After looking and playing with Race- The Power of an Illusion, I find it funny how everything seems to be directed to a white male. Maybe I am getting this because I only see the world from that point of view being as I am a white male, but to me it seems is completely predicated on the racial aspects they are trying to get away from. For example how they make pick from people’s faces and put them in the correct ethnic category. When you are finished they basically call you racist. The thing I find funny about it is that each of the pictures seems portay races in a way that supposedly PBS wants to break down. They ask you to sort these people then say basically SHAME ONE YOU! for looking at people that way. It is so double-sided.
I definitely would have to agree with Nakamura when she says that race is not completely absent from the web. Many people may not see it that way, but it all depends on the user again and always will. There are ways project themselves and culture on the web and affects how we view them. For example, On facebook I have a friend, who is black, that I played basketball with at CBC. He is by far no gangster by any means but he sure likes to act like it on facebook. He talks in heavy heavy ebonics, and he is only from Pasco. I’m sorry I just don’t see those kinds of people coming out of Pasco. Yes, we all know Pasco is a highly populated with minorities, but from what I have seen and many of the people I have chatted with and even my friend, it is not like that at all. They pick a role and go with it. It just goes to show you that no matter who are there are always racial stereotypes that people show on the internet.
Now all of this is because we as people in a society have decided that we want to class people into sub-groups, such as African- Americans, Mexican- Americans, Native Americans. Why does anyone do this. It only perpetuates the problems. The funny thing is these groups started calling themselves that. Many blacks use the “N” word so freely now. Yet a white person says it and bam... racist. It so double sided. No I am not condoning using the “N” word at all, it was created to degrade someone and I think that is very wrong. I would say that until we break the barriers of these sub-classes we will always have some sort of racism, and it is going to have to start with these groups in the forefront. They should just be calling themselves AMERICANS. We are all Americans why would you make portray yourself as something less than that. America is the greatest nation in the world in my opinion and it drives me nuts that we still have all of these issues and people constantly bring them back up so as to we can never ever move on.
Works Cited
Nakamura, L. (2002). Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge.
“RACE – The Power of an Illusion | PBS.” PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 28 Oct. 2010.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wait am I a Racist?
Cybertyping is a term Lisa Nakamura created to describe people who create identities online. She says “Cybertypes are the images of race that arise when the fears, anxieties and desires of privileged Western users are scripted into a textual/graphical environment that is in constant flux and revision.”(Nakamura, 4) I think she what she means by this is that Western White people tend to create virtual identities with figures of different races because in non-virtual world they can’t be those kinds of people.
Nakamura also says that identity tourism is where people (mainly white people) choose to perform a type of racial play through video games and other forms of virtual places. She gives the example that Asian males are brought into discourse as a token only. (Nakmura, 299)
The first thing that comes to mind in Street Fighter 2 is Ken. Ken is your typical American white dude who has a girlfriend who he fights for. Yet he fights like an Asian. He is a White Westerner, but he is Asian by token. He trained with an Asian and fights like Ryu who is also Asian (though he doesn’t look like it), who also trained with the same Asian. So what Nakamura is correct in what she is saying about cybertypes. I completely fit her definition for cybertypes. Ken is my favorite character to play. Im not sure why myself, but according to Nakamura I like him because he is a white dude who gets to be Asian in ways. Basically I like to play Ken because he is an identity I want to portray.
As for all the other people in Street Fighter 2, Nakamura is exactly right. Identity touring is definetly a part of the game. There are so many different races or countries represented in the game. Zan Gieff is a Russian Wrestler. Dalsim is an indian from Africa who can breathe fire and stretch. Vega is from spain, Sagat is from the Netherlands. As a person playing you can really be so many different races in the game that it really is as if you are touring through different races and identities.
Works Cited
1. Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity and Identity on the Internet. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002. Print. Oct. 19, 2010.
