Personal Dynamic Media

Wow! This was a very interesting article! Its amazing how these plans of the Dynabook have become actuality and it was all visualized so many years ago!  Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg had fully examined all the capabilities they could see a notebook sized computer to be.  Opposing to Licklider's time-sharing computers, these two people visualized and end goal of what they saw would be the most functional in the end-game rather that Licklider's views of what you be capable.  I thought Kay's and Goldberg's approach in creating a system in which children, hospitals, and musicians can all use what a great method in creating what we have privilege of having today.  By looking at all the various uses people want and need, they were able to devise a system that met all requirements for virtually any customer they may have.  The amazing part is, today this dream is true, and all facets in which they examined utilize laptops and other notebook size computer for those purposes.  Now everything is run in our world by the Dynabook-like devises.

From Computer Power and Human Reason

This article from Joseph Weizenbaum is a fascinating look at the humanistic possibilities that computer are and possibly can become like a human.  He looks deeply into how computers can be very humanistic in a sense of patterns and can imitate man in every aspect.  However, he believes that there are limits to what computers ought to be put to do.  I found that ELIZA brought two very interesting perspectives.  Weizenbaum writes, “a number of practicing psychiatrists seriously believed that the DOCTOR computer program could grow into a nearly completely automatic form of psychotherapy”.  Although this was completely not the intent of creating this program, the technique used by psychotherapist was incorporated in this program.  I could understand the perspective of the psychotherapist believing this because some techniques utilize a method of patterns and responses derived from the patient, and it seems that is possible to program into a computer system.  The example of the interaction between the young lady and ELIZA is a prime example of how this is possible.  Another idea I found very interesting was the emotional connection people created with the DOCTOR.  They had anthropomorphized it to the point where his secretary had asked him to leave the room because of the intimate thoughts that were being discussed with the computer program.  Weizenbaum found that he did “not realize that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.”  This unexpected finding shows how people can form such emotional bonds and create relationships between an individual and a computer. 

Second Life

This was another interesting article about a very odd (at least to me) topic or game platform.  The main purpose of this article is to based on gender and roles in the second life platforms.  Several unique results were identified throughout the project. First, to attempt to come to a solid conclusion on virtual worlds and positions on gender is very complex as many variable may play a role.  The vast perceptions, social visions, and social layer of the world can influence this.  In addition the player's technical skill level tie into the performance of gender.  Secondly, the stylization of the body seemed evident that they are common among the "particular normative visions of femaleness and maleness".  The male and female appearance and beauty are very stereotypical and constructed as the in ways of our popular cultures perception of attractiveness. For example, for women, slender bodies, tiny waist, big breasts and for males, broad shoulders and muscular upper bodies.  However, what the article found is that the gamer level or technical skills increased the ability to software writing.  They can manipulate and escape the constructions made available by the platform.

Technology and the Society

Wow, this was a very interesting article on the history of technology and the social affects upon it.  I found a lot on interesting information throughout the article in regards to the correlation of different technological advances in various mediums through our history and how the society formed with it.  It was very interesting to read how there was also a correlation between our historical events such as WWI and WWII, and the developments in technology.  The article reads, "the principal incentives to first stage improvement in communication technology came from problems of communication and control in expanded military and commercial operations".  Like much of the tools we use today, our channels of media were directly involved in the development of what we use today on a daily basis.  The phases in which television and radio had gone through was very similar.  Both had phases which "technology of transmission and reception developed before content, and important parts of the content were and have remained by-products of the technology rather than independent enterprises".  In addition to the historical coming of these mediums, the history in uses were very fascinating throughout the article.  These examples include the regulatory aspect, and the uses in politics as mediums to speak to the "masses".  Technology is and always will be a part of our society, whether it's used properly or manipulatively.

Just Like Me Only Better

In Just Like Me Only Better, the author investigated "Second Life" avatars which represents individuals from different ethnic origins and various other backgrounds.  I found the results of this article very intriguing.  First, the commonality in preference of facial features among the study subjects  were very similar.  Even with the subjects coming from various backgrounds and nationalities, they had seemed to choose characteristics following a "contemporary Caucasian pattern of beauty".  However, every nationality seemed to have favoritism in slightly different features of their avatar.  This is another aspect of this study I found to be unusual and interesting.  Each nation had their own version of a "perfect" avatar.  For example, the Germans preferred tanned skin, blond straight hair, and thin lips and nose.  Among the Vietnamese and Chinese, they seemed to prefer darker skin as well, and the Japanese preferred larger eyes.  These slight variations and commonality show the general tendencies of what is preferred in these nations.  

Community Media

In this reading, I found the power of self representation and its ability to bring communities together to voice opinions and issues that otherwise may be denied a chance to be amazing.  Such community media examples don't necessarily have to represent political issues or leaders, but may represent the individuals of the community.  The importance of these community based media is the representation of "oneself, ideas, creativity, or politics" in an act of participation.  It shows the audience an accurate portrayal of what is coming from the local community.  Another idea I found interesting is the author identifying the new era of internet use as the era of "read-write" media.  This is "where people don't just consume media, they also create it."  Furthermore the participation in community media increases because of the accessibility, affordability, and the easier it becomes to use.  With the increasing ability to participate in the media network, I makes is easier to represent oneself to the world.

Uses and Gratifications

In this article, I found most interesting is the use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) to gain popularity in a social highlight.  The author finds that the "vast majority of participants agreed that many individuals use SNS to become more popular".  In a sense it seems to be a popularity contest among whatever community people may belong to, for example high school, or college.  This might be true to the specific targeted audience of this study, because in my personal experience, I notice people at my work and among family have SNS to mainly stay in touch with old friends and family.  The popularity perspective is funny in a sense that, even if a high school student leaves the campus of the school, there is still a society in which he has to represent and maintain.  I also found it very interesting that certain elements of SNS, such as MySpace's "Top 8" section brings a sense of hierarchal ranking, in which participants of this study "admitted they were very conscious of where they ranked in their friends' list".  I learned that potential drama in "real life" is played out in the online social network world as well.  Most of this study displayed what I would expected, such as the purposes in researching people, the privacy matter, and the easy ability to communicate with others.  However, the popularity thing is simply odd...maybe it's just my age (25) and if I were 18 again, maybe I would feel the same way as the participants in this study...