Course Reflection - Michelle

I think the course provided a chance for me to think about how technologies affect our daily life. As we live in the technological era, we rely on the new technologies a lot. People always use a blog to from a virtual community and make friends with other bloggers. But, there is another way to use the blog in this course. We can experience that using a blog as a learning tool. I think it is quite interesting. It is common that we use our mobile phone to surf the Internet, writing a blog as homework is actually combined work and play together because we can do the homework when we had a gathering with friends. And the topic work and play inspired me a lot. In the past, our parents required us to separate work and play in different period of time. But, I think the boundary between these two elements does not exist anymore. People combined them in an unobvious way. It is easy for us to discover people play the game in their mobile phone, NDS or PSP when they are working.

After understanding more about cyborg, I will regard myself as a cyborg. The first reason is that I wear contact lens. Since contact lens is not something natural, it is made by technologies. I combined some artificial elements in my body. Thus, I can be defined as a cyborg. However, I think cyborg is not simply defined as the mixture of human and robot. From the last reading that written by Hayles, she argues that cyborg is seen as a construction that participates in distributed cognition dispersed throughout the body and the environment. Thus, the environment is another key factor to regard ourselves as cyblog or not. I think I rely on technologies a lot. For example, if I forgot to bring my mobile phone, it is hard for me to maintain the normal daily life. Because I cannot find my friend as I didn’t remember their phone number. I did not know the news of my friends as I cannot access Facebook. For these reason, I think I am a cyborg as the technologies became a part of my living.

By Yan Wai Ki Michelle 10380469

Course Reflection by Eric 10380140

A cyborg never called himself a cyborg because he is already get used to it. In Hong Kong people get onto the internet from everywhere. There is sophisticated internet infrastructure. We lived in a facebook world. Not only for the younger generation but also for the older generation who are always be classified as technologically outdated. Everyone is holding an iphone no matter in public transportation or attending schools lecture. Who could dare to say he is not a cyborg in Hong Kong?

Visit blogs is a good place to look into someone’s opinions as well as their world and values. They use simple phases and wording in communicating ideas. We could learn how somebody look into ones perception on what is happening in the world. How are their responses to war affairs in Middle East? People seldom just copy news articles to their blogs but adding personal comments on the post. Blogs updated timely and easily. Ideas, a laptop and internet access is what we need in composing a new post.

This unit gives us wide freedom and opportunity in discussing what is, and what will be happening on the cyberspace. It’s always feeling good to imagine what is going to happen in the future. However, when we read some academic articles or researching findings, we found the information is sometimes already quite outdated, since the internet grows beyond our information digestions, all the time.

Course Reflection

At first I found the theoretical concepts about cyborgs were abstract and difficult to understand, but after several weeks of learning, I now have a better understanding on this topic.

The daily life we are living nowadays is flooded with information technology. We can have an online platform to communicate with others that there was only offline one in the past. We chat online through social networks; we submit homework online, just like this one, we post our comments and reflections on blog to share among classmates. This is one of the advantages of using blogs as we can share what we have written, discuss and comment for improvement. Even though lecturers who are in overseas, they can also access to students’ works which can help facilitate the learning process. Sometimes students may be shy and don’t dare to response immediately in class, but they can freely express their ideas on blogs. Also, like what we have posted before, eg. the summary of our tutorial presentations, we can comment within a certain period, which is unlike having classes in schools, if students miss the class, they will miss the chance for discussion. But a problem for blogging (well, email as well) is that it is asynchronous that we may not get response immediately and have to wait for the replies.

I consider I am a kind of cyborg without robotic skin, since I am now a person who cannot live without technology, i.e. computer and mobile phone. I rely on the internet quite much, for academics, entertainment and socializing with others. Mobile phone is functioned like a brain for me, since it stores all phone numbers of my friends, that my human brain cannot memorize all of them. :P

By Tracy Tsui 10384576

Carman's Reflection

At the beginning of this course, I find that it is difficult to understand what is really a cyborg. After the Unit in this course had used a lot of issues to describe how human being become a cyborg in this digital age.

