Final Essay

Essay topic 2: The impact video games can have on the health of young people.

Video games have become very popular the last few years and the industry has increased enormously (ESA Entertainment Software Association 2011). The annual growth rate for the entertainment software industry was over 10 % from 2005 to 2009, and over $25 billion were spent on video games in the U.S in 2010 (2011). As much as 97 % of American youths between 12-17 years play some sort of electronic game (Lenhart, Kahne, Middaugh, Macgill, Evans & Vitak 2008). 31 % plays every day (2008). With such a large amount of players, video games naturally have a big impact on their lives. In my essay I will look at different opinions and thoughts surrounding the impact video games can have on the health of young people, in both negative and positive ways. In the end I will compare the two sides and see if games really have an adverse effect based on my research.

The concerns surrounding gaming and health risks started already in the 1980s (Funk 2005). The first concerns were physical problems like arm pain, headache and exhaustion (2005). Researchers like Provenzo (1991) soon connected video games to psychological problems.  There has been most research around violent video games (Barlett, Anderson & Swing 2009). The concept is that the player get rewarded and become successful if they hurt others (2009). If someone plays these kinds of games repeatedly over a long period of time, it may affect the player’s behaviour with increased arousal or aggressive thoughts or feelings (2009). Research done by Flemming and Rickwood (2001) indicated that children got noticeably higher heart rate and arousal after playing violent games, compared to nonviolent games or non-digital games. Carnagey and Anderson (2005) found that the player got more aggressive feelings when he got rewarded for violent acts, compared to when he got punished for hurting others.

Numerous methods have been used to prove that violent games lead to aggressive cognitions. With Anderson (2005, 2008, 2009) as one of the main resources, the research has shown that violent video games can activate more aggressive thoughts, anger and hostile attitudes than nonviolent games. Anderson, Sakamonto, Gentile, Ihori, Shibuya, Yukawa, Naito & Kobayashi (2008 p. 2) found that children who frequently played violent video games showed a more aggressive behaviour later on. The hostile conduct may lead to less prosocial behaviour when the affected player interacts with other children in real life (Barlett, Anderson & Swing 2009). 

Another concern is regarded to the question if video games reinforce gender stereotypes. Brenik, Henning, Killen, O’Connor and Collins (2007) points out that male characters often are presented as masculine and violent with big muscles, while the females looks like sexy sex symbols. Beasley and Standley (2002) did a research that revealed that most of the women in video games wear minimal clothing to show off their disproportionately, thin bodies with big breasts. Only one in four characters are female, and that can give an impression that women are less important, and that males are the dominant sex (2002). There were actually less female characters than there was indeterminate gender, consisting of characters like animals or aliens (2002). The sexualized and disproportionately women may also teach children wrong ideals and perception of the female body (Smith 2006).   

Even though violent video games can lead to negative outcomes, some suggest that playing video games can have positive effects on young people. The player can improve their learning, math, skills and vocabulary regardless of what kind of game they play (Barlett, Anderson & Swing 2009). Most of these types of games are non-violent (2009). Video games have many characteristics that indicate that they can be useful to educational purpose. First of all are they interactive (Ritterfeld and Weber 2006). Children learn better when they are active producers, can make their own decisions and their actions make a difference (2006). Interactivity is also important because you must understand your task and complete it correctly in order to continue (2006). You have to use the information you learn in practice straight away, and it’s therefore easier to remember the information better later on (Gee 2005).

Players often get the opportunity to customize the game to fit their own learning style and pace, and this way the game suits different types of people (Gee 2005). Video games are useful to learn problem solving and logic (Raise Smart Kid n.d.). They are built up so the different problems are related to each other and you always have to have an overview (Gee 2005). Children are motivated when they overcome difficult challenges that are frustrating, but doable (2005). Video games have complex challenges and various levels, and the players get motivated when they see that their effort and problem solving is paying off (2005). Playing games gives you better strategy thinking, spatial abilities and hand-eye coordination learning (Raise Smart Kid n.d.).

76% of all teens in America play video games with others and they often have to cooperate to achieve their goals (Lenhart et al. 2008). The kids learn to work together, listen to others and they can play with other people from all over the world (2008).

Today you have a lot of games that activate the children while they play like Dance Dance Revolution, Sony EyeToy and Nintendo Wii (Maddison, Mhurchu, Jull, Jiang, Prapavessis & Rodgers 2007). These games give the players a good work out, while they are having fun, and playing the game could be a possible new way to increase children’s physical activity (2007).

After analysing my material I have found that the research done on video gaming can be very narrow minded. It is not necessary one thing or the other that is correct, but everything has to be but in perspective. If children only play educational video games, they might only benefit from it. If youths only play violent games they may be negatively affected somehow, but they will also get the positive effects like strategy thinking and problem solving (Barlett, Anderson & Swing 2009). It also depends on how much of a heavy gamer you are.

Even though many players experience aggressive thoughts or feelings while playing violent games, these emotions can go away quite fast after they finish playing. As mentioned earlier video games sales have increased enormously the last five years, but statistics show that violent crime has actually decreased significantly (U.S. Department of Justice 2010). This shows that even though video games have a proved impact on young people, it might not be as noteworthy as many researchers believe. Based on my research my opinion is that the negative and positive effects of video games intertwine and balance each other, and varies from person to person, just like any other leisure activity.      

Reference list:

Anderson, C, Sakamonto, A, Gentile, D, Ihori, N, Shibuya, A, Yukawa, S, Naito, M & Kobayashi, K 2008, ‘Longitudinal Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression in Japan and the United States’, Pediatrics, Vol. 122, No. 5, pp. e1067 - e1072, viewed 11 October 2011, Pediatrics, DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-1425.

