Digital Humanities Final Essay: Poetry

My final essay for Digital Humanities is about definition. Specifically, I wanted to reflect on what we started to discuss as a class; the definition of digital humanities. I, personally, enjoyed a lot of the digital poetry we looked at over the course of the course, but in some cases, I found difficulty determining what was poetry and what was electronic literature. Using example and person contemplation, I wanted to try to find the definition of digital poetry, exploring meaning, rhythm, communication, and "born digital" as a concept.

Essay Exhibits

I really enjoyed the essay exhibit last week. I thought this concept of going around and viewing other classmates’ work as they viewed mine was very interesting and unique because most of the time classes have their students present in front of the whole class. But this time, through the essay exhibit, I was able to see almost everyone’s presentations, learning about what they are going to present and also how they went about their studies.

After looking at my classmates’ exhibits, there were two that I found most interest. The first exhibit that I genuinely liked was Sam Schmader’s. In his exhibit, he focused on the topic of electronic sports, which I found out was is a competition of sports through electronic systems. The one thing I really enjoyed about Sam’s presentation was its interactivity. Before I has no idea what esports was, but Sam included a video of the competition, ESL ONE that was in Cologne, Germany. Through this video, along with his findings, Sam’s presentation showed me that these competitions gain thousands of people and unlike regular game, where people play on their own time, those who play on esports teams act just like a regular sports team- having coaches, teammates, and team practices.

The other exhibit I enjoyed looking at was Montana Mang’s. In her exhibit, Montana looked at Anonymous, a Hacktivist group that is known for supporting people’s rights to free speech and right of information. Not knowing much about the group Anonymous, I really liked that Montana focused on some of the hacking jobs they have done in the past, such as Project Chanology, which Montana told was a “cyber attack on the Church of Scientology because the church showed interests of censoring the internet,” I also like how Montana went into different aspects behind the group, such as how they developed their group, the meaning behind their masks, and who they can hack.

Overall, I really enjoyed the essay exhibits from last week, especially Sam and Montana’s. I think that Sam and Montana both did an exceptional job presenting their topic and some of their findings to the class. I think that through these presentations, their final projects are both going to be stellar. The only thing is, I hope they include more interactivity in their final projects. Sam did a good job including pictures and the video, however I think it would be interesting if he could find a player’s perspective on the game, since esports is so different from a regular game. I also thought Montana could have input a video into her presentation, I would have liked to watch a video of Anonymous works if she could find one. But overall, I thought both classmates did a great job presenting their exhibits and I learned a lot about esports, Anonymous, and Digital humanities, that I didn’t know before.

Digital Humanities Final Essay

Final DH Essay: ESports Game Studies
For my Final Essay I will look into the question "what is eSports?" This includes a brief history and an explanation of what eSports is all about. This essay will also argue the legitimacy of eSports as a sport and how it is similar to more traditional sports.

Essay Exhibit Response

The essay exhibit, in my opinion, was a fantastic way for students to both share their ideas with their peers and use what we had learned to create a multimedia essay that really encapsulates what Digital Humanities is. Being able to walk around the room and look at the different methods of presenting an essay was unique, and I was genuinely impressed with some of the multimedia components that my peers had constructed. Two of the essays that stood out the most to me were Chase's and Patrick's.

Chase's essay presentation wasn't outwardly impressive. The exhibit itself was a simple word document with a few links and descriptions. The content itself was interesting, but there wasn't much to look at or interact with. What was interesting is that Chase's essay was about re-purposing music and sampling. In his showcase, he had actually created an audio track exemplifying the content he was talking about and sort of showcased the tech he used to do it. As far as multimedia goes, it was incredibly impressive. For a showcase, the essay part was less than stellar, but I'm sure his eventual final product would be fantastic.

Patrick's essay was interesting in a different way. He looked at low tech digital poetry, which can be best described as simple digital poetry that can be produced by anyone with minor understanding of technology. Things like Jing, a screen recording software, are all a person needs to create a digital poem. Patrick created a blog wherein he gathered a bunch of examples of low tech poetry and art and allowed the reader to interact with the poems themselves. However, content-wise, the blog consisted a lot of description of what low-tech poetry was, rather than maybe instructing on how to use some of these simple technologies. As with Chase's exhibit, I'm sure his final product will be more thorough. For the exhibit itself, it was great.

