Focault’s discourse

According to foucault, in the past the formation of discourse required to follow the discursive regularities and structures. In addition, he indicated that Knowledge is generated and constructed through different disciplines that are established groups of discourse that comprise what can become objects of knowledge and enunciating subject, who has authority to speak about them. Nowadays, the emerging of social media provides opportunity for people free to say just anything, whenever they like or wherever they want. Individualized social web users could be a travel expert that can be seen as reliable for his/her audiences to speak about the topic. The user generated content of social web can also establish and develop more trust than tradition commercial web. Social media allow individual to sustain social interaction with a large and diverse network of contacts. For instance, traveler can share their travel experiences with their friends, family, and even strangers by posting their photos, blogs, and videos. The developing of social media facilitated communication that can generate knowledge through collaboration on the web world widely. Focault pointed out that “a regular linguistic construction is not required in order to form a statement” (p.86). Thus, the unstructured information and conversations produced by social web users can communicate, document and preserve knowledge.

In order to produce messages easily interpretation and to make suitable form for its participants, communication and representation play important role in semiotics. The major notation in semiotics is the sign making including signifiers (the form) and signified (the meaning). The concept of denotation relates to the signified that an image denotes something to communicate with participants. In our society, we use a variety of visual signs to represent and communication. The meaning of visual sign may be interpreted or constructed differently across culture. However, a sign may also have common meaning in different culture such as the signs of restrooms. For instance, when I traveled to Italy, even though I do not know Italian language, I could easily find the restroom by finding the sign. In addition, when we travel to a tourist attraction, we always look for the monument in the local host. The monument is designed to convey historical information and to communicate about important events or figures from the past.In our society, we use a variety of visual signs to represent and communication. The meaning of visual sign may be interpreted or constructed differently across culture. However, a sign may also have common meaning in different culture such as the signs of restrooms. For instance, when I traveled to Italy, even though I do not know Italian language, I could easily find the restroom by finding the sign. In addition, when we travel to a tourist attraction, we always look for the monument in the local host. The monument is designed to convey historical information and to communicate about important events or figures from the past.">

In leisure, the concept of place identity holds that places provide the source of self-identification and places have meaning to the people who value the relationship to the places. According to William (2002) “we chosen leisure place not merely because they are useful for leisure, but to convey the sense of who we are” (p.353). The monument can communicate with people about historical information and provide symbolic meaning for a place. Thus, expanding from Foucault’s idea of sign, signified, and signifier, our group chose to develop a Scavenger Hunt for this assignment. We would like tosee how the sign and monument of Clemson Campus denotes something to communicate with our participants.

Looking at the architecture and infrastructure of Clemson's campuse, the Scavenger hunt acts to expose the instability and maluability of language and meaning. Our hope is that a richer "statement" will emerge with the results found from each groups findings.

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Yu's story

Here is the link to Yu's story.
http://www.wix.com/yuchin0806/yuchih

Character in WOW

Yhuang is the character representing myself in the on line 3D virtual game of World of Warcraft. Before entering the 3D virtual game, I need to learn how to dress myself and customize my appearance. I think that the choices of characters’ appearances in world of warcraft may reflect people’s personality in physical world and also indicate images that people want to present themselves in this virtual environment. Besides, in the virtual world, people can switch their gender, and change their race through the changing of appearances. While the almost unlimited combinations of features available in the online game of world of warcraft are a way to custom designs and ensures characters uniqueness. At beginning, I chose a warrior to begin the game but I was not very skill to perform his ability. I also took two days to get familiar the virtual environment and to practice the navigational skills. After I learned more control on my character, I started to complete the quest to gain experience to level my character in world of warcraft. However, I fail to perform my first character,warrior, ability to complete the quests and I cannot get out the place that I fall into. I decide to quite the character and chose another character, a hunter, to restart my battle. It is also the advantage of virtual environment, people can change their characters and adopt a new virtual body, and assume multiple identities. The online game of world of warcraft provides communications to facilitate social networking and offers a somewhat realistic experience to online player. For example, during my leveling I often time fail to complete quests because of battling along. Sometime I tried to add other players to join the battle and become a friend to help each other. It is also another advantage to interact with other players and get social interaction in virtual game. After gaining more experience and levels, I finally got to the level 14. I found that the leveling became difficult when players play along. Thus, I realize that to level the character in world of warcraft not only the time but also the team work.

