Virtual Ethnography - (couldnt get two of the Hine articles to open. will come back to later)
Louise Woodward case, an interesting example. Brings up good questions about novelty, and viral reactionism that is rampant online.
sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), new abbreviation to me.
Introducing Cyberculture -
three stages or generations (like feminism) - first stage, popular cyberculture, is marked by its journalistic origins and characterized by its descriptive nature, limited dualism, and use of the Internet-as- frontier metaphor. The second stage, cyberculture studies, focuses largely on virtual communities and online identities and benefits from an influx of academic scholars. The third stage, critical cyberculture studies, expands the notion of cyberculture to include four areas of study -- online interactions, digital discourses, access and denial to the Internet, and interface design of cyberspace -- and explores the intersections and interdependencies between any and all four domains.
I found this an interesting breakdown of a very short history. I dont know if the exact segmenting of the history of cyberculture can be divided like but it is another take on it.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Wind Down
Ethical decision-making and Internet research & ETHICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET - good stuff to keep in mind
STUDIES OF CYBERPL@Y -
"in synchronous online communication, the medium fosters artful, stylized verbal/typographic performance, and that this type of performance partially resembles both jazz and traditional oral performance". I always like historical anthropology. I think its interesting to compare and contrast ideas like this even if it ends up being a bit of a long stretch in the end. At first glance though this doesnt seem completely illogical. Another interesting phenomena, I think, are people that write in all caps and the subsequent stereotypes about them. Its a personality thing I suppose.
Second Life and Hyperreality -
This is a brief essay, we call "think-pieces". Thats my kind of article. Think-piece. I like it. Im not really sure what made me think about this, but I was recently talking to a friend about this class and he recommended that I look into thefts that occur in online communities. Heres some little news stories I found about it. http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34598/118/, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7094764.stm, http://www.nypost.com/seven/10282007/news/regionalnews/unreality_byte.htm.
Review of Avatara -
As soon as I have more free time I just must read more books from the cyberpunk genre. Recently I've been just listening to short fiction podcasts and I just can't wait for summertime in the park to dig into something new.
Coming of Age in Second Life -
The American Cancer Society held a fundraiser in Second Life? Maybe the rest of the world is a lot more tech savvy than I even realized. "Second Life has trees, which reference trees in the actual world, but if I were to study trees in Second Life it would not always be necessary that I take bark samples from actual world trees" I found this a particular succinct way of putting that idea.
Toward a Definition of 'Virtual Worlds' - Having a hard time getting the article to open. Will come back to this later.
Getting the Seats of Your Pants Dirty -
I think the title is meant to be ironic because good golly grapejuice this is the most academic article so far. Well, admittedly Im getting hungry and cranky, but still.
Studying Online Social Networks -
A whole new form of kinship studies. Im surprised actually I havent read more articles that try and use more traditional forms of kinship analysis and apply them to SNSs. Maybe they have and I ha vent noticed. Its not my favorite type of anthropology but I can see how it would be applicable. Since it is termed as 'friends' and not as 'family' is that completely exclude online communities from kinship studies? Obviously people involved feel quite strongly about the connections they make online. I would think that semantics shouldn't really stand in the way but i guess maybe thats a silly thing to say. Maybe even blasphemous. The whole field would fall undoubtedly apart if it wasn't for dithering over semantics.
Developing Cyberethnographic Research Methods for Understanding Digitally Mediated Identities -
"On university campuses, administrators warn students that the information posted on their profiles may damage the reputation of young people when they apply for jobs or to seek admission to college." This really bothers me for some reason. One that I havent properly focused yet. It just seems like such an invasion of privacy. The online self is often very distinct from the academic self. Should universities have such a heavy hand in controlling students/youth outside of the scholastic sphere? I really dont think so. Ill probably add more to this later.
Cybermethods -
Very cut and dry articles always amuse me. Not because I enjoy reading them, but because it must be the farthest thing from my experience of using the internet. That is the cross that academics must bear though, I suppose.
I think the title is meant to be ironic because good golly grapejuice this is the most academic article so far. Well, admittedly Im getting hungry and cranky, but still.
