In Kolko's article Erasing @race she quotes Donald L. Day; "Too frequently, people must adapt to technology rather than adapting it to their needs." She uses this comment to highlight the part of her thesis which claims that the interface of applications, web-based apps in particular, not only dictate how the user interacts with the machine, but also how different users interact with one another. She is specifically discussing how the assumed "whiteness" of the users and hence the resulting interface creates unexpected obstacles for non-white users attempting to communicate and be a part of the online community that this interface is the portal to.
Upon reading this I was forced to recognize that not only had I not noticed the inherent "whiteness" of most technology, but that this was likely the reason it had never occurred to me before (I'm white). It was designed for me, most likely by people who thought similarly to me because of our shared background and culture. I have always recognized the phenomenon of white advantage, particularly in regards to my exuberance and disregard for law as a youth. It is likely that my blessed presence to sit here and write this today is in part due to a legal system that most certainly was not blind to my color and that of my family in the courtroom.
However, the point I am making is that never had I considered the more subtle nuances of white advantage. Gómez-Peña's article, Chicano Interneta, was a clear testament to the obstacles encountered by another culture stepping into cyberspace. He discusses the mythology that mexicans and other latinos cannot handle high technology. This mythos, he posits, is perpetuated by hispanics and anglos alike. However, he makes the important point that although the general stereotype depicts "Mexico and Mexicans as technologically underdeveloped, yet culturally and spiritually superior, and the U.S. as exactly the opposite", many Anglo-Americans also do not understand technology. Once again I am further informed of my own rare association with the group who "gets it" as it is stated women and people of color in the U.S. also suffer from a lack of equal access to cyberspace.
On a personal level these articles better informed me of the very deep obstacles that still permeate high culture. It is very easy to say racism is subsiding or isn't as bad as everyone says it is when you just so happen to be both the privalged race and gender. It's gonna take a lot of commitment and time to heal the racial barriers that were constructed through our species path to the "now". I'm down.
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Though it's hard to see... it's kind of the same feeling for me. I grew up in an entirely white environment, I think the first time I met someone with some ethnicity was in the 5th grade. So, I have a hard time noticing what some people may be complaining about, mainly on the subject of cyberspace and technology. However, it becomes a entirely different situation when people actually look at me. I feel that on this side of my computer no one will do my TRUE IDENTITY (enter dun-dun-dun's here), but then again when I step out into reality, Gomez-Pena's point is also very clear.
Is it bad that I don't really care though? Should I?
Boy what a mess.
:)
It was an important concept for me to grasp onto in Kolko's article that the design of the interface "not only dictates how the user interacts with the machine, but also how different users interact with one another." At first I thought, "Now how does the interface have anything to do with the people and their on-line relationships with each other?" But it became clear through her argument that this is in fact what happens. The article really opened my eyes to that. And it makes so much sense now. It is unfortunate that the design of technology is so prominantly white american and tailored for that type of user when there are so many others that are interested and able to handle high technology if it is designed to handle them.
This whiteness we speak of, I think, is a blank canvas. We are so concerned with race and how we culturally are not represented and we also want to be individualistic. Racism today has subsided, adding the race as well as identity to cyber space will have its problems. What is the big problem, why are we so concerned with race on the net? Whoever is on the other side is probably lying about his identity.
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