SELF.NET/ASSIGNMENT 1: QUESTION 5: BY KELLY-ANN MORDT.

If popular culture has taken up the cyborg as a figure of progress, what happens to the way race is represented? (This question can be applied to any form of pop culture).

Tim Jordan, 1999, ‘Cyberpower: the culture and politics of cyberspace and the Internet’, Booktopia, Routledge, London. Pp.2-31.

This article aims to define the nature of power in cyberspace, and thus helps us gain an understanding of the Internet and cyberspace from different perspectives. Jordan explains the three hierarchies of power that are wired into cyberspace, and how they affect the individual. The first is when cyberspace is seen as a “playground” to the individual, and how the individual then possesses cyberpower. The second explains that once the individual sees cyberspace as a popular, social environment, where communities form, cyberpower then becomes “technopower” which allows the individual to be liberated and gives the individual a sense of control, but can also cause information overload. Jordan uses the example of Kevin Mitnick, Bill Gates, and Linus Torvalds to express cyberpower in varying ways due to their potential of operating different technologies. Finally, the third power hierarchy is when the individual sees cyberspace as a community or a digital world, and then cyberpower becomes a familiar engagement between individuals.

I would use this article to begin my essay because it emphasizes the power of the Internet and cyberspace. Jordan portrays how once the individual has experienced cyberspace and gained cyberpower, there is a sense of belonging to a community and having a sense of control over technology. Therefore this will lure cyborgs in, and when race enters the equation, cyberpower may heighten or be largely problematic

Lisa Nakamura, 2002, ‘ Cybertypes: race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet’, Routledge, New York, pp. 11-36.

The article, “Cyberspace” lures the audience in, and assures them that they will find an online utopia. Many people look for a certain online freedom, and seek this freedom in places such as chat rooms, where they may feel liberated from their bodies and “restrictive” factors such as race, gender and age. Nakamura claims, “The Internet is a place where race matters”. Although race itself may not be limited, or determinate, Nakamura argues that racial stereotypes, or in this case “cybertypes” are thrust into our online connections with others. The article explains how identity tourists can disguise themselves to be absolutely anything they desire, for example, an Asian Geisha or a Latino-lover, and by doing this, racial categories become almost non-existent, yet people surfing the net anonymously are presumed to be white. Nakamura focuses on what happened to race when it went on line, and how our concepts about race proceed to be created and recreated each time we go online. “Cybertypes” may also encourage us to think about, and view race and identity in the information age differently, as Nakamura looks at different aspects of our everyday online experiences.

I think this article would be useful when answering this essay question, because it discusses all the different aspects of how race is affected, and how it may become altered when it goes online. Nakamura looks at everyday online activities as simple as email jokes, and she portrays how the postmodern idea that we have of ourselves being anonymous online, is not inevitably freeing. I agree with Nakamura, as I strongly believe that the more race is eliminated online, the harder it is going to become for people of colour offline. Therefore, popular culture is taking up the cyborg as a figure of progress, as race is constantly being reshaped online.

Marc A. Smith & Peter Kollock (eds). 1999, ‘Communities in Cyberspace’. Google Books, Routledge, London, pp. 3-309.

This book illustrates the many different aspects Smith and Kollock have covered in order to examine the "legitimacy" of community in cyberspace and to find out how it operates. They conclude with the ideology that communities in cyberspace are real communities, and they investigate the often-unpredictable ways in which cybercommunities vary from their everyday, normal communities. Smith and Kollock also discuss probable issues of online identity in an environment where individuals cannot see each other. They question social order and control in this disordered environment, as well as the formation and power of online communities, and the cybercommunity as an infrastructure for joint action. Smith and Kollock introduce us to the argument that the screen does not remove the reflection of racial identity, and because interactions on the Internet are nonvisual, it gives people permission to judge or misjudge the races of others.

This book would be useful when answering this question because Smith and Kollock explain how when people are online, they are hidden, and therefore their race is hidden, and this allows people to misrepresent race in this nonvisual online world. Through the rapid rise of new technology and popular culture, the cyborg is, in my opinion, a figure of progress, as it is moving towards a destination further and further away from racial boundaries, a place where race is blurred or eliminated.

Sue J Kim, 2008, ‘Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet’, Reviews, Vol. 33, Iss. 4; pg. 2211, 4pgs, ProQuest.

Nakamura’s book, evaluates the possibilities and problems of racial developments as experienced on and around the Internet. Nakamura writes, “I see the internet as a privileged and extremely rich site for the creation and distribution of hegemonic and counterhegemonic visual images of racialized bodies”, and she therefore focuses on “digital racial formation”. Nakamura argues for the significance of “low-tech”, or “low-culture” technology that is user-friendly as it is encourages “identity formation by large numbers”, and this results in the formation of minority groups online, and it tells us more about the actual state of race and gender politics online. She investigates Allooksame.com, a site which proves that “race is virtually intelligible”, by testing viewers on their skill to perceive the race of others, yet the designer of the site refused to be identified. She looks at demographics and the digital divide that analyze Internet usage by race, and activism in cases of popular culture racism. On the whole, Nakamura’s intension is to begin a critical conversation about the experience of understanding race and gender on the Internet.

I thought this article was very interesting as Nakamura picks up on things as simple AMI, and other” low-tech” sites, which are easy to access and use, and therefore it is sites like these that attract cyborgs to join and spend more time on them. Then eventually, even though, their race may not be visible, they still manage to form minority groups through their use of the sites. This confirms that popular culture has influenced the cyborg, and affected the way race is represented when looking at a screen.

Jerry Kang, 2000, ‘Cyber-Race’ Harvard Law Review, Vol. 113, No. 5, pp.1130-1208. JSTOR.

In this article Kang concentrates on the “digital divide” as many worry that racial minorities “will be left behind in the technological backwater”. Minority access to computing communication and infrastructure is a serious issue, but Kang tends to focus on whether cyberspace can alter the very way that race constructs our everyday lives. Kang portrays how race still functions in American society through three anecdotes that he refers to as “racial mechanics”. He argues that cyberspace enables new forms of social interaction, and that his anecdotes prove that race and racism already exist in cyberspace. Therefore according to Kang, cyberspace gives society the choice of three design options; abolition, integration and transmulation. He explains that by adopting all three options in cyberspace, we adopt a policy called “digital diversification”, which he says specifically zones different cyber spaces according to different racial environments, and this will encourage flexible zoning for society. Kang presents his thoughts in the hope of provoking users to think through cyber-race, because although it is not a cure for the existing racial conflict, it should be viewed as a new universe that will build toward racial redemption.

