Response #4

So I found reading Chapter 11 and 12 to be ok. Chapter 12 was more interesting then 11 but you know how that goes. In Chapter 11 it talks about virtual communities. I myself have never been a part of a virtual community but I do know that the Celiac website has a community just like that for people that are newly diagnosed with the disease. I know that the Diabetes Foundation also has one for those that need someone to talk to. I mean I’ve done the whole chat room thing, who hasn’t but I’ve never been apart of a actual support group type of thing. I remember when I was younger people used to have Pen-Pals that they would write to back and forth but it wasn’t someone you have actually met face to face. Today it seems that the whole Pen-Pal type of thing is done now over the computer. I mean I’m sure some people still actually write letters because you have those that are in jail that I don’t think have access to a computer but I’ve actually had a couple Pen-Pals over the internet through email. I’ve said before that I met my boyfriend online. We met on a website called LouisvilleMojo.com. I have met a lot of people off the internet and am still friends with a lot of them. When I was younger it used to be only aol that had the “chat rooms” but I had someone tell me the other day that singlesnet.com (which is another dating site) now has chat rooms so you can talk easier with people in your state. It still amazes me how much technology has changed in the past 10 years even. In Chapter 12 it talks about CMC and Society. I have heard of trolling before and have actually seen it in chat rooms when I was younger or even today if I happen to go into one. People love to do things to see how far they can push another person. When I was younger I used to think it was funny to see how mad one person could make another. But as I’ve gotten older I think it’s childish and stupid. Spamming is so common when it comes to email. I went to a website my sister asked us to go to to vote for my niece for something and I had to put in my email address and now I get TONS of spam email due to that. So I was reading the case study and I did not understand how one could virtually rape another person. I’ve heard of cyber sex but that takes two willing people participating in it. How does one make someone else do something they did not willing want to, especially over the internet??? I didn’t understand how this guy could use a voodoo doll to control other players and make them do something they don’t want to. Hopefully we will discuss this in class tonight so I better understand this. I’ve never been one to play online games all that much so maybe that is why I’m at a loss. Now hackers, pornography and computer viruses I understand. I’ve never personally had my computer hacked into but my mom used to build computers when I was younger and she has explained the theory to me several times. Everyone knows about pornography and everyone has seen it at one point in their life. My ex could tell you all about computer pornography. He’s addicted to it. I tease him all the time. Last but not least computer viruses. I hate computer viruses. I just had to buy a new laptop because my old computer kept getting viruses. We had it cleaned and removed several times but they just kept coming back. Oh well, I love my laptop and my ex now has the old computer.

Post #3

I found chapters 8, 9 and 10 to be the most interesting yet in this book. I found myself associating a lot with these chapters and things that have gone on in my personal life. In chapter 8 it talks about CSCW and when I worked at UPS we used windows messenger all the time to communicate with other UPS employees throughout the world. I found it very interesting when one of the females I used to deal with at our phone center, which at UPS is the people that take care of setting up our outbound/inbound trucks and tracking the trucks locations throughout their travel to our location, came to work in my office. It was nice to finally be able to put a face to the person I had dealt with on literally a day to day basis. It was unusual for the employees at UPS to use some sort of telecommuting in our office everyday. The people we called “the big guys” at UPS would send emails to literally everyone that worked at our location, which is as many as 1000’s of people, from their very own living rooms. They never even have to leave the comfort of their homes to take care of something that was work related. I myself am currently looking for a “work at home” job since leaving UPS. Though it seems like this would be a very simple thing to do because you can find millions of work at home job offers online, majority of those are actually scams just trying to get money out of you. As talked about in chapter 8 in order to actually work from home or really do any type of important work from your own personal computer you need to have a good firewall on your computer to protect you from viruses. In chapter 9 it talks about playing games online. I know several people that actually are addicted to games on the internet. When I was younger I used to play a game called Wolfenstein on my computer at home. It was suppose to be a virtual reality game that you would track “bad people” and kill them for rewards and weapons and whatnot. One my of ex’s is very much into the virtual reality games online, as in the games that deal with wizards and dragons, etc. Chapter 9 also talks about online gambling. Now I thought online gambling was actually illegal but I know a guy that makes his living off of playing in card tournaments online. I.E. blackjack and games of that nature. I myself have never found online gambling to do anything for me or interesting. In chapter 10 it talks about education on your computer or distance education. When I lived in Orlando I myself took online classes or distance educations while pregnant with my daughter. A lot of people believe that because your are able to take a college course from the comfort of your own home that it is going to be an easy A when in fact I found online classes to be much harder. Many people believe that because you are able to use your book on the test that you actually have to take for the class that it is going to make it a lot easier to get a good grade on the test but they don’t take into consideration that the test are not only timed but that most of the teachers do not take the test questions directly from the text in the book itself. Most of the test questions on the tests I had when I took my online course came from the online discussions, the group projects and the reading itself. So if you didn’t actually participate in the online group discussions or really pay much attention you didn’t actually do good on the tests themselves. I would never take another online class. Like I said I found it a lot harder then actually going to class and meeting on campus.