Baudrillard-II

Based on Baudrillardian’s ideas, there is no authentic reality. “When the real is no longer what it used to be, nostalgia assumes its full meaning. There is a proliferation of myths of origin and signs of reality; of second-hand truth, objectivity and authenticity. There is an escalation of the true, of the lived experience; a resurrection of the figurative where the object and substance have disappeared” (1994: 6-7). One of the most perplexing questions which everyone deal with is “what is real and what is not real?”.

However, our group did find a real media, clay, to break away his view of the simulacrum and hyperreality. The materials and means of production are authentic since clay artifacts must be hand-formed, hand thrown using clay from the designated region. In addition, the clay arts comprised the interrelated cultural meaning in today society. Every culture has systems of meaning embedded in the clay artifacts. Baudrillardian pointed out that “in the US… culture is space, speed, cinema, technology. This culture is authentic, if anything can be said to be authentic” (1988: 100). Thus, clay artifacts can be a representation of an authentic culture at different stages of human history. In travel and tourism, we also talk about the authenticity of the trip experiences. International travel provides people the opportunities of interacting with different cultural backgrounds for local residents. Looking for experience and authenticity is an important motivation for traveling. When one travel to a tourism destination, he/she like to purchase clay artifacts, while providing the opportunity to exhibit conspicuous consumption and also allowed he/she to participate in the authentic experience of the culture.

Entertainment Discourse

Here is the link to mystroy-entertainment discourse

Potential Question for Ulmer

The potential question for Ulmer is the following:
Ulmer pointed out that “Internet as a medium of learning put us in a new relation to writing” (p1) and “the invention concerns how the new technologies might affect our working conditions and teaching practices and what we might do to reduce the negative aspects and enhance the positive” (p.5). As a virtual revolution is emerging in media environments, it is believed that the 3D virtual world environment will gain more attention and become more pervasive as a new educational tool. I was wondering if the emergence of the 3D virtual environment will create another new practice of “Internet Intervention” and how the 3d virtual environment will affect the composition of “Mystory”.

Simulacra and Simulation-Part I

In Baudrillard’s book, he discussed the images, signs system, and symbolic meaning in today’s society. He argued that “simulations in no longer that a territory of referential being or a substance, and it is the generation by models of a real without an origin or reality, a hyperreal” (p.1). Baudrillard employed the idea of simulacra to refer that electric media and signs system can create the perceived reality and that makes people to believe an identifiable reality exists. He claimed that “present-day simulators attempt to make the real all of the real coincide with their models of simulation” and “it is a hyperreal produced from a radiating synthesis of combinatory models in a hyperspace without atmosphere” (p.2) . Baudrillard also asserted that “pretending or dissimulating, leaves the principle of reality intake, and simulation threaten the difference between the true and false, the real and the imaginary” (p.3).

Baudrillard discussed four kinds of simulacrum, “1) it is the reflection of a profound reality; the image is a good appearance”; “2) it masks the denatures a profound reality; the image is an evil appearance”; 3)”it masks absence of a profound reality; image plays at being an appearance”; 4)” it has no relation to any reality whatsoever, it is not longer of the order of appearances but of simulation” (p.6). There is not a clear distinction between the reality and representation. In Baudrillard’s book, he used Disneyland which is an ideal model of all orders of simulacrum as an example to discuss hyperreal and imaginary. Baudrillard claimed that Disneyland is presented as imaginary to create a false reality and make it for people to believe this reality. False reality in Disneyland enables visitors to satisfy their imagination and daydream fantasies in real life and simulated imaginary allow people to visit out space without leaving the earth. It does not matter whether the fantasies in Disneyland are real or false, since there is no original that can be used to compare. The question raised is that how authentic is the simulated experience compared with the natural or original activity?

In travel and tourism, we also talk about the authenticity of the trip experiences. International travel provides people the opportunities of interacting with different cultural backgrounds for local residents. Looking for experience and authenticity is an important motivation for traveling. The authenticity of the tourism products such as works of art, traditional events and dress, depends on whether they are made or enacted by local people according to custom or tradition. When people travel to a destination, they want to explore the heritage site, and historical monuments to experience the social culture of host destination. Accompany with the commercialization of tourism services, tourism business began to alter local culture and customs to satisfy tourists’ expectations. For example, the local residents perform the traditional dance in a stage to visitors that can experience the social culture of host regions. The staged performance of traditional customs in the tourist destination is not always authentic to the original customs which refer to staged authenticity. However, from the postmodernism point of view, tourists do not concern about the authentic travel experiences since there is not real or fake.