Filling the Head
By now you should have downloaded, printed, and read Judy Bachrach's article that I went over in class...
I know the Dery and Wallace books may/may not be in yet, but we can begin anyway. Here are two questions I want you to discuss online. Remember, click on the area that says "comments" to post your view.
Wallace says in the first couple of chapters that online persona is playing a huge role in first impressions we have of people nowadays. Because we spend so much time online and not as much time face-to-face, we jump to conclusions about others faster than ever before.
Dery makes the point that we're entering a cultural phase he calls "escape velocity" the "speed at which a body overcomes the gravitational pull of another body" and that information moves so rapidly, instantaneously, and continuously we find ourselves overwhelmed. Our bodies are so overcome with the pull of speedy and infinite information that we're moving toward escape velocity as a culture.
Two questions are
1.) If Wallace is correct about online persona, then what should we think about the two British boys -- were the two jumping to conclusions about the other's personality or were they in a type of escape velocity that only murder could end?
2.) If Dery is correct that our culture is moving quickly toward escape velocity, should we expect more of these dangerous or violent situations to occur in cyberspace?
Try to tackle both. Remember, these are thinking questions. There is no right or wrong answer. We'll discuss your ideas in class Monday night.
I know the Dery and Wallace books may/may not be in yet, but we can begin anyway. Here are two questions I want you to discuss online. Remember, click on the area that says "comments" to post your view.
Wallace says in the first couple of chapters that online persona is playing a huge role in first impressions we have of people nowadays. Because we spend so much time online and not as much time face-to-face, we jump to conclusions about others faster than ever before.
Dery makes the point that we're entering a cultural phase he calls "escape velocity" the "speed at which a body overcomes the gravitational pull of another body" and that information moves so rapidly, instantaneously, and continuously we find ourselves overwhelmed. Our bodies are so overcome with the pull of speedy and infinite information that we're moving toward escape velocity as a culture.
Two questions are
1.) If Wallace is correct about online persona, then what should we think about the two British boys -- were the two jumping to conclusions about the other's personality or were they in a type of escape velocity that only murder could end?
2.) If Dery is correct that our culture is moving quickly toward escape velocity, should we expect more of these dangerous or violent situations to occur in cyberspace?
Try to tackle both. Remember, these are thinking questions. There is no right or wrong answer. We'll discuss your ideas in class Monday night.
posted by Diane Penrod at 1/29/2005
3 Comments:
I know from personal experience with the web that even if you are who you really are online peoples perceptions are skewed by how they read what you write. I have received e-mail or been in chat rooms that I was sure the person was being sincere. You can't detect scarcsm by seeing it written on your screen. I think people interperet what the read in whatever way that pleases them the most. We could all read the same comment and have a different opion about what was ment. I think that people do jump to conclusions quickly but they are based on their past experience and everyone has had different past experiences.
I know that I now feel the volicity that you were mentioning in your post. When I first started using the internet it was just for fun. Talking to people and meeting new people. Now everything is used to make business and our world faster. I think that is with every technology that has been developed over the years. Sometimes I just want to stop the ride and get off. I don't need 300 channels on my TV. I don't need IM's. I can actually wait until I get the regular e-mail. For that matter I could do without e-mail. 99.99% of it is junk anyway. Maybe we should go back to writing letters, having meaningful conversations with people and dinners not in front of the TV.
There are some interesting ideas floating here...
We put forward some new thoughts tonight in class. When we visited Kelly's site on FaceBook or saw LinguaMOO, we saw the possibilities for online personas to develop. It was easy to see both the good and the not so good aspects of these pieces of technology.
What do you think about the ability to create different online personas now that you've read a few of these quotes, read Wallace and Dery, Bachrach's article, and visited different online sites in class?
Are there benefits to creating a persona that is not your real-time presence? What might they be?
Kelly Batten
1. I feel that these children were very young and naive. They were not in a type of escape velocity like that author says, but they just got carried away. Children need to be taught that the internet is not life, and that it is just like talking to stangers in real life. Many times children at these ages want to be liked and will believe many things that they should not believe.
2. I feel that as long as children are taught that they should not talk to strangers in real like they should be taught the same thing on the internet. The children have to realize that there are many people who are out to harm other people and the internet is the perfect environment to disguise yourself to do harm on others.
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