what i think

My Identity

2010-11-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a lot about how I have been told that I don't act like a Ph.D.. I wonder what does a Ph.D. act like? I have wrestled with this question for most of the semester and partly because it affects my writing. Regardless, I've also been thinking about the fact that in reality I have multiple indentities. If someone asked me today who I am my answer would be long.

I am a Ph.D. student and regardless of whether or not I know what that means, it's on my CV so it must be true. I really do enjoy school and in reality I enjoy writing I just seem to have trouble with the academic stuff lately. What to do, what to do.

I am a teacher. I am doing something that is totally off the mark for me in the fact that I am teaching. However, I have to say that I am teaching at the university level because I can tell students what I think this way. I would not make a good public school teacher.

I am an advisor. I help students daily in trying to figure out how they are going to get through college. The is usually one of the more enjoyable parts of my job.

I am a wife. I have a wonderful husband that is very supportive of my ventures in life.

I am a mother. I have two wonderful boys (17 & 10.) I'm really glad I have them in my life. (This is the tagline when they are irritating me.)

I am a daughter. I have great supportive parents. I only hope that I am a daughter that they can be proud of.

I am a sister. Right now I don't know how good I am at this part of the job, but there might be a lack of understanding of just how my day goes.

I am a friend. I hope I am at least. I spend so much time with school, work, and family that friends sit on he outskirts.

I am a gamer. I love to play video games. They are a good way to just let your mind disappear.

I am a reader. Also another way for the mind to wander.

These are just a few of the identities that I can think of today. It's no wonder a person goes crazy with all of these people that they are supposed to be.

To vlog or not to vlog

2010-11-01T17:51:00.001-07:00

So for class I had to watch these girls from this vlogging site (Five Awesome Girls). My first thought was "why oh why do we have to watch this." After watching it though it really seemed like it would be something fun to do, especially with people that you don't see all the time. To have a vlog where each of you was to talk about something be it random or set just so your friends could see what you're up to is kinda awesome. It's not really the same as being on Facebook or Twitter. There's a real personal feel to this like they are actually talking to you. I really liked it and wanted to be involved. I almost subscribed to the site. I wonder if I would be able to actually do something like and would any of my friends be interested in joining? Hmmm.....

Coming Together

2010-10-27T20:52:00.001-07:00

This assignment has given me the chance to make this blog into something that is more about me. Even if I use it for class and work out ideas through here, this is still my space to try and work out myself as well. This has been done by multiple people before me and will continue to work this way for awhile. I hope you can begin to get a glimpse of the diversity of my life from what is here. Remember there will definitely be more to come...

My Family

2010-10-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

I think it might be important to mention my family at some point. I live in a house of boys, and for a girl that is lost that is a difficult prospect. Of course, I also thought that getting my Ph.D. was a good idea...what was I thinking...

...and they say the love me. I am starting to question their motives.

Remembering where I am is a good thing

2010-10-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

This video really made me think. Gotta love Bon Jovi.

Not really a poet

2010-10-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

I wonder how my life would be
if I had actually been a tree.

Would I have stood tall and proud
or been a shadow in the crowd?

Should I be sad and wonder why
they cannot see me as they go by?

Do they not see me looking sad?

Maybe I'm hidden very well
and all they see is the proud looking tree.

But will they realize that is not me?

Quotes that speak (at least to me)

2010-10-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

"All we are is the result of what we have thought." - Buddha (Taken from The Secret)

"The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (Taken from The Secret)

I was given the book The Secret by my mother a couple of years ago. While reading the book I went through and discovered various quotes that meant something to me. I am just going to mention a couple here. I know that I have struggled with trying to figure out who I am for a very long time, and I still feel like I struggle with that now. I know that I have had very negative thoughts about myself for a long time. These thoughts have affected me personally, professionally and scholastically. These quote reminds me us that I have to be more positive in my thoughts about myself. I still struggle with doing this, but I am starting to understand more about it.

(Maybe I will begin adding quotes as I find them. Who knows...maybe someone else will get something from them.)...but what to call them? hmmmm

Commonplace Books

2010-10-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, as usual, this post is related to a class assignment. The difference with this assignment is that I have to come out of my box and put things on here that might be considered person, or for myself. After reading the pieces that we did on commonplace books and were given the assignment to make a couple of pages of a commonplace book for class, I realized that for me this might be the best way to go about doing this. I am not sure that this is what was intended when these were first started, but I think I have the right idea. However, I just plan to use a different medium. Maybe this will work and maybe it won't but it never hurts to try. ;-)

I happen to have a friend who has done exactly this. She began blogging after leaving Las Cruces and moving to a new place. I love what she has done and I think it would be great to follow her example. To Lily Dale you have been an inspiration.

I want to say that I have so many "hats" I'm not sure some days exactly how to define myself.

It's been awhile

2010-10-27T18:49:00.001-07:00

I really only use this blog for academic work, so I have not written about much in awhile. I am going to try something new for awhile though. My next few posts are all going to come at once and then from there I will hopefully try to keep this up on a more regular basis. We'll see how this works out...

Presentation Reaction

2010-03-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

In actuality I really like what the last group said about being simple. I think that from a design standpoint, looking at time and the fact that this has to be sustainable beyond us, simple might be the way to go. I really liked their ideas about foregrounding the work on the page. I am in no way biased to our groups work.

One think that we haven't discusses in the sustainability of this magazine and who is going to handle it once we are done. I think that we need to design this in a way that the people that come after us are able to sustain it without having to redesign (unless of course they want to.)

Simple, simple, simple. That is what I think.

