[More]

Why Heather Can Write

Media Literacy and Harry Potter

Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins

           Professor James Paul Gee, asked the question “why people learn more, participate more actively, engage more deeply with popular culture than they do with the contents of their textbooks.”  The answer is the “affinity spaces”.  Students spent more time in discussing, writing the themes of their popular culture through the sharing of information with regard to the character that many of their friends are familiar with.  According to Professor Gee, affinity spaces is important since it offer opportunities for learning sustained by common interest beyond race, age, class, gender and education level.  Through socio-learning environment, participants are encourage to learn from each other and motivated to search for the answer for communal good.  In the case of Harry Potter, this generates participation from young and old alike.  Through the internet, the participation of people of every level regardless of their background constitutes the very essence of affinity spaces.  The fan club of Harry Potter grew in the world of internet and have encourages more younger writer to write their own version of Harry Potter whether or not Harry Potter is a forbidden book to read.  There are other books which also has children themes to it such as the Lord of the Ring, and Narnia.  These are the books that promote reader of every generation and encourages writer of every age. 

           Consequently, students are encourage to read, participate in the development of the stories through their imagination, creativity and developing skills that are essential for them to succeed in their studies. 

[More]

Gamer Theory

by

Mackenzie Wark       

          First, Wark is very creative in putting the response of the project online.  Starting with cave as a premise, and from there it developed into an adventure reading.  “ Ever get the feeling you are playing some vast and useless game to which you don’t know the goal, and can’t remember the rules? Ever get the fierce desire to quit, to resign, to forfeit, only to discover there’s no umpire, no referee, no regulator, to whom to announce your capitulation? Ever get the vague dread that while you have no choice but to play the game, you can’t win it, can’t even know the score, or who keeps it? Ever suspect that you don’t even know who your real opponent might be? Ever get mad over the obvious fact that the dice are loaded, the deck stacked, the table rigged, and the fix – in? Welcome to gamespace. It’s everywhere, this atopian arena, this speculation sport. No pain no gain. No guts no glory. Give it your best shot. There’s no second place. Winner takes all.”           

         This not only happened in the gamespace.  In life the gamespace is our work, our studies, our friends, our neighbor, our family, our relative, our etc.  At times it seemed that we are losing it all, only to find ourselves in the conundrum of day to day life demand.    It is like the movie “Ground Hog Day” by Bill Murray.  Does life has to be exciting or digitized?  In the gamespace it is the endless realm.  We have to find something to validate us as a contributing member of society.  Wark is reminding us how have the digitized world become part of our life.  However, it is void world rather than faith-filled world.  We constantly walk into life only to go through what is obvious, get up in the morning, goes to work, do the work, come back, and do the same thing over again.  Until you realized that, the year has gone by swiftly unnoticed.  The season changed, the flower blossom, the tree grows and changes as the season changed. 

[More]

How We Become Postdigital

From CyberStudies to Game Studies

 

Aspen Aarseth

 

          

 

           It is interesting to mention that game studies should be implemented in the academic field.  In math there is the specific course called Game Theory.  In How we Become Postdigital, Aarseth mention how we should categorize the studies of game into the academic field.  DigiPen Institute of Technology is the first school that offers the video game programming school which offers the 2D and 3D computer programming class.  The school offer Associate of Art in Real-time interactive Simulation Program and Bachelor of Art in Real-Time Interactive Simulation.  This is indeed unique school with specific focus of preparing students for the specific field. 

          

The application of computer game and its usage is broad.  Now a day, a surgery is done by the computer/robot.  For the surgeon who are familiar with the computer game it will be helpful in performing surgery on the patient.  Another word, technology assisted surgery is less invasive and cost effective.  Patient recover faster and therefore improving a quality of life overall.  When the author mentions the only things where game research is not applicable is in dentistry one of the attendee of the conference objected.   

           Game research is important in all aspect of life, it creates jobs, and improve quality of life. 

[More]

Posted earlier, reposting

[More]

Computing Machinery and Intelligence

 In Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Turing mentioned how or is it possible to have thinking machines?  He argued from a point of view of suppose there are three separate individual: man or women, and the third being a moderator in order to guess who are the other two individual men or women?  The function of the moderator is actually the thinking machines.  The Imitation Game is what he would call such process. 
 
