MCSyr3

Final Thoughts

2007-12-07T23:19:00.000Z

Well, here I am...the end. I must say I'm quite sad to be writing my this blog, it all seems so final....

Its safe to say that i've enjoyed this project, the blogging part in particular...I talk a lot in general so it seems like natural progression to type a lot (or ramble depending on which way you look at it). I'm amazed that its all come together so well. Everyone in the group really pulled together in this project, the effort was made by all individuals, (I genuinly mean this by the way...i'm not just saying it for the sentiment). Another thing I'm really pleased about, just in regards to our Wiki as a project, is the fact that it really does incorporate all the things that we discussed and felt were relevant. We didnt argue over anything in fact.

In my opinion, and experience, it can often be the most challanging thing to do group work. We were all pretty luck in the sense that we all can work together so well and not have too many problems.

As for this module in itself...its certainly been a postive learning experience. I was very 'anti' virtual communties at the start, deeming chat rooms 'unhealthy' for social interaction and attaching a massive stigma to virtual communities (especially as you interact with people you 'dont know'). Now however, I see thing from a different perspective (call it an epiphany if you will). We are ALL somehow reliant on cyberspace, and with evey day it becomes more and more influential in daily life. I cant even remember the last time I came home without switching on my laptop to check my emails...its become an automatic reaction; something thats been embodied into my everyday life.

More and more people are meeting friends, partners and likeminded individuals via the means of online communication, and its just as risky as meeting people in the pub....you just have to trust your judgement I guess. Life changes, times change, and we just have to move with it.

Facebook has actually proved to be a really good experience for me throughout this project. I initially set it up out of sheer curiousity, whereas now I genuinly use it to keep in touch with people when I'm busy. A lot of really important information is being communicated via facebook. Jana set up the MCS 08 group whereby everyone on our course can keep in touch with one another and share lecture notes etc, which has proved very very useful.

We've learnt some very useful tools in this module as well, such as this, independant reflection, as well as developing our own conclusions on an issue so relevant and socially applicable. Although its only really in the west that the internet is so socially significant, it is already considered (in a wide sense) a global phenomena. Therefore the more we can understand and decipher the internet, the better equipt we'll be from dismissing it as a source of negativity.

PS: THANKS NIGEL!!! ITS BEEN A VERY INFORMATIVE 2 MONTHS! :)

Facebook-a place of mourning

2007-12-03T15:49:00.000Z

I recently came across the profile of a young man on facebook, who tragically died.

The reason this profile interested me so much is the fact that since his passing his facebook has been active, and his friends (one of whom is a school friend of mine), have been posting on his wall.

2 things that i had to ask myself when i found this were 1) who's been keeping his facebook active? 2)Is it appropriate?

Project update...new literature proves very helpful!

2007-11-25T20:09:00.000Z

Ok, so our project is almost finished (i say almost, I may be getting slightly ahead of myself). As far as most in our group would say, its pretty fair to assume that we've got a coherant structure, and we're in our final stages of 'tweeking'.

Lately I've been working on an essay on cyborgs for Chris Sams and was previously writing up a seminar paper for a seminar on cyberspace and its metaphors . The reason I mention this is because almost everything I've read somehow relates back to this module (at the risk of making a sweeping generalisation). A fantastic book which i've managed to obtain is called Cyber_reader, (edited by Neil Spiller). This book contains a list of essays written from the mid 1950s, all the way through to modern day, on all things 'cyber' related. My particular favourites have been the essays regarding cyberspace, and leaving our 'physical' bodies behind as we enter the realm of cyberspace (in Karen A Franck, 1995's aptly titled When I enter Virtual Reality, What Body will I Leave Behind). John Perry Barlow, Micheal Heim and Stelarc also have some very thought provoking essays in this collection, all of which somehow relate back to views of identity, and identity online. A list of all these key texts will be included in our Wiki Page.

