The End of the Course as we know it...

Okay, the major essays are all marked and can be collected from me in room G.07. I'll be in my office most of next week (Nov 15th - 19th), so please do come and pick your essays up.

Also, can I take this opportunity to thank you all: firstly, for your reflective posts which will be very useful in evaluating the course (and thanks for the kinds words about your tutor, too!); and, secondly, and most importantly, can I thank you all for your participation in the many facets of Self.Net. It has been a real pleasure running this course and being your tutor and participating in some fascinating conversations about all things digital which, I'm sure, will continue long after the course has faded in your memories!

I hope your increased critical awareness of digital culture serves you all well in the future, and with any luck I'll see a number of you in other courses, or doing Honours (since so many of you are writing at a level which would see you do very well in an honours program).

Byebye.

reflective post

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This unit has been really different to what I expected it to be, which is great. I had thought that in a lot of ways it would expand upon the kinds of concepts and ideas that are mandatory in english/cultural studies units - only with a cool, techie-type bent to it. Obviously, no unit is an island unto itself and there are lots of ideas that follow on from other units but I think that self.net is unique nonetheless. It was refreshing to be involved in the types of ongoing popular debates and discourses surrounding the internet and technology – file sharing, pornography, culture jamming etc.

I think that the material - its familiarity to a lot of us, gives it a greater relevancy and immediacy, and a personal involvement which can’t be replicated in Victorian Ideologies or Reading Theory. It forced us, well - me at least - to engage with the technology in new ways and to acknowledge my own convoluted relationship to technology – raising important questions about life and reality and technology.

Reflective Post

The use of weblogs was highly relevant, useful and appropriate to the course. It helped to further familiarise me with different aspects of the internet I had not previously been aware of. I thought it was useful in the fact that it allowed us to interact with the other students and also we were able to look at other people’s work, which helped me get an idea of how everybody else interpreted the course and its work. I’m am not an overly competent internet user and only really knew the basics but this course helped me to feel more confident about the internet. I also found the course to be unique and offer something different from the other english courses I have taken.

I found a lot of the topics to be really interesting such as the video games and gender and race online, although I am sure I will not be able to remember all the acronyms! It also made me realise that there is a lot more to the internet than just researching or chatting and was a good subject for ethnography. The course made apparent the place of communicative technologies in today and past societies and also how it reflects or reproduces dominant societal attitudes.

As for being a cyborg, I had not previously considered myself as one. However, after reading Haraway’s definition of a cyborg I suppose according to her I would be. I also feel that human interaction with technology is completely normal and natural whether it is just by simply using a mobile or relying on a pacemaker, it does not make us any less human.

In general, I constantly changed my mind about how I felt about the course. Originally I was rather confused and thought I needed far more knowledge about the internet to cope, however as the course progressed it did not seem as confusing as I first assumed. The course became really interesting and informative, and although at times of assessment of stressed out, the course was generally a good experience.

Self.Net Reflective Post

The use of Weblogs in this coarse was highly beneficial and practical way of understanding online communication. From some one who did not know what Weblogs were before this course, I feel that I have learnt a completely new mode of communication and gained practical skills in computer mediated communication. I found weblogs were a good way to express views and opinions towards topics and issues raised by other people. What I liked best about the use of weblogs in this course was that it enabled everyone to have a say. Sometimes in Tutorials or workshops, people may not have the opportunity to express complete, in depth ideas and arguments due to the time constraint of 45 min. Weblogs however, provide a chance for people to take their time to either raise issues or ideas, or respond to information in their own time. I learnt a lot about the unit and its core topics through reading the boggs of other people. This helped to construct my own ideas and understanding of the overall unit.

Do I believe myself to be a cyborg? Well since I was oblivious to what a cyborg actually was before this unit, through the lectures, workshops and readings (especially Haraway) I do see my self as a cyborg to an extent. Today, technological developments and engagement with new forms of communication especially that of the electronic web makes it hard not to believe that we are cyborgs as the boundary between human and machines slowly intertwine. The fact that I wear contact lenses and glasses, and feel naked without my mobile phone positions me to believe myself to be a cyborg.

