COMMUNITY(lecture)

So, its week four. this week's lecture was on community,
the theories and concepts of a virtual community. Guy gave an
example of 'the well', the most famous online community in terms
of history of the cyber space, founded in 1985. From my understanding,
i think one of the main issues for debate is are 'virtual community'
different from 'real community'?. Despite the positives of an online
community, i think it is definately different from a real community
and should in no way be compared to real life. I think people who
indulge in online communities do so as a form of escapism from reality.
I agree with John Perry's question 'is online community truly diverse?'
his answer was 'NO' because we can choose who we engage with. I think
this sums up the realism and not reality of an online community.
Take for example communities /shared sites such as myspace and face book,
you 'add' to your list of friends those you wish to. So, what is the point if you
can sift through whom you wish to talk to or not.
Furthermore, the lecture also covered computer mediated communication
(CMC). Steve Jones in discussing this said with relation to the forms of comm-
unication said "the notion of community depends on cmc and the ability to
share information simultaneously across vast distances". This of course
highlights the positive aspects of a community as it transends beyond space,
time and has almost no limitations.
The exciting thing about cmc is that people can form a new world which they
like and wish to participate in (Neo-centric culture). Whether or not this new
world is beneficial to their growth, communication and social skills remains the
basis for discussion.
As argued in the online seminar, i think an online community aid no social and
communicative skills whatsoever. I disagree that it builds individuals' social skills.
I however think that the strength of online communities is in their ability to give
people a voice, a place to air their views and create changes in their own ways.
I also think accademic communities help people build and improve their
thought processes which is reflected through better and improved writing skills.
Anyway, im finding this quite interesting, contrary to my prior opinion, this
blogging and online seminar definately makes on think. More interesting comments
are on the mchome seminar space, ther i gave my views on music downloads and its
effects on popular music.
Until we meet again mi ever attentive readers, tis' Ta dah! from me,
off to scuff some well deserved chocolate mm!

SELVES AND OTHERS ONLINE(lecture)

So its week three, still need to get used to this, i just lost everything i typed
for this week's post. Anyway...
the lecture was about online relationships. Guy talked about the three era namely;
Oralism, Exhange and Electronic mediation. i agree with Poster's argument
that "nature of the self and its symbolic relationship to the world has shifted"
Although his point is seen as broad and general, i think there is some truth in it.
In this present postmodernism world, people want to be heard, far from the days
of oralism when interaction was face to face, the internet creates the opportunity for
people at different places to air their views. This i suppose is the basis of fear
expressed by many parents who have to endure the pain of their child's online
relationships which in most cases make them an easy target for online grooming/
paedophilia. the various discussions about this issue on the seminar site makes
an interesting read. I suppose at some point, one should expect society to change
the shame however is that abuse of that change is often inevitable. Society today
as was talked about in the lecture has the "freedom to modify itself". A society
whereby reality can be reconstructed through images of reality. Whilst some think
of the idea of online relationships as absurd, without doubt, it is to some a haven
for freedom of expression, which in most cases like an 'open architecure', has
little or no restrictions.

Just The Whole New Media Thing(lecture)

Well... tis been fun, good, Kate agreed with my thoughts today. its quite ok, well so far. Dunno if im there yet with this form of seminar. So a lot of opinions about all the new media stuff. Anyway, lecture yesterday was a bit quizzy, considering moir was tired. I tot it was quite informative though. Understood explicitly what Guy was talking about, interactivity and all that. the xteristics of the internet ie hpertextuality, anarchy,synchronous etc. I think its good to discuss new media, today's seminar discussions was exciting. In arguing Robin's views, i would say that new media is not meant to 'transform' society, society has already been transformed since the inception of the first locomotive engine, airplane, the computer etc. Hence, no one can literally 'Transform' society anymore. (well, not until we all move to Mars..that is!) Rather, what already exisits can simply be worked on to 'RESPOND' to soceity's present needs, for example; faster trains, bigger aircrafts, high-speed computers etc, this is the intend of 'new media'. Arguably, there is no new media without the aim to serve a pre-existing capitalist culture and society in a fundamental sense. Therefore, i think it is evident that new media is designed around dominant ideologies in society so as to yield conformity.

for new media students

hello all, so im all set, for all who wish to view, my addy's http://yemi-o.blogspot.com, what more can i say... Let the discussions begin.