Anyway, enough of the 'academia', I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that i am now a victim of the post modern condition that is cyberspace...fabulous! I find myself spending COUNTLESS amounts of hours online, and talking to my friends more on FACEBOOK than on the phone!!...I've even resorted to communicating with my brother (who may i add lives in my house) on msn...as opposed to walking for 2 seconds to his room and asking him whatever it is i need to ask him (which is often 'make me a cup of tea'). Should I be disgusted with my excessive laptop appreciation? Or should I just deem this as me being 'busy'? (which in my defense i am). I hate to think I'll end up relying on my laptop as an essential tool of communication, and become a social recluse, (which ladies & gentlemen, is not far from the truth, see last blog for details).
Habit 1: I switch on my laptop the minute i get home....be it 3am to check email, facebook and whos on msn (worrying...methinks yes)
Habit 2: Social communication breakdowns, i.e. arguments with people i know in real life have resulted in hostile facebook statuses i.e. sara is angry at xyz for xyz (usually a bit wittier tho....and not as direct)
Habit 3: I'd rather buy stuff online, then in the shop...why????! oxford street is 10 minutes away, whsmith is downstairs, and i live next to a bookshop!

and now my crisis is that my dvd drive isnt working...which 3 years ago, would not constitute as a 'crisis'

The stuff we study is closer to home then we think eh?

Web layouts...the good, the bad, and the baffling..

2007-11-18T19:56:00.000Z

I've spent the past few days doing online shopping, (because thats what happens when you've got 5 pieces of work to hand in and want to escape theory for a few hours). My online shopping spree tends to begin with the shops i actually shop from on the high street, (Zara, Topshop, Diesal...the usual suspects), and then go on to internet sites that are more specialist (http://www.net-a-porter.com/, http://www.asos.com/, http://www.tightsplease.com/). Anyway, what tends to happen when I do undergo random browsing, is I jump from one site to another, and find random links which often take me to unknown locations that either prove to be fascinating (and worth putting on my 'favorites list'), or shocking and deemed not worthy of ever returning to. This online shopping time helped me determine which sites have exceptionally good layouts and are user friendly, and which aren't (also which are worth visiting, to avoid the actual shop itself). This was one of the tasks that i believe was set for us, and I found a good list of sites which are worth it, and ones which really should be avoided.

First on the list of impossible to navigate is the Zara website (http://www.zara.com/)...
what on earth were they thinking?!

Not only does it take ages till something actually pops up on the screen as an indicator of what to do next, but its also really badly organised. It goes from blank page to menu, to blank page, and you're never quite sure what you should be clicking on. The women's collection takes several attempts to access (and I like to think of myself as a fairly computer literate individual), its just all a bit of a nondescript mess. It takes a lot of blank expressions and mouse clicks to actually get to any clothes! Not recommended for those who like no fuss websites, and are in a hurry.

Next on the list of badly layed out sites is (surprisingly) the H&M website. Its easier to navigate then the zara website, and a lot clearer in terms of content, however it falls short in terms of actually being able to view the collections (which in my opinion defeates the purpose of a fashion website!), there arent any clear 'men', 'women' labels to click on, and again, its a bit all over the place...irritating actually. Also you can't buy things online which i think is a real let down, and the Roberto Cavalli range took AGES to view.

A fantastic site was net-a-porter.com, this site is so well layed out and 'to the point', that i was astonished. Everything is clearly marked, non ambigous, perhaps lacking creativity to a certain degree, but great for shopping (which is essentially why its there). The same goes for ASOS.com, which was once not very good in terms of layout, but has changed in recent months and has become MUCH more concise.

Another great shopping website in my opinion is Amazon.com. Since joining I've really grown to love this website. Every book I will ever need will no doubt be on there, and as well as this, every time i logg in, they'll recommend books for me, based on my previous purchases. I love this feature! Not only do they genuinely recommend very good titles, but they also recommend titles that are very relevant and that i've actually ended up buying, and loved. BIG thumbs up to Amazon.

A good website in terms of visual beauty is the website for chinawhite resteraunt/club http://www.chinawhite.com/new/, the site was very disorganised a few months ago, as although it was very conceptual and looked great, it was almost impossible to figure out. Luckily they changed it to a much more 'user friendly' format, so now its not just more accessible, but a lot clearer in terms of content.

In terms of our project. Its coming along pretty well. This week is editing week. I'm planning on really fine tuning all the contents and making the pages look user friendly without bombarding people with paragraph upon paragraph of text.

