Blog 10

Bowker and Tuffin's goal was to investigate the online experience. They essentially looked at how disabled people experienced an online community. People with disabilities, who have become a "different" group among people of their culture. They have in some sense been left behind in face to face communication because of their lack of power of being able to meet physical demands. Their differences, which of course or noticed in person to person contact, have no grounds and play no role in the online sense of community. Their disability no longer defines them. This is such a prime example of the power of the internet. In so much of the sense people are more free to become something they are not in life when the construct who they want people to really see. They have the control. Bowker and Tuffin found that this research deserved some attention because of some negative results. They often begin experiencing alternate subjectivities during their online lives. They are longing to be creative and form a new outlet of self expression, however, this type of made up self-representation can be harmful to others in the process.
Quian and Scott's findings show that that people with a higher degree of discursive anonymity may also have more self-disclosure, and when writing and communicating their own information on the internet to a certain audience determines the amount of anonymity. I think it is important to look at how and why people are disclosing so much information on the internet as well as what extreme opposite selves they are representing (such as the disabled man that is blogging as pro athlete). I believe it is important psychologically to evaluate this type of behavior to try and project the new sense of community and trust that we will have to form as a world that is online even more so in the future.

Blog 10

I would think that there are some places on the internet you would want anonymity and other places you would not. It's unfortunate that some people just can't act like human beings and be responsible and not act irresponsibly online, but even if everyone did, there would still be times when you might want to post anonymously. Even off line there are times when you want anonymity, like when calling 528-CASH, the crime tip hotline. When you want/need anonymity online, such as those with disabilities as referenced in the Bowker-Tuffin article, being able to safegaurd yourself is a good thing. A sensible thing. Because some people can't be responsible human beings. But when you are being harrassed, it would be nice to be able to find out who the anonymous person is that is harrassing you. But you can't have it both ways. The WoW references are a prime example. Women being harrassed/bothered like there is no tommorrow when all they want to do is beat your butt at the game. And while anonymity affords some protection online, online life should mimic offline life to a certain extent, i.e., there are places you don't go to after dark in real life, and there are places on the internet you shouldn't go to, unless you're prepared to deal with the environment.

Blog 10 Make em say uhhh...Annon-y-na Annon-y-na

This blog is about the choice people have in being anonymous versus using real information on the blog/CMCs. I would like to lead in with the fact that this study was done in 2007, though that doesn't seem like that long ago, with the pace that the internet evolves, thats light years. I did however find the majority of the information to be rather shocking yet again with how much personal information people will reveal online. A GREAT example would be, I gamble online mostly with sports. Well there was a pick-em contest on the site I gambled with that showed the top 50 best pickers for every week of college football. I noticed that one person was on the top of this list for many weeks in a row, so I googled the username to try to get an email address to ask for picking advice... What I found instead was his password... What he had done was created an account on an... "Adult" site and made it a public account using his real password. So after watching his account with over 2000$ in it for about 2 months I chose to actually look him up on facebook and tell him about it... And his reply was to cuss me out and say he was going to have me arrested... Needless to say he didn't appreciate my honesty. But this is a perfect example of how people get wrapped up in the internet world and air out more information than they need to. when viewing the statistics of the Qian & Scott study you quickly find that people think they are relatively anonymous or around a 3 in a scale of one being undetected and 7 being full access. I would agree that people probably believe this but what they don't understand is someone with any computer know how will cross reference any information they give and google the crap out of it. So if they are on linked in or facebook there is an instant link to find more information about this person. This is why I feel like a 2007 study is just too old to be able to apply to present standards. Facebook adds 100s of 1000s of members daily, this was not the case back in 2007, in fact it may have still be based more around college students only if I remember correctly. The information about gender is striking, finding out that women tend to display more information about themselves is just flabbergasting. I would think that women would be more inclined to lie about themselves for fear of some cyber nutjob. But then again I don't think that cyber crazies were quite as spoken of in 2007 as they are now.
The study done on disabled people on the internet was more what I would expect out of the majority of people that use the CMCs. They are restricted and don't give out much information, they tend to use email as a form of communication and try to reveal the least amount of information about themselves. This is the way the internet should be and shockingly this was back in 2003!! Disabled people in a strange way can live a normal life online. Nobody can see whats wrong with them and it's as if they lose their "disease" if you will. It's similar to the movie that we watched in another class on Tuesday, "Catfish" Where a woman falls in love with a man based on the fact that her pictures show her as a smokin' hot model that she most defiantly was not. You could say that she had a disabled outlook of herself and therefore created something that she wanted to be her entire life. In the process she kinda broke a guys heart, but hey... He probably made a ton of money off it so I'm sure he's fine with it now.

