Reflection

Well there you go guys... this essay has been the final straw of our journey through new communication technologies. I must admit when I first saw the outline of this subjects criteria... I had no idea what a blog even was and it wasn't until week three when I transferred from another subject I didn't enjoy that I was welcomed into the unknown world of blogging!

This has probably been my most enjoyable subject within my first semester at university and I will try to thrown in my new knowledge randomly within conversations with friends. So it has been a fun journey and I’m sure I will miss the weekly exercises and not having to hand in printed copies of my assignments, which I could get use to.

Wish me luck for our exam this Wednesday!!!!......

BYE… thanks for reading :)

Are games a waste of time?

Computer games, the internet, and other new communications media are often seen to pose threats and dangers to young people; but they can also be seen to provide new opportunities for creativity and self-determination (Buckingham, 2006). This is in a new digital generation where technology is increasing at a rapid ascent and its purposes and functions of each invention are questioned in terms of its usefulness to our society. So this poses the question whether or not video games in particular are a waste of time. Throughout this essay it will continue to explore this through the study and history of the video game, the negative effects that games may bring (e.g. violence) and the positive aspects of this new technology (e.g. educational potentials).

The academic study of video games is a relatively new discipline. Although the technical aspects of video games have been studied for years, theories that examine games as an artistic medium are a relatively recent development. This can be distinguished between the fields of Narratology and Ludology. Narratology is the study of video games from the perspective of them being stories or literacy word, in contrast to Ludology, which is not concerned with the story elements of games but rather with the Game Play elements (Frasca, 1999, ¶ 27). However, there is more to video games than just the story and the game play. It can be viewed in a technical sense, as coming to us in the same era as computers... hence the often confused term 'computer games'. The video game is defined as a game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device (Video Games, 2008, ¶ 1). So to clear that confusion up it is simplest to understand Video games as being the larger genre, of which computer games, console games and so on, are smaller sub-genres. Thus we can trace a history of video games according to their hardware platform, from arcade machines to consoles and home computers.

The development of the video game was a gradual process which took over twenty years to arrive into our living rooms. The first graphical game invented was a version of Tic-Tac-Toe in 1952 but it wasn’t until 1972 when the first video game console was invented and could be played at home (Bellis, 2008, ¶ 1, 4). Over the past thirty years, it has become an integral part of our culture, and the video game industry has become a multi-billion dollar behemoth (History of Gaming, 2008, ¶ 1). It is viewed as a new form of cultural practise in the same way it is thought of as old media like newspapers, radio, television and film. Like related form of media, computer and video games has been the subject of frequent controversy and censorship, due to the depiction of graphic violence, sexual themes and the consumption of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Violent video games are popular with the male and female adolescent age group which it has been accused of causing addiction and even violent behaviour (Anderson, 2007). But they are only games, right? Games seem innocent enough when they're sitting on the store shelf, but what are we really bringing into our lives? (Reality Bytes, 2008, ¶ 1) Video games can be connected to numerous problems for youths today: obesity, lack of social skills, and decline in schoolwork productivity, and aggressiveness (McBeath, 2006). It is believed that children who are playing violent video games are being desensitized to this at a young age. However, by moving beyond the medium approach, video games are exactly what their name suggests: Just Games. They draw a history through the ages to all forms of abstract games; for example backgammon and chess. It is largely through the media’s perspective on violent games as being linked with aggression in children on how it is perceived (The Positive Effects of Games, 2005, ¶ 7). Although studies on violent video games have found negative correlations with academic performance, a positive association with other types of games has also been found. For Example the armyhas even utilized video games, ‘The American Army’, as a recruitment tool (Galloway, 2004, ¶ 2). Nevertheless not all video games are violent and negative; there are many educational based games.

Violent games are usually analyzed for their possible negative effects, and educational games are promoted as the provider of more positive effects, conversely both types of games can provide positive effects to players. There are many skills that can be learned by playing them. Some such skills include improved problem-solving abilities, perseverance, memory, cognitive ability, and academic performance and learning (Kiefaber, 1998, ¶ 10). Such educational computer games are also becoming more prevalent and popular in primary and secondary schools today as teaching tools for youths, as it allows an interactive nature through high levels of entertainment. Additionally, developers are beginning to change the view of traditional video games by creating popular games that require the player to be active – Wii Fit – or focus on using brain power – Brain Age 2.