Barlett C, Anderson, C & Swing, E 2009, ‘Video Game Effects - Confirmed, Suspected, and Speculative: A Review of the Evidence’, Simulation Gaming, vol. 40, nr. 3, pp. 377 – 403,

viewed 11 October 2011, Sage Publications, DOI: 10.1177/1046878108327539

Beasley, B & Standley, T 2002, ‘Shirts vs. Skins: Clothing as an Indicator of Gender Role Stereotyping in Video Games’, Mass Communication and Society, vol. 5, nr. 3, pp. 279-293, viewed 11 October 2011, Taylor & Francis Online, DOI: 10.1207/S15327825MCS0503_3

Brenik, A, Henning, A, Killen, M, O’Connor, A & Collins, M 2007, ‘Social Evaluations of Stereotypic Images in Video Games: Unfair, Legitimate, or “Just Entertainment”?’, Youth Society, vol. 38, nr. 4, pp. 395-419, viewed 13 October 2011, Sage Publications, DOI: 10.1177/0044118X06295988

Carnagey, N & Anderson, C 2005, ‘The effects of reward and punishment in violent video games on aggressive affect, cognition and behavior’, Psychological Science, vol. 16, no. 11, pp. 882-889, viewed 11 October 2011, Sage Publications, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01632.x

ESA Entertainment Software Association 2011, Industry facts, viewed 13 October 2011, <http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp>

Fleming, M & Rick Wood, D 2001, ‘Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 31, nr. 10, pp. 2047–2071, viewed 13 October 2011, Wiley Online Library, DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb00163.x.

Funk, J 2005, ‘Video Games’, Adolescent Medicine Clinics, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 395-411, viewed 11 October 20011, via ProQuest Database.

Lenhart, A, Kahne, J, Middaugh, E, Macgill, A, Evans, C & Vitak, J 2008, ‘Teens, Video Games, and Civics: Teen’s gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement’, Pew Internet Project, viewed 12 October 2011, <http://www.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7BB0386CE3-8B29-4162-8098-E466FB856794%7D/PEW_DML_REPORT_080916.PDF>.

Maddison, R, Mhurchu, C, Jull, A, Jiang, Y, Prapavessis, H & Rodgers, A 2007, ‘Energy Expended Playing Video Console Games: An Opportunity to Increase Children’s Physical Activity?’, Pediatric Exercise Science, vol. 19, pp. 334-343, viewed 12 October 2011, <http://www.ehpl.uwo.ca/Publication%20PDFs/eGame%20Pediatric%20Exercise%20Science2007.pdf>.

Provenzo, E 1991, Video kids: Making sense of Nintendo, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

Raise Smart Kid n.d., The Good and Bad Effects of Video Games , viewed 11 October 2011, <http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games>

Ritterfeld, U & Weber, R 2006, "Video Games for Entertainment and Education", in P Vorderer & J Bryant (eds), Playing Video Games: Motives, responses, and consequences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London, pp. 399-414.

Smith, S 2006, "Perps, Pimps, and Provocative Clothing: Examining Negative Content Patterns in Video Games", in P Vorderer & J Bryant (eds), Playing Video Games: Motives, responses, and consequences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London, pp. 57-76.

U.S. Department of Justice 2010 – Federal Bureu of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2009, viewed 14 October 2011, <http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/offenses/violent_crime/index.html>.

Essay progress

This article is about how video games promote gender stereotypes. I have never thought about that they do that before, and I found the research very interesting.

Beasley, B, Standley, T 2002, Shirts vs. Skins: Clothing as an Indicator of Gender Role Stereotyping in Video Games, Mass Communication and Society, <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15327825MCS0503_3>

Essay progress

I found this journal article very useful. They have looked at many interesting theories and the reference they have used has given me a lot of new, important resources.

Barlett, C, Anderson, C & Swing, E 2009, Video Game Effects: Confirmed, Suspected, and Speculative : A Review of the Evidence, Simulating Gaming, http://sag.sagepub.com/content/40/3/377.short

Essay progress

I found this site that I found really informative and intereseting, but it's unfortunately not an academic source. I will however find it useful because now I know what I can search for when I look for scolary sources. I really liked that they enlightened me on the positive effects. Way too many sites only focus on the negative outcomes.

The site I found:
http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games

Tutorial task week 9

-This is the e-petition that I signed. I signed it because I love animals, and I don't want them to be hurt, even though they're dingoes.

- I responded to Blitzer's blog: Clinton on economy, GOP candidates on CNN.com. http://situationroom.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/20/blitzers-blog-clinton-on-economy-gop-candidates/?hpt=sr_mid, viewed 20 September 2011.

- Barack Obama is delivering a statement announcing his Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction, in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Source:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/09/19/president-obama-washington-has-live-within-its-means, viewed 20 September 2011.
I chose to reach Barack Obama through his twitter account.

- Clean Feed:
The Australian government wants to make the internet a safer place. They made a promise called Cyber-Safety, known as Clean Feed, that is a national internet filter. They legally mandate Internet Service Providers such as Optus, Telstra and iiNet to implement technical means to filter out certain websites. They will focus on sites containing images of child abuse, and especially child pornography.

I found this in a text file while searching for clean feed australia on google.