Thanks for reading!!

-Whizzle

Identity versus Self-Disclosure (blog #10)

After reading these articles I honestly believe there should be different levels of identification. The reason being is, there are different ages groups who surf the internet . Now one might say teens, younger children, and adults should be on different sites but the truth is one never knows whom is on the website. The well know role play game called, World of Warcraf (WoW) has been the enterainment for many people since 2004. This game reach out to different cultures and the fantasy life of others; which allowed this game to become the number one game in the world. This game has massively mutiplayer (MMORPG) which gives a player ( such as yourself) to hide your identiy. The funny thing is over 12 million people are on this site from different age groups hiding their identity but is this ethical. The CMC that is used whitin these games , blogs, and chatting ect should not be hidden identity. If it's a child one should know and if it's an adult one should know and so forth with a teen. It's important for each age group to use their lanuage in a sence others would know when palying the game or on a blog. Qian and Scott expresses self-disclosure and how it is self communication. Anonymity and CMC allows a person to express their feelings, information, and thoughts to others in ways they probably couldn't do face-to-face. I believe this is why you see people expressing themselves a lot on these blogs because it is a releases; a matter of freedom. Then there are others whom chose to stay anonymous because of personal reason such as: married, insurced, and their age group. These types of people only expesses things to a limit to keep their identiy safe. Bower and Tuffin decribes the danger of having online talk with strangers can lead to serious situations such as trust and realtionships (take the movie Cathfish for example). Greater identity is always good for someone is trying to be in the lime life. In other words someone who is trying to become an artist, model, paniter ect someone whom is trying to make a name from themselves not a relationship. This is when a person photoshops their life into what they want it to be (fantasy life). On the other hand; if you are a person that just blog on social networks, I really think you should be yourself, after all it wouldn't hurt. :)

Blog 10 Anonymity and Self-Disclosure

Qian and Scott informs us of how some people get online to deceive people they don't know, whether then people they know. Bloggers do this because they can get away with their past, or who they really are. They tend be more cautious about targeting people that may know them. I do believe most bloggers read web pages and then go and research that person. Once this process is complete, and the background check comes back good, the blogger began to plan an attack. That's why real names and contact information should never be displayed online. Some people make themselves easy targets by trusting people they don't know, or can't see.

Disable people tend to want to conceal their identity while online, is what Bowker and Tuffin describes. A disable person don't want to be known for their disability. They will go on for a long period of time chatting online, and not let the other person know that they are disable and can't do what a regular person does. I do believe this is done out of fear of losing communication on the web. Some disable people are bored and need a hobby, while confined to their homes. I don't believe that they are being deceitful due to evil. But, I think it is done out of lonliness. Their is definitely a difference between bloggers that are after things of value, where as a disable person is after companionship.

Blog 9

Whenever I read people’s blog posts I rarely look at the names of the people who posted it. I just read the post and then look at the name when I need to put their name in my comment so I don’t really notice any differences between the men and women who post things. Huffaker and Calvert(2005) found that females used more graphical accents, including emoticons, to express emotion in their discourse than males and that females use more words to express their emotions while males generally hide their feelings (what a surprise!). Males rarely use emoticons in conversations with other males, but do use them with females, while females use an equal amount of emoticons in both male and female conversations Women are also quicker to text and send longer texts then males who generally send shorter text messages just to get the main point across and leave out useless things that women usually include in their text messages. They also found that females, on the internet, use more pleasant words while men use harsher words and are more brash. I don’t think that that is evident in our blog for class even though Grasmuck, Martin, and Zhao (2009) found that the internet provides an outlet for the expression of one’s “hidden selves” because we are all trying to be our “student” character. I haven’t really thought about who people are or what they look like because it is harder to determine in an online class.

