Response 2 — Drake P

Jennicam is probably the largest and most influential of the projects we’ve been shown for autobotography. The project showed the everyday activities of Jennifer Ringley through webcams that she set up. It gave a very different look into human life than what people were used to seeing at the time. It’s more common now to see other people’s lives through vlogs, social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and other life sharing sort of sites, and Jennicam paved the way for all of these. Of course, none of them are quite the same as Jennicam, there’s not a lot of people that put 24 hour surveillance in their homes and broadcast every single thing they’re doing to people; but more people are sharing what’s going on in their lives, even if it’s incredibly mundane, with people over the internet. This project has created a kind of “public self” where people are public about themselves and what they’re doing even if they’re just in their home. Through the use of webcams, cameras, and other video recorders people have been sharing their private lives with the public on the internet, and Jennicam started this kind of trend. Jennicam got people more interested in sharing their lives with others, even strangers, and created a different sense of the “public self.”

Another of the autobotography projects that I found incredibly interesting was the WearCam/Smart Clothing project. This idea more than any other brings up the topic of cyborgs. In a way, humans are already cyborgs with the technology we use today, but the Smart Clothing brings this to a whole new level. The project is essentially about making a computer that can be worn casually and essentially become an extension of the person wearing it. It aims to consolidate a lot of tech that people already use (phones, camcorders, laptops, music players) into one unit with the added functions of monitoring things like heart rate, respiration, and footsteps. It also brings up the feature of 24 hour surveillance, sort of like Jennicam but in the opposite way; instead of recording yourself 24/7 it would record what you see 24/7. Having this technology on you that monitors all these things for you constantly not only furthers human development into cyborgs, but also creates a new self that has more agency. The technology making you aware of how your body is doing at all times gives the opportunity of knowing if something’s wrong without having to pay to see a doctor. Giving the ability to constantly record what’s going on gives the ability to have evidence of violence or injustice that may take place. This is more effective in that sense than other Police Cams, since the WearCam is inconspicuous and records what’s in your field of vision instead of being mounted on something. Giving people the ability to monitor how they are doing by themselves, as well as having records of what they were doing/things that happened to them also gives them the ability to be more self-sufficient and confident in some cases. People will be more inclined to take care of themselves on the health side. On the monitoring side, it would be harder for others or for themselves to lie about what they were doing when they’re recording what they’re doing at all times. It also helps control some things financially, by combining several different things that would be bought and may need to be fixed separately into one thing; that’s a different topic though.

As for the question of how different factors (age, race, class, gender, etc.) effects these selves I couldn’t quite figure out how to work them into each project. In general, of course they have influence on the new online and otherwise technological selves are built. Most if not all of these factors will have an effect on people online just as much as they will offline. They may influence how people talk online, what they talk about online, who they interact with online, and pretty much every other aspect of their online self. As for whether or not the poor have access to these “new selves” it depends. Poor people may have some online self, but they usually won’t have the same sort of online self as upper or middle class people. Whether that be from not always having access to these new outlets for their new self, or simply developing their selves around different things than people with more money might. Also with the recent talk of ending Net Neutrality the ability for poor people to develop an online/new self dramatically plummets. Inability to access the web and new technologies decreases the ability to create a “new self” by an incredible margin. All these new technologies that are being developed to help people out are fantastic, but if only a few people can afford them then they’re not much of a help.

Switching topics once again, we can look at society in regards to these new selves I think there is a very obvious answer to to the question. The question, “What kind is society is created by the proliferation of these new selves?” can be very easily answered with five words: The society we’re living in. The new selves the internet and all these new technologies (such as smart phones) have already become widespread and ingrained in today’s society. Most people have phones with them all the time that lets them look up any information they could need very quickly. Some technology has become so popular it’s replaced other phrases; i.e. telling someone to “Google” something instead of “look it up.” People can become popular or famous world wide just by making videos, playing games, taking pictures, or being funny on social media. These aren’t things that are new, of course, but doing these things is made much easier with the internet and sites like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. It’s hard to answer the question of how society might be different with these new selves when it’s already changed to encompass them.