Studying Online Social Networks -
A whole new form of kinship studies. Im surprised actually I havent read more articles that try and use more traditional forms of kinship analysis and apply them to SNSs. Maybe they have and I ha vent noticed. Its not my favorite type of anthropology but I can see how it would be applicable. Since it is termed as 'friends' and not as 'family' is that completely exclude online communities from kinship studies? Obviously people involved feel quite strongly about the connections they make online. I would think that semantics shouldn't really stand in the way but i guess maybe thats a silly thing to say. Maybe even blasphemous. The whole field would fall undoubtedly apart if it wasn't for dithering over semantics.
Developing Cyberethnographic Research Methods for Understanding Digitally Mediated Identities -
"On university campuses, administrators warn students that the information posted on their profiles may damage the reputation of young people when they apply for jobs or to seek admission to college." This really bothers me for some reason. One that I havent properly focused yet. It just seems like such an invasion of privacy. The online self is often very distinct from the academic self. Should universities have such a heavy hand in controlling students/youth outside of the scholastic sphere? I really dont think so. Ill probably add more to this later.
Cybermethods -
Very cut and dry articles always amuse me. Not because I enjoy reading them, but because it must be the farthest thing from my experience of using the internet. That is the cross that academics must bear though, I suppose.
Break for Lunch? Dare I Indulge?
Online Interviewing and the Research Relationship -
http://symptoms.webmd.com/. "Seekers of information about health and illness are generally revealed to be in good health" I have to admit that I completely guilty of using the health care centered websites in probably in way they were never designated for. In part Id like to blame my hypochondriac roommate, who Ive lived with for three years now. After hearing about chronic bronchitis, burst eardrums from going on a airplane with a slight cold, the unknown risks surrounding parasites and numerous herbal remedies (yet expensive) that everyone should be taking well...it takes a bit of a toll. I just think its interesting to go on these websites and see, what could go wrong. The big what if.
Ethnographic Presence in a Nebulous Setting -
lurkers? I try and keep track of all the nicknames for different sorts of people online. This seems to fall maybe into the same category as "creepers" of Facebook fame.
Linking Knowledge -
There are so many bing words that come along with attempting to describe the internet and what it is too. network of communication, information highway, virtual lab/commonplace/etc, interaction, space, web, pthhhb. it makes my brain yawn. poor words, they dont mean to be so boring.
http://symptoms.webmd.com/. "Seekers of information about health and illness are generally revealed to be in good health" I have to admit that I completely guilty of using the health care centered websites in probably in way they were never designated for. In part Id like to blame my hypochondriac roommate, who Ive lived with for three years now. After hearing about chronic bronchitis, burst eardrums from going on a airplane with a slight cold, the unknown risks surrounding parasites and numerous herbal remedies (yet expensive) that everyone should be taking well...it takes a bit of a toll. I just think its interesting to go on these websites and see, what could go wrong. The big what if.
Ethnographic Presence in a Nebulous Setting -
lurkers? I try and keep track of all the nicknames for different sorts of people online. This seems to fall maybe into the same category as "creepers" of Facebook fame.
Linking Knowledge -
There are so many bing words that come along with attempting to describe the internet and what it is too. network of communication, information highway, virtual lab/commonplace/etc, interaction, space, web, pthhhb. it makes my brain yawn. poor words, they dont mean to be so boring.
And Then Some
Communities in Cyberspace -
One of the most interesting metaphors for the Internet that I've read was in Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks by Theresa M. Senft. She compared the internet to the coke bottle from the film The Gods Must Be Crazy. Im feeling a bit lazy so I'm going to let wikipedia do the legwork for me here..."The members of Xi's tribe are living well off the land in the Kalahari Desert. They are happy because the gods have provided plenty of everything, no one in the tribe has unfilled wants. One day, a glass Coke bottle is thrown out of an aeroplane and falls to earth unbroken. Initially, this strange artifact seems to be another boon from the gods—Xi's people find many uses for it. But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one bottle to go around. This exposes the tribe to a hitherto unknown phenomenon, property, and they soon find themselves experiencing things they never had before: jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, even violence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy)" In a nutshell...its not the medium or vehicle, its how we use it that determines whether is a good or bad thing.
