Cyborg in Action

Photo credit: Cyborgwallpaper

Modern society as we know it has progressed in multiple ways, such as in medicine, politics and technology. According to the Myan calender, humanitarianism as we know it was scheduled to end in 2012, and yet here I am, writing this blog about the future of intelligence. Cyborgs have been seen in numerous sci-fi scripts, from Doctor Who to Smallville, and are often associated with advanced intelligence and the future of the human race. But are they really the future, or are they the present? Have we ourselves turned into these futuristic robots that are depicted as evil in the media? Is it true that when we die it will be no loss as our life is preserved on social media sights such as Facebook? Are we truly dying if we are leaving a trail of cyber life behind us?  Could we perceive ourselves to be a “cyborg in action, producing selves from a human-machine interface”? The digital era defines itself and its compartments of different cyber networks as a practice of a personal narrative (McNiel, 2012). With the track we are leaving on the yellow brick road behind ourselves are we really preserving a ‘self-narrative’ (Kuttainen, 2015) or is it just a profile that projects what we want it to without portraying our true self? Is the future prepared for the upcoming economic drive that could be predicted to occur in years to come? It is although we are too involved in our own selves to worry about what the future will be like for future generations. Instead of playing outside at recess our grandchildren will be playing an advanced version of a wii. Instead of our era producing kids the population will downsize and we will become transfixed in preserving our life and life narratives. Is this cyber world becoming too scary or will technology change us for the better?

Burt,D. (2014) Cyber Space 2025. Retrieved from: http://www.microsoft.com/security/cybersecurity/cyberspace2025/#chapter-1

Kuttainen,V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 6: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_69740_1&content_id=_1892306_1

McNiel,L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography, (35) https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/Conc-camcontent-bb_bb60/items/getitem.jsp?as_course_code=13-BA1002-TSV-INT-SP2&content_id=_1242562_1&course_id=_42849_1&doc_id=42357

Photograph Credit:

N.D. (2015) Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=cyborg&biw=1138&bih=523&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIsuKA9IbdxwIVxCumCh2EEAUo#tbm=isch&q=computer+as+cyborg&imgrc=GOQ8hvy9CIbRWM%3A

Who is real in the virtual world

Who Is Real In the Virtual World?

http://www.buzzle.com/images/people/relationships/virtual-identity.jpg

“As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways” (Mulgan, n.d.) 

The virtual network can be a dangerous place as anyone can portray themselves as being anyone in the world and even then that person might not be real. We as users of the virtual world are responsible for how our self-identity is seen by the community but it can be very difficult to keep control of our identity in the virtual world as other people and the network itself can in fact make your identity inauthentic.  As said by Ariella Van Luyn in the lecture “in a virtual network, you are not the only person constructing your identity”.

 There are also people who take advantage of being ‘fake’ in the virtual world and use it for personal gain or to simply escape reality. I personally don’t see anything wrong with escaping reality as long as you are able to keep a clear view on what is reality and what is virtual. See this link to see how reality is being blurred.

McNeill says that “Facebook builds on both human and posthuman concepts of the human subject in compelling, and arguably posthuman, life narratives, as its users produce and are produced by accounts of digital life” (McNeill, 2012). I agree with the McNeills statement about there being both human and posthuman aspects to a virtual identity on Facebook. However he seems to think that people are authentically themselves on Facebook unless they chose not to be. I do not agree with this as I think we can’t control every aspect of or virtual selves but we can control a portion of it.

References

McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No "I" in Network. Retrieved from Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/Conc-camcontent-bb_bb60/items/getitem.jsp?as_course_code=13-BA1002-TSV-INT-SP2&content_id=_1242562_1&course_id=_42849_1&doc_id=42357

Mulgan, G. (n.d.). Brainy Quote . Retrieved from Virtual Quotes : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/geoffmulga559335.html?src=t_virtual

The Fault in our Shades of Networked Narratives

Photo Credit: www.Oddsareyours.tumblr.com

 In writerscafe.org its very easy to find networked narratives. Networked narratives are almost all that writers know how to write and write well, because thanks to the media, its pretty much shoved down our throats. Some writers choose to swallow and other writers, like myself just don’t want it in our mouths. Networked narratives that are going around writerscafe.org like wildfire are writers of young adult books that are yet to be published and writers of short stories based on John Green Books and other popular writers such as EL.James. Nowadays in any writers forum, the key to a popular story is for two teens in love with a complication that’s almost impossible to over come, such as cancer (what up The Fault in our Stars reference!) or that the lovers families don’t approve of their love, or they’re a silly girl wrapped up in the twisted webs of Christian Gray.

For another example, erotica in writerscafe.org is just as universal. No thanks to EL. James and her poor writing skills. As we all know, 50 Shades of Grey was a fan fiction of Twilight. (two bad things don’t equal a good thing, people!) So, thanks to EL.James (well not just her, but lets blame her because we can) erotica and erotic fanfiction are the second and third most popular genre to write about in writerscafe.org and pretty much on every writing forum.