Through computers, human can do a lot of thing that could not be happened in the reality. They can use keyboard to "speak up" their opinion that they rarely raised in the reality. We have different identity and communities in the Internet world. Everyone who excess to the computer seems automatically become a cyborg.

I remember when I was in primary and secondary school, computer was not still common in every household. Due to the advance technology, I started to have computer lesson which require us to learn Microsoft office. At that time I still do not think it is important and close to me, why should I learn such stuff? I do not even owe a computer at home! And all the homework was hand-written.

Now I understand how computer is important to our daily life. Without it I could not access information from outside world; I could not contact my friends; I could not even do assignment! I depend on computer a lot in my entire college life. I cannot imagine what if I do not have a computer in home, could I still can submit the essay easily?

Computer is part of people's life. We seems cannot stop living without the digital devices, people are becoming cyborg. They use them to communicate to people, use them to do business, or use them to express themselves like typing their blog like what I am doing right now.

In this course I have also leart people also can form different identities while they are using the computer, they can be a student asking question on the forum, on the other hand they might be a cultural jammer to voice out their resistant towards their school.

The presentation that my group was the Online Communities. During the research I have learnt how new groups of people formed in the Internet world. Which made me realize the power of the Internet.

Ho Ka Man Carman
#10460031

Reflection on Cyborg

I found all of the concepts from this course like cyborg, artificial life, subjectivity and posthuman etc. are very new to me. However, after taking this course, I agree that human’s lives are actually experiencing Donna Haraway’s concept of cyborg. I think the most obvious example in our daily life is we are now living with technology and we cannot avoid not to use them because technology are everywhere: sometimes we chat with friends by using immediate communication software (MSN, Skype etc.); sometimes we write dairy by Blogs because we want our friends or other netizens to know our daily life; sometimes we share photos or music videos on social networking sites to friends, let them know what are our favorites- these fact/examples reflected that our lives are controlled by technology since we start to choose using it.

Therefore, as human beings, we are no longer to deny ourselves as cyborg by saying we do not embedded any chips into our bodies- because we are now act, live with technology! Look what I am using to share my opinion: Internet, a blog, a technology! I have to (you may say I am forced to) depend on Internet to express my feelings for what I have learnt and I have to depend on Internet to get my work done. It is no question that this act is experiencing being cyborg. However, some people may accuse that the development of technology force us to be cyborg. In my view, yes, it seems impossible to live without technology, it seems human are now be forced to use technology, but I think it is also our choice to use or to create or to invent technology, it is our decision to become a cyborg because technology did change our quality of life! Thus, it also explained why scientists are doing experiments on creating artificial Intelligence! Nevertheless, even we cannot escape from the technology and the power of cyborg, I think the most important thing for us, for human is: we have to remember the nature of being human.

Law Siu Ting, Mildred 10382777

Course Reflection by Mandy

This course gave me a lot of new experience on the field of technology. I have not used blog as a learning tool. It is interesting for me that blog can be a communication tool between tutor and classmates. I have used blog before, but it is for private use, like posting daily life on xanga and yahoo blog. Now we can share and discuss our ideas and essays to our classmates through blogger. Also, I think it is more user-friendly and has environmental protection because we do not need to hand in the paper work, but post it on the blog instead. Hope using blog as learning platform can be a trend on teaching purpose.

I always see the word “cyborg” in the course. At the beginning, I did not know what this word means so to ignore it. Later, through the reading, lecture notes and classmates’ presentation, I understand this word and want to know more and more. Until now, I think I am a cyborg. Although I do not have any prosthesis or chip, technology is part of my life actually. From wearing contact lenses, to using smart phone, to surfing Internet, all the technologies give us easy life and convenience. Can you imagine how can we live without technology?

Furthermore, I like this course because it makes me think more about the relationship between human and technology apart from cyborg. Such as how dose technology influence woman’s states and what is the trend of online community. These are good topics for us to discuss.

