Reflection...

So we are at the end of semester again...
I really enjoyed this course, though it was thoroughly annoying that I was unable to buy the course reader in the bookshop. However the tutorials made up for that as I found the content we discussed very relevant to real life, so it was great to be able to discuss the content in relation to our lives and the situations we had encountered in regards to online behaviour and technology.

I was thinking about the cyborg question, and I guess in some ways, without technology I would find it extremely difficult to socialise. Maybe back when I was a child, I was comfortable just rocking up at a friend's house to see if they were home, but as an adult I would prefer to call before I do out of politeness. Without socialising, life would be very boring. I find Facebook a good way to catch up with old friends who you wouldn't normally talk to, so in that way I agree that it facilitates rather than hindering social interactions in real life. In that, I find myself a social cyborg, with technology an extension of my social communication self. That said, I could live without technology, so the logic that a cyborg would not live without its technological part would mean that I am not a cyborg.

I enjoyed the blog, but found the Webliography difficult, as I had never written anything like it in the past. It was useful to see exactly how many of the internet's websites are not credited to any author, or to any references, and how many sources I may have used in past assignments that could have been written by any average Joe.

In regards to feedback on the lectures, I found the lectures that Tarsh did where the notes on the slides were a summary of what she was discussing much easier to follow than lectures by Alison where I had to just listen to the content.

This is a very interesting unit, if you enjoyed some of the parts about the body, I would encourage you to do the unit The Body In Art. Some of the lectures surround feminist art, Stelarc, and Orlan, discussing extensions of the body through technology and the body as obselete and essential.

Cheers for an amazing tutorial semester guys. Really enjoyed our discussions and hope you all do well in your research essays! :)