Psychoanalytic Cultural Theory

BONOBO CHAT 

Description

BonoboChat is an app for mobile devices that uses lexicons to speak to Bonobo monkeys. The Bonobo points to the lexicon that corresponds with certain words. The creators of BonoboChat hope to update the app with the ability to convert text-to-speech. They would also eventually like for the Bonobos to be able to use the app to control the environment around them: doors, vending machines, and even a robot (the BonoboRobo) that is equipped with water gun.

The Positive Aspect

"The iGeners have redefined communication. . .and latch on to and embrace any new communication tool and give it their own personal spin." But the use of lexicons as a means of communication is not a new idea. The idea behind the BonoboChat is a concept called Augmented Communication. Often by people with mental and communicative disabilities, augmented communication is a blanket term for methods of communication that replace speaking or writing. Lexicons are used as a means of communications for people with these disabilites. Augmented communication is an overwhelmingly positive idea. Without it, many people would have no means with which to communicate with the world around them. A recurring theme in the texts that we are reading is the idea of always being connected, being able to communicate with people across the world. Yet there are people with disabilities that prevent them from communicating with the people directly in front of them. Augmented communication gives them the chance to communicate with the world around them, a chance that they would not have had without this concept.

The Negative Aspect

Bonobo Chat enables bonobos to use a robot with a fake monkey head to enable them to interact with guests and do tasks like open doors, operate vending machines, and even squirt toy water guns. The reach of technology has extended beyond humans to even apes. Bonobos use Bonobo Chat with an iPad that they carry around with them to communicate. Nowadays, the use of technology starts at a very young age, and this is even true for bonobos. They’re starting to learn how to use Bonobo Chat at even six months old. Lexigrams are even used between bonobos.

In Chapter 2 of The Shallows, research was done that demonstrated that tools like rakes and pliers “actually came to be incorporated into the brain maps of the animals’ hands. The tools, so far as the animals’ brains were concerned, had become part of their bodies.” If this is true, then Bonobos could have difficulty separating themselves from technology. It would be ingrained in their brains, which shows the massive effect that technology can have even on apes. 

Postmodernism

Postmodernism

Claire Dillard, Dieu Doan, Anna Leger, Tyler Wales

            Postmodernism encompasses ideologies in art, literature, architecture, philosophy, and many other fields.  In essence, postmodernism is “post” modernism, or simply the rejection of modernism and its ideals.  Modernism is a broad framework that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Beginning around 1812, the Industrial Revolution was a major force in the modernistic beliefs of rationalism and human potential.  At that time, Western society was experiencing rapid growth of cities, scientific progress, fixed moral code, and strict social rules.  Then, the onset of two world wars brought about a complete change in society’s psyche and beliefs.  Government and authority began to be heavily questioned, while the discovery of the atomic bomb and its horror caused society to question science, research, and physical proof.  Combined with the Holocaust occurring in Europe, these events caused society to lose hope and confidence in human progress.  All of this said, postmodernism is skeptic towards scientific and philosophical truth and cynical towards human experience and knowledge.  Postmodernism denies the existence of any ultimate, overarching principles, focusing on the relative truths of each individual (“Postmodernism.”).

            As stated earlier, there are many different fields in which postmodernism is apparent, and there are many different characteristics that distinguish it from modernism and other ideologies.  Modernists are deep, linear thinkers, whereas postmodernists are on-the-surface, circular thinkers.  Modernism places emphasis on the rational, scientific, and universal truth, while postmodernism is distrustful of these ideas (Irvine). 

            In the realm of media, society has experienced a loosening of what we define it as; media is up for our own personal interpretation.  No longer are there social principles or moral codes to operate by, so both producers and consumers of media are free to define it relative to themselves.  To different people, “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”  In today’s society, the strict social rules of old do not define us; we are free to define ourselves, as is apparent in our radical dress, behavior, and expression.