I would use this article in my essay to show that there are ways to possibly solve racial inequality online, and Kang’s argument saves the way race may be represented when popular culture takes up the cyborg as a figure of progress. Although race can disappear, become nonexistent, or be misrepresented online or on cyberspace due to the nonvisual aspect, cyberspace still offers chances that may help supplement racial justice.

REFERENCING: Harvard Style

Porn. Pop Stars. Progress. The Representation of Race in Today's Cyborg Culture

Analogy and (White) Feminist Theory: Thinking Race and the Color of the Cyborg Body

by

Malini Johar Schueller

Analogy and (White) Feminist Theory presents an effective overview to introduce the topic of the cyborg as an image of progress, and the consequential impact of the representation of race. Although it does not focus heavily on different forms of popular culture as the other online sources cited do, it introduces the relationship that women of colour and white women have with the myth of the cyborg. By doing so, it offers explanations into how we have come to generate particular stereotypes and theories within the broader community. As Schueller highlights, women of colour “theorize about a particular group of women, many white feminists continue to theorize about gender/sexuality/women in general.” By failing to address that certain groups of woman have been marginalised throughout history, it has been pointed out by African American feminists that white women have “allied themselves with a racist patricidal order.” Their ignorance to address particular minority groups within the feminist movement is suggested to have infantilized them in the same way that colonial power from white men has reduced the image of the African Americans. Within this essay, Schueller calls upon the critical theories of Gayle Rubin. A crucial point raised by Rubin is that, “it is impossible to think with any clarity about the politics of race and gender as long as these are thought of as biological entities rather than as social constructs.” I think this point is the main reason why, cyborg or no cyborg image of progress, society fails to move past the issues of racism. Without acknowledging that we are responsible for the representations of race, there is very little room for change. A lovely example of this inability for transformation is raised within this article. As I’m sure many have witnessed, the word race (usually alluding to “African American, Latina, Native American, and Asian” etc.) is often enveloped by commas. This image of the word seen as: “race,” according to Schueller, “simply repeats white privilege by assuming that whiteness need not be named” with race only referring to “people of colour”. The presence of racism within our written language is a disturbing illustration of how far we engage in racism within everyday life.

The Carousel of Genders

by

Anneke Smelik

The Carousel of Genders explores how we have become the cyborg, not by extensions from our interactions, but through changes in physical appearance. The essay explores the concept of race within popular culture by focusing on its impact or presence amongst musical ‘stars.’ Through the example of Michael Jackson, a perfect display of hybrid figure, Smelik discusses society’s perception of race. Although as a community, the cyborg has become the image of progress, with physical alterations and artificial bodies considered acceptable, it appears as a wider audience that racism has not progressed or diminished; a concept which Michael Jackson so fiercely fought to change. By shaping the “mutation of his body and face in his own image,” Jackson “does not wear a mask, but is a mask”. Our preoccupation with the way Jackson has constructed his body mirrors our preoccupation with race and gender. As Smelik addresses, his face, “functions as a masquerade…onto which a culture projects” these concerns. In doing so, Jackson undermines the stereotype of what it means to be a black male. It is through the examples of other people that we are confronted with our inability to progress past race. In this case, the idolised figure of Michael Jackson teaches us that there can be such a thing as a ‘third race,’ with black and white combining. For Jackson, this image becomes the perfect utopia.

Interracial Joysticks: Pornography’s Web of Racist Attractions

by

Daniel Bernardi

In Interracial Joysticks, Daniel Bernardi analyses the somewhat taboo popular culture that is online pornography. As cyborg figures, receiving pleasure is no longer simply within the act of human to human, or skin to skin interaction. It has now progressed to the screen. Although this means of stimulation is an evolution from the past, with people seeking thrill and pleasure from the digital world, Bernardi explains that the representation of race within online pornography has not revolutionised. Bernardi reveals, “pornography today is very much about yesterday’s ideology of hate,” with all porn leading to “the white male at the joystick of pleasure.” His conclusion that race within these sites is sold as an ‘object’ of ‘fetishization’ and punishment, is simply a way of marketing a representation and story of “freaks” (or multicultural people) for the service of “white fear and fantasy, pain and pleasure, hate and lust.” This revelation of the exploitation of race and multiculturalism for the benefit of the white man connects strongly with Malini Johar Schueller’s concept of colonial power being fuelled by the white man. Bernardi addresses the presence of racism, and the lack of advancement in rejecting these common stereotypes by acknowledging the inability of people to see ‘whiteness.’ This essay stresses that to make ‘whiteness’ visible is the “real challenge in the new cultural politics.”

Online Racial Discrimination Linked to Depression, Anxiety in Teens

from

Science Daily

As this site addresses, it was first predicted by many scholars that the Internet would be a medium of lessening racism and race-based discrimination due to the anonymity of online interaction. With social networking becoming one of the most significant ways adolescents communicate and interact, this article addresses one of the most current and crucial outcomes of the progressive cyborg figure. Referencing a professor of Educational Psychology and African American studies at the University of Illinois, Brendesha Tynes, Online Racial Discrimination Linked to Depression, Anxiety in Teens, addresses that publicity is often allocated to cyber-bullying, but more attention needs to be paid to the effects of racial discrimination on the emotional well-being of adolescents. According to Tynes, people of colour often experience racial discrimination in both face-to-face settings and online. For her study, it was important to see the varying impacts of experiencing racial abuse in both online and offline settings. Another frightening aspect of the internet that this site addresses is the emergence of ‘hate websites.’ In a clear display that the progress seen within the image of the cyborg figure cannot be applied to all issues of gender and race, these disturbing websites are designed to recruit new members, often targeting children. One example of this is the ‘White Pride for Kids’ which encourages children to join through persuasive language, cleverly masking racist ideologies. As Tynes highlights, a great concern with children having such free reign on the internet is that many of these sites “function as an echo chamber of false information.”

Queer Cyborgs and New Mutants:

Race, Sexuality, and Prosthetic Sociality in Digital Space

by

Mimi Nguyen

It is suggested in Nguyen’s article that “the mutant body and the cyborg body act as metaphors, representations of social structures and cultural systems.” Through her study of the cyborg, Mimi Nguyen discusses her involvement with video games and the virtual world, and the roles that gender and race play amongst them. Unlike the majority of the texts explored within this webliography, the writer makes a strong and personal connection to the subject of the piece. Often she compares the longing she experienced as an adolescent to connect to a character introduced in 1980 by Marvel Universe. The incarnated character, Karma, once a young Vietnamese refugee named Xi’an Coy Manh, is recruited by a Professor of a New England school for ‘Gifted Youngsters’. This comes as a result of the character’s genetic code being altered due to her mother’s exposure to mutagenic chemical defoliants used during the war. For Mimi Nguyen, being part Vietnamese, this new multicultural team of Superheros named ‘The New Mutants’ was a reassuring development, encouraging her to want to live the life of Karma. As this move by the Marvel Universe can be looked at as a positive and progressive move in the social construct of race, we must also analyse the representation of such a group. According to Nguyen, the team is a group of multicultural “misfits.” By labelling such a group as ‘mutants,’ it could be argued that this virtual world symbolises a larger concern: that society is unable to accept multiculturalism as normal, such as the way we view ‘whiteness.’ However, perhaps the fact that we are all mutants in some way (according to the idea of the cyborg) indicates that no further discrimination occurs within the creation of this team of superheros. This argument seems to come to a subjective and personal view.

