ExtraCredit Blog #11

There are a few different ways in which I manage a memory online. The first way is that I am very particular about what pictures are placed online. I analyze how they portray me as a person and what they say about my character. I limit the amount of social networking sites that I am on and what friends that I add within those sites. When interacting on the social networking sites, I am always aware of how other people will view my profile. I think it is very important for the user to try and keep their profiles, within social networking site, private. Though a profile is never totally private, the privacy aspects offered by some sites are good at the filtration of those who can and can’t view your page based on your settings.

I believe that the expiration date is good idea. There is so much information within the web that is out of date. This especially applies in some out of date scientific information. Though this is important to see the development of ideas and how information has evolved. It takes up space online and can be misleading for the reader. Like Vitkor Mayer-Schonberger said, in the book Delete., “Expiration dates are designed primarily to address the “time” dimension of digital memories and to limit the amount of irreverent information stored” (198).  Also, though people change, the internet remembers. People’s ideas about life are constantly changing. Since the internet remembers everything, this can be detrimental for the person if he or she is now bound by what was said a few years ago.

There are many different aspects of information displayed on the internet that reflect views that I once held but, that do not reflect my personality or beliefs now. I am in some YouTube videos playing my guitar with a metal band that is known to be a group of drunks and drug addicts. Clearly, I don’t want my parents to view this. Though that incident is bad, I wish I could delete the memories associated with my face book. Shortly after creating my face book page, I did not like the how I was portrayed when I was tagged within a picture. Some of the environments, I was in, were questionable and I did not want others to view me in that way. Also, my face book was hacked. I have no idea how, but whoever hacked my account advertised a site that allowed for the purchase of a drink that would make the user pass a drug test if he or she had taken marijuana. I tried to totally eliminate this memory, by deleting my face book. Though my face book was gone, the add was on every one of my friend's walls. It was very embarrassing for me.

 

Work Cited

Mayer-Schonberger, V. Delete.. 2009. 168-194. Print.

Blog #10

After reading Villanueva's work , Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color, I was struck by a term that he uses, racelessness.  He defines this as, " the denial of other-cultural affiliation, a denial of the collective, any collective; it is the embracing of America's dominant ideology, the ideology of individuality"( Villanueva ).  I believe that he is saying that this is a kind of coping mechanism people use in order to reduce conflict with the majority. This temporary assimilation into the white culture or ideology by minority groups or individuals eliminate conflict. Villanueva states that racelessness comes at the price of alienation (Villanueva). For a time, the individual is not fully accepted by the white community and no longer relates to his or her ethnic background. This term could be useful in my analysis of how bands are portrayed on myspace. This is demonstrated on the basis of how the myspace developers display the band and what rhetoric is show on the bands site. Though the bands are not all American or white, the use of the glowing effect, or other tools ,allows the site to portray them as white American males. At the same time, they are alienated from their cultural background.

Questions:
1)  Vit Sisler would describe action video games, containing Middle eastern people, in the following way,
      a) Video games are a contemporary attempt, by Middle eastern people, to display rhetorical messages about Islam and their culture. 
      b)Video games are the degradation of the dehumanized "other" through the display of orientalism reguarding their culture and society
      c) Video games display a fictional representations of Middle eastern culture and society that is generally accepted by Middle easterners.
       d) none of the above
ANSWER B

True or false:  "Digital Dignity" is the self-esteem and pride associated with the knowledge that the user can relate the the video game even though the game does not reflect their view.
ANSWER F

References
   Villauea Victor. Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color: Urbana, IL: NCTE. 34-50.

