What is virtual reality?  The simplest explanation is that it is an alternative reality that humans create through technology. One of the most basic ways to create a virtual reality is through writing, a technology that allows us to communicate and store information and ideas outside of our heads. Fiction writing can create artificial realities out of an author’s imagination; while nonfiction can allow us to explore times and places that we may never get to experience in reality. Not everyone will get to go to every place in the world, but through books, photographs, and other recordings, we can explore them virtually. We cannot (yet) travel through time, but we can read about the past and the future.

With the advent of the Internet and advanced graphics technology, humans have recently created virtual realities within cyberspace (itself a virtual reality) that allows us to interact with other people in a constructed space through computers, without ever having to leave our own homes. So what are some of these technologies and “virtual realities” that we are creating?

For this Assignment you will analyze the artifact you selected in Week 2 in the context of your own virtual reality. In Week 2 you selected the artifact based on your preference. What does your preference say about the type of reality you choose to reveal to others? Did you play it safe with the assignment? Did you have a separate image or song or story that you might have selected if you were not concerned about how it would be received by your Instructor or fellow students? Virtual reality involves editing reality to fit a narrative or purpose.

To prepare for the Assignment:

• Return to your Week 2 Assignment and review the artifact you selected.
• Upload your artifact to the Document Sharing area of the course navigation area so the rest of the class can view your selection.
• View each artifact posted by your classmates.
• Read the Bennett and Bower articles in the Week 2 Learning Resources.
• Review the Reading Images document from the Week 2 Learning Resources.
• Review the results of the Self-Assessments taken this week.
• In organizing your writing, consider:

  What the artifact you selected says about you. Did you share a video of the music or the lyrics? Did you show a photograph or a painting?
  If online environments bring in many different perspectives, what did your artifact bring to the discussion?
  As you review the artifacts that your classmates selected, do you see any theme?
  Consider your artifact in the context of the overall collection of artifacts in your class. What is the “class story” as revealed in the artifacts? What type of virtual reality could be constructed if you viewed the artifacts as a deliberate collection?

Assignment Instructions:

By Day 7

Submit a 1- to 2-page essay (about 300–500 words) that responds to the following questions:

• What types of perspectives did your fellow classmates display in the artifacts they selected?
• How do the artifacts displayed together reveal ways of knowing, thinking, and expressing?
• What surprised you about the other artifacts that your classmates selected?
• Would your artifact be complimentary with another student artifact? If yes, describe why, if no, describe why not.
• Does your artifact reveal your perspective of who you are as a student and a learner?

Name:Yolanda Cody

University: Walden University

Artifact Analysis Worksheet

An artifact is something made by a human.

It can be a form of art or a form of self-expression that has meaning to you. It can be anything that a human conceived of as art and deliberately crafted.

For this assignment, you are being asked to share your artifact with your classmates. Please consider this as you select your artifact by choosing something you are comfortable sharing and avoiding potentially offensive material.

In the Learning Resources area, there is also a document on “reading” images and text. It includes many questions which can guide deeper analysis of your artifact.

Share your artifact or a link to your artifact in the space below.

Include a description of the artifact and include research on the background of the artifact. For example, information about the artist involved.

*** Make sure to cite your sources by including a list of any outsides sources of information you are using to answer this question. Remember, research is always a good thing as it shows effort.

The selected artifact is a pop culture artifact which creates a negative bias and promoting the stereotype about one group of people in the society. The selected artifact is known as “Cellphones Catapult Rural Africa to 21st Century” which was produced by Sharon Lafraniere. The artifact describes a 36 year old woman known as Bekowe Skhakhane who do simple tasks in the hard way. She is considered to have made Africa as being the fastest growing cellphone market due to the increase in the number of mobile subscribers. There are images used in this article that shows that Africa is not able to develop and this makes them to be considered as technically lacking progress. The use of cell phone in rural African is received with shock since the perception of the writer is that African is naturally behind in terms of technology (Lafraniere, 2005).

What does this artifact mean to you? Please explain.

To explore this, consider these additional questions:
How has it inspired or moved you? Has this artifact helped make your life or the life of others better? How does it connect to your life or to the educational journey you are starting along with your classmates?

Based on this article, there is still belief that Africa is still lagging behind in terms of technology. Majority of people from the developed nations especially from the Western world consider Africa lacking progress in terms of technology and are lacking the current technological advancement. This perception is not true since the writer of the artifact is even surprised to learn that Bekowe Skhakhane, a 36 year old woman from the rural area is able to use a cellphone. It is therefore clear that Africans from the rural areas are learning the hard way and inspires many to give it a trial rather than basing their ability based on the perception of other people (Mark, 2018).

Many people have artifacts displayed in their home; for example, a certain painting on their wall. In a way, we’ll be creating a virtual gallery of artifacts by sharing our choices as a class in the Class DocSharing area.

How does your artifact fit into our class gallery? How do you think your artifact communicates your life perspective to the class? How do you think others will interpret your choice of artifact?

This artifact is important to the class since it shows how perception of other people can lead to unfair treatment and negative bias on others. It teaches class that perception should not be used as a means of developing negative attitude or stereotyping against others and it is therefore important to understand the challenges faced by others to develop their abilities. Negative perception is against the development and motivation of others towards being creative and innovative and this has to be stopped. The class will interpret this artifact as a promotion against biases based on the negative perceptions (Mark, 2018).

Discuss in your own words, how technology has changed human art making and human art sharing. How do you, or could you, use technology in making your own art?

Human art working has been changed through adoption of the technology. Due to technology, it is possible to create photography, the video arts, and the new genre. It has also become possible to create a website as art pieces or the use of social media. In my art work, I can use technology to make watercolor and the chalk backgrounds in my piece of artwork. I can also use the technology to animate my artwork to draw more attention from the audience (Mark, 2018).

References
Lafraniere, S. (2005, August 25). Cellphones Catapult Rural Africa to 21st Century. Retrieved January 17, 2020, from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/world/africa/cellphones-catapult-rural-africa-to-21st-century.html
Mark, M. P. (2018). Metaphors of Democratization. In Revisiting Metaphors in International Relations Theory . Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

a file or document instead.

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