Academic Analysis

Video games and Digital Literacy brings to light a unique issue revolving around video games and education and the article discusses the literacy that is developed from playing video games. Julio was a participant in this study that focused on video games and the literacy that are created from the interaction: from people posting online and discussing about games, all the way through the interaction that happens while they are playing video games. The author, Steinkuehler, argues that any interaction involving video games can be considered a form of digital literacy practice (citation). He argues that there are two forms of this literacy, video game play itself and the online community that is created around any successful game title. Steinkuehler found that video games could serve as a form of literacy that younger people learn from. He argues that literacy can be encouraged through finding exactly what young people want to learn about and bringing those topics into the classroom.

This article bring to light many underlying issues that will need to be addressed as a society in the future. With the popularity of video games, should they be used in the classroom to help educate? Issues like this are something that older generations will have a hard time understanding. It is amazing what can be learned from video games, but there is too much of a negative stereotype that is associated with them that will make using them in the classroom very difficult, and this is probably the biggest barrier that would need to be overcome. From personal experience, I believe that bringing video games into the classroom would help many students learn better. It is undeniable the role that video games play in society, since they are so prevalent, why would they not be used for education? Many people want to claim that violent video games can encourage people to be more violent. If we were to follow this logic then wouldn’t an educations game about science allow gamers to learn more scientific? These are examples of how some of the issues that revolve around getting video game implementation into the educational system.

In class we discussed the umbrella perspective on communication technologies. This was presented to us as a graph in the form of an umbrella. I would argue that the individual users of video games have successfully penetrated almost every aspect of the social system, so why is it not being used more in the educational process? Video games are all around us weather we recognize it our not. It could be considered irresponsible of us to not use this obsession to our advantage in education. Not only have video games penetrated society, but they have also enabled people to do something different with their time. Tactical games, like Call of Duty, have encouraged users to change their thinking in order to adapt to a game. This has lead to users developing many different thought processes depending on what type of game they are engaging in. One of the underlying principles of education is stimulation of the mind. Keeping that in mind, are video games something we should resist even thought the help stimulate different thought processes, or something that should be looked to as a tool for development?

Citation

Steinkuehler, Constance (2010)            Video games and digital literacies, Journal of Adolescent & adult literacy. 54, 61-63

Video Gamers [Video Game Systems]. November 20, 2011, from: http://smartchoosing.com/buy-video-games

Little, Riley [blog post]. (2010). November 20, 2011, from: http://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-reviews-riley-51902/

Tech Diary

Cell phones are the technology of the not so recent past and are a technology that is here to stay in the future. The introductions of 3G phones have allowed people to have access to the full Internet at the fingertips. With these faster speeds phones can perform more tasks now than ever before. With these new technologies, it is clear to say that life before cell phones must have been terrible. Naturally my iphone was the most used out of the many technology that surrounds me; there were four, distinct devices that were used the most during the day of November 15. On this day, I attended two classes and an Ohio State basketball game, which consisted of many technological interactions. From starting my day with my iphone alarm going off to wake me up, interacting with my computer as well as computer used in class for presentations, watching replays on the jumbo-tron, playing games on the x-box and finally concluding with watching a moving on my computer to fall asleep. The many different technologies that are used in one day have a colossal impact on my day-to-day life.

Interesting enough, the technology that was interacted with the most did not have the most time. Constantly finding myself looking at my phone for quick bits of information: what time is it, any new messages, and has that e-mail I am waiting for come, about two and a half hours. The most time was spent on a computer or presentations given to me via a computer, around three hours. As a college student, it would be very hard for the amount of time on a computer to not be the most used. Between note taking, assignments and presentations in class, students are always interacting with computers. The third most used technology of my day was any form of television devices, ranging from an actual TV to the jumbo-tron at the game, this reach about two hours. Everyday there are certain shows that I like to follow, but this does not account towards all the time spent in front of the TV. The Buckeye basketball team played on this day, when at the game there was a constant checking out of the replay. The game took two hours, about a quarter of that time was spent looking at the jumbo-tron. Wile attending the basketball game this giant television is the center point of everything, naturally people will look at it frequently. The least used technology was my x-box. Only forty-five minutes were logged on this device. Additionally this added to the time spent on the tv. This is a common situation that kept presenting itself: multiple technologies working together.

This brings about the question: was this a good use of my time? By my calculations about eight hours were spent using technology. The answer to this question is not a simple yes or no; any answer revolves around how much use is considered too much. With the movement of technology in every aspect of our lives, it will be hard to get away from technology even if you want to. Technophilia is probably the best explanations of my technology use. I find myself always wanting the newest device thinking it is something that could positively impact my life. I am also a brand loyalist, I would buy and apple product because I believe in their durability and quality. This is reflected in the products that I own. This tech diary really opened my eyes to how much I depend on technology and how much it has penetrated society.

Citation:

[ Ohio Stat Jumbo Tron] Retrieved. November 20, 2011, from: http://confessionsofasportsjunkie.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/img_1087.jpg

[iphone 4] Retrieved. November 20, 2011, from: http://www.tipb.com/iphone-4/

Comm 240. Class Notes from September 29^th, 2011, by Jesse Fox

News Article

Netflix, What are you Doing

With the announcement of Netflix’s third quarter numbers, investors are liquidating its stock as quickly as possible. The announcement stated that Netflix would be splitting the DVD and streaming package, which has caused ripples of detest throughout Netflix nation. With the separation of amenities was a price increase for consumers; Netflix customers have decided to take a stand. With the announcement of losing 800,000 subscribers this quarter, preceding a quarter with loss in users, stockholders are very concerned. The article discusses the current state of the company and steps that will be taken to help get some of the customers back.