2. Nakamura, Lisa. "Race in/for Cyberspace: Idenity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet." The Cybercultures Reader. Ed. David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Nakamura also says that identity tourism is where people (mainly white people) choose to perform a type of racial play through video games and other forms of virtual places. She gives the example that Asian males are brought into discourse as a token only. (Nakmura, 299)
The first thing that comes to mind in Street Fighter 2 is Ken. Ken is your typical American white dude who has a girlfriend who he fights for. Yet he fights like an Asian. He is a White Westerner, but he is Asian by token. He trained with an Asian and fights like Ryu who is also Asian (though he doesn’t look like it), who also trained with the same Asian. So what Nakamura is correct in what she is saying about cybertypes. I completely fit her definition for cybertypes. Ken is my favorite character to play. Im not sure why myself, but according to Nakamura I like him because he is a white dude who gets to be Asian in ways. Basically I like to play Ken because he is an identity I want to portray.
As for all the other people in Street Fighter 2, Nakamura is exactly right. Identity touring is definetly a part of the game. There are so many different races or countries represented in the game. Zan Gieff is a Russian Wrestler. Dalsim is an indian from Africa who can breathe fire and stretch. Vega is from spain, Sagat is from the Netherlands. As a person playing you can really be so many different races in the game that it really is as if you are touring through different races and identities.
Works Cited
1. Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity and Identity on the Internet. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002. Print. Oct. 19, 2010.
2. Nakamura, Lisa. "Race in/for Cyberspace: Idenity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet." The Cybercultures Reader. Ed. David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Blast From the Past
Wow what a blast from the past. It brings back tons of memories playing this game again. But now we need to get to the critiquing. And this brought more questions than answers to me.
I first played the Princess and from the past i remember each character had attributes that they were better and worse at. I find it funny how the princess is one of the fastest diggesr but she cant throw far or jump very high. Yet she can float. Why would they limit her jumping? No i'm not trying to be sexist or anything but for the most part men tend to be better jumpers than women. So i can see why they did that. Another thing is why can she float while the others cant? Are they trying to portray her as lighter than air because she is a skinny, light woman? She also cant throw things very far either after you dig them up, so i guess she throws like a girl? So basically what i got out of a gender critique is that woman was woman are good diggers because maybe they work in gardens or something, but they are relatively not as athletic as men. Yet they are so light and skinny that they can float. hmmmm...
Next Toad. Now toad, a walking talking mushroom-man. Now i have never really been sure if he was a man or a woman because they dress him like a man yet he has a really high screechy voice. Maybe he is supposed to represent the gays or metrosexuals of our world? In the game he is the crappiest jumper, a medium thrower, but can dig out of his yingyang. He is also very very slow runner. Maybe its because he is a mushroom and they live in the ground but yet they cant move really.
Luigi is a super high jumper and the biggest goober in the game, flailing his legs around when he jumps. He is like the goofy younger brother you have and you cant stand to be around because he is so weird. So you kind of leave him behind to do his own thing.
Mario is like the all round decent at everything guy. Good at everything but bad at nothing. He is your average Joe just trying to make it through life.
Schliener talks about in her article how Lara Croft allows men to become a woman or she classifies her as a "Drag Queen" allowing men to take the roll of a woman without actually have to dress up. (Schliener 223) All of these characters personify some sort of sexuality in people and by playing them it allows to fill that role they maybe they wouldn't get to in non-virtual life. Or maybe pick them because it best reflects who they are or who they want to be in non-virtual life.
Games are funny in this aspect as more and more of them start to draw in gender stigmas. Lara Croft, World of Warcraft, Blood Rayne, all of these of sexy good looking female avatars and i think developers use this as a tool to sell games. Why? because who really wants to play an ugly person unless its some sort of joke. Like being Large Marge in NBA Hangtime. The desire just inst there.
Works Cited
Schleiner, Ann-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press 34.3 (2001): 221-26. Web. 7 Oct 2010.
Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo, 1988.
I first played the Princess and from the past i remember each character had attributes that they were better and worse at. I find it funny how the princess is one of the fastest diggesr but she cant throw far or jump very high. Yet she can float. Why would they limit her jumping? No i'm not trying to be sexist or anything but for the most part men tend to be better jumpers than women. So i can see why they did that. Another thing is why can she float while the others cant? Are they trying to portray her as lighter than air because she is a skinny, light woman? She also cant throw things very far either after you dig them up, so i guess she throws like a girl? So basically what i got out of a gender critique is that woman was woman are good diggers because maybe they work in gardens or something, but they are relatively not as athletic as men. Yet they are so light and skinny that they can float. hmmmm...