Blog 9,

Expressing one's self has become the "in thing" and the internet has made this possible. When I started to read Huffaker & Calvert's study, I thought this doesn't sound right, communication is anything but traditional via the internet and CMC networks. Women may be polite in some forums, but shy and reserved, I don't think so. One of things that I have observed from bloggers, mostly women, that we are very vocal, we have a voice and we want to be heard and in some cases seen. Also, when It comes to men using emoticons, all of the guys that I know use emoticons when blogging or texting. Also, the idea of feeling connected is felt more when someone in using IM, as opposed to blogging another individual, because the order in which the comments are received. I can see people feeling the directness of IM, texting, the messages are clearly for one person.
Another part of the study that was interesting, homosexuality is still a touchy subject. I thought the idea of being able to choose who and what a person communicates is what usually takes place on the internet.
Lately, I have started to wander about a person's identity based on their perspective on a particular subject. I don't give it too much thought, because of the diversity of the internet and its growth. I also know that some CMC communities attract a certain idea of thinking based representation so" like minds" are drawn together. That leads me to Grasmuck, Marin, and Zhao's and the study of minority groups being more expressive via Facebook. I would not say more...it's not like minorities (we) have not had a voice. I mean like everything else, technology has changed the way people express themselves and with, Facebook being one the most popular and diverse CMC community, why not join in with everyone else. People usually see themselves in a certain light and embracing their heritage, knowing who and where you come from is important to our very being. So the fact that everyone else is catching up to what other CMC communites such as Facebook have to offer, is a good thing.
Now, whether or not I have given any thought to the race or gender of the class members that are not pictured, yes, I have and it was, merely based on comments made in the chat sessions and some postings. As far as assumptions, I can't say that I made any, so no, and I can't really think of a reason.

Blog 9

One of the first things I did when we got signed up for the blog was go down the list, click on each users name, and see who posted pictures of themselves. And I did it again just now. Three women did (including Dr. Markman). Two users chose to post satirical/comical pictures and the others no picture or set their profile to private. And while the Huffaker & Calvert research show no difference in males and females showing personaly identifiable info, I find it interesting that only females in our group chose to show pics of themselves. Is that because we are a closed group? Just like in high school, you want to find out the attractive men/women in the class, who the class clown is going to be, who the slackers are, etc., etc.

It was also interesting, and to me unexpected, that Huffaker & Calvert's research, while their hypotheses seemed logical, they were for the most part proved wrong. The fact that teen agers used weblogs as an extension of real life was also suprising, but after thinking about it also seems logical. Most people wouldn't want to hide behind an online personae but would want to embrace its ability to extend their social life as teens tend to look for ways to interact with as many people as possible.

Blizzle Nizzle

I found the readins once again basically restored all of my original thoughts in the online world as far as gender goes, According to Huffaker/Calvert Men are much shorter, are more paranoid of someone watching or getting their personal information and we (men) don't use emoticons as much, I personally think thats crap because I use them all the time and just about everyone I know does as well. >0
Also blogs are used in the Gay community to express words without being subjected to hate speech from someone who doesn't understand. The blogs are a great way for gay males especially to meet and not be worried about what someone around them may do or say in public. 17% of the blogging community is gay and of that 17% 14% are male... That just goes to show you who is more accepted in the realm of society, and it also shows you how males use the Internet to meet other gay males in almost secrecy. In 50% of the roughly 500k blogs researched relationships were talked about. The majority of this population was male! surprised me... But the majority of gender on blogs are male so I guess that makes a little more sense.
The amount of information people put on blogs is amazing, 70% of people gave, get this, first names 68% age, 61% gave their CONTACT INFORMATION! And at the bottom of the list "full name" It's amazing that someone would be willing, in fact 61%, would be willing to give their location before their real names, kinda scary as well as just plain stupid.

When reading about the amount of post that African Americans, whizzles, Latinos and Indians post shocked me heavily! I do not have a very equal ground to stand on but the friends I have post just about everything they do it's actually quite disturbing. Also with the pictures, were they looking at mostly male pages or female? Did they count tagged pictures? Were there even "Tagged" pictures when this was done? I myself have over 300 pictures on my facebook... I have probably uploaded only 50...I think what I am trying to say is NONE of this information can be considered accurate because facebook is evolving daily and to be able to say "aww aww one race puts up more than another" is VERY ridiculous.

I personally don't think these sites effect gender or race regardless of what this or any study says. I feel as though the internet is an arena where people can be themselves and race (though in some situations is WAY outta control on the internet, IE Videos of black people looting or a white cult leader, sure they draw the racism out of people, and boy it can be nasty) but the other sides of the internet seem to be VERY colorblind as far as my experience. Take the class blog for example, I didn't know the students names at first I Was just reading post, I had no idea what anyone was, they were nothing more than other students to me. This is the outlook that I have always had on the internet because how or who are we to judge someone that we know nothing about, including their race.

