Reviewing Blog Posts

Surprisingly, I noticed that my blog post seem to get better overtime. I seem to be getting more comfortable and use to the information. In some blog post in the middle of the year however, I can tell that I was just doing the work to get it over with so I can move on to the next thing. I also realized that as the year progressed my post became more timely. In the beginning I would usually forget to do something or hold it off later because I had other work to do.

The language I used changed over time. It became more well thought-out, and I eventually was able to express myself in different lights. My personality came out through the content that we discussed. The topics weren't as boring as I thought they would be so it made them easier to talk about. It also helped me understand certain parts of the class better, and how the real world directly relates to class.

Overall reviewing my blog posts was an interesting experience. Even though it was awkward I got to understand myself better. I noticed my writing style and the trends in them which has changed. My understanding of the class changed over time, I feel like I have improved drastically. It's weird to think that this will be one of my last blog post. Soon my freshmen year would be almost over as well as this class. It would be interesting if later on in life I look back at these posts (because they are engraved the internet) and reflect on this whole experience again.

Blogs

While looking over my blog posts since the beginning of this class I noticed a few interesting aspects of my writing. The posts that I would write Tuesday morning were usually of worse quality, often because I would rush to finish them before heading off to lecture. When I would write posts on Monday or Sunday night, they were usually much longer in length, and I would go into greater detail of my own experience with the assignment and/or something interesting that I noticed.

I also discovered that most of my blog posts were rather formal, usually lacking my personal voice. The one exception to this is the introduction blog posts, which I feel makes me appear more outgoing/open than I really am. I think the reason for my formality is that while writing the posts, I would think of just answering the questions that needed to be addressed, rather than focuses on my own experience.

Overall, I feel that I best portrayed myself through class discussions. During the discussions I would often build my own comments off of what others would say, and I what I am engaged in a conversation I am more open and personal with others. Also, during discussions I would also share stories about my own experiences relating to the articles we were discussing or interesting news I had discovered that related. Looking back at my blog posts, they appear rather dull compared to the engaging discussions I would partake in during discussion, with some posts appearing blatantly obvious that they were writing just for completions sake.

Blogs.

Chances are, if you went to find me on either a Sunday night, Monday night, or Tuesday morning, I would be doing a blog post for this class. Overall, it's funny to notice that the quality and integrity of blogs posted on Tuesday mornings were significantly worse than that of those posted on Monday and Sunday (Let's hope that this is not one of them). For some reason, I always left the most uninteresting blog posts to leave for the morning before lecture, such as the Manpower Inc. and The Memex Today posts. These blog posts, as I found, were also the least interesting to go over and reread.

I found that across the entirety of all of my posts, I included dumb jokes in nearly all of them. Even from my introductory paragraph, I closed with, “I can't wait to read all these intros and start to FIGure out all your names! That was terrible joke. Sorry.” And I was right, it was a terrible joke. Really stupid. However, that single sentence seemed to set my tone for the entire semester. Even if I was talking about topics that were not usually kind to humor, I tended to inject some form of joke in there.

From my 3 November post about living without technology, I wrote.

"I really wanted to participate in this assignment, but it seemed like my subconscious has other ideas.I only made it two hours. And as soon as I broke that seal, I went, for lack of a better term, HAM. I looked at Facebook. I texted. I tweeted. I FaceTimed my family at home. I checked my school email. I checked my personal email. I browsed Reddit. I won my eBay auction. I watched my fantasy football team get demolished. I used my phone as an alarm clock. I listened to old music. I downloaded new music. I watched funny videos (S/O to Devlin for showing me this). I showed other people funny videos. And I had a great time."

From my 13 October post about my book of choice, I wrote.

“I'm not going to lie at all. Over the past week, I've been researching books to possibly read for this assignment but nothing really caught my eye. I tried searching all over Amazon.com hoping for something to grab me, but I never found anything. Reading Scott's post, I looked up the book he ended up not choosing.”

And know what? Scott’s book was the book I ended up choosing and I enjoy it a lot. Thanks to Scott again for not picking it!

