Monday, December 10, 2012

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. 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

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]

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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

Saturday, November 10, 2012

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. 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

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.

Monday, November 5, 2012

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.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

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!!!