First day of presentations

Lorena:

China- Communication crisis seems like a great topic, In particular your focus on technological censorship and China’s human rights issues. What really caught my attention was the censorship photo of the little girl being executed and the fact that would not show up on a chinese web server. If you think about westernized censorship, we have a lot more roaming space BUT America itself still has strict censorship regulations, more so than European nations. From what I’ve read this has to do with the vast majority of the country being Christian. Going back to the China issue, it’s no secret that the Chinese government has a sort of Gung-ho attitude with certain issues, which I say, would be from over population and improper economical statues. These above reasons could be why the Chinese government try to hold information back from people on the web. Here is a quick list of things that are very common in Chinese society today and some issues that may impact the governments decisions. (http://chinaview.wordpress.com/10-things-to-know-about-china/
I think if you explain why the Chinese Government harbors its people from its own history or issues, your paper would be as powerful as that execution picture in class. Great job.

Sheila:

Just like I mentioned in class, I think going with the Club-Penguin site as your main topic would help explain your example of genderless sites, which after time, take on gender identities. Here is a good article about the identity’s and the worries about CP from the Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703080167mar08,0,7203137.story
You could even talk about features as simple as, what color you can make your Penguin Avatar or the accessories you choose to dress your penguin in. Obviously the makers of the game made items in the game that people would connect genders with. For example, a girl would pick a pink scarf and generally a guy wouldn’t. I would think that because the sites or games are made by males or females they naturally have to have some gender aspects in them. You could even talk about movies, say for instance the new Pixar flick, Dragons. The Boy Dragons generally have more of an erratic movement and a boyish voice , where as the girls look almost identically the same BUT given a little eyeliner and more of a gentile movement.
Hope that helps, good stuff SHEESHEE

Maurice:

I find this topic super interesting. In particular,( like I said in class) the issue of the weather and how the grower obtains the information in the quickest way possible. This is essential information for me when I receive crop samples from various grower groups around the US. Dealing with recoveries of Pesticide residue I extract from certain crops, we are able to tell if the crops have been over or under stimulated with various weather conditions. Depending on the certain type of crop, this can play a major role in our recoveries of protective pesticide percentages. If the grower has inadequate information dealing with weather conditions they could potential harm their crops and loose safe pesticide protection. This ultimately creates bacteria and viruses, or in the recent USEPA Washington Apple project I worked on, cause Fire blight, which is a destructive bacteria that kills blossoms, shoots, limbs, and, sometimes, entire trees. With the advancements in technology most of the small grower groups, from what I’ve seen over the last 3 years, have been given the gift of smart phones and are ultimately on target with weather predictions, as much as the big corporations. Like you said in your presentation, “ cell phones cut out the middle man”. I think you have a great paper idea to support that statement.
Plus, your Maurice and you know a ton of stuff.
Hopefully that helped.

Here is a recent article from Yakima that will defiantly help you.
This software allows farmers who use mobile devices equipped with a Web browser to access weather data from the network while in the field.
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/03/03/the-ifarm-weather-alerts-sent-to-farmers-cell-phones


Corrinda:

Since we're kind of doing the same paper I like your topic already. We talked in class about Marc Prensky’s book, “Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning” and the good stuff in the book. I’m pretty deep into the book and really like his idea of children being “Digital Natives”. He says the kids of today are programmed differently and need game based learning to move forward. I notice you talked about what style of games confront children with learning opportunities, and I think you can make that message stronger if you first talk about how parents (Which Prensky calls “Digital Immigrants”) should talk about games with there kids and learn the languages of a new age. The example in class of the matching game is perfect, we learn something by just pressing the button. The very first thing we learn in that game is that we need to hit two squares to reveal the items. We learn no matter what. Here is an article I’m pulling ideas from in a recent Wired.com interview with James Gee.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/view.html
I think your paper will come together really well when you tie together the facts. One point I would make is that the teachers must acquire new gaming and technology savvy to teach properly. Because kids are growing up In a technology frenzied culture they will easily sniff out an old style learning lesson and be unenthusiastic.