By Ma Oi Man, Mandy

Student No.: 10447219

Course Reflection

I really enjoyed the content of this unit. Throughout this semester, I have learnt a lot of concepts, all of these theories are related to the technology. Donna Haraway’s Cyborg theory, a new concept for me, it is very interesting. However, I can’t accept the fact that all of us are so deeply imbedded in technology. The idea of cyborg has been reinforced the whole semester. After studying this unit, do I now consider myself as a cyborg? Honestly, I regard myself as a cyborg because technology becomes an important part of my daily life. And I can’t imagine what will happen if one day all technology shut down and I can’t use mobile phone or computer. It must be terrible. Technology is so important for everyone. Even though I like the traditional communication method (face-to face communication), the online communication is so convenient and “attractive”. So, it is no doubt that I am a cyblog and I am so proud of that.

Use the blog as the learning tool is interesting. For me, I never having used a blog before, and this unit exposed me to a new tool for communication. The feeling is good. The blog did help us to understand more the course topics. It is a good platform for us to discuss the related topics, comment others’ work, develop and sharing some ideas. But sometimes I haven't felt comfortable when I am writing my opinion for all to see.

In regards to the unit in general, my feelings are positive. I do enjoy the course and it is interesting. However, the 50% weight of research essay is so difficult. It confused me so much. But I will try my best to work on it. XDDD


By KATHY WONG
Student Number:10348349

Reflective Blog Evaluation

I have never gotten use to using the Internet as a learning platform.

I consider using the computer / Internet for academic purpose very weird. The asynchronous aspect of the Internet added the time-lag between discussion and slow things down. Therefore, I personally prefer chatting on the phone than sending text message (SMS) for the same reason: that I can get the information I want quicker. Also, data on the Internet often struck me as unreliable and unstable. For instance, I could be finding someone else NOW to type this reflection for me while I sit and watch TV. You'll never know what people are actually doing behind the monitor.

Do I regard myself as a cyborg? I guess the answer is yes. I could not imagine my life without technology! How could I get to Admiralty without MTR? And doesn't MTR runs on a computer, too? I would also be blind without my eye-glasses!

In sum, I think this unit is rather controversy and debatable. Many of the discussions are open-ended and thus challenging. However, one point I would like to add is that why always talk about female submissive aspect? Isn't it by "studying" women only is also discriminating women, too? Why don't we study about men?

Kristel Chung
Student #: 1039 0371

Reflective evaluation of using the blog----Apple

Finding references on internet, discussing technologies development with technology(computer) and submitting assignment on a blog is a brand new way to experience the digital age. We are supposed to use this blog to build a small community that our members can share their ideas and news of progresses of technology and new issues. So that we can discuss all about these but I do not see we have done much. That leads me to think about what exactly technology has bring us as human. We said we are all cyborg because we make use of technology to breakthrough the binary boundaryies, that we, the identity of human blurr with the identity with meachines. However I believe how we make use of these technology define our identity. Take the blog as an example, if we do not make a good use of it, if we do not sense it help with our communications and connections with others, we simply use less.

Blogger is only a server that let users to post their ideas or thoughts or their lives to let other people know, but how we use it could make a lot of difference. For example, I found some blogs(which also use Blogger), lead people into discussion about feminism, film critics and taking pictures. These blogs are motivate by people who have great interest in it and they do put a lots of heart contributing to the blog. What I want to say is other creatures use techolongies but they do not like us, we use and improve them again and again until we are happy with it.

If using the defination from Hararway, we are all cyborgs, then I am a cyborg. My life are fill with technology that helps me to communicate, make my life easier and extend my life and my worldview. Being a cyborg is a fun thing to do, our world is just expand but our mind gets narrowed. Because we start to regard thing in one dimension, but before that we experience the world and our relationships in different angles. And thinking in just one dimension will narrow our improvement of our living. Therefore on the one hand I am glad I get to know technology and get to know to use it in a wise way, but on the other hand, I am losing the other senses I had before. For example, before I got I smart phone, I was using mobile phone that could not go on the internet, and so I was so found on novels. When I got the smart phone, I started to go on the interent and almost forgot novels I was reading, the imagination base on reading book has almost gone, I could not get back to the stage where I used to enjoy the world of imagination because I imagining text world in a very slow speed.

