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.