tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post6421681047727714656..comments2023-10-24T04:18:08.409-05:00Comments on J880: Human geography and mass communication: Castells, First half of "Cities in the Telecommunications Age"Greg Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09154543464555817869noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post-10441498246677533922008-12-31T05:56:00.000-06:002008-12-31T05:56:00.000-06:00Our products include the UK's first automatic M...Our products include the UK's first automatic Mobile Saver, enabling you to always make calls to international destinations at the lowest rate available.Richerdsdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14654161944676957796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post-28906550133494510242008-10-07T19:33:00.000-05:002008-10-07T19:33:00.000-05:00RE: Warf VRWarf focuses his analysis on the sense ...RE: Warf VR<BR/><BR/>Warf focuses his analysis on the sense of realism or sense of “being there” that is common in the VR literature, but does not go very deep into the socio-cultural context of the users’ experience. For example, what is the person doing in the virtual environment and why? What brings them there? How are their actions culturally and socially situated and how does this impact their behaviors and experience? More current research in virtual reality (especially related to gaming, but also related to virtual worlds such as Second Life) relies heavily on socio-cultural frameworks to unpack these questions. For example, in his work on Discourse analysis, Jim Gee talks about multiple identities as they are situated within particular socio-cultural contexts. He extends this analysis to video games (virtual worlds) and suggests that people take up multiple identities when playing video games. Here is an example - if I am playing TombRaider, I am simultaneously playing as myself, as Laura Croft (the lead character in the game/film), and as a hybrid (me playing Laura Croft). I might even be playing as me thinking about me playing Laura Croft and/or as me playing Laura Croft as other people watch me play. How does this relate to an “embodied experience”?<BR/><BR/>I wonder how these chapters relate to some of the earlier readers that dealt with sense of place (and all of its theoretical variations)? Can one develop a sense of place within a virtual space? Within a game world? Through a novel? Through a webspace (e.g, forum, blog, fan fiction site)? How does embodiment relate to sense of place? <BR/><BR/>Henry Jenkins (who I especially like for his cultural work on Star Trek culture) has written some interesting things on games and space. For example, see his article “Complete Freedom of Movement: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces” <BR/><BR/>http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/complete.html <BR/><BR/>This essay came from a book called From Barbie to Mortal Combat (Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins (Eds.), Cambridge MA: MIT UP (1998). If you are interested in gender and virtual space (primarily games) this is a good starting point.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08108862864093680802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post-590872414077003242008-10-07T14:22:00.000-05:002008-10-07T14:22:00.000-05:00I was incredibly entertained by Warf's "Compromisi...I was incredibly entertained by Warf's "Compromising Positions". One of the themes Nate mentions is the dated-ness of this book and this article in particular, while making some excellent points, could use some updates. Here are a few things I thought:<BR/><BR/>Is it still true that 80% of internet users are male?<BR/><BR/>While Virtual Reality didn't take off as predicted (despite Dery's hopes on page 64 of cybersex for all) bodies are central to much entertainment technology. Video games put enormous emphasis on bodies. I have been strongly discouraged from referring to video game character creation "Barbies for boys" but the extent to which avatars can be dressed up and altered to resemble real bodies is astounding. Also, the Wii phenomenom is entirely the incorporation of bodies into video games.<BR/><BR/>Finally, community standards: while I can't attest to internet porn legalities, I do know of a body piercing website that moved to Canada to avoid indecency laws. Warf's comments to the effect that bodies are the most controversial thing in cyberspace seems still very true.Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082302287861195911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post-61967187632758389032008-10-07T10:53:00.000-05:002008-10-07T10:53:00.000-05:00It isn’t so difficult for me to understand what Ca...It isn’t so difficult for me to understand what Castells’ space of flows is, as it is understand what it is not. Is it a description of a spatial logic of the Information Age? A force? A structure? All of these things?<BR/><BR/>Castells tries to bridge different levels of analysis, particularly with the qualifications he introduces in this piece. I am curious about his idea of “dominant activities,” which includes financial flows, management of major corporations, science, technology, etc. I imagine that formulations such as “the constitution of the space of flows was in itself a form of domination. . .” (p. 21), led to criticisms that there was not room for agency in his formulation, and hence, the later qualifications making room for social actors and agency? <BR/><BR/>So he is addressing both macro-level forces (dominant activities) as well as experience and social interaction. Reminds me of Gidden’s attempts to marry structure and agency in structuration theory.<BR/><BR/>Nate mentioned a binary connecting dispersal with communications and concentration with geography. A very interesting idea. I wonder (though doubt) if it is the development of technology itself that has made simultaneous yet contradictory tendencies in spatial dynamics come to the fore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com