For this weeks blog post I will be focusing on Lisa Nakamuras Race In/For Cyberspace. This article basically talks about social media and how people “label” themselves when they sign up for group chats or different social medias. How people describe themselves, their gender, birthdays, the way they write is all classified by race whether your black, white, Spanish, Asian etc. You can literally be talking to anyone and it could all be a lie. People of all races and genders are basically stereotyped. People create there own identities based on who they want the world to know, this person can basically “catfish” you. My younger sister was harrased on social media by a man who presented himself as a women on social media. The person had a profile that made you believe they were very social and active, had mutual friends. When people started noticing weird activity they began reporting him and they blocked the persons account. People create fake profiles for many different reasons, it can be to fool people, to just follow people, to harras, to just to active, there are many different reasons.

Lisa Nakamura, “Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet” in Works and Days, Volume 13, 181-193, 1995

In this week’s post,  I will discuss Lisa Nakamura’s article,  “Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet”. In this article, she begins with talking about a dog that is pretending to be a human on the Internet. This may be a silly cartoon, however, it speaks volume about the kind of people that are willing to lie and deceive others for their own amusement. Nakamura explains this by writing “The technology of the Internet offers its participants unprecedented possibilities for communicating with each other in real time, and for controlling the conditions of their own self-representations in ways impossible in face to face interaction(Nakamura, 1995). She is proving my point that people use the internet in any way they can and that people sometimes will use it to their advantage to manipulate and put on a facade in front of others. For example, this show “Catfish” explains how this is done. People pretend to be other people online and get into relationships with people for years although they are lying about who they actually are. The show continues on with the “catfish” being exposed for their lies. This is a modern example of Lisa Nakamura’s quote about how the internet provides opportunities for people to lie about themselves.

Lisa Nakamura, “Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet” in Works and Days, Volume 13, 181-193, 1995

 

For this weeks blog post, I’ve decided to reflect on Lisa Nakamura’s “Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet.” This reading dives in depth on how people are able to change or alter their identities online in ways that they seem fit. “The technology of the internet offers its participants unprecedented possibilities for communicating with each other in real time, and for controlling the conditions of their own self-representations in ways impossible for face to face interaction (Nakamura 1).” This quote stands out because it shows how people are able to change the way they are represented in ways that is not possible to do physically.  In present day society, this revolves around the use of social media and how we have the ability to create a whole different persona. This may seem like an escape from reality for some, but majority has used this as to “Catfish” others.

Work cited

• Lisa Nakamura, “Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet” in Works and Days, Volume 13, 181-193, 1995

“For years inventions have extended man’s physical powers rather than the powers of his mind.” -EDITOR

“It has provided a record of ideas and has enabled man to manipulate and to make extracts from that record so that knowledge evolves and endures throughout the life of a race rather than that of an individual.” -Bush

These images represent what I believe to be the scientific principles of innovation from reading the “As We May Think” article. The procedure is also relevant in art as, “The Greeks knew only two procedures of technically reproducing works of art: founding and stamping…The woodcut graphic art became mechanically reproducible for the first time, long before script became reproducible by print.” (Benjamin, 1).

This quote shows the limitations time and space has on procedure for innovation as said in the Benjamin article. I believe there will always be new inventions in the future and we are just as amused with our computers today as the Greeks were amused with a new method to printing via wood cut graphic art. Although the times and spaces of the Greeks and our modern era were different, the methodologies to finding new means of innovation were the same.