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