Madeleine Williams Women Studies: SELF.NET September 2010

Critical Annotated Webliography 20518785

Webliography

Science fiction is a genre that imagines our future. Within this future, representations of gender and race are depicted as being free of social limitations, ever-changing and evolving to reflect new ideas within the sphere of technology and biology.


Source One:
Nama,Adilifu “R is for Race, Not Rocket: Black Representation in American Science Fiction Cinema,” (2009), (accessed 6/9/10).

Adilifu Nama reasons that although this genre imagines our future, the depiction of races, or lack thereof, remains inextricably linked to the social contexts of the period. This is evident in his criticism of Star Wars and The Matrix, two films that present future imaginations of race very differently. Although Nama examines science fiction cinema which is American written and produced, it still parallels racial tension towards Aborigines and other ethnicities of different periods in Australia. The original 1970s Star Wars depicts a future, homogenous white race, similar to popular 1970 attitudes, where white was the dominant race, considered superior. Nama argues that the film presents a future, free of racial issues, because there is only one race depicted. An alternative representation of race is seen in sequels following, with the introduction of black characters in leading roles. Here, evidence of “racial diversity and cooperation” presents real future possibilities of eliminating racial divisions. Nama argues that science fiction films of the 1990s indicate that “racial inclusion is the normative convention of the present and the ideal condition imagined in the future”. The Matrix highlights this shift, representing the future as racially diverse, with racial issues dissolving and increase focus on harmony and unity in the fight of another “other,” the Matrix. Nama reasons that science fiction provides imaginations for the possibilities of changing attitudes towards race, the development of a multiracial society, free from oppression.


Source Two:
Kirby, David, “Extrapolating Race in GATTACA: Genetic Passing, Identity, and the Science of Race,” (2004), (accessed 6/9/10).

Advances in technology allow science fiction cinema to create futuristic societies in which race as we see it today, is no longer an issue. David Kirby evaluates this idea, critiquing the 1997 science fiction film, GATTACA. Kirby reasons that the futuristic world depicted in GATTACA no longer views race as “a barrier separating people in this society.” It becomes a “postracist” world, in which equal work opportunities are available to people of all ethnicities and gender, and people are no longer discriminated against based on the colour of their skin. However, Kirby argues that although future representations of race in science fiction present a postracial society, this is often far from the case. Kirby argues against Nama’s idea for future harmony between the races, when he attacks the idea represented in this science fiction film, that race is genetic, and futuristic societies can eliminate racial inequality by manipulating “human genetics” to remove “defective elements.” He reasons that advances in technology may very well create a racially blind society, but access to these benefits may only become available to those who can afford it, and therefore future racial issues are not eliminated, but merely evolving. Rather than eliminating race issues, GATTACA highlights the emergence of a new form of “race,” in a world where social constructions cease to exist and technologies allow for new, biological discriminations “against the genetically unmodified.” This genetic discrimination reflects the way people were racially discriminated against in the past, how they are today, and how they will continue to be in the future.


Source Three:
Kaye Mitchell, “Bodies That Matter: Science Fiction, Technoculture, and the Gendered Body,” (2006), (accessed 6/9/10).

Kaye Mitchell argues that literary science fiction has a role “in exploring the ramifications of our evolving understanding of sex, gender and the body.” She discusses science fiction’s exploration of gendered bodies in cyborgs, as representing future possibilities in blurring the boundaries between different types of gender; male, female, “hermaphrodites, genderless and new sexes”. She questions whether this is the answer to reaching equality between genders. Mitchell goes on to discuss whether being male or female continues to be important when the future “body” in science fiction literature becomes a “data body,” “one that is constructed and not the result of biology.” Mitchell believes our bodies are the result of “nature, culture and social effects.” The “data body” is likened to a machine, as it can be programmed to hold information. In its construction phase it is genderless. The question therefore arises, what makes us male or female in the future? Future gender is determined by a preconceived program of what it means to be a “gender.” In this instance the “data body” is determined female as “the forged is part machine, has tailfins and absorbs fuel but still bleeds,” a ‘female trait.’ Mitchell argues that it is our appearance that determines others’ perception of our gender. However, science fiction blurs this process, making gender identification ambiguous. Literature often projects gender and sex boundaries as ceasing to exist in future worlds.


Source Four:
Kim Edwards, “Deifying Androgyny and Bending Gender: The Matrix,” (2008), (accessed 6/9/10).

The science fiction film The Matrix, continues with Mitchell’s theme, reflecting on the fluidity of gender and thus rejecting “superficial stereotypes.” Kim Edwards argues that the future represented within The Matrix values “androgyny” and the idea of gender identity is no longer considered important. Edwards suggests that gender ambiguity within the film is arguably its main purpose, presenting “androgynous possibilities as a symbol of humanity’s freedom of choice and creative expression,” an ideal future. The reflection of traditional gender stereotypes seen in the ‘bad guys’ are representative of the “flawed view” in current society; restrictive, old fashioned and undesirable. If science fiction is a genre that imagines the future of gender, can it not only reflect changes in gender relations and identity, but also encourage these changes itself? Gender in a science fiction future is continuously changing, often becoming unrecognisable in its future form.


Source Five:
Schwartzman, “The Mechanics of Engenderneering,” (2008), p.1 (accessed 6/9/10).

Roy Schwartzman examines the role of “engenderneering,” where in science fiction futures, genders are being assigned to nonhuman forms that have been deemed genderless. He argues that it is necessary in science fiction texts for all “beings” to have some type of gender basis. “Gender markers serve as necessary or sufficient determinants of an entity’s value.” But why does he believe gender to be a necessary component to give value to an existence? He argues when gender can be identified, assumptions and expectations can be formed based on previous perceptions of gendered behaviour. Schwartzman challenges science fiction’s notion that by removing gender, emphasis on equality between male and female can be achieved in the future. He argues that the removal of gender in science fiction texts has not altered “the struggle for dominance”. He also explores science fiction’s creation of androgynous beings, where neither male nor female components are dominant. Schwartzman acknowledges that this ambiguity of gender for identification purposes creates possibilities where there are no behaviour expectations and allows freedom for individuality.
Science fiction’s representation of race and gender in the future imagines a very different reality than the one in which we live today. The future breaks down racial and gender boundaries, and forms a world where discrimination based on these traits is no longer a concern. Fluid, androgynous genders combined with the emergence of new forms of “race” present both positive and negative possibilities of a future world.

