Kolko and Gomez-Pena articles

I apologize for being a little late on this weeks entry, but I see that no one has posted comments yet so hopefully this will work out anyways.

Beth Kolko's article was quite a long read for me as I lost interest somewhere around the third page or so and it just seemed so repetitive and dry after that. Since I have never experienced a text based virtual world (a MUD or a MOO), it was also a little hard for me to imagine this world without images and photos and all that stuff. But I guess I found it interesting to raise the question of whether the @race option was relevant in these MUDs. If the MUD is a social networking place where people try to connect with others, of course it would be relevant. Not necessary, but certainly relevant. If I am looking to find people to connect with and socialize with, I am definitely interested in things we have in common. It can be helpful to know whether they are male or female, what age they are, race, culture, religion, hobbies....... But I really don't think leaving it out is a huge deal either. Yes, the components of identity that you are allowed to express kind of govern how you are able to self present, but written communication is going to express so much that doesn't have to be said. Kolko says in her atricle that some MUDs have the option of identifying with a race, but most don't. This can be seen as the designers assumption of white as default. Or it can be seen as unnessesary to the purpose of the MUD. I don't think any of them ask what religion or political party you are affiliated with and one could certainly take issue with those kinds of things also. It may be said that Christianity is kind of the default and norm represented by designers and that people involved in Islam aren't given the option to represent themselves as so.

I don't know where I'm going here anymore or even what i'm talking about. Being white, i guess I haven't really put too much thought into the design of interfaces and their power to prescribe representative white norms and patterns. The construction of the technology reflects the experiences of the designer so what does that say about the designers? It is becoming more clear to me through reading these articles how interactions amongst users of technology are controlled by the program (mediating space) and are predominantly white by default. So i certainly think that users of social virtual worlds could benefit from the @race option in some cases.

Looking at Gomez-Pena's article was a bit more interesting, though not much easier to read. This man has really caught my attention just because I am so confused and so interested in what he does - both at the same time. I can't figure him out. What kind of artist is he? What exactly does he do or promote? What religion? How much education? Mexican or American or Chicano or Mexican-American? I guess I just feel like he is a very interesting character, especially looking at some of the other stuff he's done. Like the book that was passed around in class. Just Fascinating.

In his article Chicano Interneta, Gomez-Pena said several things that caught my attention; the very last statement in his article really left an impact. "As for me, hopefully one day I won't have to write in English to have a voice in the new centers of international power." I was like, "Hello. This is it!" Cyberspace and the language of science and technology are white English and this is a problem! It's more than Mexicans not having access or the desire or whatever; it isn't designed for them. And I say them because this article is focusing on them (Mexicans) but obviously them can refer to anyone who is at a disadvantage because they aren't English speaking white Americans. I like this...."Chicano artists in particular wish to 'brownify' virtual space, to 'Spanglishize the Net,' and to 'infect' the lingua franca."

Again, don't even know where I'm going with this. Just some thoughts I had on these articles.

Cybernetic tourism

It's interesting how Nakamura talks about cybernetic tourism and transnationality through the internet and how these virtual field trips are metaphorically taking us, as privileged first world "tourists" or users, wherever we want to go. The theme of all different nationalities sharing the same language - computer talk, technology language.... is found in all sorts of advertisements. There is also the implied theme of unity and connection between people of all different races, ages, ethnic backgrounds, etc...ultimately leading to utopia. The technology advertisements try to give us the message that "cybertechnology.....will magically strip users down to 'just minds,' all singing the same corporate anthem"(Nakamura, 25). Yet the world wide web and other technology is far from World Wide. How will people from all over the world be united by this technology when it is inaccessible to a vast group of them? And then the question would be - if we were all to be connected without the factors of race/gender/age/culture/religion.... would it lead to utopia?

For many years advertisements have attatched the concept of unity and understanding amongst people of different cultures to utopia in order to sell their product. Nakamura mentions the Coca-Cola ad from the seventies and eighties showing a very diverse group of people united by a song, "I'd like to teach the world to sing" and drinking Coca-Cola together.

One of the commercials I viewed on youtube from this summers olympic games was the AT&T "We are all Team USA" in which people of all different nationalities are coming together and being victorious as, essentially, members of the same team. The add says, "We will shatter records; we will pull off miracles; we will make history. Stay connected with your TV, Computer, and wireless phone. AT&T." Again, this commercial strongly presents the image of utopia when we are all connected and speaking the "transnational tongue" of American technolanguage.

The interesting thing I'm finding in this article, as well as the other articles we've read and discussed is the idea that technology, networks, and the internet can solve the dilemma of cultural, ethnic, racial, age, and gender differences. At the beginning of Nakamura's article she introduces the idea of human interaction occuring as "pure, democratic cerebral form of communication....uninfluenced by the 'rest of it'. I find this fascinating because even without a face or body to attatch to the written communication, culture/age/gender and all of that still influence a person's communication. Their thought processes, beliefs, values, experiences..... all play a role in what comes out "on-line" or whatever. They have a distinct mind set that will inevitably influence their responses and "image" with any style of communication. But it is great that minorities can be empowered because the label minority isn't attatched so readily and quickly to them. But to just cross out 'the rest of it'?? I don't think it's quite that easy.