Final Presentation

Today was the last day of the module. On the day, I and the rest of the Red Team put some finishing touches to our slideshow and decided to present the slides that we made ourselves. Just before class, I added my slides into my inventory as textures. I was a bit nervous at first because I wasn't expecting the sudden change to present through the Google Slides document itself, but I quickly calmed down. In retrospect, I realise that I didn't have a reason to be nervous since it was a minor change. That being said, I'm happy that I experienced this because sometimes changes like this happen suddenly so you have to slightly adjust yourself to gain your composure back. I was originally going to do 4 slides to match the others, but upon doing my research I felt that this wasn't enough slides to convey all this information, so I decided to do 7 slides instead. Our full presentation can be seen in the video below.

I did slides 6 to 12 of the presentation. Here's a full transcript of my part of the project. -


Slide 6 - 

Emissions caused by the Industry - Statistics

The fast fashion industry greatly contributes to creating emissions that harm the planet. According to a 2018 UN Economic Commission for Europe report...

• 10% of global carbon emissions are caused by this industry. This is more emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
• In 2018, the average consumer was purchasing 60% more clothing compared to 2000, but each garment is kept only half as long. In addition to this, 40% of clothes that we own is never worn.
• Around 20% of wastewater is caused by fabric dyeing and treatment while another 85% of textiles are sent to landfills which is roughly equivalent to 21 billion tons a year.

Slide 7 - 

According to the UN Environment Programme, every second, an equivalent of one garbage truck filled with textiles is sent is to a landfill or burned in an incinerator. This releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, produces dangerous environments for people and wildlife, and more.

Slide 8 -

Emissions caused by the Industry - Fabric

One of the most common materials used to create these clothes is Polyester which is present in around 60% of all fast fashion garments. They are made from fossil fuels and are non-biodegradable. It is speculated that this material alone releases 700,000 microfibres into the environment. This is harmful to the planet because the fiber’s size allows them to be accidentally consumed by wildlife which can potentially poison an entire food chain of fish, birds and other animals.

At the current rate of production and consumption, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise by more than 50% by 2030 which will harm everyone as temperatures and sea levels continue to rise worldwide.

Slide 9 -

Quality and Sustainability

Due to the rapid production cycle of these garments, they are typically produced in a cost-effective manner that capitalize on popular trends. Combine this with the fact that they are often made of primarily synthetic materials means that these clothes don’t typically last for long term wear. However, there are several ways that sustainability can be improved such as….

• Utilising new technologies to reduce the number of resources being used such as fabric, seams or dyes.
• Using cleaner modes of transportation such as electric trucks, LNG fuel for ships or biofuel for aircraft.
• Increasing the amount of recycling and relying less on landfills/incinerators.

Slide 10 - 

This is an example of using new technology to increase sustainability. 3D sampling and 3D prototyping which can help cut waste by cutting accurate sizes of fabrics in the initial design stage before the fabric goes unused and thrown away in the later stages. More accurate clothing sizes being produced also lowers returns which means that they don’t have to be transported back to the producer.

Slide 11 - 

Green Fuels for Ships

As previously mentioned, ships are the most popular form of transportation for fast fashion. There are several alternative greener fuels that are currently being developed that could be utilized in the future. One of these is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which has low sulphur and nitrous emissions, which means that it produces fewer greenhouse gases than the traditionally used marine diesel oil.

Another contender is Dimethyl Ether (DME) which is a renewable, non-toxic fuel. In addition to this, it is easy to ignite in diesel engines which are typically used in large container ships. This means that the engines are easy to modify and can adapt to this type of fuel.

Other proposals include solar, battery technologies and hydrogen fuel cells which are in their infancy, but could potentially produce even less harmful emissions.

Slide 12 - 

Green Fuels for Aircraft

Air transport is another popular method of transporting fast fashion products. Thankfully, just like ships there are several cleaner fuel sources being developed. Some of these biofuels include energy cane which is a type of genetically modified sugarcane. It produces 12% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. According to a study done by the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory, energy cane could yield more than 2,500 litres of bio-jet fuel per acre of land.

Other examples of biofuels include using lumber/logging waste that’s typically used to produce paper and palm oil, but these alternatives are in the early stages of development. It would be optimal if this industry and others would look into using these cleaner energy sources in the future.


Overall, I'm very proud of the Red Team because everyone presented their work well and put in a good amount of effort. There were some struggles when doing the project entirely online, but I think that all team projects naturally have some problems every now and again in general. I'm grateful to experience this and learn from my mistakes, I feel that this is an extremely valuable skill to have for the future as the world continues to digitise. I'm excited to take the lessons I've learned throughout this module into my future work. I was also proud to see everyone else's work coming into fruition today and learn some interesting facts about the environment. It's been a pleasure to participate in this unique module, many thanks to John and everyone involved!

Week 11 - Warning!