Response to Essay Exhibit

              I thought the Essay Exhibit was a interesting idea.  Allowing everyone to go around the classroom and survey each other's work allowed for constructive criticism as well as allowing the class to view the many creative ideas everyone else had. I had a great experience going around the room looking at the different presentations my classmates had. Two in particular peaked my interest, Morgan Shumaker's and Luke Whiteman's. 

             Morgan's exhibit looked into online identities constructed through social media as well as the importance and why so many people use social media. Her Prezi utilized a variety of different media types ranging from videos to pictures. It was very interesting to hear about some of her findings as to the reasons why people use social media. The first reason is surveillance, she goes on to say one of the reasons people obsess over social media is a need to keep track of our daily physical and human environment.  Another reason is personal identity. Personal identity helps us to discover who we are, what we stand for, what will make us feel satisfied with ourselves, and how we are living our lives. I find this to be fascinating as I personally do not use social media too much. To have a look into why social media means so much to people is refreshing and it gives me a new perspective on social media that I previously didn't have
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               Luke Whiteman's Exhibit showcased video games as being more than just games but an art form. His essay of video games as an art form looks at the immersive narratives video games tell as well as the stunning graphics in games. He looks at many different video games as examples, such as The Last of Us. The Last of Us has an amazing story line with incredible graphics which is why it had good reviews. In these examples he tells us about the beautiful graphics in the games immersing the player and really entering the realm of true art. The stories that these games tell are very surreal. Some of the games displayed invoke real emotion in is players and fan base, showing the depth of video games as not only being beautiful to look at but also emotional to play. 

             Both Exhibits looked really promising and I can only imagine how good their essays will be. I liked that each took different approaches to  displaying their information, Luke used a slideshow and Morgan used a Prezi. Luke's presentation was more broad with his information but that is not necessarily a bad thing as it made things simpler and easy to look at. Morgan's went into a lot of depth showing she did a lot of research and is very knowledgeable about her topic. Both did a fantastic job and I couldn't find anything they need to improve on.

Digital Humanities Exhibit

Social Media Identities

This semester, after discovering and learning more about the field of Digital Humanites, I really enjoyed learning about social media and how users formed online identities. Because of my enjoyment for this topic, I decided to focus my final exhibit on social media identities. In my exhibit, I used Google Docs to look at how social media allows users to create online an presence that reflects their true selves and I also look at how social media can cause users to create identities that deviate from who they true are. 

Exhibit Review

Exhibit Review

“The effects of artificial intelligence on our society” by Nick Roberts

Project Background: Nicks project was one of the projects I found interesting because it consisted of presenting an explanation of what artificial intelligence is and how it works. This is intriguing because AI is the direction our world is heading and knowledge is key to ensuring the transition to its implementation is smooth. From his PowerPoint presentation, I learned some negative affiliations of AI through the use of everyday aspects, such as robotic welding. In the near future computer systems will be able to perform a task that involves human intelligence. This is significant because it presents us with the opportunity to have these forms of intelligence replace employment by takeover of manual labor positions, similar to robot welders. If AI can take over forms of employment what happens to the people that once filled those positions? These machines will have the ability to work quicker, safer, cheaper, and smarter than any human can fathom. So do we become obsolete? Well, quoted in Nick’s work is a phrase from Stephen Hopkins saying  “AI could end humankind as we know it”. This is a relatively scary thought with frightening potential considering many AI devices are already in use today. Also, housed within Nick's work was some positive attributes to AI in our society. His researched yielding information stating that AI can take peoples lives out of danger by implementing an intelligence device in that person's place. In dangerous, high risk jobs, such as manufacturing environments, AI can ensure employees get home to their families safely after each shift. This is done because AI has the ability for machines to overcome human limitations that prevent people from reacting to, or noticing, a problem before it happens.

What I Liked: Nick's presentation was thorough and appealing. Nick also displayed interest and extensive knowledge of his topic. In the work, the images matched his descriptions well and complimented my individual learning of AI.