            In art, we see a clear distinction between the famous works of the early and middle 1900s.  In the former, we see universality in subject matter, style, and themes, whereas in the latter part of the century, we observe distinct differences relative to each artist.  Postmodernism is apparent in recent artworks through the vivid colors, personal expression, and lack of an overarching, central theme.  Andy Warhol is a postmodern artist, as he believes in style over substance, placing his personal taste in his artwork.  In his depiction of Marilyn Monroe, we see his personal emphasis on color and shape.

            In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, John Storey writes about Jean Baudrillard, a French cultural theorist who claimed that a postmodern society is a culture of the simulacrum, the hyperreal.  Within these ideas, “the distinction between simulation and the ‘real’ implodes, . . . the result is that reality and simulation are experienced as without difference” (187).  We can easily observe these postmodern ideas in television.  Millions of viewers are captured by the stories of individuals on “reality” TV shows when, in “reality,” the viewers have substituted these virtual lives for their own.  The hyperreal even occurs in the real world; for example, many actors that portray doctors on television have been approached in real life for medical advice, a clear violation of social rules and the ostensible divide between real and simulation.

            Appealing to the flavor of our class, postmodernism has also had its presence felt in technology.  Postmodernism has shifted the center of knowledge from modernistic books and libraries to the Internet.  The cloud is postmodernism at its best in the digital world, as it is “user-motivated, individualized, . . . and networked” (Irvine).  Again drawing upon the blending of reality and simulation, The Kindle pulls text out of books and places them on a virtual screen.  This technology—and postmodernism as a whole—transcends the physical limits of print media (Irvine).  Also, the Peel is postmodern because it is very individualized; it provides a more meaningful and simulated television experience relative to each user.

            Postmodernism has left its impact on our society and its life can be traced through history, from one major ideology to the next.  Some philosophers argue that postmodernism is over and that the ideology society now lives by—like postmodernism—cannot be defined until we have a history to relate it to.  Though a trait of postmodernism is the capacity to forget our past, we hope that you have learned and will remember the many meanings, characteristics, and facets of postmodernism.

Works Cited

Irvine, Martin. "The Po-Mo Page: Postmodern to Post-postmodern." Communication, Culture & Technology Program. Georgetown University, 23 Jan 2012. Web. 30 Apr 2012. <http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.html>.

"Postmodernism." PBS. n.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html>.

Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. 5th ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print.

Facebook

Elaina & Jocelyn's Social Network Presentation on Facebook!

Facebook is a social networking site launched in February of 2004, that currently has over 900 million users. Members can create a profile, upload and share pictures and other media, post statuses, view and comment on friends' statuses, and play simple online games.

Cool - Elaina

Facebook helps people reconnect and stay in touch with friends and/or acquaintances by way of status updates, comments, pictures, messages, and even video chat. Facebook can help people maintain a sense of community with people who are important to them regardless of whether or not they can physically come together. This can help ease the transition of moving away from someone's hometown for school or a job opportunity, or even separation caused by a military deployment or severe medical needs. 


In Rewired, Rosen talks about how the iGeneration thrives on multi-tasking. Facebook is the perfect outlet for multi-taskers, especially with the addition of their new side feature that constantly updates and shows friends' actions occurring in real time. To most teens today, the idea of completing one task at a time is unimaginable and a waste of time (pages 32-34), and Facebook has adapted to fit with this generation. While most people didn't like the new Timeline layout at first, many are coming to realize the potential it has to become a new way to document our lives. Where people used to write private journals, most people use Facebook as their outlet for expression. Having access to millions of people's 'journals' will potentially provide future generations with the largest cumulative memoir ever recorded in human history.

Not Cool - Jocelyn

I managed to find an entire Wiki page dedicated to the criticisms of Facebook
As always, there are the technical problems. Facebook surpassed Myspace years ago, yet it still doesn't support the same level of customization. Timeline helps a little by allowing you a second photo (the cover photo) on your wall, but you can still only use plain text and you’re pretty much stuck with Facebook’s default layout.

