Online Worlds

Today I put a nice lady into an uncomfortable situation. I was doing a presentation on Internet Technology, focusing on social networking sites and virtual worlds. I asked for a volunteer to take over on the computer so she could chat in a virtual space for the rest of us to watch. She gingerly sat down at the computer, and hesitantly touched the keyboard as if it had just been sprayed with a squirt bottle full of germ water. She typed "hello," and after that was off and running (literally, well, literally in the virtual sense). I know how she felt, though. Trying a new technology in an atmosphere where there are a lot of people who know how to use it is hard (the rest of us weren't experts, just the 400,000 or so other people who use the virtual world - in this case, There.com). I wonder some day if traditional online courses will be supplemented with "in world" classrooms where we all login as our avatar and take our seats in a virtual desk (this video is LONG...I only listened to about a minute of it before I wanted to make the narrator stop talking).

Also, my presentation's main focus was how Social Justice relates to online experiences. I had some of my students login to virtual worlds as people of different genders and races, and it offered them the opportunity to experience - in some real sense - a few moments under a different identity than their own. From the responses that they wrote, it seems like it really affected some of them.

me and the bus

So, nothing interesting happened today. Not really. It's still cold, but that's old news. I did miss the CTA bus a few times lately, though. I generally only ride the bus when it's cold enough to freeze jet fuel, mostly because it's only eight or nine blocks that I have to walk. But here's what normally happens...I come around the corner to see the bus pulling away. Or, I stand in the cold for fifteen minutes waiting for a bus that was supposed to come every twelve minutes, leaving me to start walking and not see the bus I was waiting for until I'm almost home. Or, I get on the wrong bus. Or I sit next to a man who likes to yell things like, "Smile, everybody! It's Friday. Hoo-Hah!" (Actually that story comes third-hand from my friend's friend.) Whatever the case, public transportation is a part of my life that I love, if only in small doses.

And here's a whole blog devoted to those transported by public transport.

technology and social connection

So if you're super cool like me and spend a lot of time thinking about how crazy and convoluted our media world is getting, then you've probably heard of a guy named Henry Jenkins. If you haven't heard of him, then pinch yourself...you're still normal. (All pinching aside, I've reached the point where i have no choice but to embrace my inner geek.) One of the terms that Henry Jenkins coined, and the way I got interested in him originally, is "transmedia storytelling," but this is a topic for another day.

A topic that I'd like to mention briefly here, is what Jenkins calls "tele-cocooning." He mentions the example of Japanese youth who stay connected with wireless devices ALL THE TIME. In the academic article (everyone's favorite genre) Jenkins uses, the authors illustrate how students actually become closer to one another as a result of the technology, even though technology often seems more like a buffer between traditional face-to-face interaction. All of this to say: hey kids! tell your parents that text messages actually help you foster lasting relationships with your friends. If they scoff, print the stuffy article I've linked to, put it under their pillows, and write in small, humble letters: "this is just a little something I ran across the other day."

our little personality

This has to be my new all-time favorite picture.

She's saying something like: "hey, watch out you, i'm the one in control here you know, and i'm cute so there's nothing you can do about, oh yeah, and watch out for when i grow up and can talk, i'll be able to argue my way out of anything."


I can't wait for her to argue me into a corner.

cold weather pic

Yes, it's cold in Chicago. This was taken at the Lincoln Park Zoo before Christmas, but we always have to bundle up when we go out. It was -10 last week (-30 with the windchill). Lucky for me, I get to walk the dog three times a day.

Social Networking Sites

Are you on MySpace? Do you have Facebook? Perhaps your like to share photos on Flickr. I know some people who are on Friendster, but I haven't heard much buzz about it. Also, there's the ubiquitous Classmates page that everyone's seen the ads for. What's your fancy?

Perhaps you haven't heard of any of these (in which case you should try hooking your TV up again because MySpace has been featured in news stories time and again, if only to scare parents of teenagers into screening their kids' internet use). But, I wouldn't worry if you've only heard of MySpace and Classmates, say. Even so, Internet savvy people should have at least a passing familiarity with the name of these webpages: "social networking sites."

I'm currently in the process of writing a few papers on the topic, with the specific purpose of seeing how the use of social networking sites can be helpful/detrimental to (roughly) college age students. At any rate, I'll post on issues about Internet Society from time to time. Check back if you're interested.

Back to blogging

It's been a long time since I've blogged. (It's hard to imagine that I first started using Blogger in 2002!) I remember making my own blog pages in Macromedia Dreamweaver and having to constantly move each post down manually as I updated. I got wise, switched to the now defunct BloggerPro, and got a sweatshirt. Much has changed. I'm amazed at how fancy and easy Blogger has become. I'll probably be able to transfer some old posts to this blog with the click of a button. Anyways, enough nostalgia over my blogging past.

I live in north Chicago now, and I'm in slowly beginning to go crazy. I'm hoping that blogging from time to time will relax me (you see, my shoulders get sore when I'm stressed). I'm also hoping that this page will be a good place to test out some of the ideas I'm working over in my frizzazled brain.

Ashland Bear:


Happy Birthday, Nana! I love you!


Hi Nana Cheryl! I hope you feel all better!