Serkan tells a great story about how “historical access” works in the real world. Under our current (and future?) educational system students who have not historically had access to computers (and lack keyboarding) skills are at a disadvantage. It is only when , and if, we bring these issues to the forefront and make people think about them (perhaps through our own stories) that we can open up the possibility of change. In connection with being left out of the technological loop Serkan also talks about humanists being left out of the loop and how they need to be included if we ever hope to validate and authenticate computers as another writing/communication technology (ala Baron “From Pencils to Pixels”). This is a good point. Language has traditionally been used
to authenticate language, and who better to authenticate writing and communication technology than writers and communicators? Ok, here’s a stress on connecting Serkan’s third post…Validation and MOOs/MUDs...They are not necessarily valid as places of healing (ala Turkle) depending on your actual position in society life in cyberspace may not be as pleasant and liberating as
Turkle would have us believe. In our own safe spaces or (cyber)home discourse communities we can feel safe but what happens when we MOOve into cyber places that more directly reflect the attitudes of the “majority”?