Week 10 - Tutorial Task

Essay Research


Will be looking into the reasons there are such negative connotations of video games, whilst highlighting both negative and positive effects to give a more nuanced understanding of video game use.


Some findings:

In 2006 out of the top 20 best selling games, 9 of these were sports related games. PLUS playing these games (according to Silberman 2005) has a high association of participation in athletic activities in real life (Hayes and Silberman 2007, p. 18)

Found a Journal article by miguel de aguilera talking about cultural factors influencing perceptions of video games. (YES!)

Jefferey Brand's "Don't criticise the effects video games have on our children, exploit them!" found via google scholar. A lot in here about 'moral panics' which warp social perceptions of gaming. Very useful.

If we look at statistics for gaming youths (tested on eighth graders respectively) such as the US - 8.5%, China - 10.3%, Australia - 8.0%, Germany - 11.9% and Taiwan - 7.5% (Science Daily 2011), we notice it is a relatively low percentage.

 As with a lot of recreational activities, anything in excess can be a hazard to one's health.

 Risk factors for youngsters include "lower social competence and greater impulsivity" (Science Daily 2011). So what are the effects on an addicted gamer?

 use should be classified as a mental disorder -  i.e. just like there is "gambling addiction" there is also "gaming addiction", particularly MMPORPGs (Massive  Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

The scientists conclude that training with video games may serve to reduce gender differences in visual and spatial processing, and thwart some of the cognitive declines that come with aging. (Science Daily 2011)

"Ironically, both sides are usually correct about the effects

games can have. They tend, however, to select different research

literatures to make their points. The problem for parents, educators,

game producers, policymakers, and researchers is that the

polarizing rhetoric is damaging and ultimately misses the point.

Video games are neither ‘‘good’’ nor ‘‘bad.’’ (Gentile 2011, p.75)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110119120550.htm (risks)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091217183448.htm (benefits)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020462/Xbox-addict-20-killed-blood-clot-12-hour-gaming-sessions.html

Week 10 - Response to Content

Cyberpunk - a little more.

Today's lecture gave an in-depth description and analysis of cyberpunk and its originations. I found it fascinating and thought I would explore further. According to Sterling (1998), before cyberpunk acquired its now handy label and sinister reputation, it was an "open-handed effort, very street-level and anarchic, with a very do-it-yourself attitude, an ethos...shared with garage band 70s punk music." The movement's one-page propaganda was freely given out, and encouraged people to make copies, and encouraged piracy in general.  A combination of cybernetics (the science of communication and control theory) and punk (anti-social rebel) (Dewitt & Jackson 1993, p.1), cyberpunk is described as "the fusion of humans and machines" (Rucker cited in Dewitt & Jackson 1993, p.1). Whilst this description is true, it is too simple. The genre has now become a much more complex combination of various elements, picked up throughout history -  as seen in the lecture.

Surprisingly it is hard to find a lot on cyberpunk as a genre, in Griffith library anyway. It is often associated with hackers, as they are subversive individuals who utilise technology as a means of anti-authoritarian protest. And yes, they are usually main/prominent characters in cyberpunk genre (e.g. Gibson's 'Burning Chrome'). As a genre it has managed to survive throughout the decades and is becoming more and more relevant as technology consumes Western society.

Reference List

Dewitt, P & Jackon, D 1993, 'Cyberpunk!', Time Magazine U.S, viewed 20th October 2011 < http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977654-1,00.html>

Sterling, B 1998, Cyberpunk in the Nineties, viewed 20th October 2011, < https://learning.secure.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_101249_1&frame=top>

Week 9 - Tutorial Task

What is Barak Obama up to today (21/09/2011)?
"President Obama Meets with World Leaders on Day Two at the U.N General Assembly" (Miller 2011)
-- Miller, L 2011, 'President Obama Meets with World Leaders on Day Two at the U.N General Assembly', The White House Blog viewed 21st September 2011 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog>

What are the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")?

Announced in late 2009, the ‘Clean Feed’ project is an internet filter system to be deployed by internet service providers (ISPs). It purportedly censors content such as “child sex abuse content, bestiality and sexual violence, as well as crime and drug use information” (Page 2010, p. 7).

 -- Page, R 2010, Choice, "'Clean-feed' filter to go ahead: a proposed web protection scheme may create more problems than it solves."  viewed 21st September 2011 via Expanded Academic ASAP. 

  

Find out who your local, state and federal representatives are.