Its something i'm sure the guys are going to want to discuss tomorrow.

Ciao for now

Wiki formation, bad search engines and insomnia

2007-11-05T07:25:00.000Z

Its either too early, or too late to be online (it becomes a blur when you're an insomniac like myself), and seeing as I couldnt sleep a wink, I thought I'd use it as a perfect opportunity to investigate whats going on with the group Wiki at the moment, and make changes/edit material where needed.

The first thing i was estatic about is the fact that the wiki has actually got some really good bits of information on it this week. Last week we all decided that we were going to go and do our own bits of research into various aspects of the project, and then get put it all on the Wiki in its rough form. The plan was to then take the relevant steps in order to fine tune this information over the next few weeks so that it a) sounds coherant b) flows nicely, and c) doesnt sound like we're jumping from on subject to the other, (so to essentially tighten the structure of the wiki). The final thing on our list was to do something about the layout.

My job was to focus on the intro page & write about identity; what it is, what it means to have an online identity, and how it varies from having a normal identity. This intro is designed to set the scene for the information that follows especially in regards to how one's identity will or may change in regards to social networking sites or online communities.

Seeing as I've been primarily looking at identity on social networking sites for the past three weeks, it wasn't too hard to put a (hopefully) coherant context/intro together (although at the moment its REALLY lacking in theoretical information). Its a very basic outline of identity, two definitions (one from an ordinary dictionary, one from a psychological glossary), and how these definitions change once an online setting is thrown into the mix. I go on to briefly talk about the layout of myspace and how the layout itself will automatically influence how one would want to project themselves, as well as what happens when you join an online community (based on the dozens of articles i've read over the past few weeks regarding online communities).

I still need lots of theory, some links, and some images to make it look aesthetically pleasing, and more well argued.

The rest of the Wiki looks good so far. Alisha sorted out the layout and background issues (and now we have a very eccentric bamboo background which i'm pleased with!) Everyones put some info on the wiki in regards the topics we talked about last week as a group; so in that respect there are no complaints. My only rant is perhaps that we talk a bit TOO much about myspace and facebook, and should narrow this all down to one page. We still need to go into issues surrounding deception, as well as looking at a case study regarding online identity.

The work of James Cote is very interesting, I need to look into that more, hes got some great theories on identity in relation to the modernity, and fragmentation of identity.

Also i was very unhappy with google tonight (or this morning rather!)...it was coming up with some really random results when i typed in identity.
I should ask jeeves in future

PROJECT PROPOSAL

2007-10-28T22:11:00.001Z

In light of the group discussion last week, here is a summary of the ideas and issues that will be introduced and discussed in our group wiki on the issue of 'Identity'. As we progress with this module our ideas and focus points are subject to change, however at this present point I think its safe to assume that the group members are all in agreement over the following information. Our Project will fall under two main headings, the issue of online identity-what it means, and the idea of deception within online identity. Within these two subheadings will be various questions we may wish to cover:

What is Identity?

Exploring the question of identity, What is our identity in our real lives, how do we define it and what it means to have an online identity in contrast to a 'real life' identity. Whether there are any differences between these concepts? Does identity change once we enter cyberspace? why? Theorists/sources of interest may include the following:

Understanding Human Behavior in Cyberspace By Yair Amichai-Hamburger (2005, Oxford University Press), (How the Internet enables people to express elements of their personality that they cannot express in the real word, the social psychology).

Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice By Martha MacCaughey, Michael D. Ayers (2003, Routledge), (understanding the impact of the Internet on politics today, collective online identity).

