FemTechNet Beta Course Blog

2013-07-16T11:02:00.001-07:00

Keyword Objects: Our beta class learns through Performativity

by AJ Strout and Susie Ferrell

During the last couple of class sessions, our beta class was asked to produce a "learning object" which reflects our understanding and engagement with our keywords throughout the semester. Scripps student Susie Ferrell chose the keyword "Transformation." Here are her reflections on the object she produced:

The Transformation of “Wax Wane”

The transformative power of memory comes into play in my performative sculpture video “Wax Wane.” In the piece, a wax cast of my hand is seen clutching the handle of a pan. As the pan, seated over a lit stove, begins to heat, the wax slowly melts. First, the fingers deform and fall; following, the hand itself drops to the surface of the stove. Its likeness is now changed drastically, and the wax is no longer identifiable as the hand it once resembled.

In this piece, I wanted to comment not only on the transformation of women's roles in domesticity, but on the relation of this transformation to technology. The performance itself acts as a comment on the changing roles of women, breaking out of a past that revolved around domestic life. The woman's hand melts away from her stereotypical place, the handle of a pan—the kitchen. However, in the format in which this video is presented, this physical melting is not the only transformation taking place.

In addition to the transformation of the hand, a transformation is made in the video itself, presented in the form of a VHS tape. Each time the tape is played, the footage will degrade. Over time, this has the potential of causing the footage to be unintelligible. By setting this piece in a medium that will degrade over time, I am anticipating a distant change of thought. I look to a time in the future where the stereotype of the domesticated woman will not be recognized, even as an idea in need of transformation. The piece is hopeful, anticipating that the freedom for women to do what they please will be so ubiquitous that dialogue on the topic will be unneeded.

Finally, I recognize the effervescence of memory. Memory, a topic of great interest to me, changes with each recollection—every time a scene or image is remembered, it is skewed ever so slightly further from the reality of the event. I know that VCRs are no longer common in the domestic household. As technology shifts the household away from VCRs, and artistic audiences find VCRs less accessible, the audience of the piece will rely upon their personal memory of a fleeting screening of the video as the embodiment of the piece in their collective mind. My hope is that because of the interactivity of the piece, “Wax//Wane” will stay with the audience in some format as feminine roles change throughout the years to come.

-Susie Ferrell

Feminist Dialogues in Labor

2013-07-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

Labor Links: Our beta class responds to Wajcman on Labor

During week 7 of our beta class, we were asked to respond to Wajcman and Dean regarding labor. In these texts, Wajcman explores the ways in which technology is a symbol of masculinity and how its existence as a patriarchal tool has marginalized the position of women in technological labor and the inequalities that exist in this field. Dean explores the depoliticizing impact of mass communication and network technologies as a growing number of individuals take their political thoughts and agendas online.

Our class was asked to respond to these readings on the Sakai student portal, an assignment which prompted discussion between the Pitzer students in California and the BGSU students in Ohio. Here is Hana Wuerker's response:

Hana Wuerker writes,
In the Wajcman reading, she refers back to Haraway's perference of being a cyborg over an eco-feminist goddess. Although we have discussed this dichotomy before, it is something that I am very interested in. Much of Wajcman's argument in this is discussing the potential for these new technologies and virtual realities to break down existing binaries. New imagery for the female has emerged as a cyborg rather than a goddess. I'd be interested to hear more about the debate on which should and does better represent women. If people say that the eco-feminist goddess is essentialist, can it also be argued that the cyborg is essentialist?

Feminist Dialogues in Difference: Objects that Learn

2013-07-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Dialogues in Difference: In Class Assignments With Objects That Learn

During week 8, our beta class explored the keyword "difference" through an essay on the limitations of language, a patriarchal tool, by Karen Barad. We also explored the multi-media artwork of Shu Lea Cheang and were asked to respond to it in class. The assignment was to engage with one of Cheang's online works and reflect on it through the Sakai student portal.

Ari Schlessinger's response:

Shu Lea Cheang's work Bowling Alley, her first cybernetic installation, provides an interesting perspective and realization of the idea "apparatuses are themselves phenomena."

Because this work of art blurs the cyber and the 'real' and is constantly, iteratively, redefining and expanding itself, it shows how a tool created for 'measurement' (measurement being a way of quantifying and seeing the world as explicated by Barad), that is an 'apparatus', is in actuality an entangled becoming, a phenomena itself.

Shu Lea Cheang's Bowling Alley

Wiki Reflections

2013-07-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

Our Beta Course Reflects on its Work Within the Wikipiedia Site

During week 3 of our beta class, we were taught by Adrianne Wadewitz how to edit on the massive information site, Wikipedia. Following this lecture, we continued our efforts by modifying feminist pages and sometimes, revamping whole articles.

Ari Schlessinger reflects on her experience with Wikipedia:

Nearly every time I open Google—my search engine of choice—the first suggested result is a Wikipedia page. If you happen to use Google as well I'm sure you've noticed this. I knew a bit about Wikipedia before I took this course; I even attended an editing information session hosted by FemTechNet. I knew anyone, anywhere, at any time could make any edit to Wikipedia. And for quite a long time, there was an overwhelmingly negative prejudice against Wikipedia. The idea that even reading Wikipedia was going to permanently damage your understanding of any given topic was on one I'd heard on multiple occasions in middle school. Not that it ever stopped me from using Wikipedia. I can't say I was unaffected by the constant bad-mouthing done by teachers, students--well anyone really-- about how unreliable a site it was. For the longest time I thought I better double check anything I read on Wikipedia because I could never know when some mischievous devil put incorrect info on the page just to mess me up! Sound Familiar?