This week, we looked at Anthropocene and how it relates to our projects. According to Edwards, "Anthropocene....is the concept that we are now living in a time when the global environment, at some level, is shaped by humankind rather than vice versa. Humans have significantly altered Earth’s land surface, oceans, rivers, atmosphere, flora, and fauna. ". 1 This time period is marked by the rise of fossil fuels as a power source, the industrialisation of agriculture and the increase in urbanisation throughout the world. 2 This term has been used for two decades to describe how the environment has shifted to revolve around humanity rather than the other way around. I feel that topic is extremely relevant as fast fashion is an industry-created by humans and has affected the Earth because of the harmful emissions it causes through the production, transport and more. Many people have purchased or know someone who has purchased these garments whether they realise it or not. It is one of the many industries that has caused a large amount of damage to the planet as a whole.

Fast fashion is only one of several marks in the age of Anthropocene. [Image Source - New Atlas]

The slide being discussed in this paragraph. 

I wanted to showcase all the statistics I found through UN reports because I felt that these cold-hard numbers really showcase the harm that the fast fashion industry has done to the environment. One of the facts that I found particularly shocking was the fact that "every second, an equivalent of one garbage truck filled with textiles is sent is to a landfill or burned in an incinerator." I included this as a separate slide because I felt that it was a true mark of Anthropocene and I wanted to emphasise the harm that this industry has done. The reality is that this waste produces greenhouse gases which damage Earth's atmosphere and harms the living environments of both humans and animals. This topic can't be ignored any longer, it needs to be discussed and visualised which is why I made it a point to include as many interesting and relevant images and facts as I could. 

Since my slides were in the middle of the presentation, I felt that it was important to bridge everyone's work together. I did this by continuing to discuss the negative effects created by fast fashion as Rachel did and how that it could be potentially resolved which leads into Chenming's work. After discussing the horrifying facts on emissions, I wanted to highlight the recent developments of improved sustainability and greener energy sources. While humans have no doubt caused great harm to the planet there is still a chance for it to be reversed overtime through these new technologies and more potential developments. We wanted to end the presentation on a hopeful message as even these small efforts could create a more sustainable future. Perhaps the age of Anthropocene can one day be a distant memory.

---

1 Edwards, Lucy, 30 November 2015, What Is the Anthropocene? , https://eos.org/opinions/what-is-the-anthropocene

2 Smithsonian, 2013, Living in the Anthropocene: The Age of Humans, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/science/what-is-the-anthropocene/?jwsource=cl

Week 10 - Content Produser

'Produser' is a term coined by Professor Axel Bruns. The term is a combination of the words producer and user which refers to the shift from organisations or professions as producers to the collaborative engagement of online users to create content.


As stated in Brun's website, "Produsers engage not in a traditional form of content production, but are instead involved in produsage - the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing content in pursuit of further improvement." 1 An example of produsage can be seen on Wikipedia where anyone can produce content, edit, write or rework existing content. Another example of this is a collaborative community such as Second Life where any user can contribute to creating information or content as there are no limitations between the produsers or the users that observe/use this content. The world is interconnected to the internet nowadays. Whether we realise it or not we are producing and consuming content constantly. The lines between a consumer and a content produser have blurred with the popularity of virtual worlds or websites such as the previously mentioned Wikipedia or YouTube.

An image that shows the link between users and producers. [ Image Source - www.produsage.org]

I am a content produser myself. I made and manage this blog to catalog and reflect on the topics that we cover in class and to share my opinion on it. Each week, I learn something new and get to research topics that I never got the chance to learn about before. In addition to this I'm also in the process of making a presentation with the rest of the Red team. We came together to come up with ideas within Second Life in order and create a cohesive body of work. We constantly had discussions on what topics and photos to include in our slideshow. Communication is essential to create a successful presentation. 

I researched my particular topics about fast fashion by reading articles and reports made by the UN in order to get credible information. Upon doing this I realised that there was a plentiful amount of information available about harmful emissions in fast fashion and the alternative fuels that could be used to transport these garments. I was originally also going to cover waste in the medical field such as one use masks or robes, but while researching I realised that this doesn't fall into 'fast fashion'. Because of this, I dropped that topic and expanded on my other ones instead. It's interesting to realise that while I'm not a professional writer or researcher by any means, I am content produser both within and outside of this module without even realising. 

---

1 Bruns, A., Produsage: A Working Definition, 31 December 2007, http://produsage.org/produsage

Week 8 - An Update on the Team Project II

Progress on the team project has been going well so far. A day after we discussed our ideas in the previous update post, I asked Rachel and Chenming for their email accounts so that I could add them to a shared Google Slides presentation. I did this because I wanted a convenient way that we could all work together on the slideshow at our own pace and also because of the feature to be able to see what work and edits we've made. It's very convenient in comparison to the alternatives such as working separately and compiling our work together at the end because, with an approach like that, there is always a worry that there might be overlapping information or contrasting tone of voice.


There have been some struggles such as debates about changing the topic enterally into something more general. There was also some worry that another team might be doing a project on fast fashion, but we eventually agreed that even if that were the case we'd probably end up covering different topics such as waste in the medical field. Previously, Rachel created a useful layout for the presentation based on the ideas we discussed. Out of the 12 slides we each chose to do 4 each so that we have an equal amount of work to do. Rachel chose to do the introduction, materials, production of products and the way that companies transport the goods. I chose to fast fashion today particularly with regards to the medical field, damage caused by emissions, the quality and sustainably of goods and alternative ways of transport. Chenming will be covering textile recycling, how employers can reduce the harmful effects of the industry, ways to reduce waste and ways to not overproduce.


