Table of Contents

1)Introduction:First Steps Cyberspace and mind, two at first totally unrelated topics, but after a closer look, help to reveal a much more identical meaning shared between the two. What do these two non-physical things have in common? Before I started this Cyber-trek, I knew nothing about the actual physical make-up of the internet. I knew what it could do, but not, how it could do it. My current attitude toward the internet is somewhat of awe, I can't believe I non-physical space can house such a multitude of data. In the next few paragraphs, I am going to try and help you grasp a better understanding about Cyberspace and it's relationship to the mind. The principle of something existing in a place not seen by the normal traveler. A place where only doors exists and walls do not. A world wide bulletin board where one can check on postings, listings, messages, and so forth. A place much like this world, but yet in a whole different realm. A realm where imagination, pictures, and texts dominate. But where is this place? How can I get to Cyberspace? Cyberspace is all around us. It can be reached easily through your computer. It never closes and is always open. Open to personal expression thoughts, feelings, personal desires, and many, many more wonderful things.

2)What the Instructor Says:Virtual Reality and Mind in Cyberspace Unlike our normal everyday encounters, the internet may be viewed by technophobics as an untradition value of social human or face to face exchange. They see users as people basically glued to a computer screen, zombies, aimlessly typing away, making comments, laughing, crying and even swearing at the computer as if someone was really there. Physically, no. But virtually yes, not just some one, but a many some people all across the world, engaging in a live chat discussion, checking their value of their stocks, or even downloading shared information and programs. In Dr. Leon Jame's article,Cyberpsychology: Principles of Creating Virtual Presence, he explains that virtual reality and the mind operate on similar boundaries. Like the mind, virtual reality is not of the physical, but rather of the virtual, an intangible component neatly intertwined like a spider's web, or better known as the internet. To technophobics, the internet is not seen as a mechanical vehicle to move our thoughts across a continuum, not like a phone, or a letter, but rather as a obscured vision of change. But like a undiscovered animal in the ocean, it does not exists if it is not discovered, so the internet grows on new followers daily. The internet depends on more and more new users daily to help broaden what is known as it's communal mind. The World Wide Web exists within the minds and computers across the world. It is like when someone logs on to the internet, he/she is personally plugging in the personal thoughts and feelings of his/herself to the internet for the whole world to see. Also, because when someone logs onto the net, a login is nothing but a mere name that can be made up. This encourages many different people to be more likely to express some feelings with out the fear of knowing what people would think, or say, because they don't know who they are. Hence there is a continual upload of information thus increasing the communal mind and the very existence of the Internet. "Interconnectivity is access, access is visibility which established virtual reality" How do we get access? There are many ways that we can accomplish this, subscribing to newsgroups, using search engines, and many other ways. A very interesting concept about access is that we could spend all the time in the world working on our home page, building it everyday, changing the fonts, adding different colors, more graphics and yet, it could be quite possible that there maybe no one that would come to visit it, at all. In virtual reality, what doesn't get used, doesn't exists. A rude awakening to new first time users on the net. "The act of Clicking." How amazing it is that one can go to a library in Italy and look up books there or go to CBS and see last night's news, or go to a movie section to download previews of new and up coming movies. The possibilities on the net is endless. By the simple act of just clicking on text or on an object one can be propelled into another dimension. The internet is full of the them. That is why the net is sometimes referred to as the "Information Super-highway." Because the Internet is so vast, there are just no ways of controlling one's destinations. Like a boat in the ocean, one is faced with an endless amount of possible destinations. One can ride the net to a foriegn country or to new and developing cybercity. Unfortunately we have all at one point in time experienced some type of page expressing some vividly graphic material that may have offended us in some way. Unfortunately the net is both filled with good and bad information, some people see it fit to close the eyes of the public to certain realms on the internet. Some issues that concern net users or parents of net users include pornography, sex, violence, vandilism and so forth. Pornography, like in the real world is a real issue on the net. Policing it though is another matter. Because no one really owns the net, it is a real ethical issue. Fortunately for parents, teachers and other concerned citizens, programs have come up with meager attempts to control this problem. But the real ethical issue here lies in the people that make these kinds of pages, and what should be done to them.