Many users have complained about the lack of live customer support and the faulty automated message system in place to resolve issues. Account deactivation is also a hassle (and somewhat of an emotional roller coaster from what I've heard).

Privacy Concerns:     
Facebook uses tracking cookies to monitor page visits by facebook users and non-members.
Reportedly, 20-33% of divorce suits in the UK cited Facebook as a cause. 
Photo recognition and face tagging: for the past year, Facebook has been making it easier for us to upload every picture on our cameras and tag all our friends and family at once by introducing face recognition. After the first few tags, Facebook will remember the people in your album and other recent photos and suggest them to you while tagging. While the feature can be disabled, many people are concerned about the invasion of privacy that this feature implies. 


Psychological Effects: much of the criticism Facebook receives is from people claiming that it increases stress levels and can even cause depression. Facebook has also been accused of promoting anorexic and bulimic content through advertising.  
Identity Theft and Defamation: like all social sites that allow anyone to create an account, Facebook makes it easy to impersonate others. In July of 2008, the High Court in London passed the first successful invasion of privacy and defamation verdict over a post on a social site against a man who created a false account of a former friend and used it to demean him. 
Even advertisers are wary of Facebook and often have their ads removed when they are shown on the pages of controversial people or groups.

Effects on Education:
Students have faced disciplinary action by their schools for posting inappropriate content on their Facebook. 
Several articles have been published describing the negative effects of using sites like Facebook during class or while studying. 
Most people use Facebook to “stalk” friends and play games (like WWF and Farmville), which has been negatively correlated to student involvement.

LinkedIn Description and What's Cool

LinkedIn on Prezi

                LinkedIn is a social networking site that is aimed specifically for professional networking use. Sign-up is free for anybody and a profile is automatically given which displays personal information, education history, employment history, and other personal details that users choose to disclose. Users can add “connections” which will enable them to communicate directly with them and view their public profile. There are groups that users can join to have discussions and share interests. A job search feature is available to look for employment opportunities. LinkedIn also provides news mostly related to marketing, real estate, or technological industries as well as from specific companies. Companies can also have profiles which display information as well as have the option to post blogs, start discussions, or simply be “followed”.

What’s Cool?

                LinkedIn is a great resource for a wide range of people and their needs. This includes professionals and top managers in corporations, employees, clients, students, alumni, and even just friends. It is a way to expand your network in more than an informal social setting but professionally to foster relationships that can help your career. Users can get advice, recommendations, job offers, as well as initiate business deals, partnerships, and advertize. There is an unlimited amount of opportunities that are derived from your connections.

                LinkedIn’s job search feature is a useful tool for people to seek out employment opportunities and apply online without having to fill out any physical paperwork. Users upload their resume onto their profile making them public and therefore accessible by employers and recruiters. Users can choose to receive email notifications and alerts for new job openings or matches with your profile. In addition to resumes, users can receive recommendations from others which further strengthen their professional image and reputation.

                The internet is becoming a major means of communication and social networking has and still is rapidly becoming a large reason for this. With a site like LinkedIn, many tasks can be done online, remotely, without having to physically travel and submit documents. Simple stated, distance is no longer as large of a factor in keeping connected with others. As Turkle says in Alone Together, “The global reach of connectivity can make the most isolated outpost into a center of learning and economic activity.” (Turkle, 152) With just a few clicks, we can meet new people, form new connections, and maintain them with relative easy. LinkedIn provides this connectivity that “offers new possibilities for experimenting with identity…relatively consequence free.” (Turkle, 152) The worst thing that could happen is being rejected for a job position.  

Video

As stated in the video, Skype offers many benefits. It offers a safe feeling that comes with online experieces, as described by Turkle (page 249). She describes how online experiences can offer a personal interaction with the safety of distance. Skype offers an even more personal experience by face to face interaction.

Skype can also be said to be a step in the future. Rosen states that messengers like Skype are most used by what he dubs the "iGeneration", a generation he claims can use the site at the age of five. This brings up with question of who a five-year-old skypes. With the modern community becoming less local and more global, it is important to have a means off communication, especially a free one. With Skype offering a free, more personalized interaction, it is easy to see how it has become not only popular but a big step into the future.

