Questions on Turkle ch 1-2

1) pp. 29-31 What does Turkle mean by the “holding power” of the computer? How (in your creative imagination) might we use the “holding power” concept as a social or political analogy?

2) pp. 31-33 What are the differences between hackers, hobbyists and users? How does the apple versus mac contrast suggest the modern/post modern difference?

3) pp. 36-37 How does the IBM(MS-DOS) versus Mac contrast suggest the modern/post modern difference? In what ways can we see a synthesis of the two in Windows?

4) pp. 42-46 p. 42 what is the simulation aesthetic? What is its relation to postmodernism?

5) pp. 48-49 What is meant by objects-to-think-with? Explain Turkle’s analogy between the episteme (not her term) transmitted by Jewish dietary laws and the episteme transmitted by computers.

6) pp. 50-54 What is “soft mastery?”

7) pp. 57-59 How does the bricolage concept help make soft mastery more acceptable?

8) pp. 60-61 How does computing in the 1990s reflect a change towards bricolage?

9) pp. 63-66 How do differing attitudes towards simulation appear in various disciplines?

10) pp. 66-73 How do computer games reflect varying attitudes and epistemes of simulation?