- My belief is that you should have as little censorship as possible in a democracy. I've been raised to make up my own opinons and to hear all sides of a story before I make up my mind. Censorship can put a stop to the freedom of speech. In a democracy the public sphere is extremly important, and everyone should be heard without any limits. With that said, I also believe that it's imporant to censor the statements and content that crosses certain lines. I don't think you should hurt someones reputation if you don't have any particulary good reasons for it. You should treat everyone with equal respect and not say anything that defames anyone. The censorship in a democracy should almost be non-existent, so as many as possible can speak and be heard in the public sphere.

- The NBN will reach my place in the second release.

I found these benefits on the NBN site:
Better business solutions
Transforming the way Australians can do business by: • Increasing productivity and reducing the time wasted
waiting for information to be downloaded.
• Providing better workplace flexibility – greater opportunity to work from home with fast, efficient access to information.
• Opening new and distant markets through high-speed interaction with customers.
• Lowering work expenses – instead of work-related travel, broadband offers reliable, real-time alternatives, such as web-conferencing.
• Offering superfast access to market information. From financial markets to agribusiness, the network will allow you to access superfast information to enhance your business performance.
A better education for a brighter future
Helping Australia be a global leader in 21st century educational innovation by:
• Improving the ability of our schools to access information, collaborate and communicate with each other.
• Supporting new learning and teaching practices, such as virtual classrooms, video and audio streaming and high definition video conferencing.
• Preparing students for future education, training and life in an increasingly digital world.
• Providing teachers, parents and schools with rapid access to data.
improved medical technology
Assisting the medical community in a variety of ways by:
• Narrowing the medical gap between urban and rural
Australians and expanding access to care through the use of telemedicine for clinical care programs.
• Improving the quality of care for Australians by linking patients and practitioners to top specialists through real-time internet consultations.
• Bringing more care into the home through remote monitoring.
• Addressing current health shortages through internet- based care that connects doctors to communities where medical resources are in short supply.

Endless entertainment
Allowing you to watch, listen to or play what you want, when you want. Download an album in seconds and a movie in minutes. Spend less time waiting and more time enjoying.
The NBN aims to enable speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second to 90 per cent of Australian premises and up to 12 Megabits per second to the remaining 10 per cent. These speeds are of course dependent on factors such as the retail package you choose from your retail service provider and your chosen hardware and premises connection.
Source:
http://www.nbnco.com.au/our-network/maps.html, viewed 19 September 2011.

Then go to this link to se the benefits:

- Since I'm not from Australia I don't know anything about Australian politics or who's representing which part of an area. I'm from Norway and there we have something called "kommunevalg" where we choose our local representatives that decides everything within a certain area. My area is called Frogn and the local representative is Rita Hirsum Lystad. The federal representative is Jens Stoltenberg, our primeminister. They are both from the same party, but that is just an coincidence.

- I live in Surfers Paradise and the local representative in the Queensland Parliament is John-Paul Langbroek.The last time he spoke in the parliament was Thursday, 8 September 2011.
I figured that out by searching for Langbroek + parliament here:

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/global/search/, viewed 19 September 2011.

- I sent Langbroek an e-mail.

I chose to not say anything about the actual content since I don't know any background information, and can't really say my opinion about anything. But I though I would give him an encouraging mail to make him happy. He seemed like a good politican and I wanted to give him my support.

I found his e-mail here:

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/members/current/list/bio?member=Langbroek+John-Paul

Essay preparation

Essay plan:

I have chosen essay topic nr. 2: Does the extensive use of computer/video games have an adverse impact on the health of young people. What are the most recent papers? Clarify what both sides of the argument claim and only then offer your reasoned opinion based.

I will start the essay with an introduction about how many young people who play video games in today's society, if I can find the right statistics. I will then tell a little about when and why the concerns occured. (100-150 words)
In paragraph two I will present one side of the case, those who believe that it has an negative effect. I will present the different arguments I find most interesting and realistic. (250-350 words)

In the third paragraph I will present the arguments to those who do not think video games are damaging. (250-350 words)

In my conclusion I will compare the two sides, and at last present my opinion based on my research. (150-200 words)

Expanding on the lecture - Week 8

Free software is based on an ideology that everyone can use, share, modify, study and improve software. It’s based on the belief that we should share our knowledge with each other and everyone should be able to contribute. If you use proprietary software you are denied these freedoms, and you will be punished with a fine or jail time if you break the license agreement. You can even be punished if you copy the program to another computer in your own home.

The reason why free software is important to all computer users is that everyone should have the opportunity to live in a free society where we can help each other and contribute to improve the life quality of others. Everyone should have the chance to be able to do what they want with what possess, without being restricted by someone who doesn’t believe in the benefits of collaborates. If the possibility to improve the software is limited to the employers of a corporation, you will miss out of other contributors that may have something better to add. Why should you pay a lot of money for software with rules and limits, when you can freely use software any way you want without paying a fortune? It’s just a basic question about the liberties in life, and that you should be aware of all the available options before you settle down with something just because it’s more famous.

Resources:
Lee, M 2011, What is free software and why is it so important for society?, Free Software Foundation, viewed 16 September 2011, <http://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software>

GNU, The Free Software Definition 2011, viewed 16 September 2011, <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>

Tutorial task week 8 - Audio-visual production

We finally finished our audio-visual production product. We edited it in Imovie, and downloaded a song from jamendo.com that we found on jamendo.com through Creative Commons. The editing went really well, and it turned out exactly as we pictured it would be. The reason why we put the song on was that the chat part on Facebook would be boring to watch without music, and we thought the music gave the movie a nice ending.