Digital Storytelling

2010-02-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

Digital storytelling gives authors the opportunity to do more than just write. As with the example that we looked at in class, this author was able to not just tell us what he saw. He was also able to show us through video and photos. I wouldn't ever discount print text but I think that digital storytelling does give authors the chance to do more. Although I am not the author of anything other than this blog I would think that there might be times that an author might think "Oh it might be great if I could portray this through pictures." Digital storytelling gives them the opportunity to do that and to be able to go outside the box instead of being stuck with just print text.

Manifesto

2010-01-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

Ok...this should be fun considering that I know nothing about literary magazines. (Other than what I have learned recently.)

Anyway, my manifesto would be that I would include genre fiction in my magazine but I wouldn't be specific. I would accept the types of work like Stephen King (even though I know I would get him...but he makes a good example.) Most types of romance. Things like the Twilight Series. Basically, I would accept anything that I would personally be interested in. Without offending anyone I am not sure how to say that there is a difference between what I read and what I can only imagine is serious literature (sorry I have no idea what to call it.) I am totally clueless on this one.

In any event, I think that a lot of readers would pick up a magazine that was more to their interest. It would seem that the literary magazines that I picked up seemed like they were geared towards literature writers and possibly academics. Maybe something geared toward what might be called the "regular" reader. That is what I would consider myself. I like the trashy novel and Harry Potter and just anything for entertainment. However, I also love Pride and Prejudice, which in my mind would be considered serious literature.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone in my assertion of my manifesto (which as it turns out was terrible) but I am trying to explain something that I truly know very little about. Literature is one of those areas.

Submission Guidelines

2010-01-26T20:19:00.000-08:00

First we think that to start for this first issue submissions should be limited to the NMSU main and community college campuses. (Our reasoning behind this is the fact that we are not sure exactly what this is going to look like right now and until we do we should try not overwhelm ourselves.) However, after this first edition is released and we understand things a little bit better we think that an open submission policy is a good idea.
Limit of 15 pages on submissions.
Include fiction and poetry. Art, digital art and photography (each of these we feel should have a synopsis that is included written by the artist.) Audio submissions must have text file accompanying them.
May do a genre edition sporatically throughout the course of a year.
Having a bio published for each author and artist.
If submission is in a language other than English is must be accompanied by an English translation.
2 submissions can be submitted with the understanding that only one may be used.
For poetry possibly 3-5 submissions.

We feel that there should be an editor for each area such as fiction, poetry and art. There should also be one main editor to oversee it all.

Introduction for 549

2010-01-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

I want to begin by apologizing to my group. I was out of town until yesterday and having computer issues on top of that. Hard-drive is going out on my computer and I was having trouble getting on. Finally got on this afternoon and I haven't turned it off yet. As a matter of fact, I am currently trying to move stuff off of it as I do this.

To begin, I know very little about literature other than I love to read. I read just about anything. I don't anything about literary magazines either. What I do know is design and websites and I hope that is where my strength will come into this group.

Spring 2010 Semester

2010-01-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

This semester I am taking both a game theory class (yay) and an online publishing class (more yay). I am required to blog for the publishing class, but not necessarily for the gaming class. With that being said I a planning on doing the assignments in one of the textbooks and doing them as blogs. My writing has basically gone downhill over the last few semesters and I really don't know why. I used to write all the time though, even if it was about nothing at all. I plan to take this opportunity to put my thoughts about both classes into the blog.

I am apologizing now for those of you in my group for the publishing class. I will try to make the publishing posts distinguishable from the other posts. I really want to get the all I can out of the both of these classes and with the gaming class I feel that this is one way I can do that.

Methodological Views

2009-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

The research methodologies that I will use will be guided mostly by my research question. However, I feel that I also have to consider the fact that I am going to be doing research in a virtual world and there are going to have to be considerations made for that as well. I realize that my questions will be based on what I am trying to find out, but I think that it is also important to consider that I am looking at a "world," and regardless of how structured my questions may be I will need to figure out the best possible methodology for obtaining the information that I am looking for.

I really like the idea of a person's identity in virtual spaces. I can't say that it matters to me which space specifically that I look at either. However, I do think that there would probably be a different identity for each space depending on the person. That is an idea for another day though. There is also the weirdness of Second Life that I can't seem to get away from. Hopefully this might help work out some of that weirdness.

Games Lab

2009-10-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

1. I think that computer mediated research is one of those terms that may have multiple meanings. The reason I say this is because there are going to be different types of computer media that we might be looking at. I don't think that it will always be on the computer considering that there are video games that can be played online through the various gaming platforms. I'm not real sure that I would be able to come up with something specific for a definition because it will depend on the research, the platform or the type of virtual world that is being researched. This is going to be one of the terms that is going to change as the technology changes and will probably never really have a completely set definition.

2. My experience was weird in filling out the IRB form. Being as how I am not a child it was very unsure of how to fill it out exactly, especially considering that I really didn't need my parents permission to do this. The form seemed pretty thorough and covered most of the things that it seemed would be important when dealing with this type of study. It looked as if though they did a good job in considering the ethical implications of what might happen, especially when working with children. I think that working with children is probably a little more touchy than some other research and these research appeared to have put plenty of thought into this.

Online Research

2009-10-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

What special circumstances or considerations should be given to research done in an about online spaces (i.e. informed consent of "subjects", ethics, access, etc.)?

I think that we tend to forget that we still need to get consent to use the information that we find online, regardless of where we are getting it from. I do think though that the ethical considerations for doing research online kind of walk a thin line. The reason for that is the fact that I don't think that there has been a lot of headway in figuring out what is ethical and what is not. So when it comes to ethical online research I think that we have to be very careful in how we approach it and try to make sure that we have covered all of the bases. With regards to access I would say that we also have to be careful because we have access to a lot information but that doesn't make it credible. Making sure that the source of the information is a valid one is very important when looking at online research.

