[…] Renée, Eli, Colin, Chenée, Clare, Stuart, Daniel 1, Daniel 2, Philip, Helen M 1, Helen M 2, Helen W, Myles, Linzi, Dirk 1, Dirk 2, […]

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Hi Stuart, I’ve been mulling over this over the week and I think that technology assisted medicine probably still is cyborg-esque in the same way that telephones are, they aren’t physically part of us (yet) but still contribute to our cyborg selves in Miller’s paper. That paper gave me a better understanding of the term cyborg and how to look at everyone now through that lens – we can’t see pacemakers or replacement hips for example sticking with the healthcare link. I now see the cyborgs in our videos as the extreme far end of the cyborg spectrum not the norm.

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Hi Daniel. 2000 seems only a blink away for me so it good to be reminded at how far technology has become intertwined in our everyday lives since then. I don’t think that your focus on the text is necessarily related to being less visual – the lyrics were the central element and the visuals only a support so you picked up on that straightaway. Efficiency was one of the key elements I took away from the three weeks of cyberculture, I think we need to be very careful at how and when we employ technology in our lives and education. Just because ‘we can‘ is not enough.

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In the text/lyrics what seemed jarring to me was the idea of sending off for a book. If we were in age where you could build music making robots surely they’d just download it onto an ipad or something. I see that the lyrics are from 2000 which explains it. Interesting to see how culture develops in unexpected ways.

One of the themes here seems to be “efficiency”, the idea that we can invent tech to do the dull stuff and we can just go and “live our lives”. This means making value judgements that are made in what work should be deskilled and automated. In this artefact drum loops are implied to be an unimportant part of the music and therefore open to automation, something which as a drummer myself I would argue against.

Another thing I’ve just noticed is that all my comments are based on the text rather than the visual aspect. I always suspected I am not a very “visual” person. Oh well.

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Great week 3 summary, and reflection on the end of block 1!

Do try to stay close to the recommended 250 word though. It is tough when there is a lot to reflection upon, but also important to work within limits.

That said, you’ve offered a really excellent critical summary here – the distinction between emotion and computer code is contextualised well, and the Norman quote (1993) provides a promising way of approaching this in non-dualist or -oppositional ways. I do think we need to move beyond utopian / dystopian binaries, particularly in the education technology field, otherwise we miss all sorts of nuance in the ways our relationships with technology unfold.

Fantastic quote from Roszak too – I must look this up. Embodiment is certainly one way we can critiquing simplistic notions of A.I. as pure ‘information’.

Ending this block with more questions is no bad thing! Perhaps with some time away from these ideas – as we discuss ‘community’ and ‘algorithmic’ cultures – you’ll find a way to connect with education.

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Hi Clare,

That is a really interesting article.

I don’t know if its coincidence but I have been noticing quite a lot of similar stories in the news this week about technology being used to advance healthcare.

If recent news is to be believed then we could increase our lifespan through technology assisted medicine rather than mechanical parts.

Do you think that is still cyborg-esque?

When I think of cyborgs I picture a character similar to the one in this week’s video ‘We only attack ourselves’. But what if there is no immediate visual sign of technology present?

Stuart

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Superb summary post here Clare!

You are referencing and explaining specific lifestream content, and drawing together relevant and interesting themes. Nice work.

Hand’s ‘narratives of promise and threat’ paper in this blocks readings will reflect your utopian and dystopian themes, as would Johnston’s ‘Salvation or destruction: Metaphors of the Internet’, a bit of a classic if you ask me: http://ift.tt/2jOTHhq

I think you centre in on a rather productive critical perspective here: when we continue to see technology as utopian (it is making our lives better) or dystopian (it is challenging our authentic humanness), we often miss important analytical frames. The relationship between ‘Ed Tech’ and business is certainly a critical perspective that is often overlooked.

Really interesting reflection on marginalisation here too. I wonder if we couldn’t see the opposite here too? If the cyborg is about enhancement, wouldn’t its technological mixings be limited to those that can afford them? The ‘digital divide’ might also encompass those who are affluent enough to be ‘enhanced’. Aren’t those that can use search engines on their mobile devices already hugely advantaged in terms of getting hold of information and knowledge?

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Hi Eli, I think our thoughts are overlapping and your post ‘Open – I feel vulnerable‘ resonates! As another multi-blogger it has me now thinking that even though we reflect openly in other spaces that we may be overly controlling them thus slightly defeating the purpose? If this is the case then I entirely agree with your question here – perhaps being pushed out of our comfort zones will change our assumptions and behaviours. I came across this tweet today which might nudge us on: https://twitter.com/KeeganSLW/status/823635493921419264

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Hey Clare,
this is something I am struggling with too. I think I am conditioned through my job that when I add anything to the web it has to meet certain standards of aesthetics and accessibility, the lifestream approach doesn’t really live up to this so I can’t help myself, I want to go back and edit, tweak and visualise everything.

I like to think that the concept of showing a stream of real life rather than presented life we see on facebook and Instagram is somehow more real and grittier. I think I understand it as a concept, as a kick back, doesn’t mean I enjoy it in this sense 🙂

I too have had a bit of a nightmare with IFTTT and wasted hours trying to get it to do something I could have done manually in half an hour so I feel your pain.

Maybe if we force ourselves to engage, we may be pleasantly surprised to see changes in our assumptions and maybe even our own behaviours by the end of the course?
Eli

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