Popular Culture's Cyborg can change the representations of Race.

Critical Annotated Webliography

If Popular Culture has taken up the Cyborg as a figure of progress, what happens to the way race is represented?

Using the 5 references below, I have discussed several ways race can be looked at, if society takes up the cyborg as a figure of progress. I argue, that race can either be hidden online or can become even more of a problem in our society as the target market for Internet boggers and users are majority white Americans, which can result in smaller discriminated minority groups.

Andre Brock, 2009 ‘Life On the Wire’, Information, Communication and Society, University of Iowa, USA, vol 12, No 3, pp 344-363 explains how commentators have discussed perceptions of racial identity through the influence of authenticity which is said to be the ‘engine driving the blog posts, the comments and the website itself.’ It also discusses how race and culture especially in American media were represented through the four elements naming environment, culture, Internet and audience which helps people in reality relate to other peoples views on race. Now that popular culture speaks more about this ‘cyborg’ which is known as ‘ a living organism with Biological and machine components,’ it has been noticed that race representations may alter. In Brooks opinion, the Internet is constrained by values of individualism and articulations of colour-blind ideology, which allows us to consider that opinions of race may diminish as technology increases due to a people’s hidden identity.

John A Bargh and Katelyn Y.A. McKenna, 2004, ‘The Internet and Social Life’, Annual Review of Psychology, New York University explores the continuously increasing interaction of humans on a computer. A human can also relate themselves to a cyborg if they spend a lot of their time on a computer, they become one with a machine. So communication over a computer, via msn, facebook or even skype can categorize you as a cyborg. How does this change representations of race? An example in this article discusses that in California, 13 year olds use their computers as an essential. They use it to contact school friends, hand in homework and so on. Does society realise the consequences this may have on relationship development, group participation and race? Computer mediated communication is of coarse not conducted face to face and as McKenna says ‘ with the loss of facial expressions, tone of voice, physical attractiveness, skin, colour, gender and so on, it can affect the outcome of our social interaction. McKenna also uses an example of people meeting and forming relationships online, where studies revealed that people were better able to express their ‘true self’. The progressive cyborg figure in this case being a human connecting to another human through a computer creates a powerful effect on social identity. Race, or skin colour cannot be identified, and therefore racial discourses may fade away. People may choose to get to know someone through speaking to them because of similarities in their online profiles, rather than judging them due to their skin colour. Kang suggests that ‘one potential benefit of internet is to disrupt the reflexive operations of racial stereotypes, as racial anonymity is much easier to maintain online than offline.’

Geert Lovink, 2005 ‘Talking Race and Cyberspace’ an interview with Lisa Nakamura, journal of Woman studies, University of Nebraska Press, vol 26, No 1, is a discussion with an Internet scholar, who strongly believes that race still occurs over the Internet. Lovink discusses with Lisa, the merits of ‘internet research’ relating to racist patterns that emerge out of new media studies. Lisa claims that the ‘net is as racist as the societies that it stems from’ and goes on to say that the internet made some identities ‘unavailable, some unavoidable and otherwise served to police and limit the kinds of ways that people could define themselves.’ In these articles I like to use my example of a cyborg as a human interconnecting with a computer as it is easily relatable. In this case, Nakamura assumes that the target market of Internet is normally a White American, but in later dates this has not really been the case. In a circumstance where it is ‘assumed’ that most internet users are white Americans, we can commonly presume that minority groups forming blogs or chat rooms over the net may feel racially discriminated. So, even though identities are difficult to distinguish online, people tend to have a habit of associating with others of a similar interest, and this may in fact cause even more of a segregation in race. This, as Nakamura describes is known as the ‘Digital divide’.

Lisa Nakamura, 2002, ‘Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity’ Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, New York is a well-known book discussing race on the Internet. “The internet is where race happens.” Nakamura says and she believes it is important to recognise this. I am using this reference to reflect the way race is represented when popular culture takes up the cyborg as a figure of progress, as it identifies what happened to race when we go online, and how our ideas of race, ethnicity and identity continue to be shaped and reshaped every time we log on. It mentions how in 2001, the internet lacked people of colour, but now, the internet is popular among many groups of different backgrounds, cultures and races. It has now been said that ‘cyber culture offers a way to escape gender, race and class as conditions of social interaction. The increased communication through computers will in fact hide opinions of race as people can create their profiles according to their own wants and needs. This allows others to communicate with them even if their online profile differs from that in reality.

Braun, Michele,2010 "Cyborgs and clones : production and reproduction of posthuman figures in contemporary British literature". English Dissertations fits referencing the question regarding cyborgs being taken up as a figure of progress, and how this can change representations of race as it discusses how cyborgs or clones of humans demonstrate and highlight the nature of human identity. In this case it argues the ‘importance of the post human’ and claims it is not portrayed a potential utopian or dystopian future or change for the human, but in fact draws attention back to how we define ourselves as human. After all, today’s world is filled with humans being ‘bettered’ through plastic surgeries, contact lens’s, heart transplants and so on. If all this can better a human, surely race, can be diminished. If our world consisted of cyborgs, which in this book are regarded as ‘bettered humankind’ then I would suggest that it would be possible to see racial tensions disappear. But of coarse it is not as simple as this and from reading all the above articles, there is definitely different ways to look at how race can be represented if our world progressively consisted of more and more cyborgs.

Theorising Human/Machine Relations: The Webliography

Sue Clegg's 'Theorising the Machine: Gender, Education and Computing' (2001):


Sue Clegg is Professor of Higher Educational Research at Leeds Metropolitan University. The journal this article was published in, Gender and Education, was originally based in feminist politics, and is published for an international audience. This article theorises the relationship between gender, education and computing. To achieve this end, Clegg draws on two theoretical frameworks; critical realist insights in science and technology, and specific aspects of feminist standpoint theory. Clegg initially utilises the theory of technology in order to contextualise the article in Part One, and then in Part Two, uses the feminist theory to further critique and offer new understandings of the relationship between education, computing and gender. She offers a historical framework for understanding how discourses surrounding computing and information technologies have evolved. The article also considers how these discourses interact within school, university and ‘lifelong learning’ environments. It is important to note that within this article she considers the USA and Britain as her examples, and so her findings and theories may not translate to other countries. The academic nature of this article is reflected within the writing style, and is supported by a significant reference list.


