Topic 8 - Are Games a Waste of Time?

Lecture

The lecture discussed the concept of video games studies and how people are now heading into careers where they study video games and become advisers for game companies. They look at different aspects of the games, such as the long term effects they have on players, the persistence of the effects, and looking at games as a cultural practise in our society. We examined the differences between Narratology and Ludology. Narratology is the study of video games from a literary perspective, full of story-telling elements and people think it can be examined like text. Ludology is different to Narratology in that it does not concern with the story telling element of the game, but rather the game-play elements. A big point in the discussion is why are people playing video games? The general consensus being that people do it to escape reality and live out their fantasies without dealing with the consequences.

Readings

This week the reading was called Trigger Happy, by Stephen Poole. He goes on to talk about how in video games, the impossible can happen. Physics, rules of logic go out the window in these games, so pretty much anything can happen. Video game companies do this to enhance entertainment value and make their games more popular. Regardless of what is real and what is not, the idea is to make the game more challenging for the players and perhaps the "fakeness" of it all does that. Poole does confirm that certain companies do consult mathematicians and scientists in order to make aspects of the game more realistic, however at the end of the day, video game companies just want to sell their product and the way to do that seems to be to make the game as exciting as possible. 

Tutorial

The tutorial task this week involved progressing our skills in Microsoft Word and Excel. The tasks were pretty easy, involving writing a letter, using different font styles and sizes, double spacing, bullet points and then more advanced skills such as track changes and mail merge. Then in Excel we had to input data, use formulas, make graphs and use macros. Word I found easier than Excel, simple because I use it more. The instructions were pretty straightforward, though I'm likely to forget them since I have no real use for Mail Merge. With Excel, I've used it before when having to present results for an assignment or something like that, but I rarely use it otherwise. I can see why Excel would be useful for me in a business setting, to input data and create rosters or something like that, but at the moment, I can get by without it. It's good to get the general gist now though, to help me later on.

The next task is to discuss the qualitative differences between Instant Messaging applications like MSN and 3D environments such as Second Life which we researched in week 1. The main obvious difference between the two is the fact that one is 3D and holds more visual images but there is more to it than that. 3D environments offer far more options for users. You can build an avatar to represent who you wish you were or want to be, and there are perhaps more exchanges between people rather than just conversation.  I guess 3D worlds add more quality since it sucks you in almost. MSN is just having a conversation with a computer, but 3D worlds offer a life, a setting where you can carry out any task you could do in the real world and in that respect they have more quality. 3D worlds have the danger of not allowing you to snap back to reality, people live through their computers. On MSN at the end of the day, it's easier to turn off the computer and stop chatting.

Topic 7 - Cronenberg: Cinema & Technology

Lecture

We watched the film eXistenZ. The movie was about a woman, Allegra, who had created a virtual reality game called eXistenZ. She is about to release her game to a focus group when she is attacked and her game is damaged. In order to inspect the damage she convinces her friend Ted, to accept a "game port" in his own body, so they can play the game together and find out what's damaged. After that the 2 are on a journey, unable to differentiate between what is virtual and what is reality, which is certainly the message that the director David Cronenberg is portraying. The movie really makes you think. What is reality? How do we know? And how to virtual gamers know the difference? It has now become that these days that virtual reality is so real, it is becoming impossible to tell the difference between that and actual reality. The danger of this is that there are no consequences in a virtual reality - it is just a game. You can kill, steal, perform any criminal act and nothing will come of it, you go on your way. For those who cannot differentiate between actual and virtual reality means there can be no consideration for the consequences.

Readings

A paper called The Military-Entertainment Complex: A New Facet of Information Warfare was our reading for this week. This paper gives evidence about how military and entertainment have always been interlinked. (For example, the military have always used songs and chants in their marching for entertainment value, and it works in reverse with organisations like the USO (United Services Organisation) providing entertainment for troops in war torn countries and Hollywood taking it on and using them as storylines in movies.) Currently, we are seeing the effects of this so called Information War, in relation to the Iraq war. The media are trying to develop an "us against them" attitude towards the war. They have set up the story like its a plot in a movie, amping us up to believe that we are winning, like it's a good-natured competition.

The article makes reference to the Dixie Chicks making a negative comment about the war in Iraq and consequently having their record sales drop. This demonstrated to critics of the war, that people are enjoying the "show" performed for them by the media and caused a massive silence of negative opinions in relation to the Iraq War. The danger of this is that if we don't hear different opinions and only pay attention to the song and dance the military/Hollywood combination are trying to spin us, then we lose our objectivity of these current events and are all but brainwashed into believing that war is the only way.

Tutorial

There was no tutorial class this week.