Post for week 2 readings!!!

I found the reading this week to be much more interesting then what we had to read last week for class. In chapter 5 I did not understand the section on Language and Action. They used the term “MUDs” but never say what an MUD is. That I found to be very confusing. I kind of gathered that it seemed to be someplace you chat or some type of chatting that’s used. I understood the verbverbing. That all made perfect sense because I myself use that when talking through email and/or text messaging. Also in Chapter 5 page 104-105 states “When players become totally immersed in their online interactions, making a distinction between real actions and linguistic ones can become difficult”. Then it goes on to tell how in Chapter 12 it describes virtual rape in cyberspace and how some people refer to cybersex as a form of infidelity. I can go either way on this subject. I can say yes it is a form of cheating because the other partner is having a fantasy of being with someone else while pleasing themselves but on the other hand I can say that porn, phone sex and/or cyber-sex has no physical contact and in a way is a way to keep your partner faithful. Even though one is turning to listening or reading something else to get them off that doesn’t necessarily mean they are cheating, it just means that they need to spice up their sex lives because something is lacking.
I have myself have never come across anyone online that I found out to be lying to me about their sex but I do know other people that have. It says in the book that “men who are not very aggressive are called “wimps,” whereas women who are not very aggressive are called “feminine.” Men who are aggressive are called “go-getters,” though if they go to far, from the point of view of the viewer, they may be called “arrogant.”” page 107. We see this is society everyday. People are often stereotyped or labeled. And it can actually be very harmful to how one thinks of themselves. In Chapter 6 it talks more about identity, personal profiles, gender swapping, etc. I know a lot of people tend to lie when it comes to who they really are online. I have in fact met people off the internet and have found out that some or maybe even a lot of what they told me was untrue and that in fact the picture they put on the internet of themselves was either false or extremely old. When it comes to signature files I actually have a signature file on my email so I don’t have to sign my name whenever I send out emails but it is only hooked up to the email through my iPhone. I also find the avatars online or more so on yahoo to be extremely funny and fun to play with. I myself actually have my picture up as my avatar on my yahoo messenger but most of the people I talk to do not. In Chapter 7 it goes into more detail about online relationships, social use of the internet, intimate relationships and cybersex. I actually met my boyfriend off the internet. And amazingly things are working out for me and him. I have never myself been involved in cybersex but I do go into the chat rooms every now and then and get into social debates over certain things. One of my classes last session actually used the discussion board on blackboard for us to post documentation or our views on what was taught in class and personal experiences. I find that to be very useful in most classes. Though I was familiar with a lot of what was talked about in this weeks readings it did give me somewhat of a new outlook on some of the things.

Our Play Blog

So we're sitting in class playing around on blogger.com.....this is actually turning out to be pretty interesting.....I might just decide to keep this site after this session is over.....remember I said maybe!!! LOL