Grayson Cooke's 'Human - 1 / Cyborg - 0: A Personal History of a Human-Machine Relation’ (2001):


Grayson Cooke is a senior lecturer in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University, Lismore Campus, and the publihsing journal, Nebula, is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary Australian journal. In comparison with the other reviewed sources, this article has a rather short reference list. It references 6 academic works, and 7 films. The article, however, is significant because it offers an interesting context for the cyborg theory movement. It traces the evolution of the cyborg character within Australian society, from a representation of fear to an image so unthreatening that ‘HR companies have been able to harness it for its brand-potential’. And these reflections are from someone who ‘was there’, in the sense that in his doctoral studies in 1995, Cooke wanted to ‘rescue the cyborg from the margins of academic and cultural discourse’. The article is at once reflective and accessible in its writing style, yet still utilises academic sources to support his ideas. The main argument within this article is that the cyborg has changed from a revolutionary image, to one co-opted by, and in a sense killed, by mainstream society. He argues, and then explores how, while the term is dead, the concept of the cyborg is as important as it ever was.



P.K. Jamison's 'Contradictory Spaces: Pleasure And The Seduction Of The Cyborg Discourse' (1994) :


Further research was unable to determine what relationship the author enjoyed with Indiana University, and the Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture is no longer operational. Jamison’s main critique within this article is how the addition of the concept of pleasure to cyborg theory, or to view the cyborg as a discourse of pleasure, would allow for a more nuanced understanding of human and machine relations. To support this argument, Jamison references extensively, using sources from a range of disciplines and topics. Under the following headings, Jamison re-imagines and critiques the cyborg as a discourse, and as a potential discourse of pleasure. ‘Cyborg-Pleasure-Seduction’ considers the importance of pleasure in understanding cyborg social relations; whereas ‘Images of Pleasure and Seduction: Angels and Dragons’ demonstrates and critiques how utopic and dystopic discourses can be used to engage both with both the original and pleasure-based cyborg. While ‘Cyborgs, History and Chaos’ critiques how the concept of pleasure can be used to reconceptualise the history of the cyborg, and indeed social relations. And ‘Contradictory Spaces’ allows Jamison to discuss how the concept of pleasure itself is changed within the cyborg discourse. Such an article is useful as it reinvents the cyborg discourse; it is however imperative to consider and contextualise this article in the time that it was written.


Jennifer H. Kelland's ‘Theorizing the Body: Developing a Framework for Understanding the Body in Online Learning Environments’ (2006):


This paper was written for the 2006 Adult Education Research Conference, an annual North American conference where adult education researchers can share their experiences and studies with international researchers, students and practitioners. Jennifer Kelland is with the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. Further research has suggested that she is a doctoral candidate. This article discusses how the body in online learning environments must theorised, as it is too often considered absent. Under the headings of ‘Material and Online Learning Environments’; ‘The Physical Body: Senses, Movement and Experience’; ‘The Personal Body: Limits and Boundaries’; ‘The Political Body: Inscription on the Body’; ‘The Knowledgeable Body: Information Storage’; ‘The Expressive Body: Communicating and Connecting with Others’; and ‘Implications: Considering Tisdell’s Typology’, Kelland considers how the concepts of face-to-face learning can be re-examined to incorporate the body in the online learning environment. The end of each section also sees her posit questions to her audience, which could be a useful starting point for someone considering engaging with this as a research topic. As this was a paper presented to an adult education conference, the reader can trust the significance of the sources to the argument, and also reveals what issues are important to the academics within this specialised area.


Andy Miah's ‘Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals & Posthumanity’ (2003):


Andy Miah is a lecturer in Media, Bioethics and Cyberculture at the University of Paisley in Scotland. The Journal of Evolution and Technology is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Within this article, Miah is considering the concept of post-humanism compared with the concept of transhumanism. He considers both sides of the suggestion that medicine is a transhumanist technology and suggests that people accept transhumanist technology when it is seen as repairing the human body, not enhancing it. Yet he also questions whether the lines between repairing and enhancing will soon become blurred, especially with the emergence of genetic research. He also suggests that elite athletes are an example of transhumanism; they use technologies to make their performances more than human. He cites the example of hyperbaric chambers as proof of the athletes’ reliance on technology, and hence cyborg nature. He also questions how performance enhancing drugs engage with the idea of athletes as cyborgs. The article is questioning in style; while well referenced, it brings up many interesting points without seeming to come to any concrete conclusion. Such an article should be used for its ability to raise questions that need to be answered by other sources.

If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race?

Ashby, Madeline. 'Ownership, authority and the body: does antifanfic sentiment represent posthuman anxiety?'

This article compares portrayals of the technological creator in science fiction with the role of the literary author. In films like Bladerunner and Ghost in the Shell, the creator owns and takes steps to control the body of his creations, and these creations struggle with that control. This narrative can be used to provide perspective to the debate over ownership of characters. Authors such as Robin Hobb and Lee Goldberg have contested that their creations, the characters in their books, are being inappropriately abused by unauthorised writers. These characters, once published, are malleable, transformed by fans to create cyborgs, creatures who are endlessly replicated and varied. Their bodies, transformed within fanfiction to include wings, male pregnancy, homosexual attraction and genderswap, to name a few, are controlled by a multitude of fans as well as the original author. In exercising control over these imagined bodies, fans, predominantly woman, have an avenue to their own empowerment, and this avenue is contested by those threatened by the loss of authorial ownership. This empowerment is sometimes achieved by overlaying the anxieties and experiences of the fan onto the body of the character, and using that body as a vehicle to both tell their own story and imagine their own potential futures. The imagined cyborgs of the future are already here, being fought over by various interests, in a way that showcases existing power dynamics. The authors who want to keep their creations to themselves highlight the perversity of competing interests, criticising the expression of female desire.

Coppa, Francesca. 'Women, Star Trek, and the early development of fannish vidding'

This article provides an optimistic account of a counter-culture history that allows women to engage with technology and with female narratives through the use of video editing. In the context of Mulvey's male gaze, and the male domination of film production, science fiction and technology, women have managed to create their own stories by the use of remix culture. Star Trek imagines our future, but from the perspective of the male creators, for an audience with certain gender expectations. As such the imagined future is one that replicates and reinforces existing gender dynamics, and therefore one that marginalizes other experiences. Coppa argues that at the heart of Star Trek is a displaced woman, Number One, and that the problematic female portrayal was a call to arms. The fans, incapable of providing a competing future in the same format, managed to use the technology they did have at their disposal, VCRs, to produce alternative readings of the future that others had envisaged. The fans discussed were technically adept and highly educated, and engaged with the text in a way that united technology with female desire. This expression of female desire forms the basis of many of the criticisms leveled at fan culture, as described by Ashby. This is one reason that fan culture can be described as revolutionary and empowering for the women involved - it is a forum where community support and the anonymity of the internet allows for female desire, the expression of which is still unpopular in mainstream culture. While vidding has become more popular with easier video-editing software and more accessible with online streaming websites, and therefore not all vids can be placed in this narrative of revolutionary expression, Coppa firmly places early remix culture within minority discourses. With this in mind, there has been more recent acceptance that remix culture also needs to engage with the issue of representations of characters of colour, and much discussion as to how to do so. Coppa mentions How Much is that Geisha in the Window, a vid that engages with the whitewashing of the future, where remix culture is used to point out that Firefly is a show that imagines a space-faring future based on the US and China being the superpowers, yet because it is imagined by a white creator, it doesn't actually show a world that includes Asian characters as anything other than scenery.

