OMG! :0

**may disgust and/or offend**

While checking out the internet today i was thinking of cyberspace related things to look up, and my thought turned to debbies chat about the cybersex toy. I decided to see if there have been any more advances and i was shocked!! If you go to this link http://web.archive.org/web/20050108090347/http://www.fu-fme.com/

it will explain this wacky device. Basically its a device to enable sex with another via your computer. Just wondering.. does anyone think this is a joke? have i stumbled upon a fake site with fake products? If not then personally i think this truly is too far for most. Some people may benifit from it if they have trouble in social situations, but i believe that a healthy sexual relationship should involve a room, not a 'space.

give me your thoughts..

The Psychology of Facebook: Profile Pics.

On the subject of avatars yesterday....a short clip on the psychology of profile pics (Part of an upcoming book on 'The Psychology of Facebook' (sounds an interesting read).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEpKH4t8x5U&NR=1

Some people mentioned not being familiar with online acronyms ....so here are some of the most common (and not so common). If you're offended by swearing, I'd give this one a miss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffqzajg4keA

Lastly, emoticons (old skool). For the less initiated, remember to tilt your head sideways (or hold your laptop on it's side) and you'll be shocked how quickly you get used to 'seeing' them straight away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbwJcWGMho0 and, to give you a mere taste of the range of emoticons available on IMs and in chat http://messenger.yahoo.com/features/emoticons/ .

Want to see (yet another) product of bored internet addicts? Google or YT 'Emoticoncerts'. 8> )

Virtual walking??!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHfUpI66tfo&feature=related

i cant quite work out how to get videos from youtube on to here so you will have to click the link, its a little boring but totally illustrates my point.
With new advances in technology, it looks like we might soon be able to take a walk in the park while stood on a piece of carpet embedded in our living room floors using a 'Cyber carpet' and a vr headset. To me, this begs the question ' are we taking this too far?' surely if you want to go for a walk in the park, it would be a much better experience to actually, go to the park and walk there, rather than pretend you are in the park. Don't get me wrong, i love games and i love having a 'second life', i like the wii and id like to try the cyber carpet out. but i have to say that i would choose a day walking in the real hills, with real wind and real floor and real dogs.
I understand that these treadmill like objects would help medically, for physiotherapy for example. but why not just go for a walk round the block??
this notion baffles me, in worried that in the future, people are simply going to live in their houses, but 'visit' their friends and 'visit' the shops and try things on. As amazing as the internet is... people really do need to bear in mind the Amazingness (is this a word?) of the outdoors.
What do you think?

Lord of the (Net)Things

Had to show you this. For those of you blessed to love both Tolkien and 'puter, nerdy stuff, here's the ultimate t-shirt. I want one. :) You can find more of the same at the creator's website: telcontar.net/Artwork/ThinkNerd/tech.php

What is Cyberspace? (Reply 1)

Hey! The blog has been going strong for three years...thankyou very much. :p Not that many posters (except me) but there have been TONS of lurky hits. (Yes, YOU out there....I know you're watching) :)

Do read the archive of previous entries. Some interesting stuff there (if I say so myself).

Ok, my cyberspace mental model. What I 'see' it as in my mind's eye is, perhaps, something like this picture that I very recently found. Futuristic, digital architecture in a vast dark void....islands of neon that are welcoming evidence of 'life' accenting the shadows and connected by autobahn-like grids of twinkling binary code.

I'm probably very much influenced by William Gibson's description. Or am I? It's not too surprising how a limited palette of colours and common themes dominate most peoples' conception of the place....is it? ' Think about it.

What is Cyberspace?

What is your interpetation of Cyberspace?

OK, so, i figured it might be interesting to see what image represents cyberspace to each of us. Start off by thinking of a few words that sum up your idea of cyberspace and type them in google images. See if any of the pictures that come up are relevant, if not, just describe them in your post. In my eyes, the matrix (films/books, etc) truly sum up my interpretation of cyberspace. this picture isnt quite right, i believe that it is a big black place with a destination at the otherside like a door open with light shining through, and that in between the start and the finish is a 'matrix' of words, zooming to get to places. In the film, while in the matrix you can do and be whoever you want to be, which i believe thoughroughly shows the advances in communication. You could be chatting to a lovely hunk of a man on facebook, or bebo, or even yahoo.... never meet these people, you will probably be dissapointed when you open the door and see a 25 stone bloke with long greasy hair holding a bunch of garage bought flowers that should have died before you were born. In cyberspace, you can fly, and everyone is thin and sexy and you look exactly like what you want to, just like the matrix.

ok, so ive rambled on a bit... this blog may take off, or it could be a major flop, or it could have already been done before... we will soon find out.

also, if this doesnt work on the blog site, dont blame me, its my first ever blog.. take care, and reply x

Reality is in the Eye of the Beholder?

Find the notion that, if fully immersed in cyberspace via Virtual Reality (VR), this dominant, first-person visual perspective may dictate, after some time, our accepted 'reality'? Some of you seemed to be a little dubious on Thurs. The following article details how VR is increasingly being used to assist in therapies for psychological disorders...and that it relies on the fact that the client suspends disbelief in the VR visual world enough for it to become, 'real', relevant and thus facilitates successful treatment. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3945251.ece


The second link wanders into the realms of 'futures' and where it might all be going...sooner than we anticipate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlBgIO6Mp9A&feature=related


Question is (and its a question I continually pose about technology)....just because we can, should we?

Welcome Class of 2009

Hi all and welcome to the blog for PSC3233 'The Psychology of Cyberspace'. You will all have, by now, received an email invitation to join the blog (check your uni email account) so you can not only read the previous years' entries (see Blog Archive on the right menu) but also add posts to the blog. Anything internet or cyberspsychology related is welcome. Keep it clean or it'll be deleted!).

I add my ramblings on cyber-issues to it on a regular basis throughout the module and would welcome discussion. This isn't a place where "I teach you"; it's a place where we all debate, discuss and inform each other.

By the way, the image is a picture of 'me' (Hetty Harlequin) taken at the UoB homeroom in Second Life last year. It's planned that we'll have something similar this year.

Enjoy this space on here....it's far nicer to post to than the boringforum on WebCT!

Debbie