Apple

Tutorial Presentation--- Posthuman Conclusion

Hi everyone, we are Charlotte and Titus. Our presentation topic in this week is “Posthuman Conclusion”.

Under rapid development of advanced technology in recent decades, we are already lived in a digital age. Cyborgs, posthuman, as well as transhuman are therefore suggested by different scholars successively which change the traditional social discourses and give a new definition on the meaning of ‘human’.

In our presentation, we are going to divide it into 4 sections. First of all, a brief definition on the meaning of ‘cyborg’ and ‘posthuman’ will be given in order to find out their similarities and differences by analysis their starting points. And ontology will be discussed in the following. Since the human society is constructed and maintained by the biological determinism which emphasizes in naturalization and normalization of essential links between biological sex, sexuality, reproductive capacities, gendered subjectivity and hierarchical gender system. However, in the last decades, it was attacked by the appearance of cyborg. According to the “Cyborg Manifesto” of Donna Haraway, it suggested that the three boundaries: human/animal, organic/machine and physical/non-physical will be broken down by technology. Following this suggestion, human and machine are no longer in confronting position due to the blurring of boundaries which means we are in a position to embody the outside power, and also empower the outside body. And this causes the deconstruction of cultural imaginary on identification.

After the introduction on cyborg, we would discuss about the posthumanism. What does it means, and how does it influence to our life? Posthumanism is an ideology of technology which affirms the possibility and desirability of achieving a "posthuman future". According to Hayles, posthuman discourse asserts the liberalization of humanism; it separates the mind from the body and thus portrays the body as a "shell" or vehicle for the mind. Besides, it focus on the conscious of information technological advancements, which means the Information is seen as "disembodied", It cannot fundamentally replace the human body but can only be incorporated into it and human life practices.

Our embodiment in posthuman world is different than before. There is a blurring of boundaries between biology, culture and technology. Biology is not the opposite side to culture. As the ‘Thought’ is a much broader cognitive function depending for its specificities on the embodied form enacting it, we would see that the influence of technology. It helps to transform the liberal subject, regarded as the model of the human since the Enlightenment, into the posthuman.

Moreover, we would discuss about the ‘Turing Test’. Turing argued that machines can think. Machines can perform the thinking previously considered to be an exclusive capacity of the human mind. Also, he argues that representation of bodies can be mediated by technology, so the production of identity can be separated from human subject.

Despite the discussion of Posthumanism, there is a new form of humanism, the ‘Transhumanism’. It is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition. It points out that the developing technologies eliminate aging and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. It supposes that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with greatly expanded abilities. It transformed the future humanity.

For its aims, it is about the science and technology for the purposes of reducing poverty, disease, disability, and malnutrition around the globe, transhumanism is distinctive in its particular focus on the applications of technologies to the improvement of human bodies at the individual level. It means every human is in control of their own evolution, the natural evolution would be replaced with deliberate change.

As we can see that there is a lot of imagination of Super Hero in comic and cartoon, when do these images of hero be existed? The setting of super hero is always related to the ideology of transhumanism. Human can be a ‘superman’, empowered and superior. They are strong and strengthen at every aspect. But we may question that: “is it the final goal of being a transhuman?”

Finally, we would have a discussion with our fellow classmates. There are four questions for them to think about:

(1) Do you think that the imagination of “Transhuman” will appear in the future?

(2) Do you agree that “Cyborg empowers individual, but also isolate us from the outside world?”

(3) Do the posthumanism/ transhumanism exaggerate the “Individualism”? Would it be problematic to the traditional social and cultural ideology?

(4) Is it possible to have “Post-animal”? If yes, what does “human” mean?

Reflective post evaluating the use of blogs

For the use of blogs, I think it is a good way to let us posting things here to discuss together and learn from each other, no matter the present we are going to present in the tutorials and the essays we did, we can learn more to increase our thoughts from other people's essays and words.
I regard myself as a half-cyborg. The reason of not being a whole-cyborg is because I don't have a robotic body. The world is becoming more and more technological. We can add something mechanical things onto our body to become a cyborg. The use of keyboards, mouses of the computer, are some examples of cyborg.
For this unit, I like the topics of the unit. The topics are very interesting and not difficult to learn as it is very common in our real society.

