In the book, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” Cynthia Selfe talks about the effects that technology and the internet are having on Americans and the problems that there are to technology. Selfe first begins to talk about how Americans believe that technology is that savior to our problems around the world and that Americans embrace the growth of technology and all its advancements for that reason. “Because our culture subscribes to several powerful narratives that link technological progress closely with social progress, it is easy for us-for Americans, in particular-to believe that technological change leads to productive social change.” (Selfe 293) Selfe is trying to say that most Americans believe that since are technology is growing that our world will grow in to a better and mature world. Selfe also explains her thinking on the “global village” and “electronic colony”. One of the most popular narratives Americans tell ourselves about computers is that technology will help us create a global village in which the peoples of the world are all connected-communicating with one another and cooperating for the commonweal. Americans believe that they are the founders and explorers of this new territory. “In the global village narrative, for example, while we maintain the vision of linking peoples around the world, we imagine ourselves, not as simple members of this electronically constituted village, but rather as discoverers of the village, explorers of its remote corners, and even colonizers of its exotic peoples.” (Selfe 295) Americans feel as if they are the ones to spread this new found knowledge and better the world but Americans are also afraid of “losing the economic benefits that have accrued to us as citizens in one of the most highly technological nations of the world.”
Selfe also talks about how Americans like to believe that technology is open to everybody, male and females, regardless of color, class, or connection. “If citizens of all kinds are to have access to technology and the opportunities it provides, we do not see such a narrative imagined in the Land of Difference narrative: if technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of race and class and other differences, our collective ability to envision such a world is not evident in these images.” (Selfe 304-305) In this quote, Selfe is explaining that even though we believe that technology is open to everyone no matter what race, religion, gender or color you are, we are not able to see this in reality but only in our minds. When we look at commercials, or ads in magazines we only see the same image over and over; the white American family or man/women. Even in or ads we aren’t able to see this equality.
The final claim that Selfe makes is the “Un-gendered Utopia” and “Same old gendered stuff”. In ads men are pictured and seen as the big dogs, they are the people who have professions and make decisions at work and at home. Women will be the “typical” stay at home mom who cleans, cooks and takes care of the children. Americans believe that the internet can help change the views of genders and make both genders equal but we are stubborn to change these views but attempts are being made.
One) “ If technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of race and class and other differences, our collective ability to envision such a world is not evident in these images.”(Selfe 304-05) She proves this by the images that she shows and within the pictures the same type of people constantly occurring throughout them.
Two) “the un-gendered utopia story, encourages educators to see and understand computers as educational allies that can support efforts to create new kinds of educational and economic opportunities for students regardless of gender.” Americans believe that technology is the way to go when getting rid of sexism and giving equal opportunities to everyone regardless gender.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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