The jokes in my blog posts (hopefully) made my responses more interesting, but as I found, often made them really informal. In my head, I viewed this web space as completely informal from the beginning, and as a result, I never took it too seriously. All of my posts seemed to have a personal voice, but they also seemed to lack analysis of the topic we were supposed to be discussing. To be honest, these posts still represent me in a fairly accurate way. My writings and project presentations always have a distinct tone, but are also often lacking content. After reading my blog posts, I’ve realized that I need to find a balance between the formal and the informal depending on the topic in question.

Editing My Blogs

Today, I looked at the previous blogs I have posted.  I was truly surprised on how much my writing had change over time.  I, however, was not surprised about the mistakes I found within my writing.

The first mistake I found was some blog paragraphs could be divided into multiple paragraphs.  By making this divide, the ideas flowed smoothly.

Another problem was that I wrote the way I talk.  Although people can understand me, it is difficult understand certain sentences.

There was also a difference in how I wrote the searches and the article summaries.  Whenever I wrote about something we had to research, I went straight to the point with no explanation.  If someone were to read it without knowing the assignment guidelines, they would be confused.

Also, when I did searches about myself, they were written informally.  I think this is because I was critiquing myself.  In essence I was doing what I do on Facebook: talking about myself.  Since I talk informally on Facebook, I believe that natural tendency was brought to the blog posts.

What I found interesting was how my writings changed over time.  I started off formal. This is because I viewed the posts as assignments that should show that I can write intelligently.  Over time, however, I became more informal.  I believe this is, in part, due to the fact I have become comfortable with my classmates.  I now talk to them about things other than classes.  This created the feeling that I am not writing for the class, but for my classmates.  The audience was no longer people who would judge me based on my language, but rather accept my ideas, even if they were written in a causal manor.

I believe my earlier blog posts were better examples of my scholarly writings, along with my papers. This is because they were written with the intent of writing with scholarly merit.  Although I referenced and included citations in many of my later works, the earlier posts were written better.

On the other hand, the newer posts represent how I am in discussion.  Discussion takes place in a less formal setting.  In discussion, as with the blog posts, I am more concerned about getting the idea out than considering how to say it.  Although my blog posts are not the most scholarly posts, they work for the medium that they are located on.  Many blogs are written informally, so I feel that my language and formatting is not terrible.

I think, however, that both are good skills to have.  One must be able to talk both formally and informally and understand the correct places to do so.

My Life as a Blogger

This semester, I have spent my Sunday and Monday nights contributing to this blog. Sometimes I felt passionate about the material and added a little extra content; other times, I did not quite relate to the given assignment and only wrote I felt necessary. Either way, I can now say that I've had experience with blogs.

While looking through all of my posts, I noticed that my writing became more relaxed and a bit more informal as time went on and as I began to get to know/feel more comfortable with my fellow figsters. When I wrote about topics such as the Memex or the old videos we had to watch about telecommunication, my posts were not as long and they were more formal. While these are more serious topics amongst some of the others that we've had, my writing reflected my possible uncertainty. My posts about more current topics such as social networking (or lack thereof for an entire weekend), I wrote much more. I was able to relate more current topics to my own life and felt the need to share more about my personal experiences on the blog. Obviously, I've never had an personal experience with the Memex.

I feel my blogs accurately represent my overall participation in LIS 201. During lecture or when discussing topics with which I am not well-versed, I usually don't talk very much. However, in discussion I like to contribute whenever I have an opinion or idea about something that I either know more about or that I can relate to my own life. This blogging aspect of the class has proven to be a new an interesting experience for me. Prior to this class, I had never considered participating in or contributing to the blogging culture before. Maybe know is the time to start.

Reflecting On My Blogging Experience

Over the course of the semester I have managed to do something interesting with my blog posts. In these posts I have managed to portray my analytical skills better than I have in discussion section. My posts have usually been fairly detailed analysis of the weekend's online assignment and provided an accurate portrayal of how I saw the assignment. This is especially true for my assigned blog posts about one of the articles that we read for class about public libraries. However, I have been fairly quiet in discussion section for the most part, not always interjecting with my own view of a topic. This was better done in my writing on the class blog. However, I also feel that this has been the case for all of our writing assignments in LIS 201 and even our assigned speeches. My problem was that I didn't make myself heard in discussion section quite enough (or at least a much as I think I should have).