What are some of the major benefits you see in virtual research? What are some of the disadvantages?

With the popularity and use of the internet I think that virtual research is important. First, it is easily accessible. Second, just the study of virtual spaces is important in order to better understand exactly how people are working in these spaces. I think that one of the biggest disadvantages to virtual research is, again, the idea that not everything you find online is credible and we have to be careful about that.

In light of research like Thurlow and McKay's, how do you think our students are likely to value online scholarship and research practices?

For one I think it is going to depend on the students. Some students may find it useful and really care about the research practices of the virtual world. However, there are also those students that just don't care one way or the other because they don't think they are going to need this in the future. Once they have graduated and enter into whatever setting that they do there might be a shift in their opinion of this and they might find it extremely useful.

Research Idea(s)

2009-10-05T16:01:00.001-07:00

SURPRISE! SURPRISE! The place that research is likely to begin is going to be with Second Life (SL). I know you have all heard me say it before, but this is an environment that is very disturbing to me. The problem for me lies in the fact that there are a lot of different areas or ideas that I have regarding what research possibilities there are.

I am interested in the idea of identity and how this plays out in a space where people can be someone other than themselves. Although I haven't done a lot of research in this area yet, from what I have learned it seems that people that "live" a good portion of their lives in this space have become someone they are not in real life. I have the example of an instructor that I know that has two different avatars in SL one is a man and another one is a woman. Now he talks about how he started in SL and that is first job was as a stripper. However, in real life he is a college professor. I think that there is some interesting identity play going on here with regards to how this person tends to see themselves in this space compared to how they are off-world. Another interesting thing for me is the fact that I have actually taken a class about SL from this professor and it was very obvious just how serious he was about his life in SL.

That brings me into my next idea which is teaching in SL. The professor that I mentioned earlier does actually teach classes in-world. It turns out that a lot of universities have campuses within SL and they are holding classes there. I am interested in understanding more about this, especially in regards to composition. I can clearly see why some classes might benefit from this type of environment for learning but there are some that I am still having a difficult time understanding. One of those being how a composition class is being done in this space and how effective that is for students. Are the students in a classroom together when they are online in SL? Are the students in different personal spaces when they are online together? If they are in the same room then what exactly is the need for being in an online environment while teaching class when everyone is in the same room. I would like to understand this more.

There is also this idea of all the different sub-cultures and the discourse communities that they have all developed. I haven't spent a lot of time with any of the different sub-cultures but I have read about quite a few of them and I find it interesting how people have developed their own world within a world, within a world. It is rather bazaar to me. I think that this could possibly tie in with the idea of identity and how these people function as avatars.

With this being such a large world and there being so many different ideas of interest I am having difficulty in figuring out exactly where to start. Maybe I can could do an ethnography of classrooms in SL (NMSU has a few classes available in this space). I could also survey some of the individuals about how and why they function in this space. I think that my range of ideas is rather open and I am hoping that through this class I can take this broad idea and really narrow it down a lot.

Any feedback anyone has will be appreciated.

Surveys

2009-10-04T20:46:00.001-07:00

I have actually thought about this some since I began thinking about my areas of interest. Again, I talk about Second Life (SL) because this is something that I already have some type of bias against. I can't exactly explain my bias other than to say that it really just creeps me out. (That is my technical way of explaining it.) I have talked to professors about this and they have to keep reminding me that if I go ahead with my study of SL that I am going to have to be a little more open-minded about it.

I have developed a very narrow view of SL because of some of the things that I have learned about it. I actually don't understand what motivates people to "live" in SL and not really live their own lives. It amazes me how they accept this as a second persona and are very serious about their "life" there. I realize that this isn't any different from someone playing an MMORPG, but because this world has not end goal and is not an actual game it makes it more difficult for me to understand.

I felt it necessary to explain all of that because my first thought was to go in there looking for something negative or trying to get some type of specific answers. I am afraid that if I were to do surveys I would do just that. I would be tempted to not accept answers that didn't fit the idea that I personally have of this space. However, I am hoping that with my growth as a researcher I will be able to control this urge and open my mind enough to accept the answers that I do get regardless of whether or not I actually like them.

I think that part of my close-mindedness has had to do with may lack of knowledge and understanding regarding research. I am beginning to understand that patterns could emerge from my research that I might not have expected. With that I would hope that if I needed to survey individuals that I would be able to do that without looking for the negative that I personally see in this space, and maybe open my mind to the fact that there might be something positive and useful in it.

Case Studies

2009-09-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

1) A case study seems to generally be more of a mixed-methods type of approach than some of the others are. In this way the researcher is collecting different types of data in order to come to some type of question or conclusion. A researcher might start with a case study because they don't have a specific question in mind but they know that they want to look at this specific area. An example might be Second Life. I know that this is an area that I want to look into further but I am also aware that I have so many questions or misgivings and that I don't have one specific question in mind. I might have to do some kind of case study in order to begin the process of trying to figure out where extra study needs to take place.

2) I'm not sure that I understand what is meant here by anecdotal or generalizable. Are case studies less generalizable because they are more of a mixed-methods type of approach to research? I'm not sure if I am going in the right direction with this.

3)I really don't understand the term heuristic at all. I have tried put the definition into some type of context but I am really unable to do that. It's a word that gets thrown around in class a lot and I really have hard time contextualizing it with anything that is being discussed. I really don't know how to answer this considering that I really dont' understand the term heuristic or what is meant exaclty by generalizable (as mentioned previously).