Well, here's the deal, I want to say editing Wikipedia changed my opinion about this. While I haven't been in the habit of double and triple checking things I read on Wikipedia for quite some time, I think I have developed newer anxieties about Wikipedia to replace the old. Now I see all these underlying themes and social structures perpetrated by the nature of how the articles are written, what topics have an article, and what it takes to get your edits to stick.

My username is RedTech14. For my class contributions, I tore a page down completely and then built it back up. I also contributed suggestions to a few talk pages that pertain to the feminist keyword systems. The page I destroyed and recreated is for video game designer, consultant, and girl gaming advocate Brenda Laurel. (The page has lots of room to grow if you'd like to contribute!) I am proud to say all of my edits have remained untouched. But I think that is a result of the page I was working on and not the quality of my work. Because I was working on a page at the very fringe of Wikipedia, no major wiki editors cared about my contributions (it’s possible no one checked them at all). Everything I contributed looked the way a proper contribution should look, I added comments regarding every edit I made that were honest representations of the edits, and I was a veteran editor at this point (I’ve been told any account over 3 days old makes you an old-timer on Wikipedia).

I personally really enjoyed editing Wikipedia and hope to continue editing in the future. As far as the actual process of editing, I was at a definite advantage. As someone who has done wiki editing for other class websites (not Wikipedia, but course wikis where we collectively contributed to class notes) I already knew how to write in the wiki-markup language. Nonetheless, I learned wiki-markup fairly recently and the trick is to just dive in and figure out how to do things when you need to do them. There are amazing ‘cheat sheets’ with helpful hints and the most important information for editing available all over the Internet. I know that my presence at the Wikipedia editing party cut down the time spent confused on mark-up language for some of my classmates, but even if I hadn’t been there I know eventually they would have figured out what was wrong and how to fix it. Troubleshooting with a search engine is by and large the best way to solve any problems you may have programming. I think the nature of letting us all figure out what was the best way to contribute to Wikipedia for our given topics worked out really well. For me, tearing down and building up a page seemed like a reasonable amount of work and the right thing to do. But I know that for others, strategically placed edits with strong feminist undertones was the best way to contribute.

One thing about Wikipedia I never found was the community. I know it’s there. I know the sheer volume of contributors is insanely large, but I never felt that I had found a space where there were active users contributing to Wikipedia in conjunction with one another. As such, contributing to the talk pages seemed aimless. Will anyone ever read my thoughts on how that page could improve? There is a certain non-linear, asynchronous nature to the way Wikipedia conversations happen; so with time maybe my talk page contributions will become crucial to a page’s future.

I may be looking at this all wrong! As someone who has contributed, I know the material I’ve put online is well written, well researched, and submitted to the public with great care. There are so many amazing Wikipedia contributors who have put massive amounts time and thought into their article edits too. Maybe this is just a numbers game, and we simply need to keep encouraging non-normative editors (like us) to contribute to the massive system that is Wikipedia.

A response from me, AJ Strout, to Ari's post about her Wiki Experience:

I certainly don't think you're looking at anything wrong, Ari :) The talk pages are not an efficient way to get things done on Wikipedia. I did have a pretty decent experience with the talk page for my keyword entry, but you're right in another way. The article I chose to work in is far more popular than the one you chose to work in. So your comments were more likely to be unread than mine.

You're right that your presence was very helpful when we had our Wiki party. Hands down. Do you think, however, that there is another reason that all of us working together at that party made our work more successful? For example, do you think that there was a solidarity between and among us? Community? Also, would you agree that our work was more efficient because we bounced ideas back and forth, answered each other's questions, and enjoyed what we were doing? I recall taking random breaks to chat for 5 straight minutes here and there about both related and unrelated topics. It broke up the silence, helped us to connect, and inspired us to keep going. At least--it did for me :) Not that I mean to insist that everyone had this experience. Perhaps you didn't?

Lastly, I agree with you that tearing down that article with biased and personal information in it was the right path for you. What you put up was more succinct, which is actually really important to a Wiki page, isn't it? People who use Wiki are very busy. I mean, there's laziness, sure, but there's more than just laziness. Wikipedia promotes speed (which is necessary in this post-modernist, modernist world) and provides a whole new level of access. We don't always have time to walk to the library and read half a dozen books about a peripheral topic that is related to what we're studying. Having access to immediate, concise information (well, it's becoming more concise and accurate. I do believe that) is so helpful.

Feminist Dialogues in Wikipedia

2013-07-14T13:28:00.001-07:00

Feminist Dialogues in Wikipedia: Our Beta Class Reflects

After the fantastic guest lecture our beta class received from Wiki-expert Adrianne Wadewitz, we held a Wiki Party. During this event, our Pitzer class inserted new feminist information, authors, and works into the Wikipedia database. Later in the course, we were asked to reflect on our Wiki work.