In an educational context, the potential of games to support learning is the most recognisable educational technology produced to date. Digital game-based learning implies that developing educational games is a moral imperative, as kids of the "videogame generation" do not respond to traditional instruction (Squire, 2002, ¶ 2). It is further argued by Lloyd Rieber (1996, ¶ 14) that digital games engage players in productive play that learning occurs through manipulating simulations, and game play. Whereas older educational games have relied heavily on basic exterior game plans where learning is inserted into a generic gaming template, like hangman, where the academic content is effortlessly incorporated with gaming mechanics (Squire, 2002, ¶ 2). So the question still remains; are games a waste of time?

The answer is clearly no. The impact of video games in today's society has forever changed our customs and the way our generation live and play. it has become an integral part of our culture and its impact can be seen in politics, television and popular music. they are not a waste of time, but simply a means to our future educational systems in a new generation of new communication technologies.

Bibliography

Book References

Anderson, C.A., Buckley, K.E. & Gentile, D.A. (2007) Violent Video Game Efects on Children and Adolescents; Theory, Research, and Public Policy. New York: Oxford University Press

Buckingham, D. & Willett, R. (2006) Digital Generations; Children, Young People, and New Media. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers


Website References

Bellis, M (2008) Computer and Video Game History; Early arcade machines, the history of home consoles, and the history of the video game. Retrived May 26, 2008, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm.

Frasca, G. (1999) Ludology meets Narratology; Similituse and differences between (video)games and narrative. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.ludology.org/articles/ludology.htm.

History of Gaming (2008). The video game revolution. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/index.html

Galloway, A. (2004). Social Realism in Gaming. Retrieved May 24 2008, from
http://www.gamestudies.org/0401/galloway/

Kiefaber, M. (1998) Video Games. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from
http://www.units.muohio.edu/psybersite/cyberspace/onlinegames/video.shtml

McBeath, A. (2006) The Negative Effects of Video Games. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from
http://www.thelafayettetimes.com/2006/10/27/am-videogames.htm

Reality Bytes (2008). The video game revolution. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

Rieber, L. P. (1996). Seriously considering play: Designing interactive learning environments based on the blending of microworlds, simulations, and games. Retrieved May 24 2008, from http://it.coe.uga.edu/~lrieber/play.html

Squire, K. (2002) Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Games. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from http://www.gamestudies.org/0102/squire/

The Positive Effects of Games (2005) Only a Game. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from
http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/07/the_positive_ef.html

Video Games (2008) Compact Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved May 21 2008, from
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/videogame?view=uk


Secondary Sources

Aarseth, E.J. (1997) Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. London: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Bolter, J. D & Grusin, R. (1999) Remediation; Understanding New Media. London: The MIT Press

Slevin, K (2000) The Internet and Society. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

Lecture Notes

This week we explored an overview of software and how it works.... yes i had know idea what they were talking about initially and am freaking out even more about our end of semester exam. It was discussed the difference free and open sources with the benefits and problems that occur through examples such as GNU/Linux and Source forge..... What the... even just mentioning those words my head spins out. I only use my computer for the internet and Microsoft office for assignments and the underlining technicality of it just sends my mind to wonder.

So… for the sake of my results I think I might go and try and study now.

Record Industry Suicide Reading

This weeks reading was an eye opener to me as I regularly burn CD’s, DVD’s and catch up on Hollywood gossip online instead of buying albums, movies and magazines. I probably see this as a normal occurrence among our society but have never really thought of it as stealing. It was associated to the technology existing to hotwire a car and not making it okay either. It is kind of funny because I don’t think I have actually bought a CD album or single since primary school and I didn’t even have many then. I think it is just the generation in which we live in, some many calling it the ‘iPod generation’, that it is culturally acceptable to steal music without feeling morally wrong.


But I say why pay for something when you can get it for free…


Reading for week 11: http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html

Comprehensive Essay Outline

My topic is in relation to the issue raised in week six lecture regarding video games as a new academic study and cultural practice. But it was questioned whether video games are in fact a waste of time. So from this I have decided to use this question as a basis for my essay which will endeavor to illustrate... are games a waste of time?