Good luck


Cynthia:

The topic of how the Internet sways politics is a very interesting one. With the recent election of Obama, we had mass amounts of voters that were provoked from online propaganda. The fact that Obama is the first black president in our history, it was no secret that it was going to stir up the cyber-culture, sending it on a whirled wind adventure. Just like anything that goes “Viral” on the Internet mass attention is usually given to it. In our last blog assignment I talked about how social networking sites are being utilized by modern news stations, In a nut shell, this is what Obama did. And it was Brilliant. He utilized the Internet and its social tools; in return supporters loved the fact that he was doing that. And who uses the Internet the most? Our younger generation. It had such and impact on the people because they felt like they had a closer connection in such a big event. I think linking the cultural statues of the people around the time of the elections to, how the internet helped people spread their opinion, through self journalism, will lead to a great paper

Good luck, Here is an article on some of the ways Obama Utilized the internet for votes.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/

Extra Credit blog for Post 10

The article entitled, “The internet in the Aftermath of The World Trade Center Attack” describes the way in which the Internet had an effect on the news the world was getting. It also brings up the controversy issue, that the terrorists who were involved in the attacks may have used encrypted porn or even steganography to communicate and synchronize the attacks. The article goes onto explain the ways in which the internet was used as a resource on the attacks for thousands of people, in that present time and after. One of the key sites in where to go after attacks was the Red Cross website. The Red Cross received so many hits on their website that Aol, yahoo and Amazon began to accept donations for the Red Cross to help them during there capacity overload. The article explains how the web really gives people the opportunity to be helpfully in a new way, in the Red Cross example, over one billion dollars was made from donators all over the world.

As much as there is good on the Internet there is also the bad. Events like the WTC attacks stired up controversy all over the web. The article talks about how hackers made fake websites to collect money, pictures were circulating of a man supposable on top of the WTC and hate sites were built. Most of these ended up being harmless but people still found away to capitalize on the disaster by registering URLs like, 09112001.com and so forth. It’s crazy the lengths people will go to make a buck and the Internet essential become the store. People took pieces of the WTC and sold it on ebay, this was obviously banned but after awhile became legal again with all the money being given as donations.

The fact that the Internet holds so much wait over us makes it an almost escapable tool. We are subjected to see things like the WTC Hoaxes sites and sellers who are using disasters as viable profitable markets on e-stores. The article is describing the way in which we are so attached to the internet and the level we get are information. I would agree with the statement made in the article, that the internet “Brings us closer, faster to distant people, but its also a tool of terrorist and others who would sabotage human solidarity” (648). By creating such a powerful media platform, like the Internet, we have to realize that the power it posses can be used for good or bad weather we like it or not.

Blog post #10. Breaking-socialmedia-news

Khan is expressing that our technolculture has shifted its focus from merely “web-browsing” to active web browsing. You can see a ton of examples when sites are used to help with natural disasters. When an earthquake in Haiti on September 30th,2009 killed thousands and left hundreds trapped under rubble, companies and others began making blogs/websites to help the situation. Because the technologies we have promoted self-journalism, it gives us the chance to better record ourselves and impact others. We cant go to Haiti or have any real effect on what the government was doing about it but through the use of the internet we had an outlet for the “Peoples” ideas. Kahn states, “The Internet thus a contested terrain, used by left, right and center both dominate cultures and subcultures to promote their agendas and interests” (633). We can say what ever we want and on the web, in some ways, we are self-governed. Theirs obviously places we can’t go inside of the Internet but we generally get to do what we want. One self-governed example would be the online community 4-chan. Mostly known for there programming tricks and moding interests, they set out on a quest to filter youtube with embedded porn (which they dubbed, “pornday), after they herd youtube was shutting down one of the most subscribed to, “youtubers” channel. This happens all the time on the web. With internet savy any body can promote or de-promote what ever they want in internet cultural –politics. (http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/4chan-members-declare-porn-day-attack-youtube) Full story

It really shows as a culture that, when given the opportunity to have some power, we usually focus it. Political activism through the use of digital technology has become huge and has filtered into the realm of the mainstream media. It’s pretty easy to spot when Good Morning America and CNN sign off with something like, “ and check are twitter feed and facebook for more information” and even in the tri-cities when see the local Benton county candidates with social networking emblems on their posters. The Internet is kind of like the Guttenberg press, its revolutionizing the way people can conceive and distribute information across the planet.

