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totoaus
Aug 16, 2008 9:37 PM
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Is there any field a University won't try to study?
I remember people mocking US universities in the early to mid 1970's for offering master's degrees in basket weaving. Welcome to the 21st century, or is this a BIG STEP backwards?
Comment made about the PC Authority article:
University offers masters degree in Cyberpsychology?
Shrinking the web
What do you think? Join the discussion. |
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malai5
Aug 17, 2008 12:18 PM
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Thats an interesting article and one that deserves more than a cursory glance.
The "cyberworld" of the net and computers generally could be considered every bit as "real" as the so called "real" world. Afterall, what is a dream state???
To involve oneself, whether it be in gaming or virtual worlds is to immerse oneself into just another "state of being", no different, really, than so called waking life.
Again, the virtual cyber worlds are basically just energy and so are we, as human beings, living in an energy world. Not any difference to the virtual cyberworld. The only real difference is the perception we have of it.
Quantum Mechanics is exposing the "lie" of physical fixity in the world we live in, so why not have a Degree or PHD in an area which in reality is no different than any other as far as human endevour is concerned.
Maybe the research into the Quantum and the "Human" will reveal that there is actually no real difference between the virtual and the perceived non-virtual, or "physical" world.
Food for thought???
Cheers
Malai5
Edited by malai5: 17/8/2008 01:05:38 PM |
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Jim.Dude
Aug 17, 2008 12:51 PM
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totoaus wrote:Is there any field a University won't try to study? I remember people mocking US universities in the early to mid 1970's for offering master's degrees in basket weaving. Welcome to the 21st century, or is this a BIG STEP backwards? Comment made about the PC Authority article: University offers masters degree in Cyberpsychology? Shrinking the webWhat do you think? Join the discussion.
This thread caught my eye for obvious personal reasons...:p However, I don't think 'cyberpsychology' is the right phrase. Why do people use the internet? For many reasons, most of which are quite rational. So, the only interesting thing would be why people engage in maladaptive or abnormal 'cyber-behaviour'.
However, this is a problematic idea because there is no such thing as 'normal' cyber-behaviour, in that, there are no social norms to form study from. Moreover, the entire field is probably going to boil down not to what people do on the web, but how much time they devote to it and the effect it has on their real life...meaning that it is in fact just a study of addictive behaviours, which have been long and healthy looked at before.
I can't see this degree offering anything much to anyone. :cry: |
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krazikiwi
Aug 17, 2008 7:19 PM
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way to make me feel unintelligent jim.dude.
but seriously, you do have an interesting point. |
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malai5
Aug 17, 2008 10:47 PM
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Jim, people do "maladaptive" things all the time. The internet just provides another venue.
There is of course the anonymous factor, but as we have seen with YouTube, the opposite applies as well.
The difference comes by way of reclusive behaviour which can border on the anti-social.
You know the profile, young guy retreats to his bedroom to live in a "CyberWorld", more and more alienating himself from the outside, face to face physical world.
Is this a problem?
Probably only if there is a judgment made as to what is thought as appropriate, or inappropriate.
The question is:
Which is "real"?
Both are living, both are a life.
Cheers
Malai5 |
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bbjai
Aug 18, 2008 12:46 AM
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I think you guys are missing the point of a degree like this. The internet is fast becoming a large part of our lives where people spend alot of time on the internet doing various things related to their real lives. Your not going to be studying behaviour that is repetative your studying what works on the internet and how do users respond to changes/features/phenomenons etc....
This is fairly important from the basis of learning what are the effects of say Facebook on advertising, what are the effects of internet dating on social norms of finding a wife/partner/de facto. I mean the more time we put into the internet the more opportunities for development of behaviours and trends that will be extremely interesting. And useful for that matter. Focusing on the negative sides of the internet isn't what its about. I notice Health is a minor issue covered in the topic. Its more like the study of the trends and behaviour of internet consumers so they can be regulated and policed just like any space where people interact with each other. |
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malai5
Aug 18, 2008 9:17 PM
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Yes, bbjai, but what I am referring to is the blurring of the line between CyberSpace and Social Physical space.
The "Line" has, in the past been a personal thing where the individual indulged in their own personal "Line Crossing" with the imagination, as in reading, or the altered states as in Meditation, Alcohol, drugs, etc.
These are personal experiences, but something like "Second Life" is more than personal, it's social and to some replaces part of their social physical reality.
That, in itself could be an interesting study.
Cheers
Malai5 |