One key weakness that I found with my blog posts, however, is that they often lacked my own personal voice, even if they portrayed my personal opinion accurately. I often wrote these simply for the purpose of getting the assignment done and didn't always stop to think if my own voice was truly coming through in the post. These posts, at least in my opinion, were a little dull and I definitely could have made a better effort to make them more personal and interesting.

Overall I think my best portrayal of myself came out through the assigned essays rather than the assigned blog posts. I was able to choose my own topic for the essays instead of having to do an assigned one and was greater able to put my own personal taste into the writing and more effectively put an interesting voice into the words on the page. my blog posts simply seemed too dull and like they were done solely for the purpose of getting the homework done.

Reflecting on My Blogging Career

After going through and reading all of my blog posts thus far, I realized that I began in a casual tone, but it quickly changed to a more formal tone. With the introduction post being my first blog post ever, I found that it was very casual as I just described a little about myself and there was no real structure to my writing. I think this was partly because I didn't know how formal blog posts were supposed to be until I saw other posts and approaches to these blog posts. For the remainder of the online assignment posts from then on, my writing was formal and straightforward. When reading through my posts I found that I just answered the questions for that weekend's assignment and wrote them in a formal tone. I feel like I take these online assignments like a miniature writing assignment, so it is good to practice using a formal tone, even if it is just a blog post.

I feel that I present myself in these blog posts the same way that I do with the rest of this class and in school in general because of how I use a formal tone when writing. Whether it be a blog post or a long paper, I always write in a formal tone, so I saw no difference between my blog posts and the rest of this class and the writing assignments. In the blog posts that is also present in my writing assignments is that I add my own voice into the writings, which is a good thing, but I feel that I do not do this enough. When reading my blog posts I saw a few of these instances, but I think that I could have done more to incorporate this. I find that I add in my own voice more into our discussions, because I find the discussion conversations more casual than formal.

I would say that the most true and most effective presentation of myself would be in person and in our discussion. I just think that being able to talk in person with others and sharing ideas right on the spot brings out the best talents in individuals, including myself. Even though I do not talk much, I think that my conversations in person are more effective and are more like myself than my writing. In my writing, I try to be very formal and sophisticated, and even though I try to do these same things in person, I would say I do not do them to the extent that I do when writing. Overall, I find that my blog posts are a good presentation of myself, my writing, and my overall work in this class.

Blogging on Blogging

Reviewing my blog posts made me realize something: I got boring. My very first blog post started out similar to the voice that I have on my regular blog. It sounded a lot more like me, but it was not as formal. As the semester progressed, my posts were much more focused on simply the topic of each week's online assignment. I lacked in asides or really anything that would make my posts more interesting. However, I did not completely stop adding personal anecdotes. There were occasions that it made sense to add in more interesting comments.

My best posts included some personal connection or memory of something that related to the topic. These posts probably displayed my talent the best, but my my papers probably showed my improvement the most. My more interesting posts have a similar voice to my personal blog, because that is the place that I have spent the most time developing a voice. Since this blog was for academic purposes, I feel like I treated at it as more of a public place to put answers to my homework assignments. Many of my blogs maintained an academic voice, and I focused more on completing the assignment than I did on writing an interesting post.

I would say that this is similar to how I present myself in the discussion section, but I probably make personal connections more than I do on the blog. Since we are in a FIG I also make more connections to concepts from our other classes in the papers and in discussion.

Looking back on my posts it was interesting to see how much I wrote over the semester. Little posts here and there don't seem like that much at the time. My favorite post that I wrote was the one after being disconnected for the weekend. I feel like my voice came out the most in that one, and I also frequently relate my life to song lyrics on my personal blog. Maybe if I treated this blog a little more like my own, I wouldn't have had to focus so much on just getting the assignments over with. But as with anything else, hindsight is 20-20.

The Assignment is the Blog

Looking back on the blogs I wrote for this class, I can see a distinct change throughout. Near the beginning, I was somewhat collected and simple. This led to a somewhat formal tone, as I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, who I was writing to, or what I was writing about. They were all just "things". As time went on, my writing style became more casual and relaxed, as I gained a better grasp on exactly what in the heck was going on. I could cut loose. Except not at all.