Blog # 9 Menue Driven Race

              Within the reading , Menu Identities by Nakamura, she defines the term menu driven identities as a way of creating an online identity, within a a cybersociety, from the choices that are given to the user by the user interface. She states that users are limited in their choices and cannot, " modify the terms or categories available to them , then identities that do not appear on the menu are essentially foreclosed on..."(Nakamura 2002). Later within the writing, she goes on to say that most of these identities choices are further limited to a single choice by the user, even though he or she may define themselves as multiple races(Nakamura 2002). The remainder of the reading discusses how intellectuals hopped that the Internet revolution would create equality and erase bigotry and racism within non-virtual reality. Nakamaura states that the Internet has done the opposite, by reinforcing stereotypes by people who represent themselves as avatars of differing races and gender. The solution, stated by Nakamaura, is a daunting task. She says, " Until and perhaps even after increased education, economic parity, and changing cultural priorities in the " real world" make the web accessible to a greater number of racial minorities "(Nakamura 2002) can change and equal representation occur.

              Using this information , I tried to critique the“Race: The Power of Illusion” website. Upon entering the site, I was struck that it seemed to be catered to the default "white user". The site posed questions about my general knowledge of race and if I had the ability to categorize people. The site seemed to portray many option for links into the site by clicking on the eyes, but they all seemed to take me to the same internal page within the site. As awkward as I felt, I "played" the race categories " game" and found that I was a complete failure at it, with less than 15% of my choices being right. Within  a menu-driven concept of race, the site clearly defines a race that should be viewing the content, white people, and the race or races that are demonstrating the information, non white people. The way the site was constructed defines how the users can navigate the site. This site allows for the user to view information in a way the created desires. Though I think that the site is not only a tool for educating white people , but other differing races. I believe this because in the sorting part of the site, white people were a category to be sorted. 

References

Adelman, L. (2003). Race- the power of an illusion. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm

Nakamra, L. (2002). Cybertypes: race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet.. New York: Routledge.

Blog # 8 Cybertyping

In Lisa Nakamura's " Cybertyping", she begins to define the term cybertyping. There are many different aspects to this word and she goes into detail within her paper. Basically, cybertyping is the “ways that the internet propagates, discriminates and commodifies images of race and racism" (Nakamura, 2002). Cybertyping looks at the techno literacy of differing users and how they are represented within the internet by the previous and current users. It also analysis how the creators of certain virtual technologies represent differing cultures through the access and implementation of their product. Nakamura explains this idea when she goes on to say that,”cybertypes are the images of race that arise when the fears, anxieties, and distress of provided western users are scripted into a graphical environment..." (Nakamura, 2002). Later in the reading, Nakamura goes on to say that cybertyping was created by the unequal access and representation of other cultures within the internet and other digital technologies (Nakamura, 2002).

Another term used within this reading is identity tourism. This is a process of when technology users take on other gender or racial qualities that are not their own and use them in a virtual environment. The users often take the use of these qualities as a “kind of lived truth "(Nakamura, 2002). This practice provides an exotic stimulation that the user would not feel from interacting within the technology as their real gender or race. 

After playing street fighter, I concluded that there is a lot of cybertyping and identity tourism within the game. Clearly there are many different opportunities for identity tourism within this game. Though there are only 12 characters, the race, gender, and occupation of each gender seem to differ. Though the gender is limited to one female, whom seems to be of Asian or Caucasian dissent, this limits the amount of racial choice for the female, but a female can be played non the less. The cybertyping within this game is astounding. Each character has a “home” territory which they play at. These homes exemplify the stereotypes of each culture. Within India, the fight setting is in a palace where elephants, covered in gold, line the hallway where the fighting takes place. The character associated with this setting is a black, aborigine male. His attire is reflective of many stereotypes. He is adorned with a loincloth and a skull necklace. He is also suffering from sever starvation because his ribs are very visible. I would bet that the aboriginal people being represented by this character had no hand in his design or creation.

References:

Dhalsim Picture. Retrieved October, 21, 2010 from:

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_Alpha/Characters/Dhalsim

Nakamura, L. (2002). Cybertypes: race, ethnicity, and identity on the internet. New York: New York Routledge.

Blog - Mario Bros.

