Reflective Blog Post

I decided to go with a list. It seems more organized and easier to read and write about instead of writing continuously. 

Self-directed learning/personal blog posts:

In regards to the self-direction learning, I like learning about variety of different things that pique my interest. One that I found fascinated by was how nothing is what it appears to be. Other words, Identity. Eventually I learned that identity is not what you think it is. It can be analyzed in different ways. The first one I explored was cyber-bullying. Even though the article I read was in Korean, It was fascinating to learn how people create fake names and accounts and write mean things on other people's walls or treat them in a mean manner. I was appalled to learn how many people were overcome with depression because of cyber-bullying. The next thing I learned about was people finding their identity through the internet. Many people in the world do not know who they are, and they eventually learn about themselves as they do a digital soul searching, which can also be applied to gaming as well. The following thing I learned about identity was being able to identity people's gender without revealing it. It is a fascinating article to read about.  Click here to find the blog that shows documents and articles/videos. One of the post that i made was about the google car that drives by itself. Because of this class I have become more aware of what is out there. Not only did I learn about the google car, but also found some great videos on human creativity. I am amazed how creative people can get when they set their minds to it. It has been a great learning experience. 

Collaboration:

The contribution that i made towards my group was creating an awesome level in little big planet. Created three part level explaining the purpose of the levels. This link shows a video of the level that i made on youtube. With other groups, I collaborated with the Menagerie group. I gave the menagerie a photo that I took during my mission. It captures a part of California that is on many post cards. My contribution to class was the many posts and blogs and comments that were made on fellow student's blogs and post. 

Other's Assitance:

Allie and Greg has helped me with fixing the level. The feedback they were able to provide was helpful in fixing many of the bugs that i did not know about. My group members also were able to provide good feedback. There is also a blog that Greg posted about why people are rude on the internet. there had been many posts that i read that contributed to my inspiration in online identity.

Digital Literacy:

I never thought about digital literacy prior to this class. Since then i have learned much about what type of resources I could find when on the internet and the benefits that come with it. An example of one of the resources that I learned about in class is mint.com. I found the website to be helpful in learning how to manage my finances better. How it relates to the Another is the uses of Prezi's. Prior to the class I learned how to use it better by learning how other students used the program. Many of their slide shows that they posted on google+ has taught me how easy it is to connect with other students in creating presentations or trying to teach the public. The class has really opened my eyes in regards to the digital world. It is important to understand the basics and then to build upon it. Similar to the various programs and sites that I learned about. After which, connecting with other people. For example we watched a video of a digital choir. It was amazing to see various people first learn what they are supposed to do, then they created their accounts, and also created their own files and connected to the net with several other different users, and they were able to create a masterpiece. Similar to music sites, how they were able to connect to the web and other people are able to assist you with your works of art. It is amazing to see the potential that the internet has for us, and it will continue to grow. Everything already is being digitalized and will continue to create a better world. 

Individual Questions

1.) What is the Definition of cybernetics?
[Link to Wikipedia Cybernetics]
[Link to  Good reads Cybernetics]

• The scientific study of control and communication
• The scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine
• The scientific study of machine and communication
• The scientific study of the communication in the animal

2.) The ______________________ was used to determine who the imposters when interacting on the internet.
[Link to Blog]

3.) The purpose of mint.com is to:
[Link to Mint.com]

• Manage and organize and categorize your spending
• Keep you updated on anything that occurs in your financial account
• Helps you to budget your account
• All the above

4.) Online gaming is addicting due to the goals and accomplishments that they are able to attain in the game. By using these accomplishments, people are able to justify their actions in their addictions through online gaming.
[ Link to Blog]

5.) In order to have a voice in today's society, it is important to stay on top of things by using social media to express the opinions that you have.
[Click here for Allie's Link]

Online gaming addiction: Big Bang Theory

During break I was watching Big Bang Theory and saw a fascinating episode where it dealt with online gaming addiction. As I was watching this episode, it brought up interesting ideas on what online gaming does for you. The main idea that was portrayed in this episode is that online gaming is an escape from reality. In other words Penny escapes from her frustrations and immerses herself into a virtual world. It was fascinating to see how TV was able to point that out, and especially at the end of the episode when it shows how Penny was able to get out the addiction.

