AUTOBOTGRAPHY RESPONSE

1-What are some of the reasons for a surge in digital autobiograpical production from "home pages" to "wearcams"?

"...the Internet has spurred a resurgence of autobiographical practices" (p. 95).  "jennicam" started a wave of online diaries and photo albums.  Now their are blog sites, webcams...etc. that all allow us to document "real life" at home, and create autobiographies ourselves.  The term "autobotography" means: the computes are writing our stories for us, because the technology is so easy.         

2-What is the role of autobotography vis-a-vis technology's "narcotic effect"?

The best autobot0graphies "help us see both ourselves and the mirror; thus they disrupt the new technology's narcotic effect"  (p. 95).  

3-Jennicam gives us an example of the pleasures of self-disclosure, Mann's WearCams give an example of the dangers of surveillance. Are there dangers in Jennifer Ringley's work (or similar projects)? And what might those dangers be? Conversely, are there any pleasures in Stephen Mann's WearCams?

As well as the obvious danger of having a stalker come find you I think Jennifer Ringley's work is dangerous because she has absolutely no privacy, and I think the knowledge of knowing that you are being watched all the time must eventually effect you, mentally or physically or both.  I can't imagine never being "alone".  

I think that the WearCams make the user feel safe and secure, giving the wearer a sense of power and pleasure.  They know they are safe because they know that other users in their community will be there if they report needing assistance.  It is the self reliance that gives the pleasure, instead of relying on a security camera, aka "the unknown".  

4-Explain how 2 of the blogging projects reshapes our sense of self, life, or writing.

The Subject of Language- Ralph Moore, Sentence.  This blogging project evokes the question: "Is the 'truth' better captured by unselfconscious reportage, or is there another kind of 'truth' which can only be captured by an exercise of fictional techniques?" (P. 103).  I believe that any form of biographical writing, whether spontaneous or overly edited, reshapes our sense of self, life and writing.  It helps us either "vomit" onto the page and purge our feelings, or delicately carve out a story that reflects a part of us in that moment.  We might either feel angry that it is snowing once again and blog "it's *bleeping* snowing again" or we may write a complex poem that relates our soul to a falling snowflake.  Either way it defines and reshapes our sense of self, life and writing in that moment, thus documenting "us".  

Blogging a Birth- Ada T Norton.  This blogging project is interesting because it is Ada T Norton giving birth, and yet her husband writes: "we're into contractions.  Much pain" (p. 105).  Her husband [Gilbert] writes as though he is going through the same pain she is.  Interesting.  Gilbert may have gone through the whole pregnancy talking with this "we" like "we are expecting a boy in March" or "He kicks all through the night, we barely can get any sleep", but when it comes down to it, Gilbert never felt the physicality of being pregnant.  I almost feel like this is a false biography.  While he might not mean to be lying, he is.  He should write his own feelings, not write like he and Ada are going through the same ordeal.  She deserves more credit than he is giving her.  OR maybe this is the truth for him, and he truly believes that he is going through it with her.             

5-Pick one of the "moving self-portraits" and explain how the project evokes the mystery of our contemporary lives. What kinds of issues does the portrait raise?

The moving self portraits are really hard for me to visualize in my head from the descriptions, but "Artist's Statements- Young Hae Chang, Heavy Industries" seems to evoke the mystery of our contemporary lives by making us wonder whether we do what we do because we want to do it or because the media produces those desires.  Do our contemporary lives revolve around our desires produced by the media? 

6-Katherine Hayles speaks of the "post-human" in describing the cyborgian entities we have become. How do the artists of this chapter create autobotographies of this "post-human" cyborg? Consider, for example Life Sharing and [phage].

Mary Flanagan creates autobotographies of the cyborg by going into the computers c drive and producing 3D images/audio with data that move.  This is, in a way, creating an autobiography of the computer, and thus it becomes an autobotography.   

7-How do digital artists examine the commodification of the self? How has the self become another consumer good, or how does a human being get reduced to a "consumer"? Which digital projects raise theese questions and how do they do it?

One artist sold all of his belongings, another sold his race, and yet another sold his body to the highest bidder.  In these ways, the belongs, the race and the body were all turned into "objects for sale", and turned the self into an object that could be bought and used by others.  

8-Describe the autobotography of "invented selves" or avatars. How do Female Extension and Darko Maver raise questions about the nature of digital selves. Why do they use invented selves and what are the reasons for doing so and the effects of their choices?

Female Extension and Darko Maver use invented selves to make the point that the media has become numb to the brutality around them.  It was also done to prove that it could be done, and to make the higher ups aware of the capabilities of women.