Blog Post #9. Proposal number 2

Well here goes attempt two for my paper proposal. I think what I need to focus on is two simple questions: why have video games become portrayed as merely adolescent toys? And what is engaging about this emerging medium? The simple goal of this paper is to show the growth and importance that video games could have in our education system, and address the sterotypical assumptions that the majority of people have about them.
In my paper I will argue for the importance that video games have on there players. In this I will discuss that we need to look past the visual aspects of the game and break it down to its simple learning curve. Often times it’s the visual aspects of the game that make parents and teachers feel there is nothing more than a violent looking game. However, using information from James Gee’s book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, I will argue that no matter what the game styled a child is confronted with some sort learning situation. I Will also pull from some scholarly sources of examples where video games have been utilized in the class room One example is from the article, Investigating the impact of video games on high school students’ engagement and learning about genetics by Leonard A. Annetta . In this article we here how a teacher created video game on genetics had a significant learning impact on the students in the experiment. This will lead me into, why our culture has a growing community of video game followers? I’m going to argue that video games shouldn’t be viewed as merely a kid’s toy anymore. With our advancements throughout the digital age video games have only grown in popularity. Why? Because, video games have effectively molded learning with engagementand, and in most casese the engament being the achivements. Games help children learn not just what to do, but also work out why they should do it and whether they should do it. Its our Hollywood attituded that have shown video games in a bad light and I want to look past the stereotypes in this paper, getting back to the simple idea of a games

Prenski, Marc. Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! . Ney York: Paragon House, 2005. 254. Print.

In this book Prenski takes on the task erasing parents’ fears about video games by describing how kids see gaming and what they learn. Prenski moves forward in his book by presenting that games can teach a multitude of skills, including problem solving, language and cognitive skills, strategic thinking, multitasking, and parallel processing

Gee, James. What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. Print.

In his book, Gee offers up 36 steps on how video games impact kids. He puts a new spin on how society feels about gaming, convincing parents, teachers and journalist to look at gaming in an educational way. Further more, Gee explains that children learn something from just holding a controller, harnessing their focus and confronting them with a learning situation.

Annetta, Leonard. "Investigating the impact of video games on high school students' engagement and learning about genetics." Computers and Education 53.1 (2009): 74. Print

A scholarly source found on Griffin, this article tells the story of a biology teacher that need a different teaching method. The teacher used a video game that coincided with homework, which not only increased learning levels but excelled in student competence of the course work. Using parts of this article in my paper i will use this as one example to argue video games in the class room.

Collins, Allan, and Richard Halverson. Rethinking education in the age of technology. Teachers College Pr, 2009. Print.

In this article, Collins explains the change in our social structure, educational structure and technological advantage over other country. She brings up issues of the digital divide and its effects on western society and ho teachers should be prepared to utilize the technology that is given to us. In this she finds video games are an excellent resource and should not be over looked.

Gee, James. Good video games + good learning. Peter Lang Pub Inc, 2007. Print.

Just like the other book Gee expands on his education and learning practices explaining what puts the learning in a game.

Paper concept #1. Blog # 8

My paper will focus on games and their contribution to the academic environment. In my paper I will focus on many aspects of gaming, such as: Multitasking, puzzle solving skills, cultural symbolism, social understanding and games that are being utilized in the gaming system. I will also refer back to the documentary Generation Kill, which aired on HBO a few years ago. In this documentary games were studied to show the effect they had on a US Marines and men serving in Iraq. The documentary explains that, video games introduce us to the cruel reality of war and therefore give a solider a preview of what they could potentially see in combat. Additionally Generation Kill provides information of how video games are creating somewhat of a fearless generation. My paper will argue for the expansion of games being used in the class room in any platform style.