(Rosoff, 2011)

Edwards writes, “Netflix plunged 35 percent to $77.37 at the close in New York, the biggest decline since October 2004” (Edwards, 2011). For a service that was truly revolutionary when it came out, it is surprising to see such a large self-inflicted wound. This is astonishing to the Netflix Nation, compared to what users were experiencing with Netflix; It’s hard to imagine a company that was able to capture such a large audience with social penetration, falter with just a few ill advised moves. It is yet to be seen what the implications of these decisions will be but the current outlook is not good. It is never a good idea to disrupt what is considered to be a good thing; Netflix has proven this to us. “ For the third quarter, Netflix reported net income rose 65 percent to $62.5 million…”(Edwards, 2011). This quote can be very misleading, the article discusses how they are losing subscribers, but somehow their profits are up. This is a classic example of a company upping prices for their product just to turn bigger profits, which is a far cry from what Netflix was five years ago.

(Netflix System Breakdown, 2011)

In class we discussed the five stages of adoption, Netflix does a wonderful job of promoting themselves and they are exceptional at providing free promotions to draw in new users, which provides knowledge about what he company does. Countless times they have sent email promotions that allow users to receive a month free for Netflix. This is a great way from Netflix to spread knowledge about their product and then persuade new users to consume their product. Their vast library of movies and TV shows is not available anywhere else. This mastery of promoting and persuasion has worked wonders in boosting their user numbers. With the new changes, increase in price and DVD-streaming separation, they are causing consumers, both current and potential, to turn away during the third stage of adoption, accept or reject. The best part about Netflix was the availability of their library at your fingertips and the affordable price but things have changed now with their newfound popularity. Who are we to blame them for wanting to make more money? It would have been nice if they did it without passing the new cost onto longtime Netflix users. The article does a wonderful job of showing many different statistics on how Netflix is still a great company to invest in. What Netflix is missing is that users do not care about the stocks; they only care about the service. Right now the service is not acceptable to longtime users, it is time for Netflix to swallow their pride and go back to consoling user satisfaction instead of profits to guide their decisions. 

Citation:

Edwards, C. (2011, October 25). Netflix declines most since 2004 after losing 800,000 u.s. subscribers. Bloomberg, Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-25/netflix-declines-most-since-2004-after-losing-800-000-u-s-subscribers.html

Netflix system breakdown. October 25, 2011. From: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.review-hddvds.com/images/netflix-promo2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.review-hddvds.com/&usg=__ycPHeOBmsjiK4fpG-S0hldp7qF0=&h=326&w=763&sz=79&hl=en&start=53&zoom=1&tbnid=6rZOu-yi0LKZHM:&tbnh=61&tbnw=142&ei=UVaoTu2TIabgsQKW3uG9Dw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dnetflix%26start%3D42%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

Rosoff, M. 2011. Netflix adds less than 2 million subscribers this quarter, October 25,2011, from: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-07-25/tech/29999690_1_netflix-q3-twitter

Movie Review

Nicks Boss
(Ford, 2011)

Everybody has worked at a job with a boss that was unbearable. We all know what it is like to follow orders from someone we believe treats us unfairly. In other cases our boss could make sexual innuendos towards someone. These three situations are explored in comedic detail in the newly released film, Horrible Bosses.  The characters of Nick, Dale, and Kurt decide they should to kill their bosses, each for different reasons: Kurt, the once lovable employee, is now disliked by all his coworkers. 

Kurts Boss
(Ford, 2011)

 Dale’s boss is attempting to sleep with him because she finds him irresistible, Dale resists because he is engaged and faithful to his fiancé, Nick who’s boss persuaded him to work harder with a promise of promotion, which in turn the boss takes for himself . The film consists of comedic highs and lows of these three friends attempting to slay each others bosses; however, in the end, the characters did not kill these “horrible bosses”, but discover new ways to illuminate the discomforts they once had at their respected workplaces. 

Dales Boss
(Ford, 2011)

The unique part of this movie is what it lacks in flashy high tech action scenes it makes up in simple humor. The movie can be viewed in full screen format, which allows for every detail in each scene to be shown clearly. Horrible Bosses does not use a wide variety of different technologies, contrary to what viewers may think when certain parts of the film, such as the spying scene, are viewed. There are numerous uses of diverse technologies, including a GPS in a car, which plays a major role in the entire movie. The sound quality of the movie was very smooth; however, as previously stated, the lack of action scenes could be considered a disadvantage when it comes to the audio experience of the movie. To counter the lack of action and sound, there is a wide variety of music that sounds crisp and is very catchy to the audience.

The most critical part of the movie, the climax at the end, was saved for the main characters by GPS in their car. The GPS is a system that has an operator at the other end of the line that helps the characters out in many situations. Gregory is the man behind the GPS, who is able to assist the main characters find a shady bar when they are searching for a hit-man. At the end of the movie, the GPS helps the police locate the characters’ location when Nick’s boss is pursuing them with a gun. It also serves as evidence that aids in putting Nick’s boss behind bars. Gregory has recorded every word of Nick’s boss’s confession to killing another man and attempting to kill the three main characters. This wonderful technology that many people take for granted in their car was able to save our main characters from going to jail. The GPS technology in the movies gives it a refreshing new spin on movies; instead of using some discrete technology like in James Bond movies, these characters use something that most people have in their vehicle. With the lack of special effects and the use of everyday items, it gives the viewers a feeling that the events that are taking place are things the audience could see themselves doing. Overall, this movie does a wonderful job of staying simple yet very entertaining to anyone who has worked for a boss that has made the workplace a living hell. 

Citation:

Ford, Allen. (2011). Movie Posters, October 25, 2011, from: http://www.filmofilia.com/six-new-horrible-bosses-character-posters-47187/

Internet Movie Databases. Horrible Bosses. (2011) October25, 2011, from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1499658/