Throughout the semester, we’ve been discussing the impact of technology on our ideas of identity, especially as women. I have noticed that in our tutorial discussions, most of us expressed fear on how technology is rapidly changing our lives, for better or for worse. There’s been too much focus on Donna Haraway’s idea of a cyborg. And if we are going to limit our definition of a cyborg as a being of both organic and inorganic materials, then our image of a cyborg will be that of Hollywood’s (remember Robocop?). With this unit, I realized that being a cyborg is not about having “mechanical” parts. I think it’s more about opening one’s mind on the possibilities technology offers and using it to better one’s self and society in general. Let’s consider the Internet for example. Most of us consider the Internet as a “utopia”, a virtual space where gender and race are unimportant. This is not the truth of course that’s why we are always looking for ways to change it. This process of recognizing our imperfections and using technology to eliminate these imperfections is what makes us cyborgs.
Regarding the blog, I am not much of a blogger. Never was and, even after this unit, never will be. I do recognize that we can learn a lot from the blog but the truth is we only learn what we want to learn. In my weekly browsing of our blog, it’s noticeable that not all of us comment or share ideas on every topic posted. I commented on two or three (I think) topics. Some of my comments were not even “scholarly”, which proved to me that our blogging is more about socializing and not about sharing new ideas, at least not all the time.
I am really happy I took this unit as an elective this semester. It is really interesting and enjoyable. Technology, especially the Internet, is something I’ve always taken for granted. I never considered the Internet in contexts such as gender, race, and identity. I wish that our tutorials last more than one hour because more time is needed for thorough discussions.
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