THEMES
This week we encounter some of the most profound, exciting and disturbing questions about how on-line environments can transform personal identity as we deal with issues of anonymity, gender-swapping, morphing and virtual violence on the Net..
READINGS
Again, we're going outside the course text. Read Julian Dibell's A Rape in Cyberspace .
THINGS TO DO
The first written assignment is due this week in lecture.
GOING FURTHER
Note that in this course we only give the topic of MUDS a light once-over: an depth exploration can be made in Dr. Carole Farber's course in the MIT program.If you want to go further, you could o read Sherry Turkle on "Sex, Lies and Avatars"--and if you find this interesting, get her new book, Life on Screen. Here's a couple more amusing Wired articles on the topic: "The Dragon Ate My Homework" by Kevin Kelly and Howard Rheingold (Wired 1.3) and "Johnny Manhattan Meets the Furry Muckers" by Josh Quittner (Wired 2.03).
MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT NEXT WEEK'S READING
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