We used old-movie-effect on the first scene, and slow motion effect on the last scene. That worked out really well and we thought it improved the film. When we found out that we wanted to add music we searched the music we found on CC, and tried to found a happy song. We had to listed to a few songs, but it didn't take much time before we found the one we used.

We created our own youtube-account, and it was really easy and quick to just upload it on youtube.com. We own the rights to the movie since we produced it all by our selves, but we do not own the rights to the song we used. Since we are not using it for commercial purposes and we achknowlegded the artist of the song in both the video and in the description on youtube, we can not be accused for copyright infringments.

We chose to use the names Romeo and Juliet to let the viewers easily understand that the movie was about two lovers when we didn't have any sound. We don't think that can cause copyright infringements, since we didn't intend to steal the names and to copy the famous story. By obtaining a license from Creative Commons, we are able to “share, reuse and remix their material, legally” (Creative Commons Australia).

NCT - Romeo and Juliet.mov by Nillie, Catherine, Helga is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.

Based on a work at techknowworld.tumblr.com



Here is our final product:


Created by: Nilushi Warusevitane, Cathrine Tallulah Magelie Smith and Helga Woll Lunder.
Music: So Happy- Bert Jerrad. Taken from jamendo.com.

Source:
Creative Commons Australia, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence, viewed on 20 September 2011, <http://creativecommons.org.au/about>

Expanding on the lecture - week 7

In the lecture we talked about how the internet has developed citizen journalism, and how everyone can be a journalist these days. If you are present to an important event you have the possibility to report the information, pictures, sounds, movies you obtain. You can either post this on e.g. your blog, Twitter, Facebook or send it to a real media channel. Because of citizen journalism people hear and see the latest news often while it happens or straight afterwards. Even though this is a positive development, the issue if citizen journalism is the end of traditional journalism has occurred.

Bentley, C H (2011 p. 103) claims that citizen journalism is no more a replacement for professional journalism than teabags are a replacement for water. Both can stand comfortably alone, but when combined they produce something quite wonderful. I could not agree more. I think citizen journalism and traditional journalism help and complete each other, and will not obliterate one another. Citizen journalists are not trying to steal someone’s job, they just want the world to see what they have to say or show about a specific theme, a recent experience or just an ignored issue. The professional journalist on the other hand seeks information about an issue and has heaps of new resources because of citizen journalists. I’ve learned that sharing is caring.

Resource:
Bentley, C H 2011, Citizen journalism: Back to the future, Geopolitics, History and International Relations, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 103-118, viewed on 8 September 2011, via ProQuest Database, http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/887545817.

Tutorial task week 7 - making video

In tutorial week 7 we filmed all our scenes for our movie. We made up our own story and shot the scenes ourselves so we would not have any copyright problems. We filmed with my Canon digital camera. In the first scene we used the color effect sepia to get an older look. Then we used normal black and white in the second scene, and regular colors in the last scene. I think that worked great, and was a clever way to seperate the scenes. When we filmed the Facebook-chat we had to use Word to get the names right and to get the chat big enough.

The most difficult part was to figure out how we should organise the scenes to get out the message that we wanted. It was particulary hard when we shot the scenes without sound. We shot the scenes we were uncertain about several times and tried out different things like angel, situation etc. so we could pick the best outcome.

It was really hard to figure out so many scenes and lines in that short amount of time, but at least we got finished and are ready to edit the movie next tutorial. When we were supposed to upload the films from my  camera we ran into some troubles. My wire did not fit my camera, and neither the school computer or Cathrine's computer had a memory card access. I just have to upload the film to my computer, and bring them on a USB-stick to the next tutorial where we will edit the movie in imovie.

Expanding on the lecture week 6

Hollywood and film making has always changed and adapted when new technology has occurred. Now internet is the newest threat with pirate download and free online-streaming. The internet differences itself from the other technologies because it’s impossible to control since it’s so interactive and suddenly everyone can become a salesman or a buyer. Downloading will possibly kill Hollywood eventually, if the movie industry doesn’t turn the tables and create new opportunities for themselves.

As the authors of “The changing digital content landscape: An evaluation of e-business model development in European online news and music” says, young people has grown up with the opportunity to download everything, and are not willing to pay a lot of money for something they can get for free. The authors ask: “Why not encourage these users to start accessing paid content?” (Swatman, Krueger & van der Beek 2006). As we discussed in class a lot of people would download movies from the internet for a certain amount of money if they were guaranteed great quality. If there was a website that everyone could easily access and the download went quickly, I definitely think people would use it instead. It often takes a huge effort to search the internet to find the right movie, in the right quality, from the right site, and you often feel a lot better when you know your download is legal.
Hollywood and the film industry has the possibility to create a new business, it just seems like they need someone to show them the way.

Resource:
Swatman, P, Krueger, C & van der Beek, K 2006, The changing digital content landscape: An evaluation of e-business model development in European online news and music, Internet Research, vol. 16, no. 2, pp 53-80, viewed 31 August 2011, via ProQuest Database, <http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/pqrl/docview/219843713/13185191FE2102DC2E5/11?accountid=14543>

Week 6 - tutorial task: Make a movie

My group is Cathrine, Nillie and me. We decided to make a movie that shows the timeline for movie development. We will start with a clip of an image/video in black and white without sound, and probably use an old-movie-effect aswell.

Our story begins with a boy, writing a letter for a girl he likes, asking her to meet him. The letter gets blown away by the wind, and the girl never gets the letter.

The next scene is in black and white, with sound. The girl tries to call the boy, but there is a bad connection. The call gets interrupted.

The last scene is with sound and color. The two persons are now logged on facebook. They talk to each other at the facebook chat, and finally manage to meet up, thanks to new communication technology.

