Sunday, November 28, 2010

Uncanny Valley












Peter Budaj Wiki Edit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Budaj

Scroll down to "Mask", the first sentence concerning his Ned Flanders mask with reference #7 is my entry.

Class Assignment

"Online Learning is Growing on Campus"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/us/05college.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=web%20dorm&st=cse

The article examines how, in the University of Florida, one Dr. Rush's economic lectures are streamed over the internet. This is explained by the 1,500 students enrolled at one time in a single class, internet streams being the only way for such a large number to see the lecture. We could discuss in class how students may react to the proliferation of online lectures and courses for alternative college students and normal students alike. Are online lectures welcome in a university like CU? What pros and cons?

"Instant Messaging Addiction Among Teens in China"
http://rpucolo.colorado.edu/ebsco-web/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=105&sid=15de93b3-ab0e-491f-b351-05590f645556%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=45633789

China, with comparable communication technology to Western nations, apparently sees a phenomenon known as "IM addiction". This addiction causes social alienation, stunted social skills, and difficulty in academics. Although there are countless cultural and contextual differences between Boulder students and students in China, it would be interesting to see how many people are on Facebook chat, say, during class time, and if this may qualify for addiction.

"Social Networks that Matter: Twitter under the Microscope"
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0812/0812.1045v1.pdf

The article suggests that there is a loose correlation between people with many friends and the number of posts of the user. It also suggests that there are two "spheres" of twitter friendship, those of close, actual friendship, and the more distant follower followee of fans, stumblrs, and the like. The research suggests that the former is cause for tweets more often than the latter. It would be interesting to examine those who ARE active in the tweeting community, how many friends they have, and their tweeting frequency.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Iris and the World

What I found interesting is that the flashy and cartoonish avatars that many of my classmates and I used were not so unique. There are at least 3 Meez, as many planet creations, a handful of south park and scott pilgrim characters, and other repeats I'm sure I haven't noticed. Strangely enough, the one that stuck out was the small avatar on Iris Rankin's blog, the picture of herself.

It's normal to see pictures of people on social networking sites... that's what they're there for. If you're anything like me, I dont want to see a cartoon character in a profile when I'm expecting to see a photo album. It just doesn't quite mesh with the exposure norm in facebook and the like. However, in anonymous forums or blogs it's still pretty uncommon to see someone's face next to their post.

I would assert that the partial reasoning as to why it is uncommon to see a face on blogs and forums is because we are conditioned to expect certain discourse in certain arenas. As Megan Farhat explains in her blog, drawing from Emily Apter's One Worldedness, Facebook's level of exposure requires a certain level of social tact in posts:

"Some people worry about how many friends they have or how good they look in their profile picture. Some other people may even strive to always have the cleverest statuses or things to say. It is in many ways a very narcissistic little society. It can make one feel paranoid in the sense that whatever they are putting out there is a representation of themselves to be interpreted by the unknown."

I would say that this is in large part due to the fact that we are forced to stand by our name and we come to expect this kind of behavior.

However, discourses that can maintain anonymity often do. I'm sure you've seen your fair share of "John54321"s in the comments section of youtube or your favorite blog, not uncommonly being purposely offensive. In that regard there are also many blogs that are purely anonymous, instead using names that sound almost like TV shows; "The Annoyed Librarian"; "Super Chef"; "Female Science Professor."

I again believe that this is because the purpose of these blogs is unique from social networking, in that they are often used as sounding boards for daily musings, aggravations, and the like, while not necessarily being what the author wants associated with his or her self. Of course this is not always the case, there are plenty of blogs with authors and pictures of themselves strewn throughout, but I would take a stab at guessing there are more blogs without pictures than with. Just look at some of the other students' sites.