Community in the Digital Age: Philosophy and Practice By Andrew Feenberg (2004 Rowman & Littlefield)

Sex in Cyberspace: Men Who Pay for Sex by Sarah Earle, Keith Sharpe (2007Ashgate Publishing, Ltd), (self-explanitory title! Research based on online forums and chat rooms)

Identity: Cultural Change and the Struggle for Self By Roy F. Baumeister (1986Oxford University Press)

Culture and Identity: Critical Theories By Ross Abbinnett, chapter entitled 'Postmodern and the aesthetic' (2003 Sage Publications Inc).

http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/TGAME.html

www.newmediastudies.com/resourc2.html

www.bathtub.yoga.com/blog/myspace-vs-facebook-or-why-facebook-needs-artistpa ges.html

www.reviews.digitaltrends.com/guide92.html

Looking at social networking sites and how they are constructed. Who do they aim at? Is there a 'type' of person who joins these sites, and does it say something about one's 'identity' depending on which site you choose to be part of? eg. The online society you involve yourself with and how this may impact you. Does identity change once a social networking site enters the equation? Sites we may choose to look at (and have already looked at), are primarily facebook and myspace, although bebo and univillage are also of interest, as well as WELL and equivelant sites

How do Myspace and Facebook differentiate? Myspace and the idea of a 'glorifed CV', which is used by most people for networking and meeting people across the world. Facebook on the other hand being almost in the same vein of Friendsreunited.com because you only add people you know or have known, and it being used by primarily by university students. In addition it is arguably more user friendly.

Give an example (or two) of a case whereby online identity online has played in key role in changing someone's life. (currently finding examples of this within our group)

DECEPTION:

Issues that can be covered in this section are ideas concerning online deception in regards to identity. Are people who they say they are? Ideas about Identity theft. False Profiles on social networking sites and how much this really matters, if at all.
Dating websites may also fall under this category, and how much deception (if at all) is used when trying to lure those of the opposite sex
'bands' online, I know through personal experience of working within the online PR of music that myspace music is not regulated and controlled by the 'band' or the artists themselves (once they become well-known), the PR team will usually monitor, change, update and 'add' friends on the myspace of various artists posing as the artist themselves. Is this deception? or Publicity? Where does one draw the line.

Other things to take into consideration:

The work of Erving Goffman

Identity theft online, and further thoughts

2007-10-28T19:51:00.000Z

Earlier this week I was watching TV, and found myself being drawn into an episode of BBC 1's consumer complaints program 'Watchdog' (if truth be told I was actually waiting for Eastenders to start and stumbled across this by accident...a very informative accident). The subject matter being addressed was the issue of identity theft online especially through social networking sites. This information proved to be gold dust in regards to our Wiki on identity, as it addressed the terrifying issue of how one's identity can be snatched based on a few minor nuggets of information a website may provide.

Here is a snippet from the report:

24 October 2007

Dawn Telfer didn't worry about sharing her details online until someone stole more than just her identity. "I went home and logged on to my online accounts and I was more than £6,000 overdrawn," she says.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20071024.shtml)

The report goes on to say that by having a few simple bits on information on yourself such as full name and D.O.B, fraudsters can do a quick check on you on other publicly avaliable websites and instantly piece together all the information they need to know. In fact the program themselves conducted an experiment to assess how true this notion was with a willing participant. They went through the simple notions a criminal would go through in order to commit identity theft (based only on a few simple details), and managed to open up an online bank account, and credit card in the persons name!! Both of which were instantly accepted.

To read the whole report on the BBC website go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20071024.shtml

The idea of online identity theft on social networking sites is something I feel would be useful to touch upon in our Wiki in regards to deception. Its not just fraud in terms of 'theft' that people may worry about, it can also be fraud in the simple fact that someone can make a profile posing as you. This is not uncommon in the Myspace world (where there are 10 Madonnas, 20 Paris Hiltons and a handful of Homer simpsons...who isnt even a person!!) How many people therefore can make a Myspace page acting as you??

There may be several reasons someone could to this; admiration, flattery, hate, revenge, humiliation....whatever the reason its very possible. A friend of mine broke up with her long term partner and made a joke about setting up a fake profile acting as him, with really cringe worthy interests and hobbies, to make people think he was a weirdo. I don't think she did it in the end, but it doesnt change the fact that she could've done, all she needed was a picture and a password (and possibly photoshop, if she was going to get really evil with the idea!)