“Esports” by Sam Schmader

Project Background: Sam’s work consisted of a Prezi presentation of "esports". In his Prezi, a description of esports is provided along with some important aspects of how it works, its popularity, and the games that are involved. Sam states that esports are a form of video game style sporting events that involve filling stadiums with fans to watch 

opponents compete against each other on a large screen. The process can also work by having viewers outside the stadium streaming the event on their smart devices. The games are ran by a broadcast team to present different perspectives of game play in a way that is pleasing to audiences. Although this type of event is not officially recognized as a sport in the United States, other countries have already adopting this activity as a sporting event and a popular one at that. Recent figures presented in Sam’s Prezi, show up to 104,000 people attending these gaming sessions in countries like Germany, France, and Spain, with worldwide views reaching as high as 30 million people.  Some of the games these esporting enthusiasts can be found playing include Counter Strike, League of Legends, and Starcraft II, to name a few.

What I Liked: Sam was very knowledgeable and passionate about his research on this topic. He seemed to be able to answer any question that was asked regarding esporting, further supporting my claim. Additionally, his presentation was heavily video and image based, creating an attention grabbing piece that was hard to overlook when exploring classroom exhibits.

Recommendations for Nick and Sam : Both showed advanced knowledge through research and were both deeply interested in their projects. I feel as if both classmates filled the assignment requirements and do not require any alteration to their works.

Final Essay Submission

Data Mining 

For my final essay, I chose to research and talk about the concepts of data mining using Google Docs. The essay steps through multiple aspects related to important ideas within the study. Some of these ideas include what is data mining, how data mining information is collected, how businesses use it, how consumers use it, how television/internet data mining works, and data mining privacy. These topics cover both basic and advanced topics of the study and provide insight into its shear impact on todays society.

Tech Convergence

Henry Jenkins

As new technology is made cheaper, smaller, and more accessible, the developers of digital tools try to optimize their product. Simply put, stronger computers are being made so small and at such a low cost that new tech is able to do more than it could before. The combination of various kinds of technology into one more singular product is known as convergence. Cell phones, for example, are a prime example of convergence in progress. Their initial intent was to be able to make phone calls on the go, but modern cellphones have advanced far beyond that being their primary function. Instant messaging, texting, streaming videos, surfing the internet, playing games, taking photos or video, and a plethora of other functionalities are commonplace in the pocket of modern society. In fact, making phone calls, the intended function of a cell phone, isn't nearly as popular as the phone's other functions in today's society. Phone calls have been made obsolete by things like Skype applications or FaceTime.
In class, we read over and discussed a piece Henry Jenkins had written about convergence culture. Jenkins talks about the tech phenomenon that is various functionalities being combined together and eventually leading to one singular black box that is capable of performing all of the functions we would need from a piece of technology. This is known simply as the "Black Box Fallacy." During discussion, we touched upon how companies would actively market against such a thing in order to continue making money. The theoretical black box would likely be monopolized by one production company, but multiple products are easier to sell based on their lack of functionality. Apple, for example, sells iPhones, iMac computers, iPads, specialized iPods, and various accessories for each. In each products own right, they are capable of doing most of the functions of the other products, but are marketed as specializations to gather more attention and earn more revenue. The fallacy lies within our advancing technology leading toward one singular product, but our marketing system is actively avoiding such a monopoly for the sake of continuing with their steady/increasing income.
          Convergence doesn't just apply to technology, though the importance of tech still holds to more cultural convergence. In the interest of transition, we could take a look at media. Jenkins cites Warner Brothers and their reach over multiple media platforms, such as film, television, toys, and other forms of entertainment. A popular movie, for example, would eventually garner so much love and support that fans would demand more, perhaps in a separate medium. The movie might be made into a video game, which the company that owns the rights to the movie would oversee. That company might already own the rights to a book that the movie may have been based upon. Naturally, there might be toys made of characters in the movie. The expanding media forms centered on the initial idea would be overseen by the owners of that intellectual property. At some point, it would be easiest to own and control the companies that produce these other forms of media and converge into one singular being, like Warner Brothers that has complete control over all associated forms of media.
         There are, obviously, more forms of cultural convergence. For instance, Jenkins opens his piece commenting on the convergence of a children's show character being intermingled with a radical terrorist and how the resulting image gained traction. Overall, convergence applies to cultural phenomenon as well, and our class has opened a discussion amongst ourselves about forms of convergence and how we, as a society, react to it happening.

Eragrup: Original Piece of E-Lit

                                                                     Eragrup

For my original piece of E-Lit, I chose to do an interactive story. Eragrup was made with twine, and it tells the story of you, the user, trying to escape an impossible situation.