Research - Who am I?

2009-09-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

I am still getting used to the idea of trying to see myself as a researcher. Right now I am feeling like a poser in the middle of a group of knowledgable people. After reading the first few chapters for the class I am starting to see where I might be able to fit in.

I am thinking that I am going to fit into social construction. At least for the time being. I know that everyone is probably sick of hearing me talk about Second Life, but this is a virtual world that I really have a hard time understanding and with this comes a little of different things that go on that are disturbing to me. I think that people are making some type of meaning for themselves in this world and I would like to understand that better. I just don't really know or understand what this meaning is and I think that this is where my research is going to come in. I know that because I don't have a set topic or narrowed down area that I want to look that I am going to have to go in and look around until I am able to get to one idea.

I figure that for studying this world social construction makes the most sense to me out of all of them. However, I do realize that at some point the research could change I might have to make some changes, but reading through these first chapters this is the one that made the most sense to me.

Portfolio

2009-04-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

I am thinking that I am going to make this a teaching portfolio. I am conflicted on exactly how to do this though. I like Jenny's design for hers because it is rather simple, and I have a lot of the same type of information. Other than making it a website I am not sure what other types of media I plan to use. I plan at this point to build it in Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

I think that at this point the teaching portfolio makes the most sense. Especially considering that is where I am at right now. I plan to include my techno bio as well as projects I have done previously. It might I guess double as a professional portfolio as well. I also plan to upload it. I already have a site with NMSU where my Master's portfolio is currently housed.

Virtual Worlds

2009-03-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

After all of the reading I have been doing with regards to Second Life, the term "virtual world" has become rather ambiguous. There seem to various definitions about virtual worlds just like their have been for new media. One of the things that I may have to begin in doing my research is looking into and attempting to define virtual world. The reason that this would be important is because a virtual world is what Second Life is considered to be. I happen to believe that even a forum like Facebook could be considered a virtual world, but I may have to prove that. Maybe this could be the beginning of my research.

Since I am talking about Second Life I have a thought. I don't have evidence of this, but it seems that a good number of users on Second Life are roughly of the age where they grew up playing with Barbies. Could this possibly be the virtual way of doing that?

Lit Review

2009-02-15T20:23:00.001-08:00

I think that this would be great opportunity to begin the research on Second Life to see if this is the direction that I might want to go. I am wondering though if I should make this more inclusive and look not only at Second Life but at MMORPGs as well. My reason for thinking this is that WOW among others has been used in some of the stuff I have been reading to compare with Second Life. I know that I should be doing something a little different, but I wonder if there would be some way to look at this. One way that I imagine that I can take this is to look at the use of Second Life in English Composition. I know that at one university there is someone teaching an English Composition class in Second Life. I could also look at the the classes taught at NMSU in Second Life. My other reason for considering including other MMORPGs is because there is more information published about those types of games than there really is about Second Life. (Maybe this would be a reason for me to publish something.)

Technology Biography (revised)

2009-02-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

After much thought and debate with myself (I just couldn't take all of the yelling after awhile). I realized that not only was my first draft a little much, but it also was really accurate. If I look back honestly I can say that technology did not really have a EFFECT on my life until a few years ago. Yes, it has always been a part of my life, but not to the point where I was able to consider myself in the context of technology. So, instead of talking about the different eras of the technologies effects, I am going to talk about which technologies actually made some type of impact.

Computers:
Computers were one of the first technologies that really started to make an impact or at least become a major part of my life. I didn't have a computer in my house when I was growing up. As a matter of fact I didn't have a computer in my house until I was about 24 years old, and even then it wasn't my computer.

At this point in my life computers had become a major factor in my life though because I was using them on a daily basis for work. I think that fact that I wasn't familiar with them like some people were is what made the most impact. Even though I hadn't really been around them much I wasn't afraid of them. Just about everything that I learned about computer I taught myself. Mostly by trial and error. This had to be the most rewarding thing for me. I was able to figure out how to fix things, make things work, decide the best way to do a project, and at one point take it apart. For me one of the biggest things about computers is the fact that there sometimes a lot of problem solving that goes into using them, and I really enjoy that aspect of working with them. (Of course I also enjoy the fact that they make so many things so much easier).

The computer has also become an extension of who I am. What I mean by this is that at both work, school, and home I sometimes the one that my family/friends/coworkers will go to for help figuring something out. There is a great sense of pride knowing that what I have learned I have really learned on my own.

Video Games:
I realize that I am not a kid anymore, but I just love to play video games. Again, this something that we didn't have when I was living at home. Once I had games to play I was hooked. The real infatuation game with computer games once I had a computer at home. I would play different games all the time. Then we started buying the gaming machines and we were hooked. You know there is some type of obsession when in my house there are five different types of gaming machines. What playing games does for me is give me a chance to think. If there is a goal to what I am doing I always say let me get to the next goal. Of course then I keep saying that until I am too tired to play anymore. I still can't really get into playing games online with other people. I used to play yahoo games a lot. Those games were like being in a chat room with a game in it. I didn't even chat with anyone then. I was just there to play the game. I tend to get very focused on what I am doing because I always have a plan for my next move, and I don't like to get distracted. For me video games keep me on my toes. If I want something mindless I watch TV, but the video games that I play take some thought and I like the challenge that they offer.

I can say that there are a lot of technologies that I can't live without anymore. At least I feel like I can't live without them. I enjoy using them all. I am the ultimate technology geek because I get excited about new technologies that come out. Right now I want CS4 and quite frankly I don't really need it, but I WANT IT. There is just this desire to see what new and exciting things are happening in the world of technology.