Critical Annotated Webliography

Topic 2: ‘The machine/ organism relationships are obsolete, unnecessary’ writes Haraway (p.36, Manifesto). In what ways have our relations to machines been theorized?

1. Gandy, Matthew (2005) ‘Cyborg Urbanization: Complexity and Monstrosity in the Contemporary City.’ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2005.00568.x/full

It is about the replicant who named Rachel in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). In the acticle, the writer explores the possibility that human identities might be artificially created in order to produce advanced androids whose intelligence and sensitivity is comparable with that of their human creators. The figure of the cyborg, as represented in science fiction cinema, is not an automaton or robot but a sophisticated creation that seems to simultaneously extend but also threaten our understanding of what it means to be human. If we were to locate the cyborg as an idea, we could say that it is clearly linked to fantastical combinations of bodies and machines but is nonetheless a way of thinking about the world. It is, in other words, an ontological strategy for extending the limits to human knowledge as well as an apposite means of describing those phenomena that appear to reside outside conventional frameworks of understanding. If a cyborgian sensibility is explored within the context of the contemporary city, we find that it has developed out of several interconnecting strands of thought as a trope of critical reflection which uncovers a series of anomalies, fractures and tensions lurking within dominant modes of urban and architectural thinking.

2. Bell, David and Kennedy, Barbara (2000) ‘The Cybercultures Reader’

http://www.google.com/books?hl=zh-TW&lr=&id=MKtr_svfY1kC&oi=fnd&pg=PA374&dq=cyborg&ots=9eryoO55FD&sig=R3i2sTfoJnApK3XJMXD9DnK1aPQ#v=onepage&q=cyborg&f=false

The Cybercultures Reader brings together articles covering the whole spectrum of cyberspace and related new technologies to explore the ways in which these technologies are reshaping cultural forms and practices at the turn of the century. The reader is divided into thematic sections focussing on key issues such as subcultures in cyberspace, posthumanism and cyberbodies and pop-cultural depictions of human-machine interaction. It explains that cyborg is one which is not defined within the parameters of a fixed subjectivity or identity. This cyborg consciousness has arisen out of the literal ideas of boundary crossing found in cuborg mythologies. Also, cyborg has no origins, it is completely without positionality. As such it functions metaphorically, to disturb enlightenment epistemologies which have foregrounged origins. Indeed, the cyborg skips the stip of original unity, or identification with nature in the Western sense.

3. Mitchell, William (2003) ‘M++ The Cyborg Self and the Networked City’ http://www.google.com/books?hl=zh-TW&lr=&id=wcBo7pq3X1AC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=cyborg&ots=Xp9YRguPgp&sig=HWJikg6IEvVTuP-i9VGTxE4-W0I#v=onepage&q&f=false

The writer stated the transformation of wireless technology in the hundred years since Marconi in this book. The transmission and reception is scaling up the networks. He thinks immobile machine is just replaced human’s organs. The hand-held devices is one of the example. This transformation has, in turn, changed our relationship with our surroundings and with each other. The cellphone calls from the collapsing World Trade Center towers and the hijacked jets on September 11 were testimony to the intensity of this new state of continuous electronic engagement. In the book, the writer also stated that the elementary unit of information and matter - the "trial separation" of bits and atoms is over. In cyberspace, the events are reflected by the events in physical space by the increased frequency. The movement of an aircraft or a robot arm is controlled by the digital information. The writer also explains the effects of wireless linkage, global interconnection, miniaturization and portability on our bodies, our clothing, our architecture, our cities and our uses of space and time. The new urban condition including the computer viruses, cascading power outages, terrorist infiltration of transportation networks, and cellphone conversations in the streets. They lead network interconnectivity.