Trial of Character
My original work of e-literature is entitled "Trial of Character." "Trial of Character" is a hypertext story heavily inspired by fantasy choose-your-own-adventure books and Dungeons and Dragons settings. It was coded from scratch using HTML.

Archiving the '90s

   Archives are important to our society because they act as a point of reference for viewers to locate and utilize important works in their research. Without archives to keep historical and other relevant information categorized, it is possible for important aspects of research to missed or overlooked during examination.

This week in class, our tribe discussed the idea of archives, in addition to taking time to explore these web pages and recognize their importance to the DH field. An archive, or an accumulation of historical records; as noted by Wikipedia, is a place used to store and categorize a series of events related to a specific topic in one general location.

   The idea of an archive is about combining many ideas of a specific topic into one well organized area. This benefits society with the quick and helpful location of the information they need. When information is quickly accessible and no important aspects are misplaced or left to be searched for, we as people can quickly learn and benefit from the source in an efficient manner.

Ultimately, the information stored in archives is used as a tool to increase the intelligence of a viewer interested in that specific topic. Archives take this important information and present it in a manner that creates a more efficient learning environment for the audience that is viewing it.

During class, our tribe was challenged to come up with a pitch for an archive. We came up with creating an archive of discontinued toys from the 90s. Our vision is to capture the time frame of 90s by archiving the most nostalgic component for the members of our tribe, toys. As “90s kids” we grew up with a lot of these toys and looking back at them brings with it so many fond childhood memories, this is the feeling we want to produce for people in creating this archive.

      Since these toys are discontinued they are not easy to come by and in some cases only the most dedicated collectors have them, so  having them easily accessible over the internet makes them more ubiquitous. Not only with this archive of toys appeal to our generation, but it might also be of interest to the next one. The next generation can look back at this archive and see what the kids of yesterday were playing with as well as see how that compares to the toys of the present.

Magna-Doodle

Original Game Boy

The toys showcased in this archive include, but are not limited to: the Game Boy, Polly Pocket, Beanie Babies, Easy Bake Ovens, Magna-Doodle, and The Viewmaster. All these toys will come with a picture of what the toy looked like in factory new condition and will have a description of what the toy is, accompanied by brief explanation on how the toy was played with.

Above all, our tribe believes it is important for someone of our generation to create this archive, because it encase the toys we grew up with. Ultimately, sharing a piece of our past with an audience can be special and a lot of these toys shaped who we are today. In short, this archive sets to display the toys of the past and shine a spotlight on a small portion of our childhood for present and future generations.

Furbies

Beanie Babies

Original Work of Electronic Literature

The Distance Between Us

For my original work of electronic literature, I decided to make a Google Maps essay, using the application Google Tour Builder. In this essay, I focus on the relationship I have with my father, pinpointing specific points about our relationship throughout Western Pennsylvania.

Original Work of Electronic Literature

My Journey to Myrtle Beach 

This work was completed on the Google Tour Builder platform and represents my interesting summer travel story to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Data Mining

This week our class began exploring the concept of data mining. As Wikipedia explains, data mining is, “the computational process of discovering pattern in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems.” Furthermore, as Wikipedia notes, “the overall goal of the data mining process is to extract information from a data set and transform it into an understandable structure for further use."
After learning more about data mining, our tribe decided to take a shot at. We did this by looking at and examining our most recent blog posts, which were written individually. Using Voyant, a site that is “a web-based reading and analysis environment for digital texts, our tribe wanted to discover and understand what words we frequently used individually. Also, we wanted to discover if and how these frequent words overlapped with another tribe members. To begin, our tribe copied and pasted our individual identity blogs into Voyant’s textbox, which led us to discover what words were used the most. The results were as follows:
Jonas’s three most frequent words: identity, person, online

Sam’s three most frequent words: identity, intelligence, people
Morgan’s three most frequent words: online, intelligence, able
Chase’s three most frequent words: social, identity, virtual

Our tribes most frequently used terms (left to right): Jonas, Sam, Morgan, and Chase

After looking at our identity blogs individually, our tribe compared the frequent terms from each of the tribe member’s blogs and found that the most commonly used words were identity, intelligence, and online. Once we gathered this data, we then used the site Ngram Viewer, “an online search engine that charts frequencies of any coma-delimited, search strings,” to discover how frequent those three terms have been used over time.

