Virtual Environments: Is one life enough?

Class began with a discussion around reputation, and in particular, reputational damage, arising from the texts given for reading last week. We started by considering the difficulty in conveying subtlety in the online environment where text alone makes things like humour, emotion and empathy difficult to create. Emojis, CAPS, bold and italic can only go so far! In addition, we have to be careful of auto-correct, reply-all and the plethora of time-saving options that can cause untold problems if triggered accidentally. The examples discussed show that while our digital history coming back to haunt us may seem unfair, it is a very real phenomenon.

This led on to a discussion about creating and generating ‘content’. Content was described as anything we make: text, image, illustration, photograph, graph, chart, music, recorded speech, etc. Ascribing value to this content is not a science but an art. The beauty of the web is that its scope and span means there is nearly always someone somewhere who will value the most obscure content.

However, copyright is an issue. It was somewhat simpler to protect copyright when the means of copying required skill, access to tools, time and funding. Now, digital copying is instantaneous and simple. It is becoming more difficult to protect our work.

THINGS TO DO BEFORE THE NEXT CLASS:

1. Write the sixth post: to your blog describing the final preparations for the presentation of your project. Concentrate particulary on your own contribution and how it aligns with that of your fellow team members.