Am I a Cyborg?
In definition, a cyborg is a combination of mechanics and organics. When I was born, I become a cyborg unconsciously once I directly or indirectly use the technology. During childhood, I started to play video games and Game Boy. I have used the machine devices for entertaining myself. At that time, I do not consent that I have relied on the technology. When I am growing up, the higher academic level I attend, the more time I spend on working with a computer. Sometimes, I sit in front of my computer even half of the day. I gradually recognize I have an inseparable relationship with the technology.
However, the adaptation of Apple iPhone is the turning point. Preciously, I would mock somebody who holds a smartphone and says he/she cannot live with the phone. In my mind, the technology was powerless because human creates it. Yet, my living habit, interaction models with friends and ways of receiving information have changed significantly, after I brought the iPhone last year. I acknowledge that I cannot stay away from my iPhone even for few seconds. Nowadays, I cannot but admit that I am a cyborg because I will feel lost and anxious if the technology is gone in my life.
Evaluation of the Weblog
Actually, the idea of organizing a weblog for learning purpose is theoretically meaningful. For example, students are required to post a webliography in Week 6. Assumed that there are 30 students in the class, I can access to 150 online research articles in total on five given topics in relation to the unit – an academically efficient and effective platform providing numerous relevant references.
The weblog, unfortunately, has increased our workloads. For instance, students need to post the summary about their presentations, simultaneously to pay time on monitoring and responding to discussion, as well as commenting on two other posted tutorial presentations. As a result, students are evaluated on the five main tasks (excluding webliography) completed on the weblog, which altogether count 15% marks only.
Evaluation of the Unit
The unit is substantial in content. It covers some macro-scale issues underlying the computer-mediated communication such as identity, gender, race and class. In last semester, I had deliberated whether the technology dominates human (technology determinism); in this semester, I have critically thought how self-identity is constructed with the technology. From the media texts shown in class as exemplifications, I was quite shock that human apparently is benefitted from the technology, but actually is exploited by the technology at once.
Honestly, I begin to be aware of the side effects like privacy disclosure on using technology after taking this unit. For example, a large proportion of my friends are using a popular iPhone application called “Whatsapp”. I installed it due to my best friend’s recommendation. Unexpectedly, this app require getting access to the address book, otherwise, I cannot use it. What jumped into my mind is how the contacts information will be used by the creator of “Whatsapp”. Most importantly, I cannot read the user terms before choosing “Yes”, unless I empower this app to read through all the contacts in my iPhone. Finally, I decided to click “No” and deleted the app. In the past, I might not care about the privacy matter. But now, I do.
On the other hand, I think the distribution of assessment percentages is imbalance. As I mentioned above, the weblog participation just take three-twentieths of the overall performance; while the major research essay charges 50%, a considerable weight, on the unit assessment. I think there should have some adjustments or rearrangements on the unit marks.
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