Technology Biography

2009-02-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

In The Beginning:
When I think back upon my technological beginning I was trying to think about where it might have ACTUALLY began. I am embarrassed to say that when I was little I was very confused about television. I actually thought that the people on the screen could see me too. If I am not mistaken I believe that I thought the same thing about movies for a long time. I remember also that we always had to go to the drive-in when we went to the movies. A novelty for me was getting to sit in the theater. Oh, how times have changed in that area. My other attempt at temporarily escaping from reality was reading. I would sit down and read a book before I was actually able to read. I haven't ever really stopped doing that. Even with the electronic books now available I still can't get away from a good old paper/hardback book.

Somewhere In Between:
Early in elementary school, I would say about 4th grade was when they started to put computers in school, and we had one in every classroom. What I remember the most is that for most of what we did we actually had to input code to run programs. I had graduated from high school before we ever got a computer or a Nintendo. Once my parents did get a computer, however; I was addicted. I was that thing every chance that I got. I used computers very little in high school. I never took an actual computer class, but I did learn word processing while I was there. My life with computers started out very slowly. I loved them, but I never really had much to do with them until I graduated and even then it was minimal. However, high school was also the time that cell phones came into our lives and my parents had this huge handset that was mounted in the car, a phone in a bag, and the enormous handheld phone. It amazes me just how connected we became to the world at that point.

At the Present Time:
Now, technology almost rules my life, and there are some many ways that it does. Everything that I do requires a computer, at work and at home. We now have three computers in the house instead of none, and we consider this to be normal. If I am without the computer or the internet for too long I feel disconnected from the world. I now have a cell phone that fits in the palm of my hand, and if I forget it I feel lost. Video games are now prevalent in my life and it doesn't matter if they are on a computer or on a gaming platform. We definitely have plenty of gaming platforms to choose from. Sometimes it amazes me how 15 years ago we hardly anything this technological, and now we have some of the most up-to-date technology. I haven't decided what my favorite toy is out of all of them, but I do know that I would miss them all.

Tehcnology has also changed to include social networking. When we first started talking about blogging I was very adverse to it. I really couldn't understand why people would want to write out their random thoughts or even why anyone would want to read them. Now, here I am blogging myself. I also wasn't very excited about the idea of joining a social site. Facebook and MySpace were sites that I didn't want to really be a part of . Now I can't go a day without getting on Facebook and talking to my friends, however; I can still do without MySpace. For me it is a little bit creepy.

Redefining New Media

2009-01-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

The reason I say redefining is because I have previous defined new media in this blog. When we talk about what new media is there is alot that we have to take into consideration. One think in particular that I think that we have to think about is new media different for people based on their background or where they are from.

When I think new media I am thinking the most up-to-date computerized information systems. This would include computers, programs, Web 2.0, film, radio, television and internet. For me new media has to have a digital component (I think analog is finally old). I am still not sure about whether or not it actually has to be interactive. Interactivity is problematic in itself.

Even though I give my idea of new media, in all honesty I am not really sure that it is good to call anything new media. What does it mean to be new when we are talking about media? How long is something actually new? Are certain types of media new to everybody? I am under the impression that a person that is not familiar with Office would find that to be new media. That would make total sense.

Maybe it is problematic to even coin the term "New Media" and then try to define it, especially since it seems that the definition could be different for everyone.

Maybe it is better to define this by listing specific kinds of media instead of generalizing it?

Video Games

2008-12-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

I love to play video games, so I was very excited about doing the research for this assignment. Even though I love to play I am very particular about the types of games that I play. There are some for me that I really don't get anything out of...or they actually give me motion sickness and I can't play them. I really enjoy games that have a goal or something to work towards. Games where you have to figure something our are really my favorite. Because of this I chose Tomb Raider as the game that I wanted to research.

Instead of playing just one game I decided that I had to play two. The reason that I chose to do this was because each Tomb Raider game is different. They always have the same character, but they tend to change the way the game works or how you go through it with each one. I first played this game on the PC, and I have to say that compared to now it was definitely lacking. The newer games have become a little more interactive in that the player can become part of the conversation in one version of the game. When I was playing on version I had to choose which comment to make when I was talking to someone. If I did not make the right choices then I had would not achieve what I was supposed to. It actually took me a couple of times of getting arrested before I realized that I had to choose the correct comments in order to get what I was there to get. The newere version doesn't really offer that option but it does have cinematics that help guide you through the game so that you understand the basis of what you are supposed to do.

This is just a short synopsis of what I found while playing. I could actually go on and on, but I won't. I will continue to play games, but I do think that now I will consider them in different ways that I did before.

Gaming Response

2008-11-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

I am very excited about what we have been reading and I would really like to read more. I am finding that gaming is probably ONE of my biggest interests. I say one because I have a lot of interests, but this is by far one of the most interesting to me. Not only do I like playing games, but they different ways in which they are looked, used and studied is exciting.

The discussion for this coming week is an interesting one because there is discussion about how gamers are authors. Even though they consider the gamers to be helping to improve the games, they still talk about how there is a limit or some type of goal that they players are working towards. Players get to make certain choices about how to get there, but ultimately there is some type of goal that they are working towards. I wonder how some of these different discussions regarding literacy, agency, process and product factor into the mix when we look at a platform like Secondlife. I know I keep coming back to this, but I find it interesting that we have discussions about the thought processes of gamers and the difficulty of the games, and how literacy is an important aspect. I wonder if the discussions would be different in any way when the gamers are literally developing and producing the world and there is really not a goal that they are working towards. How might the conversations of the players change in an environment that is not fixed quite as much as a regular game?

