A Different City for a Different Life

1)  Do you feel that newly built towns are based only off of traffic circulation and household comfort?

2)  Does your home town fir these criteria or stray from it?

3)  Do you believe newly constructed neighborhoods leave no room for leisure and play?

4)  What would be your ideal neighborhood that you would have liked to grow up in or would like your kids to experience?

5)  Do you think efficiency of the new neighborhoods or leisure of the old neighborhoods is more effective?

Introducing Cyberspace

1)  Before reading this article, what was your original perception of cyberspace? Was your definition changed or enhanced after reading?

2)  In the passage, the author relates the human brain and the internet.  Do you think the internet sharpens our brains and increases intelligence or gives us a crutch to lean on that in the end makes us no longer require brain use and makes our brains less of a powerful machine?

3)  The author of this passage states that virtual reality is mainly used in the military.  Has the new technology of virtual reality really improved American military?  IF yes, in what ways has it improved it?

4)  It is said that cyberspace is creating a placeless world.  In what ways is this happening?

5)  How do you personally interact with "cyberspace"?  Are there any consistent patterns of your daily life interacting in cyberspace?

Class

I found todays class to be very successful.  I finally figured out what a heterotopic space is.  The definition Hana gave in class today really made sense to me, it is a place within a place.  Such as our "cave" in the library, or the library itself because it is an archive of things dated from many different times that all come together in one single space.  The example she gave of the mirror I found very interesting.  When you look in a mirror and see yourself, what your seeing isnt really where you think your seeing it.  Obviously, when you look in a mirror the person you see looking back is not there but within yourself, it is only a reflection.  So the place that you look at in the mirror is considered a "placeless place", better known as a utopia.  This aspect of the mirror is what makes it so interesting to me.  It is both a utopia and a heterotopia, becaue the "placeless place" is located inside another place, the actual confines of the mirror.  It seemed hard to grasp at first but im really happy Hana described it today the way she did because I no longer feel lost but more on top of what we are really talking about in class.

Answers to the Readings

C++ Daniel Weingard

How effective can a camera be if there isn't someone around to watch it 24/7?

This question relates to the modern idea if tree falls in the woods when no ones listening, does it make a sound? Obviously, a tree falling in the woods, whether someone is listening or not, is going to make a sound.  So I believe that a camera, although it might not be watched all the time, is still effective.  Cameras record so you would be able to go back and watch everything you missed if you want.  The fact that it exists makes it important and effective.  It is a tool that can be used whenever someone wants to.

Place and Space Donna Joseph

Which affects a person more: Space or Place? Why?

I believe place affects a person more.  Place is more personalized than space in my opinion.  Space can be anywhere.  A field, an ocean, a city, on a street, in a parking lot, these are all examples of spaces.  Places are more personalized such as a specific lake where someone lives and has memories.  For me, the beach can be considered just any space to some people, but since I grew up in a beach town I feel a sense of connection once I set foot past the dunes.  Place affects a person more through emotional attachments. 

Of Other Space Gabriella Potievsky

How can heterotopias be described?

A heterotopia can be described as place that is sort of in the middle.  It's not necessarily one or the other and has a sense of irony.  Looking at yourself in the mirror can be considered a heterotopia because it the reflection that your seeing does not actually exist but its more of an allusion.  A heterotopia is something that means one thing but portrays an opposite meaning. 

Of Other Spaces

During the Middle Ages there were many "sacred" places.  What is considered a sacred place in todays generation.

Time and space are linked together.  What effect does time have on the feeling of space?

There are different places in each individuals life that evoke different emotions.  What are some places that could evoke a sense of security?

Is the trace of existence gone after death?

What would happen if there were no longer museums?  Would we still have such a sense of place before our time?

Space.. or is it Place?

How can you define space and place?

What assumptions can be made from place?

How is "place" such a familiar world but has such different meanings with different people?

Does space have boundaries?

What makes a certain place feel spacious?

How does experience intertwine with space and place?

C++

What does it mean to you to go on an electronic journey?

Have wireless systems expanded space and eliminated boundaries or have they brought distant ideas and items within reach?

Have these new electronic systems made familiar places feel unfamiliar.  

Have networks made it easier to have a false identity and a second life?

Have networks and other forms of modern communication taken away the authentic interactions between people in communities?

These are just a few questions that had me thinking as I read C++