The blog posts are probably the most casual thing I've consistently written for college so far, and even then, it's still very restrained. Many assignments have elicited a "Ugh, gotta do this thing" reaction from me, and if you look through my posts (Why would you do that), you'd be able to see exactly which assignments I was happy to write and others I did just to get done.

But even for the "happy" ones, there's a distinct lack of life in the writing, one I'll admit to. And it's because of that that none of what I've written here could be considered "true". It's all a well-collected facade to get done as an assignment. These assignments are presented as more casual writing opportunities, but it doesn't feel like it. We still have to follow the dotted line and just get it done. And the quicker we get it done, the closer we are to not having to do it again.

And that's why I learned to write a lot of my posts early. Just get it done and out of the way.

Blog Post Reflection

After going through all of my blog posts, I noticed that my writing has improved significantly. In the beginning, I was very general with my statements and did not elaborate on ideas. The voices that I put into the online blog posts showed that I took it more personal and made more connections to it. For example, in written and print materials, I preferred to write in third person where as on blogs, I preferred first person. For printed materials, I tried to type it up in a way where it was hard to express myself but I feel more like myself online because I am able to express more and I can take my time to actually think about what I want to say. I also think that because print materials are strict on editing, it almost forces me to act like a robot and make sure everything on there was right. Print materials also make me feel stiff. This is why I often struggle writing printed materials. I also feel that online, I type the way I would speak in person if I were to answer the assignments. Through my previous blog posts, it seemed like I had more voice. For example, I could actually picture myself saying these things whereas I have to think about how I want to say it in printed materials. 

I feel that this is another side of how I present myself. It is not exactly the way that I always present myself but it just depends on the comfort level that I am in or how comfortable I am with expressing myself in the situation. Although I am often silent in LIS 201 discussions and other places, I can understand and see that I am more expressive through typing and writing when no one is there. Overall, it really depends on the situation and it's a combination of both. Eventually, I will go out of the comfort zone and be more active in speaking. I know that I cannot be like this throughout my entire life and that I will have to speak soon but in a situation like discussions where there are many people, I prefer to just observe and listen.

Overall, I feel that it's a combination to showcase my talents at its best because one cannot just judge based on one view. This is the same way like making conclusions of a person before getting to know how they really are when they are angry, sad, happy, excited, etc.. If I were to choose which would be the "most true" or most effective, I would have to say through my blog posts only because I am able to speak with comfort on here.

An overview of how I spent my Monday nights this semester

I think the title of this post alone is a good indication of my writing style as seen on this blog. Throughout the year, starting from the first post, I used a semi-formal writing style that was informative but peppered with personal commentary either for comedic purposes or to just express parts of my life Itthought were relevant. Sometimes I was a little bit unnecessarily wry, such as when I started my book selection blog by admitting that I didn't look very hard for it. I was also a little overly personal in my opening post, in that I mentioned I tweet a lot about a certain person that "you probably don't know." But in reality, this is how I always am. I'm a very honest and cynical person, and I think that came out fairly clearly in these posts.

In relation to my other academic endeavors, I think I was pretty consistent with my tone here. When I do regular academic papers, I'm a bit more formal, as often personal commentary isn't relevant to any assignment I need to do. However, I still try to keep things light much as I did in these blogs. In discussion section, I think I maintain this tone as well, as sometimes I answer questions personally and from experience, which I take seriously and am honest about, and sometimes I answer questions in a more informal and funny way. I think overall the best representation of my talent here is in my blogs, since I managed to be serious and insightful when I needed to, but was also able to throw more of my personality into it, which I try to limit in my academic papers.

I think the blog post that most reflects who I am was also my most personal, which was the one about how I gave up Twitter, Vine, and Instagram after going the weekend without them. I was honest, reflective, and even a little humorous in this post, covering all the things I'm best at. I was even able to completely hijack the assignment to talk about my own identity issues, which I needed an outlet to express, while still talking about my use of social media. In that post, I said I might follow that post up with an update on my social media use after a while, which also shows one of my other talents: lying. Clearly, this was a tour de force example of my writing.

(Okay don't take that last sentence seriously.)