Hollinger, Veronica. 'The Technobody and its Discontents.'

A literature review that discusses the way that gender remains a “vigilantly guarded border concept” even though speculative fiction could reimagine any aspect of the future. It discusses the link between body and identity, and that “bodies are always gendered and marked by race.” Hollinger investigates the literature claims that despite the promised blurring between body and self "the discourses of cyber culture... work to enforce the kinds of boundaries which it promises to erase forever." It also focuses on the importances of the shape of our imagined futures. "Popular culture," it quotes, “is the testbed of our futurity,” and the culture wars over these imagined futures is indeed a war over our actual future. This is why I believe remix culture is so important, in that it provides a vehicle for commentary on popular culture, science fiction and essentially, commentary on the type of future that we want to be heading towards.

Merick, Helen. 'We was cross-dressing 'afore you were born! Or, how sf fans invented virtual community'

A history of science-fiction fan communities, and the role of gender within them. This article can be used to show the role of gender and authenticity within virtual fan communities. This article talks of the pride that women took in a female-produced fan publication, despite the fact that one of the co-editors was secretly a man. Science fiction is not only a way of imagining the future, but also a way of engaging with an aspect of present culture. This shared interest in present culture, and the desire for community out of that shared interest has led to ongoing engagement with evolving technologies, shaping society's cultural future.

Nixon, Nicola. 'Cyberpunk: Preparing the Ground for Revolution or Keeping the Boys Satisfied?'

A gendered critique of cyberpunk that deconstructs the revolutionary hyperbole surrounding cyberpunk and contests that it is merely a new location for 1980s conservatism. She compares the difference between authors like Gibson, who write the future with the gender dynamic they pretend the present has, with masculine techno-cowboys harnessing the feminized networks of technology, and authors like Atwood, who write a future where a scientific / technological situation combined with existing social conservatism to change the gender dynamic to the detriment of women. This article can be used to show that what happens to the imagined role of women within the future depends on who is doing the imagining. This can also be applied to the issue of ethnicity, as western science fiction typically imagines the future of American society. Some science fiction addresses the concern that Japanese technology was too prevalent in America, and the techno-cowboys of Gibson's imagining are exercising dominance over the Japanese hardware as well as the feminized networks. I would argue that while there exists the potential for cyberfeminist and multicultural futures, the majority of our published imagined futures are not going to reach that aim. The imagined future depends on who is doing the imagining, and as such, gender and ethnic identities matter when determining what that future looks like.

Bonus link for those who can access the library's collection of journals: Aboriginality in Science Fiction

WEBLIOGRAPHY
Haraway’s ‘Manifesto’ is a political text generated from socialist feminism of the 1980s. In what ways have feminists taken up her radical ideas since then?

1. Helen Kennedy, the author of the article "Subjective intersections in the face of the machine" describes it “call to feminist and science technology studies to engage with debated about the intersectionality of gender with race and class in analyses of women’s relationships with their computers.” The article draws on the stories told by 14 working-class women from ethnic minority communities about the introduction of networked computers in their homes, specifically the article is designed to argue that we need to account for women’s subjective experiences of the identity intersections that take place in the face of the machine. This article appeared to be relevant for the question chosen, as it doesn’t initially follow on with Donna Haraway’s idea of the cyborg, however is close enough when it comes to feminism in the cyber world, I particularly thought it is important to also establish real case studies of women and their relationship to the computer in the modern world as it takes up a socialist feminist approach by focusing upon both the public and private spheres of a woman’s life.

2. Katherine Hayles in her article "From cyborg to cognisphere" took Donna Haraway’s idea of the Cyborg into Literary theory. This article is a qualitative analysis and review of Donna Haraway's "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" (1985). Hayles suggests that much urgent and pressing work remains to be done, as the cognitive sphere takes up where the cyborg left off, and the dynamic cognitive that flows between human, animal and machine. I found this article useful as it not only draws upon Haraways work but also looks into the idea of the human and machine working together in which created the idea of the cyborg. Hayles takes on a similar approach to Donna Haraway, however her work intends for a different focus. She argues that a shift was underway from the human to the post human. Her work was derived initially from Haraways herself however focuses on the literature of the post human and she proposed the idea of a cognisphere; the idea that physical world is fundamentally computational. “The claim that reality is fundamentally computational is for me like the posthuman in that I regard it as a formation to be interrogated rather than something simply to be believed or disbelieved, accepted or rejected.” Hayles talks about the shifting of boundaries between human and machine cognition and the increasing roles that machines now play. An example of cognitive construction that machines now play can be shown by the emerging surveillance programs that the Bush administration authorised to spy on US citizens she discussed. And now recently human and machine cognitions have become so intertwined that distinguishing between the two in the context of surveillance makes no sense.

3. Susan Hawthornes book "Cyberfeminism: Connectivity, Critique and Creativity" is relevant to contribute to research for other ways feminists have taken up Donna Haraway’s ideas, as Susan Hawthorne discusses the idea of Cyber feminism and critiques the roles of a cyborg. I particularly think passages in this book are useful for the question as it not only discusses Haraways idea of a Cyborg but similarly Hawthorne in some ways critiques her ideas. In particular Hawthorne ‘disputes the existence of cyborg consciousness’. She suggests that Cyborgs are too inclusive to be useful, for example, by driving a car or even or riding a bicycle it all results in the conclusion that “we are all cyborgs”. She feels the distinctions are all too inclusive. Hawthorne indicates that the problem with the reification of cyborg identity is that the writers appear to forget the real body inside or outside of the cyborg. And hence in that, she indicates that the real body is natural enough without being in a classification of being a cyborg. Hawthorne also makes argument of the idea or theory of a ‘Cyborg’. “A cyborg is built upon the fear of a body outside the norm, a body out of control. Instead of developing knowledge about one’s body, about what makes it function well, feel well, create happiness or stress, the goal of a cyborg theorist is something like this:”
“The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment. We can be responsible for machines; they do not threaten us. We are responsible for boundaries; we are they.” (Haraway)
Therefore this work of Hawthorne is particularly useful as she draws upon Haraways influential work and then critiques it with her own ideas.

