Bailyn's Virtual Identity

What is a Virtual Identity?

A virtual identity is a profile that an individual makes on social medias such as Facebook, Instagram, or even videogames.  Those who create the accounts are completely free to manage the account however they please, selectively choosing what information other viewers get to see.  According to CNN.com, “In a virtual world, online identity is potentially much more flexible than real identity, allowing easily changes in race, class, gender, age, socio-economic background, and even species.”  Virtual identities are sometimes an escape for people, where there are able to perceive their lives differently than the real world.  Actually- as I am writing this blog I keep singing Brad Paisley’s song, Online…it is directly related to this topic!  Not all online profiles fake information to make an individual look more impressive, they can also show more personal information to the public that isn’t necessarily known.  Take LinkedIn for instance, it allows professionals to talk about their business success, certificates received, and to connect with potential employers near and far.  For this type of account, it is crucial for the account information to be correct and up to date.  In all aspects, virtual identity offers more for others to see than a driver’s license, or personal image in the real world.

My Virtual Identity

With the internet becoming more modern, it is common for everyone to have online accounts.  I have accounts on Ingram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.  I feel like my virtual identity is very true to who I am in real life as well.  I don’t have any fake accounts, I don’t post stuff that I don’t believe in, and I am constantly updating information as it becomes known.  We talked as a class about whether or not we actually exist in a virtual reality, or if it is just our conscious.  I believe that a little bit of everyone’s conscious resides in every online account they create.  When we are making those profiles as a snapshot into our lives, we are very tedious, accurate, and judgmental of ourselves.  We want to look perfect in the eyes of others, therefore we are always worried about what they are seeing, thinking, and reading.  The days of technology advancing, our conscious is only going to become more submerged in online identities as the years go on.

Is Human Intelligence Natural?

I believe that Human Intelligence is natural, and that we were placed on this earth in order to learn and develop our brains and knowledge over time.  It all starts in pre-school where we learn the basics and it gets harder over time as we seek higher education and challenging degrees.  We all have different abilities which shape the way in which we learn, but in one way or another, every person on this earth is learning something or demonstrating something they have learned, every single day.  There are some instances where natural human intelligence needs to be controlled, just to maintain appropriateness for example.  There is a quote I read online that is perfect for this paragraph, because it explains how human intelligence is natural, endless, and enhancing our future.  “Human Intelligence and ingenuity have consistently and repeatedly unlocked technological and scientific advances that have raised the standard of living each generation compared to its predecessor, while increasing the ability of human society to support larger numbers of people and increasing the carrying capacity of the planet.”  This quote ties us into the next section, about natural intelligence in terms of technology, where it is argued that intelligence in terms of technology is not natural, but instead programmed.

Is Technology Intelligence Natural?

I do not believe that computer intelligence is natural.  Just because technology is able to respond to us when we ask certain questions or select certain buttons, it was not able to do that without prior help.  I argue this opinion because somewhere, behind the scenes, there is someone who had to program the technology to be capable for responding intelligently.  A computer by itself is not smart, and has no prior knowledge of its own.  Take Siri for instance, if you do not ask her questions in a specific sequence, she is not helpful at all.  Siri would probably be able to pass the Turing test, but it is not something thought of to have natural intelligence.  Think about it, Siri is programmed in English, so what happens if you want to use a different language…will it work??  On the supporting side, some argue that because our suggestions on Facebook for ‘people you may know’ are 90% correct that we know that person, it does classify as natural intelligence.  Wrong.  Facebook is able to recommend stuff to us, based on a program that gives feedback based on the links you click on.  We, the users, and giving the programmers information that they are relaying back to us through the computer software. 

Video Game Memes

Video Games - Related Statement

Video Games Can be Respected as Literature???

Video Games Can Improve my Life?

Video Games in Education...what's the point?

In the grand scheme of things, I think we can all agree on the fact that video games now contribute an integral part in to our everyday lives. Many use them as an activity of leisure, some use it to take out pent up aggression, and others have even found a way to incorporate it into sport. Whatever the platform that they are used, there is a notion to be discussed of whether or not video games deserve to be placed into a category of literature.

When we think video games, no one should be surprised that they share many of these same characteristics. Just as the reader moves systematically through a book or some other work of literature, the player of a video game is forced to systematically move through the game, starting from the beginning and moving through the middle to the end.