Susie Ferrell writes, "In my Wikipedia contributions, I decided to focus my edits on the biographical page for Beatriz da Costa, one of the authors from our readings on transformation. Due to the recent passing of da Costa, I was able to utilize her obituaries to get a detailed impression of her life and work, and it is because of these articles that I felt I was able to make valuable contributions to her Wikipedia article.

Initially, very little of the information in the article was properly cited, so my first task was to go in and add as many sources as possible to the writing. I also researched her art at length, in order to provide general descriptions of her body of work, and more detailed examples of the platforms she utilized.

In addition to smaller edits to properly punctuate and skillfully phrase the article, I added the title "Dr." to reference to da Costa herself, in order to recognize her merit. Finally, I detailed notable works that da Costa had made that were not yet referenced in the article.

Although I was a little bit uncertain at first, I am really glad that we were assigned this Wikipedia work. I think that most of our class was unfamiliar with editing Wikipedia, but I feel that my contributions were valuable, and really appreciate that the work contributes to something larger than just our classroom. We talked earlier in the year about how the members of our class were already supportive of feminism, and I think it is because of that that it is important to bring the ideas we talk about to a greater audience. I think for a lot of people Wikipedia is the first resource for finding basic information on a topic, so I feel really satisfied that my contributions can still be found there.

I did find that the assignment was a little bit unclear, however. I was uncertain what really counted as an edit—one citation vs a significant ammount of original text—so I think in the future clarity on that would be help to give students more confidence in their edits.

Overall, I think this was a great assignment! If you like, please see my contributions here"

The Wikipedia article that Susie contributed to can be found under Beatriz da Costa.

Feminist Dialogues in Difference

2013-07-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

Difference: Language versus Performance

by AJ Strout

Week 8 of our beta class focused on the keyword, "difference." Not only does this keyword evoke cultural difference and many of its implications (race, ethnocentricity, and stereotyping), difference goes deeper when looking at the construct of Language.

Karen Barad's essay, "Posthumanist Performativity" looks at language, its limitations, its patriarchal structure, and the ways it lends to exclusion and ethnocentric ideologies. She suggests that performativity is one solution to the issues caused by language-only learning and understanding. In other words, rather than using language and reading alone to understand a topic, field, or subject, we should perform and "do" our topic, field or subject. Intra-activity is a more productive means of "knowing".

After discussion, our class investigated the work of new-media performance artist Shu Lea Cheang to solidify Barad's work. We each selected a link depicting one of Cheang's works and discussed it on the Sakai student portal.

Susie Ferrell wrote the following on Sakai:

"Practices of knowing and being are not insolatable, but rather they are mutually implicated. We do not obtain knowledge by standing outside of the world; we know because "we " are of the world." -Karen Barad.

In Shu Lea Cheang's "Baby Work," the audience takes the place of the baby, sharing in its frustration and performing by picking up the baby's shattered keys. We, as the audience, feel the baby's pain not through the video, but through the actions of becoming the baby, after the video has ended. By taking over the baby's performance, and reacting to the shattered keys in the same was the the baby would have to, the audience becomes the "clone baby players." The players continue to interact with the baby, by placing keys that trigger notes the the other baby players then experience.

Feminist Dialogues on Labor: Our Beta Class explores the keyword "Labor"

2013-07-14T12:09:00.004-07:00

Labor: Our Beta Class's Response to reading Wajcman and Dean

For week 7, not only did we hold a Wiki party, which you can read about here, we also read Judy Wajcman's "TechnoCapitalism Meets TechnoFeminism" and Jodi Dean's "Communicative Capitalism." In these texts, Wajcman explores the ways in which technology is a symbol of masculinity and how its existence as a patriarchal tool has marginalized the position of women in technological labor and the inequalities that exist in this field. Dean explores the depoliticizing impact of mass communication and network technologies as a growing number of individuals take their political thoughts and agendas online.

Our class was asked to respond to these readings on the Sakai student portal, an assignment which prompted discussion between the Pitzer students in California and the BGSU students in Ohio. Here is one student's thoughts and some of the responses it garnered:

Jade Ulrich writes, "While I enjoyed Jodi Dean’s work, I was particularly drawn to the questions relating to the effectiveness Occupy movement, found at the beginning of one of the interviews. Some of the reservations and uncertainties brought to light in regard to the power of these neoliberal systems of protest, I think can be directly applied to the feminist movement our class is currently taking part in online today. Our work on Wikipedia, our keyword videos, our cross country communications with students from BGSU, all of these acts of resistance to the current patriarchal, capitalistic society we live in are representative of ours efforts to change how things are today. In acknowledging this, I am curious:

What if our devotion to the modes, mediums, and language of capitalism (and technology) is, exactly, what’s keeping us from imagining an economic (and gendered, arguably, negatively) world beyond this one?

There seems great potential for new modes, mediums and language, which could skyrocket our feminist initiatives and effectiveness to new heights, allowing us to foster, thus far, unimagined communities of an even more progressive society."

Robert Barnes responds, "In light of the Wajcman and Suchman readings, I think your pose interesting questions. In 21st century USA, one must acknowledge the fact that his/her life is intricately meshed with machines and computers, and to a large extent, we do not know the effect of that relationship upon humans yet."

Ari Schlessinger writes, "Here are my questions and captions in response to Jodi Dean.

Freedom of speech.

Freedom of information.

Freedom not to listen.

Freedom of capitalist communication.

