So.... Deborah Lupton' article 'The Embodied Computer/User' really encapsulates the relationship we tend to create with our PC's. I certainly agree with her that, while i don't really like to admit it, the PC is used by regular folk like you and me as a means to not only connect with Cyberworld but to escape the real body ('the meat') and enter the place where we're whoever we want to be, real or not. One thing she pointed out was that she can type much faster than she can write with a pen and in fact thereis 'almost a seamless transition of thought to word on the screen'. WOW. And its true, but what about our handwriting? It is just going to get worse and worse. We're going to rely too heavily on spell check, etc... Is it a worry to anyone else? Also, how about the anxiety that surrounds the thought of just losing it all to a blackout? ahhhhh, its terrifying!
Another question i wanted to raise about that article and other discourse on the issue of cyber criminals, or hackers etc, was can we really avoid it? There is plenty of fraud, crime, scams in the real world too.... is there a difference?
When considering Krissi M. Iimroglou's article 'A Camera With a View' in terms of the idea of the JenniCAM being a perfect heterosexual male fantasy - a voyeuristic window into a woman's bedroom' i question why the statement includes only the males? Could it not be perfect for women's fantasy's too? I think it is certainly an open window into the life of a regular person (why anyone would want that exposure is another question all together). Does it say more about the people who check this website for any action? Are these the same people who cannot help watching Big Brother every night?
I liken JenniCAM as CYBORG....as if unable to exist without the eye (or thousands of eyes) of the computer watching her.
that's all....
anyone wanna discuss?
Serena.
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3 comments:
Yeah, I definitely agree with Deborah Lupton's article. Our dependence on our computers has gone far and beyond. Especially people who have 'desk' jobs would spend most of their day in font of a computer. In these situations, people spend more time with computers than face-to-face contact with people. I'd also say that with this heavy reliance on computers, some people would feel closer to their computers than to the people that surround them. I was just curious as to how this has affected our relationships with people?
To the woestion of JennieCam: I also think that this had a lot more to do with all of our predisposition to be voyeuristic than with an inherent male-driven desire. As you said: it is much like the Big Brother phenomenon, only that the sex/naked part is maybe added. But watching people via camera 24/7 obsiously seems interesting with or without nudity or sex -otherwise Big Brother wouldn't have worked.
As for relationships and computer, I personally think we should not be too quick to condemn everything connected with it. I know that many people spend more time online than is probably healthy, and that many 'friendships' online are just very superficial and can be gone the next day. But at this point I also want to share two things from personal experience:
I met two very good and dear friends from Australia online and without them I would not be here today spending my semester abroad. I also met my boyfriend online - and as 'lame' as it may sound at first: we've been together for over 8 years now, share our lives together and plan our future....that's why I am not as critical towards the whole subject as maybe some other people are. ;-)
I personally found the Lupton article to be outdated and technophilic. Outdated in the sense that it was written over a decade ago and technophilic in the way it signalled the likelihood of the cyberworld usurping the body sometime in the near future. Serena’s point about the decline of our own personal handwriting is important I think because the manner in which Lupton speaks of the apparent “seamless transition” of thought to screen, glorifies the connection she feels she has with her PC, however just as the automobile is reducing the need for walking so is the PC weakening/replacing the need to handwrite. I also felt particularly repulsed and somewhat angered by her discussion of “The Disembodied Computer User”. Where she states “In computer culture, embodiment is often represented as an unfortunate barrier to interaction with the pleasure of computing...” (p. 479) this strongly represents, to myself anyway, all that is wrong with the on-line population. Why spend so much time plugged into a machine, playing on a virtual beach when you can go outside and live the reality? This version of the cyborg body seems to me to be a weak and pathetic manifestation and it angers me that Lupton is giving so much power and importance over to the PC. Aside from this however I think the problem of cyberstalking and sexual harassment come from users investing far too much time pursuing relationships and endeavours through a medium that seems to present no firm legal boundaries or limits. Forgive me if I’m wrong in saying this but from reading the Adam’s article and from reading some of the other posts it appears to be so that there are limited or no “visible” authorities online and that externally it is difficult to gauge an appropriate method to police the virtual world.
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