Tagged: phenomenology

Reflection

We took two courses in period 1, Transformation in Digital Cultures and Real Virtuality.This reflection is about how do I feel about the two courses and the topic I am interested in both of them.

The course, Transformation and Digital Cultures, talks about some digital technologies that are worth mentioning, as well as how they affect cultures and our society. First, I have to say that the whole course is well designed and I really enjoy the different topics though some of them are difficult to understand. 

The topic I am really interested in is technomoral change since this topic is no longer strange and can not be ignored in our digital life. As we knew, there are not only hard impacts but also soft impacts of technology, it can be said that each technology has soft impacts that change the ethics, core value and morality of individuals and society, for example, moral and ethical issues brought by robots. I also mentioned soft impacts in my academic paper about self-tracking. According to Swierstra (2015), impacts like these are qualitative rather than quantitative, the core values at stake are unclear or contested; and the results are co-produced by the user. So technomoral change, especially its soft impacts, is a wide and flexible topic which is worthy to have further research on. In my further study, I will still focus on the technomoral change brought by new technologies and gain a deeper understanding of the soft impacts, especially on individuals. 

What I am most interested in Real Virtuality is a special method, phenomenology, which is brand new for me. Not only does it studies how we live in the world, but also studies our experience in the midst of being engaged with the world ( Kamphof, 2020).  It is also an important method to work on all of the philosophical concepts and theories in this course. For or our own research, we need to figure out the research question according to our observation and experience and write them in anecdotes, which is a very interesting thing. In my further study, I will continue to use phenomenology as my research method on media studies. 

Reference

Kamphof I., (2020),phenomenology reader, Maastricht university press. Educational material.

Swierstra, T. (2015). Identifying the normative challenges posed by technology’s ‘soft’impacts. Etikk i praksis-Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics, (1), 5-20.

Anecdotes: Having class online

Here are two anecdotes about my online class experience.

  1. The first day of class

It is the first day of our class, I am sitting on a bench in a garden feeling a little bit of nervous. It is a snap decision to have class outside, I think, but I do not have other choices. I wish I am at home now, and the scene of my bedroom come to my mind, a gleam of bright light comes through the window and light up the whole room, quiet and comfortable. But now, there are just some trees around me, and a woman is making a phone call on my left side. “Good morning, everyone!” The voice of our teacher comes from my earphone. I get back to my senses and stare at the mobile screen. I see everyone is sitting in front of the desk except me, sitting outside with a tall tree over my head. No time to focus on others! Thinking about how to introduce yourself, it is your turn! I say to myself in mind. I become so nervous that even I can not hear what my classmates saying clearly. Besides, the woman on my left side must hear what I am saying when I start my self-introduction. How strange a Chinese girl is sitting on a bench speaking English to the mobile! Oh, it is my turn, I hear the teacher saying my name and then everyone stops taking, waiting for me to begin. 

2. Uniqueness of online class

In a tutorial class, the teacher divides us into small breakout groups to discuss what online experience is different from offline. I am in a four-person group, everyone is looking at the screen through the camera that we can see all of us. Someone says though we can talk to each other, there still a long distance between us, it is the Internet that builds our relationship in class. Suddenly a sentence comes to my screen in the middle says:” your Internet connection is unstable.” Then I see all videos are freezing, everyone stops their movements. After that, voices from the meeting disappear, leave me in silence. So I have to stop talking with my classmates and fix my Internet connection as soon as possible. It takes me half a minute, and then I enter the group discussion again, I see the other three group members are looking at me and laugh, a girl jokes:” Mengxin has just experienced the uniqueness of the online class.” I say sorry about my dropping and laugh too. That is really a difference for online classes that offline classes do not have.

Translate »
Follow by Email
Instagram