Blog 1

Important Concepts to know before formulating my opinion:
Benjamin Wooley's "Cyberspace"

Benjamin Wooley's wrote "Cyberspace" in the 1990's therefore he was only predicting how much the internet would transform the way people would live in the future. In his writing, he doesn't exactly define what cyberspace is. Instead he attempts to define the evolution of the internet and cyberspace and how society has become dependent on networking through this phenomenon.

His article claims that global villages first arose around the 1970's and became well known and favored around the 1980's. The global villages were a system of networks that allowed for people to communicate beyond their physical boundaries. Later on it evolved into online networking in terms of file sharing and emailing. The passage distinguishes the difference between the Internet and the Ethernet which both originated from the Arpanet which was funded by the “American Advanced Research Projects Agency”.

Wooley writes about McLuhan who claimed that inventions such as the television allowed people to see beyond their current environment, telephones allowed people to talk to people beyond their own reach and the creation of cyberspace was a device of communication as well. This allowed people to enhance their senses beyond their physical reach and draw conclusions while brainstorming on events that they did necessarily experience first hand . It elaborates on different aspects that have become factors in influencing the creation of cyberspace, in terms of technology and historical background. This was originally used to share information between researchers through way of electronic communications.

The passage also proposes questions about reality and virtual reality and hyper reality. It questions if there is a difference between the realities and if so, what its impact has been on society today. The context discuses the importance of Telepresence and artificial intelligence with detailed examples of how it’s evolution with robots has impacted research and modern day tasks.

The context discusses the consequences of cyberspace in terms of computer viruses and attempts to draw a connection between this and biological viruses. Wooley compares a computer virus to a virus that occurs amongst living things. Both can causes damage to the recipient/victim and both can be spread from one vessel to another. Both computer viruses and viruses from nature can make copies of itself and mutate in the process which can either increase or decrease its severity and potential danger. Wooley discusses the similarities between the two and how the media can rapidly spread a fear and sensationalize the anticipated effects of computer viruses (for example: the computer virus known as "October 12" of 1989) Wooley's writing then continues to discuss just how much the world has changed due to the evolution of cyberspace.

Heim's VR 101

Heim discusses the concept of virtual reality and the importance of Telepresence, Cave and Network. . The three I's to take note of in reference to virtual reality are: Immersion, Interaction and Information Intensity. Immersion is the sense of feeling as if you are in a place. The audio and video images of a virtual reality simulator can allow a person to feel immersed in the simulated environment Interaction is the networking and communication between individuals. One can never see who they are interacting with on the email and it's almost like being in the real world yet the internet is being in a space that one cannot control the environment. Information Intensity allows for an exposure of an individual to masses of knowledge that is available via way of virtual reality this can be used as a tool to stimulate the way people think and behave. According to Heim, these three concepts of virtual reality: Immersion, Interaction and Information Intensity all function to make Immediacy. This is the act of being given information instantly and allows for the viewer/participant to feel as if they are really there. This depends on if a person is taking in all the information given through the virtual reality, at once.

Bolter and Grusin's "Introduction: The Double Logic of Remediation"

According to Bolter and Grusin's "Introduction: The Double Logic of Remediation", mediation is putting form one medium into another. a medium is a system of representing reality such as books. Remediation is moving from one media into another. For example a story teller can turn his story into a novel, a novel can be transformed into a movie and a movie can be turned into a video game. Multimedia and mediums from the past and present recreate themselves through the usage of hypermediacy and immediacy. An example of immediacy would be a webcam. A webcam allows for instant use for the user. The webcam can digitally record. An example of hypermediacy would be a website (known as a hypermediated website) in which texts, graphics, audio and visuals and links can be accompanied by a small drop down window which displays the user of the webcam through the internet. Links and a live video allow for immediacy to any users as well as the network that owns the website.


My Opinion:

I think writing on cyberspace is different from writing on meat space because cyberspace allows a person to instantly access their works, as long as they have computer access. If writings are posted in cyberspace and set as a public page, the audience can be limitless. In cyberspace a person can receive feedback within moments of posting their work. Writing on cyberspace allows a person to network with others instantly and is limitless.

There are many websites that allow people to network with each other. "Facebook" is a popular website that allows people from all over the world to connect on the internet. This site is an example of hypermediacy. This website allows people to represent their schools, jobs, majors as well as share pictures, messages , causes and special events as well as post up blogs and notes that they can send out to practically anyone. I found an interesting article about how Facebook can be used to rally up supporters in order to publically protest a cause. http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/ofacebook;_ylt=Aum0o9PTKr2xoQSIZPV3X2bq188F
Through the use of Facebook, over 200,00 people are going to protest against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for their kidnapping of thousands of people in order to demonstrate power.

I believe that immersion, interactivity and information intensity of cyberspaces can allow people to learn more yet I fear with writing on cyberspace the issue of plagiarism. It is easier to cut and paste a person's work, than to retype it or write it word for word on a piece of paper, upon reading work on meat space.

The ability to display writing on the Internet can be liberating for most people. Anyone can display their writing on the Internet without revealing their identity. This can allow many to express their selves more freely without fear of being judged face to face. This affects that way people read and write, cyberspace can be formal and informal; distinguishing the difference may be a problem for viewers.

Since anyone can publish work on the internet, it may be difficult to distinguish the "truth" from opinions, (fact or opinions). A website that is proposing a hypothesis or creating a thesis must have more than just a statements and details. There should be citations or a valid source, date of creation and update, biographical information about the author, links the website to other related webpages, information about the author via search engines and contact information and examples as well as evidence to their claims.