Life on the Screen -
“We shall encounter virtual sex and cyberspace marriage, computer psychotherapists, robot insects and researchers who are trying to build artificial two-year-olds.” This sparked my imagination. I wish every reading I had to do was filled with lines like that. Online sex tourism through use of MUDs as explained by Doug. I also really liked the way he conceptualized offline life as, " just one more window…and its not usually my best one”
virtual rape? something id like to look more into. http://virtuallyblind.com/2007/04/24/open-roundtable-allegations-of-virtual-rape-bring-belgian-police-to-second-life/. After a cursory google search its hard to find anything besides blog entries about these occurrences. there was one op-ed by the new york times in their 'freakanomics' section, http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/de-incentivizing-virtual-rape/. Found one article http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/mackinnon.html. Havent read it yet to see what I think about it though.
This article is a lot more interesting than others Ive read from the same era. Usually I assume that If an article was written on the internet during the 1990's its going to be all sorts of dry and boring.
Writing in the Body -
Will the ambiguity of identity in cyberspace really wash away all biases and judgements reserved for gender and other differentiating factors visible in the offline world? I would love to be optimistic about this question but I tend to agree with the author that this is a far stretch. As was mentioned in Communities in Cyberspace, people will attempt to use anything they can grasp at to create some sort of identity for the people they interact with online, regardless of whether it is offered or not. This can be done in part even by perspectives and views offered in text or in actions online. Its a really interesting proposition that I think warrants a lot more research or at least serious thought. I often have caught myself being very surprised when seeing photographs of a singer for the first time after listening to their music or radioshow hosts. The subconcious draws certain conclusions based on....voice? speech style? genre of program or music? Im not really sure. This article is one of my favorites so far.
One of the most interesting metaphors for the Internet that I've read was in Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks by Theresa M. Senft. She compared the internet to the coke bottle from the film The Gods Must Be Crazy. Im feeling a bit lazy so I'm going to let wikipedia do the legwork for me here..."The members of Xi's tribe are living well off the land in the Kalahari Desert. They are happy because the gods have provided plenty of everything, no one in the tribe has unfilled wants. One day, a glass Coke bottle is thrown out of an aeroplane and falls to earth unbroken. Initially, this strange artifact seems to be another boon from the gods—Xi's people find many uses for it. But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one bottle to go around. This exposes the tribe to a hitherto unknown phenomenon, property, and they soon find themselves experiencing things they never had before: jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, even violence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy)" In a nutshell...its not the medium or vehicle, its how we use it that determines whether is a good or bad thing.
Life on the Screen -
“We shall encounter virtual sex and cyberspace marriage, computer psychotherapists, robot insects and researchers who are trying to build artificial two-year-olds.” This sparked my imagination. I wish every reading I had to do was filled with lines like that. Online sex tourism through use of MUDs as explained by Doug. I also really liked the way he conceptualized offline life as, " just one more window…and its not usually my best one”
virtual rape? something id like to look more into. http://virtuallyblind.com/2007/04/24/open-roundtable-allegations-of-virtual-rape-bring-belgian-police-to-second-life/. After a cursory google search its hard to find anything besides blog entries about these occurrences. there was one op-ed by the new york times in their 'freakanomics' section, http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/de-incentivizing-virtual-rape/. Found one article http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/mackinnon.html. Havent read it yet to see what I think about it though.
This article is a lot more interesting than others Ive read from the same era. Usually I assume that If an article was written on the internet during the 1990's its going to be all sorts of dry and boring.
Writing in the Body -
Will the ambiguity of identity in cyberspace really wash away all biases and judgements reserved for gender and other differentiating factors visible in the offline world? I would love to be optimistic about this question but I tend to agree with the author that this is a far stretch. As was mentioned in Communities in Cyberspace, people will attempt to use anything they can grasp at to create some sort of identity for the people they interact with online, regardless of whether it is offered or not. This can be done in part even by perspectives and views offered in text or in actions online. Its a really interesting proposition that I think warrants a lot more research or at least serious thought. I often have caught myself being very surprised when seeing photographs of a singer for the first time after listening to their music or radioshow hosts. The subconcious draws certain conclusions based on....voice? speech style? genre of program or music? Im not really sure. This article is one of my favorites so far.
