Extra Blog

1.  How have you managed a memory rhetorically? (100 words)

There are a lot of things that I hope to always remember and then there are those things that I wish I could forget.  Some things make forgetting easier, for example getting rid of all the evidence can be helpful.  But for things that we want to remember we try to keep every artifact and every memory we have of it.  For example, family members that pass away, I always want to remember the most I can most I can about them.  Every picture there is out there I want to save every memory I have I want to remember, all of their features and qualities I want to remember.  By doing this I feel like we decide what we want to remember and what we want to forget.

2. How do you feel about expiration dates for information?

What problems and benefits do you see? (100-150 words)

I feel like expiration dates can be a good idea.  There are many people that go through different stages throughout their lives.  When people change their lives towards a different direction, if they are trying to improve their lives, an expiration date will be very beneficial for them.  They won’t have to worry about their pasts coming back to haunt them.  A problem with expiration dates might be that we will forget things that are important to us.  Mayer-Schonberger (2009) notes that “such memory helps us to note ideas and capture moments that will bring us joy and fulfillment when we look at them later” (p. 10).  If they have an expiration date they will disappear one day and the memories will be lost.

3. What sort of information about yourself do you wish was deleted or has expired and why? This information can come from the web or from another data storage device or medium.(150 words)

Information about me that I wish I could delete would be mostly pictures.  I think that there are a lot of pictures that have show me doing things (e.g. drinking) that would not look very professional.  I am going to be a teacher just like Stacy from the article was going to be.  It would not be good if I lost job opportunities because of pictures that were posted.  People could get the wrong idea about me, and if students’ parents would see it they might not like that.  I need to be a good role model for the students and even though I feel like I am, people could think differently just by seeing pictures.  Even though it is not illgal to drink and I am not doing anything wrong, others might think so because they are only seeing a synecdoche of me.  I would not like it if activities I did outside of the classroom affected me, even if I was being a good teacher.

Works Cited

Mayer-Schonberger, V. (2009). Delete: The virtue of forgetting in the digital age.  New Jersey: Princeton University Press

Blog #10

Select one term Villanueva uses and describe why you think it is important for your research on Assignment #2 and #3. Think about how you might be able to apply it (150-200 words).

“Racelessness” will be an important term in my assignments because this can be found anywhere.  There are many cultures that have trouble “becoming American.”  People like me, who come from a different country, with a different family background, with different beliefs, with different customs.  What happens to all of these when we move to the United States?  In many cases they become erased or forgotten.  When this happens we feel like we are neither from here nor there.  My family moved to the United States when I was two years old, I haven’t been to Mexico ever since.  I feel like I still have a lot of the traditions, and I still have my language, still have a lot of the foods, but it is not the same.  If I were to go to Mexico, I would not fit in.  I would not act like every other person there, I would stand out.  In Mexico I would be viewed as an American, but in the United States I am viewed as a Mexican (Villanueva would say a Hispanic or Latina).  So where do I fit in?  I’m not just one or the other, I’m a little of both.  I think there are many people like me and many places that demonstrate this.  Beginning with the internet, television, radio, etc. all of these places, tend to mess with the race.  As Villanueva (1993) said “it is the denial of other-culture affiliation, a denial of the collective, any collective; it is the embracing of America’s dominant ideology, the ideology of individualism” (p. 38).  This term could be applied to my assignment since this happens everywhere.

Write one multiple-choice question on readings from 10/12to 11/4.

Villanueva would agree that biculturalism is…

a)      an equal ease with two cultures

b)      the tensions within, which are caused by being unable to deny the old or the new

c)      having to cultures, but being involved with on more than the other

d)     none of the above

Now write a True/False question/statement from the same reading.

In “Spic in English” by Villanueva Japanese are more likely to suffer discrimination because they speak English with a “foreign” accent.

Works Cited

Villanueva, V. (1993). Bootstraps: From an American academic of color. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Blog #9

I think that “race the Power of Illusion,” goes well beyond a “menu driven” concept of race.  This website does not try to erase race and is not colorblind to it.  Race is brought up to the surface and is discussed in various ways.  One of the first links on this website poses the question “Is Race for Real?”  This questions the belief that race really exists.  If we move on to other links we see that race is addressed in different ways, like when people started viewing it as an actual tool, how people have been sorted out into race, stereotypes about race, and even accounts of real people that have dealt with race before.  Nakamura (2002) states “a close look at portals reveals that they are often structures in ways that reaffirm stereotyped racial categories rather than challenge them” (p. 101).  I think that this website does well when it comes to challenging stereotypes.  People cannot be put into a category based on what they look like.  Looks can be deceiving.  As a personal example, I come from a large family (8 sisters and 2 brothers).  We are not all the same skin tone; some of my siblings are very light complected, while others are darker.  We all come from the same family, so our race would be considered the same.  If someone else were to categorize us depending solely on our looks, we might not all end up being Hispanic.  The website describes this and even has us do an activity where we get to choose where people might be according to their looks.  This was a hard task, not everyone fits the perfect category, and even when we think they do we might be wrong.  Nakamura (2002) also mentions that “organizing of identity does not include ‘white’ as a category; it is not on the menu at all.  This omission is a disturbing example of the colonialist or imperialist gaze that sets up a racial other; whiteness is defined by its invisibility rather than its presence” (p. 105).  In this website “whites” were viewed.  The history, the present, the comparisons, whites were included in all of these.  I think website really helped see that there are some places that are starting to get past the menu-driven identities.

Works Cited

Nakamura, L. (2002). Cybertypes: Race, ethnicity, and identity on the internet. Routledge: New York.