It was fascinating to see how TV portrays online gaming addiction, especially how Penny sits at home and misses work. Is that the stereotype of online gamers? or does tv capture the picture of gamers correctly?

This is a embed video of content I wanted to show you but I was not able to find it through blogger. This link shows you the main information I wanted to tell you about: http://youtu.be/t6W1hWdmKZo

Audio books, awesome

A friend recommended that I use books on tape in order to do reading for class, and I found it amazing. I typically thought that it was used for driving purposes.... I never thought much about it till this friend. I am able to get more things done than ever before. Currently I am "reading" for class and working on assignments for this class. It's amazing to see how technology can make us more productive than before. 

How do you feel about audio books? 

At the same time I feel like it takes away from the traditional aspects of reading books. In the modern age, everyone is considered to be busy, but everyone has a little bit of time to read. Is this the only way for people to read? I always wondered about how much technology is able to help us. 

Productivity vs. Technology. 

Link to Article

The more productive we are, the more we are required to work hard. It is interesting to see this correlation between the two. 

I enjoy reading, and I am neither for or against audio books. Some people are either visual learners or audio learners. For me, it is helping me to be more productive by doing two things at once. Instead of listening to music, I think I will try to "read" more books from now on. 

My love of Goodreads

Before this class I saw Goodreads on facebook and signed up for it a while ago, but never used it to keep track of the books I read. Ever since this class, I am completely invested in using the site. It is a great site that helps you to achieve goals. For this year, I committed to read 20 books before the end of the year. It's not a lot, but considering that I do not get much time to read, it's a lot. I am able to find new books that are interesting and fun. One book I found was called. Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar children. When I first saw the book on Goodreads, I admit, I judged the cover. I read through the reviews, and saw that it was interesting and scary (all because of the pictures). Finally I was able to acquire the book through the library and found the book fascinating. This book reminds me of the books I used to read when I was in middle school. It has actual creepy photographs inside. Instead of the author writing the book and having someone illustrate the pictures, it is the complete opposite. He used the pictures and wrote a story based off of it. I feel like this relates to the digital culture. Creating a new way to tell a story, as well as exploring new options by exposing ourselves to a new world of books. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9460487-miss-peregrine-s-home-for-peculiar-children

Along these lines I began to think of new ways to tell stories. Books are great, but some times it feels like people have been telling the same story in different ways, and there needs to be new options in the way of telling story. I feel like there needs to be new creativity that needs to be exposed in this world. I do not know if someone has created this yet, but I have been listening to the news about teachers selling ideas on the internet for other teachers to use in their classroom. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ so why not create a website for authors to sell to other authors on ideas. The more that we share these ideas, the more options there will be and possibly an increase in readership.

Completely addicted to modern technology

Last night I left my cell phone at work. I didn't realize that my cellphone was gone till I needed to set my alarm clock. I was not able to get back to work till later this afternoon. I didn't realize how much I needed my cellphone and my computer. I felt lost just not having my cell phone, and if my computer were to die, I don't know how I would be able to get through everyday. I depend on it so much, and use to write notes, check my emails and keep in contact with people I know from other states.

Once I was able to get my cell phone, I checked my cell phone like 20 times in 10 minutes to see if I missed any messages. On top of the issue of cell phone, I always listen to music to drown out noise and to help me focus. So I would blast on classical or opera to help me stay focused on my school work.

Conclusion to this is that I need to stop relying on technology. I feel like I am imprisoned by these technology and need to step back to see what is important in my life. The gospel teaches us to have balance in our life, but because of this addiction my balance has been thrown off. I feel like I lost a part of myself because of the need to stay connected with everyone. One day when I do not have any papers to work on, I will take a week off from touching technology and just read a book for entertainment.

The coming week

Next week I'm going to have a couple of students from class helping me with the project. I'm excited to have someone helping me out with the dialogue. I'm not sure how it's going to work out, but more help the better. It's been pretty difficult and frustrating working on this. Honestly I have been having major migraines because of the stress I have been having from school, and it will be helpful that my fellow classmates are willing to help out with this. Thanks everyone from Digi class!!!