I am all too familiar with Super Mario Bros 2. I spent countless hours of my grade school years trying to beat this game. As a child, I never noticed the gender differences and stereotypes that were being shown to me through this game. Upon starting the game, the user is prompted to select a character that he or she would like to “play as”. The choices range from Mario, the hero, his sidekick and brother, Luigi, some deformed mushroom named Toad, and Princess Peach. Women stereotypes are emphasized as Peach is adorned in all pink attire and a crown.

Like Lara Croft, Peach is well endowed and semi disproportional. As Scheleiner states, Peach, like Lara Craft, “is seen as the monstrous offspring of science: an idealized, eternally young female automaton, a malleable, well trained techno puppet created by the male -gaze” (Scheleiner 2001).Over the decades young men have played as Peach and have manipulated her movements to the inevitable goal of finishing the level. This manipulation agrees with the idea that people can begin to test out other gender roles and identities through games. Though peach is not clad in extra short shorts and a bikini top, her feminine assets are still expressed, these include her “polygon” butt and breast, through the side scroller style of game play.

Another interesting aspect of the game is that Peach has extra power that none of the other characters have. She can hover for short distances. This gives her a great advantage in the game and would draw users to want to play her character more. It makes me wonder why the only woman in the game is given this advantage. The possible rhetoric associated with this aspect of the game is that women may need an extra advantage to succeed.

There are a few other things within this game that are troubling. Mario is the stereotypical male. He is built and strong, perfect for the main character of any action game. While playing the game, if Mario is wounded he shrinks in size. This shrinking in size could possible be communicating to the gamer that smaller people are weak. Also, Toad is clearly darker skinned color than the other 3 characters. He is also smaller in size with a large “afro” style head. I don’t know if the creators were trying to draw a correlation between black people or if I’m just reading into this.

References

Schleiner, A. (2001). Does lara croft wear fake polygons? gender and gender-role subversion in computer adventure games. Leonardo, 34(3), Retrieved from http://www.paulmuhlhauser.org/475/Readings/schleiner_laracroft

Princess peach picture. [Web]. Retrieved from http://smashgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/super-mario-bros-2.jpg

Blog #6

The plot line of avatar is just like every other run of the mill film that Hollywood mass produces and advertises in the attempt of swindling the public into seeing the same thing over again. The dichotomies within avatar are the same gender specific stereotypes that are drilled into our heads by other “Action and Adventure” films, that women are the weaker gender and must submit to the man and his orders. This is clearly displayed in Avatar when Dr. Augustine confronts Miles Quaritch about allowing Jake Sully work on the Avatar program. Miles talks down to her and degrades her research and the effect it will have on the Navi people. This is the typical stereotype of a man dictating orders to the woman, telling her what is best for the both of them. It further integrates the ideology that men are smarter than women because they get the job done, no matter the cost.

After watching clips from the Avatar movie and having class discussions with Dr. Muhlhauser and class mates, it became apparent to me that there are some basic things that are contradictory about this movie. The main contradiction is that the main character, Jake Sully, is a crippled man, who is in the military, and is the hero of this story. This character completely deviates from the normal hero figures that Hollywood creates. Fit and good looking men are usually cast to play roles like this, but a crippled man was placed in the prime role. The main reason for creating Jake as a cripple was to appeal to the emotions of the audience. The audience could see as a crippled man was able to walk, through his avatar, and experience the virtual world around him, but this is a superficial experience. The movie does a very good job of switching the focus from the well-being of the human Jake to the avatar Jake. The dramatic musical scores within the move make it seem that if Jake’s avatar dies, than Jake dies. This is not true and at any time Jake could come out of his avatar, back into the non-virtual world. This is what makes Jake's avatar very much like a personal WebPage.  Jake can interact within the avatar world without much consequence in the non virtual world which he lives in. Like web personal WebPages, people can display whatever content that they deem appropriate to express their feelings without it have having much impact on their non-virtual world. Blog and WebPages can be created anonymously or by an alias, and information can be displayed.  Charles Cheung states  that the personal web page’s problem “ is not so much about presenting their identity, but concerns their exploration of ‘ who I am’ and re-establishing a stable sense of self-identity” (p. 277). Just like Jake does, people can begin to explore new identities without many social repercussions in the non virtual world. Ultimately, Jake finds that his avatar identity is a better definition of self and that he wants to be augmented into their system. This also can happen to people after they have explored their possible alternative identities and come to a distinction on which ones they would like to be defined as. They are then ready to apply them to their non virtual world, hopefully more confident and sure of themselves.