"However, ethno-racial groups invest differently in their displays of “the cultural self.” African Americans and Latinos invest most intensively, Vietnamese and whites least intensively, and Indians fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum depending on the enumerated item." Grasmuck 2009

I found this statement to be very funny. In my personal experience with this it's because, quite frankly... I could give a crap about my heritage... I don't even know what I am?? I mean Im considered "white" to the masses but what am I really? I don't know... This is why I think white people don't put as much information about their cultural lifestyle because it's just not as important to us... I know I have Indian in me but how much? I have no idea... Irish? Sure... How much ? I have no idea... At least if you are black/latino/Indian you know what you are and can embrace some sort of heritage/culture... When you're a white mutt, what do you have to talk about when it comes to history that doesn't somewhat embarrass me? ... Not a whole lot... Also not to mention we don't have a great deal of culture to us now do me? We're kinda bland int hat regard... I just felt that would be the common answer to why this statement is the way it is.

-Dizzle droppin knizzle fo shizzle...

Is this really a man or a women? State your nationality? (blog 9)

Online identity has to be the most common thing of the two-thousands. “Physical constraints such as body, biological sex, race or age can have profound effect on self- definition and self – presentation” (Collins & Kuczaj, 1991). Online identity is way of discovering the new “you.” It is what I like to call “your world,” you can present yourself the way you want others to imagine you as, and also say things to either sound older or younger. The age group 13-17 are knows as the adolescents stage. Teens bring blogging and hidden identity to a whole new level of the internet world. Statistic show it’s more female then male blogging and chatting all day with strangers from different races. The problem with race and gender on the internet is, one is not certain if there is a for sure man, women, boy, girl, black, white or, Spanish ect they are chatting with. When people are chatting with unknown people they use cues to help figure out their race and gender. The funny thing is it doesn’t always work. Any race or gender can use words like, honey, baby, love, and sexy so you really have to be extra careful maybe use webcam. CMC states that women may use softer words then men but to me it's pretty much the same. One great example is, I have an older lady in my class but she always writes from a male point of view. So I always thought she was a man. When I found out she was an older woman, I could have kick myself in the head. I ask her one day, “Why do you always write from a male point of view?” She stated, “I raised five sons by myself so that is really the only view I can relate too! I felt crazy after that so, cues really don’t always work! Any other suggestions to unlocking the mystery of a gender or race?

PS: The person I am stalking is on twitter: @lillanaloveable

Blog 9

Researchers have been investing the language used in presenting online identities when interacting with other people. The research of CMC settings has disclosed that people have a trend in which they represent themselves. Huffaker and Calvert look at the age, gender, racial and sexual identity that is portrayed among teens through blogs and chat sessions. There are cues in which blog writers and website keepers are using that enlightens the reader as to who they might be in real life or what they may or may not look like in person. In some cases, bloggers are giving personal information outright, such as where they live or their age. According to Huffaker and Calvert’s article, about 92% of bloggers give a name to their readers. However, in some cases, a writer may be ambiguous and according to Huffaker and Calvert there are trends to watch for as a reader.
One certain characteristic of computer mediated communication that is insightful is emoticons. Huffaker and Calvert reported on Witmer and Katzman’s finding about the signals found through emoticons. “In a case study of 3,000 online messages, Witmer and Katzman
(1997) found that females used more graphical accents, including emoticons, to express emotion in their discourse than males (Witmer & Katzman, 1997), a pattern that is also reflected in adolescent males' tendency to deny their feelings, including sadness (Ruble & Martin, 1998). In an analysis using instant messaging dialogues, males rarely use emoticons in conversations with other males, but do use them with females, while females use an equal amount of emoticons in both male and female conversations (Lee, 2003). I found this part of the research to be interesting because it seems like in most conversations women are more likely to use expressions and extensive emotions and explaining when the speak. I think it is fascinating that it translates through with the use of expressions on the computer. 
According to the article, Ethno-Racial Identity Displays on Facebook by Sherri Grasmuck, Jason Martin and Shanyang Zhao, there are other aspects of identity other than a name, age or gender that has reason for attention as well. Studies have looked at race and ethnicity and how it affects the internet dynamics and communication. I don’t feel as a reader that I am too concerned about race or ethnicity of the author of the material I read. I feel indifferent when it comes to knowing too much about someone when I read online, however, if I was getting into a relationship of some sorts I would obviously care what the background of the other person was. I believe that the nature of the setting or environment constitutes the need for more information when necessary.