4. Mirowski, Philip (2002) ‘Machine dreams: economics becomes a cyborg science’

http://www.google.com/books?hl=zh-TW&lr=&id=GkrYxL0QtpcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=cyborg&ots=2IeW3zVyCe&sig=2B3IYM4DtQTGPV1L5Tc0OLbZxMs#v=onepage&q&f=false

In this book, the writer stated the “history of technology” with history of economic ideas. By using the Cold War history and the history of the postwar to analysis the technology history is kind of building the relation of the economic and technology. In the book, cyborg science is defined as the existence of the computer as a paradigm object for everything from metaphors to assistance in research activities to embodiment of research products. With the advent of the cyborg sciences after cyborg sciences after World War II, something distinctly different begins to happen. A cyborg intervention agglomerates a heterogeneous assemblage of humans and machines, the living and the dead, the active and the inert, meaning and symbol and intention and teleology.

5. Balsamo, Anne (1999) ‘Technologies of the gendered body: reading cyborg women’ http://www.google.com/books?hl=zh-TW&lr=&id=lkr11mXPYKEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=cyborg&ots=U7N3hvzz2g&sig=K2ocT_txsHWlnwpDGM5ky_RcKx0#v=onepage&q&f=false

This book is about the reading of body. It takes this concept into the fields at the forefront of culture and the vast spaces mapped by science and technology to show that the body in high-tech is as gendered as ever. The writer used female body building, cosmetic surgery, reproductive medicine for example to talk about the status of the female body in a postmodern world. Also, the writer also described how gender considerations and other beliefs about race, physical abilities and economic and legal status to shape the certain biotechnologies.

Online Reflection: Mind-reading headset

Moving and object just by thinking? It seems such action is only our fantasy imaginations that appear in science fictions. However, it may come true very soon as NeuroSky, a well-known brain-computer interface (BCI) firm in California, has brought us a good news－MindWave, the latest mind-reading device, has been invented.

It is a lightweight headset with a single electroencephalogram (EEG) senor which is originally designed for playing video games. Users can wear it across their foreheads to start reading their thoughts by detecting the strength of their beta and alpha brainwaves, which correspond to their attention and relaxation level, and transmits them wirelessly to the laptop in order to control the characters in the game. MindWave used in video games in the first step to launch the public. According to NeuroSky, the MindWave headset is released as a standalone device for other potential partners to develop for. For example, the mind-reading senor may integrated in car seats in the future, that people can drive without moving a muscle, but only their thoughts! It seems quite amazing and impossible, however, G. Tec Medical Engineering, another brain-computer interface firm in Austria, has developed the Intendix for medical used in the early stage. Though the system used in the Intendix and the MindWave is the same, they are different from each other. The Intendix is a brain-control spectrum with the system that only allow people with limited motor functions to type by using thought alone, and it is not as convenient as the MindWave because of its complicated set up. Before using the Intendix, users have to put on the full skullcap, which its electrodes are filled with conductive gel and connected to a control box for contacting the skin, and take some time to train the software to read the mind. After all the settings have been done, words will be accurately type out according to your concentration without using a finger, but your brain! It is really beneficial to those people who cannot speak and write as it opens a window for them to communicate with the world.

Either the Intendix or the MindWave, the development of BCI system and the invention of mind-reading devices will bring us into the ‘Cyborg World’, which is Utopia-alike, more completely. We can see how wonderful if the ‘Cyborg World’ would be. In this world, we all are cyborgs and nothing becomes impossible. We can only concentrate our minds to control and do things in an easy way without any difficulties by putting on the mind-reading device. There is no discrimination, no inequality, as everyone is the same with the same ability. However, all the above are only our beautiful imaginations and optimistic expectations. No one knows how the ‘Cyborg World’ would be. But one thing can be sure, we are human, not robots, because of our different characteristics. If we all turn into a cyborg, whose appearance and ability is the same, can we still be who we are? This is the question we should think about.

Reference: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20375-trying-on-the-headsets-that-can-read-your-mind.html

Student number: 10382282

Tutorial presentation - Work and Play

Hi everyone! We are Mandy and Agnes. Our presentation in this week is Work and Play.

Nowadays, we are avoidable living in digital age. With the help of technology, people have some changes in the field of work and play. Following we will limit the presentation to female to talk about how their sense of self and identity change when they work and play in digital age.

