Now, there are some cybernetic adaptations that I will have no truck with at all. Bluetooth headsets, please! - not really down with the “beam me up” look. Similarly I am not attracted to wrap around sunglasses with built in MP3 players. Strangely, although I am a total music lover, I do not carry an iPod. Nor do I feel the need for a camera on my mobile phone so that I can snap away at every living moment of my life.
I do however work heavily with my 12 inch PowerBook G4 Mac which I have a strange attachment to. (Apple seems to have that whole user-friendly-interface thing down to a tee). I have 4 Instant Messenger accounts: Skype, Yahoo, MSN and iChat. I have Skype open most of the day. I do videoconference with my web cam, but only internationally, not with people who are down the road from me.
I’m also a sucker for a PDA, ideally one that syncs with my Mac, has a calendar, memo pad, address book and a good accessible phone. (Incidentally, I had to let the Blackberry go because I am not overly keen on receiving international push email [spam] 24hours of my GMT day).
I resist texting when I can and often reply to a text message with a phone call. I also make a habit of using full English in my msgs just to b difrnt & wth 600 txt msgs a mnth incl. in my contrct I can afford 2 do that 2.
I met this guy on the weekend that my phone was stolen. I told him that I’d like to see if I could go without a phone for a week or so. I have a landline, email etc. He said, “but what about flirty texting?” I paused for thought. I still pause for thought and will come back to that later.
I have a MySpace account, which I rarely use; a business WebPage, a Facebook account; an eBay account; I do my banking online; will do my grocery shop online when I get organised enough; I have an Amazon account and have the BBC website as my homepage. I listen to pod casts and digital radio online and rate access to the plethora of global music amongst one of the best things that the internet revolution has provided. The words Google and Googling have become part of my everyday language and activity. And Wikipedia is just so important that I cannot imagine researching anything without it.
My boys use Club Penguin, this cute online social network and gaming world for children. They have been using a computer and online since they were 2 years old and can, occasionally, show me a trick or two. This evening before they went to bed we watched some very funny video skits online. We don’t have a TV aerial, just the monitors for watching DVDs and so we spend a lot of time on line as a family.
Much of this has been part of my virtual reality research for this paper and my general knowledge (seriously ☺) and some of it for professional use and personal enjoyment. Realistically these services change so much and are usurped by new ones so frequently that it is hard to keep up. Consequently you may notice that most of the above are ‘household names’, sites that I have used for some time. I have been online for 10 years now. I have always been a bit of a techy monster and so the gadget thing is second nature to me.
Someone asked me the other day, in a work-life-balance kind of way, how many times a day I check my email. A very puzzled look came over my face. “All day” is the answer.
Are you getting this yet?...
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Friday, 15 August 2008
An Introduction
Earlier this year I set about updating my CV. In the closing ‘interest and hobbies’ section I listed the following:
Social anthropology: ideology, theology, global politics, language, culture, travel, virtual reality.
‘Virtual Reality” ? I’ve been reflecting on this ever since. On, not just how did it end up in my list of interests, but, when did ‘virtual reality’ become a reality of our society?
Before I get tongue twisted on the concept I’ll hone in on what it is exactly that I mean when I say virtual reality.
I mean technological adaptations of our environment. Our means of communication, tools for planning and archive and access to culture and entertainment influence how we engage with our world.
And I also refer to cybernetic extensions. I remember watching films about Cyborgs when we were growing up . They were humanoids fitted out with technological adaptations to enhance hearing, vision and other sensory experiences as well as physical abilities. Like Steve Austin from the 6 Million Dollar Man; the Terminator and Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. It all seemed so far away, a distant, fanciful future.
Slowly, over the years, words from fiction have become part of our everyday speak, (albeit occasionally tongue in cheek). Words such as Cyber Space, then the Cyber Café, Satellite Navigation, GPRS and Virtual Reality form our daily language.
Now when I say slowly I’m just pulling you into a story. The reality is that all of this has happened very, very quickly. It has happened really only in the last 10 years or so at a very rapid pace. Indeed, it is the velocity and the omnipresence of this societal change at the crux of this conversation.
Just now, between the last paragraph and this one, I remembered that there is an item of luggage that I just gotta have, so I “Apple Tabbed” my Mac onto my web browser, entered the product name into an Amazon search and hey presto! I have it stored in my ‘wish list’ to hook up later. I glanced at the inboxes on my Yahoo and Facebook accounts. I also took a minute to collect my thoughts, send my pal a text message re arrangements for the morning, heard my email ping empty (not so popular at 11pm huh), closed my Skype so that I’m not too distracted and checked my alarm on my mobile for the morning. Took me all of 3 minutes.
10 years ago those interventions would have gone something like this. I would have got out a mail order catalogue and flicked through it, or called the manufacturer for a list of suppliers- by fax if you please. Or, I would have arranged a time to get my arse down to a department store to look for my desired luggage. I would have confirmed arrangements with my friend on her ‘landline’ at home or work earlier today. I would not have been in the slightest bit concerned about not being so popular at 11 o’clock at night. And, most annoyingly, I would have been waking up to the sound of a rattling, squawking, hyperactive alarm clock tomorrow morning rather then the little Calypsonian rhythm that stirs me these days.
