Its come to an... End

Its actually come to and end, and in some sense it makes me feel sad. Although i can strongly say that i have learnt a lot more than i had initially thought i would have.
The whole project has given me an insight to a new expression of identity, well it was for me as blogging is something i had never really considered before, it never even crossed my mind.

This course has helped me to understand the idea of on-line social networking in a lot more greater depth. I have been introduced to different types of on-line social networking sites, like Second Life, which i was not aware about, and found it very interesting that people do actually live their second lives in "Second Life", where many of them buy and sell properties/land.
I have seemed to have become a lot more open to the idea of communicating with people on-line ever since i joined "Facebook", but as this course progressed so did my thoughts.
I have always been very cautious of what on-line social networking site i join, and have always held back in expressing my views with total strangers whether its in reality or virtually, but thanks to you Nigel, i have felt myself develop an interest for something that i never knew existed. I like the fact that i can express myself when ever i like, and that i can develop on certain issues.

The course has also given me a new insight of how identity is portrayed. I always had mixed feelings about how the distinction between on-line identity is made to reality identity. I felt that 0n-line identity was not as lucid as reality identity, but i began to understand the world of cyberspace a lot more and the difference between actually being able to express yourself and create yourself on "Second Life " for example, then in say a chat room. I also would agree to the fact that i believe my identity can be perceived as same on my facebook account as to my real identity, because it allows me to make changes to my moods, and how i am feeling, and makes constant updates.

I enjoyed being able to build a web design as it was something i had ever done before, and well, to be honest never really thought of. Although in the beginning of this course Nigel also taught us html, although i found it hard to grasp at first i began to see the simplicity of it, not that i could ever create a html myself.

Before i end it, i would like to thank my group Alter Ego for all their hard work and mention, that i thoroughly enjoyed working with each individual. I would have to say, that Wiki is everything i would have liked it to have been, and i have enjoyed and learnt a lot from this experience.

Week 8

So last session we learnt how to insert tables, and how to adjust the layout and well by playing around with it, we learnt how simple it was.
We decided that we wanted our group wiki to look eye-catching yet elegant, and i think we definitely have achieved that. Thanks to the great people who are in my group!
A member of my group also advised us to write a little about our personal identity on-line, which i thought was a great idea. Not only are we voicing our opinions on identity itself, and focusing on case studies, but also the fact that we can write something about our own on-line identity and how we feel about it allows us to explore it more in depth.

Recently i was working on an essay regarding cyberspace/cyborgs. I found it amazing how relevant it was to this particular module too. Well i guess as i read more in to it i realised what it was about and i started relating it to our theme of identity.
Cyberspace the space in which all online communication floats, and is what turns sites like "Second life" into a virtual reality.

I read an auto-biography written by Kevin Warwick, who experimented on himself to become a "cyborg", half human and half machine, which meant he had to have a silicon-chip implanted into his arm.
Its madness like this that makes you think about whether or not technology is actually a good thing or a bad thing, or even how people are getting so involved with technology that they are actually becoming it! This is absurd if you ask me!
This can even relate directly to Second life it self, how people are becoming so unaware of how they are getting an addiction to technology that they are actually becoming a part of it, to the extent that they create their own profiles characters, buy and sell their own land/properties.
Is technology supposed to help us sustain the identity we have, or is it to alter it?
Well, i guess that's up to the individual themselves, and ho far they would take things to either create a new identity, or sustain the one that they have.
Is it even possible for us to have more then one identity? Well, i know it sounds like a stupid question, but many years ago we would have answered differently.

As you can see i have added a few pictures. I was just in a thought process about identity and what types of identity there are. Is identity only applied to human individuals? It is clearly evident and safe to say, we are all aware of clothing/branding identity.

Brands such as Gucci (above) Giorgio Armani, Versace are known world wide, and nearly every individual around the world can distinguish Gucci's identity to Versace's.

So below i have just added a photo from Mango and French Connection. In all three pictures you can tell there is a vast difference in the way they like to particularly brand their products so that we can identify with them when we see them on posters/magazines.

Everyone is aware of the two G symbol's that interlock and instantly identify with it being the symbol for Gucci.

So not only do human beings have identity, but identity comes in all other forms to help uphold status, names, and image whether its for product's, clothes or Shoe's etc.

Week 7

It's amazing how addicted one can get to on-line social networking.
Before i would never of even considered creating a myspace account or a hi-5 account or even a facebook account for that matter.
The only reason i did create a hi-5 account was because my sister had one and i realised all my friends and cousins were on their, and i would find both my sister and brother who are both younger than me constantly online checking their hi-5 accounts.
So, i thought I'd be cool and create an account too. Well, not to be cool. Obviously.
For a long time i was pretty addicted to that, but then i realised that it wasn't something that i found particularly interesting as i found that anonymous people, and total strangers could view my profile and pictures, and would leave messages, that sometimes could get inappropriate.
However, between this period i also got a request from a friend to join myspace, which i joined eventually. I never actually used it but decided to put up 1 picture of me only. I also found that this was a bit like hi-5 in the sense that people could view my profile, and therefore never really signed in.

The fact that total strangers could actually view my pictures etc, kind of put me off, and therefore i have not logged into either myspace or hi-5 account... and therefore i am going to be deleting those soon! When i actually get around to it that is.
Then came along facebook, which initially i thought to be the same thing as hi-5 and myspace, but when i started seeing my old friends from primary school and secondary school on there, i decided to create an account. I found that i felt much more comfortable with it as it allows you to have certain restrictions for people who can and can't view your profile. Wow i quite like that!
I can choose who can view my pictures and who can't, so i like the fact that i have more control over my own identity and who can view it.

However, it is freaking me out in the sense that i am actually logging onto facebook more than just once in a day, sometimes 3 times a day! Which i find unacceptable! I have more important things to do like assignments, but i still find more time to check out comments and messages on my facebook, oh and the friend requests that come now and then from old mates!
I can now sort of understand how easy it is to get addicted to online social networking. Sometimes it can be an easier way to keep in touch, although i find it more appropriate to just call and speak to someone over the phone...but i find myself doing that a lot less now.
Hmm, what does that say about me?

Week 6

Well, next week we are all meeting up to sort of put things together. We will assign more of what we would like each individual to do, but also will participate in anything that we feel we can add to the project. This way everyone can get as much work done equally.
Hopefully we will have a lot done by the deadline as it seems we are getting the hang of things.
Let's just hope its good enough for Nigel.