In our presentation, we will divide it into two main sections, work and play. First of all, we will discuss how the technology helps females get into workforce easily. The high technology brings some initial speculations on the ethical challenges facing both feminist and labour politics in the so-called new economy, particularly the information, communication and education industries. The impact of information and communication technologies on work and home life is to break down the distinction between “public” and “private” sphere. A work “flexibility” is mentioned, which can go beyond the binary of “public” and “private” or “work” and “home”. However, as Liu argues that, “the culture of production will become increasingly important as the number of hours spent working as opposed to consuming or ‘leisuring’ continues to climb” The distinction between work and leisured consumption has always been dubious for women given that “leisure” usually encompasses a number of activities taking place within the home.

Since women are the primary care-giver in family relationships, work in paid labour market just their secondary consideration. When and where they choose to work is related to a commonsense manifestation of feminism’s successful accomplishments in the public sphere of work. There are five different reasons that attract women get into paid labour market. 1) software for the creative class, which is growing fascination with the creative sector of the “new economy” 2) workstyle of the frequent flyer, wireless technology makes workforce becomes more accepting of women. 3) working from home, can be more flexible to handle workload at home. 4) moving into work, “welfare to work” provides flexible workplace arrangements. 5) flexible futures, because of the technology, women can seek greater choices in the effort to combine work and home life.

Then we will talk about the involvement of female in game playing and game industry. There was a conference named as ‘From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games
about “gender and cyberspace”’ held. The main concern of it is women were lagging behind in their colonizing of a set of technologies and technological practices. Since gender is a continuum rather than a set of binary oppositions – should design games for people who relate to gender and sexual identities in complex, contradictory and fluid ways: butch/ femme gave us a language to think about certain tendencies without assuming that those categories fit any given human being very snugly.

Nowadays, there is fewer worry about women’s access to cyberspace since the gap between the sexes in online participation has largely closed. Internet is not that male-dominated space. But there are still two concerns: 1) whether girls do and can and should play computer games; 2) women are still vastly under-represented in the fields that design digital technology.

Success of the girl’s game movement
1. Marked increase over the past decade in the number of women playing games
2. Some recent surveys have suggested that the majority of women have at least played games at some point
3. Play game with boyfriendplay less diverse range of games
4. Play games for a shorter period of time per session

We can see the number of female game player has a rapid increase. Female become target customers of game company. Some of them even work in game industry. For the female game market, there is a great potential for development. They would produce smaller and lighter gaming console for the target customer.

There is a new kind of game - women’s game appeared. We can find this category in many gaming website, e.g.http://www.i-gamer.net/?game=8 and http://game.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/fl/tag.cgi?t=%A4k%A9%CA. The characteristic and type of female’s game usually is different to the others. For characteristic, female’s games are usually more colorful, cute and contain cartoon character. And they are usually about cooking, pet, love etc.

So, we can see that the involvement of female in workplace and game playing is increased. The advance of technology should be the most important reason of it. The main concern is, did the status of women raise because of it?

Online reflection by Titus (1035 0693)

Hi everyone,

Have you ever heard about the ‘Cloud girlfriend’? Now it is the time for every lonely man, they are being given the chance to boost their Facebook relationship status - by dating a virtual girlfriend. By this service, you can change your status to be ‘in a relationship with XXX’ immediately.

What is a ‘cloud girlfriend’? How does it work? The "perfect girlfriend" then sends you public messages on your Facebook wall, so you can deceive your friends into thinking you have a girlfriend as well as make you feel like you have a companion.

For the cloud girlfriend, there are some details about it. Cloud Girlfriend will consist of a network of real human beings, not automated bots, which users will interact with over Facebook. The virtual relationship can help guys to get a real girlfriend. As the visitors might think, "Someone else thinks highly enough of this person to date him, so maybe I should too.

Cloud Girlfriend is not a porn site or adult chat service. It is a creation of human relationship. It fulfills psychological needs like intimacy and friendship even though the interaction is virtual. These interactions can even build self confidence and help users navigate real-life situations.