We decided to record the video with my compact digital camera. It's really easy to record the video and just add it to the computer trough a wire or by inserting the memory card. We will use Imovie to edit the movie, since that's an easy program to use with the effects we need. 

Expanding on the lecture week 5

In the lecture we got introduced to the paradigm in motion. The paradigm consists of three acts. During the lecture we were supposed to focus on the first act when we were shown the beginning of the movie “Rubber”. The first act should answer the three questions: who the lead character is, what the movie is about and where the movie is set.
The first thing we see is that the movie is set in a deserted place. It takes some time, but we then get to know the lead character, a tire. At first we get sympathy for the tire because it seems weak and unstable and is all alone in the desert. The tire off course cannot speak, so we only get our impression of its personality out of its actions. As is says in Exploring the Meaning of Movies, dramatic action is not so much as what is said, but what is not said… By reading between the lines or watching the actions of a character, we are able to understand their point of view.

That is what the movie is about: Understanding the life of the tire and make up our opinions by its actions and behavior. Even though the tire is all alone, it meets different obstacles on its way, and how the tire responds to these elements makes the plot. The tire early discovers that it has the ability to destroy the things on its way. The tire learn that it can blast bigger and bigger things, and we get the feeling that it gets better self-esteem as his explosion objects increase. With the lack of anyone else being in on the tire’s level, its life gets meaning from destroying things.

A plot point is defined in Syd Field's Paradigm Worksheet as: any incident, episode or event that hooks into the action and spins it around into another direction. I believe that the first plot point is when the tire kills the rabbit. This is the first time it kills something that was actually alive and the music that gets played and the happiness it shows afterwards underline that this is a turning point in the movie. If the tire can kill something living and be satisfied afterwards, it’s capable to do a lot of damage. It gets a whole new personality and seems a lot scarier than before.

Resources:

Syd Field - the paradigm worksheet, viewed August 25 2011, http://www.sydfield.com/featured_theparadigmworksheet.htm.

Exploring the Meaning of Movies, viewed August 25 2011, http://www.theclapperboard.com/view_posting.php?posting_id=129.

Tutorial task, week 2

An interesting and useful application I found was called "How to make powerful connections through social media": http://www.dumblittleman.com/2011/01/how-to-make-powerful-connections.html
I think this link can be educational and useful to everyone that uses the web. Almost everyone I know have a facebook- and twitter-account, and we spend so much time online that we can at least to something useful with our sparetime. Twitter is especially good when it comes to making connections and to keep up with what's happening around us.

Tutorial task Week 5 - Scavenger Hunt

1. The world's first university was established in 969 in Cairo, Egypt, called Al-Azhar University.
Source: viewed August 23 2011, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060729054252AAiUY0V.
I found this site by searching for world's first university on yahoo.com.


2. Stephen Stockwell's band is called The Black Assassins. He plays the keyboard and vocals. Here are some of their songs: Death Take Me Now, Drugs, Azaria, Fuck Me Fuck My Dog, Multinational Corporate Lifestyle, Planet X, SWAPO, Death Comes To Townsville, Run Ronnie Run, ASIO, Pain Barrier, Barricades, Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight.

Source: viewed August 23 2011,http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm
I found this side on bing.com by searching for Stephen Stockwell band.

3. The world's biggest machine weights 45,500 tons and it cost $100 millions to build.
Source: http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Workshop/Trencher.htm
I found this site by searching the world's biggest machine on yahoo.com.

4. Justin Bieber's lawyer is Kenneth Feinswog. I think the best way is to call him, his number is: (310) 277-8211.
Source:http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5770032/justin_bieber_and_lady_gaga_in_bed.html?cat=33
http://www.manta.com/c/mms3lh1/feinswog-kenneth-a

I found this by searching for Justin Bieber's lawyer on bing.com. And then contact Kenneth Feinswog.


5. The cheapest way is to fly. At Yahoo! Answers someone had asked how to cheapest get to Melbourne to Gold Coast  and the person got told that planes were cheapest, since it's a long way and petrol is expensive. Someone even said that you sometimes could get tickets from $1 if you are really lucky.
Source:
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090608074131AAyAcWV.

I found this by searching the cheapest way to get to Melbourne from the Gold Coast on yahoo.com.

6. Hatsune Miku is the first Japanese Vocaliod2 in the Vocaloid2 Character Vocal Series created by the company Crypton Future Media. Her birthday is August 31. She was born/released in 2007.


Source: http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Miku_Hatsune
I found this by searching Hatsune Miku on Yahoo.com

7. If you go to http://www.webcamsmania.com/webcam/kirovastreetwebcam, you find a live Webcam in Belarus.
I found it by searching webcam in Belarus on yahoo.com
If you go to Antarctica you could stay on the Polar Star boat.
Source:
http://www.addictedtotravel.com/accommodation/countries/antarctica-accommodation.
I found this by searching Antarcitica accommodation on yahoo.com

8. Bryan Adams with Everything I do I do it for you was on the Australian pop charts in week 34 in 1991.
Source:
http://tsort.info/music/yr1991.htm
I found this by searching top Australian pop week 34 1991 on yahoo.com.


9. The car used to make " Google Street View" is one of Immersive Media's camera wielding cars, a Volkswagen New Beetle to be exact.

I found it by searching on yahoo.com. Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/01/take-a-look-at-the-vehicle-thats-taking-a-look-at-you/

10. I used Bing Translator at http://www.microsofttranslator.com/.

Spanish:


¿Dónde estaba la primera universidad establecida y en qué año?