If action on the net weakens the the drive for action in the real world, can we change the net in such way to inspire action in the real world?

Below is the link to an article which speaks of an academic debate surrounding the importance an effectiveness 'capitalist communication' for social/political movement/action.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130310/debate-flares-twitter-revolutions-arab-spring

Below is a link to an article speaking of the ways in which politicians harness the medium Dean speaks of.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/robin-lustig/beppe-grillo-click-here-politics_b_2811975.html

Feminist Dialogues on Body

2013-07-14T11:24:00.004-07:00

Feminist Dialogues on Body: Our Beta Class Discusses Body, Assemblage, and Becoming

by AJ Strout and Susie Ferrell

For the keyword Body during week 5, we discussed readings by Rosi Braidotti (“Meta (I) Morpheses”) and Alondra Nelson (“Future Texts”). Additional keywords in the discussion were assemblage—a non-singular compilation of worldly effects, and becoming—the transition between assemblages.

These keywords tied closely to the construction of minorities and majorities, and how where minorities need to announce and become their distinctions, majorities are a default. This idea acted as a metaphor for maleness versus feminism—generally a majority and minority concept, respectively. In response to these concepts, our class found images of feminine figures in science fiction and fantasy media. To these graphics, we each added a caption that tied the figure to cyberfeminism, the keyword body and its consequential social constructs--race and gender, and our reading themes, assemblage and becoming.

Jade Ulrich's caption: "Being caught red-handed is quite becoming for a pretty blond woman."

Susie Ferrell's caption: "Female robots don't have to have metal breasts."

Feminist Dialogues in Game Theory

2013-04-20T13:47:00.003-07:00

OMG Did that really happen?
by AJ Strout

For the past two weeks our Feminist Dialogues in Technology class has been exploring game theory and its complicated relationship with gender and race politics. We read a couple of essays, one by Nakamura, which detail the very visible racist and sexist interactions occurring in video games and especially in MMORPGs. We were astounded by how offensive and dangerous some of these interactions are. A few of us, myself included, knew that the phenomenon of “trash talk” existed but because we're not avid gamers who engage in MMORPGs we couldn't imagine the extent of problems which now demand the attention of feminists and scholars engaged in discourse on culture and game theory.

As if being exposed to these articles wasn't eye-opening enough, my classmate Sophy Cohen, came across a fantastic news cast about this very issue. Thank you, Sophy!

Anita Sarkeesian attacked by sexist gamers

The above video, which is an interview between CNN correspondent Ralitsa Vassileva and Feminist Media Critic Anita Sarkeesian, creator of Feminist Frequency, exposes the character attacks and harassment that Anita has faced in her fight against sexism in video games. Feminist Frequency is a Anita's blog which documents her work and opens discussion with the public. Anita reports to CNN that repeated verbal/written attacks and attempts to hack her blog have taken place since her work began.

This discovery coupled with my enthusiasm for our class material inspired me. I shared a link to the video with friends and classmates online which generated a 2 hour discussion on my Facebook page. We covered topics like invisibility, racism and sexism in interactive games, trash talk, queer theory, etc. As a result, Ari Schlesinger and I felt that more could be done. We plan to propose to the rest of our class that we create a video response to Anita's situation which could then be shared with her. Our goal is to connect with Anita and add to the support she's received from the public regarding her work and the negative response it has garnered. After all, if there's anything we've learned this semester (and we've learned a lot), it's that an active response to our social issues is a great way to make change.

Assemblage, Becoming, and Future Texts

2013-04-03T00:02:00.001-07:00

Feminist Dialogues in Assemblage: Our Beta Class Engages with Afro-Futurism

During week five of our beta class we took a look at readings on assemblage, becoming, and Alondra Nelson's essay titled, “Future Texts” which was my favorite. Our class assignment, after reviewing the texts, was to connect one of them to the real world by locating images and/or narratives which reflect its ideals. Since I've developed a deep interest in Cyberfeminism this semester, I chose to work from Nelson's essay.

Alondra Nelson

In “Future Texts,” Nelson discusses the ways in which blackness has been viewed as inherently oppositional to technological progress. She also explores utopian ideologies of technology which view the digital age as a tool that will free humans from race and gender. In fact, the neocritic's position on social constructs is that they will be completely dissolved as we replace the body with machines.

In response to the view that technology is expected to be a source of liberation, Nelson argues that race and gender come with distinct histories and experiences which enrich a person's identity. Because these identities are expected to be ignored in the digital age, she attests that technological progress has, then, created new forms of inequality. Some of these inequalities include issues of access. Because technology and cyberspace is not available to everyone, power structures have continued to keep technology elite.

Afro-Futurism is a genre of narrative, both in literary and digital mediums, which inserts the black body into the technological future. Nelson defines Afro-Futurism as “African American voices with other stories to tell about culture, technology and things to come.” Clearly, the Afro-Futurist perspective is contrary to the dominant view that blackness is somehow antithetical to technological progress as it creatively takes social constructs into the future.

As we perused the web, we noticed that the majority of images depicting futuristic cyborgs and other modes of human-like technology tend to have white skin or exteriors. The presence of Afro-Futurism, however, was not altogether absent.