Overall, the course was productive and I learnt a lot about digital technologies and how they are related to issues of identity and embodiment. I found the workshops the best aspect of this unit, as they were a practical way of understanding how identity and embodiment is related to computer-mediated communication. Thanks Tama :)

Reflective Post

I think that the use of weblogs in this course is relevant. It has thought us how to learn from one another by commenting on each other's work constructively. It was useful to know how other's felt about what you have written in order for improvement.
I think i would never think of myself as a cyborg although Haraway would definately see me as one. I rely a lot on technology and wear contact lens etc however it does not encompass who I am instead all these just assists me in my daily affairs.
This course was a good experience for me because i have learnt to see many issues in different points of view. Although there are some that i do not agree with but it has helped me expand my width of knowledge. Previously i had no knowledge or awareness of cyberculture,Muds and all the online stuff that has been going on but this course has enlightened me and this will definately be useful to me in future.

Reflection

This course was quite a good one, the contemporary issues we studied, namely the internet, were quite interesting and useful in my other subjects. I really enjoyed the culture jamming lectures, they tied in really well with my American visual culture unit. I had studied the notion of ‘cyborgs’ before, and was already familiar with Haraway’s work so the perception of myself as a cyborg has not changed. Learning about MUDs, MOOs and blogs has, if anything, made me feel more isolated from technology, as it was all new to me. Instead of feeling reliant on technology, I feel like I’m being consumed by it. However, that’s probably only in relation to this course, as everyone seems so tech-savvy, whereas I’m probably pretty up-with-it comparative to other students. The best thing about this course, is the critical skills I needed to acquire in order to do the webliography. Previously, I felt as if the internet was a somewhat illegitimate source of research for essays, whereas now I use it a lot more and know how to filter through all the crap. Shame we had to post our webliographies though, mine was terrible. Happy with the course, I know the reader will come in handy over the next year in other studies.

Reflective post

Use of weblogs
I thought the use of weblogs on this course was great - mainly because I think blogs are cool! I had never heard of a blog before this course so it has introduced me to a great resource and inspired me to get my own blog. It was really good to be able to actually practice something that we theorise about. I thought it was an effective tool for the tutorials, although it didnt really meet its full potential as far as interaction and online discussion goes. I guess that is our fault for only really doing the mandatory posts. But I think it would be interesting if everyone used it as a blog (ie. finding interesting links to share with other students) rather than just a place to post our work.

Cyborg
I guess I hadn't really thought about it before the start of this course but yes, I believe that I am a cyborg. The way I live is mediated by and inseparable from technology. I am totally comfortable with being a cyborg. I think we are living in exciting times!

General thoughts
hmmm... I really liked the course. I thought it linked in well with my other courses, particularly Communication Studies. I really enjoyed the multimedia aspects. Maybe this could be expanded to the essay too. It seems a bit of a shame to be handing in essays on paper when there is so much room for experimentation.

Thanks Tama!

Reflective post on SELF. NET

I thought the Workshops and use of Blogger suited this unit and the themes and issues we were discussing. They allowed us to interact with some of the issues dicussed that might have been more difficult to get to grips with if we had not had the opportunity to explore them more hands on or interactively in the workshop and through the use of the tute blog.
I think the online workshops were great to, as they gave us individually a chance to explore and play around with the digital culture we were discussing.
Obviously having an element of online work might have presented problems for some students if they were not familiar or used to working from the internet to such an extent, but the little teaching workshops at the beginning of the semester I think were a great way to get everyone up to speed. I also think it is important to try something new and innovative, and Self.Net allowed the perfect opportunity. It is good to take people out of the traditional comfort zone of University style teaching, but also, on saying that, it is important to work out what new methods add to the learning experience and what subtracts from it.
It is important to have the tutorials were people can discuss face to face and present ideas, and also to have this blog through which people can further bring up points and create a sense of community within the unit if they wish.
I think the problem raised about the nature of the essays that seem to not particularily fit with the ideas being emphasized in the course could easily be overcome. I think it is important to still have the traditional essay style way of addressing issues etc as it might become too confronting to bring in other methods of assessment altogether. However, in terms of participation marks and using blogger and the workshops, there could be room for more interactive work through the net etc. Eg, the use of posting up the webliographies and commenting on others over the blog was a good way to bring old style methods of assessment and new ones together.
Cyborg? haha well judging from the conversation in the last tutorial I would probably have to say I was one. Considering I wear contact lenses for a lot of the time and would be blind without them I cant escape technology. Also yes, the mobile phone features largely in my life, as well as internet connections blah blah blah etc. Simply my mobile phone seems to have become an essential method of organisng day to day activities with friends eg meeting for lunch etc, and my use of my laptop and internet allows me to email people and talk to people in other parts of the world, eg friends who have gone overseas. So, as well as my body being constituted of technology such as contact lenses, my social interactions and indeed things considered essential for human happiness such as community and friendship seems to be increasingly mediated by technology. I guess at the beginning of the course I accepted myslef as a cyborg depending on the definition one might wish to follow, which is what I still do. I wouldnt go as far as to say I fit the qualifications of 7 of 9 or whatever her name is in Star Trek, but if technology keeps progressing the way it does and we continue to consume it and incorporate it into our everday lives such as we have done with mobile phones etc, it seems that we could well end up in a similar state.
The question I always ponder about is whether all this technology, vaccines etc and daily drugs that people take to increase vitamins levels and all other things, has made the human essentially kind of soft. I mean, if we were to place ourselves back in time and try to survive would we die out, cos I hardly think we could be considered the 'fittest' anymore cos we rely so much on technology. People who would of died out from weakness, and even things like eyesight problems would surely of been bred out before, but becasue of technology we can still live on and pass on our weakness to the next generation (yes I know this is an incredibly pessimistic view but I might as well raise it). I always think about the "war of the worlds" and how the aliens were simply defeated by the common cold...one day will we be like the aliens?
Anyway, THanks TAMA I thoroughly enjoyed the course...:) you can give yourself a chocolate bar