¿Lo que se llama la banda de Stephen Stockwell y lo que él jugar? ¿Puede nombrar un par de sus canciones?


¿Cuál es el peso de la máquina más grande del mundo? ¿Cuánto cuesta para construir?


¿Quién es el abogado de Justin Bieber, y cuál es la mejor forma para ponerse en contacto con el abogado (más rápida, más fiable)?


¿Cuál es la forma más barata de viajar desde la costa de oro a Melbourne?


¿Quién es Hatsune Miku? ¿Qué empresa ella pertenece a? ¿Cuál es su cumpleaños?


Encontrar una webcam vivo en Belarús. Encontrar un lugar para quedarse en la Antártida.


¿Qué canción fue cima de las listas pop australianas esta semana en 1991?


¿Qué tipo de coche se utiliza para hacer 'google Street View'?


Traducir estas preguntas en español y, a continuación, convertirlos en inglés.


English again:

Where was the first University established and in what year?


What is called the band of Stephen Stockwell and that he play? Can you name a couple of their songs?


What is the weight of the world's largest machine? How much is it to build?


Who is the lawyer of Justin Bieber, and is the best way to get in contact with the lawyer (faster, more reliable)?


What is the cheapest way to travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?


Who is Hatsune Miku? What company it belongs to? What is your birthday?


Find a live webcam in Belarus. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.


What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1991?


What kind of car is used to make 'google Street View'?


Translate these questions in Spanish, and then convert them into English.

Expanding on lecture Week 4

I have never been really into gaming, neither on the computer nor the TV. I enjoy my share of FreeCell, Mario Party and Tetris but only when I’m bored and have nothing else to do. A lot of people I now however play a lot of video games. COD, WOW and FIFA are a normal part of their everyday life, and they can play for several hours per day. Most normal people can easily separate fantasy games from reality. I don’t think you get more violet if you play violent videogames, you know what’s right and wrong and your personality stays the same. However, I do believe that if you play too much and you get too attached to your cyberspace world, it will affect your life – and not in a good way. The danger occurs when the virtual world gets more exciting than your own life, and you therefore choose to “leave” the real world except when you have to eat or sleep.

Gaming has become so normal that there has been made a reality show called WCG Ultimate WCG Gamer. The concept is that the contestants must master real-life challenges that relate to a video game challenge afterwards. When the producers try to transfer the video game into a real world challenge, how do you know what’s real and what’s not anymore? You have to know have to play in the real world, and the virtual world to win. What’s the price? You will become the ultimate gamer. Isn’t that what everybody’s aiming for these days?

Source:
About the show, viewed August 22 2011, http://www.fox8.tv/shows/wcg-ultimate-gamer/about

Tutorial 3 - Database search

1. Stephen Stockwell's first article was The Brisbane Model: Considering A Unique Experiment, from 1995. I used the Taylor & Francis Group database.

Source:
Stockwell, S, 1995, The Brisbane Model: Considering A Unique Experiment, Urban Policy and Research, Vol 12, No 2, p 89-96, retrived at May 06 2008, Taylor Francis Online database.

2. Governor Slugwell appeared in Flaming Carrot Comics in nr 7, 10 and 11. I used the Underground and Independent Comics database.

Source:
Burden, B, 1985, "When the Shoes Aren't Worth the Shine", Flaming Carrot Comics, no. 7, p 3-31, Renegrade Press

3. Aaron Ford-Wright recently published an article where Dr. Gilman reveals concerns about youths and texting. Dr. Gilman thinks that texting can easily take too much space in a youth’s everyday life, and interfere with other social interactions and participation in activities. Teens can easily be distracted from being present to what’s happening around them, and should try to moderate their usage of texting.

Source:
Ford-Wright, A. August 5 2011, Texting a growing trend, but best used in moderation, Pittsburgh Post – Gazette, Post Gazette Publishing Company, Pittsburg, Pa, viewed 17 August 2011, via ProQuest Database.

4. Extract taken from the 1982 Blade Runner Draft Script:

HOLDEN

Describe in single words. Only the good things that come into your mind.

About your mother.
LEON
My...
Leon looks shocked, surprised. But the needles in the computer barely move. Holden goes for the inside of his coat. But big Leon is faster. His laser burns a hole the size of a nickel through Holden's stomach. Unlike a bullet, a laser causes no impact. It goes through Holden's shoulder and comes out of his back, clean as a whistle. Like a rag doll he falls back into the seat. Big slow Leon is already walking away, but he stops, turns, and with a little smile of satisfaction fires through the back of the seat.

As Leon walks out of the room the Voight-Kampff begins to blink, faint but steady.

Source:
Peoples, D. W., Fancher H., Kibbee, R. 2009, Blade Runner (1982): Draft script, Electronic Edition by Alexander Street Press, Viewed 17 August 2011, via American Film Script’s Database.

5. Soukup says that Ong saw the main paradox of the 20th century communication being that human communication works, not only in the sense of its success but in the sense of its expending energy.

Source:
Soukup, P. 2009, "Contexts of faith: the religious foundation of Walter Ong’s literacy and orality", Journal of Media and Religion, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 175-188. Viewed 17 August, via Taylor & Francis database

Tutorial task Week 4

Social Networking

To make a Facebook account you have to agree to the Terms of use. Many people don't even bother to read them because they know all their friends already are on Facebook, how bad could it be?

First of all, the content that is covered by intellectual property right, like photos and videos, can be used by Facebook however they want. Even after you have deleted your own content, they keep backup copies. It does not matter how high privacy settings you have on your account, Facebook owns it all and can use it or sell it to whoever they want to.