Classmate Hana Wuerker directed us to Beyonce's Afro- Futurist persona. and posed an important question: “Do you believe that these modern reinterpretations of female robots by pop stars are feminist embodiments or anti- feminist?” This question sparked an online discussion on the powerful female borg body, its race and shape, and whether or not the imagery would have the same effect if we were to understand that the borg was poorly built.

As for me—I've mentioned my deep interest in Cyberfeminism this semester which has spilled into other classwork. In my creative writing class, for example, I've been working on a story titled “Liquid” whose narrative follows a latino woman, Ena, that has downloaded her consciousness into a cyborg. As the power structures of the world wage war against each other, she prepares for the impending post apocalyptic world by download her techno-feminist colleagues as well. Ultimately, Ena finds herself alone after the bursts until she meets Liquid, an African American woman who doesn't yet remember her life as a human. I posted this story on our

Sakai forum for my classmates to view

and presented it with some images I found

online.

Ultimately, as I've learned from Barad's essay on Posthumanism, connecting our difficult yet important readings to multiple contexts is very important to achieving a well-rounded understanding. Like with our keyword videos, this assignment offers an intra-active connection. It was also a lot of fun. Engaging in open discussion while surfing the web, my classmates and I were able to share ideas and information about our experiences with Afro-Futurism prior to understanding it as an established genre. It was a memorable experience. We connected Nelson's material to the actual narratives she wrote about, and we connected to one another as well.

Feminist Dialogues: The Keyword Video Assignment

2013-04-02T14:52:00.001-07:00

The FemTechNet Beta Class: The Keyword Video Experience and Utilizing Vimeo

by AJ Strout

Realizing that the Sakai portal is not the best space for sharing videos, our FemTechNet beta class set out to establish a safe and singular space where we could share our digital work effectively. Following some research Professor Juhasz and I decided on Vimeo because of its streaming HD quality and privacy options. I created a FemTechNet Vimeo account where the official keyword videos could be displayed publicly and our classroom experiments could be held in a private group.

After some initial setup issues, the FemTechNet Vimeo account and private group were in place. We now have a working system for all of the FemTechNet videos. Many students, however, had difficulties joining the group because there is a regimented and invisible process to follow—a process which would otherwise be simple if we were spectators requesting to join a private group with shared interests. Instead, we were working from the inside out, attempting to create a private space for specific individuals with specific tasks. This meant that each student would have to have their own Vimeo account and be individually invited to the group since its private. Also, the invite has to be sent to the email account which was originally used by the student to establish their individual Vimeo account. The process has been complicated.

Because of the confusion and questions regarding joining the FemTechNet private group, responses to integrating Vimeo into our learning process have been mixed. While a few of us, both from the Claremont Colleges and BGSU, seem to have mastered the practice of uploading videos to the private group, others have found the process understandably frustrating. In order to address our ongoing issues with Vimeo, I plan to develop a clear set of instructions that future students may use.

Creating the keyword videos has been a blast. We were asked to connect the material we're reading in our Feminist Dialogues in Technology class and our own personal views to an expressive video which fits the FemTechNet pedagogy. The experience has been both challenging and rewarding. It exercises our speaking skills, asks us to intra-actively connect our lessons to the real world, and requires us to utilize technology. The end result is a polished yet personable video which expresses the student's views while still engaging in the feminist dialogues we've encountered in class. Here's some personal musings about the keyword video assignments from me and my classmates:

"Afrofuturism" a keyword video by Hanna Wuerker

“I love making these keyword videos and I really think they help me in terms of understanding the material. They give us a chance to think and research a topic of interest and really explain it in a way that makes sense to us. My second keyword video was Afro-futurism, a term that I have focused on in many of the in class assignments. It was nice for me to bring together the images and thoughts that I have been collecting throughout the semester and put them into one all inclusive video. The original video that I made was much longer and included a brief discussion of where afro-futurism fits into the debate on women as eco-feminists vs. cyborgs. That is a big topic of interest for me, but after letting Professor Juhasz review the video, we decided that didn't fit as well into the first topic. I enjoyed making my keyword video and I love watching my fellow students videos, so I am very excited to see the midterms of the BGSU students.” - Hanna Wuerker, Pitzer College in Claremont, CA

"Overall, the keyword project for FemTech has been rather enlightening. I did not necessarily connect my videos and revisions to material assigned in the course. Rather, I noticed the link between gender, genitalia, sexuality, and identification; and I really wanted to explore the implications that gender has on sexuality in addition to identification. I think in a lot of aspects feminists, homosexuals, and Trans genders defy the patriarchal idea of the white heterosexual male, which is the root of inequality. I attribute my inspiration in exploring the relationship between gender and sexuality to the work of Sandy Stone (THE "EMPIRE" STRIKES BACK: A POSTTRANSSEXUAL MANIFESTO, “Gendernauts”). In designing my video, I wanted to be more creative than just being a talking head. While I sympathize with the personal aspect of speaking in a video, I think such videos are rather dull. In an effort to escape the “cookie cutter” feel of the traditional FemTech videos I decided to incorporate pop culture references and music so as to make the video more appealing. I think for feminist messages to really be noticed there needs to be an entertainment appeal incorporated along with the spoken message. Overall, the keyword project has been an enlightening experience in regard to the complexity of the word “sexuality.” " -Christina Gayheart, BGSU in Bowling Green, OH