I chose my slides because I felt that those were the most interesting topics to me and I think that these topics tend to be overlooked. Fast fashion is often known for its terrible working conditions, which is important to acknowledge and talk about, but there are other negative that it causes to the environment. Team dynamics are playing out quite well as we meet up on Second Life and talk fairly often, always starting with some casual small talk. I'd say that my role in the team is still being a plant as mentioned in the last post and perhaps an implementer. I prefer to work behind the scenes by coming up with ideas and doing the work behind the scenes. I'm fairly efficient when it comes to working with the technicals. I think that so far things have been playing out well. We have a good variety of topics and a plan moving forward, I can confident that we'll make a good presentation.

Week 8 - Omelas

This week we had a fascinating discussion led by Glenn Loughran (feilimy) about the short story ' The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' from The Wind’s Twelve Quarters: Short Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. The story was published in 1973 when the Peace Movement was in full swing in America, which was against violence and exploitation of people. We examined the idea of utopia, the themes of the story and whether we would walk away from Omelas.


The word 'utopia' was coined by Sir Thomas More in 1516. The word comes from the Greek ou-topos meaning 'no place' or 'nowhere' which is a pun on another Greek word 'eu-topos' which means a good place. 1 Feilimy asked us if a perfect world can ever be realized. I personally think that everyone has a different image of a perfect world. My idea of a perfect world can never truly be realized because it is in human nature to overly defensive or greedy. There is no way to get rid of traits like this from manifesting some people. Ironically enough, this viewpoint is very relevant to ' The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' as it challenges the idea of the utopia that we may live in.

The origin of the word 'utopia' is very telling. [ Image Source - Stack Exchange]

Some choose to walk into the unknown and

risk it rather than continuing to live in Omelas

[Illustration by Charis Loke]

The story begins by describing a summer festival happening in the seaside city of 'Omelas'. The city is picturesque and almost has a dreamlike quality to it. The people who live there "were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy.....All smiles have become archaic." Omelas is a utopia where nearly everything is perfect. Nearly everyone and everything is joyous, perhaps too good to be true. Sadly, as the story continues it is revealed that Omelas is not as perfect as it seems. The happiness of the city is dependent on the suffering of a small child. The child is trapped inside a basement and has become "imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect." The child is a reminder to everyone that even a supposed 'utopia' isn't truly perfect. The people living in Omelas are aware of this child who is suffering for the sake of their happiness but, the majority have chosen to ignore it. However, there is a select few who walk away from Omelas "into the darkness" after witnessing this great injustice.



Would I walk away from Omelas? My avatar is a reflection of my real-life self and as someone with a strong sense of morality. In an ideal world, I would like to  I would walk away from Omelas if I were to see a child that was tormented for the sake of my happiness. But, we are already living in Omelas because maybe first world countries take advantage of poorer countries in order to get more resources, luxuries, etc. How do I know if what I'm supporting is truly ethical? I try my best to support goods that give back, but how do I know if every piece of fruit or technology that I purchase is clean? I'm not scared of the dark unknown and I very much welcome change for the better. I don't welcome the exploitation of a few innocent people for the sake of the majority. But considering that I already live in Omelas right now, then I would probably, unfortunately, stay although I wish that I truly had the strength to completely walk away.

---

1 British Library, https://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/utopia/utopia.html

2 Le Guin, U.K., 'The Wind’s Twelve Quarters.', 254-262, http://engl210-deykute.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/omelas.pdf

Week 7 - My Framework for Digital Engagement

I would describe my personal framework for ethical digital engagement as being similar to the laws of being a digital citizen. I feel that if you're interacting with someone in a virtual environment it is essential to treat them as you would like to be treated. Everyone making comments on a website, browsing or roaming in a digital space is a person and it's essential to treat them as such.


Digital citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology. It's also about thinking critically about what you see on the internet, communicating respectfully and being safe. Mark Ribble developed a framework of three main principals in becoming a digital citizen along with nine themes. The principals are comprised of being safe, savvy, and social. 1 Safety refers to protecting yourself and others online from potentially harmful tools on the internet. Savvy is the idea of making educated judgments and connecting with others. Finally, social is respecting yourself and other digital citizens by being civil and considerate of other people's views. I find that the concept of digital citizenship happens to line up with the way that I engage with people in a digital environment both within this module and in other online spaces. I would rather use technology as a way to ethically communicate ideas as opposed to using it as a tool to hurt others.

If anyone can be a responsible citizen, they can also be a responsible digital citizen. [Image source - ED 508 Technology]

Cyberbullying is a problem for all ages.
[Image Source - The Irish Times]

I feel that some people take advantage of the anonymity online to insult certain people or communities online. According to a 2017 Ditch the Label survey comprised of 10,020 young people aged 12-20 in the UK, 17% of the survey takers had experienced cyberbullying. As a result of this, 41% developed social anxiety and 37% developed depression. 2 In another survey done by Pew Research Center in 2014 revealed that 73% of adults have witnessed online abuse and 40% have been victims of it. 3 It is shocking to see these statistics, it goes to show that online harassment is a problem for all ages, not just teenagers as commonly assumed. I think that more than ever, it is essential to practice ethical digital engagement to help others who might need it. It is also important to protect ourselves from this as well as being aware of our own actions no matter who we're talking to online.