So we can see that cloud girlfriend is a kind of product in sense. It is packaged as a real friend or partner to the user. This issue refers to the topic of Week 6, our ‘Friends’ in network.

Most of the user in facebook regards their profile as important; their status is a sign of them. Profile construction is a need for every user, how do you represent yourselves to others? It is what we called ‘The impression management’. People know you by your status and profile. In mediated environment, people must learn to write themselves into being. It is not only to flavor yourself, but also to contain a good image to your friends: You are a good guy, so it is welcome to have a friend like you.

Cloud girlfriend is advertised as a 'public long-distance relationship'. In my view, it is only a kind of commodity or product. The service is a commercialized relationship; it is under a structure, to contain a good feeling or mood to the user. Satisfy their real need, but in a virtual world.

Besides, cloud girlfriend is not controlled by machine or computer, all of the cloud is run by real people. It comes to a question, can it be a being? A virtual girlfriend is managed by a real officer; I would argue that it is a constructed relationship, a fake of being.

Moreover, this case tells us that most of us can do anything on the internet. There are variable of ‘self’ on the net world, no one really know what you have been done (maybe you are chatting with friends on window massager, but on the other side, you are visiting the porn website…) You can be what you like: open a fake account, meet a lot of new friends, create a new network with others, that is your new identity on the net.

Ref:
Dailymail.co.uk. (29th March 2011) “Lonely men looking to boost their Facebook status with a fake relationship can now apply for a 'virtual girlfriend'.”
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371115/Cloud-Girlfriend-offers-lonely-men-fake-Facebook-relationship.html> (accessed 17 April, 2011)

Online Reflection by Jodie (10380807)

Hi everyone! I would like to share a culture jamming blog with you which is introducing the 10 greatest works of billboard subvertising. (Reference: http://www.businesspundit.com/10-greatest-works-of-billboard-subvertising/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

As we all know, culture jamming is often seen as a form of subertising. People always express their complaint, irony or opinions about the commercial culture. Famous brand names, well-known commercial statements and product images are always used to do culture jamming. Through re-figuring or a little changing the statements or images, culture jamming can produce some ironic or satirical commentary about its origin. There are different ways to do culture jamming such as video, re-figuring brand logo or billboard subertising and this time I would like to use the example of billboard subertising to discuss about the culture jamming.

Nowadays, we can see commercial advertisement everywhere, such as TV ads, internet campaigns, magazine features or major brand billboards on the street. They are not only selling you the products, they are also designed to manipulate people’s thoughts. Many ideologies are generated through the commercial advertisement such as ideal beauty image or consumption.

To me, billboard advertising is the most eyes- catching advertisement since it arouse almost everyone’s attention in the street. From the website that I mentioned above, I would like to talk more about the billboard subvertising no.8 ‘Photoshop on the U-Bahn Line’. There are three famous idols in the poster- Britney Spears, Leona Lewis and Christina Aguilera. In the poster they are in close-up images and they all look gorgeous. However, the poster was added some Adobe Photoshop’s windows into it which has different layers and it immediately became a Photoshop project. This kind of culture jamming is telling people that all of the advertisement character are always edited before and what we see can be defined as a ‘lie’ since they are originally not that perfect.

In my opinion, not only the examples that I shown above but there is also lots of other advertisements which have the same concept behind it- the ideal beauty image. Think about the Dove youtube video that we seen in the class before. We can always see lots of beautiful girls with perfect faces and body shape in the advertisement. The ideal beauty image- slim, big eyes, white skin, etc. are created in every people’s mind and these advertisements made people chasing for the ideal beauty image. Have we ever thought about the motion behind these advertisements? Companies earn money by creating ideologies.

In my opinion, people do culture jamming with different reasons. Some of them do the culture jamming in their leisure time to express their creation or imagination but some of them do culture jamming to express their resistance to the cultural norms. By not affecting the operation of the society, I think culture jamming is definitely a interesting activities and I would like to see more culture jamming especially billboard subvertising in Hong Kong since during my research it is hard to find some example of billboard subvertising in Hong Kong.