Blog Post Analysis

After reading through my blog posts, I have noticed that overall I am a pretty formal student throughout all aspects of my classwork. Typically I am stronger at more structured, formal assignments rather than creative work and I believe that this can be reflected in my blog posts. Although sometimes this can cause my work to feel slightly impersonal, I think that it is the most effective way to clearly share a message or concept.

While reading other students blog posts I have noticed that they often incorporate a bit of humor or personality into their posts, I typically struggle to do so. I did noticed that on the blog posts my writing is slightly less formal and organized,  but I still see reflections of my writings on exams or essays. On the other hand, I think that through my class participation I expose more of my personal thoughts and experiences in a less formal way. Since in class my thoughts aren’t as planned out and structured as on paper, it is much easier to share random facts or ideas with the class.

Although the way I am preserved online may not reflect my behavior in class entirely, I think that it is important to have a balance. By having a more formal presence through my writing it helps to organize and explain my thoughts, while in discussion I am able to debate and rearrange my ideas to best convey my ideas with the class. Overall I am satisfied with the way I have presented myself through the blog posts, essays and in class discussions. 

My Blog Posts

I think that my blog posts in this class do a pretty good job of reflecting me as I am. Although the writing style is much more formal than my vocal style is, I think that's just a natural result of it being sort of engrained into me - writing assignments, I think, are always more formal than a class participation discussion, for example.

I think it's hard to pinpoint one aspect of my scholarly career in LIS 201 as the "most effective" in showcasing my talents. They all showcase different things - in person in class is probably best for showcasing my skills in on the spot discussion, written assignments showcase my writing skills and ability analyze, and exam work showcases abilities to recall information. I think this goes for everyone, just as a general rule.

In my case, if I had to pick one as the best for me, I think I would have to go with my in person skills. I think that sometimes with writing, overthinking and second guessing can get the best of my performance. When someone speaks in class, what they say - although it may have been thoroughly thought out - has considerably less time to be processed than a writing assignment. So considering the decreased time frame, I think that in person, in class responses are a better reflection of my ability than anything else.

High-Tech Trash - Chris Carroll

The article “High-Tech Trash” was written by Steve Carroll, staff member at National Geographic, the magazine in which the article was originally published. The article discusses the facts and implications surrounding the problem of “e-waste,” which involves the disposal of computers and other electronics and is often handled extremely poorly. Given that National Geographic is concerned with environmental issues and human-interest stories, it is clear why this topic would appeal to both the authors and the intended audience, as it covers both areas.

            Carroll’s overall argument is that the mishandling of e-waste has economic, environmental, and medical implications. Electronics in the developed world become obsolete extremely quickly, rendering certain devices relatively useless after just a few years, thus creating tons – 1.5 to 1.9 million tons in 2005, to be exact – of e-waste. Most of this waste ends up in landfills, which is bad enough due to all the toxic chemicals contained in electronics, such as lead, mercury, and arsenics. However, less than 20% of this waste is sent to “recyclers,” which may sound positive, but actually has some horrific implications. While the recyclers advertise the re-use of the electronics, many of them instead sell them to brokers overseas, leading tons of electronic junk to be shipped to developing countries. This practice has been restricted in many countries under the Basel Convention of 1989, and even banned in the EU, but in America it is simply discouraged.

            The net result of this for other countries, especially in East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, is an influx of hazardous waste. This waste is not always dealt with by actual businesses, but rather by electronics “salvagers”. The hub for e-waste used to be Guiyu, China, where families looking to make ends meet would engage in extremely dangerous practices in order to expose the valuable materials in the discarded electronics, namely copper, lead, and gold. The burning and breaking down of these electronics has led to pollution of the ground, air, and even the bodies of the Chinese. For example, high levels of PBDEs, flame retardants that can cause damage to fetal development, have been found in electronics workers. Today, regulations have limited the influx of this hazardous waste to China, but these dangerous practices have continued in secret at lower levels.

            Even if e-waste  isn’t going to China as much as it once was, it’s still going somewhere in the developing world. Carroll reported from Accra, Ghana, where he found a man selling junk computers for around $150 shipped to him by his brother in Virginia, where they were bought for about $10. So how can we fix this flow? Carroll argues that we must redirect it to a more responsible and safe route, such as to recyclers like Creative Recycling Systems in Tampa, FL, where a giant machine called David extracts valuable parts of old computers in a completely clean way. These machines are common in Europe, but only a few are found in the U.S. This has implications for us too – with the proliferation of hazardous materials in other countries, the goods we get from them tend to be infused with lead, copper, and tin, bringing the hazard right back to us. Unless we create a better route for these materials, they might not be “out of sight, out of mind” for long.