Next Toad. Now toad, a walking talking mushroom-man. Now i have never really been sure if he was a man or a woman because they dress him like a man yet he has a really high screechy voice. Maybe he is supposed to represent the gays or metrosexuals of our world? In the game he is the crappiest jumper, a medium thrower, but can dig out of his yingyang. He is also very very slow runner. Maybe its because he is a mushroom and they live in the ground but yet they cant move really.
Luigi is a super high jumper and the biggest goober in the game, flailing his legs around when he jumps. He is like the goofy younger brother you have and you cant stand to be around because he is so weird. So you kind of leave him behind to do his own thing.
Mario is like the all round decent at everything guy. Good at everything but bad at nothing. He is your average Joe just trying to make it through life.
Schliener talks about in her article how Lara Croft allows men to become a woman or she classifies her as a "Drag Queen" allowing men to take the roll of a woman without actually have to dress up. (Schliener 223) All of these characters personify some sort of sexuality in people and by playing them it allows to fill that role they maybe they wouldn't get to in non-virtual life. Or maybe pick them because it best reflects who they are or who they want to be in non-virtual life.
Games are funny in this aspect as more and more of them start to draw in gender stigmas. Lara Croft, World of Warcraft, Blood Rayne, all of these of sexy good looking female avatars and i think developers use this as a tool to sell games. Why? because who really wants to play an ugly person unless its some sort of joke. Like being Large Marge in NBA Hangtime. The desire just inst there.
Works Cited
Schleiner, Ann-Marie. "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games." MIT Press 34.3 (2001): 221-26. Web. 7 Oct 2010.
Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo, 1988.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Avatar Buffer
To be completely honest I don’t really understand how Avatar Dichotomizes gender. To me I see everyone acting their own gender. Men are men, women are women. So I guess I just don’t really get what you want me to see.
Throughout the whole move Jake does put on different personalities much like we do in virtual space. He goes from military man to scientist to a warrior. He is loyal to the military at first then becomes more affectionate to Naavi as he learns more about them. He is learns how to be a warrior for the Naavi and their views and beliefs. One personality change that comes to mind is when he is first out in the wilderness with his avatar. The two scientists are studying how the network of the planet works, and he is playing protector, much like an escort for them. He then wanders off and becomes curious about his surrounding as he stumbles upon some flowers and becomes like a child. I find this to be similar to what we do in virtual spaces. For example when myspace was the social network of choice, I used to change my page multiple times a day. It usually depended on what was on my mind or my mood. Each page I felt showed who I was at that point in time or how I felt. I had a baseball background on there for a little while because I had a baseball game that day. I felt like a bad ass because I was an athlete. Another day I put on a Halo background because I love video games and back then Halo was the shizz, and it showed my nerdy personality.
So Jake showed many personalities throughout the movie, we can still liken it to our own virtual lives. We all use our web pages, or social network sites to present or show who we want people to see us as. I like the word I heard today in class from the presentation about how these are a “buffer” for us in our virtual and non-virtual environments. It gives us a sense of safety because we feel people will accept us more if we don’t have to face them in person. Much like Jake had a hard time facing his commander and telling him he didn’t want to attack the Naavi. It was easier for him to fight back through his avatar and express his feeling that way, than it was in his non-virtual space.
Throughout the whole move Jake does put on different personalities much like we do in virtual space. He goes from military man to scientist to a warrior. He is loyal to the military at first then becomes more affectionate to Naavi as he learns more about them. He is learns how to be a warrior for the Naavi and their views and beliefs. One personality change that comes to mind is when he is first out in the wilderness with his avatar. The two scientists are studying how the network of the planet works, and he is playing protector, much like an escort for them. He then wanders off and becomes curious about his surrounding as he stumbles upon some flowers and becomes like a child. I find this to be similar to what we do in virtual spaces. For example when myspace was the social network of choice, I used to change my page multiple times a day. It usually depended on what was on my mind or my mood. Each page I felt showed who I was at that point in time or how I felt. I had a baseball background on there for a little while because I had a baseball game that day. I felt like a bad ass because I was an athlete. Another day I put on a Halo background because I love video games and back then Halo was the shizz, and it showed my nerdy personality.