4. Sarah Kembers ‘Cyberfeminism and Artificial Life’ follows the footsteps of Donna Haraway. The book aims 'to trace the development of identities and entities within the global information network encompassing both human and non-human environments, and to offer a pluralised cyberfeminist engagement with artificial life as both a discipline and cultural discourse' (p:vii) Kembers conclusion is based on Donna Haraway's work of the cyber feminist view of the cyborg and in particular her claim that "biology is one of the great 'representing machines' of the century." Kembers work takes a critical political view of the concept of life as information, tracing this through the new biology and the changing discipline of artificial life and its manifestation in art, language, literature, commerce and entertainment. From cloning to computer games, and incorporating an analysis of hardware, software and 'wetware', Kember demonstrates how this relatively marginal field of artificial life connects with, and connects up global networks of information systems.

5. Anne Balsamo in her book “Technologies of the Gendered body: Reading Cyborgs” articulates the key issues concerning the status of the body for feminist cultural studies in a postmodern world, she takes us deeper into the cyborg territory. She draws upon Donna Haraways studies and her idea of a cyborg tying into technologies impact on the gendered body. Balsamo describes the 1980s being the decade of the Cyborg, particularly because Haraways Manifesto was published in that era. Balsamo states that “In one sense, my intent is to contribute to the development of a “thick perception” of the body in contemporary culture from a feminist stand point.” (pg 3) The book is based around the assumption that the body is a social, cultural and historical production. Particular examples are given of the ways the natural body has been dramatically refashioned through the application of new technologies of corporeality. This in which I found to be particularly useful in applying to Donna Haraways ideas, specifically where Haraway suggested that female embodiment was “given, organic, necessary; and female embodiment seemed to mean skill in mothering and its metaphoric extensions.” This online source talks about the female body in cyber space and in essence the effect technology and machines have played upon the female body throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.

science fiction: utopia?

Webliography
WOMN2205: Self.Net Identity in the Digital Age

If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race?

1. Hollinger, Veronica, “(Re)reading Queerly: Science Fiction, Feminism, and the Defamiliarisation of Gender”, Science Fiction Studies, Mar 1999, Vol 26 Issue 1, p 23-40

Hollinger explores the intersection between queer theory and feminist theory within the science fiction genre. She credits science fiction with, despite being an overwhelmingly straight imaginative discourse, challenging the technologies of compulsory heterosexuality.

2. Unger, Rhoda, “Science Fictive Visions: A Feminist Psychologist’s View”, Feminism and Psychology, 2009 19:113

Unger, a science fiction fan herself, discusses the potential of science fiction to challenge and recreate female roles and identity. She notes that female characters within science fiction narrative tend to be stronger and more independent than their counterparts within other genres, although they do often need rescuing from men. She also notes that science fictions allows male characters to be rely upon their intellect, rather than their physical strength, to demonstrate their power.

3. Edwards, Kim, “Defying Androgyny and Bending Gender: The Matrix”, Screen Education Winter 2008, Issue 50, p 117-122

Edwards explores the androgyny within popular film The Matrix (1999), discussing the way characterisation challenged traditional gender roles and sexuality. As Unger touched upon in her article, Edwards found that science fiction allows for the re-imagining of masculinity, being measured by intelligence rather than physical strength.

4. Burns, Lawrence, “Race, Science and a Novel: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue”, Developing World Bioethics, Dec 2008, Vol 8 Issue 3, p 226-234

This article examines the science fiction novel Racists by Kunal Basu (2006), which details a scientific experiment involving the isolation of one white and one black infant as a way of staging a contest in a “natural laboratory”. The novel is a critique of the inherent desire science to emphasise biological differences between races and the ramifications of acting upon that desire. It paints the relationship between race relations and science fiction in a negative light.

5. Eng, Dinah, “Multicultural Casting Thrives in Sci-Fi Shows”, Television Week, January 2008, Vol 27 Issue 31, p 12-12

Eng discusses the way that the multicultural casting of popular science fiction television show Star Trek pre-empted the modernisation of race relations in the United States in the 1960s. The futurism inherent in the science fiction genre forces writers to imagine the future of race relations and, therefore, challenge their pre-existing state.

Our Future Embodiment - A Webliography

Image credits to cobalt123

1. John Perry Barlow - “Talk at the 40th Anniversary of the
Internet conference, UCLA”

This talk outlines the relationships between culture, knowledge
and control on the Internet. Barlow describes what he sees as a
shift from monotheist creation of popular culture -- where the
culture primarily comes from places of authority -- to one of
pantheism -- wherby everyone is creating popular culture, and the
culture comes-about from everyone interacting with each other. If
we see much of the way we view our physical identity as being a
product of our culture, then, certainly, a shift in the way
culture is disseminated amongst society will bring-about new
ideas of the body.

2. Roger Clarke - “Ethics and the Internet: The Cyberspace
Behaviour of People, Communities and Organisations”

In this slightly dated article, Clarke’s intent is to deal with
ethical issues surrounding the use of the Internet. He begins by,
firstly, outlining the technical nature of the Internet because,
in his own assertion, one shouldn’t “bother getting involved
unless you're prepared to ... examine the engineering that
underlies it”. He then outlines the impact the Internet has had on people
from the individual level right through to the government level,
along with ethical considerations at each level. While some of
the information may not be relevant, and -- certainly -- the
Internet has progressed since the time of the article, much of
the discussion remains relevant even today. Importantly, as we
increase our presence on the Internet, the importance of such
discussions increase dramatically. In addition, the behaviour and
regulation of groups and individuals on the internet impacts the
distribution of cultural capital. In turn, this will have an
impact of the way we are are embodied in relation to such
technology.

3. Ray Land - “Issues of embodiment and risk in online learning”

This article, as the title suggests, discusses the issues of
embodiment in online learning. It begins by relating how,
traditionally, education has taken-place in enclosed spaces as a
way to regulate meaning and activity. Certainly, once the
learning environment begins to move into cyberspace, such
regulation becomes incredibly difficult. Interestingly, the
article suggests that:

The embodied learner and the embodied teacher might also each be
represented ... as enclosed entities, insofar as they appear to
be relatively clearly defined, with seemingly obvious physical
boundaries. Cyberspace, on the other hand, complicates and
disrupts such preconceptions and habituated practices (p. 530).

