while but i just didn't know). The advert is basically about how the new phones are allowing more 'facetime'. The concept of this is trying to integrate technology with what i refer to as natural forms of communication. I know that msn and computers have been with cameras for a while but msn was poor quality and we still primarily focused on writing and reading messages and computers you cant exactly pull out your pocket and take into a scan or run around the house with it (like in the iPhone ad). I like this advert because it shows that although many of the times we abuse technology to make our lives easier, that sometimes we do get it right and sometimes technology can be used to bring joy without negative implications. I can also relate to it because my fiance works away from home and it does get difficult and you miss 'facetime' together. I got a link to the iPhone4 advert if anyone hasn't seen it. it really makes your heart warm and if the iPhone didn't confuse me so much i would buy one.

Introduction

Hello!

I am Leura, currently in my last year of Arts/Communications. I've done quite a few WOMN units throughout my degree and am very excited for this unit, as it is quite different than the others I have done. I am very interested in the relationship between people and technology and what we, as a culture define as technology.

I read through the other comments so far and found it very interesting how different people feel, particularly Cass. I too hate short hand typing, which is predominantly found on the internet, and enjoy face to face communication, but I think the ability to contact people in so many different ways now is very interesting, and there are always people (like myself) trying to keep the internet as comprehensible as possible.

In a linguistics unit last year someone brought that up, saying how it is not right to write like that, and interestingly our tutor disagreed, saying that linguistics studies the way we talk and if that was how we spoke/typed than that was correct. Although this is not a linguistics unit, I found it a very interesting and different way of thinking and have since been a little more forgiving.



I recently stumbled on an article titled 'Women's role in the urban space', and found it very interesting. If you don't have the time to read it, definitely scroll through the pictures, they are of great interest. All of the cited articles are of interest as well, if you have the chance to read through.


Leura

Dog or Blog?

Hello everyone!

I'm Marina, a second year arts student majoring in english/anthropology.

I've never taken a womens studies unit before and so far I am actually quite enjoying it.

Although I have never considered myself much of a technological buff, I think that since I got Facebook a few years ago the internet has slowly started taking over my life! I'm hoping that this unit doesn't lead me down the same path by turning me into an obsessive blogger, but instead helps me to understand why these so-called technologies of self-expression and communication are so addictive!

Ever since I got my kelpie x puppy a year ago from the dog refuge, I regularly visit the Shenton Park Dog Refuge website. I may sound like a crazy dog lady but I love looking at their little pictures and wishing I could take them all home. Unless you are considering buying a dog, however, this link probably isn't very useful.

Hopefully Stitch Bitch: the patchwork girl is more helpful in light of this unit. It's a website about an online hypertext I studied in 1st year english called Patchwork Girl, which I was reminded about when reading last weeks article by Catherine Waldby. The interactive program is based on Frankenstein and raises issues such as the monstrous, gender, femininity, and the construction of identity as heterogeneous. Although you don't get the full experience of the program without the interactive cd-rom program, this website provides a broad overview.

Hope this is of some use. :)

Marina

intro on me!

hey everyone..thought i would try out this blog posting thingyy.

well as i probably already made very clear i am not an internet/technology person at all. i mean i guess i am cause i drive and use a hair dryer in the morning and have phone, but the latest of technology i just try my best to keep away from, i use the basics and thats it. I am not a fan on email because i believe in personal face to face communication. I am not a fan of face book or msn or twitter or anything because i want to be an enligh teacher an all these short terms and modern internet langauge is making our lives hell thru terrible spelling and shrt hnd that ppl r usin these dais coz of net...see my point. i'll find some sites to argue my hate soon and post them..ha the irony!

i am in my last semester of Arts then have a full year of education to go! i thought this unit would be interesting because its waaay out of my comfort zone and whats the fun of being at uni if you dont do things a bit different!

anyway not much more about me, just hope of my links work and i get a grip on this internet and bloggin concept this semester.

see you all in class for old school true blue face to face contact.

cass.

Future Sex: Cyborg Bodies and the Politics of Meaning

Hi Everyone,

I planned on presenting this reading in tute on Wednesday, however I couldn't make it in person. I found this reading to be very content heavy, but hopefully this post alone will suffice.

Norah Campbell's article begins by introducing the concept of the cyborg as "the dominant social and discursive figuration for the interaction between the human and the non-human in post-industrial societies". Further, her article aims to investigate visual representations of "cyberbodies" in advertisements. As a basis for her discussion, Campbell first outlines the controversy surrounding an imagined post-human identity. To do so could either provide liberation from hegemonic identity configurations; or merely recast these into today's technological era. She also briefly touches on Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto.