So Jake showed many personalities throughout the movie, we can still liken it to our own virtual lives. We all use our web pages, or social network sites to present or show who we want people to see us as. I like the word I heard today in class from the presentation about how these are a “buffer” for us in our virtual and non-virtual environments. It gives us a sense of safety because we feel people will accept us more if we don’t have to face them in person. Much like Jake had a hard time facing his commander and telling him he didn’t want to attack the Naavi. It was easier for him to fight back through his avatar and express his feeling that way, than it was in his non-virtual space.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Intergalactic Digital Humanizing? Oh and Old People too.
(" Mac vs. PC Windows 7 vs. Mac Ad: Broken Promises")
Lupton talks about how the computer is marketed as an analogy of the human body. Even though the computer is an inanimate object we seem to give humanistic qualities. She gives an example of a magazine advertisement that showed a pc in the top corner all alone. Then in big bold lettering says " Insecure? Friendless? Alone?" and then the advertisement goes on to say how computers can be networked together. (Lupton, 427) This video is a perfect example of this ideology as well. There are two dudes representing the two major software/computer manufactures, Windows and Apple, if you didnt notice. I find it funny as they go back in time with the windows guy, his cloths get older and older as if computer hardware back then was so weird and out of style much like the clothes were, while the mac guy never changes, as if Mac was always cool and up-to-date. Its these types of ads that make us feel more and more attached to our computers as if they really are humanistic beings, and we cant live without them.
Probably the most important thing that I have learned about and will take with me out in the "Real World" is that of the digital divide and how we need to not just help people by providing the technology but we also need to teach them how to use it and why it is important. I am interning at the City of Kennewick this winter and I will be helping at the Senior Center a little bit. As they were giving me a tour of the building they had this computer room with about 10 computers in it. Now they weren't the newest for fastest computers to date but they were not horrible. Anyways it seemed as though the room was hardly being used. It made me think about the digital divide and how we have the technology to use at our disposal but people don't know or don't care enough to learn how to use it. So because of this I am going to be asking about maybe getting some classes started at the senior center, open to anyone, about how to use these machines. Whether it be Adobe Products, email, word, or just how to surf the internet more efficiently. I just see it as a perfect opportunity to show the wonders of the digital age.
Works Cited
Lupton, D. (2007). The Embodied Computer/User. In D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (Ed.), The Cybercultures Reader (2nd Ed.) (pp. 422-432). London and New York: Routeledge
"Mac vs. PC Windows 7 vs. Mac Ad: Broken Promises." Youtube.com. Web. 23 Sep 2010.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Cultural Guildaramous
Most of the communities that I have become involved with have tended to be of virtual nature. Whether it be on World of Warcraft, Xbox Live, or Facebook, you form communities virtually to other people. In Bell’s article he argues that virtual communities are shall I say “real” and substantial communities. This goes against what Bauman says, as he disagrees with that brings to question the legitimacy of virtual relationships and communities. Bell just seems the have the urge to yell “get over it” because all of the these virtual communities are here to stay and there isn't much you can do about it.(Bell, 261)
I am still kind of on the fence about this entire debate. As I am sure you have figured out, I am I huge World of Warcraft fan and I tend to use it a lot as an example, one, because and I know it well, and two, It fits in so many ways to these discussions. So In World of Warcraft you have a guild system where a group of people can band together and do things as a group, whether it be through raiding instances, pvp (player vs player), or just hanging out together and chatting. All of these a perfect definition of community. In class we defined community as “A group of people who share ideas or have a similar understanding of ideology as it pertains to technology and literacy. Those in the community do not have to have the same access or interest, but need to have some sort of common thread that links them into the community itself as well as some level of common sense.” So the people in a guild have similar access or interests and have some sort of common thread or goal. This could be going to win a battleground or to defeat a boss in a raid. So as you are part of a guild you join the “community” which is virtual and you gain new friends and acquaintances along the way.
Now the million dollar question, do you not do similar things in meat space? For example, I have just started a internship for the city of Kennewick. I am interning as a recreational coordinator, where I help plan and run different programs throughout the year. Right now we are working on Flag Football. We as a community of people working together, have a common interest to get the job done and have a successful program for the year. We have a similar understanding of what needs to be done to accomplish this task.