Here we see the idea of our bodies extending beyond the skin, and
into cyberspace. The article then outlines various thoughts
relating to online learning. One of the views discussed is the
idea that such spaces can be cold and sterile on account of the
absence of other physical bodies in the learning environments.
The author notes that this then leads to further thoughts.
Namely, that such spaces lack veracity. That is, due to the lack
of a speaker’s physical presence, their words may appear to be
‘false’ -- one may sense a lack of embodiment. Land notes that a
disembodied view is impossible to attain as it is a view from
‘nowhere’. Another point raised is how the online world, by some,
is said to lack ‘risk’, and how this may stifle learning. It is
then pointed-out how, despite the lack of physical risk, there
are still other forms of harm that present themselves as a result
of interactions with the Internet. Finally, the value of
anonymous identities is also presented: by being able to escape a
physical identity, students are more willing to reveal weaknesses
in their own understandings, as well as being able to deal with
other social constraints that may arise because of the identity
granted to them as a result of their physical body -- such as
gender, race, size, and so forth.

4. Susan Greenfield - “Re-wiring our minds?”

How do extended screen experiences affect the development of
children’s brains?

This is a question posed to Susan Greenfield. Whilst no
definition a ‘screen experience’ is given, from the answer, we
can make the assumption that it involves experiences such as
film, television, video games, and, of course, computers. Much of
the talk is centred on the differences between such screen
experiences and physical interactions with people along with
reading books. She suggests that, in the new mediums, “emphasis
is ... on experience rather than meaning, rather than on
content.” Coupled with this notion is the idea that such
experiences are designed to be exciting. To me, this view is
problematic as it generalises the screen experiences into all
having a similar focus. Moreover, I am certain that many people
can think of examples where a screen experience does not fit her
description. In this respect, it would be more valuable to
discuss media that is presented via a screen as more of a medium
for the presentation of various feelings, ideas and so forth.
This would be in contrast to Greenfield's approach whereby screen
mediums are given a fundamental nature -- their emphasis. While
it may be more visible in the texts currently available in this
form, the current emphasis is not a fundamental apsect of the
form. That is, these texts are presented via medium which
possesses certain physical attributes that may constrain or
strengthen various presentations of the work. That does not,
however, determine the nature of each individual work; the
meanings that we may derive from the work as a result of it being
presented on a screen are culturally produced. Greenfield also
raises the issue of people deriving meaning about their physical
bodies from their digital bodies. That is, she presents the idea
of how one may die in a game only to start again, and how that is
not possible with one’s physical body.

5. Ban Ki-moon & Hemanshu Nigam - “Cyber Hate: Danger in Cyber
Space”

In this talk at a United Nations' conference, we hear of how
various online activities relate to happenings in the rest of the
world. We hear of how new technologies are being used to realise
some of the oldest fears. Along with this warning, they also
present ways in which we may confront these issues -- such as
striving to promote understanding. Nigam also suggests that we
see the online and offline as part of one world -- as he believes
young people do. Certainly, this is a way of trying to deal with
two things that, for some people, are often placed in binary
opposition. That is, concerns about interactions with other
people often revolve around a sense of loss for the physical.
Often, such lamentations appear to assume that the online world
will replace the offline. This, however, is not the case. Whilst
the body may move beyond the skin, the physical body -- with all
of its interactions -- is still here to stay. The internet may,
at times, move to assimilate the physical world within virtual
spaces such as Second Life, yet the reverse is also true: the
internet is being assimilated by the physical world. All around
us, we see people with, among other pieces of technology, mobile
phones that connect to the internet. In this case, the Internet
becomes another feature of our world. Swallowed, as it were, by
culture. Consider, also, how all of the Internet requires a
physical structure. From computers on one end, to cables, servers
and datacentres. All of its existence relies upon the physcial
presence of various devices. Moreover, the physcial presence of
this infrastructure relies on the Internet as the reason for its
existence. Even if the internet is to play a prominent role in
our future embodiment, we will still exist within the physical
world, coupled to physical machines.

***

Bonus link: Sugata Mitra - “The child-driven education”

This is a video that I came-across the other day, and it outlines some of the interesting ways that computers connected to the Internet have been used in education. Enjoy ;).

I'd much rather be writing a recs list than a webliography

My brain is resisting the constraints of academia. Therefore, an alternative webliography of sorts, made up of transformative works. Not addressing any of the questions, but each related to something we've covered in the course at some point

The Robot Apocalypse
Unnatural selection. Warning: violence, spoilers and the robot apocalypse. A mashup of footage from Terminator, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar: Galactica and the writings of Charles Darwin. A vid I find really interesting, that looks at the human/machine relationship in terms of evolution - survival of the fittest is not survival of the strongest, but the most adaptable.

Seven Nation Army. Same warning applies. A more straightforward vid about the various human/machine wars we as audiences have witnessed, and the repetitive narrative of resilient humans standing tough in the face of the machine horde. Battlestar: Galactica, I, Robot, Dr Who, The Matrix, Terminator, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Transformers.

Fix you. Battlestar Galactica. If you're interested, but unfamiliar with the source, it helps to know that the compassionate-looking blonde woman (as opposed to the short-haired blonde woman with a cigar) is a human model cylon. The show is not a straightforward story of humanithttp://http://www.com//giandujay's creation turning on it, because there is definitely a lot of support for the reading that cylons have an equal claim to Earth, and that even if humans and machines go to war, both are portrayed as societies that are interdependent. This vid shows the cylon perspective to the conflict.

Programmable women: yay?
It Depends on What You Pay. Warning: potentially triggery. The show is Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, where "actives", also known as "dolls", get programmed with skills and personalities to the specifications of clients. They are people who have signed a contract, for a variety of reasons, to work for the Dollhouse for five years, and their own personality is stored during that time. This vid very strongly points out the lack of ongoing consent, which is something the show tends to gloss over in favour of the character arc of Echo, a doll who is becoming self-aware despite the constant mindwipes. It also shows the interaction of gender and technology - in this world, this amazing technology is primarily being used to fulfill the fantasies of white wealthy men, and the people enslaved by it are mostly women (and the mentally ill, portrayed as signing their contracts as a last resort because they're unable to cope in the real world).

Sweet Dreams. A similar Dollhouse vid, which highlights the potential for abuse built into the program, and the way that technology facilitates that abuse, loss of identity and loss of agency.

Celebrity skin
The fear. A meta vid that portrays an actor (Summer Glau) as a cyborg of sorts - not just because she tends to play programmable characters including a terminator, but because as an actor and dancer she is a slave to her directer and choreographer. Her performance is programmable, and her public identity is constructed.

Piece of me. Similarly themed meta vid, about Britney Spears. It's a vid made about the public ownership of celebrities, using one of her own songs to demonstrate the constructed narrative of an identity from images.

The cyborg future is now

A neuroscientist says people's brains are being 'rewired' because of their exposure to screen technology.