my gosh, i just re-found this site and remembered my username and password after many attempts! as lyrian wrote before, no one will ever read this, but here's 2 those who might! :)
i would like 2 commend the self.net subject that kat, orietta and myself took last year, we are all now education students, and are currently creating our own online community as part of programming for our future students... cheers to tama for enlightening us to the educational benefit of bloggs! :)

this subject actually taught me something that i use and will continue to use both personally and for the students i teach
bravo hehe
ciao and hope every1's doing well in watever :)
cat

100th post

Wow, this thing is still here. Groovy.

Hope we're all well and happy. Have wonderful holidays full of learning and growth. Good luck with keeping your new year's resolutions!

(Nobody will ever read this, will they...)

Take care.

The End of the Course as we know it...

Okay, the major essays are all marked and can be collected from me in room G.07. I'll be in my office most of next week (Nov 15th - 19th), so please do come and pick your essays up.

Also, can I take this opportunity to thank you all: firstly, for your reflective posts which will be very useful in evaluating the course (and thanks for the kinds words about your tutor, too!); and, secondly, and most importantly, can I thank you all for your participation in the many facets of Self.Net. It has been a real pleasure running this course and being your tutor and participating in some fascinating conversations about all things digital which, I'm sure, will continue long after the course has faded in your memories!

I hope your increased critical awareness of digital culture serves you all well in the future, and with any luck I'll see a number of you in other courses, or doing Honours (since so many of you are writing at a level which would see you do very well in an honours program).

Byebye.

reflective post

On the whole I thought the self.net unit was an interesting and engaging unit. Although it initially took me a while to get used to blogging, in the end it proved one of the most valuable exercises. I often used the annotated webliographies of others to point me towards good resources to use for essays in other units such as communication studies. I also liked the fact that the lectures contained a good mix of powerpoint slides and electronic media clips.

As for the unit content, the range of readings explored have managed to convince me that we are indeed all cyborgs, at least in Donna Harraway's sense. It also encouraged me to think critically about the ways in which digital technologies intersect with and re-construct issues of identity, gender, race and class, simultaneously disturbing ethical certainties and modernist discourse. The articles I found most interesting and engaging in this regard include Lisa Nakamura's discussion of menu driven identities, Kath Albury's critique of the ethics of internet pornography and the article on a rape in cyberspace.

By the way, sorry this post is a little late, my internet connection at home crashed and I wasn't able to get into uni last week... Hope everyone has a great summer break :-), Happy holidays, christmas and new year!

Reflective Blog

Knowing that Tama just wants a response on how valuable a learning tool weblogs have been so that he can refer to us at his wednesday blognite, i'll try to say something intelligent.
I had not even been aware of blogs prior to this unit, and now am amazed by this fact. I would have thought that the phenomenon would have been reported more in mainstream conventional (not digital) media due to their snowballing influence on the way people gather information about the world. I now refer regularly to the blogs of commentators that I respect, for insights on global and domestic matters - as well as finding the perfect chokito and passiona chessecake recipe (also Rocky Road - thanks Laura!).
But in terms of the course, I thought that having a tutorial based blog was a brilliant resource, generally you produce responses in a bit of a vacuum - tutorials can be useful, but having the opportunity to expand on the ideas after thinking a bit was brilliant. Being able to read the work of other students is also a pedagogical brainwave. They have LOADS to offer others - particularly those who have their own blogs or are really into new social technologies, and use digital tech in loads of social discourses i.e. MUDs.
The other important aspect to blogging your responses comes through the awareness that your peers will read your work. Perhaps it encourages you to extend yourself, certainly it influences the decision to do some additional reading and know what you are talking about. I tried a bit harder to make my contributions readable, humourous (debatable) and not too wanky.
They certainly worked for me as learning tools, I am even contemplating starting my own blog now. I feel that my world has broadened hugely and totally believe in the legitimacy of digital communities.

I know enough after this course to say that I am definately a cyborg. But interestingly I still feel some kind of resistance. There is that interesting interplay between what we believe is the spiritual core of our being (a "natural" force inherently rooted within the concept of the human being) and the extension of our selves (corporeal and psychological) within cyberspace - which then makes us cyborgs, . I never doubted the cyborg reality from the beginning really, yet never felt 100% comfortable with the concept of being dually human/machine as opposed to human operating machine. Whe I play with my son there is no technology, just us and a book, or a garden or the ocean. But when I tell everyone about it via email/sms/blog what am I doing to the experience? It has been given an everlasting digital life, if our lives are nothing but imaginings anyway, the the extension of them into cyberspace is no less legitimate. But the at the same time - I disagree, it lacks something - it lacks the complete sensory experience of physically being in the world. So until I experience the technology that plugs into a USB located slightly behind my ear - bringing me a recreated digital life inside my mind - I believe myself to be primarily a woman constituted of flesh and spirit (god how medieval).
I have no doubt that in many ways ,my son will become more of a cybernetic organism than I have been at this late stage (kimmy), but it will occur in increments, degrees, and society will shift along with the developments, ethical boundaries will always exist but weave themselves between the 'new' (tricky word to use) technological realities and commercial offensives.