Rant:  When Jake gets lost in the woods at the beginning of the movie, why doesn’t he just come out of his avatar and tell the other scientists of his general location, or of nearby land marks. I really didn’t like this movie.

References

Cheung, C. (2000). Identity construction and self-representation. New York: Routledge. P 273-285

Blog #5 Pleasure and computers

1) According to Lupton, Advertisements express the relationship between humans and their PCs have being a friendship and some" go further by frequently making the analogy of the relationship of the user/computer romantic, sexual, or maternal" (Lupton p.427). The setting of the advertisement, within the room of a beautiful woman, is speaking to the "computer nerd" who views any girl’s bedroom as a sacred area. This area is a place where her companion, the pc, can access and even relax on her bed. The clear sexual undertones are evident in this advertisement. Instead of having a human partner in her bed, she has a machine next to her. Not only is she interacting with the computer through touch, but she is experiencing pleasure from the interaction in a way that another human being may pleasure her. She is receiving pleasure form the hardware aspect of the machine, not from the interaction with the programs on the computer. This emphasizes the sexual relationship that can be seen between people and their computers. For this woman, it has become an extension of her, something that is giving her pleasure in ways that another human being can. I believe that this advertisement is catered to both males and females. Being a male, it creates a since of longing for that computer in the hopes that this woman may come to my house and lay on my bad, as perverted and immature that may sound, that is what it is saying to me. For the women who view this advertisement, it may instill feeling that this computer can offer an escape from loneness and even give them pleasure.

2)  “The world is undergoing an Information Communications Technology (ICT) revolution, a revolution that has enormous social and economic implications for the developed and less developed countries of the world ”( Bridgethedigitaldivide.com p. 1).  

Maybe I am naive or just ignorant to the facts posed in this class, but I have never really analyzed how technology has affected people and how it is affecting the people without it. The realization of the impact of the digital divide on other cultures and people is very apparent to me now, and I believe that it is a serious and scaring problem for the mass amounts of people without the skills and access necessary to reach the wide range of information and technology on the internet. The lack of equal representation among cultures can lead to misrepresentation and a deprivation of educational material for communities and long for education and self expression that technology can bring.

References

Joseph, M. (Photographer). Master/slave couture swimsuit for sony vaio. . [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.masterslave.com.au/content_images/images/Corporate_Clients/Masterslave_shoe__079-11_yellow_in_sony_computer_ad_sml.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.masterslave.com.au/about-us/corporate-clients-25.htm&usg=__gNtIYGBHyn-r1wditrcH8ukgCGk=&h=490&w=700&sz=301&hl=en&start=54&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=n2_zSKAygt5PyM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcomputer%2Badvertisement%26start%3D40%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2GPEA_en%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

Lupton, D. (2007). The embodies computer/user. The Cyber Culturesreader, 422-432.

The digital divide. (2010.). Retrieved from http://www.bridgethedigitaldivide.com/digital_divide.htm

Blog #4

1) Thought I have not been involved within the social networking sites, facebook and MySpace, for years, I think that these sites fit the definition of peg communities perfectly. Occasionally, I access MySpace to check the comments on my band's page. When I log in, I am bombarded by what looks like a wall of people’s status. This wall is filled with instantaneous emotions of complete strangers. These emotions are crying out for attention and advice from other people within this virtual community. A person would not express deep emotion online unless they were willing and wanted to receive some sort of emotional satisfaction from the comments of others based on their mutual relation within the community.