There seems to always be a lot of discussion about MMOG's and MMORPG's, but there is not a lot of discussion about any of the other types of games. Is it that these games have been around longer, or that they have just invoked more conversation and social networking than other types of games? The types of games do seem to help develop some type of community. For instance my husband (as I have mentioned previously) loves to play SOCOM. In this game that form clans and then there will be battles between clans. The clan members develop this community and way of talking to each other. They also seem to develop an understanding of how they will each work through the game as a team. It is very interesting to watch when they get together and play as a team.

Gaming Readings

2008-11-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

I found all of the articles to be very interesting. I especially liked James Paul Gee's discussion about how we need to be a part of a social group in order to understand the conversation we are trying to be a part of. I was a little confused by this at first because he made the comment that "we cannot think or read outside of any group." I was taken aback by that idea, but the further that I read into the chapter the more I came to understand what he was saying. The basketball analogy that he uses with the sentence really helped to clarify his point. I would have to say that I would agree. You really wouldn't know what that sentence meant unless you understood something about basketball.

It would fall along the same lines as gaming. An example of this would be my husband and his incessant need to play Socom (I like to make fun of him for playing as much as he does). Socom is a MMOG, so he plays online with all different kinds of people and he is always talking to them. When these guys talk about the game I sometime have not idea what they are talking about because this is not a group that I have submersed myself in. I understand some of what he says because he says these things all the time, but I don't understand everything. I know that I would be a little lost if I tried to get on and just start playing the game. However, that is really the only way to learn about that group is to just submerse yourself in it.

I do agree with Gee and I don't think that video games are a waste of time. Me, my husband, and my kids all play games and I don't feel that they are always wasting their time playing. With some games it takes quite a bit of critical thinking to get through the game, you have to sometimes develop an understanding of a new world, there are some games that teach you things, and now there are exergames. I think that video games can be helpful in many areas and it is just a new form of literacy. You do have to learn to understand the semiotics that go with the new platform in order get yourself through the game.

I am very interested in his idea of multiple identities. This brought me back to the idea of Second Life and the identities that people seem to create on there. I am interested to spend more time seeing how Second Life fits into Gee's ideas of identity, groups, culture, semiotics and literacy. I think that in some way these are all going to apply.

Lastly I would like to say that I commend him for sticking to his guns on not discussing the issue of violence. That seems to be a big overarching issue with video games that puts a bad spin on a platform that could be rather useful if people looked at it differently. I think that it is great that he is trying to show people another side of something that they already have a negative attitude towards.

Gaming

2008-11-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Gaming has to be one of my favorite topics of discussion. I am totally and completely addicted to games of all kinds. I know that I am supposed to respond to the readings, but first I want to talk about the IPOD touch. I have had mine for almost a year. I got it last year for my birthday. When they first came out I was very excited...especially after I saw all of the cool things that they would do. I kept saying that I could wait to get one. I was sure I didn't need one right away because the Nano that I had worked just fine for me (however, mine was not as cool as the new ones). At least until I got the touch. This has got to be one of the coolest devices I have had. I was a little bummed at first because it didn't have games, but everything else that I could do was great. I got even more excited when the new updated was available for purchase and it had the new apps and with that came the games. The first game I downloaded was Bejeweled that was mostly because when I was first looking through the apps the list was long and daunting and I was getting tired. So, I chose the first game that I came to that I liked. After talking to Jenn today about some of the games that were looked at in class and that she has on her IPOD I figured that I needed to come home and download a few more. I downloaded Pac-man, Flick Bowling and Raging Thunder (all of these games are too new to link).

Pac-man was kind of hard to play. The game gives you a directional pad at the bottom of the screen so that you can move pac-man around. I had trouble getting him to move since I had to move my finger around on the pad in order have him move in whatever direction I wanted him to go. Sometimes he wouldn't turn when I wanted him to. I probably won't play that all that often.

Raging Thunder is a racing game. I really don't usually like to play racing games because I can't drive with the controllers. The idea of just moving the IPOD from side to side in order for the car to move intrigued me enough to try it out. It is pretty cool that the IPOD is able to detect motion for the games. I probably won't play this one all that often either just because I would have a headached quickly if I did.

Flick Bowling (at the suggestion of Jenn, thank you) was actually my favorite. I think that I will be addicted to playing that game anytime I get the chance. I took me a little while to figure out how to flick it just right so that I didn't get gutter balls, but once I got the hang of it I didn't want to stop.

Research Topic

2008-11-09T19:13:00.001-08:00

Second Life has always creeped me out. I have always enjoyed playing Sims, but there is never a real person on the side of the Sims. To me this indicated that this was definitely not real life. On Second Life there are real people on the other side of the avatars. So for me this is still very real even though they are computer animated individuals. With the way that Second Life creeps me out it intrigues me that there are classes that are held in Second Life. I am curious to know how English faculty are either holding classes or how they might use this media a tool to help students with their writing skills. I took a class on Friday about using Second Life in the classroom or as a classroom, and it seems that there a lot of universities utilizing this for education. It seems to me that there might be some ethical issues with using this venue for classes and learning based on some of the negative things that I have learned about. I wonder if instructors are using Second Life? Is it effective a teaching/learning platform? Would it be beneficial in the area of composition? Would students gain better literacy skills from using this type of technology? These definitely aren't all of my questions, but these are just a few.

Web 2.0

2008-10-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

OMG!!! I like them all in one way or another. I at least find all of the ideas interesting in some form. I don't necessarily use them all regularly because some of them I don't care to use, I just find the idea of them interesting, and I think that it is great to always have the option to do these things whether I like them or not.