What did I like/dislike about this course? hmmm. I liked the online interactions, the mandatory exploration of digital resources, the use of up to date examples of how digital technology is manipulated for social/political and academic reasons. I loved exploring the social ramifications of digital tech. And I have personally found that this course fits into a whole range of areas in my life, some too personal to comment on, but it has drawn my attention to the wide range of ways that digital life has become enmeshed within my daily routine, and most meaningful relationships. There is little that I disliked, I loved the mix of workshops (online and RL), blogs, tutes and lectures. It worked really well, and i genuinely felt like I was introduced to some new and fascinating concepts that will increasingly affect us all. Above all it was fun, and I vastly appreciated the enthusiasm and insights that Tama brought to the subject.

The Final Blog

I apologize for the lateness, and was sorry to have to miss the final tute - but this morning I managed to drag myself (and my IV drip - no just kidding) out of bed to make the reflective post :P

I thought that the weblog was useful to the learning process, especially to this unit - we couldn't have thought about the issues without engaging in any of them! The tute blog was helpful in showing everybody's thoughts as a collection on the topic of "identity in the digital age" - you can browse through and see the progression of the unit. However the unit is good whether we use weblogs or not ;)

I don't believe myself to be a cyborg, or maybe I am considering it yet can't go all the way with this idea. The organic experience of being a human is too strong to suggest that technology is going to become dominant in my experience - yet I can see how technology offers an extention to what we understand as being human. For me, I always see myself in the drivers seat with technology as a passenger - I see it as a tool whether it extends as a part of me or not. Sure I form strong attachments to technology, but perhaps due to the more sensory/bodily world of "real life" I can't quite embrace the idea of technology being "real" to us, I see it as a part of what we are, (in the case of the internet) a projected self.

I liked exploring this idea most of all throughout the course, it made me think of things that I hadn't before, made me analyze into our world and the way we interact, and how technology is articulated into our already existing ideas about being human.
At first I really disliked the idea of weblogs, I felt pressured to share opinions and especially my work (that I was self conscious about) and I dreaded each mandatory post. As the course went by though, I realized that the weblog caused me to be more open with my ideas online and in tutes - it made me more confident in sharing thoughts with others. I don't think I've learnt much more than I already knew about the internet - I think I'm always going to be clumsy - I managed to make mistakes in nearly every post! And tried to correct them but failed :P (sorry Tama)

I really liked the course, and Tama was a great tutor, thanks everyone in the tute too
:)

Playing Politics (Can't do much worse than Latham)

I'm going to focus on 'September 12th' and 'New York Defender'.

1.Yes definitely. Interestingly, what I initially thought was the downfall of these games - their simplicity and brevity, is of course what makes them so effective. You get the point quickly and profoundly, which is crucial for most net users (viewing the game via email attachment or simply having stumbled across it) as you are usually bombarded by millions of distractions and gimmicks while browsing.
I think that both games tapped into many 'ordinary' peoples desire to have had some sense of agency in the nightmare that was brought to the forefront of minds with 9/11. Both these games positions the player as having a reactive role. New York Defender was particularly powerful, given that the visuals of planes swarming towards the WTC was strongly reminiscent of the broadcasts at the time that repeatedly showed the planes hitting the towers.
I think 'September 12th' would have brilliant for many Americans to ‘get’ a simple insight into the ramifications of an excessively aggressive military response (and perhaps into the notion 9/11 was a response to something, rather than just a simple act of incomprehensible inhumanity). News reports made no attempt to depict human consequences of the effects of US bombing, whilst they did produce truckloads of sympathetic homage to those affected by 9/11. Something as simple as this game may have started some sideways thinking.

2. The political message was obvious in both games. The power of the message came from the fact that you had to come to the point through playing the game, and finding it futile and destructive. Both games work because of the way they subvert the traditional understanding of computer games, i.e. as try to ‘win’, have fun, learn from previous sessions and improve on the outcome. (I actually found it very difficult to play Sept. 12th and repeatedly blow up children). They are clever in that they are simple and maybe even boring games to play, the point is that real life situations of war are the not bells and whistles and exciting strategic decisions that most combat games have us believe. Rather they are pointless, futile and a waste of life, time and resources. The more I thought about the analogies of the games the more layers I uncovered – do we view life with that computer game mentality that once the game is over its over and we can start afresh? Have we learnt from our mistakes? ‘New York Defender’s power comes from the fact the towers are rebuilt after every failed attempt – which is followed by another failed attempt. September 12th certainly made me want to more about the reality of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’s (vomit) response, and what it had meant in real terms to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.