Blog #8

1. Cybertyping can be seen on the internet in many different ways.  Nakamura (2002) described cybertyping as “distinctive ways that the Internet propagates, disseminates, and commodifies of race and racism” (p. 3).  The way race is shown through the internet, is what many people might view it as or what they want other to view it as.  Individuals have different ideologies, this can be seen through what is posted and/or viewed on the internet.  The way race is shown on the internet might not always be the way race really is in RL.  It is very easy to display racism all over the web, since the identity can be hidden as little or as much as wanted.  Identity tourism can be seen when there are stereotypes of different genders and race.  Making it seem that we think that an individual is the same way because of their gender or their race shows identity tourism.  By cybertyping and performing identity tourism, we get a sense of what people accept and what is unacceptable, what should be done and is viewed as correct and what types of things are incorrect.  This can affect many things in RL since what is viewed on the internet might also be viewed in RL.

2. Cybertyping occurs in the game with different players.  The race and the gender of the players reflect how they have been cybertyped.  There are the white males who have a “buff” body type.  They are slim and muscular.  Then there is Balrog, the black guy, he is also muscular, but he is a lot bigger and with a meaner look on his face.  There is Chun Li, which is the only female in the game.  Everyone else in the game has shorts or pants, but Chun Li’s outfit is more revealing.  Chun Li is an Asian girl.  She can do come very complicated kicks, a typical stereotype for Asians.  Asians are supposed to know karate, so they should know how to kick.  This shows identity tourism as well, the players are stereotyped with what they “should” be like in real life.

Works Cited

Nakamura, L. (2002). Cybertypes: Race, ethnicity, and identity on the internet. Routledge: New York.

Blog #7

            Super Mario Bros. 2 complicates gender stereotypes in a few different ways.  Female and male characters should have different roles in games in order to match stereotypes.  In this game Princess (the only female) has the same role that the males have.  She performs somewhat different (she can float in the air for longer than the male players), but she can do everything that males can do.  According to Schleiner (2001) “until recently, the characters, or avatars, in these games were almost exclusively male, with the exception of the princesses offered as battle trophies” (p. 222).  In Super Mario Bros. 2, the princess is not offered as a trophy, she is part of the battle.  She can play all the levels until she reaches the trophy.  The stereotype is complicated here because Princess doesn’t behave like the princess would in other games such as Prince of Persia and Double Dragon.

            In this game the stereotype of gender is also reflected in a few different ways.  For one, Princess is wearing a pink dress with a little crown in the battlefield.  This is a stereotype for all princesses.  Just because someone is a princess, does not mean that they are going to be walking around wearing big puffy dresses and crowns all the time.  Schleiner (2001) explains that “Lara Croft is seen as the monstrous offspring of science: an idealized, eternally young female automaton, a malleable, well-trained techno-puppet created by and for male gaze” (p. 222).  Princess does not look like a “monstrous offspring, but she sure behaves like one by killing everything that gets in her way.  Even though Princess acts this way, she is still wearing a pink dress and “looks” like a princess; this is done to conform to the male gaze.  Princess is the only female character in this game; Schleiner would say that this is done in order to invite more female to play the game.  If women do not want to change their identity online, but still want to play, they have the opportunity to do so with Princess.

Works Cited

Schleiner, A-M. (2001). Does Lara Croft wear fake polygons? Gender and gender-role subversion in computer adventure games. Leonardo, 34 (3). pp. 221-226. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576939

Blog #5

Blog #5

1. Lupton describes a number of different ideologies about computer/user relationships. Find an object— for example, an advertisement for a personal computer, a movie, or even a newspaper article--that supports or challenges what she has said about computer/human relationships. In other words, use the bold categories in the article, think like Lupton, and write about the object (200-300 words).

The object that I will examine is an advertisement for an hp personal computer.  Serena Williams is the actress in this advertisement.  I saw this as the humanized computer.  Serena used a lot of different features that the computer used in order to make it seem more human friendly.  She showed a lot of different things that could be done for what seemed as easy as “123.”  Serena showed how she could scout other players, talk to her friends, play games against the computer, see her photos and do so much more.  By doing this we see what Lupton (2007) explained “the emotions are commonly represented as a characteristic of humans apart from animals, evidence of their sensitivity, spirit and soul” (p. 427).  This advertisement showed that a computer could be all you need.  You can still be connected with other people you know in RL as well as meet new people, find out about other people, or do things you would do with others (play games, date, etc.).  Characteristics of a person are given to the computer, a computer can be everything you want it to be and need it to be.  In the advertisements Serena’s voice is never shown from her neck down is all we could see.  This can portray “one’s PC as an extension of the human body” (Lupton, 2007, 428).  Since not all of her is shown, this could be the part that is used to portray the computer.  We know what is missing so we know what we need in order to make the computer work.

2. What is the most significant thing you have learned about digital technology and culture so far in this course? What are you gonna take with you outside of this class into RL? Cite a source! (100-150 words)

The most significant thing that I have taken from this course so far is that there is not equal access in the technology world and it will be very hard for it to ever be equal.  Even if there is ever a way for everyone to have the same amount of technology, the access might still not be the same.  I agree with Warschauer (2002) from Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide when he says that “there is not a binary division between information "haves and "have-nots", but rather a gradation based on different degrees of access to information technology.”  The degree of the depth of knowing how to use the technology is going to very hard to equalize. 

Works Cited

Lupton, D., (2007).The embodied computer/user.  In D. Bell & B. M. Kennedy (Ed.), The cybercultures reader. (pp. 422-432). New York: Routledge.

Warschauer, M. (2002). Reconceptualizing the digital divide. First Monday, 7(7), Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/967/888