The majority of the time, in a virtual environment I don't know the people there in real life or how they look like, but I treat them the same way I would as if they were a stranger in my town or my campus. Being a good citizen in real life entails being respectful and responsible which holds true for digital citizenship as well. For example, when participating in this module I act the same way as I would a real-life class. I try my best to be polite and participate as much as I can. I listen to and respect other people's opinions. I wouldn't send a disrespectful private message to someone for having a different opinion to my own, the same way I also wouldn't say an unpleasant comment in real life if I disagreed with someone's opinion. I also try to help others as best as I can such as sticking up for people who I feel need it or privately messaging friends and giving them advice with regard to problems with online harassment. Behind every screen is a person and it's essential to treat them as such.

It's important to be respectful of everyone whether it be in real life or in a virtual environment. [Image Source - International Adviser]

I strive to act the way the same way in a virtual environment as I would in person. I try to be safe and not to visit places that might have malicious content and try to inform others to do the same when the opportunity arises. I practice being savvy by connecting with others no matter regardless of their age, gender, nationality, etc. and using common sense as I would in real life. Finally, I am social by respecting myself, but also anyone that I might encounter online. Ultimately, I feel that I can improve even more especially regarding helping others as I feel that I in some situations I should reach out more. I believe that ethical digital engagement is more important than ever especially with the rise of cyberbullying. I feel that it needs to be stressed more in society, not just in schools to inform people of the effects and how it can be prevented. While I am only one person in a sea of billions, I will continue to follow my digital framework and improve it as much as I can over time.

---

1 Ribble, Mark, 'Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship', https://www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-elements.html 

2 Ditch the Label, 'The Annual Bullying Survey 2017', 2017, 23-25, https://www.ditchthelabel.org/research-papers/the-annual-bullying-survey-2017/ 

3 Duggan, Maeve, 'Online Harassment', 22 October 2014, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/10/22/online-harassment/ 

Week 6 - An Update on the Team Project

I reached out to the rest of the Red Team about choosing a topic for the group project. We leaned more towards discussing fast fashion and farming, but we hadn't settled on a concrete topic.  At the time, it was difficult to have a discussion since not all of us were online. This is understandable as we all have different projects and errands to run. A few days later, Rachel suggested that we meet up in Second Life at the TU Dublin Campus which we thankfully did with no issues. I still found it odd to do assignment work through a virtual environment, but overall it was casual and almost relaxing to do work without having to travel to meet up. After some debate, we settled on writing about fast fashion for certain for this assignment. We chose this topic because we felt that it's very relevant to the theme of the project because that industry contributes a significant amount of carbon emissions and waste. Fast fashion is also a very broad topic which means that we could definitely do a 5 to 10 minute presentation. I'm looking forward to researching this topic as I've never investigated it before.


We agreed to do a slideshow because it would be easy for us to work together and see each other's work. We also discussed potential ideas for slides. Rachel and I took down the ideas as we were talking. Chenming suggested the unique idea of waste in the medical field in regards to gloves, bibs, etc. He also suggested good ideas for other topics such as wastefulness of one-use items such as coffee cups, however upon further discussion we all felt that we couldn't do a full presentation on that topic. Rachel suggested discussing the production and transport of fast fashion among other ideas. I suggested how companies could reduce the harmful effects of the industry such as encouraging people to recycle clothes similar to TK Max, using alternative energy sources and producing only as many clothes as needed so there is no excess. Shortly afterward, Rachel created a useful layout for the presentation based on the ideas we discussed. There were 12 slides in total and we all agreed to pick what slides to do based on what we found to be the most interesting.  There is a possibility that we might change the order of the slides or add or remove topics depending on the amount of information available online and it's relevance to the assignment.


I decided to work on some elements myself behind the scenes. I practiced some basic editing using the trial version of Sony Vegas Pro to refresh my memory on how to use it. I figured that it might be a useful skill for the future because I might be able to create a video for the project using relevant footage. Showing the real-life destructive effects of fast fashion could be much more impactful over talking and reading about it. I'm open to the idea of making a video either by myself or with help, however, I am concerned if I'll have enough time to finish it. Depending on how progress on the slideshow goes, I might suggest making the video if I feel it's relevant and if I know for certain I can finish it on time. I wouldn't want to let my team down if I won't be able to make it for whatever reason.


Judging from the current progress on the project I would say that my team role based on the Belbin Team Inventory is being a plant. By nature, I'm an introvert and while I am working with the rest of the team, I also like to work by myself because I want to ensure that this project is as good as it can be. I also try my best to suggest as many ideas as I can to the rest of the team. I'm optimistic about our progress on the team project overall and I'm excited to see the results in the coming weeks.

Week 6 - Who Am I?

