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GIST
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Welcome to "GIST": A Course about Gender, Information, Science and Technology, offered in Spring 2011 @ Bryn Mawr College. This is an interestingly different kind of place for writing, and may take some getting used to. The first thing to keep in mind is that this is not a place for "formal writing" or "finished thoughts." It's a place for thoughts-in-progress, for what you're thinking (whether you know it or not) on your way to what you think next. Imagine that you're not worrying about "writing" but instead that you're just talking to some people you've met. This is a "conversation" place, a place to find out what you're thinking yourself, and what other people are thinking, so you can help them think and they can help you think. The idea is that your "thoughts in progress" can help others with their thinking, and theirs can help you with yours.
We're glad you're here, and hope you'll come both to enjoy and value our shared imagining of the future evolution of ourselves as individuals and of our gendered, scientific, technological world. Feel free to comment on any post below, or to POST YOUR THOUGHTS HERE....
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Self Evaluation
I chose to take Gender, Information, Science and Technology last semester, mainly for the section labeled Gender. I did not think much about the other words I the class title, and so I was a little surprised when I learned how much Technology we would be using in class. I did not realize how much science and math would be involved in class discussion and functions. I was a bit nervous by the heavy amount of involvement with technology, because I am not especially skilled with it. As the semester progressed, though, I found myself more and more at ease utilizing technology.
![ekthorp's picture ekthorp's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-866.jpg)
My Final Presentation
For the final presentation, my group of six people all created fake identities with real AIM screen names. These identities were unknown to each other person in the group except the person who created the chatroom and invited everyone into it. We then discussed for about ten to fifteen minutes the topic of sex robots. The reactions to this topic varied from ridiculous to insulted. Some people chose to take on identity who were in full support of sex robots, as well as those who were against the idea of them. We posted the whole discussion onto the class serendip site, and I was not surprised at all when someone asked what the conversation was and what it was doing on the website.
![anonymous123's picture anonymous123's picture](/exchange//files/images/SerendipStudioAvatar.png)
Ugliness in Frankenstein
I view Frankenstein as, among many other possibilities, a tale of the effect that perceived ugliness has on the individual. Victor is rejected by all who lays eyes on him. He is not only hideous, he is repugnant and horrifying. Even Frankenstein's family, his rightful family as the creation of Frankenstein, does not accept him. Individuals who are isolated from society because of their differentness suffer great psychological turmoil because of it. This made me think more contemporarily of individuals who are singled out for physical defects such as cleft lip, dwarfism, down syndrome, and the distress it must cause them.
![anonymous123's picture anonymous123's picture](/exchange//files/images/SerendipStudioAvatar.png)
Second Panel Person - Surgeons
My panel group will be on surgeons. I found the role of surgeons in the 21st century very interesting. As technology has advanced, so has surgical tools. Surgeons must use these tools in order to successfully perform certain high risk surgeries like open heart and prostate surgery. Surgeons must be trained on how to use these tools and computer software. While operating, they literally resemble a cyborg, as they are temporarily attached to these instruments that are crucial to the welfare of their patients. Surgeons have even requested haptic feedback, a type of technology that vibrates when a human touches the object. This interests me as we have discussed in class the human need to be more and more connected to technology.
![anonymous123's picture anonymous123's picture](/exchange//files/images/SerendipStudioAvatar.png)
Mid Semester Evaluation
So far, our conversation on gender and information has left an impression on me that was quite different than the one I initially entered with. When it came to gender, I often did not realize how much of an influence our society has on what is appropriate behavior for a man or woman. I often believed it was genetic, and that the fact that men and women typically behave a certain kind of way was scientifically determined. After readings from Roughgarden and other writers, I began to realize that humans have a much more complicated code of behavior than other animals. Information on the other hand, I began to understand depended on who the intended audience was, as information is often delivered in codes that are coded to reach a certain audience.
![anonymous123's picture anonymous123's picture](/exchange//files/images/SerendipStudioAvatar.png)
Presentation Posting
I decided to do my presentation on the restrictions that our perceptions of gender has on the individual. These perceptions of how men and women typically think, I.e. men are typically left brained, women are typically right brained, are not actually indicative of how people actually process information. I took two web quizzes that claimed to tell me whether I thought more like a man or woman, and I scored right in the middle. I wanted other members of the class to take the quiz and compare their results. I was hoping it would start a conversation about whether the results were actually in line with how they really processed information, and whether that may be due to gender differences that are scientifically determined or socially programmed.
![MSA322's picture MSA322's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-868.jpg)
Super super late class notes- finally found
I greatly apologize for this late post. I have lost the document I wrote notes in -mainly because I'm still getting used to macs.. and I just managed to find it. Here it is:
![MSA322's picture MSA322's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-868.jpg)
Performance write-up.
In our performance, we asked the class to close their eyes and try to count to 10. If two people spoke at the same time they had to start over again, without opening their eyes. A demonstration was done my the our group first. The purpose of our group activity was to see how the minds could be connected without the usual vision sense we have. We were trying to see how we would react differently when our usual ways of communication though our vision sense is taken away, and if we were able to communicate without it. Moreover, we were interested in what sort of emergent system would result from having only simple individual rules, and what patterns would emerge from these simple rules and the interactions between the individuals.