Information such as the above makes us undeniably aware of the multiple dangers of the net, and how it can be misused if put into the hands of the wrong people, however this isn't something I particularly want to keep focusing on. One thing I'm going to really try and avoid at all costs is coming across as 'anti' in the group Wiki. I'd really like our arguments to be balanced and well structured, rather than introspective. Its so easy to be biased especially when you're constantly bombarded with information from the media about the internet, and how its only used by geeks with no friends and paedophiles who groom children. As with life, thats only one reality of what happens, positive as well of negative things are likely to come from such technology.

2007-10-24T19:29:00.000+01:00

This blog is so funny!! and so true! I had to post this as I feel it is relevant to the whole 'making my way around the blogging world', a bit like checking out the neighbours garden, to see if their grass is greener :)

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

Second Life, Virtual reality worlds and Stigma

2007-10-24T18:39:00.000+01:00

Am I a bigot? thats the first question I asked myself prior to my multitude of attacks on the concept of 'Second life.'

Prior to Monday's lecture, I had neither heard of, nor seen 'Second life', and therefore once I was informed of it I initially found this website, and its entire concept, well, odd.

I didnt understand why anyone would want to have a virtual reality 'life', and virtual reality 'cars' and pay real money to purchase CGI houses and land that literally, doesnt exist. The icing on this cake of absurdity (for me anyway), was the fact that a woman became a millionaire on second life! what!?....It was all too much.

The discussion did make me question my views, because I like to think of myself as an open minded person. Why do I find a virtual reality existence ridiculous? Why does this concept shake my foundations of thought? Does it scare me? Am I curious?

A point was made that the world is what we make it, us as individuals, some people read, some people paint, and some people use the web, as means of escapism. 'Art is life' is what someone once quoted (somewhere...I have heard this quote several times so i definitly am not making it up!), so if art is 'life', why cant the web be life? If your main medium of escapism becomes your 'core' why does it have to be tangible?

The surrealism movement involved a whole bunch of people doing all kinds of bizzare things in excess to get closer to their subconcious (drugs, starvation, lack of sleep, alcohol), and thats how they lived, as close to their subconcious as their physical bodies would allow. We admire and praise the surrealism movement as one of the great art movements of our time. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, who is it who decides how people live? whether it be in a virtual reality world, on high on drugs trying to get close to their pysche! If people see 'Second life' as their existence, as their source of reality, as their 'art', fine, why am I attaching stigma to it??

Certain things came up in our discussion as being 'dangers' of 'Second life', and other social networking sites, (in fact I am the main culprit for harping on about pyschos and paedophiles using the web to kill people, aren't I melodramatic!). Then the very valid point came up that we're just as likely to get killed, stalked, abused in real life (if not more) then on the net.

Someone mentioned the idea of meeting people on the internet, and this also created a rather animated discussion. Why do we ussume those who use the internet to meet people are loners, unattractive and wear glasses? I use msn to talk to my friends, I use facebook to keep in touch with those who now live in Birmingham etc, and I use forums to voice my opinions (usually rants) on music, movies etc etc, so that means i'm using the web to correspond with people all the time. Why does it become socially frowned upon when you 'meet' someone online??

The idea of meeting people online becomes a real 'thing' because we cant see them, so they may not be who they say they are. However on the other hand you could be living with norman bates jnr as your other half for 20 years and not know...its all relative. I find this thought really interesting, so I'm going to use it as a focus in our identity Wiki, (the others are getting some stuff together on some other points raised, so we're gonna put everything forward to one another on friday and see what happens).

I was also rather annoyed that nobody agreed with my facebook/myspace concept!! the class fiercly disputed my views on facebook as being for friends and myspace being more for numbers by claiming they get added 'all the time' by people they dont know. I'm gonna stick to my guns (and STATISTICS) and say i STILL think that people are more likely to add friends and aquaintences on facebook, and randoms on myspace. (i've asked my friends and they agree! maybe its just in my network of friends?)

Group, Online identity, Facebook & Myspace

2007-10-22T03:01:00.000+01:00

Our Group met earlier in the week in order to discuss our ideas, thoughts and roughly go over the concepts and ideas that we think will go into our work. The group, consists of myself, John, Alisha and Kristina (as far as i know). They were all kind enough to fill in the blanks of monday's session, which I unfortunatly couldnt attend due to flu.