3) What Generation 4 Says:A link to the past To describe what Generation 4 is saying, I choose articles written by Raenee Yamashiro, Jill Umetsu and Jami Kaneshiro Ross Takara's Report 4 In Ross Takara's report, his relationship between mind and cyberspace is a virtual relationship. Because there are not of the physical, they exist only in the virtual realm. Where in the computer the hard disk is medium that operates the net, the brain in humans also functions under the same circumstances in creating a virtual realm. Without either, cyberspace or virtual reality would be non-existent. In creating Cyberspace, Takara talks about the communal mind, a collection of thoughts, feelings, hopes, desires of everyone who has ever plugged in to the internet. These collections are then categorized into sub headings. These sub headings may include, jokes, stocks, entertainment and so on. Although cyberspace is like many minds working together in one cybercommunity, it is broken up into states, where one can go to pursue an interest in money, or a particular topic. So by interest, it is possible for an individual to go to anywhere they want in virtual reality, instantaneously. Jami's Report 4 In Jami's Report, although very short, it carries much meaning. In her article on Cyberspace and mind, she talks about how important the mind is and that without the mind there would be no cyberspace. In essence, the mind is what creates all, without it there would be no computer, or no internet to create any sort of link or what so ever. It is the mind which creates this virtual realm that captivates are thoughts and feelings. And it is the internet that is the very tool that is used to express these thoughts and feelings. Although compared to Dr., James's article, Jami speaks not so much about the relationship between the two, but rather the dependence between the two, and how one exists only if the other does. Jill's Report In the article by Jill Umetsu, she speaks about a very interesting concept, dualism. "One thing can physically exist, but at the same time not be physically present." This was something that immediately caught my attention. How does something exist when it isn't physically present? That is where the concept of virtual reality comes into play. According to Jill, if something isn't physical, then it must mean that it is one of two things, either spiritual or mental. Feelings, thoughts and so on, exist in the minds of everyone, it is through our mouth or our actions that these feelings or thoughts are expressed. Cyberspace can be viewed as another method of conveying ones thoughts or feelings. It is extremely effective because unlike a phone or a letter, it has no boundaries. The only thing that it is bound by is users. Because without users, the internet would be nothing but a letter in the trash.

4) What I am saying:A few words Before this class, my knowledge of the internet was basically as a user. I knew almost everything that I user would know, how to get to certain places around the world, how to get yesterday's news, constantly meeting people, that was easy. I understood how the internet worked and that it wasn't of the physical, but rather of the virtual. That it was dependent on two very important things, a computer and a user. And like a religion, it was only as strong as it's worshippers. It was extremely useful and I could find myself easily captured in a few hours a day surfing the world wide web. After this class, I was able to envelope a new working hypothesis about the web, that it was a virtual realm of indefinite information, options, and feedback. It was like a big convention center, where you can just click your way around, with minimum traffic and resistance. A convention that functioned on your time, started when you wanted it to and finished when you left. A place where friends could be met, places you could visit and much, much more. Besides just learning what the internet was really about Dr. James helped me to understand the spiritual, that it is not of the physical, like the mind it exsist in a realm where dreams, ideas, and feelings exists. He also helped me with a better understanding about psychological aspects of the internet, how the internet and a computer is so closely related to the brain and mind. Dr. James showed me how this all can be neatly fitted in this puzzle we call the World Wide Web.

5) What Others Are Saying:Thoughts to ponder In a frustrating attempt to browse the internet for web articles about cyberpsychology, I used multiple search engines which included, Excite, Yahoo, InfoSeek, Alta Vista, and many others. Although I wasn't able to find to many articles other than Leon James's article or that of his previous students, I was able to find two other authors which spoke breifly about the subject. Storm A King, The Psychology of Cyberspace. Making Virtual Communties Work by John Suler, Ph.D. - Rider University While searching for possible articles, I used search titles such as Psychology, Cyberpsychology, Cyberspace. Using title of Psychology, I found too many titles, too many to possibly read. I also experienced the same result in searching Cyberspace. The title that best worked with my working hypothesis was the title of Cyberpsychology. In the article by Storm A King, he speaks about, "What we think and how we act and the relationships between the two. Our thoughts influence our behavior, our behavior influences our thoughts." Thus our web page is a genuine reflection of our thoughts because it is a product of our behavior. In the second article by John Suler, Ph.D, he talks about the do's and don'ts about making a cybercommunity work. He gives a list for newcomers to follow. I guess this relates to my working hypothesis because everyone has to start somewhere.

Final Considerations: To make a long story short In short, the Internet is no different than a phone or a letter, or even a telegram. It is a means to communicate. Although it may use different mediums to relay this communicae, it still delivers the same working message. The differences amoung the phone and the Internet are obvious. While on the Internet the user is not. This may be another reason why the internet is such a popular medium of choice, confidentiality. It brings out the best and worst out in all of us. Because it is a dirrect reflection of ourselves, it reflects are thoughts are feelings and everything that we can possibly comprehend. After looking at the other two articles it clearly helps to better illustrate by hypothesis about the Internet and the whole purpose and function about it, that the internet can viewed in many different ways. For some people the internet is just an extension of media, like a new type of phone, or just another way of sending a letter. For others, it is a spiritual realm, like the relationship between the brain and the mind, the computer and the internet share a similar relationship. My personal belief is in the beginning, the internet may have been developed for the strict purpose of an extension of media, but later, it was soon discovered that there were and still are many endless amounts of possibilities that one can accomplish on the internet. For more information please refer to the sites listed above. The future for Cyberspace is a bright one, with endless doorways leading to even more doorways. The possibilities are endless, and the Internet never ceases to stop growing. Everyday it only succeeds in gathering more and more followers, increasing the ever so great community of minds.