A Day in the Second Life...

It was a cool, breezy day in Second Life, I think, and Purchase Island was abuzz with excitement. The Computers and Culture class was arriving for their tour of Second Life. One by one the avatars started to trickle in. There were furries, women with wings, Spartans, dragons and a Gundam-esque android. I felt outshined by these overachievers. Maybe overachievers is a harsh word; perhaps I was just an underachiever. I was dressed casually in a white tennis shirt, white pants, white shoes and a Mohawk. I looked like the punk rock version of Jesus. In hindsight, I was drastically underdressed. I’ll go with that. The stage on Purchase Island was filling up faster and faster. Everyone was chatting with someone and there was chaos in the chat window. The professor finally arrived and class commenced.

The assignment for the day was to split up into groups and explore the world that is Second Life. Each group seemed to have a different objective, my group’s objective being to go to relaxing places in Second Life. The group leader decided the most relaxing thing one could do in Second Life was to visit islands that were yoga-oriented. I can’t say I was ecstatic; my idea of relaxation is not to contort my body into a pretzel. Stereotypes aside, it didn’t turn out half bad. Our first stop was the first item on the search list for yoga, The Land of Yoga Force. As far as I can tell, there was really nothing on that particular island that screamed yoga. Under whelmed, we continued to on to what would be our final destination of the day, Lotus Island or something along those lines. This island was truly something to behold. If The Land of Yoga Force was barren on yoga related material, Lotus Island was its antithesis. Everywhere I looked there was a meditation spot or some sort of monk. It was quite an experience. I can’t help thinking of what the experience would have been like if there hadn’t been such severe lag the whole way through. After reaching nirvana, we departed for Purchase Island to discuss our experiences with the rest of the class.

I’ll be frank for a second though: I do not like this game. I know it has a lot to do with the class and is groundbreaking in several ways, but I cannot play a game that really has no point whatsoever except to fly, build things, and dress up in odd ways. That’s my personal opinion on the matter and, by no means, do I discourage anyone from trying out the game. It’s free and on occasion has made me crack a smile or two. I know for a fact that certain players have made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the game, but I already have a life in the real world. So with that, I bid you all adieu…

Reading Response

I’ll be frank, it was a tough read. For someone, like myself, who has never really read a book like this before, it was difficult to stay on track, but I managed to do it. In retrospect, what I was reading made a lot of sense, but I guess my brain was having a hard time putting it all together.

Chapter 1 dealt, for the most part, with Charles Babbage and his inventions, the analytical and differential engines. I found this chapter particularly fascinating because I had never before considered a computer to be something so mechanical. Being a person who does not think technically, it is hard to imagine thinking up such machines. The mention of “steampunk” caught my attention because I’ve seen it recently in popular culture. A video game entitled “Bio Shock” was recently released for Xbox 360 and PC which was set in a underwater city with a steampunk theme. The thought of the Information Age and the Industrial Revolution occurring at the same time really fascinates me. The concept of technology evolving in a different, more analog way is very interesting.

Chapter 2 was a chapter that was very near and dear to my heart because I grew up hearing about analog vs. digital. My dad used to own and operate a recording studio at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. He started it back in the early 80’s when everything was analog and he would record to tapes. As we got into the 90’s, however, I witnessed the studio’s transformation from analog to digital. All of the sudden, computers were everywhere. His reel-to-reels were stored in the back room and everything was recorded onto CD’s. It was kind of disappointing because my dad had used really old, cool looking equipment when he recorded to tape, but all that equipment was out the window when he switched to digital. I think there is a certain romanticism involved when it comes to analog. People sort of miss the good ol’ days.

Chapter 3 dealt with the issue of technology rendering human beings jobless and obsolete. Friedman uses examples from the movies Desk Set and 2001: A Space Odyssey to relay humans fears of being replaced or even killed by superior technology. While their fear of being killed may be a little unrealistic, the fear of being replaced is known all too well.

Chapter 4 was a great history lesson on computers. It is hard to imagine a world where computers weighed tons and had to be stored in gymnasiums. I was especially interested in ECHO, the house computer. Truly ahead of its time, ECHO was the precursor to the smart houses we know today. Freidman also talks about early computer programming, in which punch cards were implemented. I remember my dad telling me about using said punch cards to program computers in high school. How far we have come: from time-share computers to the Mac Book Air.

Chapter 5 seemed to be highly centered on the advertising campaigns of Macintosh. From the famous 1984 commercial to the infamous Lemmings commercial, Macintosh has seen its ups and downs when it comes to performance. I felt that I could relate to this chapter the best because I basically grew up as it was happening. My whole childhood I was surrounded by Macintoshes, so there was a lot of reminiscing going on as I read this chapter.

Resistance is Futile...

I have to say that, at first glance, this week’s assignment in Computers and Culture was a bit confusing. We were supposed to find out everything we could about a song with only the title, “Computer Love”. When I first heard the song, I thought it was the theme to the classic videogame, SimCity. Fortunately for me I realized my error and was able to get right back on track.

Let me start off with a little information about the song, “Computer Love”. First off, it was originally released by the German electro-pop band, Kraftwerk, in July 1981. At the time, the music they were releasing was very revolutionary because of their use of electronics to make music, something which just had not been heard of at that time. However, as the 80’s progressed electronic music became more and more popular, helping bands such as Divo and Kraftwerk to become highly successful.

“Computer Love” has been covered numerous times since then, including one by a band named Glass Candy, which happened to be the version we listened to in class. I think Glass Candy’s version of the song actually makes it more accessible to people today. I felt that each version of the song had a completely different feel. Upon listening to Kraftwerk’s original version, the first thing that came to mind was “80’s”. Now, while researching this song, I came upon another song called “Computer Love” that was completely unrelated to Kraftwerk’s version. It was by a hip-hop duo named Zapp and Roger and it too featured heavily computerized effects. I actually really enjoyed this song compared to the other two.

One question that was posed for this assignment was how does “Computer Love” relate to the topic of Computers and Culture. First I looked at the lyrics, but they didn’t really give any insight into what the song really meant. There was a lot of mention about needing a rendevouz and a data date, but I think it was just to continue the whole computer theme. Ultimately, I figured it out on my own. “Computer Love” relates to Computers and Culture because it is an efficient blend of the two: music and computers. Music is such a huge part of our culture and society and here it is lying in the same bed as electronics, until this point a field which seemed to be all about mathematics and lack of creativity. I think this really opened the door for more musical artists to experiment with electronic music. Today, practically every song you hear has some computer generated music in it, be it MIDI-keyboards or drum machines. This also opened the door for software engineers to create new programs and plug-ins which eventually evolved into a whole network of freeware and shareware for aspiring musicians who don’t have the money to buy expensive plug-ins.

So, in conclusion, I guess one can say that “Computer Love” by Kraftwerk really has lot to do with Computers and Culture. It spanned the gap between the two and created a new generation of music. It’s good to know where you came from.