“Making this video was interesting for me as I used this project as an extension for my last. I enjoyed researching about real world examples and how it connected back to body images and feminists in technology that we see today. I learned a lot about perceptions of society towards women and from women. I enjoyed using these real world images throughout my presentations instead of just talking directly to the camera. With music and images the presentation was interactive and more interesting to watch. I used readings from the topic body, however I feel as if my topic was less about the reading and more about the feeling I’ve gotten from the responses in class.” - Sophy Cohen, Pitzer College in Claremont, CA

“What I enjoyed most about the keyword video assignment was how far it asked me to stretch myself beyond the written essay. I asked to step outside of my comfort zone by appearing on camera, and to connect my assigned keyword to my interests as well as the readings. Since I have a habit of becoming deeply interested in a particular topic each semester for each class, I knew exactly what topic I wanted to produce a video for. This semester, in our Feminist Dialogues in Technology class, I was most interested in Cyberfeminism. This topic, however, fits best with another keyword which was already taken by a classmate. Since my keyword was difference, I had find a new way to approach my interests in Cyberfeminism. Ultimately, I was surprised to see how well it worked out. Connecting Cyberfeminism to difference by speaking about the Cyberfeminist approach to sexual difference forced me to express my understanding of the material in a more complex way. I also enjoyed working creatively. Video art is a strong suit for me, so thinking of ways to connect the material through post production was fun. During planning I realized that I could show how Cyberfeminists benefit from anonymity by being anonymous myself. And since I also believe that there are drawbacks to anonymity, I knew that revealing my identity at the end of the video would be powerful. Ultimately, this was my favorite assignment thus far.” - AJ Strout, Pitzer College in Claremont

Feminist Dialogues in Technology: Difference

2013-03-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

The FemTechNet Beta Class's Experience in “Doing” Difference

by AJ Strout

From one area to another, notable differences in culture and pedagogy can be profound and distinct. They affect the tone of a given space and, at times, determine the level of insularity versus community therein.

Society of Women Engineers, Harvey Mudd

Folk Musicians and Leisure, Pitzer College

Even the California Claremont Colleges reflect varying cultures and countercultures from campus to campus despite the fact that all seven schools reside within walking distance of each other.

These notable differences, however, are a matter of “doing” and “becoming” rather than a static, passive state of being. This is important to note because impressions and generalizations, however useful they may be on a macro-social level, present binary understandings of individuals who dwell in a space with an established culture.

Since one of the endeavors of FemTechNet is to offer both in-class and online courses in feminism, culture, and the sciences, the project moved forward this spring by offering a beta class. The course, which was appropriately named Feminist Dialogues in Technology, is coming together with its very own set of differences in culture and ideologies.

For this class, along with five other Pitzer students, I am engaged in discourse about women in Cyberculture, digital culture, the sciences, and academics. We six are not alone, however. The course is also being taken simultaneously by students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. The Bowling Green class, which is entirely online, is a group of approximately twenty students.

The Grove House, Pitzer College


Pitzer/Pomona CMC Basketball

BGSU Football

The cultural differences between the online class and the Pitzer class have been both significant and valuable. Likewise, the difference in pedagogy between the two establishments are both apparent and elusive as we move through the semester in our strictly digital connection. Via the Claremont Colleges' online portal I have enjoyed acquainting myself with the Bowling Green students and recognizing their distinct qualities.

Through limited but distinct mini-biographies and a few experimental keyword videos and projects, we have all come to “know” one another. For example, it is my understanding that many of our Ohioan classmates live in rural and suburban spaces, far away enough from the city that some have chosen to attend college online. It is also my understanding that there are a variety of views on feminism amongst the BGSU students. Some of them have taken a positive view of the material we have been learning from while others prefer to remain neutral about the feminist perspective altogether. And while I can only speak from my personal observations and opinions, it has been a rewarding experience to learn alongside such a diverse group, even as I have not been able to respond to every post I read.

Our Pitzer class has also provided the same kind of social and digital self-representations. Mini-biographies, experimental keyword videos, and the documentation of our Wiki party must surely provide some insight into who the urban-dwelling Claremont students are. The culture that comes with our small, liberal arts education seems, to me, a very apparent and present being. We have expressed our feminist views openly and with relative comfort—a familiar activity for Claremont students.

I think its important to note in my observations that, as we experience this experimental process together, differences of all types are not binary. They do, however, give strong impressions of the individual who is expressing them, especially since they are some of the only impressions given in our strictly online interactions. This is what makes understanding difference as a doing so important. There are far too many factors which can be attributed to difference, factors which are largely invisible in Cyberspace. Since body language, persona, socialization and context can often times be missing from an online post, understanding difference as a doing has helped me keep my impressions neutral, and feel more comfortable discussing differences with my online classmates.

Equally important is knowing that opinions, responses and impressions can shift and change. They are constantly “becoming.” For me personally, this was a valuable lesson offered by several of the readings we've encountered this semester. Though I already embrace difference to the best of my ability in all aspects of life, I now feel I have a more complete understanding of difference which enables a more humble approach to my Cyberfeminist interactions. Differences in culture and pedagogy are present from space to space, but the individuals within those spaces are complex and ever changing entities which should be seen as separate from their environment.

