3/4 Feeback

1. what connections have you seen among all the imaginative representations of gender and technology that we’ve looked @?

For the most part, these representations have been extraordinarily bleak and pessimistic, or chosen to delve into darker, grittier conceptions of the future, gender, and technology. I’d like to know why we as a class chose works that took that particular interpretation, or at least why they got the most votes.

2. how do these works contribute to your understandings of gender, technology or the relations between them?

Fear. One of the strongest themes/motifs running through the works we’ve dealt with has been the fear of what technology will do to us as a sentient species and how gender will be exploited to terrible ends. The Handmaid’s Tale uses this theme most clearly, but I think Watchmen and Metropolis speak of the same concerns on different levels. I certainly don’t think this is an inevitable conclusion of the advancement of technology, but it’s a valid point – that we’re scared of the unknown (tech) destroying our comfort zones (gender) and that said destruction will take our very lives with it. Now, just because we’re afraid of the boogeyman doesn’t mean he’s gonna gut us in our sleep… but we still look under the bed just the same.

3. any other feedback about how the class has been working the past three weeks, w/ all the small group work we’ve been doing? are there other things you’d like to be doing in class that we haven’t done yet, or that you’d like to do more of?

Small group interaction has been very mixed for me. I realize the desire to break us out of comfortable groups and interact with the whole class, but I feel that at this point in the semester we’re capable of discerning who we work best with and which groups will get us the best discussion. In short, I’d rather pick groups next time.

4. what concrete suggestions do you have in particular about wordpress functionality?

Honestly, it seems to be working fine for me.

5. what has your experience been with posting and receiving on-line commentary on your papers?

See above – it works and I don’t have much concrit to give.