“Sociologists have long studied how moral entrepreneurs construct claims-making campaigns. however, their opponents’ strategies to mount counterclaimsmaking campaigns are less studied. this article examines how the world wrestling federation (wwf) used humor to attack its enemy, the parents television council. by using narrative structures familiar to its fans, the wwf exploited characteristics of its opponent suitable for parody. it created a group of wrestlers called the right to censor who preached the moral values espoused by the parents television council, yet were the most flagrant cheaters in the industry. this case study shows that under the right circumstances counterclaimsmaking using irony and satire can be effective. (psycinfo database record (c) 2012 apa, all rights reserved) (journal abstract).”

“Will kurt interviewed jaron lanier, the author of ‘digital maoism: the hazards of the new online collectivism’ and keynote speaker for the 2007 allen press emerging trends in scholarly communications seminar. lanier shares his thoughts on a variety of topics including the negative and positive effects of online collectives, the changing economics of information, and the future of scholarly communications in the online world. [copyright &y& elsevier]”

“The digital revolution is making us poorer rather than creating the bright shiny future of sci-fi canon, says jaron lanier, and we need to take back control of our data”

“Something went wrong around the start of the 21st century. individual creativity began to go out of fashion. music became an endless rehashing of the past. scientists were in danger of no longer understanding their own research. indeed, not only was individual creativity old-fashioned but individuals themselves. the crowd was wise. machines, specifically computers, were no longer tools to be used by human minds they were better than humans. welcome to the world of the digital revolution. yet what if, by devaluing individuals, we are deadening creativity, endlessly rehashing past culture, risking weaker design in engineering and science, losing democracy, and reducing development in every sphere? in you are not a gadget, jaron lanier, digital guru, and inventor of virtual reality, delivers a searing manifesto in support of the human and reflects on the good and bad developments in design and thought twenty years after the invention of the web. controversial and fascinating, you are not a gadget is a deeply felt defence of the individual from an author uniquely qualified to comment on the way technology interacts with our culture.”

“In virtual reality (vr) it is possible to induce illusions in which users report and behave as if they have entered into altered situations and identities. the effect can be robust enough for participants to respond ‘realistically’, meaning behaviors are altered as if subjects had been exposed to the scenarios in reality. the circumstances in which such vr illusions take place were first introduced in the 80’s. since then, rigorous empirical evidence has explored a wide set of illusory experiences in vr. here we compile this research and propose a neuroscientific model explaining the underlying perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that enable illusions in vr. furthermore, we describe the minimum instrumentation requirements to support illusory experiences in vr, and discuss the importance and shortcomings of the generic model.”

“Will kurt interviewed jaron lanier, the author of ‘digital maoism: the hazards of the new online collectivism’ and keynote speaker for the 2007 allen press emerging trends in scholarly communications seminar. lanier shares his thoughts on a variety of topics including the negative and positive effects of online collectives, the changing economics of information, and the future of scholarly communications in the online world. [copyright &y& elsevier]”

“Reviews the books, the shallows: what the internet is doing to our brains by nicholas carr (2010) and you are not a gadget: a manifesto by jaron lanier ( 2010). in the july/august 2008 issue of the atlantic, nicholas carr published the highly influential article ‘is google making us stupid?’ the shallows is basically an extension of that 6-page article into a 275-page book. in the shallows, carr recognizes that the same argument has been made about pretty much every major form of media ever adopted, tracing at least as far back as socrates’ criticism of the effects writing has on memory in the phaedrus. he draws from cognitive neuroscience and findings on the plasticity of the mind to show how our ability to engage with difficult material and think linearly is slipping away. jaron lanier shares many of the same strengths and weaknesses as carr. lanier’s strongest argument comes when he takes on what he calls the ‘hive mind’ culture of the internet. the problem with the text, however, is similar to carr’s: lanier misuses evidence or makes sweeping arguments with little to no evidence. gadget is riddled with inflammatory claims about contemporary culture that spiral into unsupported generational warfare. the strengths of these books are their ability to question widely held beliefs of digital evangelism and to make their criticisms accessible to mainstream audiences. students would be able to read accessible accounts questioning widely accepted orthodoxy, and they would also be able to evaluate areas where each author takes his argument further than evidence allows. (psycinfo database record (c) 2012 apa, all rights reserved)”