Feminist Dialogues in Technology: A Beta Course

2013-03-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

Feminist Dialogues in Technology: The Beginning of a Beta Experience for FemTechNet

by AJ Strout

Last summer Professor Alex Juhasz unexpectedly offered me my first paid gig as a video artist. The gig was a student internship for the FemTechNet project which would either keep me busy researching educational media or producing a series of beta keyword videos which would later become learning objects for the program. I was honored and accepted the offer without hesitation.

The FemTechNet project, which consists of a large group of feminist scholars, is still something I understand only peripherally. This is, of course, due not to a lack of attention but rather my apprentice status in the world of scholarly discourse on feminism and cyber activism. As I understand it, the growing FemTechNet MOOC is a global online network of feminist scholars who aim to offer online and hybrid classes in feminism and technology, and promote awareness of women in the sciences.

After a couple of weeks of research on educational videos and keywords in feminist dialogue, Alex gave me the green light to begin production. I look back at my first 4 beta videos with a bashful grin. They lack any connection to theory or feminist discourse but they did manage to provide design templates for several different types of educational FemTechNet videos. I eventually acquired a better understanding of how to convey discourse through the keyword videos and produced several that I'm proud of. My contribution to the project appears to have been a success.

Having thoroughly enjoyed my participation in the FemTechNet project, I enrolled in Feminist Dialogues in Technology this spring. The class is both a beta class for future FemTechNet hybrid courses which will be offered beginning next semester, and a unique learning experience for feminist students who are interested in technology and social studies. As a feminist and aspiring filmmaker, this class was a perfect choice for my first semester as a senior. Additionally, Professor Juhasz and I agreed that I should complete my Independent Study Senior Project as an assistant to the class and ongoing keyword video project.

One of the first tasks we tackled in our first week of class was overviewing the semester's topics. We talked about how mass media, social media, cyberspace, medical technology, mobile devices, robotics and activism are discussed through contemporary feminist discourse. We also discussed the way the course would morph and evolve as the semester unfolded because of its experimental status for the FemTechNet project.

The next task at hand was to approach the structure of the course. Our Pitzer class, which is comprised of students from 3 of the 5 Claremont campuses, has come together with an entirely online class at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Together, our two classes were scheduled to engaged in online discussions about this semester's topics and share our hands-on projects. Near the end of our first meeting we viewed a few of the keyword videos I had produced the summer before, and also looked at the experimental keyword videos that our Bowling Green class had recently created.

A fun, fast-paced music video produced by Christina Gayheart inspired me to suggest adding this type of media to FemTechNet's established keyword video styles. Its approach to keyword dialogue relies on aesthetics and a relationship with pop culture, making it accessible to college students at every level of study. It also proved to me that having access to the experimental videos made by other classmates, whether in need of improvement or not, was extremely useful. As I would realize later in the semester, comparing this experimental video to other FemTechNet keyword videos loosely reflects some of Karen Barad's comments about representationalist language versus intraactivity. While studying a subject through written and spoken language is certainly not something we can do away with, other modes of performative expression and “doings” are beneficial to a well-rounded understanding of a material. Ultimately, this student produced music video, which is made entirely out of repurposed digital images, is a potentially powerful learning object/assignment. It combines the experiential activity of production with a student's readings and asks them to connect their information to other subjects. Further experiments in this style could offer diffractive readings for students. Perspective, personal experience, and interests shape the outcome of the assignment and the resulting video reflects how well the student understands their topic. For other students, viewing a classmate's work could potentially allow them to connect with the material in a novel way. Exposure to difference in social environment and culture ultimately shapes the student's received message.

We wrapped class by breaking into groups to discuss ideas for our own first experimental keyword videos. After meeting with my video partner, Alex and I talked briefly about some concerns the experimental student-produced keyword videos have raised amongst members of FemTechNet. There are valid questions about who will produce the videos and which videos will be actively used as learning objects. There are also concerns over matters of quality, how much structure and how many guidelines/requirements will be put in place for those who want to participate in the video projects, and what place experimental and DIY techniques will have. We both agreed that I should carefully assist in gathering insight for these questions by paying close attention to what worked well in the class and what would need changes. I immediately envisioned a massive, organized, stylish collection of videos with each video's level of usefulness determined by popularity and number of views. Upon my return to reality, I settled into the idea of simply offering musings about my undergrad experience in this beta class—a fine contribution for my limited perspective.

Ultimately, our first class gave me an understanding of how I would need to approach my work on this project. A humble, open mind and sharp focus would allow me to recognize the usefulness and validity of the tools being developed for FemTechNet while a critical eye allows me to provide an honest response to my experiences. I have a strong desire to be cautious as I acknowledge my fledgling status while still recognizing my personal need to express myself honestly.

Feminist Dialogues in Technology WIKI PARTY!

2013-03-08T00:09:00.002-08:00

Feminist Dialogues in Technology: A Pitzer Wiki Party

BY AJ STROUT

Ours was an intimate collective of six dedicated feminists who were determined to contribute to the world of Wikipedia. Our class, which is appropriately named Feminist Dialogues in Technology, met around 9:10 am—a little late and groggy but also hopeful. The sugary snacks provided to us by the Pitzer Dean of Faculty were a bit difficult to open but they provided the perk everyone needed. The orange juice, which Ari outed as an unhealthy but tasty beverage, was especially welcome.

With us was Wikipedia guru Doctor Adrianne Wadewitz. She hovered nearby far away in cyberspace where we could easily connect with her for questions, comments, and resources. After the fantastic guest lecture she did for us in February, her digital presence was welcome and reassuring.