Blog 9 Gental and Racial Identities

Huffaker and Calvert(2005), talks about how a female is more freely to express herself, by texting more and using lots of descriptive wording. They describe females as being more freindlier. Females are also said to use emotions and words of feeling to express when they are sad or happy. Males are short on texting and abbreviate wording to get a point out quick. Males are less talkative and don't want to be bother for a long peroid of time. Males are brief in their conversation, so that the other person will know what they want and when they want it. Males mostly text with a style that says, I am a male. Smile...Most males type with a hidden agenda, what I'm trying to say. They wouldn't type in conversation alot of personal information to a stranger, like a female would. Sad, but true!

Grasmuck, Martin and Zhao(2009),desparetly tries to enlighten us with the difference in online contexts. They wants us to know that their really is a difference due to the fact that males and females have different insights. For one, the female may come off as a feminine role of a passive person that's deep in her feeling, while texting online. Some words will give a female away by the way she uses her words, or by the sound of words she uses. On the other hands, males may come off harsh and dominate. They might use profanity and words that are disrespectful. Male sometimes get upset quicker on social networking, whereas, the female delete and keep moving. Here we have patience and impatience.

Also, the female and male character may be given away by his or ethnicity background. This can be determined by the tone and social position. The characteristic can also be a factor in determining male or female gender. Your profile can tell a person if your hard or soft. Meaning some females have soft tenderness tone, and some males have a strong, masculine tone.

CMC is looks upon as a way to determine gender as well. CMC context single out how females uses words that are gentle to the touch, whereas males uses wording of aggression attitude.

Doing this class, I have never thought about the gender and race of anyone that I interact with in this class. I look at each individual as a whole. We all bleed red blood, and there is only 1 God. So, I am content knowing and believing in that powerful statement.

I will say that I label a person on the internet by male or female, by their names. It's hard, but I can tell a female name from a male name. MOST of the time. Smile.

Baym, references " pure relationships" as a relationship or a shared connection with another person online, made possible by one of a SNS community;this is the alternative to a face-to-face meeting. How pure is the relationship if or both are in la-la land, living out some fantasy.

Turkle's, "Aspects of Self", gives a very alarming perspective, of SNS communities, alone with detailed real life scenarios. The world is changing because of information technology so rapidly and how we interact with each other is at the forefront. Yes, people do pretend to be someone else and yes, I feel the Internet, alone with the MOO's and MUD's communities are where some the performances take place. Where as, watching the news and crime shows, really bring things to life. Personally, because of my background in IT, I have always handled the Internet with a "long handle spoon". I mean it's as trusting and reliable to us as the person's waiting to respond, especially in the SNS communities.

The blog that I am following is very informative by Dr. Melody McCloud who is a contributor for "Psychology Today" and several television magazines. Her profile list various credits and accolades obtained during her career. Nothing or any information seems questionable. I'm sure there's a possibility that her photo may need updating :)

Blog 8

In chapter 5, Baym talks about how questions are raised about whether people are honest about themselves online and whether they can be trusted. It is very easy to fool someone online and go by a different identity. She also says that “in many online environments, people seek to individualize themselves as different from other people”. The blog I’m following is a perfect example of someone using the internet to express themselves and individualize themselves. I’m following the blog of Tavi Gevinson, also known as the “style rookie”. Tavi, who started blogging at age 11, is only 14 years old and has gained fame and attention from publications ranging from the New York Times to Vogue. She frequently describes herself as an “outsider” and has been using her blog to express her individuality and share her ideas with the world.

Blog 8 Identity

I am following a blog about single malt monkey. This blog has alot of interesting pictures followed by text. It is amazing how the communication used by the person that is texting, ties it all together. Identity is characterized in this blog by the person with their usasge of description and feeling. The text appears to filled with the most exciting technology use of message texting. The person creating text is sending out a message that will give a more detail description of what's really going on. The most important point in the blog I'm following is that all messages text uses action words. Action words helps the viewer see how the picutures relates to the text. Like Baym describes in his topic on identity how we can be trick in to believing what we want to believe. Meaning, we want or like something so much, we let our imagination go wild and miss the real "picture". In the day, we want what we want and when we want it. Instead of interperting how something is presented. We fail to see the person for who they really are that's why we are mislead into deception. Characteristics are in every individual for a reason. So, we much reach out to explore both side to be able to choose the right side.

Blizzle Eizzle On St. Pizzle Dizzle...