I'm CrimsonChocobo, but I'm also Laura. Are there even more versions of myself? I reflected on the idea of the Persona theory which SiteArm explained in class a few weeks ago. This theory states that people adopt multiple personas and use different ones depending on the situation. For example, a person may act differently with their friends than with their family. The same idea applies to an online persona, even within different websites and contexts.

My persona in another game
 leaves a different first 
impression of me in comparison
to my Second Life avatar or my
description in this article.

Within Second Life and other games where I can customize my character, I noticed a trend that I seem to be drawn to fantasy characters such as mages or knights. I think that I'm subconsciously drawn to these types of personas because I can see parts of myself in these archetypes. For example, I personally see a mage as someone who is mysterious, but also strong with a dash of whimsy. While I can't be a mage in real life, I can adopt it as a persona online through my avatar and profile picture. However, others could perceive this in a completely different way. Perhaps they think that I like fantasy novels or I simply like the character design. Either way, I think that subconsciously or not avatars are an important reflection of online identity. My persona of CrimsonChocobo looks completely different from what I look like in real life, but she still reflects me as a person the same way that my knight character on the right does. I also noticed that I subconsciously act more professional in class as opposed to when I'm playing a game with a different avatar where I might be less formal.


Daniel Dennett points out the idea of having two or more sense of consciousness. Many people associate this with dissociative identity disorder, however, can't this idea be applied to online personas? 1 I myself have multiple personas online, such as a mage in Second Life, a knight on other online games or even a more restricted version of myself on Facebook. Online is now a place for people to market themselves in the best light possible and their work on places such as Linkedin or Instagram. Even someone like me who doesn't use social media much has left a digital footprint at different stages of my life such as when I posted art on DeviantArt when I was 10 years old. In a way, I unintentionally recorded a stage in my life that I otherwise might've forgotten. I drew differently and my personality has nearly completely changed since then which is reflected in the style of the writing of my posts and the way I customized my profile.


On a social media platform such as Facebook or Instagram, I'm happy to share basic information about myself such as hobbies or where I'm currently studying, but I wouldn't be comfortable sharing my personal life or family. I prefer to display myself like this because I don't want to share too many details with people that I might not know. I also am conscious of companies trying to gather the information that could potentially be used for something malicious or unwanted such as advertisements. I've noticed that most people, including myself, tend to share their good traits and positive moments of their lives on social media rather than the bad. We can create, in theory, a 'perfect' persona of ourselves whether its intentional or not because people in real life can judge you instantly from your movements, how you talk, thoughts that you cannot control. But online, you can make your first impression in advance. Having this control can be a good thing and doesn't have to be misleading. Being authentic while producing consistent, but unique content to you is one of the keys to building a successful online brand that will grow to be more important as time goes on and more employers start looking into your social media to determine whether or they will hire you. 2

Virtual identity is more important than ever before [Image Source -  Mediaweek.com]

As I was doing my research I also looked into David Chalmers who is a philosopher. In a TedTalk, he discusses the idea of consciousness and the mystery of something that is universal to us all. "On the one hand, it's a datum that we're conscious. On the other hand, we don't know how to accommodate it into our scientific view of the world," he states. 3 He discussed two theories that could lead to the development of understanding this phenomenon. He says that it could be fundamental, similar to time or electric charge because there is no other way to explain it using our current understanding of science. Or it could be panpsychism which is the idea that everything in the world has a degree of consciousness, even a partial like protons. If the idea of panpsychism were a reality, it brings up a serious dilemma with regard to ethics. As technology continues to develop and if AI got to the stage where machines can have emotions and clearly show a high intelligence similar to movies such as 'Her' or 'Ex Machina', wouldn't it be morally wrong to turn them off? Would they be able to have their own personas and if not, would it be wrong to take that ability away from something intelligent? I personally think that if we have these abilities, then they should extend to AI  since we wouldn't remove the conciseness of a person, why remove it from an intelligent machine? In my opinion, it's important to unite people and AI together rather than repeating the past mistakes of humanity of pushing away the unknown.

Will AI have consciousness and personas just like we do? [Image source - Forbes.com]

It's interesting to think about how consciousness is something that we all have and is very important, but it's only truly realized when you step back and think about it. Virtual identities are far more complex than a simple profile picture and short caption on each photograph. While we may have greater control as to how to portray ourselves online through our personas, it's important to be aware of how much information you're sharing and ultimately, stay safe and staying true to yourself. It is also important to consider the important questions in regards to AI personas that we have to confront in the near future.

---

1 Dannett, Daniel, 'What is the Nature of Personal Identity', 6 September 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE6CNETNJvk 

2 Desta, Yohanna, 'The lazy person's guide to personal branding', 10 November 2014, https://mashable.com/2014/11/10/personal-branding-lazy-guide/?europe=true#2Qra4IOJhGqU 

3 Chalmers, David, 'How do you explain consciousness?', March 2014, https://www.ted.com/talks/david_chalmers_how_do_you_explain_consciousness 

Week 5 - Living in Fragments

This week, we had the pleasure of having a talk from Prof. Dudley Turner (Dudley Dreamscape) and Dr. Glenn Loughran (Feilimy) about a Canadian philosopher named Marshall McLuhan. We discussed his influence and ideas about the digital age, which has grown to become more relevant as technology has advanced over time. The subject matter of this class was both fascinating and complex. The talk helped me to understand McLuhan's complex ideas and expanded my horizons on how his philosophies can be interpreted. We explored one of the most famous phrases from McLuhan which is "the medium is the message". This idea states that the way we send and receive information is more important than the information itself. The way that we communicate a message is like a direct extension of ourselves.