After orienting ourselves by plugging in and logging on, each of us began our unique journeys into the Wiki section of cyberspace. We kept our keywords and their philosophies in mind while navigating through multiple pages, some personal in nature and some academic. Initially, though we've been discussing Wikipedia for a couple of weeks, the majority of us were still hesitant to make actual changes to the Wikipedia site. The idea of being responsible for scholarly information read by individuals all over the world was something our class takes very seriously.

With a cautious approach in mind many of us tested the waters by making suggestions to other editors on the talk pages. As the party progressed, however, we each found comfortable entries into the world of Wikipedia editing.

Hana, a Pitzer sophomore, was responsible for researching and contributing to pages and articles related to Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is a genre in film and literature which combines the culture of African American women with contemporary technology. The results of this genre are often sci-fi adventures with a strong, African American protagonist.

One of the Wikipedia pages that Hannah visited includes Maschinenmensch, an article dedicated to the German sci-fi film Metropolis by Fritz Lang. She also visited the Women's Cinema article which had no substantial/objective information in it. Her intention, Hannah told me, was to add Alondra Nelson to the Women's Cinema article and improve its content. Alondra Nelson is a scholar and writer who has written about Afrofuturism and other fascinating topics.

Susie is a Scripps student whose interests vary from culture to art to media studies. She was given the keyword “Transformation” and the scholar she researched is Beatriz Da Costa. Doctor Da Costa was a fantastic artist whose work included robotics, micro-electronics, sculpture, performance, and video. In her research of Da Costa's work, which expresses concern for culture and humanity through digital media, Susie developed a curiosity for other transformative works in digital art and spent part of her time at our Wiki party exploring them.

Susie's original plan was to engage with and make small changes to Wikipedia articles related to female electronic artists. Eventually, however, she became more comfortable with the Wikipedia interface and made larger contributions during the event.

Jade, a Scripps senior, chose “Machine” as her keyword. Some of the pages and sites she viewed for inspiration were Feminist Science Studies, Human Computer Interaction, and Machine. In addition to Jade's keyword, she was responsible for making Wiki contributions on behalf of scholar Wendy Chun whose area of expertise is modern culture and media. However, after conducting a quick Wiki search for Doctor Chun, Jade learned that she is not in the Wikipedia data base.

Several weeks ago, when our class had the honor of learning about how to use Wikipedia from guest lecturer Doctor Adrianne Wadewitz, Jade contacted Doctor Chun to ask for permission to create a Wikipedia page for her. Since her request was never answered, Jade instead added Doctor Chun's name to an already established article which reflected Chun's work.

Ari, who is studying Technology and Social Change as a junior at Pitzer, was in charge of the keyword “Systems.” The scholar she chose to research is Brenda Laurel whose interests are largely related to video game development for girls. Naturally, some of the articles that Ari researched include Meta System, Women in Video Games, Technology, and Cultural Systems—all of which point back to Laurel's work.

While Ari had originally planned to make cautious suggestions on the talk pages of her selected articles, she later decided to make substantial changes to Brenda Laurel's page which was unsourced and littered with subjective statements about Laurel's views. Though Ari realized it was necessary to delete all of the article's content and start from scratch, she was very pleased with the outcome and her overall contribution to the article which was cited and referenced properly.

Sophy, a Pitzer senior, was in charge of the keyword “Sexualities." The authors she chose to research are Faith Wilding and Josephine Ho. Originally Sophy planned on working on both authors during the party but wound up spending the majority of her time correcting and sourcing Faith Wilding's Wiki page. Before the end of the semester Sophy plans to work on "womanhouse," a key word by Judy Chicago and "subRosa," a cyberfeminism key term.

During our Wiki party Sophy connected with Adrianne for information and guidance on behalf of the entire class.

As for me—I'm AJ. I'm a senior media studies student at Pitzer and this semester I'm all about Cyberfeminism. I also chose Karen Barad as my scholar of interest.
Since Sophy worked on the Sexualities keyword, I chose the keyword “Difference” and applied it to the Cyberfeminist philosophy. Generally speaking, the Cyberfeminist philosophy is that cyberspace is altogether a technology and location where sexual difference can be dissolved and gender is rendered useless.

For my Wiki edits I had two focuses. My first was to cautiously suggest on Karen Barad's talk page that a subjective statement about what she was best known for be removed and replaced by factual information. A Wiki editor found my suggestion, removed the statement, and replaced it with an objective comment about Barad's recent book.

My second focus was on the Cyberfeminism article. Originally the article stated that Cyberfeminism was a movement which came and went with the 1990s. It also stated that it was a general term referring to women who post feminist artwork on the internet. Having just studied Cyberfeminism this past week (as well as last year in another class) I knew this was subjective, incomplete information. After spending a bit of time poking around in the assigned articles for our class, conducting a bit of research online and talking with classmates, I made the plunge. I rewrote the entire opening paragraph for the Cyberfeminism article.

Ultimately, though all of us felt that our three hour Wiki party was not enough time to write brilliant, imaginative and insightful articles complete with dozens of citations, we were all very happy with the work we completed and the Wiki party that made it possible. The event was a productive mixture of boisterousness, diligent silence, and great conversation revolving around Feminist Dialogues in technology.