As our graph showed, the term “intelligence” has had several spikes since the 1500s, most notably in the 1600s and mid 1700s until 1900. This led our tribe to wonder what was going on during those times that made people ask about intelligence. Was the rise of the term intelligence in the 1600s, due to the pilgrims arriving in Massachusetts? Did intelligence spike again beginning in the mid 1700s have something to do with the French Revolution or the United States gaining independence from England?

Along with intelligence, the term “identity” spiked majoring in 1628. Was this because of England’s exploration into what we know today is America? Were they trying to find out who they were by exploring a new land? Furthermore, after this point in 1628, intelligence drastically decreased until the mid 1950s, right around the time computers were being made and used.

Finally, our tribe examined how the word “online” measured over time. Like our tribe suspected, there was zero frequency measuring the term online until the beginning of the 1980s, when computers and their use started becoming widespread, leading many people to venture online.

After we gathered our data, our tribe was fascinated by the data mining we had done using our past blogs on identity. We found that we not only used common terms in our own blogs, but those same words have been used throughout time, showing us how often or little those words have been discussed by people. Above all, our data mining was able to provide us with some essential evidence about how our world and the time we live in is shaped by the terms and words we us

Social Media Identity

In the advent of the digital era, human beings have stretched their personalities into the internet in the form of social media. Opinions, ideas, and experiences are cataloged on websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and any of the other ever-trending social media platforms. As such, characteristics of a person's identity are stored online, creating a presence that mimics real life persona. However, as the internet is a platform that allows for editing and filters, one has to question how much of a person's digital identity is representative of their living self.

Viewing the internet as a tool, a person must make a conscious effort to interact with it. This allows for a level of filtering in forming an online identity, just as editing a scholarly work can alter how readers absorb the information. That being said, the process of action is what gives people their identity outside of digital media. Intrusive thoughts are describe a person's instinctual, and usually unwanted, desire to do something generally negative. Things like momentarily wanting to drive into oncoming traffic on a whim occur in the minds of 4 out of every 5 people. However, few people are tempted enough by the passing whim to act on it. Does the intrusive thought identify a person, or does the action of not driving into traffic identify them? In a similar fashion, using the internet is a kind of filter like the brain is in allowing someone to dictate their actions. Arguably, action is what makes a person who they are.
So if action dictates persona, then does the additional level of filtering imply that what a person posts online is more representative of them than their actions as a living person? That depends on the context of their posts. Within the confines of identifying social media, like Facebook, then a person may portray themselves in a certain way under the premise that people know who they are. But under anonymity, a person's actions may change. On some websites, a user can post without fear that anyone will know who they are, such as 4chan. 4chan is a website within the culture of the internet that is infamous for being host to some of the most depraved, horrid content a person could imagine. It is also the birthplace of the hacktivist group, Anonymous. Research provides evidence that anonymity online allows users to fear very little for the way they are perceived, thus giving their most carnal thoughts and feelings no reason to be stifled.

Are the actions one takes under anonymous circumstances more indicative of their personality than what they post on personal Facebook accounts? Or is identity dictated by how other people perceive a person, making their anonymous posts nothing more than intrusive thought brought to life? Once again, do the actions a person takes on the internet affect their identity in real life, or is the online identity a separate entity altogether?
In my personal opinion, identity online may be defined by how people perceive that persona, but a person's identity in real life is much more represented by who they are all the time. I think the second filter allows for too much editing and doesn't necessarily fully represent a person. When considering anonymity, a person posting anonymously online is more representative of their real life persona than their online identity. Personally, I believe the philosophy of it all to be fascinating, but it is difficult to really pin down what makes an identity, and therefore, it is difficult to discuss how an online identity represents a person.

Social Media and Artificial Intelligence

A little over a decade ago there was no such thing as social media. Now, it’s hard to imagine a world where our society, including myself, wasn’t constantly online. Since I was in middle school, I have made accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. Besides being able to reveal the posts I like or the people I follow, these apps have essentially been able to encase who I am and my identity in a way that is 100% online. As Patrick White notes in his presentation, “The impact of Social Media and Identity Construction,” online mediums, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been able to grow in popularity since their creation. Because of their popularity, millions of people have created accounts which led to people also creating a “second self.” As White describes, “having an online ‘self’ or avatar enables people’s identities to be ‘entirely generated by what can be typed or posted in images and text.” However, White points out, having an online presence has enabled “users the power to create who themselves as someone that does not mirror who they are in reality. For instance, as white further states, “social networking in the 21st century has added an online dimension to the theory of social identity as people are given a chance to effectively portray themselves, what they do, and what they care about . . . inaccurately in order to receive recognition, gratification, or acceptance.”