“The medium is the message that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action.” - Marshall McLuhan (Understanding Media, NY, 1964, p. 9)

While it may seem like a paradoxical statement, the medium being the message cannot be understated. [Source - BBC Radio 4]

The beginning of the "global-

village" era. [Source - 

The New York Times]

Upon researching McLuhan, I found that he was very much ahead of his time regarding his ideas about digital media. Radio and television were the predominant forms of digital communication in his time, and he noticed that this unified people into a "global village". There was an apparent shift from oral communication to visuals with the growing popularity of print-based media. This is further emphasized with the invention of more advance forms of media such as television and later the internet. The rise of the internet has simultaneously led to the rise of using more images to convey ideas and a decrease in the amount of text in order to communicate ideas as quickly as possible.

In a 1979 ABC Radio National Network interview, McLuhan states that "Any painter, poet, musicians, sets a trap for your attention. That is the nature of art."1 The message of a piece of art, writing or music is circumstantial and is up to the viewer's interpretation. As such, the message of these pieces would never be internally clear however, McLuhan says that we should instead focus on the medium itself. I find it fascinating to think about my course; Visual Communication, in the context of McLuhan's ideas. Visual Communication is about conveying ideas in the simplest and quickest way possible to the viewer. In a way, the executed piece is like a "trap". What we produce is a direct extension of ourselves as people. As a designer, it's not simply about creating a design that has utility, but to also consider the larger spectrum of how others would interpret the medium. Visual Communication is ingrained with technology. Design is its own culture and has the power to both shape and re-shape different people in a variety of ways.

Perhaps there is an over-reliance on technology in today's age. [Source - Equip.org]

As mentioned earlier in the post, a "global village" is becoming to form as technology is improving and becoming more wide-spread. The world is becoming more interconnected as technology improves. McLuhan used the term "global village" in reference to television, however, this phrase is even more relevant than ever before with the invention of the internet. It's important for society as a whole to let these technologies empower us rather than to let them make us delusional from reality. An interconnected world is both a terrifying and exciting prospect. The former because the media we have today has more power to shape individuals, especially with regard to social media. It appears that over time, an increasing number of people have become more reliant on receiving constant validation through likes and comments on our photos posted online which creates an attention economy. On a 1999 BBC Newsnight interview, David Bowie says "We are living in total fragmentation".2 I find this quote to be extremely relevant as it appears that phones and other devices have become almost like a part of some people as if they couldn't bare without scrolling through a screen for a few hours or days. We must all remember to take a step back from the screen at times and not become reliant on the devices in our pocket for all our needs. 

However, there is a positive use of technology that cannot be understated. There are no doubt advantages to being able to communicate with people around the world and being able to convey ideas in ways that we never could before such what we do in this very module. As long as people are responsible and don't let themselves become one with technology, it can be a great tool for learning and uniting with other people rather than pushing them away.

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1 McLuhan, Marshall, Lecture recorded by ABC Radio National Network,27 June 1979, Australia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaH51F4HBw^↩

2 Bowie, David, Interview recorded by BBC Newsnight, 1999, United Kingdom, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiK7s_0tGsg^↩

Week 4 - Brainstorming

During class on Thursday, Rachel and Chenming saw my private message on Second Life, and we exchanged each other's phone numbers. Shortly afterward, I made a Whatsapp group so that we can easily contact each other especially since I knew in the future it would be useful to be able to plan meetups and contribute ideas that we might have after the fact. I also wanted to make sure that we didn't have to entirely rely on Second Life as a sole source of communication because none of us play the game often so it would be difficult to rely on everyone being online at the same time.


We decided to meet up in Second Life at 5pm the next day within the TU Dublin Campus. I was pleasantly surprised because I normally have some trouble when it comes to meeting up with groups for other modules as there are issues with clashing timetables. I think one of the good things about meeting up through the game or online in general is that it's much easier to set up as you don't have to travel somewhere to meet up or wait for others to finish the class. Meeting up online is much easier to fit into a schedule, although I'd imagine it would be harder if we lived in different countries due to the difference in the timezone.


We began by having some small talk and getting to know each other better, similar to what SiteArm was suggesting last week during his presentation. We then started brainstorming for the project. As Rachel and Chenming were suggesting ideas, I recorded them into a hardback to make sure that we'll have them for the next time we meet up. We found it quite challenging to come up with ideas at first because the topic of the project was very broad, but overall I think we managed to come up with a good variety of ideas. I suggested ideas that I felt were very relevant such as the waste that is produced in college especially as an art student or the amount of unnecessary packaging on products. These are topics that I feel especially passionate about, but overall I'd be willing to a presentation on any of these topics as long as everyone else is passionate about it as well.