The chosen topic was online identity, and several ideas were brought to the table; Is there a clear definition of 'online' identity? can this change? Do we all, to a degree, change our identity when we join sites such as facebook or myspace? What about privacy issues?

Both Alisha and myself actually have a facebook account, and one very interesting thing I must comment on regarding facebook, myspace and possibly even high five, is the online 'etiquette' of these sites, and what it says about the users.

Facebook is a popular site for students, particulary university students. I've heard somewhere through the grapevine, that facebook was set up specifically with university students in mind. This is apparent, as when you join, one of the FIRST things they ask is you is which university, college or school you attend. This is partly to automatically place you in the 'search category' of those who attend the same university as you, thus filtering out randoms, and making it easier for you to find your friends online. I also think one of the other reasons they do this is because they WANT unversity students to join (as opposed to 40+ housewives?) Heres a site that sums up sum stats on how popular facebook is: http://mashable.com/2007/03/01/facebook-beats-myspace-and-youtube-among-young-adults/

When you join, you can join more than one network, e.g. I am Sara, and i attend LCC, lived in london, and used to attend St Marylebone School of Performing Arts. Therefore I can have london, LCC, and st marylebone as my 'networks' so that anyone from any of these locations can find me more easily. Also on facebook when you 'add' a person to your friends list it will automatically ask you how you know the person, (and gives you several possible options).

This is a massive hint that, technically, you should only really be adding people you actual know in 'real life' outside of the virtual world. In fact the last box on this extensive list of 'how do you know this person?' is a box that says 'we are facebook friends'. I must note that NOBODY wants to tick this box (and its deemed a little strange to add somebody you dont actually know)! I spent almost 40 mins the other day going through lists of my friends friends, and they all actually knew the people on their list (does that make sense?). Its almost an unwritten rule that you dont join facebook to add loads of people, which seems the total opposite of Myspace.

Myspace on the other hand is whole different ballgame. Myspace encourages users to add as many people as they can to increase popularity and almost compete as to who has the most friends. It must also be noted that if you add too many people on facebook they actually close your account! So with myspace I guess you have to try and make your profile as publicly appealing as possibly to win over a thousands (literally) of new 'friends'.

http://mashable.com/2007/06/10/facebook-hammers-myspace-on-almost-all-key-features/ (this site is incredible, it gives an extensive list of the pros and cons of both Myspace & Facebook)

Ok so how does this have anything to do with identity? I was discussing with Alisha how with Myspace you almost have to sell yourself; make yourself a little more eccentric/confident/attractive/fiesty (delete the appropriate box) as possible in order to be 'added'. You can create your own background, insert slideshows, change colours, inserts images, make the page as quirky as possible, to basically look as cool as possible (which begs the question...If you were such an 'exciting person' would you really have the time to sit there do all this!). So this means that the person you are projecting on the page, and the person you really are may very well be two totally different people. Alisha made a great point and refered to Myspace as a glorified online CV. I agree.

The Introduction in Brief

2007-10-08T15:17:00.000+01:00

A overview of the internet and all the vast potentials of it were given in todays lecture including a 'history' as it were of how the world wide web was formed, and the primary differences between the internet and the www. The Wiki was also set up. I'm still rather confused about the concept of a wiki, and was exceptionally surprised to discover that the general public could infact edit Wikipedia, (thus confirming that I will no longer be using this as an academic source in any future bibliographies!). I am sure however that through the group formation (as well as trial and error), things will no doubt become clearer (almost like setting up a myspace, and discovering how to insert a slideshow!).

In short today the following was covered:

Distinguished main differences between World Wide Web, and Internet (www. pages and the actual internet), and identified 'http' protocols, ictp & how the information is thus disseminated.

http://info.cern.ch/: CERN-the world's first-ever web server- Tim Berners Lee
http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Content/Chapters/AboutCERN/Achievements/WorldWideWeb/WWW-en.html- Explination into how www actually works.

Internet dates back as to mid seventies and deals with the transfere of information, whereas the first www. page was formed in 1991.

Formed blog and Wiki

NB: sound files take up a great deal of space, thus to be taken into consideration once groups are formed and wiki starts to take shape.

http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/