Unit Reflection

Self. net has been an interesting unit of study this semester. It has encouraged me to think more seriously about the relationship between humans and technology. I repeatedly found myself asking: ‘am I a cyborg?’ followed by the even more daunting... ‘am I on the way to becoming a cyborg?!’ To these questions I argued against such an absurd idea! ‘I am me, Carla. I’m no machine!’ Then looking at my hand I can see my mobile phone, my iPod earphones are firmly wedged into my ears and the light from my laptop is blaring onto my face. As I think about cyborgs I reflect on the number of cords which fall and tangle around my body. Is this what a cyborg looks like? I think that my regular use and dependence on technology cannot make me a cyborg. I still regard myself as being separate to the technology I use. I can reflect on the positive and negative effects the internet and other mediums have on my everyday life. This unit has helped me to develop an acute awareness of cyborgs and cybernetics so that I can still find a sense of ‘self’ amidst a dense technological world. Advertising and online communities (gaming, Facebook etc) suggest that technology can transform us into better selves. For example, laptops are advertised to pregnant women suggesting the possibility of being a mother and a successful up-to-date business woman. This unit has encouraged me to see past such ideas to always remain certain that technology cannot define who we are as individuals. It does have a profound effect, but will only control us as much as we will allow it to. So to conclude on the topic of cyborgs, I don’t think I’m a cyborg because of my critical awareness of the world around me.

I think the structure of the unit has encouraged active learning on a daily basis. The blog forum is open for discussion 7 days a week which made me think about the unit more often and persuaded me to contribute to the forum beyond what was said in the 45 minute tute. Often, with my other units topics are put aside and forgotten about after the weekly tutorial. Our tutorial blog page being accessible all the time encouraged me to look at the weekly topics more often relating them to my own experiences. The blog page has allowed me to be creative- posting pictures, links and manipulating fonts and colours. In a Communications unit I did last year we had to contribute to a blog discussion on Webct. This forum didn’t allow us to post links to other sites, or pictures and videos. It was a lot harder to explain ideas without the justification of expert opinions and other points of interest through links to other site (s). Learning about technology through a modern technological medium is a sneaky, but effective method in this unit! The downside to the blogging forum was that not all posts were commented on. The average comments on each post were probably between 1 and 3 which doesn’t allow for a truly beneficial discussion. Also, when people (including myself :P) are late in posting tutorial presentation summaries and questions the posts become muddled up with other weeks topics. This was a bit confusing at times!

Overall, I think I grasped a lot from this unit. The Webliography was particularly beneficial as I (and I think a few others?) had never actually done one before. I can see myself using the same critical research skills for my upcoming essay. I would have liked to study more films, and even TV shows, commercials and theorists rather than just having a few readings each week. I think we should have strayed away from Facebook as it seemed to come up a lot and was getting a bit boring. Also, we were always running out of time for presentations in the 45 minute tutes. I think that if two people worked on a weekly presentation together we would have more time for an open discussion. It would be useful to include other activities too such as debates. But anyway- thanks so much for all your work in this unit Tarsh and Alison...and thanks to everyone else for your input. :) Carla.