Announcements and Reflections

Thanks for the comments! I am starting to get ideas about your interests are and what you might choose for your website project. If I know that a group of you are interested in the same sorts of ideas it will help me decide how to group your for the wiki project (which we are going to discuss on Tuesday).

Note that Stephanie's blog is now linked to this page. Check out her entries and give her some comments.

This week we moved away from defining/discussing features of cyberspace and began some in-depth analysis of the writing in online spaces. On Tuesday we analyzed the architecture created by the links on two sites which have some of the same customers -- but very different approaches to marketing and developing their products: Mozilla and Microsoft.

This analysis raised questions which were beginning to cloud the horizon in your blogs about Woolley, Heim, and wikipedia. The questions are about the reliability of information, the value of scholarship versus open discussion with respect to creating knowledge, and so on. In particular, Matt and Ryan have staged a running swordfight up and down the stairs of their classmates blog. Lots of feinting and lunging -- but it looks like the victor is yet to be declared.

What is interesting to me about this discussion is that within your comments you have raised most of the assumptions, values, and beliefs which are identified either with the print generation (learnng is through reading + being taught, knowledge is best expressed in language and it is best taught by experts, knowledges exists in the world to be discovered. . .) and the internet generation (learning through doing rather than talking, knowledge is interactive, dispersed and created. . .). See:

AOIR Conference Papers

What is more -- these differences are at the heart of a struggle for control/regulation of the internet, and the outcome of this struggle will have an inestimable impact on our futures with respect to how our educational system -- and eventually our government and economic interactions -- will be structured.

Check out:

John Perry Barlow

So there is some thinking left to do here.

The Big Picture

So you are working on a response to the Heim essay, another piece from an earlier era in the internet's very brief history. Even though this article was written only seven years ago, again, so much has changed. More recent work by Michael Heim can be found at www.mheim.com

As you continue reading the assignments in your text, I am hoping one of the ideas or relationships, or events described in these articles will pique (peak? peek?) your interest. And that you will (quite naturally) turn to the internet for more information. For the website you develop for your third project, you will create a site which presents your exploration and extension of ideas connected to some aspect of "writing for cyberspace."

For example, if you become interested in "the relationship between humans and technology" you might look at Psychnology
www.psychnology.org/232.php
or if you are interested in gaming research (and writing, of course) you might look at
www.gamestudies.org
You will gather ideas, participate in

If you aren't sure what you are interested in, you might start with:

www.com.washington.edu/rccs/links.asp


You will notice that some of these sites are academic. Yeah. All right, well, this IS a college course. Don't hold it against them. Skim through. There are actually many sections, sometimes even whole articles which are quite readable.

Worth noting: Because many of researchers and journals focused on digital spaces are from countries other than the US, even though most are written in English, it is not always perfect English. Just thought I'd mention it.

AHHHHHH!!!! . . . another post about Woolley!!

Well, no, not actually, it won't all be about Woolley. I'll probably go off topic.

Some thoughts on reading your blogs. I appreciate that you all tried to remain positive about going into such depth regarding an article which you didn't like that much the first time through. I observed that for some of you his metaphors worked and for some of you they didn't. Though it may have been an interesting idea for some of you to think about cyberspace as like a human body, or like a city -- for some of you it was not interesting. In fact it was confusing. And some of you indicated (or did I read this wrong?) that it mostly seemed out dated and like it didn't really tell you much about what cyberspace is. All right. What can I say except that it is a "classic" piece and in all the anthologies?

Also, I noticed that in your blogs, some of you took various strategies to make your blogs your own. With humor, by adopting a persona, by using a non-academic voice. Good. As long as you are on topic, and directing some serious inquiry to the material we are covering -- I appreciate the creativity. It makes more interesting reading for me. Go for it.

And now. . .

THE LIST
(features of cyberspace gleaned from your blogs and your arduous close attention to Woolley)

1. it can change the real world,

2. it's interactive, fast, global connection changes the world in particular ways which other forms of communication technology have not (at least not exactly)

3. what it communicates about an event can have more impact than the event itself

4. it is an unfolding frontier where conventions for "ownership" and regulation are still evolving (and are fiercely disputed)

5. it is not transparent

. . . please add to this list. . .

Blog addresses

 Here are links for everyone's blog.  

NOTICE:
Suzanne's blog address.
There is not an 's' before her last name.

Chandler     http://0380fall05.blogspot.com/
Mullinnix    http://3080fall05mullinnix.blogspot.com/
Smith        http://3080fall05smith.blogspot.com/
Richardson   http://0380richardson.blogspot.com
Moskowitz    http://3080fall05moskowitz.blogspot.com/
Josh         http://3080fall05burnett.blogspot.com
Feecia       http://3080fall05anson.blogspot.com
Angeli       http://0380angelicabreros.blogspot.com
Sylvia       http://0380tararuj.blogspot.com
Jackie       http://3080fall05lopez.blogspot.com
Matt         http://0380harabin.blogspot.com
Nadia        http://3080fall05lahens.blogspot.com
Amanda       http://0380fall05faria.blogspot.com
Ryan         http://3080fall05valdez.blogspot.com

Class Sept 13

So now you have three forms of communication to compare -- academic summaries, whole class discussions, and chat (somewhat constrained and directed compared to the "wild" variety -- but still . . . ).

Your chat transcripts should be in your WebCt mailboxes.

In class Wednesday I collect all the URLs for your blogs so you can post them as links on your blog in the side bar (for directions for editing the link list, check out http://help.blogger.com ). You can also set classmates blogs as favorites on your computer. If someone has more ideas for how to arrange an easy system to connect to everyone's blog -- let me know and we will set it up.

This is a short entry -- bookkeeping stuff. I am looking forward to reading your blogs so I can respond to them.