To thine own self be true.

From Sherry Turkle's book Life on the Screen, I was quite surprised by how many people admit that they create multiple characters online that they describe as their true selves. They believe that these characters (personalities) reside within themselves always but are not free to come forth until they are in the online community setting. This really made me start to think about what these multi-user domains are doing to people's social skills. At first I thought that by allowing these people to express who they really are behind the comfort of the computer screen, they would be more able and willing to express these true parts of their personalities in the real world. From the reading though, it seems that the opposite is true. There is all this talk of having many selves within us, but there is absolutely no evidence that this comes forth in the real world.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a large disconnect between how people express themselves online and how they do so in the real world. I would attribute this difference to the inability to feel comfortable with our true selves even though Turkle argues that this MUDs help us to discover our true selves. What good is discovering who we really are when we can only act that way in the online community. Sure more and more of our lives are spent on the computer, but this will never totally replace the need for interpersonal skills and for being able to be true to ourselves when we are around other people. If people need the internet to finally realize their worth and their identity, great. I just think that they need to be able to translate this knowledge to their everyday lives when they're not stuck on the couch for hours on end playing World of Warcraft.

Don't treat only hubs.

In Albert-Laszlo Barabasi's reading for last week, he uses several examples to illustrate the presence of viruses and fads in our culture. He discusses everything from early corn hybrids in Iowa to computer viruses to the AIDS epidemic. Along the way, he says that there are specific people in society called hubs that function to spread a fad or virus to many other people. In the case of the AIDS epidemic, Barbasi discusses the hubs that were responsible for spreading the HIV virus to tens or hundreds of people. Gaetan Dugas, patient zero, was known to have about 250 partners, no doubt functioning as a hub to easily spread the virus to many other men. Barbasi then goes on to describe how he thinks that "as long as rescources are finite we should treat only the hubs." What?

First of all, there is no treatment that is going to prevent the spread of the virus from one person to another. Maybe, then, Barbasi was talking hypothetically, about a time in the future when a cure becomes available. But alas, he states that "despite the several-billion-dollars-strong international fund, there will not be enough money to buy treatments for everyone, even at cost. (referring to programs offered by drug companies) So who gets them?" So it seems quite clear that he is taking about the situation now when the only treatments we have do minimize viral count and prolong livlihood, but they don't stop transmission. Furthermore, I think that appropriating money to AIDS patient hubs alone is like rewarding their behavior of spreading the virus, rather than treating the problem at hand which is their disrespect for stopping the spread of it. Sure the hub theory works well for other situations, but contrary to what Barbasi and those researchers cited in the text believe, treatment of only the hubs with HIV is a mistake and has not been too well thought out.

Damn technology.

With all the talk lately about the importance of technology and how it aims to make our lives better, I would like to take a few moments to rant about this very same topic. Technology, when it functions, is great. In the case of the computer alone, it allows us to keep neat and detailed records; communicate with friends, family and people at school; make purchases from an ever-expanding national and global marketplace; and waste our free time like never before. More and more, we are required to use the internet for class, whether to make an appoitment to meet with a T.A. or view lecture materials through Learn@UW. All of this is great. I consider myself technologically saavy and I use the internet just as much as the next Joe. My problem begins, though, when the technologies that are supposed to make our lives better do little more than cause frustration nearly unparalleled.

My old trusty HP desktop is now in its sixth year of use and abuse. With each passing day, it brings excitement to my life in the form of contemplating how many seconds it would take to hit the ground if I were to throw it out of my second story window. Most recently, I was advised by Adobe that I needed to install the latest version of Reader in order to open a certain .PDF file. I did what was expected of me by visiting the Adobe website and downloading then installing the program. Once I had everything completed I attempted to open the file again only to be told that a 'fatal error had occured.' The file wouldn't open, and neither would any of the others that had no problem with my old version of Reader. A couple restarts later and it still didn't work so I was forced to deleted what I had installed, and I have yet to have the time to attempt to reinstall the version.

This is just one of the several examples I encounter nearly weekly and it leads me to say 'damn technology.' I know you mean well, but sometimes you cause me such problems that I wonder if we would be better off without you. I was around for the time when we scheduled classes with the old telephone lady and she never gave me any attitude. Letter writing didn't used to be too bad either. Sure it was slow, but I never felt like burning the paper and pencil for all of the grief it was causing me. I guess somedays I just feel like we all have so much stress in our lives already that the additional frustrations that technology bring seem in a way counter intuitive to what we expect of technology itself. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for technology, but can somebody please figure out how to get rid of those glitches? I would be forever grateful.