drew

Gender roles

2004-07-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

            Whether or not violent games create kids who are more violent, which I think they have the possibility of doing, these games express a male role that affects kids. Growing up in any culture kids look to different sources for the answers to how they should act and what is expected of them. Today we have many more places to look including family, TV, movies, and friends. Video games are just one source of information. Kids who come from a strong family background whose parents guide them and are good role models, I think are not likely to be as affected. There is a growing number of families, however, where both parents work, and their kids spend a lot of time on their own. I think these kids are much more at risk of being affected by what they take in while playing video games.
            The video games in the movie we watched depicted men who were first, bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger on steroids. Second they go around saving women, and killing everyone else. Or they are going around stealing cars or taking on missions that are generally illegal. Playing these games over and over I think will make kids more likely to break the law. It is creating an idea of what “men” are. More and more these games are becoming more realistic as well. It is easier to flip the switch, so to speak, from fantasy to reality, when games are fantasy. As games become more realistic that becomes harder to do. Especially when spending hours and hours playing games.
            I don’t think that these games are bad, I personally never really was interested in playing them, but I think there needs to be some strict rules for who is playing them. There needs to be age limits that are enforced. Which ultimately it is the responsibility of the parents. I think it is unfortunate when we start seeing commercials that are telling parents to talk to their kids about important issues such as drugs and violence, because it means that parents aren’t doing it. Kids are playing these games with out any parental guidance which ultimately could negatively affect them.

online identity

2004-07-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

: Online Identity

First of all I think it is interesting how Kendall first talked about the beginning of online mudding where people made up characters. Initially it sounded like people did not represent their true identities, but have now moved in that direction. Online could almost be seen as a fantasy life, for some people, where they can be anything they want because it is difficult for others online to know otherwise. Kendall talks about how in real life we “rely on several kinds of information to evaluate people (kendall 157)” She says these include facial and body expressions as well as vocal expressions. When a person is online, these key aspects are not available for evaluation. This makes it hard to have the same trust between someone you have met face-to-face and someone you have only met online. “meyrowitz suggests that textual representations always remain in some sense impersonal (Kendall 156)”
It sounds like bluesky prefers to have everyone be honest about who they are, which probably creates a better sense of trust. I find it interesting that people would choose to be something other than who they are online anyway. I would just be me. Probably even use my name like I did on for my blogspot address.
I think personalities come out online but they fit to what the culture of the group is. I think that, like bluesky, the group creates a norm and if you don’t adhere to it then you will feel resistance and un-acceptance, like the treatment of new comers to bluesky. “Online identity practices demonstrate how particular race, gender, and class identities wield greater power and receive more benefits than others (Kendall 138).” If you want to have the same privileges as the group you must conform to the norm of that group. But you’re probably not going to join a group that you don’t have a connection. People will find a group that in some way their personality or identity can associate. The main problem that I see Kendall talk about is not race but gender. Women on mudds that are predominantly run by males must prove that they can “perform masculinities according to the social norms of the group. Women who are able to do so find acceptance within the group, but their acceptance rein-scribes masculine norms, which continue to define women assumed outsiders and outsiders, by definition as not men.”

Alife

2004-07-14T15:12:00.001-07:00

What is Alife? The definition that Kember gives for Alife can be found on page three and states that: “Alife is concerned with evolving new life-forms, new species in autonomous artificial environments or worlds where the laws are prescribed entirely by biology.” Margaret Boden’s introduction to The Philosophy of Artificial Life is: “Artificial Life uses informational concepts and computer modeling to study life in general, and terrestrial life in particular. It raises many philosophical problems, including the nature of life itself.” So basically Alife is the use of information on computers. The themes that alife seems to have are with emergence and adaptation. Emergence; where “behavior on a group level transcends the simpler actions of its individuals.” And Adaptation is individuals reacting to the environment. IE: possibly evolution.
Artificial life can be found in many computer and video games such as creatures. Artificial intelligence has more practical uses such as in business. When I use my graphing calculator to graph an equation I am using artificial intelligence. It is software that has the can solve problems. In my MIS class we discussed AI in expert systems, and speech recognition. I recently read about a company who have created a website where people can go and become whoever they want. A person can learn to fly, or start a business giving people tours. This, I think is where artificial life and artificial intelligence somewhat meet.
In this example, software is achieving the goals of the user. Which is where I see the artificial intelligence. Where I see the artificial life is in the group as a whole (all the users) interacting with each other and evolving. While it is not the computer evolving the players it is actual people responding to others in the game. It works because players can actually make play money, and work towards some achievement. It is the real world (with few boundaries) online.

-- sorry this is late, I posted it last night but I didn't show up.--

A-Life

2004-07-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

What is Alife? The definition that Kember gives for Alife can be found on page three and states that: “Alife is concerned with evolving new life-forms, new species in autonomous artificial environments or worlds where the laws are prescribed entirely by biology.” Margaret Boden’s introduction to The Philosophy of Artificial Life is: “Artificial Life uses informational concepts and computer modeling to study life in general, and terrestrial life in particular. It raises many philosophical problems, including the nature of life itself.” So basically Alife is the use of information on computers, like the game of life by Conway. The themes that alife seems to have are with emergence and adaptation. Emergence; where “behavior on a group level transcends the simpler actions of its individuals.” And Adaptation is individuals reacting to the environment. IE: possibly evolution.
Artificial life can be found in many computer and video games such as creatures. Artificial intelligence has more practical uses such as in business. When I use my graphing calculator to graph an equation I am using artificial intelligence. It is software that has the can solve problems. In my MIS class we discussed AI in expert systems, and speech recognition. I recently read about a company who have created a website where people can go and become whoever they want. A person can learn to fly, or start a business giving people tours. This, I think is where artificial life and artificial intelligence somewhat meet.
In this example, software is achieving the goals of the user. Which is where I see the artificial intelligence. Where I see the artificial life is in the group as a whole (all the users) interacting with each other and evolving. While it is not the computer evolving the players it is actual people responding to others in the game. It works because players can actually make play money, and work towards some achievement. It is the real world (with few boundaries) online.