I was going to pick out one or two that I am most interested in, but I really just can't. I will do pretty much any of them. I am fascinated though with social networking. I actually don't really like it. It makes me very uncomfortable. Especially sites like Second Life and Myspace. I haven't been too creeped out my Facebook yet. I am mostly fascinated with Second Life and the use of it in educational settings. I want to understand more about how it is being used, and why it is being used.

I could actually comment on all of the topics in one way or another, but then we would be here all night hearing what I find interesting and weird about each topic.

Project ideas

2008-09-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I have been tossing ideas back and forth, and I am particularly interested in her idea about recording the game lab. I did come up with some ideas myself.

1. This one came after reading the article about silence. I got to thinking about all of the noise in my life. I live with three boys and I think that boys have a hearing problem, because EVERYTHING has to be loud. I started thinking about what silence is like for me, because in reality it isn't really silent. I considered recording the noise in my life and showing how I view silence.

2. I teach a freshman orientation class and I had an idea to hear some of their stories about how/why they came to college, and how they have been adjusting to this area of their lives.

3. I don't really have a third one, mostly because I like Rachel's ideas.

Audio Narratives

2008-09-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

This American Life is very different from what I would listen to in the way of audio. I am an avid audiobook listenener, but I am very particular about the voice of the narrator. I have purchased books and only made about 3o minutes before I really couldn't take the sound of their voice anymore. With This American Life it's different because not only do you have a narrator, but you different people telling their stories. There is also plenty of audio background sounds, voiceovers and some sound effects. They seem to do a descent job of trying to fit their sounds to the topic being talked about.

As a personal preference this is not something I would listen to on a regular basis. This is the second time that I have heard these pieces and I wasn't any more fond of them this time than I was the first time I heard them. To me they are kind of corny and they remind me of NPR and I am really not a fan. There is this monotone sound that I just can't really listen to for very long. Even some of the storytellers had it. This is just something that I would getting enjoyment out of listening to on a regular basis, but I do think that they do a good job with this.

Acoustic Ecology

2008-09-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

I listened to "The Sounds of New York" and the "Ocean Conservation Research Sound Library". Listening to the New York sounds just reminded me of sounds that you might hear everyday (obviously depending upon where you live.) The ocean sounds were not something that you would regularly hear except for the human sounds. The animal sounds are not something that we would hear on a regular basis.

These sounds would be useful, as Selfe might say, to add depth and meaning to an audio narrative. It would definitely depend on the context of the narrative, but these are the types of sounds that would make great background audio. Some of the sounds are sounds that we don't really notice too much. I know that the only time that I notice outside noise is when I am extremely tired, stressed, or when I am having trouble sleeping. Otherwise those noises are something that I am used to and I really don't give them a second thought. Even when I am just sitting outside and thinking about how peaceful it is, I don't notice the highway noise in the distance or the noises of nature. It is almost as if they have just become a standard part of our lives.

I really had trouble with the second article. I am not really sure what the actual point of the article was. I did understand about the background noises that we hear everyday, which sparked the discussion above. If anyone got something different out of it I would love to know. I couldn't really put together what he was trying to say about rock n roll and background noise.

Political Blogging

2008-09-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

I wonder if blogs are being used because there are a lot more people on computers and on the internet than before. With this being the case people are more susceptible to seeing a lot of these blogs that are available. A lot of people are actually following most of these blogs. I think that politicians and the media figured out that this is a good way to get information out to people quickly and it does not necessarily have to be edited for content. At least not to the level of television or print. It also seems that people enjoy commenting on these different blogs and they feel that this a way that they can get their opinion out about these issues. It seems to open up the stream of discussion in a way that it can't be done if someone is just watching this on TV or reading it in the newspaper.

I would think that this could be very useful, especially to politicians that are trying to get specific information out. If Walmart can do it to try and change their image (it must be having some affect or else they wouldn't still be doing it) then why not politicians.

Blogging

2008-09-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

Blogging influences the way that people communicate, because it allows them an easier way of portraying their thoughts. I don't think that most people would actually tell someone what they thought if they had to do it in person. It doesn't mean that they need anonymity. It just means that they are more comfortable writing their thoughts out, or even having a discussion in this way. There seems to be some type of social convention with blogging that kind of keeps things respectful. I think this makes people more comfortable in talking about various subjects or even about themselves. I know that for me it is easier to put my thoughts down this way than it is to try and verbalize them. I have no real reason for that it just seems to be that way. I think that it makes people more comfortable so that they will communicate more.

It seems from everything that we have read that the communities are very important for some people. I guess depending upon your reason for blogging that can be the case. People do like to be a part of something and this gives them the opportunity to do that, and to communicate their thoughts and ideas at the same time.

Technology and the internet seem to be opening up the world more, so that we are able to communicate and develop communities with people we would have never had the opportunity to do that with before. I would think that it would give people in academia the chance to collaborate with people that they might not have known about otherwise. Blogging seems to play a big role in this, because it is a way that people can be noticed and contacted easily.

Blogging Conventions

2008-09-09T19:20:00.001-07:00

Blogging is a new phenomenon for me. Even though it has been around a long time, this was not something that I could really get into. When I had first heard about it I wondered what could be so interesting about what people's random thoughts. Then I was introduced to the site "Stuff White People Like." This had to be one of the funniest things I had ever read, because these bloggers have people pegged (Mac users should check out #40, LOL.) This was the real beginning of my blogging experience. I then had to develop an ad for a political ad for a local political blogging site (Mine is the Mary Kay Papen ad.) I have never actually read the blog, but I do think that it is rather popular in the local political community. I have a friend that also started a blog when she moved from New Mexico to Illinois. I actually get on hers from time to time to just see what she is up to. Hers is interesting because she uses it to talk about how she sees the town and she does this through pictures. It's actually kind of neat what she has done. Here I am now doing blogging of my own, which amazes me considering I really had negative ideas about it not too long ago.