When talking about literature, what are some of the main components to point out? Throughout grade school, we are taught that literature and stories have a beginning, middle, and end. They have characters, they have a setting, and they have a plot line. These characteristics should have a familiar ring to them.

Often times, video game can also be based directly off of movies, which can be the result of a novel. This forces the video game to follow the exact plot and use the exact same characters in the exact same setting that the book did. The only difference is that instead of flipping through pages to navigate the plot, now the player controls the character as they move through the story and can manipulate them however they please. Essentially, they are still subjected to the same plot line and setting, but depending on the circumstances, they can now draw out their own route through the storyline.  Video games also have the ability to tell stories, such as the piece That Dragon, Cancer.  This tells a story through a video game, which is a huge area for opportunity for those students that are not good readers in the original format.  This may even offer more more to the viewer, who will be able to take away more than they would have originally.

I think we can learn that sometimes we view content so objectively we fail to examine the innards of what our activity really portrays. In the onset of video games, and even still today, they are thought of as something that is distracting and disruptive to society. People try to associate the growing violence rate of society to the growing violence rate in video games and often try to associate some types of games as a sort of taboo. Many people can benefit from learning about the engagement that it takes to operate a video game and the amount of brain power that some games may take to navigate through. For example, in Zork, the path way for the player to take to navigate the woods or the house is not necessarily written in black and white. It takes a considerable amount of trial and error to obtain items and work your way through the game, whether it be entering the house, or even the dungeon.

With regards to classrooms, video games should absolutely be studied, especially in a high school setting. Today’s youth is more and more inclined to be using these devices, which creates an interest for them. By discussing what they are interested in, they are more likely to listen, learn, and ultimately gain more from their educational experience.  Instead of thinking of literature as simply stories written decades ago on pen and paper, if the stories can be translated into something that the students can relate to, they can excel in their studies and ultimately have a completely different outlook on school altogether.

What the fuck is going on here?

In week 6 of digital humanities, we have been

focusing on the concept of “uncreative writing.”  Uncreative writing is taking some form of original text, whether it is a song, book, or an article, and transforming it into another form of art.  Most of the time, the text is converted into some type of poem, as we saw in a previous tribe’s blog post.  The only downfall to uncreative writing are the many hard to answer questions of meaning and authorship.  First of all, meaning does not have to be black and white.  For example, those who do not know how this poem was generated could argue that it has meaning.  Just like any other poem, there is rhyming, repetition, stanzas, and hidden messages.  Even though it is not your typical poem about love, life, or friendship, it is has potential to be meaningful to any given reader that can find a relation to it.  Second, who actually owns the final art work – the author of the original text, the publisher, or the author of the newly creative piece??  To help us answer these questions we have read articles by Kenneth Goldsmith and Mark L. Sample, who both support and encourage uncreative writing, for it is not plagiarism.  In Goldsmith’s article, he supports using others' work by stating:

Kenneth Goldsmith

“Is this writing or is it mere transcription? It depends on who you ask…to an uncreative writer – one who finds unexpected linguistic, narrative, and emotional richness by subtly shifting frames of reference in words they themselves didn’t write – it’s art.” 

Sample also shows support for uncreative writing by telling his students their work is meaningful.  Samples argues:

“I strive to instill in my students the sense that what they think and what they say and what they write matters—to me; to them; to their classmates; and, through open access blogs and wikis, to the world.” 

Both authors go into more detail in their full articles with examples of how this uncreative writing is truly a new form of art.  As we discuss our work of uncreative writing below, we can refer back to Goldsmith and Sample’s articles to help determine who has ownership of our artwork.

In support of both of these articles, we were encouraged to make our own piece of uncreative writing.  We did this by watching multiple YouTube videos portraying a Donald Trump and Game of Thrones remix, the Badass Honey Badger, best clips from Ellen, Mr. Rogers, and Kanye West.  As we watched about 30 seconds of the video clips, our tribe typed what we heard in Google Hangouts so all of the tribe members could contribute at the same time.  We then copied all our responses and composed the lines into a poem.  The end result was a hilarious outcome of repetition and catchy phrases.  Our tribe’s poem gained its name from a line added by an absent tribe member who had no idea what we were composing at the time.  The blog can be found by clicking on the following link: What the fuck is going on here?