From my own perspective, I believe White has a point behind what he is saying. From a young age, I have had a variety of social media accounts and I will mostly create more as other sites become more popular in the future. As a platform, I have used these sites to follow my friends, see what others are posting, see what images others are uploading, and to creep on people that I don’t know or am not friends with. But while I have created and still regularly use these sites to perform a multitude of specific actions, I can attest that these sites have created a second identity for myself. For instance, at a young age I was always told to watch and be careful of what I post online because it would always be out there for someone to see, even after I die. To that notion, I have kept my accounts pretty clean and basic. I won’t post certain things that I know are inappropriate or offensive, that I might actually look at and read in real life. Instead, the main thing I do online is follow new friends, like their pictures, and like their posts-texts and images I wouldn’t be ashamed of liking, even thirty years from now. So yes, I definitely agree that social media accounts and having a presence online, at least for me, has created a second identity for myself. While this second identity isn’t much different from who I am today, liking and posting the same things I normally would, I am more cautious to what I am liking or posting, so it doesn’t reflect me and who I am in a negative way.

            Besides social media and our society’s presence online, another concept that is growing is artificial intelligence. As Wikipedia explains, “artificial intelligence is intelligence created by machines,” which has led to the theory of technological singularity, that states, “the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.” Basically what this means is that computers are surpassing and outperforming humans and will one day be more intelligent than we are. For instance, Ray Kurzweil, computer scientist, author, and futurists has made several predictions in the past about the capabilities of computers and their ability to surpass humans. Along with a list of predictions that came true, one prediction that Kurzweil correctly predicted was that a computer would defeat a world chess champion by 1998. “In 1997, IBM’s Deep-Blue defeated Garry Kasparov” a Russian chess grandmaster.

Along with Kurzweil, I do there is a such thing as artificial intelligence, that computers are able to outperform and surpass humans. But I don’t think that all intelligence is artificial. For instance, I believe there still is and always will be the idea of human intelligence. I believe humans will still be able to think for themselves and have their own belief systems and values, even though our society is regularly online and discovers ideas and concepts further online. Ultimately, even though we are gaining a variety of knowledge from the Internet and from sources online, I believe our own thoughts and reasoning and how we learn, understand, and apply the knowledge we have discovered, is what will always be able to claim as human intelligence and be able to surpass computers with, time after time.

Identity Online and Artificial Intelligence

Online one’s identity is defined by their perceptions of other’s perceptions of themselves, much like in real life. I do not have much of an online presence on social media, I use a few platforms but very sparingly. I would say I form my online identity more through video games. Gaming culture is its own entity, but it’s not too different from social media. We use our own “language” to convey certain meanings and have a particular etiquette, although most of the time it seems it is more popular to not follow the unspoken rules of online gaming. This type of behavior of not following the rules is referred to trolling. Trolling is usually done in order to get a rise of people or to amuse oneself, but most people who do this behavior will not enact it in real life. Why? My theory is that a personality can change based on whether or not the person is interacting in the real world or the virtual world. The people who I interact with online shape my identity and form how I present myself. The identity you have in real life is different than the identity you have online. In most cases people try to present themselves as a better version of their true self, the one that exists in the real world. I would say the same thing applies when looking at myself, I have a different personality online than I do in real life. It is something I don't consciously think about, but it just happens. Perhaps the alternate personality or identity already exists in the individual and it just needs a catalysts to unlock itself. The virtual world is the perfect environment to let that alternate identity take over. A place with a certain amount of anonymity, a place where you are not face-to-face with people, somewhere in which there are no governing bodies telling you what to do. The virtual world is truly just an open space. My virtual identity is more extroverted, I find myself being more proactive and open, doing things that I normally wouldn’t do in real life. I find myself to be more confident, outspoken, qualities I normally wouldn't claim I possess. I always finding myself playing multiplayer games instead of single player games. Multiplayer games I find more fun because I can play with friends. I find it interesting to self-reflect on my virtual identity for this class, it is something I would not have done on my own.  