Building LBP while thinking about Identity

Building these LBP levels has been a lot of fun. I never realized how much time and effort it takes to build games like this, even though this game was meant for this. It took a lot of patience  time and effort that I did not think I was able to do. In the end I was able to make this:

It is not the greatest of video but it is a rough sketch of the idea that I wanted to make. It was great that Dr. Burton and Brandon were able to give some feedback on the level that was posted. It helped me to realize how important it was to get feedback from others on projects that could be great.

While making this game I feel like I am learning a lot about myself. In a way, I am discovering my identity more as I build these games and watch how others interact with the levels that I created. It's amazing to see this.

Or it could all be my "graduation googles". If anyone has seen How I met your mother, it's the episode of the exploding sub. Seasons 6 episode 20.
http://www.aoltv.com/2011/04/12/how-i-met-your-mother-season-6-episode-20-recap/

Exploring Identity in an Online Environment article review

?

I have been looking more into identity and came across an interesting article about a game that was created to explore identity more. The more I read the article I understood it to be something different. It dealt with the idea of identifying males and females in online chat rooms. The abstract reads like this:

Do men and women behave differently online? Can you tell how old someone is, or determine their race or national origin based on how they communicate on the internet? Issues of personal identity affect how we relate to others in everyday life, both online and offline. However, identity in this new medium is still poorly understood by internet users.
The game that they created was called The Turing Game. It was used for research purposes. The way they introduced the research was this:


We have created a game and related resources to help us explore and teach about issues of identity online. In this environment, The Turing Game, a panel of people all pretend to be a member of some cultural group, such as women. Some of the panelists, who are women, are instructed to try to prove that fact to their audience. Others are men, trying to masquerade as women. An audience of diverse gender tries to discover who the imposters are, by asking questions and analysing the panel members' answers. The sample question and answer below is taken from a game where the panelists were claiming to be women:

QUESTION: Describe your last really bad haircut.
PENNY: I had it layered and I got a perm. Since my hair is wavy, it was Annie style.
WENDY: Sophomore year, decided to cut it really short, and I looked like a little boy. My boyfriend was very disturbed.


As stated in the introduction, the audience rates you and determines from your answer if it's a male or female. One audience member said: It's not what you said, it's how you said it'


This game looks like a lot of fun. I would love to play it. This is the official website: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/elc/turing/
but not the game. While looking through this research it was fascinating to see the research that they had done on stereotypes. The example that they used for the stereotype research was to identity which was the male in the group. They had two females and one male. The way they were able to identify the female and male was the stereotype that the females took on. One female chose her boyfriend and acted like he would have acted. Basically he was the typical male. The other female acted like her ideal guy. The male acted like himself. The one that acted like the ideal male, won the game. The other female that liked her boyfriend lost, and the male won.

The fact that the guy didn't win was hilarious. The overall experiment was fascinating to see how people determined what was male. In other words, do we have others determine who we are?
I can see how people could lose their identity through their peers, but various people could find out who they are through positive influence.

Being able to discover your identity through the net could be beneficial but that all depends on the information that is accessed.


Warning: Language
The Turing Game: Exploring Identity in an Online Environment article

Exploring identity through gaming?

Exploring Identity through gaming: True or false?

Everyone has their own opinion about it. Various scholars stated various opinions on whether RPG's are helpful in discovering your identity. When I first read this article I came in thinking that it was actually about video games. Sarah Bowman was actually discussing Role-playing. 

• But reading her article it made me realize that it was relevant towards the gaming industry. There are many RPG games out there that "provide a healthy, useful outlet for creativity, self-expression, communal connection, and the development of important skills over time" (Bowman). She made many arguments about RPG. 

• Bowman's key argument is that RPGs connect to a wide set of concerns and endeavors: They are game-based performance spaces, they foster explorations of identity, and they have relatively untapped potential for applications in education. 
• interaction within RPGs can provide community for players (for example, by building empathy; 
• Bowman concludes the book with a typology of nine different forms of role-playing characters (chapter 7).
•  These types—"the Doppelganger Self," 
• "the Devoid Self," 
• "the Augmented Self," 
• "the Fragmented Self," 
• "the Repressed Self," 
• the Repressed Self is Bowman's attempt to characterize how some RPG players express, as she puts it, their "Inner Child" through game play, allowing the performance of the "youthful, naïve self within each of us" (170).
• "the Idealized Self," 
• "the Oppositional Self," 
• "the Experimental Self," 
• "the Taboo Self"—
• The Taboo Self represents a classification of RPG play as a means to express often taboo behaviors (such as rape, incest, and transgenderism) in the relatively consequence-free environment of a game.

present the reader with a provocative starting point in attempting to characterize the forms of identity that evolve through the play of RPGs... Bowman's Selves, which are presented descriptively and supported by anecdotal evidence, are a potentially useful typology that could begin to capture the various ways by which players of RPGs make meaning of their activities within an RPG game space.

