The End of the Course as we know it...

Okay, the major essays are all marked and can be collected from me in room G.07. I'll be in my office most of next week (Nov 15th - 19th), so please do come and pick your essays up.

Also, can I take this opportunity to thank you all: firstly, for your reflective posts which will be very useful in evaluating the course (and thanks for the kinds words about your tutor, too!); and, secondly, and most importantly, can I thank you all for your participation in the many facets of Self.Net. It has been a real pleasure running this course and being your tutor and participating in some fascinating conversations about all things digital which, I'm sure, will continue long after the course has faded in your memories!

I hope your increased critical awareness of digital culture serves you all well in the future, and with any luck I'll see a number of you in other courses, or doing Honours (since so many of you are writing at a level which would see you do very well in an honours program).

Byebye.

Reflective Post

Hi everyone! Well this is my reflective post and it looks like I'm the last to do it (as usual!). On reflection of the course, I can actually say that I am glad to have been introduced to blogs and blogging. I think it proved to be quite useful for learning purposes, especially as it linked strongly to one of the course sections on blogging. Having actually experienced it gives a deeper understanding of readings and makes the learning process more fun. Its also good to get critical feedback on tutorial posts (especially when everyone is so nice) as it makes you continue to think about tute topics after we've finished them. On the question of the cyborg, I now do consider myself to be one as i've realised that you cannot ever separate yourself from technology. I think it is a part of human nature to continually advance in society through applications of technology. When I know I've enjoyed a unit, is when I find myself applying things discussed and learnt in class to my everyday experiences. I think its important to have some connection with what you study to your own life, it makes new ideas and theories easier to relate to and comprehend. Two of the things I liked most about the course are firstly, the lectures, they were intellectually stimulating and its good that Tama's not afraid to have a giggle. The second thing is the relaxed atmosphere of our tute. I always felt challenged to think things through and view them from different perspectives.
Thanks Tama and the tuesday 3pm tute!!

My Reflective Post

well well well....I would have to say that all in all the Self.net unit was a good one. Being a slacker single major in the face of crazy people doing triple majors and combined/double degrees, I wanted to choose a unit for the semester that i thought to be totally out of my comfort zone as as well- behaved, stick in the mud commerce marketing student. Out of all electives i've done, Self.net has proven to be the most engaging in terms of the sheer number of times its made me feel like i was in waaaay over my head, but in a good way. Maybe its because i'm a marketing student or maybe because i'm just silly, but throughout the course there was definitely many a time where i would read a reading, listen to Tama's lectures or even the comments by fellow tute group peeps and think to myself "WHAT THE...??!?!?"

But in a fabulous kind of way, thats what made this unit rock, the fact that it forced me to think and draw conclusions about things that i would not have previously have, and on that note, i would have to say that i do indeed believe that i too am a cyborg. Prior to the unit, my definition of cyborg would have been strictly limited to fantasy machines a la Arnie in terminator, yet now i realise that i do see the cyberworld and perhaps also my own personal dependence on it to an extent as the defining part of my newfound cyborgian status ( is that even a word or did i make it up??).

I believe Tama also mentioned being a pioneer in the weblogs for learning movement ( tee hee) and to that i say, bloody good job!!! I have done many a computer based commerce unit and none of them were as fun as this one because they never actually required us to physically get online and do stuff like blogging or chatting- it was all theoretical. When u're forced to put it into practice through things like blogging i think there is definitely a greater sense of understanding and more of an impetus to think about the theory part of the subject is presented ( as supposed to sitting in a class staring blankly at the tutor/ lecturer with the yesof course i'm paying attention look..). I really enjoyed the blogging and other tutors should take a hint and get cracking on it!!

And finally i guess one of the best parts of the unit was having fun lectures and workshops with Tama ( it always makes me laugh hearing my friends whinge when they hear that we got to watch movies for workshops : P losers....)and also the fabulous people in the tute group- a mish mosh of people that rocked and through all our class discussions and lack of( tee hee... i myself am prone to the deer in headlights look and silence when asked a question..), was the icing on the cake for a truly wonderful unit. Dare i say i'll miss it..... i think so!!!!

My Reflective Post

well well well....I would have to say that all in all the Self.net unit was a good one. Being a slacker single major in the face of crazy people doing triple majors and combined/double degrees, I wanted to choose a unit for the semester that i thought to be totally out of my comfort zone as as well- behaved, stick in the mud commerce marketing student. Out of all electives i've done, Self.net has proven to be the most engaging in terms of the sheer number of times its made me feel like i was in waaaay over my head, but in a good way. Maybe its because i'm a marketing student or maybe because i'm just silly, but throughout the course there was definitely many a time where i would read a reading, listen to Tama's lectures or even the comments by fellow tute group peeps and think to myself "WHAT THE...??!?!?"