Local - Susie Douglas

State - Peter Lawlor

Federal - Steven Ciobo
-- Council's Role in Government, viewed September 21st 2011, <http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/t_standard2.aspx?pid=4351>


Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament.
Could not find Susie Douglas, but Peter Lawler last spoke on November 24th 2010 (Lawlor, P 2010)
-- Lawlor, P 2010, Commercial Agents Bill, viewed 21st September 2011,
<http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/Speeches/spk2010/Peter%20Lawlor%20spk%20Southport%202010_11_24_93.pdf#xml=http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/internetsearch/isysquery/c1256a92-df01-4070-b7c0-41af6ba12087/1/hilite/>

Short Essay Plan

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

My position will be no, with arguments, of course, for and against the extensive use. Will conclude that although there a myriad of cases of adverse impacts, especially in relation to mental health, it is not the video games themselves that harm users. It is the users and the extent of parental control.

Key elements:

-- Introduction: Break down of the topic into components IE what is considered an adverse impact? Description of the various 'effects' of gaming such as aggressive behaviour, mental disorders, lack of exercise and perhaps an increased consumption of products such as energy drinks. Will state briefly two sides of this argument, and my main premise.

-- Psychotic/behavioural problems: will present case studies where this is allegedly applicable, but then counter with studies that have concluded that despite excessive gaming in young children, there were already latent problems occurring in the children beforehand and these were merely exacerbated by their use. So to prevent horrific cases such as these it is up to the parent to decide whether their children should be allowed. And also counter with the largely small percentage of violent cases caused by video games compared to non-gaming cases.

--Health: perhaps statistics (if i can find them) on whether there is an increased consumption of unhealthy foods by young people who are 'addicted' to video games. Counter this with an overall statistic of health which (hopefully) proves it is no different to everyday health of non-gamers.

--Obesity/Overweight: Whilst obviously extensive video gaming doesn't promote exercise, it isn't the direct cause, as it is up to the gamer on whether to exercise or not, they could easily be inside playing with toys instead which isn't active. And also the parental encouragement either way would be pivotal to young health.

-- Conclusion: Ultimately we cannot blame the actions and health problems of the young completely on this external factor. While in come cases it seems to be directly related, and stated by some children to be the case, it always comes down to free will, and decision-making. If a child is warned against the dangers, and steered away from these problems, it is less likely that these adverse impacts will occur. Whereas poor parenting and latent mental disorders could lead to negative examples.

Week 9 - Response to Content

eDemocracy's potential and limitations

eDemocracy is the theory of utilising current communication technologies to enhance politcal processes (Damodaran 2005, p.10). Over the decades citizen interest in the political realm has declined  as representative democracy receded almost completely from its participatory roots, and has left us, the demos ('common people'), to simply vote and hope for the best.

A concern brought up by many political theorists is the idea of democratic elitism whereby representative government is controlled by a select, elite, few which does not properly represent the wants and needs of electorates (Goodwin 2010, p. 394). This theoretical framework assumes the majority of people as "passive consumers, incapable of exercising power or judgement, and totally apathetic" (Goodwin 2010, p.395). So to move towards a more deliberative democracy via eDemocracy, we can begin to increase inclusion and interest of 'the masses' in the public sphere of politics. Deliberative forms of democracy focus more on the quality of debate rather than the procedure of participation; so if we could have voters utilising new forms of technology - like watching a debate over policy changes and then voting online afterwards - it may overcome politicians' lack of responsiveness to the electorate (Goodwin 2010, p.315).

The main problem with frameworks such as eDemocracy and eGovernment in general is linking everyone up. The practical obstacles seem endless, and expensive. Other barriers include the "digital divide, lack of education and awareness of the potential of IT among many in the public" (Damodoran 2005, p.10). These seem to be the most obvious, and gaping, holes in this alternate system of democracy. But if they can be overcome at all, we may begin to see a shift from pure representative democracy to a democracy not quite as direct as the Athenian's would have liked, but somewhere in between the two.

Reference List

Damodoran, L 2005, 'Edemocracy: challenges for social inclusion', ITNow, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 10-11, viewed 23rd September 2011 via Oxford Journals.

Goodwin, B 2007, Using Political Ideas, 5th edn, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

Heywood, A 2000, Key Concepts in Politics, Palgrave, Houndmills. 

Week 8 - Tutorial Task

Video Update

This week we finally began filming! Renae was kind enough to be our actor, and she, unsurprisingly, was brilliant. We managed to do all the scenes in one room, which was the very same room our tutorial was in - very convenient. Sound was very hard to get as the microphone was an internal one on my camera, so long shots couldn't pick up Renae's dialogue. Christina said she could fix that in editing by laying over new audio.


Before all this though we had such a hassle with trying to get the video footage I found on e-waste in Creative Commons to work on Christina's laptop. So the only option was to download realplayer AGAIN and try and download the video AGAIN. After over an hour of fiddling around (oh technology, the bane of my existence at times) we hurrah!ed in triumph when we finally got it working. Turned out redownloading it on Christina's laptop worked like a charm, albeit a very slow, horrifically boring charm. The format was incompatible with iMovie, so when we downloaded it again we converted the file to a MPEG4 format, which was compatible! We weren't the only one's struggling - Renae was having a tedious time trying to locate exactly how to cite the photos she had grabbed off Creative Commons. It was a mentally exhausting lesson, but everything afterwards was highly enjoyable.