Now when I apply this article to the gaming industry, there are various games that do enable creativity and community. Little Big planet, for instance, enables people to be creative, and also to learn about organization and structure. Example: 

This is a marriage proposal someone made in little big planet.

Little big planet is a good game that enables creativity. There is a blog that I found that someone commented about finding their cultural identity through a game called: Saints Row 2.

Saints Row 2

Game play of Saints Row 2

Customization in Saints Row 2

He stated that he was able to find his identity by creating characters that looked just like him. 

"As I moved onto other games that featured character creation (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout 3 etc.) I began trying to recreate myself in the way that I’ve always wanted to look, resembling the man that has played the biggest role in my life: my father. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to terms with my appearance and my own cultural identity. I feel confident in my ‘British-ness’ even if I know that my physical appearance may never reflect this. But whenever I return to the world of gaming, I’m allowed to look like the man I want. Though that may never be able to extend to the real world, for the time being I’m okay with that."

In Charlie Appleton's case, he was able to find his identity through gaming. In other cases, I can see the cons to gaming and how it causes us to lose a part of our identity. There was a blog I posted about a clip that a friend shared with me. Midterm blog. In the blog it has a clip called Propaganda gaming. It gave me a new perspective on games. From the research that I have done so far, it seems like there is not real definitive answer to if gaming helps or prevents you from discovering your identity. I can see it either being beneficial or torture. 

Personal Experience:
In my experience with Little Big Planet or even with playstation, it was a easy process. First my username for playstation, I like my privacy so I'm not going to write down my sn, I chose it because it was easy to remember. Next a picture for my playstation, I chose a certain picture because I thought it was cute. This is how I am able to express myself.
In Little big planet, I chose certain characters because I thought they were cute and it was appealing. Example, I like wolves, so sometimes I would choose wolf-like characters till I got bored of it and moved on. 
In regards to other games, I don't admit this to many people, but I like playing final fantasy. The reason why is because it has a awesome storyline and character development, and it also has romance. Everything girls like reading in books. It is both appealing towards males and females. I enjoy playing those games because it takes you on adventures that you would never experience. In a way the characters become your avatars. In a way it seems like you lose a part of your identity or you gain a trait from the things you learn from the game. With every story there is a moral, it's up to the readers to decide if they choose to apply it in their lives. 

Exploring identity through gaming, I believe that it is possible to gain an identity. 




Below is a link is a book review of a article that was done on RPG and the blog that was posted

http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/356/229
Article

http://www.gamessavedmylife.com/post/14224185244/cultural-identity-issues-and-gaming

Blog

Progress made in class (midterm reflection)

While taking this class, I have learned much about the digital World. First, I was never interested in using Google plus because not many people used it. Since then I have realized how useful it is. I was an addicted user of Facebook  till i realized how much better Google plus was. Whenever there is a group meeting, it automatically posts it on my calender, also gives me warnings. I truly love using Google Plus.  Second, i was never interested in Blogging. Now taking this class, I have learned how much information is out there. Especially the experiences that people post. It is useful and helpful in improving everyday life.  Due to this class, I have learned how to use these available resources better, and how it can improve our way of living. 

Applying the nonfiction book to digital culture, Cybernetics delves into how technology functions like the human mind. While taking the knowledge that I learned from the book and applying it to the digital culture class, it taught me how intertwined the digital world is and the growth it has done over the years. Allie made a comment earlier about remembering how we would wait hours to get on the internet. Dial-up. It would require the computer, connection to a phone, and the phone connecting to the provider. It used to tie up the phone lines all the time. My father had to get a second phone line due to constant use of the internet. Now we do not have the same issue. A provider is still needed, but instead of using cords, we have wireless access. Everything became user-friendly and is more connected.  The  internet has changed much over the years. It was discussed in class about web 1.0 vs web 2.0. Web 1.0 was a one way traffic. There was no involvement, but web 2.0 allowed information to be passed from one person to the next. Cybernetics talked about various synapses in the computer does that, which allows it to function better. As technology improves, communication over the internet improves and will continuously grow for the better.