 This view of MySpace places it under the definition of a peg community. As Bell states, peg sites are "sites where people can hang their interests or obsession, their enthusiasms or worries, and around them they can - or might - try to build something collective..."(Bell p. 257). I believe that not all, but most, comments on MySpace are pleas for attention of the other users in an attempt to find some type of common ground and a simple emotional connection between two people at an instantaneous moment. Creating a community with the RL is far more effective, in my opinion, than it is in the virtual reality. Though some sense of emotional satisfaction can be gained in the VR, the real life gain from emotional connection, in differing communities, can be even greater.

2) I think that it would be interesting to compare differing MySpace music communities. I would do this by looking at three different genres and how they are portrayed on MySpace. I would try to derive their values and the messages they are trying to send to their target audience. I could also look at the differencing Pathos and Logos on their site in an attempt to further analyze their values. Another option would also be to attempt to analyze their top friends to see what kind of rhetoric they are trying to display.
Possible bands:
Behemoth: http://www.myspace.com/behemoth
Justin Beiber:  http://www.myspace.com/justinbieber
Casting Crowns: http://www.myspace.com/castingcrowns

Blog # 3 Yahoo!

Yahoo!, once a household name has been overtaken by the giant search engine, Google. The appeal of Yahoo! seems to have diminished over the years as the internet has evolved and different technologies have been invented to create a more user friendly site. Though lacking in popularity, Yahoo! still adheres to the basic web page design that Burnett and Marshall discuss on their "Web Theory". Yahoo! is still very aesthetically pleasing to most users that enter the site. It is not over loaded with bright colors that distract and generate an innate sense of frustration. This is by design, According to Burnett and Marshall the lack of colors within a web page or the integration of subtle colors creates a relaxing atmosphere for the user (99-100). This is demonstrated in their plain white/ grey background. And their subtle shading within the boarders of the site.

The site also offers lots of proportional aesthetics. Burnett and Marshall define promotional aesthetics as " one of perpetual anticipation, and this structure of anticipation us part of the way that the web presents its own form of information in hierarchies..."(88). This is clearly demonstrated on the Yahoo! homepage. The most interesting news reports and hyperlinks are displayed at the top of the webpage while the less significant information is below. This technique is to help hold the users attention and draw them further into the site.

One aspect that has worked for Yahoo! is its ability to connect people through links to other activities offered by the site. These are shown in a column on the right side of the page. The links offer a means for its users to connect with other users via games, messenger, and movies. Though in theory these links should hold a users attention in and attention driven economy, but I wonder if they do. The links on Yahoo! may become and annoyance to anyone who isn’t interested in them, especially if it takes longer for the page to load with them.  Time is money and in a business driven world, maybe simplicity is more important then constant stimulation.

Reference

Burnett, Robert, and P. David Marshal. Web Theory: an introduction. New York: Routledge, 2003. 84-101. eBook.

Blog #2 Digital Divide and Hardware store metaphore

1) What exactly is the Digital Divide?

According to Andy Carvin, “In the most basic sense, the digital divide is the ever-growing gap between those people and communities who have access to information technology and those who do not " (Carvin, 2000, p. 1). More specifically, the economic gap is between the people who have access to the internet, and technology that facilitates that access, and those who don’t have access. Whether it is because of socioeconomic status or race, it is only these people that are being represented and contributing to the information available on the internet. Whether accurate or not, this allow for the projection of these people’s views, regarding people without internet, to be littered throughout the web (Carvin, 2000, p. 2). This misrepresentation can be culturally and morally devastating for the effected people. Access to the internet and technology is not the underlying problem that has created the digital divide. Mark Warschauer writes, technology access is facilitated by a "complex array of factors encompassing physical, digital, human, and social resources"(Warschauser, 2002, p. 5). These underline the ability for a person to acquire the technology to access the internet, the ability of the internet to meet the demands of all users regardless of language, the degree of education an individual has had , and the types of meaningful social interactions that they can have online with their peers (Warschauser 2002, p. 11).





