Week 7
This week's class started with John giving us feedback on our blog posts. He advised us to complete the 'about me' page, and to include a little description about us or our blog. We don't have do put in information about our real self, we are allowed to write as the fictional character we play in Second Life for example. Using a profile picture, or avatar, was also mentioned, but again it does not have to be a picture of ourselves, it can be a picture of a fictional character. I personally used a picture of one of my favorite characters from a manga called 'Bleach', and his name is Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
The reason why I did not use a picture of myself is simply because I wanted to stay anonymous, and since I keep my identity in Second Life anonymous too, it just made more sense to me to keep my blog anonymous as well. I added a little description to my avatar. I kept it short by introducing myself with my first name and briefly stating what my blog is about. John also mentioned that we should tidy up our blogs, make sure there are no template pages or widgets. We should also make sure that our blog is easy to access and read. Furthermore we were reminded to include captions for the pictures or illustrations we use. We were also advised to try and include a reference to the readings we were given and quote from those texts if possible. We are also allowed to find other texts that are relevant and quote from them. And to get used to citing references, we have to make sure we cite the reference correctly. Also if we have not been reflective on our blogs so far, we should start being so. Another point John mentioned was that we should proof read our posts and make sure there are no spelling mistakes, and try to keep them as clean as possible. We were also advised to comment on our classmates posts. Finally, we were asked to make sure we write all the blog posts that are required, so at least one post per class and a reflection on our group project.
After the feedback on our blogs, we discussed the subject of a feminist and lesbian called Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, who recently turned out to be a 40-year-old man named Tom McMaster studying for his masters at Edinburgh University. He was writing about the issues in Syria, and about his experiences, and daily life, but disguised as a women living in Damascus. He stated that the reason why he pretended to be a Syrian 35-year old lesbian women, was to make the western audience aware of the events happening in the Middle East. He stated that "the narrative voice may have been fictional", but "the facts on this blog are true and not misleading[...]".
Although Tom McMaster apologized and believes that he did not harm anyone, Sami Hamwi, pseudonym for the Damascus editor of GayMiddleEast.com, answered that his apology is not accepted, since he put a lot of people in danger, people that tried to rescue the fictional women he created, since it was reported on his blog that she had been arrested. Sami Hamwi herself said that she tried to investigate Amina's arrest, and by doing so could have got herself into serious trouble. Furthermore she says that "it might have caused doubts about the authenticity of our blogs, stories, and us".
One of the points raised in class was that pretending to be someone else on the internet is very common now a days. Another question raised was if that behavior is to be expected now, and if our level of trust is gone? I personally think that in the case of Tom McMaster's blog, pretending to be someone else did help to get people's attention, and make them aware of the problems in Syria. So in a sense he did help to spread information. But I also think that he took it too far, for example by pretending that he had been arrested. Since he knew that a lot of people were actively reading his blog, he could have figured that there might be people trying to help him and do further investigations. He could have just created a blog, stating that he's only the author and did not experience all these things himself, but that he writes about facts that happen in Syria, and tries to make people aware of them, by writing them from the point of view of a female character situated in Syria. He could have approached it as a story blog so to say, but stories that reveal real facts. There are a lot of books that tell a story based on facts, experienced by a fictional character, but they still inform people. An example that came to my mind was a book about the Second World War I had to read in school. The girl in it was fictional, the story as well, but the facts about the Second World War were true, and educated us about the subject. I just think that there was no need for Tom McMaster to actually pretend to be that women, because in doing so, he lied to his audience and by being exposed he lost every readers trust, and as Sami Hamwi stated, he made people question the credibility of blogs that are actually written by people living in Syria. I think that his intentions might have been of good nature, but I also think that as a 40-year old student doing his masters, he should have known better, because we all know that lies don't travel far.
Furthermore, John asked everyone to consider the difference between our personal identities and our professional ones in the online environment or in real life. Another question raised was if we all represent different personas in different places? Are different personas a natural human trait? Is it our way of being social? People can not act the same way in front of their employer, as they do in front of their friends. They have to act professional in their workplace in order to keep their job, and be respected by their employer. Talking to friends, people can be open about what they say and how they behave, because friends like them for who they really are. In other words, people have to change their personality according to their environment, because they have to be socially accepted. People have to be careful how they present themselves online, since they have to appear trustworthy, otherwise people might not employ them for example, because employers always check profiles. If I take myself as an example, the difference between my personal identity and my professional one in real life, is that I never show my tattoos to people I don't know. The reason for this is just because I know that not every one likes tattoos, and I don't want them to judge me before they get to know me. So if I know that I'm meeting people that I'm not sure of how they think about tattoos, I simply make sure that I wear clothes that cover them. But in font of my friends or family I don't need to worry about them, because I know that they accept the way I look.