Reflection

Weblogs?
Being relatively new to this type of programming and having never used the blogger software I found this aspect of the course useful for its practical component. Would have been great if we could have had a few more classes in the computer labs just to learn the special little tricks that usually take a long and frustrating time to uncover. The flexibility offered by posting up responses when we want (with in a relative time frame) and where we want too is a great component of this course.
Cyborg?
I'd have to say no but my definition of cyborg would probably exclude most people. I would tend to define a cyborg as a human/machine hybrid but allow that entity to then decide whether they were a cyborg or not, for example I wouldn't classify someone with a pace maker as a cyborg unless they specifically wanted to be. I find the cyborg identity and cyborg politics very useful, especially in providing a model for identity construction which allows for those who would otherwise fall between catergories. Infact cyborgs seem to do away with catergories altogether, this is a model of identity I base my own identity around. I do think that we, in the Western world at least are becoming very reliant on digital technologies, a relationship that others conclude marks us as cyborgs.
I found the course very interesting, it was good to be looking at contemprorary issues and technologies. The practical components ie. blogging and the workshops were also very useful. This course has also introduced me to a new range of theory's and theorists and has reworked some of the older ideas in new and interesting ways. The contemporary nature of this course also made the discussions especially over legal issues of digital technology such as downloading, access to porn, much more 'realistic' and real world, interesting as the course consisted of a lot of out of body rhetoric found when talking about the internet and digital technologies.

Post-final tutorial relection

I liked the idea of using weblogs for academic learning. The medium was very relevant to the course and provided an excellent working example of the act and culture of blogging, which was probably quite beneficial to anyone who hadn’t come across it before. Its main success would be the immediacy of communication between the group members themselves and their tutors outside the scheduled tutorials and workshops. I found that reading other group member’s posts with their respective ideas on the same topic to be insightful, giving a broader view of how to interpret the same material.

Admittedly, before taking Self.Net, I would have said that I wasn’t a cyborg because my conception of it was based on sci-fi depictions and not a theoretical approach. Now, after exploring cyborg theory, particularly that of Haraway, I would definitely acknowledge thinking of myself as a cyborg, functioning in conjunction with intrinsic, environmental and sociological technology.

I really liked the topics looked at in the course because I’ve been interested in different aspects of internet culture (especially sub-cultural media) for a while and it was great to explore those with depth and place them in a historical context.

Playing Politics Workshop Response

Both “September 12th” and “New York Defender” are particularly “effective” in communicating political issues due to their interactive approach. Interactive games seem far more engaging than print and are fun, thus appealing to a wider audience.
“September 12th” opens with the impressionable image of a crying civilian holding a dead baby. It is described as a “simple model you can use to explore some aspects of the war on terror” and the instructions inform the player that it “is not a game,” has no ending and there are no winners or losers; you can simply choose to shoot, or not. This immediately prompts the player to think about war in Iraq. “September 12th” sets the scene successfully through the style of the buildings and clothing etc, so the user is immediately aware that s/he is in the Middle East. It is a typical battle between the “goodies” and the “baddies,” but unlike most computer games, in “September 12th” the player takes on the role of the “baddy,” murdering innocent civilians. The evilness of your actions is made more apparent by the fact that you see them run to the victims and kneel down crying and you also hear them cry. The use of children and babies also highlights this idea of evil. This evokes a sense of guilt and sorrow in the player. However, the dead civilians turn into terrorists, so the more you kill, the more terrorists appear. This encourages the player to question both the consequences and the effectiveness of the war on terror in reality.
“New York Defender,” the player takes on the role of the US military, who is trying to protect the World Trade Center from terrorist attacks. Contrary to “September 12th,” although the player is still aiming to kill people, “New York Defender” is not structured in a way that would make the player feel guilty. However, the more planes you shoot down, the more planes arrive, which again questions the effectiveness of the war on terror in reality.