As we are in a digital generation of booming technology I will be discussing the negative and positive sides of in particular to video games. This can be shown through the study and history of the video game, the aggressive effects that can be portrayed through violent video games that are available to teenagers and through the positive aspects for educational purposes. I can also touch on the academic study of video games through the fields of Narratology and Ludology which we have learnt within a lecture.

But, arguably, there is more to video games than just stated within this brief outline… however you will just have to wait until I elaborate this further in my essay which will be published on Friday the 30th of May at 5pm.

So keep updated. :)

These are a few references I have discovered so far for my minimum five academic articles and website links that are required for my completed comprehensive essay. However I am finding it easier to find internet references in comparison to books as they are more readily available.

Academic Book References:

--> Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents, by C. A. Anderson, D. A. Gentile and K. E. Buckley

--> Digital Generations: Children, Young People, and New Media, by D. Buckingham and R. Willett

--> The Internet and Society, by J. Slevin

--> Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution: Trigger Happy, by S. Poole

--> The Language of New Media, by L. Manovich

Web References:

--> http://www.gamestudies.org/0701

--> http://www.ludology.org

--> http://terranova.blogs.com/

--> http://www.media-culture.org.au/

Feedback regarding my essay topic would be appreciated…

Using Microsoft Office

I just have to admit that the Microsoft Office applications are a HUGE assistance. In comparison with Microsoft word and other applications on the computers, for example notepad, it is so much more time efficient and easy. Microsoft Word has the spell check, thesaurus, dictionary, word count and more, while Microsoft Excel can produce graphs quickly and professionally as well.

This week’s exercise was to construct several activities on each application and see how it was useful. Well I can agree I didn’t know how to mail merge letters on Word and how to use Macros on Excel, however the reality is these extra feature are irrelevance and not useful for career. Yes, the software itself, is extremely useful to me in terms of typing reports and assignments just not the additional features we where required to investigate.

I did have some problems completing them as I was a little confused and couldn’t relate as I will probably never use a Marco again. It tasks weren’t difficult but I just found it tricky continuously cross check the instructions from the internet with what I was doing on the excel spreadsheet. Overall I have been using Microsoft office applications for years and will continue to do so.

Notes

Did you know there is a difference between the internet and web??? This is an interesting phenomenon as I have always thought it was the same thing and has the same meaning. Well I have learnt to think of the internet as a collection of computers because every website on the internet is just a collection of files... For example html, a document, images, sounds, etc. Thought this information might be useful for the further understanding of the computer for all those clueless people out there like me. This was presented in week six lecture.

Evaluating Wikipedia

Today we will continue to challenge the reliability of the renowned source identified as Wikipedia. To achieve this I will be researching two Wikipedia articles about unrelated topics, which I am familiar with, and analyse its accuracy to the information provided. The following articles I have decided to investigate are my favourite musical artist, Gwen Stefani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Stefani), and my favourite television show, Will and Grace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_and_grace).

After reading the two articles I found them to be quite accurate and descriptive. It may be that these article topics which I choose to look up where not extreme contents that have particular different views and are straight forward facts, but I found the sources to be quite informative and analytical correct. The articles showed chronological order of events and covered all the basic facts that you’d require to understand who ‘Gwen Stefani’ was and what ‘Will and Grace' is about.

In regard to the guidelines Wikipedia has placed, once again the articles were portrayed according to the recommended procedures and it constructed by the grouping technique and is built in a professional manner. In particular, I noticed how the article was up to date with Gwen’s current pregnancy of her second child showing that the piece had been update regularly to include present information. The information was organised in a fair and balanced manner and did not create a sense of bias side to a particular argument. The only wrong things I could find in the articles were some unsuitable and irrelevant information provided and the presentation of the information to be overloading. The writing quality of each subsection of the articles in grammatical and structural qualities is terrible. In most paragraphs, they lack any cohesion and trail off with facts without conclusion. Entire sections are composed of orphan sentences, and style and clarity is ignored.