reference:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/13/syrian-lesbian-blogger-tom-macmaster
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| Mayuri Kurotsuchi (Bleach volume 36, chapter 105: Turn Back the Pendulum 4) |
The reason why I did not use a picture of myself is simply because I wanted to stay anonymous, and since I keep my identity in Second Life anonymous too, it just made more sense to me to keep my blog anonymous as well. I added a little description to my avatar. I kept it short by introducing myself with my first name and briefly stating what my blog is about. John also mentioned that we should tidy up our blogs, make sure there are no template pages or widgets. We should also make sure that our blog is easy to access and read. Furthermore we were reminded to include captions for the pictures or illustrations we use. We were also advised to try and include a reference to the readings we were given and quote from those texts if possible. We are also allowed to find other texts that are relevant and quote from them. And to get used to citing references, we have to make sure we cite the reference correctly. Also if we have not been reflective on our blogs so far, we should start being so. Another point John mentioned was that we should proof read our posts and make sure there are no spelling mistakes, and try to keep them as clean as possible. We were also advised to comment on our classmates posts. Finally, we were asked to make sure we write all the blog posts that are required, so at least one post per class and a reflection on our group project.
After the feedback on our blogs, we discussed the subject of a feminist and lesbian called Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, who recently turned out to be a 40-year-old man named Tom McMaster studying for his masters at Edinburgh University. He was writing about the issues in Syria, and about his experiences, and daily life, but disguised as a women living in Damascus. He stated that the reason why he pretended to be a Syrian 35-year old lesbian women, was to make the western audience aware of the events happening in the Middle East. He stated that "the narrative voice may have been fictional", but "the facts on this blog are true and not misleading[...]".
 |
| Tom McMaster's blog |
Although Tom McMaster apologized and believes that he did not harm anyone, Sami Hamwi, pseudonym for the Damascus editor of GayMiddleEast.com, answered that his apology is not accepted, since he put a lot of people in danger, people that tried to rescue the fictional women he created, since it was reported on his blog that she had been arrested. Sami Hamwi herself said that she tried to investigate Amina's arrest, and by doing so could have got herself into serious trouble. Furthermore she says that "it might have caused doubts about the authenticity of our blogs, stories, and us".
One of the points raised in class was that pretending to be someone else on the internet is very common now a days. Another question raised was if that behavior is to be expected now, and if our level of trust is gone? I personally think that in the case of Tom McMaster's blog, pretending to be someone else did help to get people's attention, and make them aware of the problems in Syria. So in a sense he did help to spread information. But I also think that he took it too far, for example by pretending that he had been arrested. Since he knew that a lot of people were actively reading his blog, he could have figured that there might be people trying to help him and do further investigations. He could have just created a blog, stating that he's only the author and did not experience all these things himself, but that he writes about facts that happen in Syria, and tries to make people aware of them, by writing them from the point of view of a female character situated in Syria. He could have approached it as a story blog so to say, but stories that reveal real facts. There are a lot of books that tell a story based on facts, experienced by a fictional character, but they still inform people. An example that came to my mind was a book about the Second World War I had to read in school. The girl in it was fictional, the story as well, but the facts about the Second World War were true, and educated us about the subject. I just think that there was no need for Tom McMaster to actually pretend to be that women, because in doing so, he lied to his audience and by being exposed he lost every readers trust, and as Sami Hamwi stated, he made people question the credibility of blogs that are actually written by people living in Syria. I think that his intentions might have been of good nature, but I also think that as a 40-year old student doing his masters, he should have known better, because we all know that lies don't travel far.
Furthermore, John asked everyone to consider the difference between our personal identities and our professional ones in the online environment or in real life. Another question raised was if we all represent different personas in different places? Are different personas a natural human trait? Is it our way of being social? People can not act the same way in front of their employer, as they do in front of their friends. They have to act professional in their workplace in order to keep their job, and be respected by their employer. Talking to friends, people can be open about what they say and how they behave, because friends like them for who they really are. In other words, people have to change their personality according to their environment, because they have to be socially accepted. People have to be careful how they present themselves online, since they have to appear trustworthy, otherwise people might not employ them for example, because employers always check profiles. If I take myself as an example, the difference between my personal identity and my professional one in real life, is that I never show my tattoos to people I don't know. The reason for this is just because I know that not every one likes tattoos, and I don't want them to judge me before they get to know me. So if I know that I'm meeting people that I'm not sure of how they think about tattoos, I simply make sure that I wear clothes that cover them. But in font of my friends or family I don't need to worry about them, because I know that they accept the way I look.
reference:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/13/syrian-lesbian-blogger-tom-macmaster
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