3. I would make a simple game situated in split screen format – one side showing the public school teacher in a state school (the player) the other (the computer) showing a private school. The context is Howard’s education policies. The player needs to juggle different variables shown as icons i.e. govt policy, achieving outcomes, catering for disabled/learning deficiencies/abused/low SES students, professional development, pastoral care etc while attending to students in class which all have different needs which need to responded to tamagotchi style (or they’ll sue). The computer (independent school) will every now and then display *BONUS* Extra Government funding, ex student becomes governor general/prominent politician with clout/donates money. Funding icons will drop down at regular intervals for the independent school – state classroom will need to earn it. Every time a student leaves the class(due to players failings) funding is withdrawn and given to the computer player. Demands on the player’s teacher will become too many for the player to respond to and the teacher will eventually drop dead. The computer players screen will depict a class of homogenous looking students and all will look smug and happy. This game is for Brendan Nelson’s personal education.

Reflective Post

i think the weblogs worked well in this unit as they were both topical and very practical for communication amongst our tute. I found that the most interesting stuff posted was the things that were not compulsory, but rather out of interest, such as links to sites and articles that people found interesting or useful. This really exemplified how blogs were able to encourage sharing knowledge and being able to learn from our peers rather than just our lecturer (not that there's anything wrong with that)

On the cyborg issue... in the first workshop I was particularly confused as to what a cyborg was and how come some people knew so much about it and i didn't. However as it turns out my whole semester has revolved around cyborgs as I chose to do a communications studies project on them too. Anyway i am definitely a cyborg, or at least i have become one this semester due to my excessive use of my computer to complete my project.

With the course I enjoyed all the media that was shown in workshops and lectures. The culture jamming stuff was cool and it was fun having to come up with ideas for the ipod ads in the workshops. I also found the stuff about computer games interesting too, especially the Sims, even though i have never played it. And most of the readings were really interesting...i think i may have even read them all, or at least most. Overall the unit was really good... and of course Tama is fantastic, but the highlight was definitely my rocky road;)

Politics Playing Workshop Response!!

I looked at New York Defender and Donkey John.

1. With regards to New York Defender I think the game would definitely have been effective in communicating with people via the internet. It was very quick and easy to play and did not involve much downloading or any other drawn out process. It was quick and to the point and anyone who could use a mouse could figure out the message of the game. The imagery was also very effective in communicating to the user with the world famous Twin Towers under attack over and over. Donkey John was a little more complicated and relied on prior knowledge of the Donkey Kong games from several years ago in order to extract a message from the game. I found the general message of the game easy to understand. Oil was being stolen from the rightful owners and this is a bad thing. This to was easy to download, access and play and as such would be effective in communicating to many people over the internet.
There is however the danger with games that people do not even go so far as to think about any underlying message. This would be even more likely to happen on a little internet game, however for those who think a little about the game and its message, both these games would be useful forms of communication.

2. The political message of NYD was fairly obvious and easy to figure out. It is impossible to 'finish' the game and protect the Towers from all attacks. No matter how hard you try. This was a possible critique on methods of controlling terrorism that occurred since 9-11. I was not interested in finding out more about the message or the game. Donkey John was more interesting to me as I was not familiar with the political situation the game refers to. I was more driven to find out the back ground with Donkey John mainly because the imagery and situation had not been on the front pages for a couple of years like the 9-11 situation had been. The amusing thought of Howard as a barrel throwing ape also pushed me to find out about the background more and the unusual name of the hero was also interesting ot me.

3. In my game there would be a simple and obvious message about the state of the world and the uneven distribution of power that exists. As God the player would be in control of the 'world orchestra' and he/she would start with a situation where everything is uneven and out of balance with the various instruments in the orchestra labelled after countries. A terrible noise at the start of the game can slowly be changed to something more harmonious as the user adjusts the volume levels of each country's instrument in the orchestra.
This would be rather hard to achieve and would possibly be larger in size and structure than the above games and would also involve music which may be harder to get across over the internet. Still i think it might convey a good message if it was made a reality!

Final Blog!

I had never made use of or even heard of blogging before this unit. Now that i have figured it out and learned a little about it i think that it is very useful indeed. I think it is one of those things that would become more and more useful and vital the more you use it like email or text messaging. I am rather traditional and come from deepest darkest Africa so I am not too sure that I would immediately make use of the blogging skills anytime soon. But I am glad i now have the skills if the need should ever arise! And i'm pretty sure it will.
I love the concept of a cyborg. Terminator 2, Blade Runner! Yeaah!! I think we are all cyborgs in the western world now. The trick is to be smart and useful cyborgs rather than destructive because it is definitely a matter of all things in good measure. Play your computer games and talk to someone in Japan, but then go ride a bike afterwards!
I found the section on race and gender very interesting. There is no way the utopian dream of internet as a bias free zone could ever come true because behind the machines there is always a bog standard human doing the talking and thinking and nothing yet can change the effects of this. Would we ever want to change something so innately human?
Great unit and Tama was very impressive as a tutor. Thank you all!!!