But in a fabulous kind of way, thats what made this unit rock, the fact that it forced me to think and draw conclusions about things that i would not have previously have, and on that note, i would have to say that i do indeed believe that i too am a cyborg. Prior to the unit, my definition of cyborg would have been strictly limited to fantasy machines a la Arnie in terminator, yet now i realise that i do see the cyberworld and perhaps also my own personal dependence on it to an extent as the defining part of my newfound cyborgian status ( is that even a word or did i make it up??).

I believe Tama also mentioned being a pioneer in the weblogs for learning movement ( tee hee) and to that i say, bloody good job!!! I have done many a computer based commerce unit and none of them were as fun as this one because they never actually required us to physically get online and do stuff like blogging or chatting- it was all theoretical. When u're forced to put it into practice through things like blogging i think there is definitely a greater sense of understanding and more of an impetus to think about the theory part of the subject is presented ( as supposed to sitting in a class staring blankly at the tutor/ lecturer with the yesof course i'm paying attention look..). I really enjoyed the blogging and other tutors should take a hint and get cracking on it!!

And finally i guess one of the best parts of the unit was having fun lectures and workshops with Tama ( it always makes me laugh hearing my friends whinge when they hear that we got to watch movies for workshops : P losers....)and also the fabulous people in the tute group- a mish mosh of people that rocked and through all our class discussions and lack of( tee hee... i myself am prone to the deer in headlights look and silence when asked a question..), was the icing on the cake for a truly wonderful unit. Dare i say i'll miss it..... i think so!!!!

Reflective Post

I have really enjoyed doing this unit. Especially because of the blogging expereince. Prior to the unit, I was unaware of the potential of blogs. Within the course framework however, it was difficult to use the weblog for learning purposes. I attribute this in part to my inability to access the internet from home. This meant that to read the blog I had to specifically designate time to do so. Thus it wasn't integrated into part of my everyday activities. Personally, my blogging activities on my own personal blog have changed. It used to be filled mainly with journal-style teenaged angst type enteries but now it has more 'worthy' material. Also in the midst of doing this course, I have witnessed a blogging revolution amongst my circle of friends. I think it would be interesting to study how blogs are contributing to social networks. (Why would you read the blog of someone you see almost every day?)

Initially, accepting that I was a cyborg was difficult. The rejection was like a knee-jerk reflex. I wanted to believe that I was 'natural'. However, what I have learnt in this course has proved me wrong. I am now fully convinced that I am a cyborg.

I take away from this course an enhanced view on digital culture and my own place within it. Thanks Tama and all of you in the tute group!

XXX Hot Sex Sex Sex (Reflecting Post)

I really enjoyed Self.net. It taught me lots of useful things. Like how to use titles that may be slightly misleading to attract people to visit my blog. And that chocolate and candy truly are good motivators to get students (adults?) to do work. :)

Before starting Self.net I had read Harraway's Cyborg Manifesto and pursued the idea of the cyborg in other English units in films and text. However, I had not explored the logical extension of these themes, that the cyborg is a part of who i am. Yet as I sit here downloading my goldie lookin' chain and moldy peaches through the peer to peer file sharing program soulseek, reviewing my sales on eBay and checking my e-mail, I can't help but think that there was a rather obvious link, perhaps too obvious, that I had been missing in my previous readings of Harraway and the manifesto.

I enjoyed the format of the course, though I wish I had utilisd the blog a lot more. I think a blog has a lot of potential to further learning. It was a novel concept to me and I've never really come across blogs or live journals before, always assuming they were for geeks, freaks, Manson-ite goths and angst-ridden smiths loving depressive persons. However, as I probably fit into maybe just more than one of these categories, Self.net has offered me a great crash course in bloggging, its educational outlets, and the combination of fun and learning. Brilliant. So thanks Tama! and all the others in the self.net tuesday 3pm tutorial massive, big respec!

reflective post

My favourite thing about Self.Net was the varying ways in which the course work was presented. The different learning styles of the lecture, workshop, tute and blog always kept things interesting and the concepts brought up in class were always kept in mind outside of the official learning sphere.
Personally I didn’t like posting on the blog but that is because I am a dinosaur re:technology that relates to Jeremy’s parents in ‘Zits.’ However, my outlook has inevitably changed since the course. But blogging as part of the course learning experience was essential. The ongoing interactivity encouraged constant engagement with the unit and also provided a forum for sharing ideas with the other students.

Reflective Post

I personally found the use of blogs for educational purposes quite an enjoyable exercise, and it was one of the reasons I chose the course to begin with. It was good to read other people's views, especially in an english unit where opinions are essential for provoking discussion and debate. The webliography was a new experience, as well as being able to see other people’s submissions.