The literary work that I read was about avatars. The main character in the story struggled with the identity that society had placed on her. She was the eldest daughter, and was expected to fail. But with the creation of a new identity, she was able to come out of her shell and express herself better. She had become a new person because of the new identity that was given to her.  This relates to how people are on the internet. Some choose to act in a negative way, the most choose to show various talents. They improve themselves as they learn to share these new talents with others. 

Example: Violin Lessons

Many people are posting lessons for the violin, or some are posting up recitals to get more feedback from their peers (Social proof). It helps them to become more confident and improve in their skills as artists and other things that they wish to focus on. 

Self directed:I have been learning a lot about various things that I have been curious about but not had the time to look more into. Example: Little big planet, It looked fun creating the levels, but never had the time to do research on how to do it. Now for this class i get that opportunity. 

Influence:I learned a lot from other students. specifically on topics that interested me the most. I saw a variety of positive and negative posts, which showed that there are pros and cons to the technology that we have access to. Topics that interest me are games, avatars, and remixes. I would like to learn more specifically about avatars and games. It has a strong influence over us, even though we do not believe it does. A friend told me about this clip from you tube. It discusses the idea of propaganda games. 

WARNING: LANGUAGE

Avatars can either be destructive or beneficial. it is fun to learn how others choose to handle this idea of anonymity. 

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones, is a great Young Adult literature. How this relates to digital culture is the major theme that the book holds. The main character Sophie struggles with her life because she was told that the oldest was destined to be a failure in life. So she learned to accept it.

“Sophie was the most studious. She read a great deal, and very soon realized how little chance she had at an interesting future. It was a disappointment to her, but she was still happy enough, looking after her sisters and grooming Martha to seek her fortune when the time came… Lettie was by no means resigned to being the one who, next to Sophie, was bound to be the least sucesssful” (2).

After her acceptance, she becomes her "identity". “…she at last put a gray shawl over her gray dress and went out into the street, Sophie did not feel exited. She felt overwhelmed… the past months of sitting and sewing had turned her into an old woman or a semi-invalid” (13).

Then once Sophie becomes cursed by the witch of the waste, her true character comes out. “It was odd. As a girl, Sophie would have shriveled with embarrassment at the way she was behaving. As an old woman, she did not mind what she did or said. She found that a great relief” (64).  

While contemplating what this text has to do with digital culture, a realization of avatars came into play. Sophie was living a life that was expected of her. She was expected to fail, and she came to accept that life. Once she was placed under a spell, or in digital culture terms, given an avatar. Sophie was able to step outside of her skin and develop her character. She never spoke out or went against what others had to say like Lettie. She had become more outspoken and expressed herself more. Her avatar was what freed her from the conservative life that she was expected to live. This is what freed her. 

Avatars can either free you or enslave you. In Sophie's case it helped her to be a stronger person. There are various examples where Sophie continuously lacked confidence, but at the same time she believed that being an old woman was what freed her from making mistakes in life. Just like an avatar would because of the anonymous nature of avatars. 

Examples of where Sophie felt being the eldest was hopeless: 

“It comes of being the eldest… You just can’t win!” (191).

“but I think it’s being the eldest, really. Look at me! I set out to seek my fortune and I end up exactly where I started, and old as the hills still!” (263)

“Sophie’s too kind herself to see how heartless Howl is!” (279).

“I am an old woman” (280).

“I had several goes at taking it off you when you weren’t looking. But nothing seems to work. I took you to Mrs. Pentstemmon, hoping she could do something, but she evidently couldn’t. I came to the conclusion that you liked being in disguise” (283)

“You always did have a way with you, Sophie. You could stop Martha’s tantrums when I couldn’t do a thing with her. And I always said it was thanks to you that Lettie only got her own way half of the time instead of all the time!” (294)

“This is my fault!... I have a genius for doing things wrong!” (306).