Facebook is full of ads that they believe suits you as an individual, and is beneficial for both you and the advertiser. But you are able to limit how your name and profile picture are being used, if you change your privacy settings. Facebook can collect information from the device you use to connect to Facebook, and use it to gather information about you they may come in handy later. 

You can choose how much of your profile that is available to others, but your name and profile picture will usually be revealed to everyone. Some people choose to have an open profile, where anyone can see everything, even those who are not a member of Facebook. If you have a closed profile, you have to confirm friend requests before they can see your profile.

You can post everything you want on Facebook, as long as it's legal and does not hurt anyone else. You have to get permission to post pictures of others, and people can report pictures or comments if they think they are inappropriate. If you have added inappropriate content several times, you will get thrown out of Facebook.

Resources:
Facebook, April 26 2011, Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, viewed 16 August 2011, http://www.facebook.com/terms.php.
Facebook, December 22 2010, Facebook's Privacy Policy, viewed 16 August 2011, http://www.facebook.com/policy.php. 

Tutorial task Week 3

Friendster was a pioneer and one of the first social networks, started in 2002. It was started in USA, but is now most popular in Asia. It was a site where you could play games, share music, join groups, discuss, stay in touch with friends or meet new people. It was an interactive site where you could upload pictures, videos, comment and send messages to people from all over the world. Friendster had 115 million members in 2008, but the number has decreased a lot. As other social networking sites expanded, sites like Facebook provided more features that Friendster didn’t have. Facebook got a news feed where you could easily see friends’ updates, discussions and shares as soon as you were online. The status updates made it possible to continuously show everyone what you were doing at different times, and you can tag people in pictures you upload. Since then Facebook have only grown bigger and bigger and they now provide an online chat, and the possibility to even have a video chat.

As Facebook stole many of Friendster’s members, they understood that they had to do something. In May 2011, they went from being a social network to an entertainment site where you can play online games. Even though Friendster “lost” the battle against Facebook, it played a really important role when it comes to inventing one of the first social networks sites and influenced many young people everyday life. I don’t think Facebook would have grown so much so fast, if no one had shown web users how to you could be social by using the internet. Social networking was already a part of peoples everyday life when Facebook came along, all Facebook had to do was to offer new features and apps that made people choose them instead of the old ones.

Resources:

Roeder, L., What Is Friendster.com? What Does Friendster.com Offer?, viewed 17 August , 2011, http://personalweb.about.com/od/easyblogsandwebpages/a/whatsfriendster.htm

Corpuz, N. 27 April 2011, Friendster: It’s a Facebook world, ABS-CBN News, viewed 17 August, 2011, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/04/27/11/friendster-admits-defeat-facebook

Molglobal, Friendster living the game, viewed 17 August 2011, http://www.molglobal.net/?page_id=1321

Pachal, P. April 28 2011, Why Friendster Died: Social Media Isn’t a Game, PCmag, viewed August 17 2011, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384588,00.asp

Perdu, A April 1 2008, The History of Friendster, viewed August 17 2011, http://webupon.com/social-networks/the-history-of-friendster/

Difference Between Facebook and Friendster, viewed August 17 2011, http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/internet/difference-between-facebook-and-friendster/

Kimian July 7 2011, Friendster’s Sample! Sample! Sample!, viewed August 17 2011

http://webupon.com/social-networks/friendsters-sample-sample-sample-part-2/

Reading week 3

Mind Control & the Internet

In her article Mind Control and the Internet, Sue Halpern talks about how a Google-search is not an objective search, but a controlled, personalized search adapted to every single individual. If two people search for the same thing, they will most likely have different links shown on the top of their search. “Google has aimed to contour every search to fit the profile of the person making the query,” the article says.
I use Google a lot. If I want to collect new information I “Google it”. “Google it” as actually become an expression that I use in my everyday life when a question no one can answer occurs. We all not that people in China cannot get the same information as us in Norway, because of strict rules from the government. But I don’t think people even give it a thought that their Google-search is “corrupted” and not totally objective. Google is so well-known and a part of our everyday life that posses an enormous power to affect the public opinion. Hidden Marketing is not legal, why should hidden search agendas be? Inexperienced web users will continuously swallow what Google provides them of information; I think this could be one of the most dangerous tools to help illegal propaganda in the future.

Source:
Halpern, S., Mind Control & the Internet, viewed August 20 2011, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/mind-control-and-internet/

Readings Week 2

Theory-Jamming

Jamming is an expression we relate to musicians coming together and trying out different new tunes, songs and pretty much improvise in an informal gathering. Stephen Stockwell relates this types of gatherings with theorists that come together and share theories and discuss different ideas. Stockwell means that informal theory-jamming works better than formal discussions because you get a certain dynamo in jam sessions that makes creativity grow and there are bigger chances of getting difficult questions answered. A jam session is all about creating harmony in the group, and working together to get the music flowing and presented in the best possible way. To make that happen you have to communicate and listen to others ideas and readjust your own.

I think theory-jamming is a great way to make progress in communication theory. Jamming makes room for mistakes and you have to cooporate to find the "right answer". Even though it is mostly for fun, if you suddenly play a good song you can write the notes down and you can play the song later and show it to others. Not all of the theories during the jam session will be good, but the ones that are can be written down and passed forward. In that way you make valuable theory, and you may have a great time doing it.