Topic 6 - The History of the Computer

Lecture

The lecture this week discussed the history of computers. The first computer was invented by Charles Babbage and since then the computer has become almoast a daily necessity for people. The first commercially produced computers available were manufactured by IBM in the 1950's, that were mainly for use in the military or government departments. Xerox PARC was then founded and produced the first PC called Altair. Shortly after Bill Gates founded Microsoft, after he wrote a language called BASIC for Altair. It was from here on that PC's became an industry in their own right.

Apple soon came on the scene, producing their own make of PC's that was more advanced than Altair and took over the market. IBM was still manufacturing computers meant for the workplace decided to break into the PC market by pairing up with Microsoft and building a new operating system to be used on PC's called Windows. Apple was unprepared for this market shift and soon their company began to slide, causing Microsoft to take over the industry. All this happened in the 1970's and 80's and it is only quite recently that Apple has made a comeback with their new imac range. There is still a healthy competition between Apple and Microsoft, yet as they are both popular operating systems, it seems they are doing all they can to make it easy for people to swap between the two.

Without delving too much more into the history of the computers, the lecture also dicussed the differences between the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW), that being that the internet is made up of lots of different applications including WWW and Email.

Readings

The reading this week is called "What's New About New Media?" Basically this article discusses how much digital media has progressed over time and how there is always new media available. For example, these days music is readily available to us. All we have to do is log onto iTunes and download the mp3 and its ours. However 50 years ago, the only way to hear music was on a record player, 20 years ago it was a cassette tape which morphed into a CD and now we have mp3's. It's pretty much revolutionised how we listen to music now. This is relevant to New Communication Technologies as the Internet is ever expanding and developing, becoming a form of new media.


Tutorial


This week we needed to find an article in Wikipedia on a topic that we were experts on. Now I had a hard time thinking of anything, since I don't think I'm that knowledgeable about any topics to call myself an expert. However I was watching FRIENDS on TV and realised I own the entire series on DVD and should at least be somewhat knowledgeable on the subject.


Is this article accurate?


The article was accurate, I found that most of the information about the television show FRIENDS was in fact correct and true. I didn't notice any outlandish statements or false rumours about the cast members that you so often find on the internet and in the tabloids


Does it cover all the basic facts that you'd need to understand the topic?


The article was pretty good, it included a lot of the information one needs to be able to understand what the TV series is about. My only problem with it is that it seems very rushed. I could see the article being confusing for people who didn't know the story or relationships between the characters. Even though it explained it, it was not written in a way that was easy to comprehend, it seemed more like it was trying to cram as much information as possible into a paragraph without any thought towards flow and language choices. Other than that though the article seemed accurate and informative.




Does the article cover Wikipedia guidelines for useful articles?


The article is useful, it has a lot of information on the show itself as well as information on each of the cast members other acting work. There are many references listed on the bottom of the Wikipedia page and all the edits that have been made to the information on the page appear to have been done with good intentions rather than to cause confusion.


Is this article fair and balanced or is it biased towards a particular side or argument?


It's hard to argue about a TV show. I don't think you can be necessarily biased one way or the other. The article was favourable about the television show as well as the actors and characters.


Changes I would make to the article would be maybe making the passages a little bit more coherent and maybe more detailed with the story line of the show. The article explains only the very basics of the relationships of the characters and their journeys. I would maybe just add more detail.

Topic 5 - Why I Hate Wikipedia

Lecture

In the lecture this week we discussed Wikipedia. Now I personally have nothing against Wikipedia. I think it's a great site for finding out the basics of a topic and sometimes the information can be very accurate. However, the fact that anybody can log in and change any information that's posted on there, is slightly disconcerting. I can't see why someone gets enjoyment out of putting up fake information, as it doesn't really benefit them and it's basically a big time waster. I think though, that most of us decided Wikipedia was a great starting point when trying to learn more about a new topic, however it is not a reliable academic resource.

Readings

The reading this week was a short story by Jorge Luis Borges titled Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. The story was about how easily people can be manipulated into believing anything. Borges story has elements of facts and fiction in them which consequently, has raised discussion about what is real and what isn't. The story describes what happens so often in our society, people are so easily swayed into one opinion. When being informed by someone on a subject, as long as some of the facts are true, people will quite happily believe everything that that person tells them on the subject. This reading is relevant while examining Wikipedia. Since anyone can add anything on Wikipedia, when mixed with some truth, people will believe it.

Tutorial

How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?

In today's society, it is very easy for people to replicate art, especially digital media. Movies and music are mass produced already and I think most people know how easy it is just to copy these yourself. Today digital media is more available to people and art can be made easily by anyone that owns a camera. To coincide with Benjamin's theory, digital media lacks unique existence. Because there are often so many copies, it's individuality and aura is gone. This is more of an issue now than in Benjamin's day, but the similarities are not unfounded.