![jlebouvier's picture jlebouvier's picture](/exchange//files/images/SerendipStudioAvatar.png)
Final Presentation description
My group did a two part performance that happened in and out of class. We all took on anonymous virtual personas and created a chat group about sex robots. Then we posted the resulting chat on this forum and asked the class to read it. In class we had everyone try to figure out which group member was each virtual character. The idea was that we could all be a totally different person online and class members would not be able to distinguish each of us. There were two flaws to this idea though. When given the option of who was behind the screen name, class members automatically looked to personal traits they saw in each of us to make the choice.
![merlin's picture merlin's picture](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a6d5b49cbe6de88689a20ef2130cc796.jpg?d=https%3A%2F%2Fserendipstudio.org%2Fexchange%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2FSerendipStudioAvatar.png&s=85&r=G)
a GIST Portfolio - online!
still in the works, but it's easier to show pictures and video online than it is on paper!
If anyone wants to do something similar, or finds an even better website to do it with, feel free!
![kgould's picture kgould's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-228.jpg)
Final Presentation: GIST to GIST
For our final presentation, our group (consisting of Maria, Julia, Katherine, and myself) put together a game of Apples to Apples using terms and vocabulary from the course.
Apples to Apples is a game of association and definition. Each player is given seven noun cards and a stack of adjective cards lays between all of the players. One player turns over an adjective card and it is their job, for that round, to judge the noun cards that are applied to that adjective. For example, I turn over the adjective card "Virtual." Maria lays down "Serendip," Julia lays down "MMORPGs" and Katherine lays down "Batman." I choose "Serendip," because I think that best fits the adjective (although Batman would be a close second).
![Franklin20's picture Franklin20's picture](/exchange//files/images/SerendipStudioAvatar.png)
Presentation Explanation
For our final presentation, my group played the game Mafia.
We chose this game for two reasons. First, because playing a game seemed like a good way to engage the class in our presentation. Second, we chose this game because it appears to be a perfect example of the complicated chiasmus of drawing information alongside modes of communication. That is to say, this game demonstrates that what the informant may consider and try to communicate as noise and information may not perfectly align with what the perceiver considers to be noise an information.
![Hillary G's picture Hillary G's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-790.jpg)
My Perspective on Gaming
While discussing gaming, I was interested in the difference between virtual reality and “meatspace.” Meatspace refers to the publicly shared physical reality of our society—it’s where most people carry out their daily lives. A lot of avid gamers seem to give up this reality, at least to some extent. But no matter how invested a person becomes in a virtual life, they can never fully escape the fact that they are still a part of the collective meatspace, and exist in this reality, too.
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Game-playing cultures
By looking at the games we have played at the end of the class and how much everyone enjoyed participating in it, we can definitely say that we have game-playing culture embedded within ourselves.
Our game-playing culture sometimes enables people to experience different gender roles, assess how humans perceive information, and somewhat experience science and technology depending on what types of games are being played. For example, role playing games (non-computer based) enable people to experience gender role playing. Some of the word games or games such as Mafia make it possible for people to experience how they perceive and process information. Generating poem games use a computer algorithm, which involves technology.
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Super Late Chorost Notes
Hi! I realized that I never posted my notes from when we skyped with Michael Chorost:
Leading Questions:
· What do we make of the idea of a public figure? Do we have privacy?
· How tough will it be to integrate humanity with the internet?
Discussion:
![ekthorp's picture ekthorp's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-866.jpg)
Class Notes 4/25/2011
“The Alienation of Play” and Performing
From the Forum:
Werner Herzog:
Resistance to knowing too much
![ekthorp's picture ekthorp's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-866.jpg)
Pakistan Creates a Third Gender
I was stumbling through the internet and I found this video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13192077
This video basically talks about the third category of gender in Pakistan. While some Pakistani transexuals have been more accepted in the community, even working for the government, many are still excluded from society. The government recently installed a new gender category in the country, so transsexuals can have their own category.
![leamirella's picture leamirella's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-855.jpg)
Identity Tourism
All this talk about gaming led me to remember the term 'identity tourism' coined by Lisa Nakamura. Identity tourism is the process by which people assume an identity in the virtual world that is entirely different than their own. However, I want to challenge this notion, like I have before, of having this very distinct virtual world where the rules of 'real life' do no apply and where everything is fantasy. Though it is easy for people to assume online identities that are different from their identities in meatspace, identities created online still take their roots and affect the 'real' world. My point is that it is impossible to isolate online identities completely.
![aybala50's picture aybala50's picture](https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/files/pictures/picture-451.jpg)
Sex Robot Conversation
Jane Doe: (10:38:29 PM) 6!
Leena Sethe: (10:38:42 PM) is this the right group?
Jane Doe: (10:38:42 PM) andddd 5
Jane Doe: (10:38:46 PM) yup
Jane Doe: (10:38:49 PM) this is the one
MaxThorner: (10:38:50 PM) thank. god.
topgleek32: (10:38:55 PM) so who wants to help me make a sex robot?
Jane Doe: (10:39:04 PM) I hate you
topgleek32: (10:39:39 PM) ok from here on out character
MaxThorner: (10:39:50 PM) honestly i don't really know much about sex bots...
topgleek32: (10:40:01 PM) I know what they should do
MaxThorner: (10:40:05 PM) but they might be my only option