Source:
Stockwell, S, Dec. 2006, Theory-Jamming: Uses of Eclectic Method in an Ontological Spiral, M/C Journal, 9, viewed August 16 2011, http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/09-stockwell.php

Tutorial task Week 2

I’ve been using communication technologies for as long as I can remember. I grew up using internet, my phone and computer every day. I never go anywhere without my mobile phone, I spend hours on the internet every day, and I can’t imagine how my life would be without it. Since communication technology is such a big part of my life, I don’t even think about how much of my life that actually depends on new technology.

I think the new communication technology first of all is very useful and has done our lives a lot easier. But I also think it has made us lazier and has created a lot of new serious issues like privacy. A lot of people don’t know how to use the web, and they reveal heaps of information about themselves online. When we use sites like facebook, the owner can use all your information and pictures till their own advantage. We should really think twice about all the personal information we put out there. I have never experienced any privacy issues myself. I think I’m pretty careful when I’m online, I have a closed profile on facebook and never give out personal information unless I know it’s safe.
I think those people who have a personal blog and use it as almost a diary are the ones that reveal too much about themselves. You have no control on who your blog readers are, and everyone that wants to can easily get a lot of information about you. People think they know who you are, and make up their own impression without even talking to you.

I don’t have any internet friends, but I stay in touch with a lot of friends by only talking to them through the internet. Especially now that I’m in Australia and all of my friends and family are in Norway. I don’t think it’s the same thing to talk to someone online and to talk face to face. You can’t really get to know the whole person without meeting them in real life, because everyone acts a little bit different when you meet them face to face. I would never be able to trust a person that I had only talked to through technology, because you can never know if the person really is the person he or she pretends to be.

Resources:
Blogging Dangers and the Disadvantages of Blogging, viewed August 17 2011, http://www.blogging-the-beginners-complete-guide.com/blogging-dangers.html#axzz1VI5Tcqm7

Tutorial week 2

What new communication technology can do:



Adam Ostrow talks about a site that it called ifidie.net where you can leave a video that will be postet on your facebook for all of your friends to see when you die. He also talks about another site called 1000memories where you can post vidoes, pictures and your last goodbyes to your friends and familiy. He also tells about a man who published a post on his blog after he had died, to tell that the blog would now be an archieve. The most amazing thing he talks about is by using old home videoes, he believes you can recreate a dead persons appearance in your own livingroom by using technology.

I think it's unbelieveable that this even is possible. You die, but you can communicate with the people you love after you have died, because of todays technology. That is what new communication technology is all about from my perspective. To be able to communicate in a ways that was never possible before. Of course, you could leave letters to the ones you loved in the old days, but that is nothing compared to what Ostrow thinks can be possible in the future.

Readings: Week 1

As you can see in both Some dates in the history of communication technologies - McGaughey, William (2011)  and The History of Communication, people have been communication trough technology for ages. I find the information in the first article a bit hard to read since it is only a litany of different years and names mentioned in one short sentence. The article is divided into different categories as well that makes it even more complex. What I do find interesting is that McGaughey gave me new, detailed information about technology from B.C.

I liked the second article better because it was easier to get an overview of the whole history. It gave more specific information about each year, and I got the impression that only the imporant dates was taken to consideration. The most interesting fact about both articles talk about the same happening, in different years. The first article says morse coding was invented in 1837, but the second article claims it happened in 1835.

Another thing I found interesting is that none of them are updated with the newest technology. I thought part of the point with online-articles was that they could be updated and brought up to speed with what's been happening for the last decade. Even though some of the technology is brand new, the mobile phone and laptops are quite old, and ready to be written into the technological history.

Sources:
McGaughey W 2011, Some dates in the history of communication technologies, viewed August 1 2011, http://worldhistorysite.com/culttech.html.
About.com, The history of communication, viewed August 1 2011, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_history_of_communication.htm.

Tutorial task week 1

I use technology all the time. Technology is vital in my everyday life, and I don't even think about it anymore. This wednesday I woke up and found out that my power was gone. My whole building had no electricity, and I had no power the whole day. I had planned to use my computer to figure out where my classes were going to be and I had to charge my phone. This was now not impossible, and I felt so helpless.

I startet to think about how much of my life that depends on technology, and I actually got kind of scared. I've just moved to Australia from Norway, and I know that I would never have gone so far away if I hadn't been able to communicate with my family and friends back home through all the new technology. My mobile phone, e-mail, facebook and skype makes my life so much easier, and I can be updated whenever something happens back home. I'm so used to having the best technology available at all times, that I even get annoyed when my australian internet is slower than the network we have in Norway. I don't even want to find out how my everyday life would have been without all the new communication technology.

Response to content

New communication technology makes it possible to be social without having to move anywhere. You can sit in your bed and talk to the whole world if you want to. But is it the real you that communicate through your computer or phone? I think it is an important issue that you play a role when you are online, and you can choose who you want to be. It's a totally different thing to communicate with people through technology then face to face.

Technology can be used to give a false impression.If you see someones blog or facebook profile, you make up your own thoughts about that person very quickly. Even if we don't want to, we judge people right away. Everyone wants to make the best impression, and you make your profile the way you want others to perceive you. You can easily get the wrong impression of a person by only communicating through technology. The most dangerous issue is when people pretend to someone their not, and they turn out to be pedofile or criminals.

Fortunately, most people don't get experience false identity, but everyone experience some trouble by using technology to communicate. Even if you're just beeing yourself, its impossible to communicate properly by using technology. Our body language and voice is really important for the reciever to understand the whole meaning of the message. If you communicate through new technology the possibility for misinterpretation and misunderstandings will always be there. 

Source:

Using Body Language, viewed August 17 2011, http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/body_language.htm