If I had to make any changes to the article it would be to present it in an essay style cohesive flow between with subsection grouping of information e.g. from music career, non-musical projects, personal life and public image. Apart from the fact that I love Wikipedia as a resource and do agree it can contain unreliable data in some instances; however in this investigation on my chosen topics I found it to be accurate. In conjunction to the production of unreliable date it is cited directly from the Wikipedia research page: "It is in the nature of an ever-changing work like Wikipedia that, while some articles are of the highest quality of scholarship, others are admittedly complete rubbish".

From this course, I have now learnt to not trust everything I read on the internet, not just Wikipedia, and tend to question ALL my web resources.

“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

Brace yourself as this paper is a difficult one to gasp your head around. Who ever said the previous tutorials for New Communication Technology were too easy is going to be the persecuted… Just joking. But seriously.


Walter Benjamin’s paper titled “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” contains many influential ideas that has shaped cultural and media theories for years. It was produced in the effort to describe a theory of art that would be useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art. This can be applied to today’s contemporary digital media which compose of mass media like posters, magazines with photography, radio and cinema. Benjamin referred to this aspect of mechanical reproduction as liberating. He argued that techniques of reproduction utilized in photography and film have a liberating potential because of their ‘destructive, cathartic… liquidation of the traditional value of the cultural heritage permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in his own particular situation.’ This refers to the current portrayal of contemporary digital media and ridicules the progressing revolutionize of art. Art has changed from a time when it was only produced by artists who were skilled professionals in their class. It is now subdivided between anyone that owns a computer and can create things digitally through music, images and video. In an age of digital manipulation it comes as no surprise that we question the authenticity of these of art. Benjamin considers the idea of an artwork having an ‘aura’. He used the word ‘aura’ to refer to the sense of awe and reverence one presumably experienced in the presence of unique works of art. Through this term, he uses it to describe a sense of profound appreciation for something that can only be triggered by a true and original piece of art and that anything reproduced or altered mechanically loses this sense of authenticity and therefore holds no true ‘aura’. For example a photo; it loses all artistic value because it is merely an image reproduced by a machine and loses the requirement of skill from the artist and is basically just a creation of technology rather than human talent. So therefore from a photographic negative that can make any number of prints, it makes so sense to ask for the ‘authentic’ print.

Digital photographic reproduction is a different case. To digitize something is essentially to de-materialise it, to reduce it to an entirely quantifiable binary string. The art is quantified and can be reproduced or viewed. This has the same kind of revolutionary impact on art that photography has. Another implication, in digital technology, is that it is essentially open to exposure in the sense that anyone can possibly alter it and redistribute it. The idea of ownership has modernized, and Benjamin’s idea of ‘authenticity’ is once again annihilated completely. So does digital art have an ‘aura’? According to Benjamin, this aura inheres no in the object itself but rather in external attributes such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. ‘Aura’ is therefore a suggestion of art’s traditional association with primitive and feudal structures of power. Consequently, with the arrival of mechanical reproduction the experience of art is freed from place structure and instead brought under the control of a mass audience, leading to a shattering of the ‘aura’.

"For the first time in world history," Benjamin wrote, "mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual." Benjamin argued that the withering of the aura was a more complicated historical development, an ambiguous force that also had the potential for democratizing both access to cultural objects and a critical attitude toward them. "Instead of being based on ritual, [art] begins to be based on another practice - politics."

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Searching on the Internet

Nearly all search engines on the internet are susceptible of providing false and misleading information. However, as I searched through other search engines other than Google and Wikipedia, I couldn’t help questioning the reliability of the source. It’s strange as I have come to trust and rely on Google for everything else and I felt like I was in an unknown country. I actually ended up cross-checking my answers in the scavenger hunt below with other sources from Google because I felt the ranking of the information on ‘AltaVista’ a little peculiar.

The search engines rank the information found on the internet by relevance to the words and concept in the query. It can also be distinguished through its overall link popularity and its advertisers and sponsor are also given higher priority in the rank. This is why the first page is usually more useful than the rest. As a potentially large number of pages can be retrieved by a search, good relevancy ranking is important. Most search engines use various criteria to construct a relevancy rating of each hit and will present your search results in this order. For example, the ranking will be based on; the presence of the search terms in the title, URL, first heading, number of times the search term appears in the document, search terms appearing early in the document, etc.