If I were to create a political simulation game, I would combine the approaches of both “September 12th” and “New York Defender.” I would set the scene so that America is one half of the screen – showing the New York CBD and yellow cabs or something similar – and Iraq the other, portraying a similar environment to that in “September 12th.” The game would be a war between the two countries and the player would take on the role of the American military, trying to shoot down terrorist planes heading for the World Trade Centre and bomb the terrorists in Iraq. It would be a far more complex game than either “September 12th” or “New York Defender” and I would use the sense of loss and anger evoked from terrorist attacks to encourage the player to make further attacks on Iraq. The player would also have the option to join forces with the UK and Australia and set up an operation to evacuate civilians from Iraq and wipe out all the terrorists.

Playing with Politics Workshop Response

SEPTEMBER 12 and NEW YORK DEFENDER
The first game I played was September 12, which was effective in representing the
worthlessness of terrorism. I liked the way the instructions made clear “this is not a game but a simulation”. This positioned me to think more about the issues of terrorism from a realistic point of view as opposed to fantasy or game play. The crying sound effects were terrible, it made me want to stop shooting but what was really weird was that after the civilians stopped crying over the dead, they themselves turn into terrorists. No matter how hard I tried, I could not kill the terrorists without killing civilians as well. I was so upset when I accidentally killed the dog instead of the terrorist. This led to the assumption that violence just generates more violence. You therefore eventually stop shooting when you realize you are not getting any positive results from the shooting. The message was not immediately obvious in September 12, you had to play the for a few minutes before you realized you were not getting anywhere and that the more you kept shooting the more terrorists formed.


In New York Defender: This game used a foreign language for its instructions and prompts, therefore at first you didn’t know what to expect. But the message and the aim of the game were immediately obvious as soon as you started playing. It got to the point that you would try anything to try and save the twin towers but eventually you fail and they collapse which was disappointing and which led to the feeling of loss. As Clive Thompson (2002) points out, “Gaming within the context of 9-11 and the shadow of terrorism, one easily sympathizes with the defender's inability to protect the twin towers, or symbolically our society, which projects a tragic sense of powerlessness and hopelessness in confronting terrorism”. Therefore it was effective I communicating the main issue and message through this feeling of loss.
Both games were not fun to play, therefore mainly due to the player failing to succeed in the tasks. This positions them to think more about the issues behind the game and apply them to reality.

If I were to create a game similar to size and structure to these two, I would definitely use the issue of anti terrorism and the point that violence does not solve problems. I really liked the way both games were created so you lost and failed to succeed. This sense of loss positions the player to think ‘what’s the point of this (Terrorism) if you can’t win’. I would also use sound effects of people crying and suffering to get my message across of the pain that terrorism causes to innocent people. Personally, I found this one of the most effective ways of communicating these political issues. As for structure and layout I would try and make it as realistic as possible which would engage the player into the game in a realistic way that would enable a clearer insight into these issues of terrorism and the negative effect it has. Overall I think using simulation gaming to deliver serious political issues is very cleaver and successful. It targets those who don’t usually have an interest in political issues, to interact and recognise them in a way that they feel comfortable.

Playing Politics Workshop Response

September 12th and Kabul Kaboom


1.I found the use of the game structure as a means of critiquing the current political climate very effective. I think that they would work well in communicating to generations that have been brought up playing computer games. However, I wonder whether many people would know of their existence or where to find them. In this way I feel that their capacity is limited to certain groups who have a particular interest in this field.

2.The clever use of graphics and text in both games made the political intent of each quite clear. Sept 12th immediately challenges the definitive outcome of certain computer games through asserting ‘This is not a game. You can not win and you can’t lose.’ Whilst the messages of each game seemed quite clear I was still interested in finding out more about them. Through doing this I became aware of some of the intricacies, or not so intricate elements, used that I was unaware of. I actually had not realised in Sept 12th that the dead civilians turned into terrorists. Through reading about Kabul Kaboom I was able to ascertain the double significance of the hamburgers and the context of the mother image.