Is our intelligence artificial?

Artificial intelligence is intelligence created by other humans. No, human intelligence is not artificial. I believe intelligence is natural to people, intelligence can be improved and built upon, but for the most part intelligence is not artificial. We attain information and knowledge from the outside world, but it is how we apply that information that makes us intelligent and it is the reason why our intelligence does not come from other people, but from within ourselves. We are born with our intelligence, geniuses are born, take the story of Jaxon Cota. He was born with high intelligence, he was not influence by anyone else, but was just born a genius. Human intelligence is not artificial.    

Virtual Identity/Artificial Intelligence

Analysis of your virtual identity and is your intelligence artificial?

Before I can describe my own virtual identity, a description of what this topic includes is necessary. The topic of identity is created due to a person striving for positive self concept.  The best way to describe this image can be done with the use of Dobson’s idea that identity is the global understanding that someone has of themself. This effort can include things such as trying to maintain and/or balance their self esteem. In our generation, this image can be sculpted with the use of many social tools, including Facebook. These tools are used to create a social image that could not have been perceived in past generations. This is possible because of the ability available for a person to actually portray themselves, what they do, and what they care about with the use of social technology platforms. Additionally, today we also have the ability to virtually identify ourselves with

Avatars

the use of avatars. Avatars are usually related with modern game play and are used as a means of a second self. Often times gamers use these avatars to create someone that they are not in reality. The reason behind why people feel the need to exaggerate or portray someone with a more positive image of themself is partly due to today's negative media and social forces. In the past generation media and social forces were inherently more positive and lacked the presence of distinguishing features of who we should be, seen in today's media. With this negative vibe, people feel the need to shield information from the public and only portray information that creates a positive self concept. Moving on to how I describe my own virtual identity, I move to the idea of the social networking theory. This theory created by Kadushin states that people and groups who surround each other share the same characteristics, values, and social statuses. This theory is important to the description of my identity due to the family and friends that  surround me. This group of people and I share the same type of identity, as we are more “old school” and focus on the physical things at hand. Similar to previous generations, I share a virtual identity of proving that I achieved something by actually doing it. Though not an avid gamer, I have to imagine my virtual identity would resemble this due to my current lifestyle. A good example of a game that I feel reminds me of my own virtual identity is Red Dead Revolver.

Red Dead Revolver

In this game, you play the role of cowboy who is set out to complete missions and get things done with the use of his tools at hand.  Outside of gameplay, I do have a few social media accounts (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram) that I feel would describe my virtual identity, again as more of doer. Rarely do I post a picture of myself in comparison to things I have created or achieved during my life. Many posts describe the cars I have worked on, the success I have had in my academic career, and things that I have created or designed in my life. I feel as this outlook builds upon my defined virtual identity of being a person who creates to prove ability.

Is your intelligence artificial is the next piece of information to be examined by this blog. Artificial intelligence in its general form is known as the exhibition of intelligence by machines, as described by wikipedia. In humans this ability can include the idea of predictions, similar to Ray Kurzweil prediction of singularity occurring around the year 2045. The idea of singularity involves the thought that the invention of artificial superintelligence will cause out of control technological growth, resulting in dramatic changes to human civilization. This created technological runaway is due to the potential of the machines far surpassing human intelligence which could result in the end of a human era, as stated by author Vernor Vinge. Moving on to the idea of; is our personal intelligence as humans artificial, I would like to relate back to the idea of superintelligence and singularity. If machines have the ability to acquire and display intelligence that can lead to singularity, and it is considered artificial, what do we call it when humans acquire information through the act of learning? Over the period of a lifetime, a human is also continuously acquiring and displaying intelligence, similar to adding software updates to a machine. For this reason, human intelligence should also be considered artificial as it is gathered and used to advance performance in the same manner . Another good representation of why human intelligence can be artificial is through the means of social media platforms. As discussed in class, peoples profiles will live on even after they are deceased. This is important because these profiles still provide your intelligence and still represent you as a person, even after you are gone. People who view your profile can understand who you were just because of your provided intelligence on the screen. This eerie feeling of relating to a person who is no longer alive due to their left behind information is a good representation of artificial intelligence at work.