f my life

So recently I've been hooked on reading posts on fmylife.com.
These posts are little short blurbs about something that happened during your day. However, unlike most blogs, anyone can sign up and submit an entry, but it must be about something that makes you want to say "f*** my life." There are some simple rules on how and what to post, and not everyone's entry makes it on to the website, but reading it makes for a great way to waste an afternoon. It also makes you feel better about your own day :) If not, you could always try submitting your own "f my life" experience.
There's a limited way you can give feed-back to each poster, either by agreeing that their life is "f-ed up" or instead clicking that they deserved to have that bad experience. The site is also sophisticated enough that you can search by categories on what you want to read about, but otherwise it's a fairly simple site to navigate.

-Gloria Law

Research survey

This isnt for this class, but as student researchers I thought some of you would be interested in participating in this survey for a research project. Its really short- 5 questions, and for females only. Thanks!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=HnXuCHRd_2b4rknZ14Khmfog_3d_3d

Memes

From: XKCD.com

Memes are an important piece of internet culture, in some ways, it is one of the pieces that constitutes to this new "language." The denotative meaning to this word is "a unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena." When you log onto some internet communities for the first time, such as 4Chan, it's common to not understand what the hell is going on. A lot of strange catch phrases such as 'over 9000' or 'last Thursday' and some other 'bizarre' surface all throughout the image board. These are generally called "memes" - in this scenario, it is a phrase that is meant to reflect on an inside joke. One of the difficult things of joining a new community, learning the 'memes' is an important thing to consider in order to understand and integrate successfully.

Originally, I had intended on compiling a list of popular memes, but there's just far too many of them to list in a single blogger post. For people who are not as familiar with popular internet culture, here's a basic list . For anyone else who wants to know further, there's always Encyclopedia Dramatica (warning: it's not safe for work!), a snarky wiki site that incorporates a sarcastic, but detailed database of memes, satires and famous internet events.

- Khuyen

Internet Rehab

I came across this short article in Time Magazine by Jessie Jiang about internet addiction in China. It is about internet obsession among China's youth and the step the country is taking to deal with this addiction. In 2004 China established an internet addiction treatment facility where patients reside for three months with no outside communication and no computer or cell phone access. Jiang states that the parents of the patients have to stay in treatment as well for several weeks because internet addiction is seen as a result of parenting mistakes. some of the guidelines that constitute an addict are: using the web for 6 hours a day three days straight, getting easily upset, and being afraid of people. The cost for this care can total up to $3,000 which is not cheap. anyway i found it to be an interesting article since most of what we've talked about in class seems to be a positive perspective regarding intenet use.

PC CAFE's

We talked about the "PC Bang" and it's roll in the Korean culture a couple of times in class. I found this article about the growth of PC cafes in Southern California and the problem that it brings such as gang violence. Cities are trying to write ordinance such as closing times and age requirements. However, owners argue that these regulations will put them out of business.


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-03-10-cyber-cafe2_x.htm

new anthropolgy?

I found this article http://nodivide.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/presenting-my-research-proposal/ and i was just wondering if anyone agreed, basically its about how established people and information, are not really anthropology anymore. Things like blogs and internet websites are were today's research is being done. While I agree the internet is a great source for information, the older establish anthropological works are still noteworthy in today's research.

The Human Flesh Search Engine

Link: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-07/04/content_6821165.htm

In my last blog entry, I showed a more … benevolent side to the internet in China. Here, I will explain about a revival of “witch hunting.”

The human flesh search engine (HFSE) is a phenomena in China in which users will research the background of an internet personality using blogs, forums and other cyber-media. Unlike literal search engines such as Google, the HFSE employs thousands of netizens scouring the internet for any information on said person. After a few infamous cases, the People’s Court of China announced that the “human flesh search engine” is an alarming threat because it violates privacy protection laws and promotes cyber-bulling.

Unlike trolling, human flesh search engine, by definition, isn’t meant to cause random disturbances and harm. Rather, it is a form of “vigilance.” In one scenario, a woman named Wang Jue posted videos of her wearing high heels and stomping animals (a black dog, kitten) until they died from mutilation. Some folks analyzed the backdrop of the video and determined which part of China the clip came from, and within a few weeks, her address, phone number, job and any other accompanying detail was discovered and she was fired from her job.

A few other examples include:

After the May 12 earthquake, a girl from a college in Chongqing municipality nicknamed Diebao said on the Internet that the earthquake was "interesting". "I wonder why wasn't it more vehement?" she said.

Her mother and teacher received cursing and threatening phone calls from angry netizens, forcing the girl to suspend her schooling.

In comparison, the punishment of Wang Fei seemed more severe. His wife Jiang Yan jumped from 24th floor on December 27 last year after learning of Wang's adultery, leaving a blog diary to recall her despair over the previous two months.

People not only wrote characters with paint on the door of Wang's parents accusing them of killing Jiang, but contacted Saatchi & Saatchi, the company where Wang and his mistress worked. Later the company suspended them, and the pair later resigned.

At first glance, HFSE was funny and made me have a "good feeling" that these "bastards" were getting "punished." However, analyzing it on a closer level, it's almost disturbing. Upset some people, and your life literally can be ruined.

What are your opinions on this subject matter?

- Khuyen Lam