Before reading Harraway’s manifesto I did not believe myself to be a cyborg, but under her extended definition and the discussion we had in the first tutorial I believe that nearly everybody is a cyborg under her definition. Especially considering the fact we are using a web log that is hosted in another country to communicate with our own tutorial group, and anyone in the world interested enough to view it, we are most definitely cyborgs.

The wide range of topics covered by the course ensured that the unit was interesting, and I looked forward to the lectures, workshops and tutorials because of the interesting discussions (and Tama’s videos during the lectures). The section on video game theory and reflections of society was particularly fascinating.

Reflective Post

Well, for the first time in three years of uni I'm actually really sad to reach the end of a unit! I can't decide whether it's the content of the unit, or the fact that I'm just a geek, but I really enjoyed this class. The Blog was an excellent idea; although I'd encountered blogging before, having the Blog for the whole class to post on meant that not only was everyone clued up on what was being discussed when someone said "blog" or "online community", but we actually got a feel for what we were talking about. I don't think the class would have been nearly as effective without the practical element. Perhaps, though, the success of blogging is particular to this unit; it's hard to say whether the same format would work well in an Ancient History unit, for example.

Do I believe myself to be a cyborg? I don't know. I suppose according to Haraway, we all are, but I certainly don't wake up in the morning and identify myself as a cyborg. Perhaps that means I am one, though - I don't wake up and identify as female or as Australian either, but I am. Maybe that's part of the beauty of it - perhaps our "cyborgness" is just as invisible as most other technology. Fourteen weeks ago I never would've asked whether I was a cyborg, but now maybe I will; as was mentioned in the tute today, there's an irreversibility of identity that I'm sure I will reflect upon for a while to come.

I loved the challenge this course provided - there are certainly a lot of issues that have confronted me and inspired me to further research them and seek other's opinions. The Visible Human Project simultaneously repulsed and fascinated me, whereas a molecular genetics student friend of mine didn't find the VHP to be confronting at all. Notions of life and corporeality will certainly never be as clear-cut as they once were; it will be interesting to see the path cyber theory takes in the future, and the role it will play in the determination of identity for people who 'grow up' online.

Most likely my last post!

Although I genuinely didn't enjoy posting to our weblog this semester, I see the purpose of having them and believe that they played a beneficial role in the course. Through the weblog, I was able to learn what a weblog is and also see how the can play a role in creating interactive societies online. I most likely will not participate in a weblog again anytime soon (unless I have to) but I can see that using them for this course broadened my knowledge of ways the internet (digital culture) plays a role in people's lives.

As I said the first week of class after reading Donna Haraway's article, I did believe and still do believe that I am a cyborg. However, after taking this course, I am now able to see the numerous ways in which I am constantly interacting with technology and digital culture. Now I am able to back up my reasoning for saying that I am a cyborg with specific examples instead of just claiming "I am because I use technology a lot".

I really enjoyed our tutorial discussions because we were able to really discuss and argue our own opinions regarding information that we read. Through these discussions, I was really forced to contemplate issues that I had never taken the time to think about. For example, many times we discussed the question of "what is life"? That single question has made me think and question my beliefs and the possibilities for many definitions of life. Who is to say what life is anyway? My favorite part of this class was the many discussions that we had in tutorials.

And I guess I have just finished my last required weblog post! (-:

Ending Response

As a final post, I would like to say that I really enjoyed this class. Although at first I was a bit reticent at the idea of a class talking about internet life, I realize how important it is to actually have the discussions and existancial questions about what is life? what do we consider alive? are we cyborgs? The digital age is not something we can ignore and put aside anymore. It has become part of us and before we get too attached, it is important to question the way we use it. The class could have only been structured around readings and technical knowledge, but Tama did a great job in integrating weblogs to the class. Imagine, we could have spent the entire class talking about internet, without participating in this virtual community and for my part I would have never known what a blog or virtual reality was! I also found the readings interesting and the worshops were challenging. I prefered having the workshop online because it made me surf (otherwise I would not have done it). finally, I wish everyone good luck with their essays.

Artificial Life & Blogs

I came across Darwin's Pond. It's an Artificial Life simulation game much like Creatures in last week's tute. I haven't yet played the game, (given the limited bandwidth the uni provides, it's impossible to do anything) but it seems relevant so I thought I'd share it.

On the blogging front...
Purely by accident, I stumbled upon Blogstickers which is a website of bumper stickers for blogs. I particularly liked this one:

You can also make your own blogstickers at The Blogsticker Factory.
I think this page has evidence of culture jamming but I could be wrong.