The ideas that we discussed can be summarized in the following points -

• The impact of fast fashion on the environment and the waste it produces. 
• How renewable energy can be incorporated more into our society.
• The way that farming damages the environment especially with the introduction of genetically modified crops or the methane produced from cows. We also discussed ideas such as replacing red meat with white meat as well as afforestation.
• We thought about how transport can be more efficient while reducing harmful emissions. For example, using other forms of energy such as a magnetic force instead of petrol or electricity.
• We discussed the way that other countries such as China or Japan make the most of their limited resources and how other countries can incorporate these into their society. 
• The need for more recyclable art, fashion, and goods in the future. 

The notes that I took down during the brainstorming session.

Overall, the brainstorming session went really well as each of us contributed a variety of ideas in the thirty minutes that we talked to each other. I feel that SiteArm's talk really helped me personally as I recognize the importance of getting to know each other in the making a successful team, I think that it helped me be more open about my ideas. Personally speaking, I'd like to cover a topic that is relevant to almost everyone in the world such as fast fashion or ways of improving efficiency because these are universal topics and we could create an engaging presentation out of these topics. It's essential to target an area that's a huge contributor to climate change especially to senior leaders who may have the power to change these areas. A few days after our meetup I thought of the idea of reducing, reuse and recycle. I feel that there needs to be more of an emphasis placed on it, especially regarding reducing and reusing as I think that those are especially important for reducing harmful gases and climate change as a whole. I noticed that society tends to understand the value of recycling, but rarely do people reduce habits such as reducing the number of harmful products they consume for example. I'm interested to explore these ideas and others in the future.

Week 3 - Struggles

Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet this week within Second Life. I'm a part of the Red Team along with Rachel and Chenming. Over the weekend, I looked for them through Facebook and Instagram with little success. I messaged some people who I thought might be them, however, they would tell me that I got the wrong person, or they wouldn't respond to my message. As I was searching, I realized how difficult this situation is because none of us know how we look or have any sort of contact with each other besides Second Life. There's also a possibility that they don't use these social media platforms, or they use an alias or a nickname. I didn't realize that this might be an issue until I was manually searching for them. I can't imagine how much of a struggle this is for people who work on team projects over the internet daily.

It might've been more difficult for them to find me since I'm using an alias for class and on my blog, but I don't use the same name other websites. I was quite busy this week, but I did send them a private message on Second Life to ask them what they think of an idea of a group chat on another form of social media so that we can easily contact each other, especially since none of us seem to play the game frequently. However, I sent this message quite last minute so neither of them saw it before class which is completely understandable. I definitely should've tried to send that message earlier just in case they managed to see it before class.


I think the reason why we didn't meet up is that it was hard to get into contact with each other which is essential for a team project. If none of us can communicate with each other that means that we can't start or work on an entire project together. In retrospect, I wish that I realized that searching for my team would be this difficult so that I could've asked them directly after class about the possibility of making a group chat. I'm hoping that from this week onward, we'll be able to sort something out with regards to meeting up and discussing the project within Second Life.

I will definitely make an effort to message earlier in the future so that we can easily arrange when to meet up to discuss the project. This experience made me realize how it can be challenging to work with people that you don't directly know in person. I thought that it might be easier because of how interconnected the world is through the internet, but even in 2020, it can be quite challenging. I'm hoping that it'll be easier once we get into contact with one another. In a way, I'm happy that I experienced this despite it being a bit of a struggle because I now realize the importance of contact in the online work-space and I hope that I won't repeat these mistakes again in the future.

Week 2 - Contact

Our lecturer John told us a fascinating story about an Irish pub being built in Second Life. I find it incredible to think that despite how much time has passed, the pub still continues to have a community of people visiting and enjoying themselves much like a thriving pub in real life. We also learned about the etiquette needed when working online. This week we were asked to make contact with at least three different people in Second Life which was something that I was especially excited about because I wanted to talk to new people and get a new perspective of the virtual world.
                                                                                     

The profile picture that Claire took of me.

Inspired by the story that John told us, the first place I went to was a pub called the 'Blarney Stone' because I figured that people going there would be open to having a friendly chat. When I arrived, I sat down at the bar and Raza, Claire and Kurt greeted me in chat. Raza gifted me a green beer to get into the spirit of the place. I told them about how I'm from Ireland and how it felt strange to visit an Irish pub within Second Life. They were very enthusiastic about that since they were American. Claire personally texted me and gave me a few free dance animations with instructions on how to use them. She also took a new profile picture of me which I really appreciated especially since I didn't have one before. Soon after, Kurt began playing the keyboard on stage. I started to dance with Claire and Raza and we were cheering for Kurt on the chat. He played covers of Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan songs with a fiery passion. I'm not sure if he played on a real keyboard or it was pre-recorded for the show, but either way, I found the experience to be extremely immersive. It was refreshing to see such a pleasant atmosphere. In retrospect, I'm very happy to see that technology has progressed so much to the point that I could watch a show performed by someone on the other side of the world. This has probably only gotten better since the release of Second Life.

Enjoying a green beer as I listen to Kurt's music.