           To me, it is ridiculous that we continue to allow this process in the U.S. With funding or regulation from the government, we could redirect this waste to safer routes and save both developing countries and our own. I realize that regulation of business is extremely unpopular amongst some segments of the U.S. political spectrum, but when it comes to the environment and the lives of non-Americans, I feel that there is a sort of moral obligation to do something. The EU is far ahead of us on this issue, which to me makes us look horrible in comparison. We are one of three countries worldwide that have not ratified the Basel Convention, which is embarassing. I'm not much of an environmental person, but this is a tad sad, and I can't see why we haven't addressed this yet.

Further reading:

Official EPA site on "eCycling"

Electronics Recycling in Wisconsin

Global perspectives on e-waste

Unfair Trade e-Waste in Africa

How e-Waste Works

The Efficiency Dilemma - David Owen

In the article “The Efficiency Dilemma,” David Owens argues that efforts to increase environmental sustainability through energy efficiency are not just impossible but actually creates greater problems. Owens wrote the article in the New Yorker in late 2010. Earlier in that year, the U.S. federal government had passed new standards for higher fuel economy in vehicles, while the World Economic Forum had published a report titles “Toward a More Energy Efficient World.” In general, most people see energy efficiency as a path for reducing fuel consumption and becoming a greener world. However, Owens worries that increasing energy efficiency has allowed us to consume so much more that this new energy consumption offsets and soars higher than our past levels.

Owen’s main argument comes from the 19^th Century British economist William Stanley Jevons and his theory referred to as the Jevons paradox. Jevons proposes that technological progress meant to increase efficiency with an energy resource tends to increase instead of decrease the overall consumption. This reversal of intentions is also named the rebound effect. Owen notes how this paradox has been present throughout the history of civilization, and fears that recent trends could lead to environmental hazards.

Owens uses the examples of refrigerators and air conditioners as to how increased efficiency has led Americans to drastically increase consumption. To begin with, when a more energy efficient model comes out, many families still continue using their original model. This means they are just adding more energy costs to their daily lives. As more households are able to afford cheaper models, they are then tempted to purchase more complimentary products; people buy more food for their refrigerator or buy more items for their home since they can live more comfortably with the AC. Thus more energy is used to distribute all these products. As a result, this increased consumption outweighs the initial energy savings.

Throughout his article, Owen looks at the claims of advocates of energy efficiency. Advocates say the rebound effect exists, but only in such little numbers that the actual effects are trivial. They also believe that the decrease in energy’s percentage of GDP proves that we are moving toward a world less dependent on energy. However, Owen counters the efficiency advocates’ arguments. Owen believes they are not accounting for a variety of factors, such as that a decrease in carbon emissions in one region can be offset by the increase in emissions in another. Furthermore, the fact the energy is less of our GDP means we are actually more dependent on energy than ever; if we eliminated energy out of our economy, modern life would not exist as we know it.

Owen also finds it troubling that few people are debating the effects of energy efficiency and assuming it is the best way to gain sustainability. Because efficiency doesn’t call for a surrender of comforts like decreasing fuel emissions or telling consumers to purchase less, no one argues against it. Owens urges that energy efficiency should not continue to be given this treatment, and more solutions must come up if we ever wish to increase environmental sustainability.

I found the article very intriguing to read and logical. I especially enjoyed learning about the Jevons paradox because it correlated with past economics classes I have taken. Before reading this, I had always correlated energy efficiency with automatic environmental benefits, but Owen’s argument makes me concerned that we must work harder to save the environment. One possible solution could be combining energy efficiency with smarter consumption. Government and schools could advocate better consumer habits so we decrease wasteful consumption. Also, we could encouraging purchasing local products and food, since transporting these goods would use less energy.

Here are a few interesting links I found if anyone wants to do further reading.