The readings were very interesting as I have played several games similar to MUDs when Iwas younger. Nothing recent like FFX or anything like that but I used to dabble a little when I was 10-14. The Turkle reading was very interesting, I found myself agreeing with a lot of things that were mentioned such as finding the MUDs to be more realistic than "Real Life" or even asking people on the games how things were going in "real life". You come to find that games can lead to real friends even if you never get a chance to meet them in person. The story of Julee was more disturbing that people play games face to face where they act out events, I found that to be a little strange. The best part about MUD games is that if you don't like how your character is, all you have to do is create another one, or delete the old one. In some cases creating a password with your forehead is a suitable way to keep yourself offline. The stories of addiction to these types of games and lifestyle changes is VERY real. I know several people who have been so involved in games of this sort that they have lost friends, relationships, jobs, and some to the extent that they lost their health (Gaining over 100 lbs.) Baym Bring up great points in the identity section about how she has separate identities for each section of herself on the Internet. Like for example if my blog had all my personal information and my political views, that would be separate form my facebook persona of a crazy weekend worrior who loves to party. Where some people hide who they are and give lies about age, gender and location. Baym explains that though this is possible it is rare that people lie like that. This was shocking to me as 99% of the information I put on the Internet is BS... Maybe thats because I have seen what can happen to people who don't.

blog 8

I am following a girl that is figuring out how to be a good wife, good mother, good teacher and a good person as she finds herself through different storms of life. She is honest, open and leaves me wanting to learn more with each read. She is so quick to confess flaws she finds in herself and through her posts she seems very real. I would hate to think she is an entirely different person on the other end of the blog, however, there is always that possibiltiy.
As Bayam points out in Chapter 5, "When people's bodies arent' visible, will people like about who they are? Can they be known? Can they be trusted? Can the relationships they form be valid." He continues to discuss how the notion has always been believed in many cultures that every one has one true self, and yet, digital media is changing this belief up by allowing people to desembody their identities. This discussion opens that, while many honest people are using the internet blogging and posting on SNS, there is still the idea that most people are going to put themselves in the light in which they choose to be seen by the public. Therefore, this choice allows people to change or tweak as they see fit. What I liked most about the Bayam's discussion was the cues and competence. This explains how people can still be honest but basically they are deciding how their audience will perceive them. This is what I am hoping for my blogger. I think she is honest but is leading us down confessions and tell-all posts so that we get to know her better and root for her when she isn't quite so perfect.
In Turke's chapter, describes online identities as something that we self-create to allow ourselves the freedom. She best describes internet identity by saying that it is the new way for us to construct who we are in life. My blogger, Katie, does just this type of writing. She is describing herself and her views as if she is figuring it all out as she writes from day to day. I feel that Turkle's observations of how people change or construct to put pieces of self together is true for my blogger. One of Turkle's questions that was raised in the article read, will the commupter mediated relationships satisfy our need to connect? I thought this was interesting because my blogger really does have a lot of feedback (she is a published blog), and I thought about how she asks for responses to things or writes about controversial topics and I wonder if this is her main source of friendship feedback. She has talked about how she hasn't made a lot of new friends in Florida where they recently moved. Maybe the computer, for my blogger, is replacing he human connection. This then would suggest that some of her confessions and honest raw material is coming from a place of wanting to connect with her readers and give them a reason to write and discuss back with her. As natural and wonderful as she sounds on her blog, I have thought before (I have followed her blog before this class), that we could really be friends (not in creepy, stalker way), but I have just thought of how we read the same books, have kids, great husband ect.. and yet Walther's article pointed out something that stood out to me. It explains that the unique thing about CMC is the time that can or may be spend in editing writing. This time allows someone to really put effort into exactly waht they want to say. This idea makes me consider that there is a possiblity that what she puts out there may not match up to make some awesome, fun girl on the other side of her writing. There is a chance that she is just a really great writer.

Happy St. Patrick Day (post #8)

It’s amazing how a person can define a persons’ identity without even meting them, although their characteristics can play a major role too! I like to call this type of greeting, “cyber relationship.” In out textbook Baym, describes new relationships that are formed online every day. How can you form a relationship without meeting a person or shaking their hand? With the help of technology anything is possible. In the reading Turkle, describes humans as, “learning to see ourselves as plugged-in-technobodies” (Turkle). The internet is taking over the world even in our love life.lol Human beings identity has become multiplicity. People who use the internet are capable of building themselves to whatever and whoever they want be. The problem is, it becomes manipulative and unfair to the person whom is sharing their real identity (if one is sharing). Turkle explains how some people are able to go months without meting a person and still carry on an intimacy relationship. People are usually able to do this through a virtual chat session. One virtual social network is MUD (multi-user dungeons), this site allows you to meet and collaborate with different people within a room something like Twitter,Facebook, and MySpace. My blogger main focus everyday is minding someones' business. He has a creative style, post pictures and videos, and shows varies of interviews about today's relationships even the ones online. Freddy O has been around for a while and yet is the only non-celebrity that gets all the celebrities pictures. Can we say nosy lol. I hope he doesn't catch me stalking his twitter page or i'll be in social network jail!lol