Although we are recommended to explore and use other search engines other than Google, I would have to agree it is my favourite search engine. Google is a top search engine for a reason. The millions of people who use it each day are proof of its greater advantages over other smaller and obscure web sites like ‘AltaVista’. It is the easiest and most efficient way to look up information, therefore stating why it is actually by home page on my personal computer.

I am Pro-Google! :)

Scavenger Hunt

Just a few questions that will spark your curiosity!

1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student from the Philippines, admitting writing the password-stealing program known as ‘lovebug’ as a school project.
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html

2. Who invented the paper clip?
Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor with a degree in electronics, science and mathematics, invented the paperclip in 1899.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The virus was named after the Ebola River in Zaire, where in 1976 the virus spread to more than 55 villages located along the river's edge after an initial outbreak in the city of Yambuku.
http://www.mayaparadise.com/ebola.htm

4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
In 1960, Chile suffered the world's largest recorded earthquake which resulted in thousands of deaths.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7311945.stm

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
The terms kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and terabyte refer to a collection of bytes stored in a computer. There are 1024 bytes in kilobyte, 1024 kilobytes in a megabyte, 1024 megabytes in a gigabyte and 1024 gigabytes in a terabyte. So therefore 1024 x 1024 x1024 equals 1,073,741,824.
http://www.sonoma.edu/users/c/carusor/web219/hardware_terms.htm

6. Who is the creator of email?
Computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson invented internet based email in late 1971. It was sent between two computers that were actually sitting besides each other.
http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm

7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
The Storm worm is a Trojan horse that opens a backdoor in the computer which then allows it to be remotely controlled, while also installing a root kit that hides the malicious program. The compromised computer becomes a zombie in a botnet. This particular worm also has the ability to update itself, so that updated infections can be fed into the compromised computer.
http://kb.iu.edu/data/avmm.html

Most experts say there's no way to know how many recipients of Storm spam clicked through and became infected, and therefore the actual size of the Storm botnet is unknown. (However antivirus company F-Secure believes the botnet is at least 1 million PCs strong). http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1243287731;fp;2;fpid;2

8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
Mailing is the most efficient way to made contact with the Prime Minister. The old fashioned way of mailing a letter is adviced incomparison to emailing as it is not a recommended secure medium to transfer information. A postal address is provided:

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
Stephen Stockwell played keyboard for Brisbane punk band, the Black Assassins, which wrote many satirical articles for the Cane Toad Times and had his documentary Big Things shown at festivals in Berlin, London and New York.
http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Web_2_point_0.html

Communicating with family and friends

New Communication Technologies are forever increasing and advancing in numbers. Starting from when I was in grade seven the program msn (instant messenger) became extremely popular within friends at school. Feeling as if I was being isolated and left out from gossip by not using this new means of communication outside school I signed on and gave it a try. I suppose it was societal pressure and influence that initially contributed to my urge to use it when I think about it, but it started a means to talk to friends outside school and my sister who was living overseas in Edinburgh for FREE. How cool. As time went by and technology advanced I discovered the world of MySpace and Face book. However I must admit I was hesitant to use it at first as I didn’t want to conform to crowd just because everyone was using it. How silly was I though. I can now confirm I am addicted. It is a wonderful way to catch up with old friends and exchange photos without much effort at all. This on the contrary raises issues of privacy as strangers could view my photos and details to my ignorance which I quickly added security precautions after random people were trying to add me. Also how could I forget my mobile phone? The one thing that I carry around almost everywhere I go. It is my means of instant connection to family and friends regardless of where I am and I can honestly say I feel lost without it. This brings me to think. How did our parents live before the internet and mobile phones? It amazes me sometimes.

Introduction

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging. My name is Lauren Madsen and i will be guiding you through the course of New Communication Technologies this semester. After graduating in 2006 i decided to take a year off to work and figure out what i wanted to study and eventually make a living out of. So here i am enrolled in my first year of a Bachelor of Communication at Griffith University, majoring in Marketing and Communication Media. You might ask what i can get out of this degree. Well i have decided i would like to work for a fashion magazine company preferably down in sydney. However, you should keep up to date with me on this page as you never know i might change my mind. :) Stay in tune for more to come.