Captains Log #7.learning from PAC-MAN

In this weeks reading I was quit interested in the James Gee and his revelations on gaming and the way we interoperate them. I also think his ideas of learning and gender roles played in perfect with the Mr. Bungle article. Our culture is still struggling to see video games or MUDS as potential learning tools and merely brushing them off as a faze of adolescents. Even though the majority of people think of video games in that sense, there is a growing population of people that are willing to accept that it is a growing part of our culture. Some of the events that take place in these games have emotional effects on there users. It tells us that we are in an age where a non-physical world can be superior to our physical realm. The attachment to a certain video game, for some, is stronger than a real time friend. We could however class these people as nerdy gamers who stay up all night drinking Mt.Dew but that’s not the point. The point is that; people are hugely attached to video games not just because of the fighting or gun-play (well, its kind of apart of it) but manly for the ACHIEVMENTS.

Achievements in a game act as a drug for its players. You could say it’s a game, within a game, within a game and so on. Any game would be boring without them. For instance, think of PAC-MAN if you didn’t have to dodge the ghosts or collect the little yellow pellets, you would be bored out of your mind. The appeal to play the game would be diminished after five minutes. Now, think of what you know about the game. I know that if I collect a blue pellet the ghost will turn white and I can kill them, I know that if I want to escape quickly from left to right I can go through the portals on the side, I also know the ghost are bad, the food gives me points and so on. Because I have invested time into that game it becomes second nature. I’ve acquired a new set of rules and mind frame when playing this game. PAC-MAN is a very simple game but a good example non-the less. Now we have entered the age of first person shooters, third person shooters, locative gaming, MUDS and many more. Our mind processed the simple rules and concepts of PAC-MAN just like it will when we play games with more advanced techniques, like Tomb Rader. Sure, when we first start playing the controls seem foreign but because our minds grasp the simple concepts or achievements first, we begin understand the concept. When we are successful we come back because we want t fulfill more achievements in the game and in our minds. We learn things when the game is based on certain events, placed in a certain settings or placed in a certain era. We learn gender roles, sexual identity, physics from racing games, how to aim a gun from war games and even how to manage money from manger games. Anything and everything is a learning opportunity with video games. From learning how to jump, to figuring out a puzzle to get you to the next level, we’re learning in one way or another.

Video games can hit on all of are sensory nerves and not just some. In our day-to-day living we might find it hard to remember test questions for a test or how to type without looking at the keyboard. But then we go home after a long day, turn on a game, look at a screen, guide a character over a wall, talk to a friend, listen to music, and eat food as if it were second nature. We do it effortlessly because we have learned it and we acquired our talent to do so because we go back for more achievements.

Sincerely,

Capt. J. Dangle

I’m going to start out with saying that I really enjoyed Nakaura and this book. So, the optics of race or more importantly gender roles and racial theory’s were best describe, in my opinion, in Nakamuras Ipod example.


From what we talked about in class and in the fish bowl I gained a general senses that most people think of the colors of an IPod as just colors. What Nakumaru was trying to get across, was that Apple has thrown the most obioves race filled marketing plan and have capitalized. In the reading Eric Sross , a technology journalist, gives credit to apple by saying Apples mastery of the “metaphysical mystery of cool” with its success as “the company that best knows how to meld hardware and software, the company embodied in the ecstatically happy hipster silhouette. The company that is, in a word, cool.” In my opinion it seems that Apple has always been a company who care about their appearance. By this I mean their products. They stand out because they are white but when there black they become cool. How did we draw this distinction of thought, that being, white is neutral and black is edge? Well over time our community as formed our opinions for us. What Apple does is very unique and specific by introducing the black man in a different light. Not so much the black, edge, leather wearing guy but the normal dancing iPod enthusiast. Nakamura mentions “Their strategy for creating “cool” brand identity by promoting an Afro-futuristic visual culture in the ads serves to separate blackness from other identities …” It’s changing our perceptions of what we are used to.


When people do achieves this “coolness” people often capitalize on them. The 2005 “iPod Ghraib” art installation by Trent Kelly critiqued our visual culture and political economy that Apple is flourishing in. In these pieces Kelly was making a statement that something that my look seemingly clear from a distance, when viewed closer, breaks apart into something else. The way in which the paintings are portrayed from a distance look fun, fresh and iPod but inside that is the horrible realism of war crimes. We see this alot with the coined term “Brandalsim” and gorilla artist.

See kellys sight is amazing!

CAPT. Jimmy Dangle