Tutorial Presentation by James

Hi everyone! I looked at Deborah Lupton’s article ‘The Embodied Computer/User’ this week. As this is the first post of this nature, I wasn’t too sure which way to attack it. Basically I’m just going to highlight a few of the major ideas, then present my interpretations, and finally bring up a few points for discussion. Hopefully this format will reduce all the usual anxieties of the typical awkward tutorial environment that I’m sure we’re all familiar with. So enjoy, and remember- all feedback is welcome (criticisms/disagreements included).

Major points/topics

Lupton is interested in the way humans interact with computers in the modern era, focusing on the relationship that she believes is symbiotic; “users invest certain aspects of themselves and their cultures when ‘making sense’ of their computers, and their use of computers may be viewed as contributing to individuals’ images and experiences of their selves and their bodies”. The article explores increasing concerns of hacking, cybercrime and general internet security on this relationship.

The disembodied computer user: Refers to the utopian ideal that humans may escape the body through computers/technology. This is exemplified using Haraway’s cyborg theory (which I’m sure we are all familiar with by now). Unlike Haraway though, Lupton sees the notion of the cyborg as “a predominantly masculine body, as contrasted with the seeping, moist bodies of women”.

The hackers body: Here Lupton outlines the typical vision on the computer obsessed human, or what she calls ‘hackers’; “invariably male, usually in their late adolescence or early adulthood, and are typically portrayed as social misfits and spectacularly physically unattractive: wearing thick, unflattering spectacles, overweight, pale, pimply skin, poor fashion sense”. She also suggests that a ‘hackers’ body is constructed through the computers they use rather than their physical attributes (mentioned above). Lupton calls these people addicts’, which places them in stark contrast to the “rationalized, contained body of the masculine cyborg”.

The humanized computer: Lupton notes that in a peculiar paradox, while the computer culture often denies the human body, computers are normally portrayed as being like a human. She uses a number of marketing campaigns by computer countries to illustrate this point. Another point of interest is how computers, like humans, suffer from isolation when they are not linked to a network of other computers or the internet.

The frightening computer: This part suggests that the reason computers are portrayed as having human qualities is to reduce peoples (particularly adults) angst about technology. While technology is ever-present in modern society, people do exhibit fears about an over-reliance on technology and its “capacity to consume us”.

Risky computing: The utopian vision, when it comes to human/computer discourse is that we all be connected to the internet and thus be able to access places/people on levels that were previously unattainable. However, the emergence of ‘hackers’ and ‘cybercrime’ has interrupted this dream with more and more people becoming wary of the internet.

Lupton proposes that “the relationship between users and PCs is similar to that between lovers or close friends” and “the ways in which we depict computers as humanoid, having emotions and embodiment, is evidence of this intimacy”.

My Thoughts

Overall I found this article quite an interesting read as I felt it was of more relevance to me than the other articles we have read. I identified with the way the author described her relationship with her computer, which “usually makes itself overtly known when something goes wrong”. I have encountered numerous problems with various computers over the years and found myself cursing them like I would an enemy. I suppose at times like this you really realize how much you rely on the old PC.

Another point I had not really thought about, that she brought up, was the obsolescence of handwriting in my life. I rarely put pen to paper these days, and when I do it seems like a foreign action to me. This is not because I do no work, it’s because 90% of my academic musings are typed on a computer.

I did find Lupton’s discussion of the cyborg body as being more of a masculine being as problematic. Maybe the author has been watching too much Terminator but personally, I believe the cyborg should not be constricted to being more pertinent to one sex.

Also, I found her description of a ‘hacker’ as a mass overgeneralization. Though fiction seems to show a similar portrayal of a ‘computer nerd’ as Lupton describes, I think in real life it is a different story. I’m sure there are many ‘hackers’ out there that have never felt the need to use Clearasil, pump iron in the gym and scrub up quite nicely on a Saturday night (without out their tick-framed glasses).

Your Thoughts?

I don’t want to waffle on too much. I’ve found that in using this environment to do a presentation you have a lot more time to articulate your thoughts, which is dangerous because you could end up writing thousands of words and boring everyone out in blogger land. So I’ll open it up to you guys now, here are some starters:

- Do you agree that Lupton’s ideas about ‘cyborgs’ conflict with those of Haraway?

- Do you agree that we as humans do share an intimate relationship with our computers? Or is Lupton over-analyzing this?

- Have you felt anxious about technologies ability to consume us?

- Are we over reliant on computers?

Thanks for your time, James.