2)  Essentially, the Macintosh metaphor attempted to illustrate " the privileged position of standard English as the language of choice or default, and, in this way, contribute to the tendency to ignore, or even erase, the cultures of non-English Language speakers..."(Selfe & Selfe 1994, p. 488).Within the lines of the Macintosh metaphor, I think that a hardware store is also relevant. The layout of the store is very linear and neat. All the inventory within the store is grouped within its specific use. This makes for easy access for the mechanic or carpenter. Screws, or other hardware, is grouped together by length and placed into long rows. All the hardware is measured in and labeled in the standard system. Someone, a person who does not regularly work with his or her hands, who is foreign to this system will be hard pressed to find a metric screw that is needed. While the rest of the world uses one standard system of measurement, the United States insists on creating its own measuring scale. Whether the outdated ideals of American superiority toward other cultures and the way they think, or the drive for a different system, America has not adopted the world standard. This metaphor may work better because it illustrates America's resistance to change, especially toward not just one race or group, but the rest of the intellectual world.





References

Carvin, A. (2000). Mind the gap: The digital divide as the civil rights issue of the new millennium.
Retrieved August 31, 2010 from http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/Jan00/carvin.htm

Warschauer, M. (2002). Reconceptualizing the digital divide. Retrieved August 31, 2010 from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/967/888

Selfe, C, & Selfe, R. (1994). The Politics of the interface: power and its exercise in electronic.. Electronic Contact Zones College Composition and Communication, 45(4), Retrieved from http://www.paulmuhlhauser.org/475/Readings/interface.pdf

Blog #2 Myspace Bands and Rhetoric

1. 
   
   I have noticed there is a digital culture that exists between bands on MySpace and their never ending search for new fans. The way a comment is posted, by the band, is an art form that is used to appeal to the reader. The neon colors are used to draw the viewer in and catchy slogans are used to appeal to the human soul. My favorite slogan is “all of your friends are going”. Not only does this make the reader feel obligated to attend the show, but they may also feel a social disconnect between their peers if they do not go. There have been countless times that I have posted the larges band flyer I could into a message box. Personally, I believe that this is rhetorical because the band members are using defined symbols and understood communication to influence the viewer to come see their band play.

Work Cited
Picture retrieved from http://www.boulderbeer.com/

Blog #1 Contemporay Perspectives on Rhetoric

1) According to Foss et. al, rhetoric is defined as a series of terms involving the words, human, communication, and symbols. Each of these terms is intertwined to create a generalized meaning for the word. Being human, we use symbols to generate feelings within others that allow them to better understand us. Foss et. al. goes on to say that every aspect of the human life is a collage of chosen and recognizable symbols that conjure up different feelings and memories within the person (Foss et. al, 1990, p. 2). These symbols allow us to further relate to each other as individuals and as a culture. This relation is the basis of communication. Foss et. al states, “Rhetoric often involves the deliberate and conscious choice of symbols to communicate with others, but actions to which rhetos do not consciously attend also can be interpreted” (Foss et. al, 1990, p. 2). The understanding of the communication is very subjective and based on feelings and experiences associated with the listener.




2) After reading this, I believe that rhetoric is an art form that, when used effectively, can be used to influence people toward the views of other people. This can efficiently be done to incorporating different symbols that appeal to the deepest and most primal part of the human soul, in order to facilitate change within the listener.





Work Cited

Foss, k, Foss, S, & Trapp, R. (1990). Contemporary perspectives on rhetoric [Third Edition]. Retrieved from http://www.paulmuhlhauser.org/475/Readings/FossFossTrapp1.pdf