Twitter

INTRODUCTION (Jared):

            Twitter is a community of microbloggers. It is a social networking site centered around something known as a tweet. A tweet is a post that must contain less than 140 characters, and can include links to pictures, videos, or other websites. A tweet usually is a statement of what you are doing, or can be a thought, idea, concept, picture, video, news, or topics of interest. Another important part of Twitter is the concept of trending topics. Trending topics are key phrases or words that can be searched and monitored by the Twitter community, and these usually are seen with the pound sign or hash in front of the words with no spaces in between them. Also, using Twitter, you can follow someone, but they do not have to follow you back, which is different from many social networking sites. This allows for the extensive following of celebrities, without celebrities having to follow all of their fans back. You can also private message people who you follow, tag people in your posts, and retweet posts (posting someone else's tweet for all of your followers to see). Twitter is one of the most visited websites in the world, and is a very successful social networking site.

POSITIVES (Tyler):

            Twitter is a level playing field; anyone can communicate with anyone.  For instance, I could follow a sports star and he or she could follow me.  This opens up the flow of ideas, allowing people to obtain many different angles and opinions in order to create a complete idea.  As a result, we are more connected to the world and people around us.

            Due to this expanded channel of communication, we need a valve to limit what we are exposed to, and Twitter provides this control.  Its character limit constrains the size of each message, while each user has the ability to “follow” or “block” other users to define the number of messages that one sees.  Unlike other social media websites, Twitter does not obligate a user to follow another user if a connection is established by the latter.

            Ultimately, I view Twitter as a flat plane in which communication occurs.  We are all easily connected in this plane, with no user having an advantage over another.  In Proust and the Squid, Maryanne Wolf states:

We are only at the beginning of analyzing the cognitive implications of using, for instance, the browser “back” button, URL syntax, … and “pedagogical tags” for enhancing comprehension and memory.  These tools have extremely promising implications for the intellectual development of the users, particularly users with discrete areas of weakness…. (Wolf 220)

For those individuals who have social impurities and struggle with communication, Twitter offers an encouraging medium in which they can connect with others.  These individuals are brought into the plane that is Twitter, while the mental implications of Twitter improve and raise the community as a whole.  As a society with increased mental and social skills, we will create stronger, deeper connections with one another.

NEGATIVES (Josh):

            In Alone Together, Turkle writes, “on social networking sites such as Facebook, we think we will be presenting ourselves, but our profile ends up as somebody else – often the fantasy of who we want to be.  Distinctions blur” (153).  This implies that the use of social networking sites, like Twitter, can make the presentation of ourselves more difficult and confusing.  People present themselves in every form of communication, but I think that Turkle is implying here that social networks can make the process of the exploration of identity even more confusing.

            She goes on to write, “Virtual places offer connection with uncertain claims to commitment.  We don’t count on cyberfriends to come by if we are ill, to celebrate our children’s successes, or help us mourn the death of our parents.  People know this, and yet the emotional charge on cyberspace is high” (153).  This applies specifically to Twitter, because of the way that any Twitter user can follow any other Twitter user without being followed in return. Twitter truly offers connection without commitment, and this may lead to confusing attitudes towards connection, commitment, and community in general.

            Finally, Turkle discusses the compulsion that people develop to constantly use the Internet.  She describes a woman in her seventies who has meditated on a biblical reading every morning for years.  Recently, however, this woman has found it difficult to resist the urge to check her e-mail before her spiritual practices.  In fact, her compulsion has become so strong that her resistance to checking her e-mail has become part of her spiritual devotion. While this example deals with e-mail, similar compulsions certainly exist in Twitter users.  It is likely that regular Twitter users will grow strong desires to always stay updated, and will develop a habit of checking their accounts often.  This could be harmful because of the information that is supplied by Twitter, which is more often than not trivial.  Basically, a Twitter account can grow to be a waste of time.