We will begin to embed the video once editing is completed, so I will discuss how in the next blog. I am also struggling on how to cite this video on e-waste, there is nothing in Creative Commons that is easily accessible to the producer. Worst case scenario I cite the URL, the username of the person who posted it, and their youtube channel's URL.


Question: do you own this production?
While this audio visual piece was created by us, it is not completely ours. We have at the beginning footage and audio from a Creative Commons licensed work. It allowed us to remix (i.e. we could cut out snippets that were relevant to us) and reuse as is. But everything else from then on is video and titling all created by us. 

Final Cut:
It's rough and hilarious but it's done! Only issue is the technology "attacking" Jen isn't clear cut so I guess we're going for something different - government cover up conspiracy?

Created by Christina Earnshaw, Renae Bressi and Lisa Townley.

Reference List
"E-waste movie - short version - who's dying for your iPad - the truth of ewaste" provided by Joetube97217 
URL link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnqvfNstr_4
Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/joetube97217

Week 8 - Response to Content

Creative Commons - political movement and practical tool

Creative Commons is said to be a reactionary movement stemming from the fact that copyright (at least in the U.S) is so widespread as to stifle the progress of science and the arts, rather than promoting it (Forsythe & Kemp 2009, p.346). Over the past 40 years the law has changed so dramatically as to render the 'rip, mix, burn' phenomenon illegal, which began with incidences such as the court ruling in 1971 which stated Bobby London & Danny O'Neill's critical view of Mickey Mouse in Air Pirates, is illegal (Lessig 2004, p.3-4). This highlights one of the biggest problems - the difficulty today in obtaining a license to legally use a small component of someone else's work, such as a composer who wishes to use a small segment of a musical composition in an original piece (Forsythe & Kemp 2009, p.347).

Technology has created the "digital consumer" ( Lessig 2004, p.2), who is an active programmer, compared to the analog consumer, who is "passive, programmed and broadcast to" (Lessig 2004, p.2).

As a result CC provides an alternative mode of copyright which isn't as restrictive as the current model, whereby the creator/author of the content decides what is to be done with it, and spreads their creativity around, rather than receiving it via broadcasts from a select few. But before we get caught up in this romanticised spiel, what could possibly be a disadvantage? Well considering most users are not well-versed in the law, it may not be as simple as CC desires Furthermore there's the issue of once the contributor has picked a license and later on sees her particular piece in a way she did not intend, is it possible to change the license or even retract it from the database? (Forsythe & Kemp 2009, p.362). Either way, I'm sure as Creative Commons develops these issues will be resolved and  more clarity in the expression of license agreements will be adopted.

Reference List:

Lessig, L 2004, 'The creative commons: for the common good?', Montana Law Review, vol. 65, no. 1, pp.1-14, viewed 17th September 2011 via HeinOnline

Forsythe, L and Kemp, D 2009, 'Creative Commons', University of La Verne Law Review, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 346-369, viewed 17th September 2011 via HeinOnline.

Week 7 - Tutorial Task

Video Update

This week we - Renae, Christina and I - collaborated with what we had so far. I found some links that I believed to be copyright free, though I was still trying to find way to search whilst excluding copyrighted images/videos, because it was unclear to me still. Found out during this class that our tutor Lauren was also finding the best way to search for video in Creative Commons. We'll have to get back to that later.

Our plan was to shoot some footage during that class and after, but we had a turn in the narrative, changing some key plot elements. We were no longer to make a cheesy horror move trailer, but more of a thriller type trailer about a university student who is about to finish her Journalism Degree and wants a topic she can sink her teeth into, something controversial. E-waste is a massive issue, in where Western nations are exporting and dumping their electronic waste in third world countries such as India and parts of Africa. This was to be the issue our protagonist was to grapple.

We thought some snippets of her video blog entries would be a good way to start the trailer, with images of articles on e-waste on the first shot. To avoid copyright we are going to make these ourselves, making the titles the largest and using a gibberish mix in tiny text so as to seem like a full article. At the moment I am typing up scripts for Renae (playing our character) to read for the blogs, which we will film on Christina's internal iMac camera in an iMovie tool. The plan is to have two blogs, two weeks apart. The second one is when Jen gets an anonymous email saying to meet 'them' in a computer lab in Griffith to discuss the suspicious disappearance of an environmental activist.

Cut to scary snippets of action. Electronic doors slamming by themselves and an article about the missing activist is used as a 'warning' to Jen. Hopefully we can get most of this done in class next week so we can begin editing, because that's where we need a lot of time!