Crunchtime
There is some sort of horrible spiderweb-like damage on the screen of the computer I'm sitting at in the library. I can't see part of what I'm typing so if anything is horrible out of place...well that's why.
Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship -
The problems that arise online that affect offline life interested me. Differentiations between types of friendship which can range to Fans and Followers that would not necessarily arise in normal face-to-face interactions. Another common problem is the fact that family, co-workers and bosses also have access to these SNS. It is very common, I've found, that people will detag themselves from photographs and censor their online personality in order to avoid judgement and worse. Friends of mine from large American universities have severely screened their Facebook accounts when they were underage to keep out pictures of them drinking. The University had enacted a policy where it could punish students based on online photographs.
I think often its true that the company's supporting these SNS dont always protect their users interests. Ongoing complications with privacy issues.
The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites -
The first university graduation party that I went to for a friend of mine, I remember having a conversation with her father about how he had lost touch with almost all of his friends from school. The article mentions the term, friendsickness, which I found a really interesting concept. With the help of SNSs I think the problem of losing touch with friends from previous times throughout a life will be alleviated somewhat.
Publicly Private and Privately Public:Social Networking on YouTube
Media circuits, It is definitely true that the sharing of videos is very audience specific. Ill send cute videos of baby animals to some friends, music videos to others, raunchy ones to even another set. Its almost too often that Ill go to a friends house and everyone will have their laptops out, surfing and sharing links, blogs and videos from the internet. Laptop Parties if you will.
Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship -
The problems that arise online that affect offline life interested me. Differentiations between types of friendship which can range to Fans and Followers that would not necessarily arise in normal face-to-face interactions. Another common problem is the fact that family, co-workers and bosses also have access to these SNS. It is very common, I've found, that people will detag themselves from photographs and censor their online personality in order to avoid judgement and worse. Friends of mine from large American universities have severely screened their Facebook accounts when they were underage to keep out pictures of them drinking. The University had enacted a policy where it could punish students based on online photographs.
I think often its true that the company's supporting these SNS dont always protect their users interests. Ongoing complications with privacy issues.
The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites -
The first university graduation party that I went to for a friend of mine, I remember having a conversation with her father about how he had lost touch with almost all of his friends from school. The article mentions the term, friendsickness, which I found a really interesting concept. With the help of SNSs I think the problem of losing touch with friends from previous times throughout a life will be alleviated somewhat.
Publicly Private and Privately Public:Social Networking on YouTube
Media circuits, It is definitely true that the sharing of videos is very audience specific. Ill send cute videos of baby animals to some friends, music videos to others, raunchy ones to even another set. Its almost too often that Ill go to a friends house and everyone will have their laptops out, surfing and sharing links, blogs and videos from the internet. Laptop Parties if you will.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Parsley Breath
Ive always thought that cheerio breath left the worst of all afterbreaths but parsley might be a new heavy weight contender. Anyway.....the readings. Blogging Practices was by far the driest of the articles. It made even the most casual of blogging styles, that may be seen to have a 'vulgar spirit', as was discussed in the Vulgar Spirit of Blogging, to be extremely structured and well thought out. Tough read. The VSofB highlighted the ability of the author/blogger to choose more deliberately how to express one's self given the text medium and chance to edit. I liked the concept of thinking about blogging styles as being overdressed vs underdressed for a party. Dress code metaphor! A nice little picture I could wrap my mind around. I don't think the problems that have arisen within the communities of Islamic bloggers are unique. Finding a efficient yet attention grabbing means of communication when your readership is unlimited and unknowable (without extensive research I'd imagine) is probably difficult for just about everyone. The Charms of Wikipedia was the easiest and most enjoyable article. I found the ongoing debate between inclusionist and deleteist editors very interesting. I would like to know the justifications for being more selective with article publications because it would seem to me the very nature of Wikipedia would/should be on the more inclusionary side. This article just made a good story (and informative, the history of Wikipedia is much less two dimensional that I imagined).
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