““I’m the eldest!... I’m a failure!” “Gabage!” Howl shouted. “You just never stop to think!”” (314).

“Her hair kept getting in her way. It fell across her face in reddish fair hanks”(325).

“Sophie knew that living happily ever after with Howl would be a good deal more eventful than any story made it sound, though she was determined to try”(328).

Day 1 of LBP development

Little Big Planet:
The progress I have been making with the game has been a long and tough road. At first I have been analyzing the game to see what needs to be created. First was the buildings. We need to have a basic structure, but was having a difficult time due to the dimensions of the game. It is a 3d game that requires you to get to know where the dimensions are at. Following that, I was trying to create a costume for Sackboy Romney. The progress with it has been slim. The style of hair or the clothing was difficult to find. There are going to be three versions of Sackboy Romney. My version will be the college-like hippy version of SackBoy Romney. The next version should contain a Missionary Sackboy Romney. Then the third version will be Politician Sackboy Romney. He will look Suave, that is if I can find the icons for his clothing.

This project will be difficult, but fun in the process. I have been learning much from the clips on youtube on how to create clothing, and also need to find the necessary clothing that will fit the profile of each of our Sackboys. Hopefully the road to our game will workout well.

Popular tv shows go digital

I was watching old Community episodes from Hulu and came across this really funny episode. It is called Digital Estate Planning.

While watching this, it was funny to show how they were able to take a popular tv show and turn it digital. 

Wikipedia's summary: Pierce is summoned to Hawthorne Enterprises to discuss his inheritance with his deceased father's former right-hand man, Gilbert Lawson (Giancarlo Esposito). The study group goes with him for moral support and must all pitch in to play the video game of their life on Pierce's behalf – or risk losing his inheritance. Most of the episode is animated as an 8-bit video game. 

Each of the avatars that the characters created had their limitations, and they had worked together to overcome their disabilities in the game. The main message that the show provided was that it was important for people to create bonds of friendship. Video games can either bring people closer together or separate them, but it depends on the people to choose what they want in life. 

In regards to the Little Big Planet. I have learned a great deal by playing that game for the project. The game allows people all over to interact with one another and to help them achieve success in the game. But there is more to learn from the game. Everything has pros and cons to it, but it all depends on the intentions of the people. 

Below is a game footage of the actual game that was played in the TV series. It is fascinating to see how they made this game more interactive with the episode that they played a couple of months ago when they played the episode. 

Below are some more footages from the episode, this was shared for fun purposes. 

Love the unlimited source of Information

Peter the Wild Boy

I had a major paper due for one of my many English classes. I first thought to write about an experiment that was mentioned in a book called the City of Glass by Paul Auster. But then I realized that the topic was too broad. By doing more and more research regarding the experiment, I came across a topic that was mentioned in the text. It was specific enough to do my paper on it. Peter the Wild Boy. It was fascinating how fast I was able to find information on him and how many news articles that I found. He was a famous person that had no background. He was found abandoned in the woods when he was 12, and still they are finding more and more information on him. 

In 2011, they were able to diagnose him with a genetic disorder called Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome. All from a painting. The very painting that is shown above. The internet has so much information out there that can either be beneficial or can be hazardous. It all comes down to what we choose to do with that information. For me, it has helped me to finish this paper in less than a couple of hours. For others, probably would take them less time to write my paper, but still I was able to get it done. 

I love the internet, it can do so much for you when used correctly. 

Media Fast...

Media fast, what to say about it.
It failed.
I came to the conclusion that I rely too much on media to get through everyday. From friday night to saturday night, I found myself on my computer and listening to music.

The intentions I had of going on this media fast was to focus on doing my homework. But it did not turn out so well. I ended up turning on music to block out the roommates to help me focus on the assignments that I had to do for the week. But eventually it led me to a direction where I ended up surfing the internet in less than an hour of the fast. I could have done better, and I plan to once I don't have many projects and assignments coming up.

The idea of the media fast is great. It was a great conclusion to how much I depend on the media and how I should lay off of it for a while and enjoy the things around me. One of these days I would love to sit in my hammock and pull out a good book to read in the sun. That would be my ideal day to to spend my media free day.