To what extent is the latter day scenario affecting our perception of reality, becoming our modus operandi?
The following discourse is not purely lamenting the advent of technology and a digital world; it is simply an acknowledgment of the infiltration of Today’s mod cons. I hope that this paper provides a moment of conscious reflection for us as human beings - that we take a moment to collect our thoughts.
We appear to be embracing a technological age without strong soundings as to the influence that it has on our humanity- social skills, and etiquette. I want to consider the implications of online social networks on socialisation; digital recordings on documentation and archive for the future; instant messaging on real world friendships; mobile phones on our social skills.
I’m in my early 30’s, I have two sons aged 10 and 5. I believe that I have a generational responsibility to air these thoughts. I perceive that I am within an age bracket of people who exist betwixt the old world and the new. That we are an unusual generation in that the divide, the generation gap that is a natural part of any society, is remarkably deep- a cavern bridged by a few of us who straddle elements of both worlds. We are voluntarily leaping into a new way of living, new forms of society, new ways of engagement that may leave others- elders, impoverished, less mobile- behind, on barely a whisper of modest contemplation.
Ironically it is these new global media that will provide the means of communicating these thoughts. These global media and networks organise mass concerts, protests , flash mobs and campaigns that proliferate through the Internet and capture the imagination of a global consciousness, such as has never been witnessed before. We are the global media. This is my first blog...
Social anthropology: ideology, theology, global politics, language, culture, travel, virtual reality.
‘Virtual Reality” ? I’ve been reflecting on this ever since. On, not just how did it end up in my list of interests, but, when did ‘virtual reality’ become a reality of our society?
Before I get tongue twisted on the concept I’ll hone in on what it is exactly that I mean when I say virtual reality.
I mean technological adaptations of our environment. Our means of communication, tools for planning and archive and access to culture and entertainment influence how we engage with our world.
And I also refer to cybernetic extensions. I remember watching films about Cyborgs when we were growing up . They were humanoids fitted out with technological adaptations to enhance hearing, vision and other sensory experiences as well as physical abilities. Like Steve Austin from the 6 Million Dollar Man; the Terminator and Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. It all seemed so far away, a distant, fanciful future.
Slowly, over the years, words from fiction have become part of our everyday speak, (albeit occasionally tongue in cheek). Words such as Cyber Space, then the Cyber Café, Satellite Navigation, GPRS and Virtual Reality form our daily language.
Now when I say slowly I’m just pulling you into a story. The reality is that all of this has happened very, very quickly. It has happened really only in the last 10 years or so at a very rapid pace. Indeed, it is the velocity and the omnipresence of this societal change at the crux of this conversation.
Just now, between the last paragraph and this one, I remembered that there is an item of luggage that I just gotta have, so I “Apple Tabbed” my Mac onto my web browser, entered the product name into an Amazon search and hey presto! I have it stored in my ‘wish list’ to hook up later. I glanced at the inboxes on my Yahoo and Facebook accounts. I also took a minute to collect my thoughts, send my pal a text message re arrangements for the morning, heard my email ping empty (not so popular at 11pm huh), closed my Skype so that I’m not too distracted and checked my alarm on my mobile for the morning. Took me all of 3 minutes.
10 years ago those interventions would have gone something like this. I would have got out a mail order catalogue and flicked through it, or called the manufacturer for a list of suppliers- by fax if you please. Or, I would have arranged a time to get my arse down to a department store to look for my desired luggage. I would have confirmed arrangements with my friend on her ‘landline’ at home or work earlier today. I would not have been in the slightest bit concerned about not being so popular at 11 o’clock at night. And, most annoyingly, I would have been waking up to the sound of a rattling, squawking, hyperactive alarm clock tomorrow morning rather then the little Calypsonian rhythm that stirs me these days.
To what extent is the latter day scenario affecting our perception of reality, becoming our modus operandi?
The following discourse is not purely lamenting the advent of technology and a digital world; it is simply an acknowledgment of the infiltration of Today’s mod cons. I hope that this paper provides a moment of conscious reflection for us as human beings - that we take a moment to collect our thoughts.
We appear to be embracing a technological age without strong soundings as to the influence that it has on our humanity- social skills, and etiquette. I want to consider the implications of online social networks on socialisation; digital recordings on documentation and archive for the future; instant messaging on real world friendships; mobile phones on our social skills.
I’m in my early 30’s, I have two sons aged 10 and 5. I believe that I have a generational responsibility to air these thoughts. I perceive that I am within an age bracket of people who exist betwixt the old world and the new. That we are an unusual generation in that the divide, the generation gap that is a natural part of any society, is remarkably deep- a cavern bridged by a few of us who straddle elements of both worlds. We are voluntarily leaping into a new way of living, new forms of society, new ways of engagement that may leave others- elders, impoverished, less mobile- behind, on barely a whisper of modest contemplation.
Ironically it is these new global media that will provide the means of communicating these thoughts. These global media and networks organise mass concerts, protests , flash mobs and campaigns that proliferate through the Internet and capture the imagination of a global consciousness, such as has never been witnessed before. We are the global media. This is my first blog...
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