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.

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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.

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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.

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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.