News about the 2010 regulation

The World Economic Forum's study

David Owen's biography and New Yorker articles

Jevons paradox and Rebound effect on Wikipedia

Mii Avatar

When I first tried this assignment, I downloaded Second Life and attempted to make a personalized avatar that looked like myself. However, I could not figure out how to do it at all. The only thing I was able to see what a choice between a dozen or so pre-made avatars, so I really did not understand how to make my own. To avoid this problem, I decided to use an avatar-making service I was similar with, the Mii avatar used for Wii. This was very basic, and I think it kind of worked (except for the hair). Although it was easy to create this, I did feel very limited by the range of options. The personalizations were not as life-like as they might have been on Second Life. I was not able to get an accurate eye color or hair color or style. In order to find a more basic way to create an avatar, I had to use a program that did not have a lot of options. This avatar can easily be mistaken for one million other people, but with my skills in avatar-making programs, it was the best I could get.

Second Life Avatar

While I did exploring Second Life, I realized that I wasn’t too thrilled with the game or the complex navigation and customization tools. I did originally start out with a Human, and played a bit with the clothing and customization and attempted to represent myself. However, I soon gave up with this, mostly because I become more frustrated at the numerous panels I had to navigate in order to change one simple detail.

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In the end I decided to make my avatar a tank. The reason that I decided to make my avatar a tank is because of a show I watch called Red vs. Blue and one of the characters is Shelia, who is a tank. Lately I have been rather obsessed with the show, so I decided to model my image after her. Also, it was pretty awesome being a flying tank for a bit. Since I decided to represent myself as a tank, instead of being based off of a “living” creature, I don’t think the makers of “difference” are present in my avatar. 

Now that this assignment is finished, I am definitely going to be uninstalling Second Life. I am a person that is extremely picky about games, and the graphics of this game I cannot stand because of the low quality. In addition, I always have the wonderful habit of “breaking” games, but finding glitches or lagging out.

On a side note, I did make my avatar with a Rachael’s help, so we played a bit of virtual hide and seek afterwards. As you can see, she found me.

It's Miiiiiiiii

I also decided to go with the more familiar, simpler Mii avatar creator; Second Life seems like a convoluted site that I don't feel really carries any interest or significance with me. While I do have a Mii saved on my Wii at home, I made a new one (since my Wii is just that, at home). Here are the results of my work:

I definitely tried to make my character look somewhat like myself, and didn't venture out, like many did in the New York Times blog. This Mii carries a lot of my own traits: glasses, dark, messy brown hair, a pale complexion, and a gray shirt (I wear a lot of gray).

As I made my Mii, I considered it essential to make a fair, accurate representation of myself that others will be able to see and easily associate with the offline me. I think it's important that when engaging in these online worlds, one's avatar represent themselves enough so that there is no room for confusion, or deception. This alludes to Lisa Nakamura's concept of identity tourism, where people essentially try on new races, personalities, and other identities either loosely or not at all connected to their actual identity. When people do not stick to their own traits, it runs the risk that they may come into some issues with other users who do, in fact, identify with given traits that a user put on for fun. Yes, reality is suspended in simulated, virtual worlds, but it is still a community nonetheless, and people choose to take advantage of this by representing themselves in a completely new, different fashion. But in real life, it wouldn't be seen as acceptable if one were to lie about themselves in real life, so why is it all right online?

Playing with Identity

Before playing Second Life, I thought much about what kind of avatar I would create. Did I want to make a full re-creation of myself; experiment with a new identity like an opposite gender or different race, or make something funny to gain reactions from other players? Once I started the game, I picked the default male student avatar and was thrown into the Welcome Area. I then spent a while experimenting with the avatar creation tools, but soon found out it would take a very long time to create anything. Exploring the world of Second Life was more important to me than creating an ideal image. I decided to grab a free Hawaiian shirt and leave that as my customization.

I didn't get a front view of my avatar, but he/it wasn't too interesting.

To say my experience in Second Life was peculiar would be an understatement. While traveling the in-game world, I came across a variety of people, events, and glitches that both made me laugh and/or made me think “What in the world is this person doing?” I traveled across many different environments, such as dance clubs, an outer-space shopping mall, a rainforest, and pirate ships. For glitches, my computer sometimes lagged behind my inputs, leading to lots of instances where I was sinking through floors. One of my favorite glitches was when I left a dancing spot and my avatar literally could not stop dancing, even when flying. The creations of others I came across were sometimes just as strange. I didn't realize Second Life allowed avatars other than normal people, so the abundance of gothic vampires and anthropomorphic creatures surprised me. The things people did were hilarious at times; I had people chasing me, a dance party to “What Does the Fox Say?”, and my personal favorite, some person who spawned a million jumping Mario figures.

