Now I was not the greatest fan of twitter before beginning this course, because I listened to the hype and decided that it was definitely not for me. I love Stephen Fry – but I am not really interested in what he had for breakfast or that it is raining in LA. So trying to ‘get in the spirit’ in the context of this course has taken some time. However, with the help of my colleagues and websites like The Complete Guide to Twitter I really feel that I am getting somewhere. It is not simply a social tool where we can complain about how much work we have to do, it is also a great source of links that I would have otherwise have missed. My colleagues are not shy in sharing these, and they have been incredibly helpful as well as making me feel that I really am part of a class. So long live Twitter!
Archive for the ‘Week 6’ Category
week 6 lifestream commentary
Sunday, November 1st, 2009This week has been a very full one, both work wise and course wise, so it has been a real juggling act to keep everything ticking over. However I have managed to maintain my lifestream, often late at night in hotel rooms, and during lunch breaks in internet cafes. This is taking some getting used to but I think I am getting used to it all quite well. I have added a few more feeds this week including Tumblr which I had never used before.
The lifestream this week has mainly been concerned with the ethnography research on our chosen community. I have chosen a quilting community because I wanted so look into something that used to be a community activity, almost died out and has now been resurrected in the virtual world.
Another decision has been how to present the research. I initially started with Prezi but as I worked through it the medium wasn’t really suitable. Then I decided at a web cam and screen capture might be interesting, however this has led to a frustrating day with technology and all I have managed to do so far is record a test – at least it has sound!
So it has been a productive week, and unproductive Sunday but I thought I would upload my test piece anyway.
Never having used a web cam before I found it a disconcerting experience, but now my face is out there for all the world to see as I struggle to find the FINISH button!
A rape in cyberspace; Mr Bungle and LambdaMOO
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009During my reading of Bell & Community & Cyberculture, I read about the strange case involving LambdaMOO (an online dungeon) and a cyber perpetrator by the name of Mr Bungle, who, with an online voodoo doll and a piece of programming code, could take over the identities of other players and force them to perform offensive acts.
After some further investigation into this strange story I found that several users posted on the in game MOO mailing list about the emotional trauma caused by Mr Bungle’s actions. One user whose avatar was a victim, called his voodoo doll activities “a breach of civility” while, in real life, “post-traumatic tears were streaming down her face”. This made me question how deeply these people related to their online identites.
I once had my car stolen (bare with me because there is a point…) and after it was missing for a few hours it was located and returned by the police. Now I had really loved that car, but once I got it back it just wasn’t the same and a few months later we parted company. Later I was recounting the story to a male friend and his response was ‘ having you car stolen is a bit liked being raped’. Bless him – he was serious!
So my car was stolen and my love affair with it was over, but I had not been physically violated. There was no comparison between my experience and a real rape. Just like I feel that there is no comparison between what Mr Bungle did and an attack in the real world. What did suprise me was the very emotional response by the people who’s avatars where ‘attacked’. It seemed exteme. However, if we consider the power of this community, as the possibility that it has become a replacement for a ‘real life’ community, then this becomes more understandable.
“community has become a ‘lost object’, nostalgized and looked-for (or longed-for) in cyberspace” Bell, Community & Cyberculture pg 105
If this is the case, and these people are searching for utopia in cyberspace that they are missing in real life, then an attack of this nature could be incredibly disruptive. When I visit online worlds it is ‘just a game’ – if I get pwned (throughly beaten) it is not a big issue. However, my approach to cyberspace could be considered different to many.
“virtual culture is a cultural retreat from the world (Robins CR:91)” Bell, Community & Cyberculture pg 105
The next question is ‘is this healthy?’
