My experience with computers began in 1985 as I learned the beauty of Logo on a Packard Bell computer at the vocation school and the ability of a turtle to move through an electronic field by giving the turtle directions. I’ve enjoyed writing programs for computers in BASIC, simple JAVA and ActionScript for years. The connection to the world of cyberstudies came from my first experience on a bulletin board system (BBS) during my middle school years. I got to see virtual interactions on a textual level. Little did I know that I would be studying those interactions for my doctorate later in life.
Barnes expands on what he refers to as an "orienting statement" to explore social network beyond the metaphor established by sociologists and anthropologists. He chooses to adapt Bott's view of social network as a means of understanding "how the internal functioning of a group is affected not only by its...
One of my colleagues recently held a panel at the 2006 Broadcast Education Association conference. “The ‘Citizen Journalist’: The Challenges They Pose to Broadcast Educators” focused on the impact of "citizen journalism" on the mainstream media. This panel began a discussion led to ethics of citizen journalism and what influence the ethics...
Online bulletin boards systems have been around since the era of BBS, MUDs, the WELL project, and the USEnet system. Members within the bulletin board group construct their virtual space to fit the needs of the group. Symbols are used and maintained by the group. Communal social experiences are replayed...
For a paper I'm working on for a conference, I will be discussing for the next several weeks, the case of U.S. v Elcomsoft and how it relates to "modern" cyberculture. U.S. v Elcomsoft is significant for five reasons. The first being that it was the first direct challenge to...
One of the significant works in cyberstudies is Donna Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto." She argues that she would rather be a cyborg as it is a "social reality… our most important political construction, a world-changing fiction." This centerpiece of organic substance and mechanical precision forms the basis of Haraway's religion....
This question must be addressed before this blog can discuss the issues mentioned in the first article. Cyberstudies are more than the casual observation of the Internet and other similar modes of telecommunication. It must be conducted with the passion of academic interest, the zeal of discovering connections and applied...