Mid term

2004-07-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

My Thesis is:
My paper basically is about diversity consciousness more than anything. I took the WSU website as an example analysis.

My argument is:
My argument is based on Mossbergers text and a book called “Diversity Consciousness.” It basically is that there is a disparity among different groups and some of it has to do with the content on websites, including the WSU website. I argue that the WSU website portrays the diversity of its current population fairly well but not the diversity of the US. That it is set up for tech. savvy people and is written to a younger audience. The “norm” I describe is: a person whose first language is English, they are white, male, heterosexual, Christian,, thin, middle to upper class, healthy and able bodied. I argue that few people could ever fit into this category because there are so many dimensions to people. In order to be the “norm” a person would have to fit in to all the categories, which few people do. I also that diversity is also not only skin deep. There are many dimensions to people that can’t be seen. For example: open-mindedness, family oriented, vegetarian, and member of an intergenerational household. As Society we seem to recognize external differences and rate them and hand out privileges for those characteristics that can be found in the norm. I do relate this to the WSU website as I found it to be written in some respect to the “norm”.

My evidence is:
I used statistics from the book “Diversity Consciousness,” and from Mossbergers book. A lot of the information I used could be considered subjective. I felt like the “Diversity Consciousness” book had good information on the subject of whiteness, which helped because only having one class on the subject was not enough to help me write a ten page paper on.

External Sources I used:
The external sources I used besides the WSU site were a book by Bucher called “Diversity Consciousness: and the book by Mossberger called “Virtual Inequality.

Possible refutations to my argument are:
Well, there really are so few as I am right. But if I have to come up with something, which would hold relatively little weight against my paper, it would be that WSU requires people to use the website for things like registering and finding forms because they are preparing us for the future. Lower division classes are also offered that a person could take as well if they need help with learning how to navigate sites. Another argument could be that WSU does a fairly good job of displaying diversity in the photos it has online.
My conclusion is:
My conclusions is that diversity consciousness would help people in school and future work in a number of ways. It would also help people in the creation of websites, like WSU.edu to recognize how they may be affecting people in adverse ways.

Video comparison

2004-06-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

I am a little confused as how to compare and contrast the issues that Brasher puts forward and the video. A lot of what I got out of the book was that current religions have a struggle ahead of them if they do not look at what the web is doing to society. What I got out of the film was that web sites are recruiting people to religions or organizations that oppose what our society is about. Mainly freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

Brasher I felt gave a somewhat utopian view of the effects technology will have on society. She also seemed to speak a lot about the struggles traditional religions will have in the future dealing with the changes. I am the type of person who only uses the internet when I need to check my email, purchase something, or research a topic. I do not hold the view that the internet could be something more, or that it holds an eternal quality. It is simply a tool to me so it was difficult for me to grasp some of the issues.

Comparing and contrasting. Well, the video represented the negative affects the internet can have, as a recruiting tool, by influencing people all over the world. Everyone has access. Brasher seems to gloss over any concerns and sticks with a more positive view. Brashers’ arguments are still valid and I think that they still work. This is because no matter what technological change, whether printing press or internet there are negative side affects. I feel that if the negative out way the positive it is not a positive change. However, like the printing press brought the ability for people to write books like “The Turner Diaries” it also brought a huge ability to influence society in a positive way. At this point I feel the internet is a much more positive influence than a negative. People need to be responsible however.

What does religion do for a culture? What should it do?

2004-06-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

First of all it answers the questions that everyone has about life. Like, Why am I here, what is the purpose of life. Religions gives people the answer to these questions. Culture on its own gives some of the answers but maybe religion adds a deeper meaning to life that these questions are searching for.

It also gives them a place to belong, and a set morals. Religions change over time and kind of act as a model of the morals someone should live by. For example, when someone is in a situation that is morally unclear they turn to their religion for advice. Religions also create stability in a country. It helps tie people together. Many cultures are closely tied to the religion of the country.

Religions should be a place where people can find strength and meaning in life. They should support the culture and country and set the moral code of the culture. They should also be accepting of all others who choose not to be in there religion. Most religions, it seems to me, are about community and helping others. I don’t think they need to be however they should not negatively impact others.

What is Digital Diversity

2004-06-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

To me digital diversity is the diverse way that people use technology. What I mean by using technology is that it can be used to express your opinion, who you are and relate to other people. It is easy to search for people with similar beliefs, backgrounds, or experiences on the web that is a non-threatening environment.

I am not sure what I will get out of the class. I was somewhat confused as to what the class was to begin with. It is not a topic that I have put any thought into prior to today, in fact I have never heard the term digital diversity. I expect that the class will be interesting as it will open a new topic for me. Which is the point of the class for me as it is a capstone class. I look forward to getting to know what everyone’s point of view.

contract

2004-06-21T14:28:00.000-07:00