Blog 8

To me, Turkle views a persons online identity as an alter ego. To her, people use online identities as a means of working things out in real life. One perosn becomes the caring father figure online to replace the one he never had in real life. They also use online identities as a means of escapism, to get away from something that bothers them in real life. Whereas in Bayms reading, people sometimes use online identites as a means of fooling someone into believing they are not who they say there are, usually with dubious intentions. Also to reach out to others, to form relationships with others like themselves, to share experiences. My blogger, the Wheelcahir Kamikaze, is reflected in this last view. My blogger is documenting his life as an MS patient, or as his puts it "THE RANTS, RUMINATIONS, AND REFLECTIONS OF A MAD MS PATIENT". He wants people to know exactly who he is and what he is going through. He uses no alias, no mysterious user name, just his real name, Marc. The title of his blog, Wheelchair Kamikazi, is is outlet for dealing with his disease, MS.

Blog 8

The blogger I am following is called Dooce.com. I didn't know she was once local to my hometown when I found her, but she once lived in Bartlett, TN. She portrays herself as a psychotic, married, home-maker. Along with the readings, it could be based on lies- but I love the fact that my blogger has three main focuses- daily photo, daily chuck, and daily style. Along with these are the comments she leaves on her day. She has a whole page dedicated to the history of what brought her to become a professional blogger. She updates almost daily- with a heads up on when they go on vacation, then she posts double time to make up for it. I have read every piece since I decided to follow weeks ago!
The way that I understand the two readings is as such. Baym sorta focuses on the allowance of truth through the internet, and the other reading focuses on the ability to role play or lie or have many personas for freedom. (lies). It is possible that my Dooce blogger is lying through her keyboard, but she seems to be open about her history of mental illness and how it effects her daily life.
The daily photo is always a personal story illustration, the daily chuck is her dog "chuck" she tends to pick on, and the daily style is anything culturistic from paintings(her most recent post) to a piece of jewelry she decided to wear and why. Both readings touched on both aspects, but I found they each had a focus of lies(role playing) vs truth (what they find true about themselves).
Though Baym focuses more on version of truth and which sectors you use it in, Turkle responds to identity with however you feel that day, is the person you become online because there are no consequences to stretching a new story or "identity" online.

Blog 7

If I had to name it, this generation would be the "1-up" generation. It seems that no matter what piece of technology we have today, tomorrow brings something harder, better, faster, and stronger.(yes, i did). Through the materials of the course, the charts and graphs, the studies and observations, and finally the book of opinionated facts about people connecting in different ways-I am honestly only surprised that we have not progressed more so in technology. With all the time accumulated that we use on the internet or on cell phones, and we haven't come up with some other inhumane way of communication? Like, having a computer chip answer our phone calls, or having a more involved way of selling product. Even I had issues just getting the book for this course. I was over a month behind on readings because amazon.com decided that one-day-shipping should take three weeks. "What they really mean by one-day-shipping, is that it will ship to you one day after leaving the warehouse. Not one day after the order is processed" If we can make large contraptions fly, (aircraft), and we can make remote control cars life size (mythbusters), then why have we not been able to make transportation not rely on gasoline>money, and why can't we have cars so technologically advanced that they lock up and send out a gps signal for the criminal inside? >money. It is because we are paralyzed without technology the way that it is, and mainly money. It might hurt to progress further, for those who hold the dollar. I really hate to say this, but Zuckerman- has the right idea. Make money, and make it harder for things to progress so that your money making ways can't change.

Blog 6

Yes, again too late, but still want to participate. I actually loved chapter 6 for one main reason; because I was one of those people who made friends online and actually followed through with it. At the time, many thought it was foolish to trust a complete stranger, and like the book states-these friendships are not really "friendships". It really kind of shocked me to see a whole section devoted to "what is a friend?". Well on the one hand, I understand you have to define something to make a claim about it, but on the other hand, I believe we all have our own definitions of friends anyway.