Campbell divides the cyborg into two possible types: the feminist and the masculinist. The feminist cyborg comes about as the ontology of technology and that of the feminine seem to ally the two. The feminist cyborg is analysed in terms of liberation in repression, performing & passing and femaleness & technology. On the other hand, the masculinist cyborg is discussed in reference to technology & material effects and masculinist cyborgs in visual culture (in particular video/computer games).

The core of the article revolves around image analysis of the primary texts, mainly:

• SVEDKA_grl print ads
• Heineken "Keg" TV commercial
• Philips "Robot Skin" TV commercial
• Johnnie Walker "Human" TV commercial
• Bjork - All is Full of Love music video

Campbell looks at the commonality of all the texts, that is, their skins. This encompasses the "metal flesh", sheath (or clothing) and the notion of black/white skinned technologies.

The primary texts are discussed under the frames of:

1. Having cyborg sex (e.g. All is Full of Love)
2. The empowered/enslaved (e.g. Robot Skin)
3. The future anterior (e.g. SVEDKA_grl)
4. The posthuman in the human (e.g. Human)

Campbell touches on the politics of meaning before reaching her conclusion. That is, the logic of the cybersexual is a reflection of Derrida's idea of the hymen in The Double Session.

Points of Debate

1. Campbell says that "of the images in this research, we see a privileging of a monist paradigm, because of the consistent exposure of... the skull - and deliberately laying bare its functioning" (p 9). However, when I look at these images I see this exposure of the skull more as a visual representation of the mind; implying a dualist notion of humanness. What does this aspect of the images represent to you?

2. When Campbell performs a "textual sex change operation on the text" Robot Skin, the servile female robot changes into a self-possessed, assured male robot. Similarly, the imagined female human is described as "holding her face with a bemused smile, not quite knowing or understanding the enigma of the robot" (pp 15-16). Does reversing the gender roles also reverse the roles of the empowered/enslaved?

3. "Passing means that the body might not act as the "proof" of identity; in this sense, technological bodies cannot always be trusted to tell the truth" (p 4). For a machine to lie, it would have to possess some sort of consciousness or mind. How could the notions of performing and passing fulfil this requirement; thus allowing technological bodies to not tell the truth?

Splice - now that sounds attractive

Hey Luke and Alison and everyone who has yet to comment

I read that article about posthumanism you posted Luke, I did find it really interesting. It made me think of this movie that I read a review of the other day. I don't know if anyone's heard of it, it's called Splice? Anyway I'd been thinking of it when I was preparing for my Frankenstein reading as it seemed to have similiar themes. Splice (from what I've read) is about these two genetic engineers who create a new species from human and animal DNA. The result is a female creature called Dren.

Its a horror, science-fiction film and I found just reading the wikipedia synopsis and watching the trailer quite disturbing. Now I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone who wants to see it, so will just link it, but it did make me wonder why I found it so unsettling. Apart from the fact that its a horror movie and that's how you are supposed to feel, I think its also that there's something fearful about technology progressing to the degree that we can create 'human' life. Not only because of the 'exceptional status' that humanity tends to afford itself but also because of the inherent unpredictability of human nature. Its a scary idea to think of this trait in an entirely new species.

Oh and my favourite website is apple trailers (I'm a movie fanatic) so here's the trailer for it as well.

Sam

Interesting Friday Afternoon Readings

Hey All

As I sit here on a balmy Friday afternoon, trying to avoid doing some needed uni work, I figured that I would share some articles that I stumbled upon today.

Beyond the Human Race - And Human-Racism talks about the idea of human racists, those people who feel that there are clear boundaries which define humanness which shouldn't be transgressed.

No time like the present to discuss cyborg rights talks about the need to talk about the rights of athletes with mechanical implants to compete in events, such as South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who uses prosthetic legs made of carbon fiber and titanium to compete in track events.


Hope you find these articles as interesting as I do,


Luke 

Introductory Post

Hey Everyone,


Well it looks like I'll be the first cat out of the bag so to speak. I am a 2nd Year Arts/Education Student and I love the idea of embracing technology and making better use of it in our lives, especially when it comes to it's use in education. In this sense, I think the idea of using blogging as an alternative learning community is great. I have blogged a bit but nothing really consistant. 


A blog/website I regularly check out is called io9. It is a blog that focuses on and aggregates news and stories focusing on the subjects of science fiction, futurism and advancements in the fields of science and technology. It's always a really interesting read and I think it's pretty relevant to our discussions. 


I look forward to an exciting semester and some great discussion, both online and offline ;)


Luke  

what makes a good tute discussion from week 3

heated debate/controversy
respect
not being afraid
talking and listening
acting like you enjoy presenting the reading
everyone does the reading
breaking into small group activities
having questions to think about a week ahead
contemporary music/film culture
describing the texts you refer to

What makes a bad tute?
rudeness/meaness
awkward silences
being put in the spotlight
open ended questions
being afraid of saying stupid things/ feeling intimidated