3.a.) I would construct a game that comments on treatment of Australian female politicians by the media. Reflecting upon the way that media unfairly places greater pressure on female politicians through scrutinising appearance, sexuality and their lives outside of politics.
b.) There would be a group of female politicians to choose from – Sheryl Kernot, Carmen Lawrence, Browyn Bishop, Natasha Stott-Despoja. In the same vain as Kabul Kaboom each politician would dodge bad press particular to that person whilst trying to receive public support in the form of voting ballots. None of the characters would receive enough support in comparison to the bad press and would be imprisoned by a particular media construction. The politician would then be dumped into a rubbish bin to signify her rejection by the general populace and push into obscurity.

Playing Politics Workshop Response

1. I think the games would have been ‘effective’ in communicating with people via the internet in the sense that they are constructed in a way that invites engagement with the political issues they raise. Without high scores, levels of achievement or an ability to ‘win’ the game both September 12^th and New York Defender subvert players understanding of game play, and ‘precludes the development of a useful technique for progression’(Lee). The games design draws players into ‘a cognitive interaction’ with ‘the games puzzling design’(Lee), leading the player to consider the purpose and message of the game.

2. By using images seared into the public consciousness by mass media coverage of the September 11^th attacks, New York Defender powerfully invokes the public debate that has been generated since concerning terrorism - the players inability to stop the towers falling gives a clear message about the incapacity of governments to create security through fighting terrorists.

Similarly, September 12^th has an obvious message, however, I think the more you ‘play’ with the simulation the more you can draw from it. The first point you see is that violence creates more violence, however, it also seems to simulate and comment on the mechanics of terrorism – the futility of declaring war on something that cannot be isolated or definitely located, it points to the humanity of terrorists by highlighting the processes of anger and grief that lead to terrorism.

3. Although it possibly lacks the emotive force and global relevance of violence and terrorism, I think a point that could possibly be effectively explored through a video game would be: that the lack of broad community support and commitment to independent, affordable higher education is enabling the Liberal government to steadily erode the public university system.

I think a simplistic way of presenting this struggle would be a tug-o-war. A ‘rabble’ of students and academics on one side versus the federal minister for education, the prime minister and an anonymous collection of menacing men in suits representing "the private sector". I like the idea of setting the battle in a recognizable university campus environment, with students wondering around in the background. The player would try and help the students by clicking on them giving them ‘energy boosts’. The struggle would steadily favour the government - accelerating as students drop from the back of the rope and don corporate apparel and mobile phones. As students drop off and the government gains the advantage the university setting would slowly transform into a shopping mall or commercial centre of some sort. If I was going to be completely ham-fisted about it I would also use ‘health-o-meters’ measuring things like – youthful optimism, faith in the democratic process, desire to learn etc.

Online Response to Donkey Kong and New York Defender

1. Do you think the political simulation games you examined would have been "effective" in communicating with people via the Internet?

To be effective in communicating, people have to know about the existence of these games. I think that as online games, as a political tool is something that is relatively new, there should be more done to publicise them, to make the general public aware that political participation can be fun. This is great way of targeting the generation who grew up with Nintento games and allowing them to become politically aware in an environment with which they are familiar. I don’t think people need to be made any more aware of the events of September 11th, and as

2. Was the political message underpinning the political simulation games you examined immediately obvious? If not, were you driven or interested to find out what the game was trying to "say" (apart from the fact that you have to as part of the workshop)?

I found the political message immediately obvious in “Donkey John”, as I had no idea how to play the game without reading the instructions. I imagine that had a Nintendo familiar person (who didn’t need to read the instructions) come across this game, it could be played without the political message coming across. The political message (if any) of New York Defender was less clear. I wondered if maybe it was trying to show that defending the two towers was really quite easy when you get the hang of it (as I soon found) or if it was just an attempt to allow western players to get their own back (even if it is only virtually) on the terrorists. It didn’t occur to me (until I read the additional material) that this was to show that attempts to defend against terror are futile. I assumed that if I kept playing the game, I could eventually win.


3. If you had to write a political simulation game similar in size and structure to those you examined, (a) what would be the point you were trying to make and (b) how would the game be structured and operate in order to make that point? (Just give a very brief outline)
a) I’d like to make a point about the increase in university fees, and how unfair it is on students unable to support themselves while studying.
b) I’d make a Nintendo style game, where a student avatar must negotiate a course studded with assignments and exams to avoid while collecting money from an evil employer (who is difficult to get to on the course). If not enough money is collected when the avatar hits a point at which he/she must pay for books or rent, the player looses. I’d make the game hard enough to be challenging, but also possible to succeed in, the aim to get to the end of the course with a completed degree.