I was a member in a chat room online with thousands of users. I used it to socialize past my bed time. (I like not so many teenagers had sleeping issues). I was probably around the age of say 11 or 12. Someone was have a conversation in one of the rooms about a very controversial matter, and I decided to tell them my opinion. Eventually one of them began talking to me and we compromised on our points and just nodded to one another in having an opinion at all. We decided that this was something we like about one another-compromise. So we exchanged chat ids and went about our business. Later and a long story short, we talked everyday for a long time and she and I had become comfortable in confiding in each other. We eventually exchanged phone numbers, and even home addresses to send each other letters and cards. Five years later we still communicated on a very frequent basis, and I became old enough to travel alone. We decided that I should go to Colorado to visit her. My parents spoke to her parents over the phone and I flew on free flight miles to see someone I have never before seen in "real life". We had a blast and there was no awkwardness. We continued to be friends for 3 or 4 more years and I flew out there, and she drove here with her sister to visit me since we became such friends.

So it can happen, and it happens differently. So much like the chapter, relationships are affected tremendously in both good and bad ways through internet and other forms of technology.

Blog 7 Information Technology of Today

Wow. Teenagers are out thinking adults by way of internet and technolgy. Are we falling by the way side, when it comes to computer systems, or information? It is amazing how teenagers can learn how to manuver technolgy, and not class work. Change in technology is allowing us to enhance accessible use of the internet, but in other ways making us fall short on daily responsibilites. What I mean by this is that, technology is looking out for us when it comes to easy, accessble access to research materials using the internet. Then, on the negative aspect we are becoming lazy people that want know what it's like to read books or magazines.

Changing Technology! We want be behind, we will just change with the flow of new information and learn all that we can learn. No one can hurt from a change, only improve and be better in quality.

Blog 7 Review

So far the learning process has been somewhat slim but what I have picked up I didn't know already has been very interesting. The information about the core friends and the 2nd tear groups and so on have been very interesting. The PEW Reports about the communication between those people hit so close to home with me because I am the same way. I would say however I have a massive leveling system for my friends that the PEW didnt cover. For the most part aside from the statistics I have been very familiar with the rest of the information shown. Like I said before I am very jacked into the "internet" system. Also reading about how the internet has changed the forms of communication

Blog 7- The Information Age

This has definitely been an interesting class to take. I thought that I knew a lot about communication through phones and computers but I have learned a GREAT deal about the kinds of people that use CMCs for communication and how many people. Like TreonnaJoy, I was very surprised to read some of the statistics that were in some of the articles we have read like “One in three teens sends more than 100 text messages a day, or 3000 texts a month”. I knew that teenagers texted a lot but 100 TEXTS A DAY? I feel bad for whoever pays their phone bill! I have also learned a lot about webspeak and how it is affecting people’s every day lives, both online and off. We are definitely living in the Information Age…people are getting and GIVING all sorts of information on the internet.

I Guess it's the Information Age (blog 7)

I must say by far this has been one of my most best and interesting class. Dealing with f2f relationships verse communicating over the internet has advantages as well as disadvantages. I was most surprised to see how teens take the usages of cell phones and internet to another level. Someone reading this may say, “Why are you surprised?” The reason being is, most teen are in school how do they find the time to spend 90% of the day texting and on the internet? Well according to Lenhart and Ling reading (Teens and Mobile Phones) it’s true.This is probably one of the reasons webspeak is so popular. I guess it’s the society we are living in everything is so instantly. Look at it this way interpersonal communicating is taking place every day over the internet. Most of the times when building a relationship over the internet you have to use cues to know how a person looks and nine times out of ten that’s not how they look. The funny thing is people still carry on these love affairs over the internet and later find themselves in LOVE. How do they do it? Easy, the Information Age we are living in and the technology that is set before us can allow anyone’s life to be, “the perfect life!” lol

Blog 7

Well, for the most part, most of this stuff doesn't come as a surprise to me. That may be because I grew up before/during the onslaught of the internet and was in a way part of the history, or maybe it's my involvement with it for my work (computers and networking). Back in the early 80's, not wanting to go to college (that's why I'm going now), I borrowed the money from my grandmother to go to a vocational technology school. She asked me what I wanted to do in school. I said "Study computers. In the future computers will be everywhere and I'll always be able to have a job." At least I got that part right. Computers ARE everywhere and so is ability to communicate by way of them. IM, email, texting, video...the list goes on. I guess if I had to pick out something that I didn't expect or was surprised by, it would be how addicted the younger generation is to their phones. Looking back at my kids, it started with their computer and then when they got a phone, it was like they'd rather you cut off their foot than take away their phone. I’d also have to go with how ingrained the Internet is with every facet of life. I don’t think the world could operate without the Internet, not just because of personal cmc, but everyone does business via the Internet. In 20 years, the Internet has become the backbone of day-to-day life. Without it, we’d be back in the dark ages. We might as well be dead.