He proposed a machine which is called Digital computer which would follow the human computer which followed the fixed rules.  The process that Turing mentioned in his paper can be seen now a day, in messaging.  It was not possible during this period however it is Turing’s thoughts and ideas that brought forth this possibility. 

He also presented view that is contrary to these ideas.  There are 6 views which he mentioned.  Theological objection, Heads in the Sand, Mathematical Objection, Argument from consciousness, Argument from Various Disabilities, and Lady Lovelace’s Objection.  In “Argument from Consciousness” Professor Jefferson expressed in Lister Oration not unless a machine can write a sonnet can we equate a machine with brain.  This brought forth many interesting questions.  A machine can only do what is being input.  To program a machine to think, do, and feel like human we will never have such machine.  The closest is robot being program to do specific tasks.  But those are discrete task not a continuous task as would human can.  A robot can be program to do multiple tasks but not the entire task human can.  I thought this was interesting and indeed such a machine is yet to be seen in reality.  Even if there is such machine (artificial intelligence) it does not contain soul which define human.  Nevertheless, it is useful to have such machine to enhance human life and to make our life a bit more convenience.

 

[More]

Submitted earlier.  Reposting.

[More]

Remediation

Bolter and Grusin impressed upon readers that remediation is a process of technology evolving around current technology that it improve itself as time progress along.
Film, television, photography and still image all morph into what we see today on the net the hypermediacy.  The split screen on the television for example is projection of image that first introduced through the internet, which now become  familiarize in the television medium.  The evolution or each of the medium upon one another creates hypermedia in a fascinating way that image becomes alive on the internet.  Now, people can decide to make the picture or fix the part into perfect picture.  Canvassing anything needs to be fix so it will look not only real but perfect.  Mechanical production of images on the internet is becoming an instantaneous process.  That people take granted for now a day. Of course, this should be taken in the proper direction because a picture worth a thousand words picture may give a wrong message or interpreted in the wrong way.   Images produce on the internet could send a message in a negative or positive direction.  Therefore, as media remediate upon itself we hope more positive outcome will out weigh the negative ones.

[More]

There seems to be parallel in Two Selection by M. McLuhan and Computer Lib by Theodore Nelson.  Both consider computer as media form. For McLuhan, media overwhelm the importance of content, where Nelson resound what McLuhan’s idea of media by redesigning the media.  Nelson’s compare the media we lived in with that fish living in the water.

In Nelson’s Dream machine he presented his observation how the computer professionals has at most part kept the sacred know how to themselves where the public is kept at bay.
Since I don’t know how it was really in those days about the evolution of computer, by reading his writing I sensed that during those days it must be pretty confusing for general public to learn about computer.  Then, the view on how computer should be taught in schools.  I agree that students should be allowed to discover the learning on their own.  There is nothing wrong with that at all.  However, there are a couple of points that I think is missing from that, one is the rudimentary is just as important as creativity.  Once the rudimentary is clear then the exploration can take place this occur in any discipline.  Another factor is time.  If we don’t have to be concern about sequence of learning, then each students will discover on his or her own about certain concept about computer.  Then it will take different amount of time for students with varying aptitude and curiosity to learn.  Suppose some student manage to learn 4 items in the semester, and other learn one item for the entire semester, would this be considered learning?  Does it matter the amount of material learn per each individual students by the specific time?  If each student does not need to be concern about time then the definition of learning would be- care-free and creative.  Nothing is wrong with that either.  Since we are driven by time everyday we live our live, it is not feasible I don’t think to do it without some sort of sequence. Nelson is a visionary no doubt. 

 

[More]

In Hypertext and Critical Theory, George Landau explains that hypertext is cluster of words that linked to other words or images in infinity. Then, what define reading?  Before the proliferation of internet, people are accustomed to reading books by having that book physically present either holding the book or place it on the book stand.
With the advances in technology, reading now becomes an exercise of click of a mouse. 
 Since reading through the hypertext the reader will be reading from one point to the next without finishing reading the previous part which is what he refers to de-centering and multivocality when one consciousness is absorbed into another. 
Of course, reading now a day mean turning on the computer and being less convenient. 
 At the same token, there are vast amount of information that one can read through this hypertext which make it interesting and invaluable. There are gives and take with the evolution of technology.  The Digital generation will be more comfortable and attune to such a way of reading.  Nevertheless,  paper bag book are not going away I don’t think because of its convenience and many are still reading through such a mode. 

[More]