First 2 weeks

I have to admitt when i found out the special topic for this paper was about the internet, i was a little afraid. I'm not very technological and find it a bit difficult using the internet for more then just email or bebo. However I have enjoyed the first two weeks of this paper and am extremely glad that there is little technological terminology to remember.

(If anyone knows a definition for Meritocracy that would be a big help, just missed the meaning in class)

INTERNET
Im slowly grasping the concepts that we have learned in class. Reflecting on the internets rapid advances over such a short time (30 years), I feel that the internet might someday govern most peoples lives as virtual communities are becoming more and more popular. Is virtual reality going to someday replace face-to-face contact completely? From learning the history of the internet in lectures, i feel this could one day become a reality. As it was pointed out in our lectures the internet has only been around for a short time but already it has become a world-wide phenomenon. I never grasped this concept before taking the class for the pure fact that i have grown up in the internet generation, for as far back as i can remember it has been accessible to me and i never thought twice about its development. I guess you could say i took it for granted.

BLOG: WHAT A MISSION?
Setting up this blog was a bit of a mission. It took me quite a while to figure out how to add everyone to me blog. I first tried to set up RSS feeds, just didn't happen for me (possibly could be because im on Internet Explorer). I then asked a friend who showed me how to add a list and just go through the lecturers page to see everyone elses comments. Horray!!!! I'm still not quite sure what it is exactly that should be in my postings so if you feel im not quite on the right track, feel free to leave me a comment and push me into the right direction.

ARCHITECTURES (USERS, NETWORKS, STRUCTURES)
A question was put to us in lecture 3, 'who are you online? (and is it different to who you are in other spaces?) This got me to thinking about a number of things, firstly virtual communities such as bebo and my space and whether or not people are being truthful on these sites and why people use these sites (why not phone or email). I personally use bebo, not as frequently now as i did when i first became a memeber. So why did i joine this site and why do i continuously use it? And my answer is to keep in contact more often with people, (email just isn't as cool, it doesn't have on the pretty skins and pictures), and cell phones could be expensive if im contacting someone on a different network and some people don't have landlines (we are of course 'poor students'!!!!) How do we know if people are being truthful in these sites and others such as chat rooms? In my opinion (which could be wrong), i feel unless you know these people personally i.e. face-to-face contact, you could never be 100% certain. I think the internet could be an escape for some from real life reality, so i guess in a sense in virtual reality you could take on another identity. The possibilities of the internet seem to be endless and continously changing over time. I always thought that real life reality could be separate from virtual reality but we learnt that its not as separate as we think. Why's this????? And then i thought more about how we are constantly influenced by our environment, by the people we associate with, by the media we are surrounded by. We are constantly influenced by everything so of course our real life experiences would affect our virtual life as well.

HElP!!!!!! I understand that all virtual communities (e.g. bebo) are networks but why are all networks not virtual communites. Does it have to do with fact that networks aren't monitered like virtual communities are or because networks don't neccessarily share similar language? or both?

Users, networks and structures are all interwined. I describe structures as the backbone of the internet, it works by shaping and framing networks which affect the users. Hopefully im right.