So, for networked narrative, why is genre important? I believe this quote from the BA1002 Week 6 Lecture Slides best suit this explanation; “Genres actively generate and shape our knowledge of the world. Genres organise verbal and non-verbal discourse and texts are at once shaped by genre and are shaped by it.” (Frow, John, 2013)

Reference list

BA1002 Lecture Notes, week 6, slide 5 (Frow, John, 2013)

Photo credit: www.oddsareyours.tumblr.com, 2015 

Will We be Permanent

Photo credit: google search.

Apologies for the absence of my second blog post. [enter really bad sarcasm here] I hope no riots broke out in the streets over the need to know about how maps can work throughout Writerscafe.org. I even had a really cool title and image for it, but unfortunately I forgot all about it. However, it’s obviously too late and there’s no room for excuses so lets get cracking on the third blog, shall we?

Ok, so I just realised that after having finished this blog post, that I have in fact, missed not only the second blog post, but the third blog post. However, I thought screw it, lets put it up anyways, its not going to help me whatsoever but lets do it. So now, after I put this up, Im going to write blog post 4 with my tears.

I was never good at blogging.

For centuries, humans have been obsessed with narratives of place, whether it be radio, magazines or movies however those seem to have become more of commercial products of their time. (BA 1002 Tutorial guide week 5, 2015) whereas it seems that virtual narratives are to stay around for a while. Nowadays, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t own a smart phone or a social media account of some sorts. If you were to throw a rock, you’ll be highly likely to smash the screen of someone’s iphone. In future, virtual narratives such as writerscafe.org will be more likely to have expanded and branched out rather than become ephemeral.

Upon looking back though week 5’s lecture notes I came across this quote from the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis slide that I thought would be best suited to explain the power dynamics that might be involved in what we see as serious cultural artefacts or ephemeral products of entertainment; "Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society.” (BA1002 Lecture Slide Show week 5, Sapir, 1958:69, slide 13)
 Writerscafe.org is literally a virtual narrative. It’s a social media absolutely filled with fiction, non fiction, gay and lesbian erotica, fan fiction, historical literature, historical fiction and many more. Virtual narratives such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest and Tinder are more likely to be seen as ephemeral products of entertainment where virtual narratives such as writerscafe.org, Tumblr, freelance blogs, blogger as well as travel writing forums are more likely to be seen as serious cultural artefacts.

Reference list: BA1002  Week 5, Lecture Slide 13, Sapir Whorf Hypothesis (Sapir, 1958:69)

BA1002, Tutorial Guide Week 5 (2015)

Photo cred: Google Search (2015)

Blog Four: What is Real?

By Alesha Granshaw

Image from: http://picslist.com/tags/ashton%20irwin%20au%20meme

Over recent time periods, the way that we distinguish between the idea of our “real” and “virtual” selves has evolved, according to McNeill (2012). McNeill (2012) also discusses how, in today’s society, the increasing prevalence and popularity of social media networks is evidence that their existence fills “user demands for social connection and self-performance, enabling users to participate in ‘everyday autobiography’”. 

This concept of ‘everyday autobiography’ is particularly relevant to the YouTube phenomenon of “daily vlogging”.  This increasingly popular style of content creation adopted by YouTube users involves filming, editing and uploading a video each day which enables viewers to gain an insight into the lives of their favourite YouTube stars. Popular YouTube vloggers like Alfie Deyes, Marcus Butler and the SacconeJoly family voluntarily construct a daily autobiography via video diary, and they upload it for the entire world to view and comment on. This YouTube trend “asks users to imagine how they want themselves to appear and then invites friends to reinforce the image” (Van Luyn, 2015). Vloggers are able to edit the footage of their lives in a way that reflects the way they wish to portray themselves to the public, omitting any unsavoury footage that could potentially create a negative view of them. In this way, daily vloggers are able to create a virtual self that does not align exactly with their real self. 

Whilst YouTube users who daily vlog are attempting to construct an authentic identity for them online, they are also engaging in a virtual network where other users and the social media platform itself are responsible for shaping their virtual identity. Due to this external influence in constructing an online identity, popular YouTube content creators are often viewed harshly and gossiped about based on rumours and trolling that occurs in the comment section of their videos. 

An example of this is the recent drama involving Velvetgh0st. Over the last twelve months, YouTube user Velvetgh0st, more commonly referred to as Gabby Lindley, has been the subject of many nasty rumours, all of which were false. This fabricated drama had drastic effects on Gabby’s personal life, friendships and mental health – in essence, the distortion of her “virtual” self had consequential effects on her “real” self as well.  Gabby recently posted this YouTube video in an attempt to reconcile her real and virtual selves, and create an honest portrayal of herself online. 

References: 

McNeill, L. (2012). There Is No "I" In Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Project Muse, 35(1), 65-82. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au

Van Luyn, A. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 6: Networked Narratives: Intertextuality. [Powerpoint Slides]. Retrieved on September 2, 2015 from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au

Image Credits:

PicsList. (Image). (2015). Retrieved from http://picslist.com/tags/ashton%20irwin%20au%20meme