After that, I tried going to a few other bars and clubs, but the majority of the people there didn't respond when I said hello. They seemed to be too busy dancing or customizing their character. I decided to go to a newcomer-friendly server because I thought that I might have better luck there. The world I went to seemed a bit cobbled together as it had French-style furniture, several seemingly random posters, and a disco ball at the corner. One of the guys on the server greeted me, and we began talking about the weather and work. It felt odd to have such a mundane conversation in such a strange world. But at the same time, it was pleasant to see nearly everyone in the world joining the conversation and being included. At some point, we even began to sing the 'F.U.N Song' from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants as a joke. I think that in real life some people would be too shy or embarrassed to jump into a conversation with strangers which is perhaps why virtual worlds are still relevant to this day. You are able to let loose and say almost anything you want without being judged which is what we need sometimes after being subjected to a harsh, mundane reality.

Dancing at the cafe.

Lastly, I went to a country-themed bar because I really liked the rustic aesthetic and I thought that maybe I could connect to people over that genre of music. There was a live performance of a lady singing original country music. I had a lot of sympathy for her because there were only five or so people at the server at the time. Even though it was a virtual world, I didn't want to dance by myself, so I sat by the bar next to a girl named HaloStar. I asked her what brought her to Second Life, and she told me that she joined to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. She was explaining that she still logs on for chatting and sailing. I was really surprised when she mentioned sailing because I didn't know that it was a feature in the game. She offered to take me sailing which I accepted because I was curious. She teleported me to a dock in her home country of the United Kingdom. She was incredibly patient with me as I kept falling into the sea. But eventually, I got onto her yacht. She showed me the villas across the shoreline and explained how people still live them to this day as they keep being bought and sold to different people. I found sailing to be very relaxing, especially since HaloStar treated me more like a friend than a stranger. I don't think it quite captures the real feeling of sailing because of the lack of weather, but I think that it's a good experience for people who aren't able to do it in real life.

Relaxing on the yacht.

Journey to another land.

Villas across the beach.

Week 1 - Beginning my Second Life

I chose this module because I've always been fascinated by the idea of virtual communities and how digital media has shaped our modern world. I enjoy playing videogames in my spare time and I noticed that sometimes I would subconsciously search for particular groups to play with. I always wondered if other people could relate to me in that regard.


I created my Second Life account a week before class because I wanted to have the time to customize my avatar and explore the virtual world. I found it very hard to design a character that I could connect with because the customization options were very complex and I couldn't find a free skin that I liked on the marketplace. As such, I decided to go for a default character; a mage with a black cat. In retrospect, I find it interesting to think that I spent so long trying to create an avatar that suits me when it seems to be a trivial issue. Out of all of my options, why did I connect with this avatar in particular?

       
                                                                                    

On the 6th of February, at 8pm I arrived at the Second Life TU Dublin campus. My first impression was that it seemed like a cozy, but formal building. At first, I was having some trouble setting up my microphone, but after adjusting my cables and sound settings everything was perfect. After a few minutes, our lecturer John outlined our module and answered a few of my classmate's questions. It felt surreal to have a class within a virtual environment as I'm used to talking on a mic for informal occasions with one or two people. I felt a bit shy, but I hope to improve and participate more in future classes. I noticed I was also one of the few people in the class who chose an alias as my username instead of my real name. I wonder why I felt compelled to do that? I never truly thought of that before.
                                                                                    

John asked us to go to three different locations within Second Life. After class, Rachel, MacJacc and I picked random locations to explore. The first place we went to seemed to be a Cinderella themed world. There was a white carriage that would travel across the flowery plains. There was also a villa in the distance, a waterfall and a small corner of the map that had constant snow. I feel that the design of the location could be improved, but the concept has potential.

Cinderella's carriage circles around the plains.

The next area we went to was an American style shopping centre. I felt almost out of place in a way because of my character's mage attire because the world itself was very down to earth. The architecture was very modern and sleek especially the fountains outside. There were several posters for elegant dresses and suits posted on the walls. Oddly enough besides us, there were no other players which made the shopping centre feel abounded.

The beautiful yet abounded shopping centre.

After that, we went to a huge tropical villa by the beach. There were about twenty players on this map so it felt very lively in comparison to the previous worlds we explored. Some players were dancing while others were drinking cocktails or simply walking around and enjoying the scenery. I explored the area and found several wild animals hidden in the jungles beyond the beach. There was a laybacked atmosphere there that was reminiscent of my holidays in Brazil.

Beaches, beverages and wild beasts.

Finally, we decided to go to one extra area which was a beach that had an extensive skyline in the distance. However, unlike the previous map, there were no other players besides us which gave a normally cheerful place an almost creepy undertone. There were several beach chairs lined up along the beach as well as a lifeguard station. There was also an amusement park towards the end of the beach. I really admired the attention to detail as it felt very much like a real holiday city, I only wish that there were more players online at the time.

Enjoying the clear skies at the beach.

Overall, I enjoyed my first experience in Second Life and I'm looking forward to having more
in-depth discussions with everyone next time. Next time I will try to participate more in class and possibly try to talk to new people within the virtual world so that I can hear their stories.