Now again I ask how is this different from an online virtual community? I don’t have the answer to that other than that I think it is not. I think both communities are part of life and both build relationships, whether good or bad, with the people involved. So by saying one is more real or legitimate than the other is false, they both play a role in who we are. But in that statement there is an ideology that who we are is based on what we do in our communities.
The 3 that i would like to study would be
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml
-because i play this game and find it fascinating how people
communicate and act
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/
-a good community for forums about WoW and upcoming content to WoW
http://www.bungie.net/stats/Reach/online.aspx
-the new and last Halo from bungie, and how people are on xbox live as well
how you can track stats
Works Cited
Bell, David, and Barbara M. Kennedy. eds. The Cybercultures Reader. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge. 254-264. Print.
I am still kind of on the fence about this entire debate. As I am sure you have figured out, I am I huge World of Warcraft fan and I tend to use it a lot as an example, one, because and I know it well, and two, It fits in so many ways to these discussions. So In World of Warcraft you have a guild system where a group of people can band together and do things as a group, whether it be through raiding instances, pvp (player vs player), or just hanging out together and chatting. All of these a perfect definition of community. In class we defined community as “A group of people who share ideas or have a similar understanding of ideology as it pertains to technology and literacy. Those in the community do not have to have the same access or interest, but need to have some sort of common thread that links them into the community itself as well as some level of common sense.” So the people in a guild have similar access or interests and have some sort of common thread or goal. This could be going to win a battleground or to defeat a boss in a raid. So as you are part of a guild you join the “community” which is virtual and you gain new friends and acquaintances along the way.
Now the million dollar question, do you not do similar things in meat space? For example, I have just started a internship for the city of Kennewick. I am interning as a recreational coordinator, where I help plan and run different programs throughout the year. Right now we are working on Flag Football. We as a community of people working together, have a common interest to get the job done and have a successful program for the year. We have a similar understanding of what needs to be done to accomplish this task.
Now again I ask how is this different from an online virtual community? I don’t have the answer to that other than that I think it is not. I think both communities are part of life and both build relationships, whether good or bad, with the people involved. So by saying one is more real or legitimate than the other is false, they both play a role in who we are. But in that statement there is an ideology that who we are is based on what we do in our communities.
The 3 that i would like to study would be
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml
-because i play this game and find it fascinating how people
communicate and act
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/
-a good community for forums about WoW and upcoming content to WoW
http://www.bungie.net/stats/Reach/online.aspx
-the new and last Halo from bungie, and how people are on xbox live as well
how you can track stats
Works Cited
Bell, David, and Barbara M. Kennedy. eds. The Cybercultures Reader. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge. 254-264. Print.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Yahooooooooooooo....ooo!
Yahoo has changed dramatically over the years as has the web. If you look at the old yahoo website (i.e. 2000), you see there not much use of pictures or icons. It is mostly words linking you to other pages of the website. There are a few icons for you to click on up at the top. Also you seem to get navagation to there own website extensions.
www.yahoo.com
Today the look of the sight is much different. As you can see it has become much more picture heavy. There are links to send you to other websites such as facebook or twitter . They use icons to lead you to their own different pages as well as other sites.
Burnett and Marshall in “The look of the Web”, describe this as applets, referring to Apple Computer’s development of a new computer, the Macintosh, in 1984. This computer began the graphic user interface (GUI) which was a icon driven operating system. When you clicked on an icon (Applet),rather than typing a series of commands, it started a full screen version of the program. This is the architecture of the present day World Wide Web (WWW). (Burnett, Marshall, 82) You have a series of icons or links that when clicked bring you the the interlinked page. Its like a giant “Web” of pages that are or can be linked together to for one large site.
In the end I believe what they say is still true today. It is still an icon driven environment that is all interlinked in some way or another. Things have definetly become more graphically enhanced but in its core you still click the icon to get the “program” page. Also as I said before its not just links or icons to their own site anymore, there are also links to other sites such as you social networks i.e. facebook and Twitter as well as all of the advertisements they have up on the page. The internet is getting larger and even more intertwined with itself every moment.
Works Cited
"Web Theory": Burnett, Robert; Marshall, P. David. "Web Theory: An Introduction". 2003. Routledge
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