I have digressed a lot. What did the above have to do with the reading? Well, I hopefully was able to properly show what was talked about and really protrayed in the readings. One with how to properly cite what or who you area talking about. I believe that he did talk about just linking if you are talking about another blog or site. I also believe that he said that it was good to have links in your blog. Hadn't really thought about that until now. The rhetorical conventions really don't seem completely different than those of written paper text. They ask the you as a blogger cite what is used from other sources, regardless of the source. I think that the rhetorical conventions accepted/suggested are helpful in keeping down the number of blogs that would, not only be stealing other people's work, but that would be out there just saying whatever they want about whomever they want. I am sure that these rules don't necessarily stop that completely, especially if you consider that we have some of the same rules for written text, and those are still broken from time to time. I think these readings suggest that there needs to be some form of respect for others, especially since there is no real way to moderate these types of things, and EVERYONE has access to the internet. Once it's out there...it's out there. There is not taking it back. The was evident from the three different people discussed the the "Blogging for Dummies" reading. They badmouthed their place of employment, and they have been fired, but their blogs live on.

New Media

2008-09-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

New media is any type of interactive discourse formed from technology. This would include all forms of of multimedia. Even at this point written text can be considered new media depending upon the way that it is processed and produced. New media has such a broad scope that I think that it is difficult to try and fit it into one area.

Jen: With regards to your questions, I would say that digitisation is a component in new media, and maybe an important one. This could be what makes new media, "new media." I don't believe that it has to be digital to be interactive though. I think there are a lot of ways to have interactivity with digitisation. Engaging students in a class is a form of interactivity, but there is not always a digital component to that. You make a good point about user agency and power, and they may play an important role in new media. (I think I address your multimedia question below.)

I know that I came up with a definition for new media, but I have always had a little bit of difficulty with that term. It seems, after our class discussion, that I may not be completely off in my thoughts. My problem with the term is actually the word "new." Because as it was mentioned class, I believe by Caleb, when is "new" no longer new. It seems that with the way that technology is new actually does change from day to day. So, is it new when a new version of a program comes out with more ways for you to manipulate what you are working on? This is what makes it difficult to say that multimedia is new media. I think that it is a component (if there really is new media.) Is multimedia completely new media? I can't really say for sure. If new media something that can be reproduced in multi ways, does that mean that the original is no longer new, and that each time it is reproduced it is no longer new. I do agree that this is a difficult idea to get past. The newness could change within hours depending on the technology used. So I think the question still remains, when is "new" no longer new.

Important ideas

2008-09-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

The basic idea that I found important in all four of the readings is the importance of understanding the multimodality is important in composing and artefact. This is regardless of the type of artefact composed. I think that it is important to the learn how to write text, and I don't think that is something that we should forget. I think that it is the basis for our beginning into the different mediums of how to produce or display or design our text.

With the everchanging world and the expansion of technology I think that it is important to realize that there is more than one way to develop and produce your ideas. The class discussed in one of the readings, "Writing With Video," is an important thought to keep in mind. It gave those students a new outlet to be able to express their thoughts and ideas.

Something that is important to think about and remember is that video may not be appropriate for everything and this goes for all types of media/mediums. I think that we have to learn to understand when it is appropriate to use each type of media. I don't really mean that there should be set rules for when to use them, but I think that we should know our information enough and know enough about our audience to be able to understand which way would be best to convey the information to them.

This is important for me professionally for two reasons. One is that I need to be able to understand how to convey my information, not only to my students, but to my colleagues, just to name a few. The second is because I need to realize that students are changing in way that the learn and interpret information. I need to be open to these different ways of them expressing their thoughts and ideas. I know that as a student myself that I appreciate having different ways of doing that. For instance, when I did my masters portfolio I opted to do a website instead of a paper portfolio. For me that was the best way for me to convey who I was and what I was able to do. Understanding this about our students will hopefully be better able to help us to get them interested and excited about writing, regardless of the medium they use to do it.

Apology

2008-08-26T20:06:00.001-07:00

I would like to apologize to both of you. You both made an introduction on your blog and I forgot to do that. So, here it is. It will be great to work with both of you. I also apologize now if I don't make sense.

Multimodality

2008-08-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

It was rather difficult for me to grasp the meaning behind these articles. I was near the end of the last article before I even reached a discussion that I could remotely understand. I have taken other classes where we have discussed multimodality and what it means, but this discussion was a little confusing for me. I am going to give an explanation of what I think they were talking about, but I am not sure that I really got the just of where they were going. It seemed that the argument for all three articles was that there is a need to change the teaching of literacy. They seem to argue that there is not a clear understanding of multiliteracies and the various areas that they encompass. They also argue that design is a major factor in multiliteracies and how the artifacts are produced depending on the type of literacy used. They even claim that verbal discussions are a form of design and an area of multiliteracy. With regards to their thoughts on multimodality, they do say that, "multimodal meaning is much more than the sum of linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and audio modes of meaning." Which if I am understanding means that they see multimodal as an extension of multiliteracy since they see all of the those modes of meaning coming together to form multimodality. However, with multimodality I think the extension the modes of meaning would be the media aspect. The media aspect would include; television, art, websites, photography, etc.. I did like how they broke each area out and gave examples of each of the dimensions of meaning. That made it a little easier to see where they might be going with their argument.