There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?

Now that people are able to create things digitally, I think it can impair those who want to create 'real' art. That is not to say that because something is created digitally it isn't art, but it brings about issues of plagiarism, of 'borrowing' or potentially stealing someone else's work, as it's harder to prove who exactly the author is. It also means that absolutely anyone can create art and does not need to be labelled an artist or be a skilled professional. I don't know whether this demeans artistic expression, if it makes art less special because absolutely anyone can do it but it certainly can change the definition of what art is and what it will become.

Is a photo shopped image "authentic"?

No I do not believe a photoshopped image is authentic. On the one hand it is a creative piece. Someone has chopped and changed an image around in order to suit their own needs and used it for whatever purpose. And yet, to photo shop something is to alter another piece of' 'art.' The base of something that is photo shopped is already a piece of art. That is the authentic image. When alterations are made and the piece is edited it then becomes another piece of art, but because it has come from something else I would argue that it is not authentic.

Do digital "things" have an "aura" (in Benjamin's terms)?

Benjamin believed that only the original piece of art, or authentic image had an aura and the more a piece was reproduced the less "aura" it had. Something that is made digitally is copied over and over again - it's mass produced. For example, when a movie is made and released on DVD, the copy that you have is not the original and therefore does not have the "aura" that comes with the original. That applies to most digital things. These products are so readily available to us, that when stocks run out, they just make more. In Benjamin's terms, the original piece of digital media certainly has an "aura." Any reproductions however, do not.

Topic 4 - Old Communication Technologies

Lecture

The lecture this week looked at many of the previous communication technologies that the human race have used in the past and how we have evolved to what we have now. Back in the old days, people obviously didn't have the ability or the equipment to write letters or send an email, so they resorted to other means. Things such as Rock Art - etching messages on walls- people did this to communicate with others and also to keep records. Since then, society has continued to bring out new and improved ways for us to communicate with each other. Things like the telegraph, phonograph, telephone, printing press, type writers, radio & television have all helped us communicate more often and with more accuracy so much so, that now in the age of computers, we are overloaded with information. Email, mobile phones, PDA's, mp3 players, digital cameras and if you're really lucky, you can get one gadget that has them all rolled into one.

Readings

This week the reading was by Walter Benjamin written in 1936. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction discusses and analyses the idea of art in different contexts and whether or not it can be defined as "art." It also looks at people reproducing someone else's artwork and why someone may replicate your work. People may be practising their skills, or looking to gain credit elsewhere, for something that is not theirs. Benjamin also goes on to discuss the concept of "aura," it being "that which withers in the age of reproduction is the aura of art work." I interpreted this as, the more replicas of a piece of art, the less valuable that piece becomes, whereas the original piece of art with always have the "aura" surrounding it, as it is a true piece of art. It also raises the question of whether or not someone creating a replica of someone else's artwork can be called a true artist.


Tutorial

Our exercises this week included using different search engines other than Google or Wikipedia to answer questions set by our tutor.


1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?

Reomel Ramones created the "lovebug" virus - (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/740558.stm)

2. Who invented the paper clip?

John Vaaler a Norwegian Inventor invented the paperclip in 1899 (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm)

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?

The Ebola virus is named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola/qa.htm)

4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?

Southern Chile on the 22nd May 1960 (http://asc-india.org/lib/world10.htm)

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?

1,073,741,824 kilobytes in a terabyte (http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/)

6. Who is the creator of email?

Ray Tomlinson invented email in 1971 (http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm)

7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?

The storm worm in computer terms is a family of Trojans (a virus), that uses email to infect peoples computers. It does it in the form of spam and has infected as many as 5 million computers. (http://what-is-what.com/what_is/storm.html, http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/stormworm.htm)

8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?

To download a contact form and send it through to Kevin Rudd over the Internet. Or you can post a letter via Australia Post (http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/contacts.asp)

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?

The Black Assassin (Courtesy of a student in 2005 doing this very assignment!) (http://www.users.on.net/~lenus/nct/2005/04/nct-week-6.html)

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?

It is a new and improved version of the original interactive web program, that allows us to interact with different websites so much easier than we could 10 years ago.

Bonus Questions

How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?

Search engines use automated software agents to explore websites and read the information. The agents then go on to index what they find and rank them in order of frequency of the keywords in each of the websites.

Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?

A website that contains the key words that you use in your search over and over again is more likely to be at the top of the search results than websites that do not have them.

What are some of your favourite search engines? Why do you like more than others?

I like Google, because it's easy to read and understand and it usually provides the results I want. It also nearly always brings up Wikipedia as one of the first results which is not a great bibliographical source, but is awesome in giving you a basic information on a particular topic.