I actually started a dance party!

The most astounding thing that was in my mind throughout my adventure was that this world, and all the avatars in it, was made through the efforts of other people just sitting behind their computer like me. Their collective representation of a “second life” was fantastical, entertaining, and sometimes unsettling. My experience taught me it is really important to wonder who is behind the actions in this virtual world, and what Second Life tells about our own motivations and identity in real life.

Words of wisdom

Look it's Mii

For this assignment, I decided not to try Second Life for two reasons: 1) I've heard from other classmates that it can be a difficult and confusing process and 2) I have a Nintendo Wii at home so I have some experience creating Mii characters. That being said, it was easy for me to create my avatar. I selected features that seemed to (somewhat, kind of, not really) resemble that way I look. Since I couldn't find eyes that I thought looked like mine, I chose ones that made my avatar appear to be laughing, which is something I do quite frequently. Lastly I put in my name and creator's name which, obviously, are the same thing in this case.

While it was easy for me to create this avatar, this Mii is unlike the ones I am used to creating. Normally when I would create a such a character on my Wii at home, I try to make the most ridiculous looking person. I use mismatching facial expressions, crazy hairstyles, and other features that do not resemble the real me whatsoever simply because I can. I came to realize that I use these avatars in the same ways that some online game players may use theirs. With avatars, you can create a character through whom you play a game; but in every other sense, it does not represent who you are at all. Players can express their opinions/words (if the game has such technologies) through a character who does not resemble who they are in a physical sense, therefore they may feel more secure knowing that this aspect of their identity is still a complete secret.

I wouldn't say this really looks like me at all, but if I were to use this avatar in a gaming space with other players I don't know, I am the only one who would know that.

Second Life Avatar

                I chose to create an avatar on Second Life. The process of creating this avatar was fairly simple. I simply chose a character out of a group of about ten. The character didn't really match me too well but it was similar in some ways to me. Next I needed to put in personal information, such as my username and email address that they can send m

ail to. Finally I needed to download the Second Life program to run the game. The whole process took maybe only ten to fifteen minutes all together. It was really simple to start and didn't require much for me to begin to play. This was probably because the game has such limited range of choices to choose from in the beginning. The game doesn't do much to make the game culturally diverse. Racially there are avatars of different colors, however the avatars don’t have outfits or looks that can express the users of the avatars. Basically users are limited to a specific way that they can express themselves on Second Life and can only display themselves in specific ways.

My Sim, Mii, and Me

I have a Wii so, I just took a picture of the Mii I created on my Wii, and here it is:

In making it, I did try my best to make it look like myself, because usually when I play my Wii I play with friends or family. So in playing with them, I want to make it seem like I am actually playing in the game. Unfortunately in playing with my friends, they some surprisingly do not want to look like there Mii so they make Miis like this,

or this,

I say surprisingly because I really wanted my wii character to look like me so it represents me playing the game. And they didn't really care.



In addition to having a Mii, I decided to get one of my friends to make me in my Sims game. I couldn't make it myself because I really do not want to see myself in the game.I don't want to see myself there because you can have the option to see Sims get older, or how possible children may look, and I do not want to see that process happening, even though it may not be the "real" process. It's pretty real for me, I do not want to see myself age, I just find it pretty weird to want to see.

Oh I also have a South Park avatar for work. At StudentPrint once you are on the team, its like a tradition to make one.

In comparing the avatars, I feel that the options on the Sims are almost unlimited. They thought of every possible form of what a person body may be like.  I even have the option to select breast size. With my Wii character and South Park avatar, everything is pretty generic, not many options or body structures. They just choose basic images/shapes that they saw fit and let people choose from it,. I actually prefer the generic avatar then a detailed one because I really don't want to see myself that clearly in any game that I play online or offline.But overall I did try my best to work with what I had to make all the avatars look like me.