A screen, a self, a little blue hand. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much of what we accept as normal: how we live, how we interact with others, and indeed how we learn. With all classes and social gatherings being forced onto virtual space, we have been instructed in many a Zoom meeting to 'raise our little blue hands' to ask questions or contribute to conversations. We were struck by how the 'little blue hand' represented a crossover between physical and virtual realities, the tiny button on our screens at once a poor simulacrum and a natural extension of our 'real life' appendages. We found this to be a perfect example of the ways in which these two worlds have combined during this period, to the point where one can no longer call the physical any more 'real' than the virtual. The 'little blue hand' thus became a symbol--of the harships and limitations so many are facing in this situation, yes, but also of the promise the future might hold for us.
Raise Your Little Blue Hand is a webzine, modeled after the captivatingly creative webpages of 90s Internet culture, that seeks to capture this time in our lives, particularly with regards to our interactions through technology and virtual spaces. While we acknowledge the shortcomings of our newly digital life, and the anxieties and frustrations that come with not being able to interact with others in person, we nonetheless strive to imagine cyberspace as a site of radical possibility. What can blurring the line between physical and virtual, between human and machine, between our tools and ourselves, tell us about the future in general, and life after the pandemic in particular?